Trying to identify the why

Over the years, I've been known to paint a wide range of subjects. I've learned much from each, but recently I've had an inner nudge to really get down and dirty into painting landscapes.

I've tried to understand the why of this decision. With unlimited subject matter at hand, why focus my efforts on the land?

I've driven across the continental United States and repeatedly have been awed by the flow of one land formation into another from state to state, even from one area of the same state to another. There's a compelling movement of land mass, water, foliage, forest, desert, plains, mountain peak.

If one lives in one area for all of their life, I think they might not experience the extent of that incredible motion, the flow and change of the land.

A new friend asked me to articulate what I hoped to "say" with my landscapes, and I was stumped for an answer. I glibly responded with, "I'm an earth sign Virgo."  Perhaps my resolve to try this is too fresh and unformed. I thought of the geometric shapes to be explored, playing with a different palette of colors, but such technical considerations fell short. The heart of the matter wasn't yet identified.

Then yesterday I came across a quote by photographer Annie Leibovitz:

"I wish that all of nature's magnificence, the emotion of the land, the living energy of place could be photographed."

Bingo! I realized that, with the medium of acrylic paint on canvas, I hope to convey my interpretation of the living energy of the land.

Here I go!

Gluten Free Art, Please

At the request of Jeanine, the owner of Cole's Fine Foods, I showed up with four of my acrylic paintings for display to sell. She was delighted with what I brought and we quickly had all four paintings up on the walls where she wanted them.

However, Jeanine kept going back to one of the paintings, a landscape. She said she liked the painting, but there was just something about it that was off-putting. She couldn't identify why. After discussing, it hit both of us that it was a painting of fields, very probably wheat fields this being Spokane.

That was it! Jeanine has Celiac disease and her bakery is totally gluten free! She was subliminally reacting to the "wheat" in the painting! We had a good laugh about it, and of course I removed that painting.

Next day I brought back a replacement painting. Jeanine's happy. I'm happy.

First time I've ever had a painting rejected because it wasn't gluten free!

"Fields" 16x20 acrylic painting $125

Jeanine happy with "Sunflower"

Cole's Fine Foods, 521 Holland Ave, Spokane WA 99218 ... Family Owned.Great Food.Gluten Free!

A Featured Artist at Wild Wild West Show in Spokane WA

I'm excited to have been invited to be one of the featured artists at the Wild Wild West Show at Manic Moon & More Gallery in Spokane, WA. I'm SUPER excited that Ric Gendron will be one of the other artists featured. I've been a fan of his work since I first encountered it about four years ago.

As some of you are aware, I've been posting a lot of images of Rust and Decay to Instagram. This has been an offshoot of my Bondo Series of photographs started when I lived in Redlands, California during the 1990s.  My Instagram photos, however, are solely iPhone photography in a square format.

I thought it would be interesting to present these Instagram photographs as tangible prints. I wanted to do something a little out of my comfort zone, so I've had the rust and decay images selected for the Wild Wild West Show printed on stretched canvas. I'm delighted with how well they've turned out and am curious to see how they'll be received.

The show opens Friday, May 15, 2015 at Manic Moon & More Gallery on Augusta (just off Monroe) in Spokane. Besides Ric Gendron's paintings and my photographs, there will be many works of art by other talented Manic Moon & More artists. It's going to be a terrific show! Gallery hours: Tues-Sat 11:00-5:00.

I'm going to include several of my images that will be in this show. If you want to see the rest of my iPhone images in this show, just let me know. All works are for purchase! Please feel free to contact me at kweststudio8@yahoo.com with any questions about the Wild Wild West Show, or about the images themselves.

You can view my entire Instagram gallery of iPhone images @kweststudio8. Let me know what you think; I'd love to hear from you!

Memory Wheel 14"x 14" Stretched Canvas $100

Orange Peel 14"x14" Stretched Canvas $100

Chain Link Corrugation 14"x14"Stretched Canvas $100

Elk Skull 14"x14"Stretched Canvas $100

Frenchy's Corset 14"x14"Stretched Canvas $100

Paint Shreds in Pink 14"x14"Stretched Canvas $100

Oh! The photographs included in the RAA Featured Artist Display!

I forgot to include the images for the twenty or so matted photographs that are also part of the display now up at the Redlands Art Association in Redlands, Calfornia. I'll assemble those and post them within the next week.

Stay tuned ...

While I'm in the midst of posting this, I'll also add that I'm still having a ball posting and viewing photographs on Instagram. I have posted over 400 images in my Instagram gallery, but I've decided to refine the photographs uploaded to only black and white images from today through the end of April. I'm enjoying the challenge of taking photographs that make strong black and white images.

All of my Instagram photographs are taken with my iPhone camera. I'll share some of those on this blog shortly. If you just can't wait, go to @kweststudio8 on Instagram and see for yourself!

Show Time! Featured Artist Display in Redlands, California

As I type this in Spokane, WA my featured artist display of paintings and photographs is going up at the Redlands Art Association Gallery in Redlands, CA.

I still consider Redlands as "home," even though I moved up to Washington state in 2003. I lived in Birch Bay until 2011, when I moved to Spokane where I've been now for almost three years. Oh my! Has it really been that long, and my sister Mel Slater still puts up with me? Bless her and her roof over our heads!

The Featured Artist Show: I've been a member of the Redlands Art Association for over 30 years, and volunteered while I lived there in a number of capacities such as gallery manager, put together the newsletter, librarian, board of directors, workshop instructor, et cetera. A lot of time and effort was poured into that community art organization, just ask my sons!

With that background, I was tickled pink to be able to provide artwork for this featured artist display back in my hometown. Since I cannot be there, one of my other sisters, Sandy Davies, accepted the responsibility to mount the work for me.

The logistics have been a little different. The cost of shipping framed artwork to another part of the country would have been beyond my fixed income budget. Ever one to adapt, all of my paintings in this show are under 11" x 14" as are also the matted photographs. Nothing is framed. I kept to this size restriction so I could pack EVERYTHING in Medium Flat Rate USPS boxes. I'm told everything arrived in good order and Sandy is now using little metal clips to hang the artwork in a professional, albeit alternative, manner.

I'm thrilled that my friends and acquaintances who are interested can see what work I'm currently creating! I've already sold one of the paintings in the show and am thrilled about it!

I'm uploading photos of the paintings with this blog entry. Hope it all displays well for those of you who are interested and not able to make it to Redlands.

My show runs from April 19th to May 9th at Redlands Art Association Gallery at 215 E. State Street, Redlands CA. Their phone number is (909) 792-8435 where you can call about prices, and you can access their website www.redlandsartassociation.org  for hours and other information about the benefits and services they provide the community of Redlands and environs.

Birch 11 x 14 acrylic

Blossoms 11 x 14 acrylic

Amalie  9 x 12 acrylic

Blush of Morning 11 x 14 acrylic

Eucalyptus 9 x 12 acrylic

Daffodils in Blue 11 x 14 acrylic

Dusk Along Coast 11 x 14 acrylic

Mokume Gane 11 x 14 acrylic

Moonlit Geraniums 8 x 10 Acrylic/Colored Pencil

Night Wind 9 x 12 acrylic

Outside In 11 x 14 acrylic

Silhouette 8 x 10 acrylic/pencil

Stuck With a Way Out 9 x 12 acrylic/graphite
(This painting is already sold)

Instagram Postings ,,, Oh My! Another Obsession! Having Fun!

Well, I may be diving into the Instagram waters a little later than everyone else, but with over 240 of my iPhone photographs posted, I'm learning the currents and getting into the swim of it.

I invite you to follow my progress at http://instagram.com/kweststudio8

Here are a couple of the more recent iPhoneography postings:

Torn Poster on Back of a Van

Black and White of a Discarded Chainlink Fence

Having FUN! Let me know what you think and which are your favorites from my Instagram postings! I'd love to know.

Done and Done ... 30 Day Photography Challenge Days 25-30

It's nearing the end of the first day of 2014. Woo Hoo!

I have been one busy chaquita! I've finished two fiber-wrapped brooches that have been languishing on my workbench for, dare I admit it, years, and I've revised some acrylic paintings I had previously started, to be more in line with my goal of fearlessness in my art this year. I'm takin' chances, folks! And I must admit that the paintings have a bit more verve and interest than they did previous to my adaptations.

But ... today's post is to wrap up those last six challenge subjects that never got posted. The photographs were taken, but one thing or another circumvented them being uploaded to my blog. In one fell swoop, I'm posting the remaining challenges: Strangers, Close-Up, Celebration, Flowers, Black and White, Self Portrait. Then I be done with this particular challenge (Thank you, Lori Sanstedt) and I can move on to bigger and better personal challenges.

I enjoy challenges such as this when my creativity lags a bit and I need a little something to prime the pump. This exercise helped a lot.

Some subjects were easier and more comfortable than others, but I liked the subjects with which I don't normally work. I've not done much in the way of photographing people and I think in the coming months I would like to explore the human animal a bit more with my camera lens. I cringe at self-portraits and being included in any photographs, but it is a fact of life so needed to get over my aversion.

We're such a color-oriented society, but I liked working with the Black and White subject to get back in touch with contrasts, textures and composition.

Happy New Year!

Day 30 Self Portrait

Day 29 Black & White (Tinman Gallery doorway entry)

Day 28 Flowers (Supermarket orchids)

Day 27 Celebration (Winter Solstice)

Day 26 Close-Up (Workbench Tools)

Day 25 Strangers (Garland Post Office)