Struggles

You know you need to buy new jeans when you discover that every pair you own has a hole in the knee. (and for some reason, it's always the right knee that seems to have the hole. ???)

Hi. I have been so quiet lately, and I wonder if you have all given up on me. I wouldn't blame you if you did. The studio has been taking up so much of my time and energy, and what I have left is for the husband. Oh, and the dog finds a way to wedge himself in there, too. Of course!

How is the painting going, you ask? Well, sometimes, you have a day where you spend two hours painting a background in, only to decide that you don't like the color of the background. So you do it all over again. And some days, you wipe half of the painting off and start over. I hope this means I am overdue for a magical day when everything I touch turns to gold.

At least some new paintings are being finished. Here's one, which I will be showing at JTAG in February:

"Pedicure." Collage, acrylic and oil on board, 12 x 9 inches. ©Karine Swenson2012

Released

"Released." Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches. ©2012 Karine Swenson

More flowers...

I have the best place in our house for orchids - our bathroom! They get extra humidity from baths and showers, plus, there is a big window with filtered southern light. The orchids seem to love it there. I currently have twenty two blossoms fully opened, with one pick one half opened. (22 and a half?) The photos I am posting today are from a couple of weeks ago, so I probably need to take some more photos. But at least I can give you a little sample!
Enjoy!

Here is a photo from a painting I did alla prima, which I can't seem to layer over. I just love it, even though it isn't anything like my other new paintings.

"Whistle Stop." Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches. ©2012 Karine M Swenson

Discussion

"Discussion." Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches.  ©Karine Swenson 2012.

Windy, 60 degrees

Today is the first day it has actually felt like fall.  I have long pants AND a sweatshirt on, and I have been drinking hot tea.  (Those of you who know me well won't be surprised by any of this information.)  I am known for being cold, generally speaking.  The wind has actually died down a bit from earlier today, but it's still windy enough that being outside isn't especially pleasant.  I have been awake since 5:30 am.  I thought I needed extra sleep, so I went to bed early last night. 

It might just be one of those curl-up-with-a-good-book kind of days.  I am currently reading a book called Started Early, Took my Dog by Kate Atkinson.  It is a mystery, which I don't usually read.  I checked it out because of the title.  It's a thoroughly enjoyable book.  I was going to find a good quote for you, but if I open the book, I will end up just reading it instead of finishing today's post.  You'll have to take my word for it when I say it's worth the read.  What are you reading right now? 

"Attraction."  Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.  ©Karine Swenson 2011

Full Time Art

"Privacy."  Oil on canvas,  24 x 30 inches.  ©Karine Swenson 2011

 What does an artist do all day, anyway?  I mean, it's a life of leisure, isn't it?  You work for yourself, so you don't really have to work if you don't want to, right?  Right.  Riiiiiiiiggghhhhht.  I wish it were like that.  An artist doesn't have a boss to oversee daily activities, or to tell you what the priorities are.  Which has both benefits and drawbacks.  Sometimes, I think it would be helpful if there was an authority figure to tell me,  "this is the most important thing you should be working on right now."  Or maybe if there was an accountant to do my books for me, that would be helpful.  Even if I had a marketing director to design my website, blog, postcard, mailings.  That would be helpful, too.  I could hire people to do all of those things, but I can't afford that right now.  No, this is a real business, where I have to keep an eye on profits, expenses, time management, productivity, and all of those boring, real-world words that you hear in any other business.  Those responsibilities are mine and mine alone.

An artist usually doesn't get paid sick leave.  Paid vacations.  Health benefits.  Workman's comp.  No.  If I take a day off, that day is one more day I am not producing art, or marketing my art, or looking for a gallery, or updating my website.  There isn't another person there, in the "office," finishing that one painting for me.  Or framing that last pastel.  I find it really hard to take days off.  I think anyone who is self-employed will tell you the same thing.  Especially the first years, when the business is just getting going - those are the crucial years of any new business.   I consider the time in my studio to be the most important part of my business, but if I just paint, and ignore all of the other responsibilities, I will never sell art, and consequently, never make money.  So I must get out of the studio, as much as it pains me, and take care of the business end of my work.  Being an artist is no different from any other job, since it embodies both the things I love to do and some of the things I detest.  (Bookkeeping, for one!) 

Why am I telling you all of this?  Well, because I hope to dispel some of the misconceptions about what artists do.  I once overheard someone at an art festival say, "I think I would like to be an artist, because they only have to work on the weekends."  Oh, really?  Really?  She thinks that the day before an art festival, I simply pull about 20 paintings out of my left ear, wave my magic wand to load them into the van, and then work the weekend and go home.  Sleep all week long.  Repeat.  Well, if it were that easy, that would be pretty cool.  Anyone would want a job like that!  But I don't think anything in life is as easy or effortless as we would like it to be.  I often wonder where these ideas about being an artist come from.  Why does the word artist conjure up mythological ideas about a lifestyle that could only exist in a fairy tale?  I will never understand.  If any of you can shed light on this for me, I will be grateful.  

I am not writing about this to complain, or to make anyone feel sorry for me.  I love being an artist.  I love those days when I know I need to go in the studio and spread paint on a surface.  It is a remarkable way to spend my time.  I wouldn't trade my life for another life, even if it meant paid sick leave.  Even if I have to get another job, to help me pay for my life as an artist, I will always consider myself an artist first and foremost.  But it is not a fairy tale, and, try as I might, I still haven't figured out how to pull paintings out of my left ear.  Now, I have to go and take care of some of that "business" stuff.

Have a fantastic week, you dear things! 

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.) 

Pack or Paint

Separation.  Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.  ©Karine Swenson2011.

A busy weekend has left me without much to say.  Too much talking already, perhaps.  The painting above is another one from the new series.  A smaller one.  In one week, I will be once again climbing onto an airplane heading for Thailand.  One week!  Sheesh.  I have a lot to do.  I wonder how many paintings I can paint in one week?  A difficult choice:  do I pack or paint?  Pack or paint?  hmmmm.....  PAINT!!!  I'll just throw my toothbrush, a tshirt and some clean underwear in the bag and go.  Right?  Right.

I leave you with an excerpt from Interviews with American Artists (David Sylvester):
Sylvester: "And what makes you feel that a painting is finished?  When do you leave a picture alone?"
Willem De Kooning:  "Well, I always have a miserable time over it.  But it is getting better now."
Sylvester: "But what is the criterion by which you know you can stop the painting?"
De Kooning:  "Oh, I really...I just stop, you know.  I sometimes get rather hysterical and because of that I find sometimes a terrific picture." 

Have a great week, all of you dear blog readers.  You know I just couldn't keep blogging without you.

New Direction

I have headed in a new direction with my abstract paintings, as I mentioned last week.  I can't seem to determine what I think of this work, or whether or not I even like the paintings.  However, I have decided to begin sharing them here on the blog.

"Subterranean."  Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches.  ©Karine Swenson2011

 
As you can see, this painting is big!  I have been focusing on smaller works for so long, that I finally needed to break free.  I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying these larger canvases!  I don't think I ever want to work small again.  (But I probably will.)   If you have comments about this painting, I'd love to hear them.  Leave them in the comments section at the bottom, if you would.  Thanks.

I have a long "to do" list this week, so I must keep this short and sweet. 

Summer!

Well, it has arrived at last.  Summer came to the desert in a blast of heat.  The rabbits came and stretched themselves out in the afternoon shade created by our house.  At one point this afternoon, I had five of them, hanging out back there.  Pono and I sit side by side, noses pressed up against the glass, and watch.  I love it.  You all know how much I have been longing for this hot weather, and now it is here.  Hurrah!!!!  Remember how I said I was going to strap the camera around my neck until I got a good photograph of a lizard?  Well, turns out it's too hot to have a camera strapped around your neck, this time of year.  So the good lizard photo must wait.  Instead, I give you photos of a morning walk with Mr. Pono the fuzzball dog, taken just a few days ago.

I also have a photo of a new painting to share with you.  After two weeks of working on it, contemplating it, changing it, changing it again, moving it from the studio to the living room to the floor to the easel to the living room and back, I still don't know how I feel about it.  But maybe it's done.  Or maybe I am done with it.  I even got to the point where I had sewed a large piece of rusted metal on it, only to decide that was a mistake and cut the metal off.  Come to think of it, this painting was actually re-worked from something I had started way back in February.  yeah.  Anyway, here it is.  I know I always say this, but it's much better in person. 

"Diminished."  Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches.  ©Karine Swenson 2011.

Now go eat some watermelon, wouldja?

Air

I don't know what's wrong with me, but today I don't feel like doing much of anything.  Is it a belated spring fever?  Or is it because the two big paintings I have been struggling with all week have completely worn me out?  Or maybe it's because M is on the other side of the world and the other side of the clock, and in order to talk to him, I usually stay up late or get up early.  (Sometimes I do both.)  Perhaps it is a combination of all of those things.  Whatever the cause, I guess one day of little productivity won't be the end of me.

Our palo verde tree is in full bloom, and I have been finding excuses to go outside and sit near it, listening to the bees happily buzzing.  I can't decide if there are more bees or more blossoms.  It seems as though the entire tree is buzzing!  I love it.  Knowing it won't last means that I am more than justified for enjoying it.  Once the blossoms fall, it will be one more year before the glory happens once more.  The lobivinia cactus in our yard also bloomed again this week.  The giant pink bloom usually only lasts one day.  This year, the cactus set a record for itself, and bloomed four times!  The first time was when I was in Thailand, and so you can imagine my joy when it bloomed again and again when I got home.  A wonder.  A gift.

I finished (I think I finished) a 40 x 30 inch jackrabbit painting this week.  You have to wait to see it, though, until I am sure that I am satisfied with it.  It was touch and go for a while, because I very nearly painted over the whole thing at one point.  That is how it goes sometimes.  I also have been in the middle of a large 48 x 48 inch abstract, which is in a stage of wait and see.  In order to keep you all from mutiny, I will share a tiny (in comparison) cottontail painting.  This is the third in the series of "art journal experiments."

"air."  Acrylic and paper on canvas, 8x 8 inches.  ©Karine Swenson2011

To all of my fellow bloggers:  please forgive my lack of reading and commenting!  I will slowly try to catch up with all of you this weekend.  Thanks, always for reading and commenting, and have a fantastic weekend!  Love ya!