Kathryn Clark Fine Art

A Long Dry Spell---"Is That Artist Block?"

2011-11-08T18:37:00.000-08:00

I see that my last blog post was September 5th, and today is November 8th. With October being one of the most beautiful months in Indiana to paint the landscape, I'm shocked that I didn't manage to paint even one canvas. There were many interruptions, like cleaning off the vegetable and flower gardens and going to Appleton, Wisconsin for a conference on hand papermaking. But when I really look at the month, I realize that I had a severe case of artist block. I even read four John Grisham novels. Could seeing my paintings hanging in a gallery cause fear-of-failure?

Well, I broke the spell this past weekend with a 16" x 20" oil of a bend in Moot's Creek which meanders around on the south edge of Brookston, where I live. It's a studio painting from a photo reference and several trips to the site to see the color and light. First, you'll see the beginning of the painting on the easel and then the finished piece.

"October on Moot's Creek", Oil, 16" x 20" © Kathryn Clark

Well, I think the spell has been broken; I'm energized again and am looking forward to applying paint to canvas.

This month, I'm also donating an oil painting to the main fundraiser for the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.

"Plucked Tree Peony", oil, 14" x 11", © Kathryn Clark

The ICO sent the invited artists three musical works on a CD to inspire the painting. I chose William Bolcom's Concerto in D or Violin and Orchestra because it is quite dramatic and yet intimate and delicate at the same time. http://www.icomusic.org/ . If you'd like to bid on this painting, you can contact the ICO office on their web site.

With the Halloween demons put to rest, I hope your November will be enjoyable and fruitful. Thank you for viewing my art.

"From Sketchbook to Canvas"

2011-09-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

For a painter, or any artist, the process of creating is the "reason for being", the thrill of trying to solve a self imposed problem. It's about learning, self discovery, and sharing your personality with the viewer. Rarely does the viewer get to see anything but the final result. This month, I'm participating in an exhibition at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation, Lafayette, IN, with three other painters (Therese Lynch, Margaret Hanke, and Susan Doster) in which we'll hang fully developed oil paintings along with their sketches, field studies, and progressive photos. You'll get to learn how paintings are created. The exhibition opens Friday, September 16th at TAF, 638 North St., Lafayette, IN 47901. You'll also be treated to gypsy jazz music by The Hot Club of Colfax with my husband, Howie, playing his rhythm guitar. I hope you can come!! If you can't make it, the exhibition will be on display through October 21st. Sept. 16th is also the evening of Art Walk in Lafayette with many other exhibits open to the public as well.

In this post, I'm going to show you the development of one painting which will be in this exhibit. "April Morning: New Harmony, IN" is a featured painting with sketches, a field study, progressive photos, and the final, large developed painting.

Thumbnail sketch and Value Study

"Field Study" painted plein air in New Harmony, IN, April 2011, 8" x 10"

"Initial Drawing" on 18" x 24" linen, oil primed canvas with a brush

"The Block In": large areas are indicated with general color

my palette, brushes, rags, and odorless mineral spirits

Finished painting, "April Morning: New Harmony" oil on linen canvas, 18" x 24", August, 2011 in my studio

This will give you a preview of the Tippecanoe Arts Federation exhibition this month--Oct 21. If you get to see the full exhibition, I'd certainly enjoy your comments. You can see this and all my paintings on my web site along with purchasing information. www.kathrynclarkfineart.com

Now I have another treat for you. After I sent my post about the West Baden Springs Hotel Paint-Out, I found out that the Brown County Art Gallery in Nashville, IN, http://www.browncountyartgallery.org/westbaden/springshotel.html who sponsored the event, created a great video of it. You'll see Howard playing his guitar and hear him playing the background music at the beginning of the video. You'll also see me painting along with others, the huge domed atrium of the hotel , the sale of paintings on the veranda, and the very last painting they show in the video is my finished plein air of the hotel. Here's the link:http://www.browncountyartgallery.org/westbaden/paintout.html

The fall is going to be busy and exciting around here; I trust it will be for you too.

The Famous West Baden Springs Hotel

2011-08-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

In my last blog, I gave you a "teaser" about the soon-to-happen paint-out at the 1902 West Baden Springs Hotel in West Baden, IN near French Lick and Brown County. http://www.frenchlick.com/aboutUs/history/wbsh This is how one of the web sites describes it:

An Historic Indiana Luxury Hotel

Enter the splendid atrium of West Baden Springs Hotel and feel transported back to its halcyon days. Once dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” for its seemingly implausible six-story, free-span dome this landmark Indiana luxury hotel has been meticulously restored to its original 1902 grandeur. Timelessly elegant, this well-appointed Indiana luxury resort is a true American classic.

Timeless Elegance within this Landmark Indiana Luxury Resort

Embark upon an unforgettable Indiana luxury holiday within the grand West Baden Springs Hotel, offering two extraordinary spas, 45 holes of legendary golf and an elegant, Beaux Arts gaming establishment.

Well, my husband and I had a fabulous time there. The huge grounds and gardens have been beautifully restored including the four Spring Houses where visitors at the turn of the century would drink the natural mineral water for their health. All of this spectacular architecture and gardens offered the artists a bounty of subject matter to paint.

My husband, Howie, and I spent a night in the spectacular hotel with its huge dome on the fifth floor overlooking the atrium. Before sinking into the elegant sheets, we listened to some wonderful jazz (piano, base, drums) in the hotel along with a delicious meal.

Howie never goes anywhere without at least one guitar so you may notice a guitar and banjo behind him in the corner of the room. He's content to play for hours while I paint, and the other artists love the background music too.

As you can see, we all had a blast of a time, and Howie even got his portrait painted by Chris Newlund. I painted that view of the hotel in the first photo of this blog and finished a good painting. However, I can only show you the painting in progress because I intend to submit the finished painting to the book Painting Indiana III: Historic Architecture. We aren't allowed to publish any paintings to be submitted so here's my painting in progress:

The canvas panel is 9" x 12" and is certainly more than half complete but just not finished. However, this should show you the view and the impact of the painting. On the final day of the Paint-Out, there was a very successful Painting Sale on the veranda with wine and cheese for collectors and the public to see the freshly painted works along with framed paintings we brought from home. A big "thank you" to the sponsors of this event: Indiana Heritage Arts org. and The Brown County Art Gallery. http://www.browncountyartgallery.org/indiana/heritagearts.html

From Sketchbook to Canvas: Four Artists Show the Process

On September 16, an exhibition opens with my paintings along with three other oil painters at The Tippecanoe Arts Federation in Lafayette, IN. Because this is a noncommercial gallery, we've decided to let it have an educational bent by explaining the painting process with sketches, field studies, and progressive photos of the finished work while it was being painted. My next blog will show you some of those things----so stay tuned.

If you've enjoyed this blog and know others who might also, please send this to them so they can sign up to receive it by e-mail or become a "follower". I'm excited to see this group growing to include people from all over the world, and you know how I love to get emails from you.

www.kathrynclarkfineart.com

The Indiana Dunes & Our Inland Ocean

2011-08-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we in the Midwest forget that we have our own freshwater ocean called The Great Lakes! Personally, I have been extremely negligent about appreciating and enjoying this amazing body of water, I'm sad to say. This past weekend, I rediscovered its beauty and the sheer delight of watching all the families playing at its shore. Sun and Sand!! Can't beat that combination at Indiana's National Lake-shore, part of the national park system. http://www.nps.gov/indu/index.htm and the Indiana Dunes State Park http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/2980.htm. I went up with a painting buddy, Margaret Hanke, to participate in a paint-out sponsored by the Indiana Plein Air Painters Assoc. http://www.inpainters.org/, basically two days of painting where ever we wanted near the Dunes and Lake Michigan, then getting together at the end to see all the paintings complete and incomplete.

I finished two paintings at the Dunes and put the final brush strokes on the third today.

"Indiana Dunes Lake Shore", 9" x 12", oil on canvas panel

This is a very happy painter, having found some afternoon shade after painting in full sun in the morning. All plein air painters try to paint within a time window of three hours (one painting in the morning, one in the late afternoon) because the sun changes radically after that amount of time. Here's the painting I did from this spot:

"Indiana Dunes--Beach Play", oil on canvas panel, 9" x 12"

The quantity of sand on the Dunes is astounding!! Some of the dunes are more than forty feet high! and we climbed one called Mt. Baldy, but this isn't it.

"Indiana Dunes--Pines", oil on canvas panel, 8" x 10"

We're planning a fall trip back up there to see how the landscape changes color with the dying foliage and the fall light. It will no doubt be a tad cooler too which will be greatly appreciated.

My next painting excursion will be to the famous and elegant West Baden Springs Hotel in Brown County Indiana on August 19th and 20th. Click on this link to read about French Lick and its amazing history and restoration! http://www.frenchlick.com/aboutus/history/wbsh and the West Baden Springs Hotel with its amazing dome--an architectural feat! http://www.frenchlick.com/hotels/westbaden I'm so excited to spend a night in this incredibly beautiful, turn of the 19th century hotel. At this paint-out, the painters will be able to sell paintings completed there and to also bring other finished and framed paintings. All paintings will be sold directly by the artist, so I hope you can come and find me. I'll be painting outside the hotel on the porch or the grounds and will have previously finished paintings with me. "Saturday, Aug. 20th, there will be a reception in the hotel lobby and library area from 3-5pm with music, food, and wine. Artists may display paintings on the veranda just outside the library to sell during the reception. Three works at a time are allowed." If you know people who might like to attend this wonderful opportunity to see both beautiful paintings and beautiful architecture, please forward this blog to them.

August is the crescendo of summer! It's hard to fit it all in! Thank you for reading about my painting life and viewing my efforts. I always love to hear from you...

"Seafaring Wreck"

2011-07-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

On the South Carolina coast in the barrier islands, this old hull spoke to me like a beached whale, still breathing.

"Seafaring Wreck", 14" x 11", oil on canvas panel, studio painting from photo reference

Summer is All About the Color Green

2011-07-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's the 4th of July, and already it's so hot and humid I feel like I need to swim through it sometimes. Presently I'm reading Pat Conroy's South of Broad which takes place in Charleston, SC, the city near the barrier islands of Seabrook where I painted in the relatively dry spring. He describes the summer in Charleston as being even more humid than Indiana so I shouldn't wine too much. The other thing about summer that painters want to wine about is the color green--there's just tooooo much of it in the landscape. Painting in the summer is all about seeing how many variations of the color green we can come up with.

This is my first painting of the summer, and I'm trying to discover some of the greens in the trees over Burnett's Creek outside Battle Ground, IN. I've included a photo of the initial drawing on the (oil primed) linen canvas with its "block in" to show you how it looked as I began the painting.

"Sultry Afternoon on Burnett's Creek", 20" x 16", oil on linen canvas

This is how it looked when I "finished" it yesterday. But I'll put it away for a week and then see it fresh to determine if I need to tweak it one way or another. If you'd like to make a comment, I'd love to hear them. And please forward this on to anyone else you think might like to see it. Hope the summer's been good to you so far and that you're staying relatively cool.

33rd Indiana Heritage Arts Juried Exhibition

2011-06-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Indiana Heritage Arts is a nonprofit organization with a mission of nurturing the rich art heritage of Brown County and the famous Hoosier Group Impressionist painters from the turn of the 19th Century. http://www.browncountyartgallery.org/indiana/heritagearts.html That group included T.C. Steele, Otis Adams, William Forsyth, and Otto Stark among others. This exhibition is perhaps the most important annual exhibition for realist painters that happens in Indiana. Any painter who has ever lived in Indiana can enter. All original paintings must be delivered to the Brown County Art Gallery for jurying. This year the juror was Kathryn Stats, a fabulous landscape painter from Utah. http://www.kathrynstats.com/ Collectors seek out this exhibition to purchase the best paintings by the best artists in the state. I was delighted to have two paintings accepted and to win an Award of Merit for "January on Moot's Creek" http://kathrynclarkfineart.com/works/569710/january-on-moots-creek. This is the other painting that was accepted:

"Voyageur Sailing the Wabash" oil, 14" x 11"

This exhibition is still on display, but only till June 25th. It's at the Brown county Art Gallery, corner of Main and Artists Drive in Nashville, IN. open till 5pm each day. I hope you can work a visit into your busy schedule this week. Their phone is 812-988-0099.

Along with painting landscapes out in the elements, I'm trying to paint in my studio some this summer from "field studies" (smallish plein air paintings) and photo references. In this way, I'll hopefully be able to create a couple of larger paintings for a fall exhibition that's coming up fast.

Also on a techy note about this blog, Google now offers an option for blogs to be viewed on iphones and other android devices, so I have applied that format to this blog. You can now see it on any computer device for your convenience. I don't have any of those devices so I can't see what that looks like. So I hope you like what you see. Let me know. Your comments are always enjoyed by me, and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of June!

The Silent and Beautiful Salt Marshes of South Carolina

2011-06-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

My painting buddies and I just returned from a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina called Seabrook, about a thirty minute drive from Charleston. Three mornings of the week we were there, I walked from their home out on to this vast, still, quiet, salt marsh to try to capture its beauty. Because the marsh is ecologically fragile and filled with deep mud, tall sea grass, tiny crabs, and other small wild life, there are wooden board walks above the sea grass that slink out into it. This is where I painted.

"Salt Marsh Channels", oil on linen board, 9" x 12"

This is the second view of the salt marsh which I painted from the dock in the main water channel.

"Salt Marsh Dock", oil on linen board, 12" x 9"

Back on our host's porch, I made some final changes.

Although we didn't get a chance to paint along the ocean side of the island, we did take many photos of the ocean, boats, and much more. Here are a few pics to give you the flavor of the place:

The commercial fishermen were out shrimping when we were here.

The restaurant to the right where we tasted the local catch looked out on a dock of charter fishing boats.

I hope your sun is setting in a beautiful spot as well. Until next time......I'll be finding exciting spots to paint back home in Indiana.

Painting a Fishing Boat is Getting Me In the Mood for Summer!

2011-05-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

"Tied Up in Newport Harbor, Oregon" 14" x 11", oil on linen panel

This spring, I haven't been painting as much as I did last spring. So to get in the mood for summer, I painted a commercial fishing boat that catches crab in Newport Harbor, Oregon. This painting was done from a photo that I took last summer when I was there and was painted in my studio over two days, about five hours total I think. Another reason I painted this is that, in a few days, I'm going to Seabrook, SC with a couple of painting buddies (Therese Lynch and Margaret Hanke) to paint (of course). I suspect there'll be lots of boats there, and I had never painted a real, traditional fishing boat so I thought I should give it a try before I get to the ocean in South Carolina where we'll be painting plein air. I loved the reflection of this bright blue boat in the water and its juxtaposition to the yellow and orange boats. Never knew commercial fishing boats were so colorful! Life is Art and so is fishing!

Several people reminded me that, in my last post, I raved about Twinrocker Handmade Drawing Paper but didn't include the link to their web site. Here it is: www.twinrocker.com. If you want to get a swatch set, ask them questions, or place an order, their toll free 800 number is on their web site also. Paintings and drawings on my web site are now for sale through PayPal and include packing and shipping. www.kathrynclarkfineart.com My next post will hopefully include some paintings from Seabrook, SC---sun and sand, oh boy! Thank you for your comments and for viewing this blog.

Drawing the Figure at the Lafayette Art Museum

2011-05-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

11" x 14"

It's difficult to explain to a non-artist how intensely enjoyable it is to look (gaze, stare, scrutinize) an object, landscape, or figure for an hour or more without stopping. However, it's almost unimaginable how FAST the time flies by when I'm drawing or painting it. That is interpreting the subject on paper or canvas with pencil marks or brush strokes,. If I wasn't drawing the subject, it would probably be impossible to sit and just look at a figure for an hour. But when you draw or paint it, you're constantly comparing, adjusting, asking yourself, "Is it too big or too small, too high or too low, too dark or too light? What part do I want to emphasize? How will I lead the viewer through this?" and on and on...

10" x 7"

12" x 12"

Then there's the beauty of the mark itself to consider, i.e. the calligraphic stroke, be it pencil, pen, or brush and the sweep, looseness, pressure on the paper.

10" x 7"

In the beginning, there is the gesture of the figure to consider, especially in a quick 8 minute study as in the two figures above.

11" x 14"

14" x 11"

And one of the MOST IMPORTANT things to choose are the MATERIALS AND TOOLS I'm going to draw or paint with. After all, the materials I choose are what the viewer will actually see and possibly own and live with. When drawing, the pencil and especially the paper is crucial. The paper needs to be responsive to my touch, beautiful to see (as the drawing itself will cover very little of it) and yet tough and erasable. That's why I always draw on Twinrocker handmade paper. This paper has a sensitive, natural look like the marks I'm making on it; it's not mechanical looking like machine made paper. Consequently, it's much more fun to draw on than machine made paper, and the result shows it. Twinrocker paper is also completely archival, cotton rag, and light fast so the drawing on this paper, colored with pigments, can hang in someones home without ever fading. Sometimes artists think handmade paper is too good for them or too expensive, but a large sheet of Twinrocker drawing paper, in a Text or Heavy Text weight is about the price of lunch.

Well, I guess I sound like an advertisement, but if you purchase one of these drawings, you'll see what I mean. All these drawings are priced at $45 which includes packing and shipping in the lower 48 states. You can see them in a larger format and other work as well on my web site www.kathrynclarkfineart.com . I'm happy to say that soon, all the drawings and paintings will be available for purchase on my web site with PayPal, hopefully within the next few days. I'm trying to make it easier for people to purchase works without having to contact me. Thank you for all the comments and thoughts you've sent. I enjoy them very much, and remember I'm happy to answer any questions whether it's about art, ideas, materials, or techniques. Please share this with friends who may be interested. And thank you for viewing this blog.

The Paint-Out in New Harmony, IN

2011-05-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

There were about 150 artists at the Paint-Out in New Harmony, IN, "The First Blush of Spring", perhaps the most ever, and the weather was predicted to be good and bad. The tiny historic town near the tip of the boot of Indiana sends everyone who visits back in time, and spring is a lovely time to be there. The first day was sunny without a cloud in the sky. I painted along a little wooded creek just behind the New Harmony Inn, a little 8" x 10" oil supported on my "Easy L" pochade box.

I love the delicate pale green color of spring leaves as they begin to leaf out along with the color and reflections of the bridge and trees in the creek. The New Harmony Paint-Out has an event called "From Field to Finish" in which the artist paints a small "field study" (no bigger than 12" length) during the paint-out and then paints a larger, more developed painting at home in the artist's studio from the field study. Just before the next year's paint-out, the artists send their field study and the larger, finished painting to the Hoosier Salon Gallery in New Harmony to be exhibited and possibly to receive a prize. I plan on painting a larger, finished painting of this image from this field study for this competition.

My husband, Howie, entertained me and other artists as we painted. He plays in two bands and needs his practice time too. It made for a very pleasant afternoon. The next day, we woke to rain and wind with a miserable forecast but went ahead and set up our easels under a very large awning in front of a great coffee shop in the center of town. The coffee warmed our fingers and dispositions.

Slowly, the temperature warmed too; the rain stopped and the clouds even parted occasionally to let the sun through in the afternoon.

Another artist and musician, Rick Wilson from Edinburgh, In, joined Howie who was playing banjo and another visitor joined the jam session with his banjo. Several of us were singing harmony as we painted, and all of a sudden four more artists showed up to paint the musicians.

This is what "paint-outs" are all about, painting little plein air studies of the landscape and having a great time with other painters, meeting people and making new friends.

Now I'm home and trying to get my vegetable garden in if it will ever stop raining. One note that is a follow-up from my last blog: my painting "Winter in the Lilly Garden" which is in the Indiana Artist Club competitive exhibition at the Indianapolis Art Museum won an Award of Merit which made me very happy indeed! You can see that exhibition through June 5th. Also, the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette just had their paint-out this past weekend with perfect weather. I was on the paint-out committee but managed to finish one painting which I'll post in my next blog after I photograph it. More about that event then, and that's all for now. Stay tuned...

Please share these ramblings with whomever you think would enjoy them, and you can see more of my paintings on my web site at www.kathrynclarkfineart.com. As you know, your comments are always appreciated.

Spring is Here! Let's Go Painting!

2011-04-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

You may have thought I left the country, with my last blog post being sent January 19th, but I only went to Oregon to take care of my sister after her surgery. Even though Oregon is beautiful in the winter, it was too cold to paint and consequently the long silence from me. However, I did manage to paint one small image from a photo that I took of the parched Oregon hillside last August. So here is my one new offering for you:

"Hillside in August", 11" x 14", oil on canvas panel

When I returned from Oregon, I was excited to learn that one of my paintings was accepted in the Indiana Artists Club Juried Exhibition which will hang at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The opening and awards are April 17th with the exhibit running through June 5th. I hope you can get to see the paintings. This is my painting that was accepted:

"Winter in the Lilly Garden", 16" x 20", oil on linen canvas

Now spring must officially be here because I'm off tomorrow to paint at the first paint-out of season in New Harmony, IN, the historic town located in the tip of the tip of the Indiana boot where the Ohio and Wabash rivers come together. The Indiana Plein Air Painters call it "The First Blush of Spring", a three-day event which usually brings over a hundred painters from Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and even further afield. Howard, my husband and sweetie, is going with me to play guitar and banjo with all the musicians down in that tiny old fashioned town. Here's a link to some of the history of this Utopian community where the National Geological Survey was also founded. http://maxkade.iupui.edu/newharmony/home.html

I hope you enjoy these paintings. You can see more of my paintings on my web site at www.kathrynclarkfineart.com And you know I always like to hear your comments on the paintings and anything else you'd like to contribute. If you have friends who would like to receive my artist blog, please pass it along to them. And I promise you won't need to wait three months for my next post. Hopefully at least one painting will pop out of me in New Harmony.

Oh the Beautiful Grays of Winter....

2011-01-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

There's an amazing thing that happens in a Midwest winter. The color of the landscape gradually becomes more and more muted until there is almost no color at all. That's when we can enjoy the beauty in the vast variety of grays: warm taupe y grays, cool blue grays, piercing midnight grays, and the most delicate soft, soft off whites.

"Winter Reflection on Moot's Creek", oil on linen canvas, 20" x 16"

Snow, wonderful snow, is a major contributor to this huge range of values and textures: as it falls quietly, or in a blizzard, or blows across the prairie, rising as well as falling. Dead and dormant plant life, sunlight or the lack of it, and snow---that's it. I've been wanting to try to capture those qualities on canvas-the soft gray landscape with just the hint of color. When I look at the winter landscape, many times I think there is no color at first, but then I see it, the evergreen spruce or pale golden grasses.

The creek just west of Brookston, IN is Moot's Creek. The little bridge that crosses it gives a painter a perfect vantage point. When the sun is out, the shadows are dramatic on the snow, but when it's overcast with a light snow falling, that's when all the grays are there to relish.

"Moot's Creek in January", oil on linen canvas, 18" x 24"

I hope you have some beautiful landscapes nearby this winter which are full of many grays . As always, you can see all my paintings on my web site www.kathrynclarkfineart.com. Thank you for viewing my paintings and reading my rambles. If you know of others who might like to get this artist blog, please pass this along to them, and you know I love to read your comments. Next week I fly to Eugene, Oregon for two to three months to help my sister. (My husband, Howard, will hold down the homestead and continue to build the addition on it.) Spring is in the air there already in Oregon; flowers start to appear in February. Nature never stands still.

The Eli Lilly Estate "Oldfields" from the Canal

2011-01-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

With this post, I thought it would be interesting to show you a recently finished painting along with a view of my studio and the progressive stages of painting it. This painting is of the Eli Lilly home and estate called "Oldfields" which the Lilly family gave to the Indianapolis Museum of Art for the permanent sight of the modern, large art museum. The estate encompasses many acres, with beautiful formal gardens and stately old trees, in which visitors are welcome to wander at their leisure. It's an amazing place and not to be missed when visiting Indianapolis. ( www.imamuseum.org ) This view of the mansion is from the rear as it sits high above a canal that takes water from the White River to the center of Indianapolis for the cities water supply. Because the painting is large (18" x 24") and the scene is in December, I took a photo of the scene which I used as a photo reference to paint in my studio.

"Oldfields from the Canal", Oil on linen canvas, 18" x 24"

This is my studio. The painting on the easel is about a third complete. You can see my computer with the photo reference in the center and my paints and brushes on the right, complete with coffee cup. Now I'll show you the initial drawing of the scene on the canvas, drawn with a brush and oil paint thinned with odorless turpentine.

And here are the other progressive stages of painting during the development to the finished scene:

It was very, very cold that day, and you're probably wondering how I got to the other side of the canal. Well, there is a little foot bridge some distance to the right of this view. I hope you can feel the cold dry air and the wind whipping along the canal as I can remember the day. Painting winter scenes in my studio with a hot cup of coffee is much more pleasurable than being out there in the weather.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my painting process. Thank you for viewing my paintings and for your interest. Remember that I always enjoy hearing your thoughts and comments, and hope you'll pass this along to friends who might be interested as well. You can see all my paintings on my web site www.kathrynclarkfineart.com.

An Exhibition at the Hoosier Salon Gallery Jan 12--Feb 27th

2011-01-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

This month I'm delighted to be in an exhibition at the Hoosier Salon Gallery in Wabash, IN with two other painters, Gwen Gutwein and Diane Overmyer. The exhibition, titled "Reflections of the Land" will be on display from January 12---February 27th at 111 West Market St, Wabash, IN, phone for hours open (260-563-0454). There'll be a reception on Sunday, Jan. 16th from 3-5pm. www.hoosiersalon.org This gallery is in a beautifully restored group of buildings in the center of the city with a gorgeous Victorian hotel and fine restaurant next door and a old fashioned cafe/soda fountain and a wine shop on the other side. Here are a couple of new paintings that are on display.

"Voyageur on the Wabash", Oil on linen canvas, 16" x 20" $2300 framed in gold leaf

(the view of a Voyageur canoe with hand held sail floating down the Wabash at the Feast of the Hunters Moon reenactment harvest festival this past October at Ft. Ouiotenon, outside Lafayette, IN)

"After the Rain", Oil on linen canvas, 24" x 18", $2200 framed in gold leaf

(a view of cliffs and caves at Turkey Run State Park in the spring)

"Winter in the Lilly Gardens", Oil on linen Canvas, 16" x 20", $2900 framed in silver leaf
(view of the gardens at Oldfields, the Lilly estate that is now the home of the Indianapolis Museum of Art)

I know some of you live very far away, but I hope those of you who live in northern Indiana and southern Michigan will have an opportunity to go. Wabash is in the center of the north half of Indiana. If you can't make it to the gallery, you can see all my paintings on my web site at www.kathrynclarkfineart.com. Thank you for viewing my art. Remember that I always like to hear from you, and please share this with your friends.

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

"Winter on the Lilly Grounds", Oil 16" x 20", 2010.

This fall has flown by, Christmas is already here, and what a WHITE one it is! After a very warm and gorgeous fall, December has been constantly cold and beautiful in its whiteness. I didn't get a chance to paint as much as I wanted to during the fall because of several trips, including the exciting Twinrocker Retrospective Exhibition opening in Atlanta, but the December snows encouraged everyone to hibernate, and that meant me painting in my studio. I just finished this landscape of the formal Lilly gardens at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The afternoon light raking across the snow seemed to create a captivating glow on the little stone figure. Can't wait to paint another snowy landscape after the holiday, but now we're looking forward to seeing friends from far away, eating way too much, laughing, and playing lots of music.

I hope you'll be cozy and warm and share your holiday with special people in your life as well.

Twinrocker Handmade Paper: A 40 Year Retrospective Exhibit

2010-09-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Twinrocker: Forty Years of Hand Papermaking

Kathryn With Paper Mould 1983, Todd Matus

The Robert C. Williams

Paper Museum
Georgia Institute of Technology
500 10th Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30332

TWINROCKER: FORTY YEARS OF HAND PAPERMAKING

Opening Reception:

Thursday, September 23, 2010

5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Exhibition:

September 23,- December 17, 2010

Add to my calendar

Driving Directions

Please join us on September 23rd from 5 to 7pm

for the opening reception of :

"Twinrocker

Forty Years of Hand Papermaking"

The exhibition celebrates Twinrocker's 40th anniversary and marks the first time this collection has ever been on public view. We will be joined by the founders of Twinrocker, Kathryn and Howard Clark.

Twinrocker papers have appeared in the portfolios of some of American's most important artists and fine limited edition book publishers. The exhibit will include a number of these first edition fine art books, each a work of art in itself. Among the artists and writers represented in the exhibit are Robert Rauschenberg, Sally Mann, Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns, Jim Dine, Chuck Close, Willem de Kooning, Larry Rivers, Octavio Paz, Czeslaw Milosz, Morri Creech, John Ashberry, and others. A number of photos taken byTodd Matus that document the history of Twinrocker will be included.

The Robert C. Williams Paper Museum
at Georgia Tech
www.ipst.gatech.edu/amp
404 894-6663

August in Oregon Painting Plein Air

2010-09-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

At the end of July, I flew to Eugene, Oregon to visit my twin sister, Peg, who is also an artist. Our first outing was a trip to the coast in Newport to join a group of Eugene Plein Air Painters. The coast is so, so beautiful in Oregon with rocky cliffs, coastal pines, pale sandy beaches, and outcroppings of basalt that line the shore--waves crashing, sea lions sunning themselves, sea gulls and of course the beautiful setting sun. Most of the Oregon coast is wild with few tourists, and every inch of it is public land. Here's my first plein air painting in Newport, near the light house:

"Fog Approaching", alla prima oil on canvas panel, 12" x 9".

In the next few days, I'll post my other Oregon paintings. On this Labor Day weekend, as the summer comes to a close, I hope the past three months have been all you wished for. As always, I'd love to hear from you. And please pass this blog along to other you think may enjoy it.

"Summer Play Time at the Lake"

2010-07-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I painted and played at Lake Wawasee & Lake Webster in northern Indiana with about thirty other artists at a paint-out by the Indiana Plein Air Painters. Nothing says "summer" quite like sunny skies, a warm breeze, water, boats. This quick, little 6" x 8", alla prima oil is of "Honky Bridge", as the locals call it, since the underpass is only wide enough for one boat at a time. I caught the morning sun at about 11am, just as it peaked over the top of the bridge. Yum! In the afternoon, we found Webster Lake full of party boats, and ski dos, with some of them congregating at this island and jumping overboard for a swim.

"Summer Play Time at the Lake", oil, 9" x 12". Hope you're finding time to play this summer too!

"Tyler", painted with the Zorn Palette

2010-07-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

I'm finding this limited Zorn palette quite fun! Here is my second portrait using it, painted from a model. Tyler seems quite melancholy, perhaps wishing he was with his sweetie. This is another 12" x 9" oil. Hope you enjoy meeting these folks. (This makes me wonder if people ever buy portraits of people they don't know?)

Portraits in Oil using the Zorn Palette

2010-07-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've begun to paint portraits in oil which has been quite compelling because I half way feel like I'm creating a new human being. This is partly because they sometimes don't look quite like the model, i.e. a "new" person, which I find quite fun and intriguing. Being new to painting portraits, I'm learning with two painter friends. We've been watching a DVD by Jeffery Watts on "Painting the Gesture Portrait" using the very limited palette of Anders Zorn, who lived near the turn of the century in Sweden. The portraits are painted with only four pigments: White, Black, Yellow Ochre, and Cadmium Red Light. His portraits using this limited palette are truly amazing and beautiful! My goal is both to learn to paint rich paintings with only four pigments (and no blue) as well as to paint with greater gesture in my brushwork--to loosen up! This is how it works: Black is very cool and therefore offers a subtle blue; yellow ochre and black make a green of sorts; cad. red and black make a purple of sorts, yellow ochre and cad. red make an orange; yellow ochre, cad. red and black make a brown. So there you have it. Now to transform those four pigments into a loose, gestural portrait. This is my second oil portrait ever and the first with this Zorn palette. It's "Andrew", 12" x 9", oil, from the model.

Painting is "life-long learning" and learning always adds to much to life. Remember, I always appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please forward this to your friends who might be interested.

Painting in a Kiwi Garden

2010-07-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

A large group of friends own a communal garden and land in Warren County, IN with some of them living there. Two weeks ago I joined them on a garden work day. This 9" x 12" oil is of their Kiwi arbor. Yes, I was surprised that Kiwis grow in Indiana too, but there is apparently a very hardy variety. Today is the Friday before the 4th of July, so most of us will probably be heading out into the landscape. Have a great and relaxing weekend!

"Day Lilies & Goose-necks"

2010-06-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

The perennials keep coming in my garden, and I can barely keep up with them when there are "Paint-Outs" to go to. A Paint-Out is a community organized event for artists to paint directly from the landscape. People come from all across Indiana to paint directly from the landscape in one place on a certain day, or sometimes more than one day, and then to display the paintings. There is always a SALE of the artists' paintings for the public at the end of the event. That's what I participated in at Noblesville, IN a couple of weeks ago. Sooo, now I'm home painting Day Lilies, Goose-necks, and Baby's Breath from my garden in an antique glass Arts & Crafts handmade vase. Yes, the vase barely shows, but it may appear in full view later in another painting. This oil painting is 14" x 11". Purchase information is on my web site www.kathrynclarkfineart.com. If you know others who would enjoy my blogs please forward this to them. And remember I always enjoy hearing from you.

"Swinging at Forest Park"

2010-06-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, the Hamilton County Art Assoc. in Noblesville, IN held their annual three day Paint-Out, with two days of painting and a painting sale and judging, awards, etc. on the third day. I painted in Forest Park, a dream come true park with just about everything from golf, to horse shoes, swimming, skate boarding, miniature golf, and amazing jungle gyms, swings, etc. As I was happily situated under huge old trees in the shade, I realized it was a great opportunity to paint figures in action on the swings. There are large, circular disks which are large enough for two youngsters to sit or lye on while swinging. I'd never included figures in a landscape painting before so thought this was definitely the time to try it. Here is the result, a 14" x 11" oil which was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Oil category during the awards on the last day.

"Burnett's Creek at Dusk"

2010-06-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

Even though the temperature was in the high 80's and the humidity higher, I got out of my studio and into nature with a painter friend from Chicago. Laurie Kennard took the train down to Lafayette, which is near Brookston, and spent the Memorial Day weekend here in the "country". Along with being a painter, she's a well known milliner. You can see her unique hats at www.chapeau.us. We painted on a ledge over looking Burnett's Creek in Battle Ground, IN. (the site of the last major Indian battle east of the Mississippi where Wm Henry Harrison commanded the US. troops, and you know who "won") Unlike that fateful, bloody day, it was a lazy, hazy, day with little children splashing about catching minnows. As the sun was setting, my husband Howard, joined us after listening to the 500 mile race on the radio all afternoon. He brought a guitar, banjo, and picnic basket with wine, cheese, crackers and apples. The perfect ending to a perfect plein air day.

If you have friends who would enjoy thee blogs, please forward it to them. And remember that I always like to hear your comments.

"Garden Girl's Reflection"

2010-05-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

"Garden Girl's Reflection" oil on Classen's oil primed linen canvas, 24" x 18". This is the canvas on which I normally paint.

Diane Tesler's summer studio is in a very old IOOF hall in Kewanna, Indiana, a little old farming town mostly abandoned, on the cross roads of two rarely used state highways in middle north Indiana. As with many forgotten towns, most of the buildings are abandoned, but the people who live there are a close knit community struggling to survive. She lives in Alexandria, VA in the winter and teaches at the Torpedo Factory, a beautiful and totally congested part of America. Years ago, she happened on Kewanna with a friend and fell in love with the old memories lying about in the town and on the surrounding farms. These abandoned cars and tractors find life in her paintings along with the abandoned farm houses. You can see her paintings on her web site at www.dianetesler.com.

In this three day workshop, she prepared about ten still life set ups from which the fifteen participants could choose. I chose this old mirror with a little garden girl and potted plants because it was close to the floor-to-ceiling front window with natural north light. What did I learn? hmmmmm Well, I learned about a couple of synthetic sable brushes that Diane absolutely can't paint without, the formula for her medium of Damar varnish, Stand oil, and Gum turpentine, and two or three new paints that I want to add to my palette, especially Holbein Rose Gray, and maybe Holbein Gray Green, and Monochrome Warm. She also told me about a source for "tough as nails" canvas stretchers for large paintings. Yes, I would like to paint on a large scale occasionally. Diane's a very encouraging yet truthful teacher who makes comments to each student at that person's own level of expertise, not an easy task. I suspect it takes a great deal of teaching experience to tactfully cut to the chase with each participant's "baby".

Fleeting May Flowers Picked from My Garden

2010-05-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

"May Garden Flowers", oil, 14" x 11" www.kathrynclarkfineart.com

Goodness! I wish I could make time stand still in my garden for about three weeks while I paint the peonies, European and Japanese irises, and poppies. Well, I plunked a few into another vase and painted them in my studio a couple of days ago. The "in my studio" aspect is in preparation for a workshop I'm taking from Diane Tesler this weekend up in Kewanna, Indiana on painting Still Lifes. I've painted fewer than five still lifes in oil, unless you count these flowers, so it will be interesting to explore this genre and find out why she likes it. She also paints large canvases, so I'm looking forward to learning her tricks about stretching large pieces of canvas over wooden stretchers. Have a good weekend!

Remember I always enjoy your comments, and please forward this blog to others who may enjoy receiving it.

More Flowers from my Garden in a Vase

2010-05-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

Having never painted flowers much in oil , I decided to paint another Tree Peony, and then the Iris began to bloom so they ended up in a vase too. Painting in my studio is a more secure environment when there's a spotlight on the flower in a vase rather than the sun moving, changing shadows, etc. Here are two examples; tomorrow, or when ever it decides to stop raining and the sun should come out, I'll tackle the flowers in their natural environment---the garden.

If the sun comes out tomorrow, I'll paint from my garden. Spring perennials are so fleeting and precious. As soon as their gone, we have to wait a whole year to see them again! When I paint them, I see them in a whole new way. And I hope you do too.
Remember, your comments are appreciated. Welcome to Spring and soon Summer! For purchase information, see my web site, www.kathrynclarkfineart.com.

Flowers from my Spring Garden

2010-05-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, I see it's been almost a month since I created a post to this blog. Spring gets quite busy for a landscape painter with all the good weather. I was supposed to spend a week in New Harmony, IN painting in this quaint, historic village at the tip of the boot of Indiana where the Ohio and Wabash Rivers come together. My husband, Howard, and I rented a lovely house for the week with some other painters, and I had a great time the first three days painting (finished three) until my back muscles spasmed and I had to come home early. Now at home my body feels less stressed in my studio so I picked some flowers from my garden and plunked them into a vase for still life paintings.

"Two Parrot Tulips", 14" x 11", oil on linen canvas attached to wooden panel.

"April Tree Peony", 14" x 11", oil on linen canvas attached to wooden panel.

The "Tree Peony" will be a wedding present, but the "Parrot Tulips" are for sale. You can see these paintings and others with their respective prices on my web site. www.kathrynclarkfineart.com. Remember, I always like to hear from you. Now my back is feeling better and I'm itching to venture out into the uneven ground of the landscape with all my painting gear.

"The Yellow Scarf"-- 4th in a Series from a Model

2010-04-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was the fourth and final life painting session from the model, Sara. After painting three watercolors of her, I decided to paint a 14" x 11" oil during the last session, my first figure painting in oil. After a month of lay-down-the-wash-and-leave-it-alone watercolor, I gradually got the "feel" back for ooey gooey oil. It was a rocky beginning, and I don't want to remember it, but after the fear of "I don't know what I'm doing." subsided, I found it quite fun! So far, I've left off the earring on this figure, thinking it might detract. Do you think I should give her earrings? The fresh air and wonderful weather of spring and summer always pull me out into the landscape during the day, but I think I'll continue to paint the figure in the evening at the art museum's "model" sessions. ---Enjoy the weather! Remember, I always like to hear your comments.

You can see all my paintings on my web site www.kathrynclarkfineart.com and also sign up for a monthly Newsletter of events and exhibits.

"Ralph Mason's Fiddle" which he made in 1925

2010-04-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was commissioned to create an oil painting for WBAA, Purdue Public Radio's Spring Fund Raiser April 8th. This public radio station, like many others, emphasizes music of all types, but especially classical and folk, or "old time", as well as jazz. They wanted an image that would reflect that interest so I decided to create a portrait of a particular violin which was hand made in Brookston, IN in 1925. It was made by Ralph Mason, my husband's great grandfather and was played for many years in Indiana. During his life, he made about sixty fiddles. He didn't play, but his father, who was in the Civil War, did. Although I had never painted a musical instrument before, I enjoyed it thoroughly and would be delighted to have other commissions for musical instruments in the future.

The donors to the WBAA Fund Raiser will recieve note cards with this image on them. So they can have the opportunity to see the original oil painting, it will be on display at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette for the month of April and then go into WBAA's collection. I hope you'll be able to visit the Art Museum of Lafayette to see this painting which is 11" x 14" in size. You can also read about this painting and get the address and phone for the art museum on the "EVENTS" section of my web site "home page". www.kathrynclarkfineart.com.

Third in the Series of "Girl with the Black Ear Ring"

2010-04-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

For the third of four sessions of painting from the model in the same costume, I decided to paint on one of the colored Twinrocker watercolor papers. They make watercolor paper in White and four colors. Ilove all the colors, but this is the palest and is called "Pale Dusty Rose" and is exactly that, a pale dusty rose color. Also with this painting, I wanted to make the figure a little older looking and with a "mature character", i.e. not a twenty year old. The paper color also made me want to change the color of her scarf and the white bloused to something more dramatic. I could have painted the blouse with a White Titanium Dioxide, but white was just too close to the value of the paper. Which figure do you like best and why?

Next week, I'm going to try to paint the same model in oil from a different pose. There are also new paintings on my web site www.kathrynclarkfineart.com. Have a good week, and remember that I enjoy hearing your comments. Also, please share this blog with friends who might enjoy it.

Another View of the Girl with the Black Ear Ring

2010-03-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

A small group of artists are still painting from a model at the art museum in Lafayette, Indiana each week for four weeks, a three hour pose each week. Everyone is painting in oil except me, as I'm still in my "watercolor month". It's taking them all four sessions to finish one oil painting, but I'm finishing a watercolor each week. This is my second "Girl with the Black Ear Ring."

This time I chose a Twinrocker White Watercolor paper with a "Feather Deckle", that is an exaggerated natural deckled edge that is rather decorative. I think it's beautiful for images that are vignettes because it frames the painting beautifully. I hope you like the painting as well as the paper.

Please forward this to others whom you think might enjoy the life of this papermaking/painting artist. Remember, you can now receive new posts by e-mail.

Painting the Same Landscape on Twinrocker Watercolor Paper

2010-03-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

To warm up and get my watercolor juices flowing, before I painted on one of the three sheets of Fabriano handmade watercolor paper, I painted the landscape "High Creek Bank" on my own Twinrocker watercolor paper. This was actually the first time I've ever painted the same subject on two different papers. The two paintings weren't intended to look the same, but to be two individual interpretations of the same subject.

What I found was that the two handmade papers couldn't have been more different. So let this be a lesson for us---all handmade papers are NOT alike. The Fabriano watercolor paper was very soft and would not take any erasure of my initial drawing without abrading the paper fibers and making a dark mark when painting a wash on the area. I actually had to abandon my first sheet and start over with no erasures of the pencil drawing. The Twinrocker watercolor paper is very hard so it doesn't abrade and is very strong for any erasure or abuse from painting. It's also very correctable so I could paint and lift paint when I wanted to remove or lighten an area. And Twinrocker watercolor paper is surface (tub) sized with gelatin so it accepts watercolor washes easily. However, after working with each paper and getting to know its characteristics, I certainly did enjoy painting on both of them.

If you know a art group or friend who might enjoy seeing these blogs, please forward this to them. And remember that I always like to hear your comments.

The Invitational Italian Watercolor Competition

2010-03-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

The people of Fabriano in Italy have been making paper for several hundred years, 1400AD or so. There were many small paper mills in the town of Fabriano before the Wars (WWI & WWII), but wars kill craftsmen, and so now there is only one mill called Fabriano, after the town itself. All paper was made by hand before 1800, when the French invented the paper machine. Today, Fabriano is a huge government/private partnership corporation which is, for the most part, a machine mill using both cotton and wood fibers. It makes all the currency for Italy and many other countries as well as most of Italy's book papers, art papers, stationery, and on and on. However, to carry on the ancient tradition and craft of making paper by hand, they have a small team of craftsmen who continue to hand dip a paper mould into a vat of cotton pulp, forming one individual sheet at a time, just as Twinrocker does in Brookston, Indiana.

This year the Paper & Watermark Museum in Fabriano is hosting their Biennial Invitational Watercolor Competition. I have been invited to compete with twenty-nine other artists from Italy, Great Britain, Holland, Germany, India, and the USA. We each received three sheets of Fabriano handmade watercolor paper and were asked to paint on the full 22" x 30" sheet, sending one completed watercolor. I must add that most, if not all, of the Fabriano watercolor paper that's imported to the USA is machine made, and is radically different from their handmade.

Many years ago, when Howard and I visited Fabriano, they invited me to make some paper at their vat, and it happened to be watercolor paper they were making that day. The felts, on which they "couch" or transfer the newly formed wet layer of pulp, have been custom woven so that they have wool nubs sticking up in order to create an embossed roughness to the sheet. This roughness, which is in the pattern of the weaving of the felt, is present in the Coldpressed surface and is unique in handmade papers world wide. After many years, I now have an occasion to actually paint on that paper. I'm going into some detail about this unusual surface, because it is unique to Fabriano, and I think you can see the rough surface in this photograph. This is the 30" x 22" image I painted on their paper. As its title states, it is a "High Creek Bank" on the edge of a woods with many trees whose roots have become exposed from the rushing water of spring rains.

The thirty submitted watercolors will be augmented with some additional Italian watercolors by invited, non-competing artists which will all be exhibited in Italy and then travel to several other countries with a full color catalog. The lucky winner will get 100 sheets of this paper, a one-person exhibition in Fabriano, and a two-week stay in Fabriano for the opening of the festivities. One never knows what the future holds.

March Is My Watercolor Month

2010-03-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

About two years ago, I got very interested in painting in oil after meeting some local oil painters. Until then, I had only painted watercolor (which I still love). So I amerced myself in this new medium (to me), fell in love with it, and didn't paint another watercolor until this month. A few months ago, I was invited to compete in an international watercolor competition. Now, all of a sudden, I had to submit the watercolor and I hadn't painted a single watercolor since, well you know... So, consequently I decided that March would be my watercolor month, everything I painted had to be watercolor.

It's always good to stretch yourself by trying new things, and to also retrying something you haven't done for forty years? How time flies, doesn't it! Well, I know it is a good thing to do this, but I'm not sure it's good to put these fresh starts on one's blog. But I think if blogs are to be a record of an artist's life, then it's good, but the viewer needs to see these visual efforts in the context of artistic stretching.

I did this very thing with my last blog at the Eiteljorg Museum when we painted from the model in Western get-up. It was the first figure I ever painted, having not even drawn the figure since college until a month ago. Oh my. And I had to paint the figure in, you know, watercolor. The cowboy was my first effort at this, and this portrait from the model is my second watercolor figure painting. However, in this one, the watercolor juices are beginning to flow again, and I felt more comfortable with it. It was just the portrait part that was new. Hope you enjoy it. Tomorrow I'll show you the painting I submitted to the international invitational competition. If you'd like to see my watercolors before oil painting came into my life, just click on the link to my web site.

Painting from a Cowboy Model at the Eiteljorg Museum

2010-03-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

I am so excited that I was able to add this new "Receive This Blog by E-mail" feature so you don't have to search for it. Just type in your e-mail address, and you'll get the newest blog by e-mail when ever I send one. Then, if you want to see the past postings, you can go to my regular blog address. I'll continue to show new drawings and paintings as well as share information on both handmade and machinemade artist papers.

After I posted yesterday's sketch of the cowboy at the Eiteljorg Museum of Western Art, I found a couple of photos of the model posing for the painters in the main corridor of the museum. The visitors to the museum were quite surprised to see this art in action! but loved it after the initial shock.

Here I am beginning a watercolor of the Black Cowboy model on Twinrocker's colored watercolor paper called "Patriot", which is a tan color.

And here's the finished watercolor:

Drawing & Painting at the Eiteljorg Museum of Western Art

2010-03-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

On the last Saturday in February, the Indiana Plein Air Painters Assoc. (IPAPA) sponsored a Paint-IN at the Eiteljorg Museum of Western Art in Indianapolis. This is a gorgeous museum of sand stone, limestone with huge wooden beams down the main corridor; and the collection of Western paintings is probably the most outstanding east of the Mississippi. IPAPA members could either paint copies of paintings in the permanent collection or paint from a model dressed in Western costume. I opted for drawing and painting from the model. It was great fun with about ten painters crammed together with their easels on 5ft square drop cloths! There was one model in the morning and another in the afternoon. Having never painted a figure in either oil or watercolor, I decided to ease into it by drawing a sketch of the "white/Anglo" cowboy in the morning and then painted a watercolor of the "black" cowboy in the afternoon.

This sketch is once again on Twinrocker "Yale" handmade text weight paper which I toned with a Raw Sienna watercolor wash. The pencils are Prismacolor Verithin Black Terra Cotta #745. The staff and visitors to the Eitlejorg Museum with lots of kids (it was a busy Saturday) absolutely loved watching all the artists painting in about three galleries with some of us and the models in the main corridor. It was such a success that both IPAPA and the Eiteljorg will do it again. Tomorrow I'll post my watercolor.

Drawing from the Model

2010-03-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

For the past six weeks or so, several artists have been drawing from a model each Friday at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette. This is the drawing I did last Friday. It's drawn with Prisma Verithin pencils as before and on toned Twinrocker "Cream" handmade paper. The paper was "toned" with a very thin watercolor wash of DaVinci Raw Sienna Deep.

Male Portrait Study

2010-03-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

Today's drawing is a little study, 5" x 5", done with just graphite on an unusual Twinrocker handmade paper. This paper is made from Abaca plant fiber rather than cotton rag. Abaca is a type of banana leaf that is grown especially for making paper in the Philippines. The old fashioned name for it was Manila Hemp because it replaced the use of hemp fiber for making an especially strong paper in Europe when sailing ships no longer used sails (which were made from hemp). Because Manila was the main city in the Philippines where Abaca was from, people commonly called the paper made from Abaca, Manila Hemp. However, today we try to use the name Abaca because that is the true plant fiber this paper is made of, not hemp. Other common machine made papers that are made of abaca are tea bags, Manila folders, and some toilet paper. Because it is such a long, strong fiber, it has great folding and tearing strength even when the paper's very thin. Microscopically, it also happens to have a very thin, smooth cell wall which can give the paper a slightly slick, surface which can be very nice for some drawing techniques. In the Philippines, the natural fiber is shipped "bleached" to a creamy off white color or in its natural "unbleached" tan color. This little study was drawn on Twinrocker "Bleached Abaca", without any additional pigment, in the "Text weight" of .006" thick and with a Coldpressed surface. It was a delight to draw on. I hope you enjoy seeing it and try drawing on it yourself sometime if you haven't already. Just go to Twinrocker's web site and call them M-F during the day. www.twinrocker.com They sell a great labeled Swatch Set of all their papers.

I hope you find these postings enjoyable and informative. Your thoughts and comments are always appreciated. Please forward this and tell your friends who might be interested about my blog, and you can see photos of all my paintings on my web site at www.kathrynclarkfineart.com

Drawing of a Woman----in homage to John Singer Sargent

2010-03-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

I was pleased with the way my post uploaded yesterday and hope you enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the color of the Twinrocker handmade paper seemed to look a bit grey when it actually is a very warm pale tan. I guess it's difficult to get completely accurate color when I'm photographing a drawing in my studio under day-light fluorescents, even though I did set a custom White Balance on the Nikon 40 camera.

Today, I'm posting another drawing study, 12" x 10". This time I've created a portrait interpretation of a female figure taken from a painting by John Singer Sargent. I'm using the same Prismacolor Verithin pencils that I used in yesterday's drawing, but the Twinrocker handmade paper is different. This drawing is done on Twinrocker "Cream", 100% cotton rag, handmade paper in a Text weight (.005-.007" thick). I've toned the paper with a very, very dilute Yellow Ochre watercolor wash to create that uneven visual tone and cause the slight amount of shrinking when the paper dries which makes the paper have a beautifully supple surface. This is the same paper and toning that the well known artist, Robert Liberace, uses when he draws his figures. I'll upload the photo and hope that the subtle color of the paper is a little more accurate than yesterday.

I think you can see the slight ripple in the surface of the paper from the shrinking during the drying of the watercolor wash and the irregular color that the toning of the wash adds to the "look" of the drawing. I'm having fun doing these studies and hope you're enjoying them too.

Remember that I would enjoy your thoughts and comments. This blog is very new; so if you have friends who might enjoy it, please forward it to them.

A New Commitment to my Blog

2010-02-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

As you see, I haven't posted to my Blog since last October. Trying to control the layout of the blog while also trying to upload several photos of paintings was exceedingly frustrating, so I just let it go and concentrated on other things. The fall and winter have been very busy with quite a bit of painting and an exhibition at the Lafayette Art Museum, in Lafayette, IN.

In the last month or so, I've also gotten interested in drawing from the figure. Since I have the most wonderful handmade drawing paper available when ever I want it from Twinrocker, you're probably wondering why I haven't been drawing on a regular basis. All I can say is that I was so excited to be painting in oil that I didn't even think of spending serious time drawing. The Lafayette Art Museum offers a Drawing Guild once a week where anyone can draw or paint from a model, and the group shares the model's fee. I started to do this and am getting "hooked" on the delight in translating the gesture and energy of the model in raking light onto a sensuous handmade paper surface.

I'll post a drawing each day for a few days that I've done during the past month. This first one was drawn with Prismacolor Verithin pencils, Black #747 and Terre Cuite #745. The paper is Twinrocker "Yale", 100% cotton rag, Text weight, Coldpressed surface. I "toned" the surface of the paper with a very,very pale Yellow Ochre watercolor wash in which the pigment is allowed to settle into a lovely irregular pattern as it dries on the paper. This gives the paper surface a beautiful visual depth and also adds a very slight, sensual ripple to the paper surface (as the paper shrinks slightly from the drying of the watercolor wash), making the paper have a beautiful aliveness to it. For me, it's much more fun to draw on this type of surface than a completely flat, anonymous one.

Well that's about all for today, I'll post another one tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed this blog and will share my blog site and forward this blog to friends who might enjoy it also. I'd appreciate receiving any thoughts you have or comments on this drawing if you'd like to share. You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.kathrynclarkfineart.com.

Progressive Photos of Oregon Coast painting

2009-10-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

The top image is the finished 8" x 10" oil painting, with progressive photos going down. The initial drawing with a small brush and Burnt Sienna on the linen canvas panel was in the last blog I posted. I hope you enjoy seeing the way the painting progressed. I painted it on the Oregon Coast this past July when visiting my sister.

Oregon Coast-- Private Beach (initial drawing)

2009-09-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

This is the initial drawing using a small round brush on the 8" x 10" canvas. You can see that I also indicated shadow areas.

Introduction to My Blog

2009-09-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

I've decided to create a blog to show my collectors, and others interested in the painting process, how I take an image from sketch to finished work. The average viewer only gets to see a finished and framed painting. Most people have probably asked themselves, "What's under that final layer of brush strokes?" and "I wonder what it looked like in the middle of the painting process?"

Earlier this year, I started taking progressive photos of paintings for my own reference and information because I was asking similar questions. "How detailed was the initial sketch and exactly what color was it?" "How simplified was the under painting?" "When in the painting process did I begin to develop the focal point?" "What did it look like before I made those final changes?" Having progressive photos helps me learn from my own paintings.

The first image I'm going to show you is one I painted on the Oregon coast when I visited my sister in Eugene this summer. The coast is my favorite because it's wild, and relatively untouched by humans with rocks, cliffs, fine sandy beaches, and wind swept bluffs. This first painting is 8"x 10", on a wooden panel covered with oil primed linen canvas. The photos show the canvas on the easel (an Easy-L easel) and are not necessarily square since they were taken from an angle. The final image in the series will be square, and you can also see the finished painting on my web site.