Waterhole Number One

Waterhole 1

@6" x 8"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

An item of interest: this one is on Townsend paper, which has a hand-applied sanded surface on Rives BFK. I didn't want to travel far from my prairie theme, but did try different surfaces this season.

See it at Kirkland Uncorked this weekend.

I Have a New Card

My Card

Over the horizon, I am planning for a set of exhibits, in my coastal hometown of Hoquiam, Washington. Mayor Jack Durney wants me to hurry up and exhibit, and has named it "The Return of the Native." To sweeten the deal, he has offered me a Get Out of Jail Free Card. There's a first time for everything - thanks, Mr. Mayor!

Hoquiam River Bright

10" x 14.75"

Pastel & Charcoal

Casey Klahn

On the near horizon, I am exhibiting in a new show in Kirkland, Kirkland Uncorked. The hours are as follows: Kirkland Uncorked Promenade (Free Festival) WA, July 16 - 18. Hours: Friday 2pm-8pm • Saturday 11am-8pm • Sunday 11am-6pm

This coming Labor Day, I will be exhibiting in Sausalito. September 3 - 6. Last year, I received the First Place Award in Drawing at the Sausalito Art Festival. That was for my whole collection, rather than a single image. The pressure is on to be that good again, but if my wife is a fair critic, she has deemed this year's art as better. I hope that's true.

How about it, Sausalito? Will you offer me a Get Out of Jail free card, too?

White Bunkhouse

White Bunkhouse
8.75" x 9.5"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Nikon D-80

I seem to be doing about one building a year, and here is this year's.  This out-building is part of a neighbor's farm, and used to be the bunkhouse, I think.  

The fuel  tank I used in another picture a couple of years ago, but this is the actual scene as it appears in life.

I refuse to confide and don't like it when people write about art.

OTOH, Artist's Quotes

Everyone is wise until he speaks. Irish Proverb.

"I refuse to confide and don't like it when people write about art,"  Balthus.

"Words may show a man's wit, but actions his meaning, " Benjamin Franklin.

"I had placed my stick on the table, as I do every evening. It had been specially made to suit my height, to enable me to walk without too much difficulty. As I was standing up, a customer called to me: 'Monsieur, don't forget your pencil.' It was very unkind, but most funny," Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

"But often it's doubtful whether the logic of the work itself and the words used to describe it really have anything to do with each other,"  Thom Mayne.

"Never trust the artist. Trust the tale,"  D.H. Lawrence.

"Stealing someone else's words frequently spares the embarrassment of eating your own," Peter Anderson.

"Hear the meaning within the word,"  William Shakespeare.

"Self expression shouldn't be the goal,"  Wolf Kahn.

 

2010 Artist Quote of the Day.

Ballerina Sketch - Degas Copy

Degas Copy - Ballerina 1
10.5" x 8"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn

This post originally at Pastelsblog, March 7, 2010.

If I were to quit landscapes and just spend the rest of my days copying Degas, I would still be a happy man. Photos with a point and shoot - better quality ones to follow.

Pastel

Hometown River Series

Hoquiam River Bright

10" x 14.75"

Pastel & Charcoal

Casey Klahn

pas camera

Hoquiam River Bright is equal parts imagination, observation, and things I learned from WK (you know who that is - I don't spell it out because the crawler brings people here when I do).  I have been having quite a time getting some river pilings in that don't look dorky or sentimental, and then one day I think I figured it out. 

Ballerina Sketch in Charcoal & Pastel

Degas Copy - Ballerina Sketch

12" x 8.25"

Vine Charcoal, Graphite, Compressed White Charcoal and Pastel on Paper

Casey Klahn

This post originally published at Pastel, Ballerina Sketch. March 17, 2010.

These Degas copies are helping me on the path towards my own voice with the figure. Meanwhile, enjoy these, and keep a good thought for the master, Edgar Degas.

The Colorist

Degas Copies

Degas Copy - Ballerina 2
15" x 12"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn

This post originally published at Pastel, Degas Copies - Irrelevant; Not Irreverent. March 11, 2010.

These Degas copies were done by free-hand copying from Degas' sketches, with some measuring for proportions. The one posted today was then transferred to a La Carte board the old fashioned way by making a charcoal negative and rubbing the backside to leave an outline. The color is added by imagination, and with heavy influence from memories of Degas' style and color choices.

I have decided that he truly was focused on the drawing component of his pictures, and his "candid snapshots" of figures relied on draftsmanship and his realist ideas.

On The Easel

These copies cannot be sold, or submitted for juries, because of their derivative nature. They may be irrelevant, but they are not irreverent.

The Colorist

The Evening Light (Bald Ridge)

The Evening Light  (Bald Ridge)

7.2" x 11.2"

Pastel & Charcoal

Casey Klahn

pas camera

This image is from a view that I see out of the north window of my studio, quite a ways in the distance and to the side.  It is a butte that is 3 or 4 miles away.  I have done it, re-done it and done it again.  Perhaps I have it, now.

There is some trouble with my new blog project, but my enthusiasm is growing even with these speed bumps.  I can't wait to reveal it to you.

Orange Field and News

Orange Field

8" x 17.5"

Soft Pastel & Charcoal

Casey Klahn

point&shoot

The Prairie Series (soon to be renamed "Edge of the Prairie") continues.  I hope that this series will be my main exhibition at my art fairs this summer.  I am working on three series' at once right now.   

Hoquiam River, Boulders and Prairie. 

Kirkland Uncorked is July 16-18, 2010.  I'll be there and hope to see you. 

Sausalito is September 4-6, 2010.  See you there! I am cooking up a new blog project, which should be ready to go live by the end of the week. Stay tuned.

Kirkland Uncorked

Now my friends in the Seattle area can see my recent work at the upcoming Kirkland Uncorked.  This beautiful event is held by the shores of Lake Washington, and is adjacent to downtown Kirkland. It will be held July 16th through 18th - see the hours listed here.


See you there!

Kirkland Uncorked
Kirkland Uncorked Facebook

Try a Framed Print

I am offering a limited selection of my drawings and small still life images as prints and framed prints through the Imagekind service.  Search "Casey Klahn" when you go there. Here is your chance, for a limited time (unless I like it a lot and extend the offer forever) to get prints of my drawings at costs starting well under $100.


Casey Klahn at Imagekind.

Prairie Understory

Tangled Color

7.4" x 12"

Pastel & Charcoal

Casey Klahn

point&shoot

Here is where I'm keeping my point of view close to the ground.

Boulders

Boulders in Gray Woods

8" x 8.9"

Pastel 

Casey Klahn

point&shoot camera

I may have a new series on boulders.  Time will tell.

Subtle Sub Text

Sub Text Red

6.25" x 8.25"

point & shoot camera

Pastel

Casey Klahn

Memorial Day

This Memorial Day has been better represented in the news than some others.  Of course, you need to look for it.  Yesterday, our Fair Access Policy (Internet Kibbles) ran low, and so my web surf was slow to nothing.  I thought my days of party lines were over, but everything seems to come back around if you give it time.

Here are the good posts and videos I gathered from my searches.  I also took the time to read some more of a book I have about the World War II Memorial in D.C.  Classic art and architecture.  Bas-reliefs and statuary. I like the architect's words: "...there was a generation of Americans...that we must forever remember." Friedrich St. Florian.

Bas-Relief, US WW2 Memorial. Battle of the Bulge.

Sippican Cottage: Traditional Now; Do Flowers Grow On Pork Chop Hill?

Echo Taps.

Here is a video that I think is better for actual veterans.  Some things only initiates and those who pay close attention can understand and appreciate.  Respectful, grand and moving.

Parades and services are one thing.  I think that hearing a veteran tell stories is irreplaceable if you really want to pay respects.  This one is a helicopter pilot relating his Vietnam war experiences on Memorial Day. Emotional.


Memorial Day has morphed somewhat from a remembrance of our war dead to include all of our departed loved ones.  Here posted are some interesting vids about passed master artists, Henri Matisse and Andrew Wyeth.






Matisse Chapel at Vence: H/T Laura K. Aiken.

On The Other Hand - Artist's Quotes

Artist's Quotes.


"I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else,"  Pablo Picasso.

"Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid, " Jules Feiffer.

"Artists are, above all, men who want to become inhuman," Guillaume Apollinaire.
 
"Once, after finishing a picture, I thought I would stop for awhile, take a trip, do things--the next time I thought of this, I found five years had gone by," Willem deKooning.

"The first mistake of art is to assume that it's serious,"  Lester Bangs.

"Its hard to find the light when you're born in the dark,"  Emile Zola.

"I don't know what to do with my arms. It just makes me feel weird and I feel like people are looking at me and that makes me nervous,"  Tyra Banks.

"Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master,"  Leonardo da Vinci.

"Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass,"  Fran Lebowitz.



Note:

Loriann Signori is treating her readers to fresh quotes that she gleaned from attending master artist Wolf Kahn's recent talk.  One thing I like about Mr. Kahn is that he doesn't play the, "I know something you don't know" game.  He generously shares his painting wisdom, and then the challenge is on your shoulders.  Paint well, my friends!

Loriann Sees Wolf

Please read Loriann's after-action report on attending a Wolf Kahn seminar.  You will get much from his quotes.  My own Wolf Kahn studies lie here.


Also, around the blogosphere, see Katherine A. Cartwright's post of her Laws of Nature Series as it stands so far.  I am a fan.

Matisse Drawing, Speaking

Overdoing It

Studio Life

Overdoing It

Artists always want to know when a painting is finished.  A questioner once asked Wolf Kahn when he considers his painting finished.  Kahn said, "When it is no longer a royal pain in the ass to me."  Intuitive art is often a process of painting oneself into trouble, and finding the way out again.

I wrote recently about reclaiming sanded paper.  I have been taking used paper from my "failed paintings" pile and re-working the images.  The great thing I have discovered is that when I start out with a ghost image, I begin the process already in trouble!