Waiting For the Sun

Amber Lightfall©2011 Katherine Keanoil on linen  15 x 40  inches

After days and days of rain, the sun has come out at last. It's still chilly, but promises to warm up. I grabbed the opportunity while it rained to get inside work finished. During my document updating I re-discovered the "read aloud" feature of Acrobat PDF files. I found that if I used it to read back to me that I could see how text such as my artist statement did or did not flow. In the past I've asked a friend to read it to me, or recorded my own voice on my message service. The digital voice gives a new variation.I also found it a useful tool to use in proof reading. An error read alound seems to stand out more to me than what I might catch when visually skimming over text.

Welcoming Spring With Buckets of Rain

Most of the weekend and on into the first day of spring brought lots of rain to Los Angeles - very fitting as this is World Water Day. All the downpour filled my rain barrels to the brim and the time indoors gave me a chance to finish my taxes and update my website with a few small changes.

This week I sent out my quarterly newsletter, wishing everyone a happy spring. You can view my newsletter here, or sign up for it to be sent to your inbox by clicking on the link below.

Sign up for my Email Newsletter

 

Enjoy your fresh water and happy spring!

 

 

 

A Very Busy Ring of Fire

Coastal Pines Overlook II    ©2011 Katherine Kean
oil on linen 6 x 6"

 The weather here has warmed up allowing for improved drying time. Together with the longer days, that's good news for painters. I've been able to make progress on new paintings and finish this pair. These are imaginary scenes reminiscent of the California Coast near Big Sur. Although they weren't intended as such, they can work together as a diptych, yet I prefer them to be separate.

If there's a competition for our attention, it seems to me that Nature continues to win. It hasn't been a month since an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. As I was updating webcam information to post about the newest eruptions of Kilauea in Hawaii, the 8.9 earthquake hit Japan, followed by the massive tsunami. Just before the quake activity Japan's Shinmoedake volcano also began erupting again.

In Hawaii, the world's youngest and maybe most active volcano, which has been erupting continuously since 1983, has developed a new fissure developed between the Pu'u 'O'o and Napau craters on Kilauea. Here is a temporary camera set up to record the new fissure eruption which started on the afternoon of March 5, 2011 about 2 km WSW of Puʻu ʻŌʻō Crater. This panorama is a composite of eight images from a research camera positioned on the north rim of Puʻu ʻŌʻō's crater.



Coastal Pines Overlook I    ©2011 Katherine Kean
oil on linen 6 x 6"

 Just as it is difficult to comprehend the magnitude of destruction that parts of the world have been experiencing, the images broadcast over the Internet and the airwaves have been unbelievable as well, including the most recent coming from Japan.

In the midst of it I was grateful to find this list of charities on Charity Navigator that are organizing relief efforts. The opportunity to contribute something to help out aids me in feeling a little less powerless.

Rain, and Cold, and... Snow?

The sun has returned after the past week's winter weather of rain, cold, and snow. When I mention local snow I usually refer to the snow that is visible on the mountains close by, seen, but not felt. This past weekend it snowed right here, on me, on my house, on my budding fruit trees and yard. It didn't stick for long, but it's proximity made it feel appropriate to be working on this pair of rainy day paintings.

These have three or four layers now with plenty more to come. There is still lots of under painting color showing through on each, which I plan to retain. I like the surprise of tiny specks of vivid gold or red poking through the more sober greys.

Raindrops 2 Underpainting work in progress

©2011 Katherine Kean

Raindrops 3 Underpainting work in progress

©2011 Katherine Kean

 I've been happily observing the days getting longer. Having more daylight to paint by has been great. Yet, it's still cold, so even though the days are longer there isn't enough sunlight to make up for the heat lost during the winter. The cold has made for slo-o-o-w drying time. Under paintings that I started last week are still tacky. Paintings, still sticky, that need final glazes continue hanging in limbo. Since I must wait for paintings to dry in order to work on, I continue to start on fresh ones. So for now, the studio is getting quite full!
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Webcams: A Tool for Artists?

Last week, while planning to go to El Matador in an attempt to catch the winter storm I encountered the obstacle of not knowing what the conditions would be over there, while I was over here. I had weather forecasts, but I wanted more specific knowledge and only afterward did I think that I should have checked a Malibu webcam to find out live conditions in advance of the drive. A search turned up several beach cams for various coastal areas in Southern California.

In looking around there seem to be webcams all over, making it easier to see weather conditions, visibility, and even the progression of fall foliage, or volcanic eruptions. This page is a National Park and Recreation Area webcam locator: It has links to recreation areas, volcanoes, monuments, seashores and parks.

Try this webcam in the fall for views of changing foliage from Mt. Washington in New Hampshire .

There are webcams in places that a regular Google Street View will not take you to and it seems to me that this may be an excellent way for landscape artists to check out new places to paint.

I found webcams in Alaska, New Zealand, and South Africa (always live and wild) . Not so many in China, but I'm still looking.

This seems like a useful tool not only for painters, but also for photographers, hikers, birders, and other wildlife enthusiasts, to name just a few. Have you ever used a webcam to check out a destination before a trip?

Sea and Rocks

Maine Tides Study ©2011 Katherine Kean
oil on linen 8 x 10"

Here is the final, more or less, of the Maine tide and rock study.The overall color of the rocks hasn't really changed much from the initial lay in- for those who were concerned about that. 

Earler this week I spent the end of an afternoon with a friend at El Matador Beach. We've had a series of storms in Southern California after a spell of almost summery weather. The plan was to catch the end of a storm breaking up, or the beginning of another gathering strength just at sunset. El Matador has wonderful rock formations scattered about and the low angle of the sun with clouds would have added to the drama. However, even though it was dark and ominous up here in the foothills, by the time we got to the coast, though windy and cold, it was bright and sunny. It was beautiful that way too of course and at that time of day the colors of the rocks, the sand, and the water kept changing. Well worth the visit. There will be other opportunities to catch stormy conditions coming up, or so I hear.

Underpainting Again

Raindrops 2 Underpainting work in progress

©2011 Katherine Kean

Raindrops 3 Undeprpainting work in progress

©2011 Katherine Kean

I'm following up last weeks server problems with online backup challenges this week. I use an online backup service so that there's one less thing to worry about in the event of a fire or other disaster. This week I've been deleting unnecessary files, such as the multiple copies I seem to collect of artwork images that end up in various folders on my hard drive. I thought that with all the deleting that my backup storage would increase. There was one more step I had to follow to make more room, but I didn't know what it was. I got in touch with Norton and they fixed it remotely, which was fun to watch as well as informative. Now it all seems to be working well again, yay!

Above are a couple of vivid underpaintings. I've been experimenting with Gamblin's new fast drying alkyds for underpainting. These alkyd oil colors dry within 18 - 24 hours. I like the idea of cutting drying time while retaining a good bond with the subsequent paint layers. I've already painted over the two underpaintings above and while they dry I'll be working on other things.