"Works" Opening

The opening of TAG's Group Exhibit "Works For Everyone" was Saturday evening. I am happy that so many friends showed up. It was fun to chat and catch up - even though I had just seen some of them over the holidays - life can change that fast that there is always some news to share. I was positioned behind the catalogue table for most of the evening so it was hard to get photos, especially after it became packed with people, but I did take a couple, which I've posted below.

Each of 40 artists had one piece in the exhibit making quite a diverse showing. The exhibit stays up through January 31st.

Mise En Place

I just learned this term - mise en place - while reading a cooking blog. It is a French term, defined by the Culinary Institute of America (according to Wikipedia), that means everything in it's place. It's what you see when you watch a cooking demonstration and see that everything is already prepared and laid out ahead of the actual cooking. Everything is measured, chopped, sifted, and so on, and cooking utensils are clean and ready to go. It makes the process seem so much more effortless and flowing.

It got me to thinking about studio practices and how well the concept might transfer and at what place preparation and forethought, spontaneity and creativity intersect. When I'm working with encaustics or watercolor I know that I spend a lot more time in preparation, mainly because both mediums set so quickly. That means laying out a palette - in watercolor waking up the colors with water so that they are ready to use, as well as stretching the paper, wetting and laying out the brushes, sponges, and whatever else is used to apply the paint, and making sure plenty of clean water is on hand. With encaustic preparation involves getting out specialized tools, many of which need to be plugged in and warmed up. The paint also needs to be brought to melting point. In oils I plan to have the right size and proportioned canvases or boards ready ahead of time and to have paint on hand, within reason, but since the drying process is slower preparation doesn't have the same intensity for me, at least not until later on in the process. Then I find, in the heat of the moment, it's imperative to be able to have exactly the right color and brush at the tip of your fingers.

Anyway, something to think about while I paint the studio walls this week.


Update: I have learned from a reader from France that "mise en place" is not a French term, but an American term coming from France that seems to translate more accurately as a verb: "an action to fix things in place."

Works For Everyone Group Show

Works For Everyone is the next exhibit I'll have a piece of work in at TAG Gallery. It's a group show that opens January 7th and runs through the 31st. The reception is on Saturday, January 10th from 5 - 8 pm. Until then the gallery is closed for renovation.

What I'm Working on Now

Evening's Light Not Yet Gone   © 2009 Katherine Kean
oil on linen  18 x 24"

At last a moment to update this blog. It is finally feeling like winter in Los Angeles. It rained all night and this morning I built a fire to warm up the house. I connected the last two rain barrels on my rain water collection "system" this weekend and they are now all full to capacity! I'm waiting for the first jar of olives to finish curing. I try an olive every week. To my taste they still have a little bit of bitterness to dissipate.

TAG Gallery is starting 2009 with a group exhibit in January so I'll be painting the edges and wiring for hanging the painting above. The exhibit starts January 7th and runs through the 31st.

Effects of the Wind

It's been a strange couple of days with fires everywhere and all the wind and heat complicating the scenario. This fire seems to be a bit closer than the last one, just one month ago, but has been traveling in the other direction. My heart goes out to the people that had to evacuate and those who lost their homes. The winds have died down now, so it looks like the fire will be contained in the next couple of days. I hope it's all out before the wind changes direction - I don't mind not having to breathe all that smoke.

One thing that's been helpful about these winds is that it knocked the olives out of the tree that were too high to reach to pick. I just happened to be out in the garden (mulching again - or is that still) and looked down to see a couple of ripe olives on the ground, so I picked them up. Then I saw another and another and before long my pockets were full. (It helps to wear cargo pants in the garden.) I've had to move the whole curing process to a much larger jar.

Olives again

I was going to just ignore the olives this year, but with the winds the olives from my neighbors tree rain down onto the roof and deck, sounding like very fat raindrops. I decided to check my olive trees to see if they had olives and ended up picking about a pound. I think I'm going to try a simple salt cure this time - it seems easier, just layering the olives with the salt and shaking them every day for three weeks or so.

Rain Catcher

We seem to get all of our rain in the fall and winter and then almost none the rest of the year. This summer I ordered 10 used barrels - previously used for shipping greek olives - I'm guessing - from the faint tangy scent leftover. These barrels have been refitted with overflow spouts, a hose bib, and a mesh screen on the lid to filter leaves and debris and keep critters and mosquitos out. I had the barrels hooked up to a downspout on Friday with an extra pipe to travel along the outside wall and turn a corner to go through the trellis under the back deck where the barrels are. From there a flexible drain pipe feeds the water into the barrels. And it rained, enough that the first barrel is already full! I'm looking forward to being able to use this water next summer on my vegetables. And if it keeps on raining I'll order more barrels until I run out of room.