You haven’t heard from me for a while. I’m in a show at the Tucson Museum of Art for 3 days. Came home, fed the Ridgebacks, the cat, and finally me. I’ve never seen Joy Behar before. Needed a ‘crash” entertainment and watched a bit of her interviewing Diane Keaton, whom I’ve always enjoyed. Just my speed tonight! It was fun and I guess I’ll keep cable. Only reason I’ve kept it for the past two years is the four major horse races. (Mike Smith brought in Drosslemeyer, a very lazy horse, to win the Breeder’s
Cup two Saturdays ago. That was a huge win, and I sketched the horses from TV while they ran. That way I can excuse sitting around watching horse races on TV!).
In getting ready for this show, I found out just how disorganized I am. Sketches tucked away all over the house…and I live here alone. (Can’t I just do what the coyotes do when the den is a mess and move somewhere else? They have a problem with puppy poop, ticks and fleas, so I guess I’m still in the stay-in-this-house group.)
I’m tucking in a few pictures from a recent class. Remember these people are rank beginners when they start. I’m always amazed and delighted with what they do in 3 days. Several former students stopped by toda
y and told me they are still sketching constantly and still excited: WHAT A REWARD TO ME!!!
My best, Kath
These are from a 3 person workshop I did in my home studio. Everyone got tons of attention because the group was so small. Usually I’m really concerned because such a small group may not “catch on”. These people did, and they were immediately turning out really good work.
We had a ton of fun and for once I got a chance to enjoy being with my people. When I’m teaching a larger class the dynamics are totally different. Everyone learns a lot and does marvelously, but I don’t get to enjoy them as individuals because I’m so involved with helping everyone. This was a lot of fun on a personal level for me, as well as ‘getting off’ on their learning new skills.
Sandi took the pictures with her iphone and I was impressed with it’s apparent simplicity…more my style than my Droid2. On the other hand, nothing is as bad as the camera FugiFinePics which will erase your entire card and you don’t know about it until after it’s happened and you read the entire manuel, which I did after losing over 800 pictures, including my youngest grand kid building her first snow man with me.
This morning it was very cold, rainy-less-than-sleet as I was carrying my stuff in for a workshop at Tohono Chul, a lovely botanical park here in Tucson. Our local coyotes were probably breakfasting on duck, as the ducks aren’t very observant in bad weather and the coyotes can sneak up. I lost another umbrella. I can never remember to gather them up after the sun comes out and I left it in the park.
Julia Child was absolutely right. Eat everything and drink everything with gusto and delight. We have no idea how much longer our timeline will be. And you don’t want to die thinking you ‘put it off till tomorrow’ and never got there.
I am incredibly lucky to meet wonderful people through my workshops and I am trying to somehow fit time into getting to know them a bit better. I just spent an hour talking with Marisa who is here from Spain and will be joining me for a workshop in December. That hour on the phone is leaving me smiling with the joy. I know someone better who takes delight in the day, the food, friends….you now, the stuff of deep personal value. What a rewarding profession is teaching in art. Wow!
Of course, there should be pictures. (Why would you look at an artist’s blog?) So here are a couple of Pocket Sketches from Cheyenne, Wyoming Frontier Days (one of the biggest rodeos in the West). The Indian story teller was a wonderful traditional yarn spinner who caught you in her magic. The antelope was probably just as important in the antelope world, come to think of it.
Tomorrow night will be work from this workshop at Tohono Chul Park in Tucson.
Kath
Posted in Art, Sketching
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Tagged art, sketching
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Just a quick note. I’m at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico on the way to teach in Durango, CO. It’s as beautiful as ever. The last time I stayed here was probably in 1952 when I was asked to paint for their first pictorial calendar. The rates then were $33.00 per day including 3 meals. Now it’s $90.00 per day, same accomodations, with breakfast free and lunch $10.00 and dinner $20.00. The cooking hasn’t changed. I liken it to “early Boy Scout”, but you don’t wait, they make it and clean up afterwards and the scenery is fantastic as before. I did two quick sketches out a back door. They aren’t good, but I can paint from them when I get home. And I’ll check on both teaching here and mentoring a painting get together or a painting-a-day workshop in the future. This is a very special corner of New Mexico. Georgia O’Keefe painted from a cottage here and the movie City Slickers was filmed here. I saved the calf’s life, but that’s another story.
Kath
How do you find time to work? Today was a perfect example for me. The phone kept ringing and two friends wanted me to stop by. Plus I like to listen to Dennis Prager on the radio. He has a two hour time slot from 10:00 to noon here. So I tried painting while he was talking and taking breaks during the advertisements. It wasn’t the best in results, but it worked as a set time to sketch. I know that when my work’s going well, I never notice what’s on the radio. But today I didn’t feel like working and at least carved two hours out of the morning. Some days are totally broken up, as you well know.
I just finished watching my first video of me teaching Pocket Sketching. It’s after 10:30 at night. The video looks great. Thomas forgot (neglected to) give himself credit for being the videographer. I think that’s the only major change. This has been more than a year and a crashed computer in the making. Soon there will be copies. As they say, “Awesome!”
Kath
I’m technologically challenged (spelling too!), and my social media guy, Gary Wagnon, www.800biz.com, couldn’t receive my photos of my work. And I couldn’t send them over my Droid 2/computer connection because they wouldn’t go.
It’s a new camera after the old one proved to be disastrous. A minute ago I got to page 45 of the manual now installed on my PC, trying everything carefully, and I came to the right page. I’m so excited, i didn’t note what the header is.
However, its the page where I can change the number of pixels and I’ve taken a photo of a 4 X 6 SKETCH. Let’s see if it works. (of course, if it does, I’ll probably never read any more of the manual pages!) I was gonna go to a Hiking Club meeting tonight. But if this works, I’m gonna celebrate and crash early.
To be able to send images as a visual artist is pretty NB!
Kath
Posted in Art
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Tagged camera, smart phone
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The workshop in Cheyenne is over and I’m on the road again. I stayed in the studio of a very good artist who also manages the Art Guild. He does air brush and I’ve never been around the equipment of an air brush artist. That was fun. My quarters were in the basement and my not-loved DROID2 would not keep even a phone connection. It was slower than getting catsup out of a full bottle and wouldn’t send images at all. So I have catching up to do. It did remind me of one of the things my late husband said about Conoco (he did oil exploration for them), “What does working here and a mushroom have in common? They keep you in the dark and feed you shit.” The DROID just can’t do what I wanted!
Tanahuto Creek Pocketsketch
People often ask me if you can paint from the Pocket Sketch. Here’s another pair with the oils done from the sketch. One is the first oil I did, and the other oil was second. The improvement is obvious, isn’t it?
Lake Irene Oil Painting
Lake Irene Oil Painting
