Top 5 Posts in 2012

 Of the 42 posts published here in 2012 these are the most searched, visited, and read:

5. Back to Go A painting inspired by El Matador State Beach in Malibu and about the potential California State Park closures that we managed to avert - yay!

4. Creation is Subtraction “Creation is not capricious or random addition; it is intelligent and selective subtraction.” The God Theory: Universes, Zero-Point Fields, and What's Behind It All, Bernard Haisch

3. Can Artwork Make You Cry?  The answer is yes. It can also make you feel angry, seasick, energized, elated, and more.

2. Thinking About the Third Thing D.H. Lawrence's non rhyming quote. What is the 'Third Thing'? I'm still wondering....

1. Art.sy Experience A browsing session on Artsy's enormous art genome website. Have you visited yet?

Back to Go

Center Panel Triptych work in progress ©2012 Katherine Kean    

I've worked my way back around to this triptych. I started this several months ago and had to put it aside to focus on other work. You can see parts of the under painting in this post, and the triptych in progress below.

Triptych work in progress  ©2012 Katherine Kean

This painting is inspired by El Matador State Beach - one of those places that I've been motivated to paint again and again. It's a beautiful beach, as are many on the California coast, and unique in character, as they all are. This one seems to have that golden light set off by the drama of the rock formations, very different from the coastline further north.

Although El Matador is not on the list for closure, 70 or so other state parks are. This represents about 1/4 of all of our state parks and will affect residents and tourists alike, as well as many local businesses that serve park visitors. If you are planning to visit any California State Parks this summer you may want to check this map of planned closures or click here to learn more about it.

El Matador: Silhouette, Shadow, Reflection

 El Matador: Silhouette, Shadow, Reflection  ©2011 Katherine Kean

oil on linen 8 x 10"

I worked hard to keep this simple, if that makes any sense. What I mean is it would have been easy for me to become obsessed with defining the many fascinating intricacies of the craggy boulder and overlapping wave forms. However, I resisted, instead mostly allowing the main silhouettes and shadow shapes and the strong blood orange color to carry the mood. Could I go further with the simplification? Probably, yes. Next time.

Now, as August and the summer heat arrives,  would be an excellent time to visit this beach. 

Expanding My List of Influences



Slow Release of the Day © 2009 Katherine Kean
oil on linen 18 x 36"

A couple of years ago I posted a list of the top eleven artists that I felt had the biggest influence on my work. A top ten list would be a much rounder number I know, but I just coldn't narrow it down that far. Now, I'd like to expand on that list with some additional artists that I've been looking at more carefully over the past few months, and add these seven to the first eleven. Some of these artists' works relate to each other and some do not, so, in no particular order:

Dwight Tryon Graceful, and simultaneously ethereal and grounded.

George Innes Rich and mysterious, his paintings allow your mind to create what isn't painted, while hinting at more.

Andrew Wyeth Beautiful browns that are almost monochromatic - images are stark in composition, yet rendered in detail, and have the ability to draw you into their story.

Lawren S. Harris Harris's paintings seem to seek out a spiritual essence in nature, allowing anything extraneous to this experience to seem to drop away.

Emily Carr I should have realized earlier that I couldn't have Goergia O'Keeffe and Agnes Pelton without adding Emily Carr. Her work also seems related to Charles Burchfield's. She seems to paint the wind.

Frederick Judd Waugh Known Best as a marine painter, he understands the physicality of the sea and powerfully conveys the experience of it.

Kaii Higashiyama Simulataneously grand and simple, his paintings are bold while holding a profound sense of quiet.

In looking over both lists I can see certain characteristics held in common. A strong affinity for nature is apparent, as well as the sense of mood. Technically, all of these artists combine softness and gradations with bold contrasts, shapes and composition. Values are key and so is a feeling for drama, even when it's a quiet grandeur.

El Matador State Beach, Malibu California

El Matador 22 x 30" watercolor
© 1994 Katherine Kean

I thought I'd keep a beach theme going this week - my way of acknowledging that we're moving into summer, with another post on inspiring locations to paint. California is loaded with dramatic natural beauty. There are 70 miles of coastline in Southern California, some of it wonderfully rugged. One of the most beautiful spots is El Matador State Beach. The combination of rock formations and ocean is a sure lure for landscape painters. You can find a few pictures of this stunning location here.

I have only visited this beach early in the day when it’s easier to find a place to park. If I’m carrying a lot of painting gear I try to get as close to my painting location as possible. However I suspect it may be even more striking near the end of the day and I plan to go at that time one day soon.

To get to the beach you have to descend a steep stairway, but there are also some great views looking down on the beach from above. One trick to this location is that once on the beach when the tide is out it is easy to walk north up the beach, but if the tide comes in you might have to dash between the waves and the cliff on the return trip to get back to the stairs.

El Matador State Beach
32215 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA 90265

Malibu Creek: After the Rain, Digital Print

Katherine Kean Malibu Creek: After the Rain watercolor 3.75 x 6.76"

This abstracted little watercolor was painted on sight at Malibu Creek on a Saturday morning after a very heavy rain. Malibu Creek is usually, in my experience, a slow moving creek, more of a reflecting pool than a raging river. But on this day it was rushing along and carrying loads of debris; branches and leaves being carried off in the fast, turbulent, current. It was cold and I was working quickly and just as I finished it started to rain.

The original watercolor sketch - a page torn from my Aquabee sketchbook - is hanging in my house, framed with the spiral binder holes showing, acknowledging the immediacy of the moment. There is something about it, the size, the motion, or maybe the the torn spiral binder holes, that has made me want to hang onto it, so I've never offered it for sale. However, a matted and framed archival giclee print is currently available at TAG Gallery.

This is an "open" edition, by the way. I've only made one print of this (so far), but I may make more. I don't really comprehend the point of a limited edition digital print. The idea of having a limited edition does apply, in my mind, if the printing process involves an actual plate, like a woodcut, for example. During the printing process using an actual physcial plate the printing process does wear the plate down, limiting the number of prints that can be made, thus a limited edition is a way of preserving the quality of the print. Also, the closer to the beginning of the process the print is, the better the quality, so the number of the print has real meaning. In a digital print there is no plate and theoretically an endless number of prints could be made with no loss of quality to the image. Furthermore if an image is in high demand why would an artist want to put a limit on their potential sales of that image? So, there. That's my rant on limited edition digital prints.

Afternoon in the Lagoon

This is Malibu Lagoon, a saltwater marsh where Malibu Creek empties into the Pacific. As I understand it this area was previously used as a dump site, but in the 80's was excavated to restore the marsh habitat. The restoration results in a beautiful and very popular place, although it continues to suffer from pollution caused by urban runoff.


We had a great time getting here. Deciding to take surface streets instead of freeways we ended up taking Moomat Ahiko Way to get to PCH instead of the California Incline. We are both long time residents of Southern California and we couldn't remember ever taking this street before. It turns out that the name was changed in 2004. It was formerly Route 187. The new name means "Breath of the Ocean" and is of the Tongva language


Fellow painter Barbara:

Curiously, after finding a spot with a decent view off the main path and concealed somewhat by vegetation we set up to paint only to have two men come along needing to measure a part of the area we were occupying. Fortunately it only took them a few minutes to take their measurements and leave.