Friday, April 23, 2010

"Rachels Muse I"


Many of you that follow this blog are aware that I have a dear friend that is an accomplished photographer.
And, you then, are aware that I often use a lot of her photographs as inspiration for a painting.
Thanking someone that inspires you is a very hard thing to do.
A while back Rachel posted a photograph that she took of her son holding his Oboe.
I fell totally in love with this Photograph and decided to paint it.
(What on Earth was I thinking?)
So this painting is for Rachel, Just because.

I am known for my inability to paint the human form.
Yep, even hands.
But I got to it, and after weeks of working on this painting (Some of which I was quite ill and did nothing), I am finally at the stage where I can begin to refine Jacobs hands.
Scary to say the least.
I have to finish the area where the reed is, and will do that a wee bit later....Kind of like a gift to myself when I finish those talented wonderful hands that belong to Jacob.

Hope you like it so far.
The background is not finished yet, but will remain painted in a matte black.
Please let me know how you think I am doing here, and anything as well that needs work.
Your eyes are important, as often while working on a painting such as this one cannot see the obvious flaws.
~~Kathleen

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Getting it right


"The Edge"
Acrylics on Canvas
12" X 12"


Every once in a while, as an artist, I wonder how did another artist get that effect.
Not havng had any formal training in art (and the application there-off), I read a lot of art books, go and see other artists works at gallery's and shops, and try when I get back home to achieve the shading/shadows/light effects in a realistic manner.
Most often this exercise results in a lost painting underneath the blobs/and strokes that were to mean something.
So, I paint over it and away I go again.
Yesterday I painted this little Jewel.
Yep the lighting and shadows and depth happened as I painted, and it all made sense.
I finally did it without agonizing about the method.
Maybe one has to learn things, and just wait for the right time to implement them!
Enjoy this painting, I like the mysteriousness of it.
~~Kathleen

Sunday, February 14, 2010

"Real Women VI"


The Sun, the Moon and the Earth join Forces
Acrylics and mixed media
on canvas
12" X 14"

Well, we have the Olympics being hosted in British Columbia this week. All of Canada is showing their Maple Leafs on their sleeves. (Yes, and our Hearts as well)
Enjoy them and appreciate the enormous amount of work these athletes put into training for these events.
Who wins is not important to me, as just being there as a participant means you are not only the best in your country, the world thinks you are the best of the best! :)
~~Kathleen




Monday, February 8, 2010

Landscape



"Frost on Larches"
Acrylics on Canvas
12" X 14"
SOLD

Gosh I have not done one of these for a long time.
Hope you like it.
It is based on the photograph I posted below when the Hoar Frost claimed our world!
Hope you like it!
~~Kathleen

Sunday, February 7, 2010

"Real women V" (series continued)


"Assistance"
12" X 14"
Acrylics & Mixed media on canvas
She stands tall, she is proud, and she is a successful Business Woman!
She also walks with the assistance of a cane.
She faces up to her life, and makes it work.
There is nothing that she cannot overcome.
I like her stance.
Hope you do as well.
~~Kathleen

Friday, February 5, 2010

My World This Morning....



Hi all, hope you are having a fabulous day.
Being 65 years old, and having the luxury to enjoy so much is a real blessing.
As most of you already know, I am an artist.
Well, I am (at best) trying to become an artist :)
I have connected so very much with the constant changes Nature offers me every day.
Crossfield, Alberta, Canada is not far from the edges of the Great Canadian Rocky Mountain range.
So we tend to have weather anomalies all the time.
In the Winter we have just splendid Hoar Frosts, and this Winter, the Frosts have been spectacular.
Here are some photos I took this morning of the sunrise.
I am looking West to the Larches that line the frontage of the property.
So the Sunrise in all its' glory rises on these trees, and the end result is breathtaking.
Enjoy all....

Just before the sunrisePeeking over the horizon turning the Western sky a lovely Pink

(More "Real Women" after this interlude!)
~~Kathleen

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Real women IV "Grandmother Moon"



"Grandmother Moon"
12" X 12"
Acrylics & Mixed media on canvas
SOLD

This painting embodies Gold and Copper foil (Representing Life energy) falling from the moon and embracing all women.
The seemingly awkward pose of the woman signifies the females desire to "Soak" up and embrace the moons importance into her life.
I began this painting with a specific idea in mind. I have been aware for many years that the Moon and Women have been closely connected since the beginning of time.
Almost every culture has a story passed down through centuries about the connection of these two.
When I had completed this painting, and posted it @ "Wet Canvas" for comments & critique from my fellow Acrylic artists, Bell Byrne recognized what I was trying to say and sent me an oft told story from her (North American) Native culture.
Her story connected so well with my painting that I am posting it here as a description.
So much of what we do in daily life is based on folklore.
I have gifted this painting to one of the best friends a gal can have....
Sharon Glover, a remote area nurse in the Northernmost settlement in Canada...Inuvik!
She, is a Native Canadian Nurse (extraordinaire) in this remote settlement.
We have planned to get together in April this year and catch up with each other and just be near for a while.
I miss you Sharon!

I hope you like it!
~~Kathleen

Grandmother Moon
(As told by Bell Byrne)
In a time before humans walked the earth and the spirits roamed the skies there was the daughter of the Creator. She loved the spirit that held the power of to create fire and wanted to mate with him. The Creator did not want the daughter to be near fire and asked her to leave the love she had for the spirit on a star and forget him.

The daughter disobeyed the Creator and secretly wed the fire spirit. The Creator was heartbroken that she had disobeyed and knew that nothing good would come from this union. The Creator had made her the spirit of water and the beginner of life.
Fire could bring water to a boil and at the same time, water could douse the flames of fire. There would never be any balance in the union.

To help, the Creator gave his daughter two babies to birth. Two sons to balance the femaleness and one to each carry the spirit of their parent. One son was to be the father of all humans and the other son was to be the father of all animals.

The twins fought constantly in their mother's womb. The brother who was to father all animals was impatient and wanted to be born soon. The brother who was to father all humans was patient and wanted to wait for his birth so he would know what his humans had to do to come to life.

One day, close to the day they were to be born, the anxious brother could wait no longer and pushed to get out of the womb. His brother was blocking the way out so he pushed against the side of his mother. His brother sensing that his mother was in grave danger, pushed his way out through the birth canal in the hopes his brother would follow. His brother didn't notice that he now had a clear path out the birth canal - he continued to push against his mother's side.

Finally, he pushed so hard he split his mother in two. As she lay dying, her father and husband held each part of her. Her husband's last gift to his wife was to make her burn bright as a star and her father - who was grief stricken could only mold her into a cold, dead ball. When all life left her, the father and husband took each part of her and placed her in the sky. Her fire part shone brightly and cast light on the earth and the desolate ball her father had placed beside the earth. Her husband called it the Sun.

The Creator grief was appeased when he saw how brightly the ball shone, he called it Moon.

Both the father and husband were angry with the twin that killed his mother. He was banished and made walk among neither the humans or the spirits. Because he has supposed to be the father of the animals, he tried to make one. It came out a mixture of all the ugly animals. It had a duck's beak, an otter's webbed feet, the fur of a squirrel and did not birth live children but laid eggs like a bird or lizard. It lived in neither the water nor the land but in both. We still see that animal today. The platypus.

The other son went on to father the humans and he lived a good and happy life with his wife and children. He was given a gift by the humans of an animal helper, the rabbit. In turn he gave the rabbit a special place in the universe as it would gladly sacrifice itself to keep the humans alive, it's meat was sweet, it's fur kept them warm.

The mother looks down on her sons from the sky. During the day, her moon half is always there and at night her sun half is reflected in the face of her moon half. She is there always.

This was told to me as a child by my grandmother in the winter times when stories were told. We'd only tell stories until the sap started to run in the Spruce trees and the geese came back. Then it was time to stop the stories and start hunting and building the salmon weirs.

Cheers,
Bell

Saturday, January 30, 2010

"Real Women III"


"Every once in a while, I toss my memories in the air. And when they fall back into my mind, I have the joy of visiting them anew"
Acrylics & mixed media on canvas
12" X 12"
SOLD
Detail of the Gold/Silver & Copper foil representing her memories....

This is a painting that I have become very emotionally attached to.
It tells of an older woman, and her joy in being where she is at the moment, and how she embraces the life she now has.
This is likely the most joyous painting I have ever done.
Her memories are revisited with understanding and great happiness!
Where we have been in life makes where we are now so important.
It takes many memories to make a whole person!
~~Kathleen

Friday, January 29, 2010

"Real Women II"


"Real Women II"
Acrylics & Mixed media on canvas
18" X 24"


Real Women II is a painting of a mature woman playing in her garden.
Nurturing her plants as she did her children.
Everything is a wee bit off balance, as in real life nothing is ever perfect.
She is at peace with herself, and has finally broken out of the dark place that dictated that she look and perform like the fantasy woman in commercial advertising.
She is probably overweight, has a few well earned wrinkles, but no matter, she is where she wants to be at this stage in her life.
The Gold and Silver leaf falls down over her peace of mind and
celebrates her absolute beauty.
She is happy with her lot in life.
I hope you like her....she is so like myself and many of my friends.
~~Kathleen

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Real Women #1


"Real Women I"
Acrylics & mixed media on canvas
12" X 14"


Above:
The final painting

Below:
the background detail
before the glazes have been added


The first in a new series.....
I am trying to convey the real woman in a realistic way.
While the concept is somewhat abstract, the message is clear.
I have used a combination of materials in these works.
Gold/Silver & Copper foil, Gel transfers and glazes.
This conveys (hopefully) the comfort a mature woman feels
in with her age.
Washing her hair with a sweetly scented soap.
Or just the pleasure of being alone in a tranquil spot.

My interpretation of this collection:
This series of paintings are very important to me.
As a maturing woman, I find that society tends to rest too much on the " False Beauty" of young women who have done nothing to deserve it (they were born with it) and they take for granted that this type of beauty is forever, and Society discards the beauty amassed by a woman of years.

Most of the mature women I know, are confident lovely people that have an unbelievable amount of beauty & intelligence within and without!

Real beauty really lies beneath the outer layers of anyone.
We, as a society, have to learn how to recognize it.
Nothing about the aged body is symmetric. Least wise mine sure is not.
I am not looking for perfection here, as perfection belongs to the young.
I am lauding the Mature woman that has accepted that she is who she is.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Hiatus is over!


What we have been seeing for the last four days.....A Hoar Frost
to end all Hoar frosts.
To view these and any photos full size in this blog,
Please click on the picture.





For those of you following this blog, I do apologize.
I have been busy with real life, and just had to change some of my habits and reorganize others.
Hopefully now, everything is in working order and I will be back to doing my normal things again!
Blogging (this one) is at the top of my daily "To Do" list.
I have been very deeply immersed in my art as of late.
I have been working on a new series of paintings.
These paintings all depict "Real Women!"
Not the women one sees on TV/In Magazines and or any type of advertising.
I am talking about the Real Women Of our normal every work day life.
Like you & Me.
Women that have larger than depicted stomachs (Horrors!) and a bump on the nose
(as opposed to a Nose Job!)
Thick ankles, maybe short women. women that do not have perfect hair, and rough skin on hands due to real work.
Women that deal daily with a disability in a world that is not built for anything but the
(supposed)perfect human to navigate.
So, understandably, I have been totally engrossed with this series of paintings as they are all dear to my heart.

I am sincerely going to maintain my blog with no less than three posts weekly.
As some of you are aware, not all my posts are about art, but as well, my everyday life.
I am surrounded by beauty and a very rugged rural area.
I am living with my daughter & son-in-law and two wonderful grandsons
(ages 7 & almost 3 years of age)
So life is never boring and always changind.
Welcome back my friends, I will try to give you a few minutes of enjoyment through my eyes & words a few times each week!