Tranquil Art, Healing Art

Fog Lifting ©2014 Katherine Kean
oil on linen 30 x 40 inches

This past week I learned that Fog Lifting has been awarded a Featured Artist Award and included as one of 50 artworks in an international juried competition presented by Manhattan Arts International. Celebrate the Healing Power of Art 2014 runs online from May 17 - July 17, 2014.

The guest juror is Lilly Wei, a New York-based art critic, writer and independent curator focusing on contemporary art. She's a contributor to many art publications including Art In America since 1984 and Art News.

I am also included in an article written by  Renée Phillips, an internationally known author and arts writer, published on the Manhattan Arts International blog: Four Artists Who Express Tranquility, which can be read in full here:  http://www.manhattanartsblog.com/artists-express-tranquility/

In the Top 100: Paint the Parks 2011

Rapidly Changing Conditions  © 2010 Katherine Kean 

oil on linen 20 x 30"

Three of my paintings have been chosen to be included in the Top 100 picks of Paint America's 2011 Paint the Parks competition. Rapidly Changing Conditions, above is included in the Top 100 main category and the two paintings below, Maine: Tides, Rocks and Vent are both in the Top 100 mini category for paintings that are 180 square inches or less.

PaintAmerica’s “Paint the Parks” is an open international artists’ juried competition with proceeds to help fund the PaintAmerica mission of supporting the visual arts and artists across the country. A portion of proceeds from “Paint the Parks” will be contributed to the National Parks Foundation and the PaintAmerica Scholarship Fund.


Paintings in this competition must depict one of our nation's 390 areas supervised by the National Park Service.Rapidly Changing Conditions and Vent portray Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park, while Maine: Tides, Rocks represents Acadia National Park.

Maine: Tides, Rocks   © 2010 Katherine Kean 

oil on linen 8 x 10"

Vent  © 2010 Katherine Kean 

oil on linen 10 x 10" 

Cloud Sketch

Here is a sketch that has hopes of becoming a painting. I have my doubts about the street light on the left in the bottom of the sketch. I may leave it out - or at least not paint it in until the rest of the painting is finished. Or, it may become a tree, if I can find just the right tree to go in it's place. Or, perhaps the painting will stand on it's own without a streetlight or a tree to provide context.

I got a chance to pick up the postcard announcements for the Atmospheric exhibition from the printer yesterday. They are 5 x 7" and feature Converging Conditions of the front with my name, and all of the exhibit info on the back. If you would like one, email me your street address and I'll send it out to you.

And some fun news - I heard from ArtSlant that Counting Raindrops has been selected as a Showcase Winner in the 5th showcase contest for 2010.

Passing Through

Passing Through
4 x 7" graphite © 2010 Katherine Kean

This drawing, of an imaginary migration, is headed for the gallery this week. I suspect I'll end up doing a larger version of this in oil since I've explored this theme more than once in the past and keep returning to it to try and discover a bit more.

On another note, one of my recent paintings has been accepted as a winner in the May Showcase Awards, which is Art Slant's online competition. You can see it on the Art Slant 3rd 2010 Showcase page of their website.

Seven and Seven: Two Lists

I was given this blog award by Kim Bennett, of Kim Bennett's Studio, a wonderful artist, a teacher and a blogger...Many thanks Kim!

The award comes with two duties: share seven things my fellow bloggers don't know about me; pass the award to seven worthy artists. So here goes.

Seven things about me you might not know:

1. I was a vegetarian in my teens. This prompted my mother to research and cook strange (at the time) alternative recipes, things like Lentil Loaf, in order to keep me healthy.

2. I have some fused vertebrae in my neck - you'd never know, except that I can't do headstands in yoga.

3. I discovered my artistic abilities because as a kid I was nuts about horses and started drawing them to compensate for not having one.

4. As a child I broke my back (just a little) falling off a horse - still love them anyway! Oh and it healed quickly with no fuss - one of the the wonders of youth.

5. I lived in South Korea for 6 weeks as an animator back in the day.

6. I was an animator back in the day.

7. My great, great, grandfather's name was Oonomoo. I don't know why.

Seven artists:

1. Melissa Reischman - Art and Other Creative Endeavors. Melissa's a fantastic artist and a graphic designer, an amazing cook, and a wonderful neighbor.

2. Anne M. Bray - Sketches and Impressions. I've had the pleasure of exhibiting alongside Anne twice and I love her work.

3. Dianne Hoeptner - I've never met Dianne in person, but I feel like I have! Dianne can paint anything, but I know her flowers best, and she paints prolifically.

4. Jean Spitzer - Jean's Paintings. Jean amazes me with her work - powerful figures and landscapes.

5. Laurelines - Laura's blog has been one of my favorites and an inspiration for quite a while. It's like a beautifully illustrated travel log/diary.

6. Lynne E. Windsor Fine Art - I've been an admirer of Lynne Windsor's painting for some time and I was happy to see she's recently started a blog!

7. Gary Keimig - Another wonderful painter. Gary does amazing work out in nature under the big skies.

It was hard to keep this list to just seven blog artists. I feel priveleged to connect to so many talented and accomplshed artists in the blog world and I may have to come back and add to this list in the near future.

ArtSlant May 2009 Juried 2 Showcase

Yesterday I was notified by the ArtSlant Curatorial Team that my work has been selected as a winner in the May 2009 Juried 2 Showcase.

This means that I now have a lovely award ribbon placed above the winning painting on my ArtSlant profile page and I appear on a premium placement page - that is unless they have to bump me to make room for another winner. (wait, what?)

This competition has several levels: later on a panel of gallerists will choose 6 juried winners from the pool of showcase winners. Then these new winners will be eligible to participate again for three places in the Golden Frame Awards.

The showcase artists are from all over the globe. Even so, I noticed a few familiar faces in the showcase section. Good luck to everybody!