Assembling a Series

Clouds, Birds  in progress ©2011 Katherine Kean

oil on linen 8 x 8" each 

Here are the first three of a series of twelve small square paintings of clouds and flocking birds. I've been working on many diptychs, triptychs, and modular paintings lately. A group of modular paintings can have the visual impact of a single large scale piece but has built in portability and versatility. Much of the time I've found that paintings in a grouping can be completely rearranged while still working together as a whole.  

My 7 Links

I'm honored to be chosen by local artist Kathryn Hansen to take part in the My 7 Links Project.

For this project each blogger selects one post to fit each of seven categories and then nominates up to 5 more bloggers to do the same, and so on, and so on,.as a way of "uniting bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint venture."

Here goes:

Most Popular Post

The Top Eleven Artists That I Have Found To Be a Large Influence

These are the artists, both historical and contemporary that I've selected as being highly influential to me.

Most Controversial Post 

Vegan Art Supplies

Not many of my posts seem to be controversial, but I think this one has ruffled the most feathers.

Most Helpful Post

Artwork Inventory Form  This seems the one that I get the most thanks for. 

    

Most Surprisingly Successful Post Ten Highlights From My Dream Resume: A Surreakist Game 

I knew this post was a shot in the dark, it was delightful to get a response!

Most Neglected Post 

 Rain Catcher 

Maybe it's the title, or that there isn't an image that goes with this, or maybe this   level of water conservation is just an odd quirk of my own. 

Post I'm Most Proud Of 
Art's Influence on Motion Picture Design
It's a series of posts about how art has influenced motion pictures. This one about Andrew Wyeth is one of the series of six posts.


Most Beautiful Post  
Storm Clouds Over Lava Fields
We all know that beauty is in the eye (or mind, or heart0 of the beholder, so you tell me, it could be this one, or maybe another....

The bloggers I have chosen to nominate are:

Lynne Windsor
I took Lynne's painting workshop in Scotland this fall and had the time of my life. And Lynne has recently been studying for an advanced degree in printmaking.. Her artwork is beautiful and I'm finding following along with her explorations to be fascinating.

Dianne Poinski
I met Dianne online, although she has roots in my neighborhood. She is a photographer who creates works of art, hand coloring her photographs. She also generously shares her process through teaching, writing, and on her blog.

Beth Rommel
I also met Beth online.I find the artwork on her blog to be colorful and fun and it has a story telling element to it that grabs my attention. See if you don't find the same.

Thanks Kathryn for choosing me to take part!

Little New

Clouds Trees Barn in progress
©2011 Katherine Kean
8 x 6" oil on linen

Sky Trees Sheep in progress SOLD
©2011 Katherine Kean
6 x 6" oil on linen

I've been working on finishing the paintings for my next exhibition and hoping to complete them by the end of the year. However I couldn't wait to start on some paintings of Scotland. Here are two small beginnings, above.

Not much else is new. I'm about halfway or so through restoring the photos that I lost. It has been going smoothly, so I don't expect it will take too much longer, especially now that I've learned how to work around a couple of things that have changed with Blogger since Google took over.

Photo Foibles

I was all set to follow up to Kathryn Hansen's post My 7 Links, when I experienced an internet mishap. While editing my Google + profile I noticed pages and pages of old photos displayed. They seemed irrelevant and I couldn't see a method to limit their visability. However I did see a delete button and decided to use it. The usual warning appeared, "are you sure, cannot be restored" etc. I was sure - and I still am - I do not want those photos on that profile and so I clicked yes to delete and thought no more about it...until the next day when I saw that everywhere on my blog where a photo used to be was this :

It turns out that Google + has linked all of their platforms together, which includes both Blogger and Picassa web albums, so deleting the album in one place deletes it everywhere.Seven years of images were removed. Fortunately I have almost all, if not all of the photos I deleted and I can replace them one by one. I've already taken care of about 10 % of this. I really feel for the people who  have uploaded directly from cell phones and other ways that may not have a hard drive copy.

I will address the My 7 Links concept in a future post. With so much material missing, right now doesn't seem like the best time for a review..

Fall in New England: Wind and Rain and Snow (???) Oh My!

Geese in the Blackstone River Valley, New England

 I managed a quick trip to New England - dare I say a whirlwind trip? No, I better not. While hoping to catch some transitional color, in the past week it feels as if I have experienced every type of weather. Rain and fog in Los Angeles turned into warm and sun, followed by rain in New England which turmed into bright, sunny blue skies. The blue skies were quickly replaced with rain and snow and wind - and lots of it! We were lucky, managing to be on the road on the brightest of days and arriving ahead of the storm to stay cozy and warm inside during the worst of the squall. The sun the next day was strong enough to melt any snow that may have been an obstacle to the return trip. Not all were so lucky, many people had power outages or experienced travel delays and it was probably not much fun for children to go trick or treating with mittens and boots and heavy coats.

While I was assured that I was not seeing the best of it, I was happy with the foliage I got to see and the combination of leafy and bare branches. I like the smoky effect produced by the layers of leafless trees, punctuated here and there with bursts of color and that I could see the structure of the forest and varieties of tree height.