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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.

Spreading Murmurs: California Park Voices

As you you may know, I've been donating a portion of the proceeds from Murmuration to help selected causes, among them the California State Parks Foundation.  The CSPF - your voice for the parks - is a statewide, membership - based nonprofit, dedicated to California's 279 state parks. Right now 70 of our state parks face closure - that's about one quarter of them -  due to a $22 million general fund budget cut. 


The CSPF blog, Cal Park Voices, has just posted a very nice article, Murmurs of Generosity, about my latest body of work. Click here, or on the image above to read it.

Thinking About The Third Thing

Raindrop Pattern sketch  ©2012 Katherine Kean
graphite on paper 8 x10"

My studio time is scheduled in fits and starts, sandwiched between the many tasks that I deferred over the past few months and the lure of the garden and getting late season planting in. The sketch above is a preliminary drawing to explore raindrop patterns for a new painting.

I recently came across this quote - actually a non rhyming poem - by author D. H. Lawrence:

Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one, but there is also a third thing, that makes it water and nobody knows what it is. The atom locks up two energies but it is a third thing present which makes it an atom.

In this painting, I think the "third thing" will live somewhere in between the foreground raindrops and the wet, blurry background of the street. It'll be whatever you, the viewer, interprets it to be.

I love wondering about the mystery of the third thing, don't you?

Murmuration Flies North…

Some of it lands in the homes of new collectors, some will roost in my studio for awhile, and six paintings have made their way to the Modest Fly Art Studio Gallery in Tujunga to join the ACAG Mother’s Day exhibition that’s already in progress. This show runs through June 9^th with a closing reception on Friday, June 8 from 5 -8 PM.

Above and below are more shots of the changes people have made to the flight patterns while Murmuration was on display at TAG Gallery. One gentleman visiting from Australia was thrilled with the opportunity to interact with the art. He told me that usually people are told to “stand back” and “don’t touch the art.” He went on to spend some time arranging and re-arranging the paintings. Some of them even ended up upside down or some sideways and worked just as well in these positions.

3 Artists and a Conversation

Just getting set up for the event. Anne M. Bray's work can be seen in
the center background and Betty Sheinbaum's just glimpsed to the right.

We had a lovely audience for Saturday's Art Spoken Here event at TAG Gallery, and so many attended that we ran out of chairs. Here's a recap.

Gallery director Laura Korman began by announcing the exhibition’s three parts: Echo – representing Ann M. Bray’s revisiting of her work from the ‘70s, Eco, for my Murmuration series, and Econ, Betty Sheinbaum’s paintings about local people and our economy.

Laura asked why we choose to work in specific media? For us it boiled down to the benefits or drawbacks of oil versus acrylic, and digital versus hand drawn. I find it really interesting that there are a variety of opinions among us.

We were asked about our creative process in general and whether how or where we grew up had an influence on our becoming artists. And, what is an important turning point in our career? 

We were asked what other professions we've had and how that has impacted our work. Anne works in textile design, Betty was a sculptor, using car parts as material. I feel that my background in visual effects helped bolster my creativity, sharpen my eye and keep my hand skilled.

I got a chance to explain that Spooky Action at a Distance and Quantum Entanglement are both names for the same theory in Quantum Physics, that describes the way things that are physically apart from each other influence each other’s actions even though there is no visible or known connection.

I learned a lot about the other artists, that Betty went back to school in her sixties when she could no longer do sculpture due to physical impediments, that Anne is inspired by the Hudson River Valley school of painters, among others, that Betty’s favorite contemporary painter is Diebenkorn.

Our biggest fear as artists? The pressures of time, for Anne the hours of daylight and productivity versus down time, for me, not having enough time to get it all done, and for Betty, the fear of showing work.

Betty also spoke about the experience of being a founding member of TAG.

Finally, there were some great questions from the audience, with one gentleman asking how artists can deal with the discouragement that can come from frustration. We advocated patience and fortitude, putting the work away and coming back later with a fresh eye, and taking a nap.

More photos here on TAG's Facebook album.

Questions and Conversations on Saturday, May 12

Quantum Entanglement © 2012 Katherine Keanoil on linen, modular 40 x 60' over 8 x 60"

Curious about how the work is made? Questions about the process, the background? Join me this weekend, along with Betty Sheinbaum; 99% & Counting, and Anne M Bray; Pattern Recognition II, for an informal talk with queries posed by gallery director Laura Korman, plus any questions you might have.

 Conversations with the Artists 

Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 3PM

TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station 

2525 Michigan Avenue, D3 

Santa Monica, CA 90404