Gambel's Quail

The desert is heating up, and with the higher temps, more and more animals come to take refuge in our yard. The house casts a shadow in the afternoon, and I put water out for all of the thirsty creatures. Sometimes, the dog gets a little too excited about the visitors, barking and scaring them away, but sometimes he is in doggie dreamland, and misses out on the visits. It is when he misses out that I can get some photos.

I have a great, short video of a jackrabbit nibbling on our Palo Verde Tree, but I am having some technical difficulties uploading it (it's sideways right now, and I don't know how to fix that.) If I can figure out how to post it, I will share it with you.

Until then, you will have to settle for some of my new quail paintings:

"Baby Steps." Collage, acrylic and oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. ©2013 Karine Swenson

"On the Move." Collage, acrylic and oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. ©Karine Swenson

"Take a Bow." Collage, acrylic and oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. ©Karine Swenson

Cold and colds

Hi everyone! I am recovering from a nasty cold, and happy to say I am finally beginning to feel more like myself. It's irritating enough to be sick, but it's been cold here too. We even got a little bit more snow on Tuesday night. Pono thinks snow is fun to roll in. I am sure if I had a fur coat, I would agree.

This will be a short post, since the illness has made me feel way behind. Here's my thousand words:

"Speed Walking." Collage, acrylic, and oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches. ©Karine Swenson 2013

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

New Year, New post....finally!

2013! Here it is.

"Priority." Security envelopes, oil and graphite. 16 x 20 inches. ©Karine Swenson2012

I had to crawl into a little hole for a while there, but I am slowly emerging, back into the cyber world of blogging. And what an interesting world it is! I have begun to catch up with some of my fellow artist/blogging friends. They are all doing wonderful things. Just one example is Liz Holm, who has challenged herself to paint 30 paintings in 30 days. Stop over and see how wonderful these paintings are! I have been thinking of doing wonderful things, but I often feel as though the things I do are still not wonderful yet. You may think that sounds slightly pessimistic of me, but I see it as a necessity. If I really believed what I was doing right now was wonderful, do you really think I would keep painting? Would I continue to stretch and push myself as an artist? I tend to think I would not. I would keep doing the same thing, convinced that it was wonderful. I would never stretch. I would never push. I would stop exploring. And, in all honesty, I would most likely quit painting out of boredom.

So, into the studio I go once again. To keep striving. To impress myself. (The toughest critic I've ever had.)

I have found one of the best things I can do at the end of one year is reflect and write down everything I accomplished that year. It is an extremely rewarding exercise, and I highly recommend it. It helps me create the kind of feeling I want when thinking about all I want to accomplish in the New Year. One proud accomplishment for me in 2012 was completing 76 paintings. Ten of those paintings were 36 x 36 inches or larger. What about you? What accomplishment are you proud of last year?

The critic

She lives inside of me. When I look in the mirror, all she sees are the flaws - a chubby belly, every single wrinkle and blemish, limp hair, a crooked smile. When I go out in public, she has something to criticize about what I say or what I don't say. She's hard on me, and makes me doubt myself. When I enter the studio, she tells me I have no right to think I can paint or draw. She asks me who I think I am - to spend time believing myself to be an artist. She is the loudest before I begin. Sometimes, her voice paralyzes me. She lends an air of uncertainty to every line, every brushstroke. Even when I have done well, she tells me not to get too excited. There must have been a mistake. It won't last.

Who is she? She is my inner critic.

No matter how much criticism I may get from others, no one knows me the way she does. What she tells me hurts the most. Maybe because she knows me so well, and knows what I am capable of. She is honest, and for that reason I can't ignore her completely. She is there even when I sit down to write, that busy lady. There is her voice in my ear, "You aren't a writer! What do you think you are doing? No one is reading your blog. Give up now." She really does say things like that.

Over time, I have learned to tune out much of what she says. It is the only way I can create art. I push her to the back of my head, and play music to drown out her voice. However, I have also learned there is a reason I have her. Her voice is what spurs me on to be better. She has prompted me time and time again to see my shortcomings and to try to improve upon them. She propels me forward. Without her challenging voice, I may not have pushed myself into higher levels of achievement, both as an artist and as a human being. We are now even on friendly terms. (Well, sometimes anyway.) I recognize my need for her. But I have learned to identify when to listen to her and when to turn up the music.

Do you have one of these? If you do, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Maybe you too have learned some of the things I have about that voice in your head. Perhaps you even have helpful thoughts to add to what I have learned. If so, please share!

In other news, I just want to take a moment to thank EVERYONE who came to my studio last weekend during the Art Tours. I had my best event ever, and it is because of you. I am grateful you took the time to drive down our bumpy, dusty road to see my new work. You took the time to give me your feedback, and many of you found something you loved and bought my art. WOW. I am blown away. Thank you! (There's also a heartfelt thank you to those of you who came before the Art Tours and bought something from me. You know who you are.) Many of my blogger friends who are far away sent me messages of encouragement. I am including all of you in my gratitude. You are all important to me - I couldn't keep painting without all of your support! Mahalo to you all!

Two of THIRTY ONE paintings that went to good homes over the weekend:

"Heat Tolerant I." Collage, acrylic and oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. ©Karine Swenson2012 

"Heat Tolerant II." Collage, acrylic and oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches.  ©Karine Swenson2012

Happy Halloween!

Quail paintings

This will be very quick, since I am busy getting everything just so for this weekend's open studio. I did get to visit other artist's studios last weekend. I think I visited about twelve other artists. I had so much fun, and I got to meet some new faces. It is inspiring to see what others are creating. I am so glad I took the time to drive around and visit.

More new work:

"One Step at a Time." Collage, acrylic and oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. ©Karine Swenson

"Paused." Collage, acrylic and oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. ©Karine Swenson2012

I hope you are all doing okay and enjoying fall! I will try to actually write something next week, when the Hwy 62 Art Tours are over.

Thursday night

I took my portrait exhibit down from the Joshua Tree library yesterday. There is a new artist showing there now, Vera Topinka. Vera is a talented portrait photographer who mounts her photographs onto metal and combines them with rusted metal and other desert detritus. I highly recommend taking a look at her work if you happen to be in the library in Joshua Tree in the next three months. It is beautiful! Topinka will also be doing the Hwy. 62 Art Tours this year, so you can meet her in person and see even more of her photography then.

I am still focusing on the studio. New paintings! Here is a little bunny, hot of the easel:

"cottontail." collage, acrylic, graphite and oil on board, 9 x 12 inches. ©2012 Karine Swenson

Just another jackrabbit painting

It is already time to put pajamas on, so I won't write too much tonight. I just wanted to post another painting, since I have been working hard.

"Music to My Ears II." Collage, acrylic and oil on board, 9 x 12 inches. ©2012 Karine Swenson

The Winner!

This is going to be a quick post, but I wanted to let you know that I had M help me with my drawing, and we have a winner!!! Cynthia Schelzig - congratulations!!! I am not sure I have your address, Cynthia, so if you don't mind sending me a quick email, I will send your new copy of The War of Art. Hooray! Thank you to everyone who entered. I know there will be more giveaways here, so don't despair if your name wasn't chosen. I love all of you who read and comment. This blog would not exist without you.

I also want to thank you for your feedback about my blog. You have encouraged me to continue.

We had rain today! Just a bit, but even a little hail was mixed in there. I didn't know hail happened in the desert. It does. Who knew?

Have a great weekend, everyone!

It is important to stretch oneself, and so I have been pushing myself to experiment with more neutral colors. This was in part inspired by my blogger friend, Robyn. I think I have a ways to go, but for me to not use color is REALLY hard! A few more of the studies I have been working on using neutral colors: (these are so much better in person. As always.)

"Sketch #2." Acrylic and ink on paper, 9 x 12 inches. ©2012 Karine Swenson

"Sketch #3." Acrylic, ink and copic marker on paper, 9 x 12 inches. ©2012 Karine Swenson.  (okay, so I did put a bit of color in this one, but not that much, I swear!)

Happy Horned Lizard

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011.  Southern California Desert.  104 degrees Fahrenheit, 4:22 pm.

Desert Horned Lizard

 The morning run with Pono three days ago was rewarded by an encounter with Phrynosoma Platyrhinos, or the Desert Horned Lizard.  It has been over a year since I have seen one of these amazing creatures.  I saw it scurrying out of the dirt road, and I stopped the car to take some photos.  Horned lizards are different from other lizards for several reasons.  First of all, horned lizards mostly eat ants.  According to this article, the small body of an ant is made up of a lot of indigestible material, so the lizard needs to eat a lot of ants.  This accounts for the horned lizard's large stomach.  Because of the large stomach, these lizards aren't as sleek and fast as other lizards.  They rely more on their horny bodies and their ability to change color to blend in with their environment for protection.  (notice in these photos how difficult it is to distinguish the horned lizard from the ground.) 

When a predator approaches, a horned lizard is most likely to freeze, relying on its coloring to hide it.  It will also blow its body up, to make its horns more obvious and to make itself look too big to swallow.  It may run in short bursts, as I saw this one do, and then freeze, to confuse the predator.  There are even a few species of the horned lizard that will squirt blood from its eyes to repel canine and feline predators.  (The desert horned lizard is not one of those.)  You can see a video with a Regal Horned Lizard which sprays blood here.  (If you are in to that sort of thing.)  The young horned lizards have smaller horns, and tend to get snapped up quickly, so the horned lizard will lay lots of eggs.  Cool-looking critter.

I am sure many of you are preparing for some fourth of July festivities.  Therefore I won't go on and on.  I will simply leave you with one more painting from the mixed media series and a photo of the native Antelope Ground Squirrel, wish you a happy fourth, and sign off!

Cute little bugger, but they are destructive, too.  They will climb up into your car and chew on important wires.

"Tail Therapy."  Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 9 x 12 inches.  ©Karine M Swenson 2011

A Thursday

Here we are, at the tail end of a week that has been rather unproductive for me, at least in the studio.  I have been struggling with some whopping headaches, which I am attributing to bad allergies.  I am frustrated by the setback, but at least today I didn't wake up with pain in my head.  It's the first time I have felt like myself in five days.   I still plan to move slowly, just to be on the safe side.

Here the iguana is again, running from my camera.

This will be a brief post, because I am anxious to get back to my paint.  I just want to show you the desert iguana I saw yesterday, sitting in the shade.  I have had some trouble getting a good lizard photo, because those lizards are quite shy, especially when I have my camera.  (I swear they seem to know!)  I now resolve to strap my camera around my neck, until a good lizard shot is accomplished!

Here is the first painting of a tortoise I have done.  Another in the "art journal" series.   And no, this painting was NOT actually inspired by my tortoise sighting earlier this week.  I painted it last week, from a photo I had taken a year or two ago.  Isn't it interesting that I painted this, and then had my tortoise sighting?  I thought so too.  I just realized that many of you are new to my blog, and probably haven't read my past posts about the desert tortoise.  So if you want to know a bit more about this amazing creature, click here. 

"mnop."  Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 8 x 8 inches.  ©Karine Swenson2011

I hope you all have a sunny, ice cream-laden weekend.  I plan to lock myself in the studio until something happens.