Blooming Things

This is the time of year when things in our yard begin a magical display. So much fun! My favorite cactus is in bloom. These blossoms are big - about the size of my hand, and they are short-lived. Usually, they only last one day. But what they lack in longevity they make up for in grandeur.
Oh, and they smell divine!

The two fuzzy looking balls I focused on here are future blossoms!

 M went back to Thailand on Saturday night. :(  The good news is that it is beginning to sound more and more like he will be back in a couple of weeks. AND he may get a couple of months at home! Cross your fingers for us. It would be nice to have a husband at home a bit more. These photos are mainly for him, since he missed this glorious display by only one day. (I love you, M.)

Needless to say, I didn't get too much painting done while M was here, so this week will be all about going back to work in the studio.

"Garden of Delights." Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. ©Karine M Swenson2012

"Abstract art is dominated by that same desire for complete and absolute freedom and perfection which inspires saints, heroes, and madmen. It is a peak on which only a few creative artists and their admirers can maintain themselves." -Fernand Leger

Flowers and paintings

I have been feeling a lot like the busy bees swarming around the purple blooms of the bush in my front yard these past few days.  Painting, getting ready to travel, drawing, and trying to teach Pono that he can go out the dog door even without me holding the doors open and coaxing him.  (Improvements with the dog door are happening, but slowly.)  Tomorrow I pack.  Sunday I get in the car with Pono and drive to Reno, NV.  M's parents will be granddog sitting, and that is where they are.  I fly out of Reno on Tuesday. 

A long "to do" list prevents me from rambling on and on today.  Two new paintings:

"Strings."  Oil on canvas, 14 x 14 inches.  ©Karine Swenson 2011

"The Ripening."  Oil on canvas, 14 x 14 inches.  ©Karine Swenson 2011

Have a terrific weekend!  (Terrific - a word I never use, but if Willem De Kooning used it, it must be a good word.) 

Sunday Afternoon

I have spent the weekend taking my turn sitting at the Joshua Tree Art Gallery, the collective gallery where my art proudly hangs in downtown Joshua Tree.  I would always prefer to be in the studio, but I do realize the importance of getting feedback, and meeting people who are interested in my art.  JTAG will most likely close down for the summer at the end of this month, but we will be re-opening once more in September.  If you haven't been in the gallery yet, and you live nearby, it is definitely worth the visit.  We are generally only open on the weekend, from 10 to 3 pm, but you can also call or email one of the artists (like me!) for an appointment. 

I have been working on the new series with some miniature paintings this past week.  I am trying to paint the music I listen to.  Here are three of them. 

Eye of the beholder.  Oil on canvas board, 12 x 9 inches.

Sight and Sound.  Oil on canvas board, 12 x 9 inches.

Sensation.  Oil on canvas board, 12 x 9 inches.  This third one may need a little work, still.  You may not know this, but when I was a child, I played piano and violin.  My sisters also played instruments (viola and cello), and the three of us used to play together as a trio for church.  My father usually arranged the music we played, and he sometimes accompanied us with piano or guitar.  When I went off to college, I switched from music to art.  For me, it did not seem like a big leap.  Art just became the way I wanted to explore and express myself.  This new series of paintings is a way for me to bridge the gap between past and present - childhood and adulthood. 

As the desert is slowly beginning to warm up, the flowers fade.  I do have a few things in my yard that are still blooming, but I wanted to show you this obscene flowering cactus from a few weeks ago.  It amazes me that the flowers seem to be bigger than the cactus. 

I kept thinking that at any moment, the poor cactus would topple under the glory of those fragrant pink blooms.  But it managed to hold them up for the single day of their magnificent lives. 

Next weekend, M and I will be loading up the Gordita once again to head off for La Jolla.  This will be my last festival for a couple of months, and I am looking forward to withdrawing back into the studio once again.

From ocean to desert

A few more shots from our visit on the coast.


Some of you may remember how much I love footprints.


One of the culprits.

Yesterday, we woke up to SEVEN blossoms on one of the cacti in our garden. WOW. They only last about a day and a half. I wrote about this cactus here.





Last, but not least, the third oil painting in the new triptych. I am still pondering titles. 24 x 24 x 1 1/2 inches.

The Cactus in my yard

For over a week, I have been anticipating the blossoming of one of the cacti in my front yard. I would look out every morning, to see if the buds had opened yet. I was out of town last year when it bloomed, so the excitement was really getting to me. Yesterday morning, it finally happened!!! Bang! Three tremendously huge and glorious blooms appeared. I wish there was a way I could post the scent of them, in addition to the vision. The fragrance adds to their dramatic beauty. Everyone has asked me what kind of cactus this is. I did some internet research, and I am pretty sure that this is the Trichocereus grandiflorus. It is a member of the Echinopsis family of cactus, which is sometimes also referred to as Lobivia. They are native to Argentina. The website I found that talked about cultivating these cacti said to protect them from frost, which I find amusing, since last December this cactus had about 10 inches of snow on top of it. I don't think the snow hurt it any!!!

I spent most of the morning helping my friend, Nora Lousignont, hang her art exhibition at the 29 Palms Gallery. All twenty three of the paintings in her show are brand new - created just for this exhibit. It is a vibrant collection of portraits of family and friends, desert fauna and flora. Nora's art is deeply felt and expressive, and she has become one of my muses here in the high desert. She has been working hard, and I am so proud of her accomplishment. For those of you in the area, her opening is this Sunday, May 3rd from 12 to 3 pm. Please join us!



Instead of painting, this weekend I spent most of my time working in my yard. I am slowly turning the surrounding land into a colorful desert landscape. I love the raw desert so much, but when a new house is built and the land is disturbed, the native plants have trouble re-establishing themselves. My yard is mostly full of dry weeds and sand that blasts in the wind. I am trying to include native plants in my landscaping, but since I love colors and flowers, I am also adding blooming desert plants. Bit by bit, I am surrounding myself with things that inspire me, just like the cactus that bloomed so dramatically yesterday.

Something completely different

Hello dear blog readers! For those of you with blogs, I want to apologize for not stopping to visit. I have been pre-occupied lately. I hope to get some time to catch up on you today. I have been working on a brand new painting. There is an exhibit coming up for desert wildflower paintings. For those of you who were reading my blog last spring, you know how much fun I had with the desert wildflowers. I had no idea the desert could be so beautiful and magical. I was taking photographs left and right. Consequently, I feel obligated to contribute something to the wildflower exhibition. So I have nearly finished an acrylic painting of the beavertail cactus blossom. This is my first acrylic painting, ever!!! I have always struggled with acrylic, since it dries so quickly and the colors seem funky to me. However, being the stubborn person that I am, I keep trying it every now and then.

This painting is NEARLY finished. It measures 18 x 24 inches, and is, as I said, acrylic on canvas. And I haven't even abstracted it!!! Surprised? I have always loved painting flowers, but it has been over 5 years since I last did a painting of flowers. It was nice to re-visit one of my favorite subjects.

Pono and I saw our first wildflowers of the season last week. This is the Desert Vetch, if I remember accurately from last spring. I have heard that this spring they are expecting an even BETTER wildflower season than last year! Is that exciting or WHAT???!!??? I can't wait.

The house hunting continues

Matthias and I have been busy looking for our new home. I must admit, it is a frustrating, exhausting search so far. We are a little discouraged, but not completely disheartened. We even broke down on Friday, and went to look at some model homes. That is the ultimate point of fear and loathing for both of us, since we have successfully avoided suburbia for our entire marriage. The best part about the model home tour was the real estate agent at one of the higher end places. I am not kidding when I tell you that he was like a character out of Goodfellas or something. His name was Frank. (Frankie, right?) He was talking to us and asked, "so where are youse guys from?" Then, he was telling us about his pool, and he said, "they wanted me to get pebble tech in my pool, instead of plaster, for $5000.00 - Forget about it!!" I am sure my mouth was hanging open as I imagined a mob guy, retired from the mob, selling model homes. I love my imagination sometimes. I wanted to take this man out for dinner, just so I could listen to him talk! FUN!

I have to tell you about another beloved feature of our rental house. It is a giant cactus out front, and it is blooming!!! I am not sure what kind of cactus it is. After reading my wildflower book description of the night blooming cereus, I am pretty sure that is NOT what this cactus is. Even though each bloom only lasts one night, this cactus does not have "few, angular, gray, thin, barely spiny, twiggy stems." I cannot find another description that even comes close. Here are the photos anyway!! I love it! By now, you should know how much I love flowers, and to see one of these early in the morning is a great way to start the day. There are still a couple of buds, but I am not sure how much longer it will bloom. So I have taken many photos.


I did find out that the purple headed hummingbirds here are the "costa's hummingbird". Awesome!

I haven't done any more art yet, with the business of the house hunt, but I have been thinking about those watercolors from earlier this week a lot, and I want to try them on a larger scale. I will be sure to keep you posted!

I am also starting on another fond hobby of mine, taking photographs of animal tracks. Now that we are in the desert, they are tracks in the sand, instead of snow or mud. I am pretty sure this first one is a snake track. What do you think?