Helloooooooooo

I've created a newer, hopefully better blog where I'll be residing from now on. Please feel free to look at the artwork here and in the "older posts" link down at the bottom. I thought I'd be able to link them or merge them or in some way get them together but .....that's either not possible or I just can't figure it out.

So - here is where I am now - http://www.katepethoud.blogspot.com/

Come see me there for all my newer work.

Kate

Wow - I've not been here FORever!

I started another blog - probably without thinking it all the way through, so that I could show my art for sale. Thinking it through though, I could have probably just kept this one going and that would have been fine. Now if you want to see what I have for sale you'll have to go to http://www.katepethoud.blogspot.com/
Actually, it was set up as a daily painting site but then people were emailing me and asking me if this piece or that piece was for sale - so - there you go - you just can't anticipate everything.

One of the things I've been working on - well, two things actually - is starting arts and craft classes through the summer for kids, and preparing lesson plans to get me ready to start teaching for Stanislaus Arts Council in September. I am very excited for both opportunities and there seems to be doors opening up in the most unusual ways for me. We'll see what happens. Oh, and if you are in the Modesto area and are looking for fairly inexpensive art classes for your children please email me at DreamrKate@yahoo.com.

Here are the paintings I've done in the last few days:

Enjoy - and check back.

K

I almost forgot. . . .

I almost forgot to include the tiny panoramic paintings that I've been doing as ideas strike. I love that the composition seems to be coming together in these very small moments. They're small enough to hang in a grouping or in tight places where you might want a small, colorful surprise to brighten your day. Anyway - feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

Gosh, it's been weeks since I've posted anything. As you can see, I've been busy painting and I've sold a few things. I'm going to be involved in a few upcoming local events where I can show and sell my art - The Knights Ferry Peddlers Faire, Congregation Beth Shalom is having a 'first ever arts and music event,' the upcoming Third Thursday Art Walk, and another couple of art events at the local parks.

The weather has been hit and miss still... we get a few days that are gorgeous and then just when we think we're heading in the summer direction, bam, we get rain. Unpredictable but fun to watch. It's this time of year I love to drive just outside of town a bit to look at all the spring flowers, the peach and apricot trees. There's always something beautiful to be thankful for.

Scott's making breakfast and the smell of coffee and the thought that I can go right to painting and drawing is luring me away now - so BYE for the moment!

K

Spring Flowers

Here are a couple of things I've been working on. I think they're ready to go, hopefully tonight. All three are watercolor, or watercolor and oil pastels and ink, on 8 x 10 inch canvas. People have asked me for prices but that seems too forward to me, so if you are interested please email me. I think they're very affordable.

Are Sunflowers Becoming a Theme With Me?

Sunflowers seem to be "my thing" lately. I don't know if it's because they have large wide-open happy faces, or because they ever strive to reach the sun, or is it just because they show up for work? Every day during the summer, they are there, on duty, standing along the fence just smiling as if they are the overseers of our back yard kingdom.

Or is it because the petals grow so crazy-wild and it takes a real conscientious effort to be able to capture their rise and dips. Or maybe it's just because they are happy and in trying to spread that happiness, it makes me happy? I think it's that - it makes me happy. I've consciously given up doing things that don't make me happy every day. Kind of an indulgence, but I'm going to keep it going as long as I can.

Here are a few drawings that I haven't put color to yet. I like the compositions and I wanted to preserve them until I try out different colors and effects. (Basically, I don't want to mess them up.)

More later.

K

Trying Something a Little Different

Okay, this sunflower is NOT tiny - it's 5 x 7, small, but not tiny.

I've spent the last couple of days working on a few very small watercolors. Why? I don't know. I don't even know why you ask me that. I just felt like it. Anyway, I like the idea of panoramic paintings and I've got to work with what I've got.....and .... well here they are. Since they are so small, the thought of framing was starting to concern me. I haven't see any very small panoramic frames lately. . . . or ever. . . and custom framing, phffft, I'm sure that THAT would be cost prohibitive, so I'm going to mount them on recycled wood - which means I'm going out to my garage and find pieces left over from something else I've done, and put them on that.

We'll see how that goes.

Feel free to comment. I was so pleased that I couldn't even wait until a decent hour to talk about it.

K

A Painting a Day - It's all I ask...

Well, some days I'm fairly prolific, and some days I'm not.

I watch my dog, my big beautiful German Shepherd, as she turns in circles, figuring out just how to settle in. It's a puzzle to her, though it looks very much the same to me, but she's looking for just the right spot, just the right "merge" place where she can ease into her relaxation mode.

Granted - she's a dog, but many times in my effort to get started I feel the same way. There's a process. I get up in the morning, get coffee, then I head to the computer to check email and look at things - could be other blogs, it could be flipping through magazines for a minute or 15 - but most of the time I spend time laying out what I've been working on.

I've finally gotten my watercolors in a binder, in protective sleeves so that they're . . . well - protected, from water drips, my fingers, accidental pencil marks - whatever. I'll line up the other half dozen drawings that are in progress and try to decide which one I feel led to work on. They're all in various stages of unfinished - just ink, ink with some color, drawings that need something but I haven't figure out just what ... I spread them out and just look at them. Though it may appear (to people close to me) that organization is the bane of my existence, I am finally accepting that it's much easier to work in a semi-organized fashion - completed stuff put away, only the others cluttering about. Semi-organized.

My "circling" requires me to check the binder, line up my pencils, return pastels to their boxes. I like the process of setting the paper pads in front of me stacked in order of height and right next to them the pots of brushes. I probably only use three different brushes most of the time but still I like the pot of them nearby. It makes me feel official - like if I needed them, they'd be standing at-the-ready. Good little soldiers. Worn but loyal.

I think I'm ready now. One more trip to the restroom, one more glass of water. And now - to address what's at hand - do I start on a big page of blankness or work on what I've started?

Here's work from today - Saturday, March 6, Happy Birthday Mom!

Looking back on past work

This watercolor (the trees and rock) is actually a portion of the original. I like this part the best. I love river rock and I think I got this part, at least the colors. Aug. 2008 (??) The orange flower at the right - I don't think there are actually flowers like this but I like it, even if it is only in MY head, and I love the way the colors turned out. (2006?, maybe 2008)

Just an 11 x 14 inch doodle. Haven't colored it yet and I'm not quite sure what I want to do with it. I love these (there are a couple of them) but I really like tucking a little message or scripture in them somewhere. 2006 The daffodils are oil pastels and watercolor on a paper bag. It's sturdy, not very absorbent, but it's heavy enough to rub color on over and over until I get the desired colors. I like to practice on bags, but then it I end up really liking some of the pieces so I'll probably frame them, and then the crease won't matter to me.

This bouquet I did last month. I like it so I've done more, not exactly like this but similar.
* * * * * * * * * *
I was digging around looking for more paper to draw on and found some other paintings that I've done in past years. It's always an interesting thing to take a step back and evaluate with a new 'eye' what you've been doing. For me it's kind of like painting a room that I'd waited a long time to paint . . . . and then I have to walk in and take a look, walk out, pretend that I've never seen it before, walk back in. Maybe I take a personal vote, or see if my scale from 1-10 stays the same. In any case, I like to do the same thing with my artwork. I'm very critical as I'm doing something, whether it's ceramics or painting or whatever, and the urge to trash it and start over comes up many times during the process, but I've learned (I think) to set things aside and go back in for that fresh look, that fresh and hopefully objective view. I've done that with these paintings and I like them a lot more than I remember. I like the colors and composition, and I'm liking the feedback I'm getting on Facebook, from friends and family and people who drop by while I'm working. There's so much to continually learn but it's a fun kind of learning. It's learning about something I actually want to know.

So that's it - just sharing today.

Kate

My Daily Drawing

Today's beginning work......and on to my morning thoughts... BIG NEWS!


I've FINALLY come to recognize something that I should have learned long ago... but didn't... the benefits of practice. Practice makes you better at something, or some things. I'm not sure what it was that I didn't get but it makes me understand why I have struggled with many things in my life. I don't know if it's just an 'acceptance' thing that now I'm finally getting to. Or, if I'm like many other people I see who struggle with not understanding some simple principles.



When I was taking classes, there were a lot of them that were easy or fairly easy to me. Writing papers, pffst......piece of cake. Talking in front of people .... oh please. Analyzing something or figuring out why people do what they do.... c'mon, bring on the hard stuff. But... and here is where it all starts to unravel for me... if I'm given a task where I have to go at something again and again, and again, to get it right - *gasp* where I'd have to "LEARN" ..... I struggle.



Algebra - STRUGGLE. Ceramics and getting the glazes dead on - struggle. Willing to practice at that, but still, it's a struggle.

And then there's art - WHEN did this decide to be a struggle? When I realized that to be at all decent, I have to do it again, and again. And do it over and go over that again. And to practice and practice and maybe then I will be able to exhibit some control and duplicate what I've done.



God, I exhaust myself. Why can't I just be accepting of the fact that learning is necessary in almost all things. To be any good at anything, I think I have to just accept that maybe I know nothing .......and then we can start from the beginning. LEARNING . . . . listening, getting knowledge of, practicing what you don't know until you understand it and have a command of such knowledge. Get it? Got it!
*sigh*

"Okay, let's go. Let's do it again."

K

Watercolor

Watercolor is a pretty cool medium, especially if the weather is unreliable. You don't need much, some decent paper, a watercolor paint set, a cup of water. And a pen. I've been doodling this week and these are what I've produced. I think they may be put up for sale on Etsy a bit later.

It's Almost Spring......maybe

Spring is heading our way. The blossoms on the almond tree in our front yard plumped out of the branches, budded and were in full bloom within five days, maybe it was even four. Each year it amazes me how quickly "it" happens. With this new-to-us house we also have an orange tree in the back yard. It remained green all winter while I noticed that others in our neighborhood had lots of orange "pops of color." I thought maybe we were passed over for the fruit this year. But no. Nature was just pacing itself. Little by little I realized that I just wasn't aware of all the work being done in the background. What I could not see were the hidden green balls, that would soon turn orange and make their visual announcement. Every morning I notice more. I know it happens but still each season I am amazed.


I participated in a local monthly art exhibit last evening - only the seond time I've shown any of my artwork in public and again got a wonderful response. I was happily surprized. I even sold a small ink and watercolor painting of a couple of sunflowers. I was and am ecstatic. I wanted to kiss the woman and thank her for buying my "doodles." And that's one that I wasn't going to take, and of course didn't keep a copy. I did get a lot of wonderful comments on my Kandinsky-esque drawing that I used a couple of summers ago when I taught Art Camp to kids.


At the same time I'm getting in to my art work, I'm trying to position myself to teach art to children. My first and very loyal student is Rita. Here she is working very hard. She's not yet three, but she clearly wants to be shown ONCE and then wants to do it on her own. If she said what she thought I'm sure it would be "Quit buggin me, I can draw by my own self."

With three year olds you've got to be faster than the spilling water cup, quicker than the brushes falling off the table and you've got to be in love with brown because no matter how hard you try, they want to mix those colors into each other until they're one uniform color. And it's much easier to work with chaos on your paper. Maybe that's why I like working with them - I think like that too. Here's Rita hard at work.

Getting In Gear

This morning as I read and flip through magazines and look at the pictures, I'm gathering momentum. I've already folded laundry, cleaned the kitchen, have chicken roasting for soup for later so I'm ready. The problem is that I look at so many "pretties" and glean ideas and think of how "I will do this" that my brain starts to get that feeling of 27 fat guys trying to all get through the door. No offense to fat guys...if I was a guy I might be one of them, but slow down boys....let's see how much more functional you can be if you form a single file line. I think we can get a lot more accomplished if we just wait patiently and hold our piece ......yes, piece.....a card with a single idea on it. Hahaha, you thought I was wrong and meant "peace" didn't you? I'll start with this pile of stuff and see what I come up with. Of course everything is up for change .....

SPREADING THE WORD

Since I've had an opportunity to be without work for a while I've given great thought as to what I should actually "DO" with my life. I haven't come up with a hard and fast idea yet, but I'm thinking really hard. In the meantime I've gotten some wonderful time to spend with my family just being a wife and mom.

I didn't realize that I'd sort of ditched my family to put them in line behind whatever my newspaper job required. For newspaper people it's an occupational hazard; you're listening, but with one ear tuned to hear things that could make an interesting story. "I'm with you but walk along with me because I'm heading over to whatever it is I think is REALLY important." "Is there anything that you're saying (child, husband, friend, shopkeeper) that could be the next best article-du-jour (that will earn me a pat on the head at my real job)." Like that. I hate to sound cliche' but it's true - I've gotten to spend time reacquainting myself with what's really important - my family, my real life.

My efforts lately are on my clay, knitting, painting, cooking and trying to get my Etsy shop seen. And, trying to find a job that really suits me and can keep me gainfully employed. As usual, my timing isn't the best. I'm not seeing any jobs that are interesting so I'm going to try to make my own and teach art/craft classes to children. Posters are in progress to slap up on my local utility poles and I'll have a sandwich board style sign in front of my church because I've pretty much gotten the okay to use our Sunday School classroom for my class. I'm really hoping that I get great response. It will be great fun to meet for a couple of hours a week and be creative.

I'll let you know how that goes as it's going. In the meantime, I've been knitting scarves for my practically all adult children, pictures attached.......I can knit....only a long rectangle, but I can do it, and evidently they like it because with each scarf I knitted, the other kids wanted to know why they didn't have one.

And I've been painting, picture-not-quite-done is also attached here. I've been invited to show some paintings at a salon show Feb. 12 so I've got much to do in finishing and framing. And I do really well when I'm down to the wire. I wouldn't recommend THAT to anyone, but I tend to thrive that way.

I'm off for now... helping decide on a Valentine Dinner menu, creating the tickets this morning to have them proofed by this afternoon, finishing knitting a scarf and baking a chocolate cake for my youngest young man whose birthday is today. Later I'll post some terrific websites I've found for really cool bags (that I amazingly do NOT want to try to make myself) and some wonderful resources that I'll be using in my artsy/craftsy curriculum.

So long for now,

Kate