Whew! Six months have gone by

Who ever coined the phrase "time flies" was certainly right. I keep meaning to post on this blog, but never get it done. Despite hoping to change that trend in 2010, here it is February before I make a post. Let's see if I can turn it around now.

First I'll recap what happened in 2009 since my last post:

-- I won first place at a national equine art show

-- I joined Oil Painters of America

-- I chaired an all animal art show for Parklane Gallery, in Kirkland, WA, which was titled "Fur, Feathers & Fins". This was a huge, huge, (and yet again, huge) job. I have deep respect for folks who do this sort of thing all the time. The October show was great with a lot of funds going to various Pacific Northwest animal rescue groups. I also got to talk to some wonderful animal artists from across the country.

All in all it was a great experience that I wouldn't have missed, but it did have a downside. During those several months I hardly got any painting done! I was so busy working on the show, that I rarely got into my studio. But, one big perk, since there was not prior years winner for the postcard to advertise the show, the gallery said I could use one of my pieces. It was a wonderful extra for my volunteering all that time to do the show. The rescue groups involved sent out thousands of that postcard. And needless to say that painting sold! LOL. The postcard is above.

-- I did get into the Western Art Association, which means I will participate in their regular auction in Ellensburg, Washington in May 2010. Plus, the part I'm really excited about will be participating in the quick draw competition.

A quick draw is where a room full of artists (in all different mediums) create a work of art from scratch in one hour. There is beer and wine for the spectators, who wander around or just sit and watch. An announcer counts down the time. Not only at the end of the hour do you need to have the painting done, it needs to be in the frame ready to sell. So that means watercolorists, have hairdryers going, as their works are under glass. They have the mat and frame ready, dry it and frame it. As an oil painter, that means that yes, I am putting a frame on a very wet painting.

With a short break for the artists, and rearranging of chairs, the pieces created are auctioned off to the audience. I went over there and watched last year and thought it was a blast. I really look forward to doing it this year, since I am a fairly fast painter.

-- I've also been picked up by a new art gallery. It is the Fountainhead Gallery in the Queen Anne area of Seattle, (located at 625 W. McGraw St., Seattle, WA). Sue and Ron the owners are great, and they scheduled me for my first solo show in March (which is now just around the corner). Needless to say that's extremely exciting, and with the FFF show I was chairing over in October I got busy in my studio producing new artwork for the show. You'll hear more about the show when I get to my 2010 news.

I did start a facebook page, like folks have suggested. What am I doing with it so far -- nothing. I need lessons I think, and there seems to be never enough time. That should bring everyone up to speed on what I was doing in 2009. I'm sure there are things I missed, but oh well . . . .

I'll try to post again very soon with January and early February news.

Walking Out

Here's one of the paintings I've been working on recently. It is 15" x 30" oil on canvas. I do not have a title for it yet. It is closed to being finished, only a couple of little touches to go. This is another of the many equine pieces I'm completing for a gallery in March.

My work will vary more in a few weeks, but for right now it will be horses, horses, horses. In my work for this gallery I enjoy exploring the relationships between people and horses. Taking a more intimate view on the relationship between horse and rider. Painting that chemistry is what interests me. That's where I'm at for the next couple of weeks.

This painting is for sale, and if your interested in it (before it goes to the gallery in March) feel free to email me for the details at klm at kmdogart.com -- you know how to put the address together.

As an aside we have only one horse here now. I lost my 30 y.o. Morgan mare (I had her for twenty years) a couple of months ago. Naturally that was really tough -- she was my girl. In residence now is my daughters eventing horse, he is an almost 16 y.o. German Warmblood -- and a great guy.

Karen

Old Shoes

Old Shoes oil on board 11" x 14" for sale
I can't believe it took me a week to get back to my computer to make this post. I did finish "Old shoes" a couple of days ago. These smaller paintings don't take as long as some of the larger ones. And I'll usually have a smaller painting in the works while I'm working on other larger pieces.

These old horse shoes have been hanging around for a year or so (don't ask why LOL) and have acquired a wonderful patina of rust with just a little glimmer of the bright original color. I loved the few old nails that remained with the shoes. Lighitng, color, drama, all elements I like in my work. In this case it was pushing the color on the shadows. To me it adds a lot of life and vitality to such a simple subject. Also the play of the warm and cool colors against each other. You'll see more of this as Russian Impressionism is a great influence in my work.

This painting is for sale. If you are interested you can contact me at klm at kmdogart.com

The large dressage painting I mentioned a week ago is still not finished. My daughter loves those extreme looks, and the Andalusian I'm working on has it in spades. I can't believe the neck! I have another painting I've done this week which should be dry enough, I'll see when I get to my studio today, and take some pictures if it is.

Karen

New Year's Resolution

Hurray! This was one of my New Year's resolutions. I wish the pounds would come off this easily. ;-)

I titled my blog as an oil painting journey. Well a journey is what it is. I hope you enjoy the trip as I move along my career path.

I will give a disclaimer right up front that I write horribly. I'm absolutely an artist, not a writer. My sister who is a writer (www.katiemacalister.com) laughs uproariously at my writing attempts. She says I write colloquially (which means I write as I speak -- just in case you didn't know off the top of your head). So I may butcher language, with incomplete sentences, fragments, etc., but if I waited to start a blog until after I brushed up on my grammar I don't think it would ever get done. So with the aid of the spell checker I'm pushing on . . .

One of the things I have wanted to do for many years is have studio space separate from my home. My paintings do tend to take over the house, -- so much to my families delight I have finally made that move. I'm leasing an upstairs space in beautiful downtown Snohomish, Washington. The room is roughly 11' x 15' feet, which is not enough room to move everything out of the house, but will give me my own space to do some painting. Here are a couple of photos of the empty room I took last week before moving in.














It doesn't' have the greatest natural light that an artist would wish for in a studio, so I'll have to adjust that with some special temperature lights. But for right now it gets me out of the house. I'm only doing a short lease of six months to start with. I want to see if having a studio separate from my house does help my productivity. Like most artists I lament not painting as much as I would like to -- a common complaint. ;-)

Tomorrow I'll post how the room looks now.

Best,

Karen