Cottontail

I have been neglecting this blog because I am spending quite a bit of time with the blog I am running for the MBCAC Art Tours.  If you come here and see the same ol' post once again, I suggest you hop on over to the Hi-Desert Art Beat.  I have a few wonderful writers helping me with that blog, but I also write many of the posts myself.  It's exciting to see the abundance of talent surrounding me in the high desert.

I do have a recent painting to show you.  This one was inspired by a young cottontail who came to visit one day early in the summer.  I sat by the window, right next to an intent dog, and watched and photographed the bunny for about 10 minutes.  That was a time when I COULD spend 10 minutes watching a cottontail.  Those days seem long gone, but I hope to one day regain that kind of time to spend absorbing nature in all its wondrous glory.

"Curiosity.  Oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches.  Karine Swenson 2010"

The best part about the cottontail sniffing this post was what occurred afterward.  There was clearly something frightening about what he smelled (probably a dog, who most likely marked the post), and he jumped straight up in the air and ran off.  That kind of thing is a bit hard to capture in paint. 

I hope to have more new paintings to show you soon!  Thanks for stopping by, dear friends!

Studio Tours

I know you are all probably dying to know about last weekend and the Open Studio.  I am sorry to make you wait so long.  It was SUCH a busy, wonderful weekend!  I am ashamed to tell you that I was so mentally overwhelmed that I didn't manage to take ONE SINGLE PHOTOGRAPH!!!  Oh no!!!  Then, it was over.  The other artists took their art home with them and I suddenly found myself remembering that I had forgotten to take photos.  Can you believe it??  Sorry!!!  I am a sorry excuse for a blogger, that's for sure.  I did take some "after the fact" photos yesterday of my art, once I was beginning to think clearly, but I know it isn't the same.

I will admit that I am still exhausted.  I am feeling better every day, but I am amazed at how much the preparation and the event itself took out of me.  I think what happens is that I got so used to operating at 100 miles per hour, and then I had a whole bunch of people visit me and talk to me all day for two days.  The next day, when it was all over, I found that I was incredibly tired, but there was still this little part of me that was trying to stay busy, since I had gotten so used to being busy but tired.  It took that first day to stop feeling busy, and then yesterday I finally was able to sit down and rest a little.  I have gotten work done today, but I plan on a short day and then more rest.  Perhaps by tomorrow, I will be regular Karine once more.  Let's hope so.

 As you can see, I packed every inch of wall space with a piece of art!

All and all, it was such a fantastic weekend!  All of you who came - THANK YOU!!!  What a wonderful crowd we had!  I got so much great feedback on my art, that I am itching to get back in the studio and paint again very soon!   I am happy that four of us decided to show together, because having the other artists there made the whole weekend so much more fun, and easier, too.  Thank you, to Nora Lousignont, Esther Shaw, and Marjorie Franklin for agreeing to show your work here at my house.  You are all talented artists and amazing friends. 

I will be announcing the winner of my most recent giveaway in the next post, so if you haven't entered yet, do it now!

The Stomach Monster

I have just recovered from the stomach flu that attacked my father-in-law and husband's aunt. NOT FUN!!! I can't tell you how happy I was to wake up this morning and actually be hungry. The one good thing about stomach flu is that you do seem to recover pretty fast, as long as you are careful about what you eat when you first start to feel better. I am still a little weak, but at least I am back in blogland.

This will be a short post, as I have a lot of work to catch up on, having been knocked down for two days. Mostly, I need to begin preparing for a talk I am giving on "Women Artists Who Rock my World" on Friday, April 17th at 7 pm. It is sponsored by the arts organization here, The Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, which is also the organization that organizes the Art Tours every October here in the high desert. I will be giving my talk at the Copper Mountain College campus, in Room 119, if anyone reading this is in the area and wants to come. This will be my first shot at public speaking, at least to a large audience. I did talk about art all day, every day, when I had my gallery. Hopefully, that will help me not to feel so nervous about talking in front of a crowd. (Hopefully!)

My friend, Marjorie Franklin, who is a talented computer artist, will be talking about "Pixels in the Wind - The digital side of Contemporary Art" on Friday, May 1st as part of this same lecture series. She was going to speak this coming Friday, but her talk has postponed for various reasons. I am looking forward to her talk, since I don't really know that much about digital art.

This monotype will be listed on etsy later today.