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.

Foothill Artists

My neighborhood is starting to feel a bit to me like an art colony. Within the past year two artists have moved to my locale. One is Danielle Eubank, a fabulous painter of waterscapes, who is incidentally having an opening this weekend at Found Gallery. The other, a painter I have long admired, as well as a great graphic designer, Melissa Reischman, just moved nearby recently with her husband. She's actually walking distance - at just over a mile, although I haven't made the trek yet. However, there have been rumors of sketching expeditions. There are a handful more scattered in the hills who have lived here about as long as I have, including Alan Wolfson, an amazing sculptor of gritty miniature urban environments.

To round out the picture the McGroarty Art Center is just down the street. The art center, pictured below, was once the home of John McGroarty, who was at one time poet laureate for California and is now the setting for various classes, from ceramics, to drawing, to dance.

"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.