Hungry jackrabbit video

I figured out how to turn my video sideways, although some of the quality was lost. I don't really have the patience for the computer, as it turns out. If I takes me more than five minutes to figure out, I abandon my project. I hope you like it, anyway.

It's been HOT. I know it's the desert, and all that, but when it's over 100 degrees every day, day after day, well, it does get a little tedious. Pono tries to get me up early for his daily walk, and mostly it works. Even at 6 am, it's usually over 82 degrees. I am grateful for ice cubes.

I hope everyone else is managing to stay cool. Happy Fourth, everyone!

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

Coyote Games

Pono has something against coyotes. I am not sure exactly what it is, but he really really doesn't like them. He will bark like mad when they come anywhere near the house, and if he sees them through the window, I always think he is going to smash through it to get to them. Once, I had him on the leash,  he saw one that I didn't see and pulled me off my feet to chase it. I literally flew through the air, and landed face first in the sand. (Pono did apologize when he realized what he had done by coming back to me, licking my face and sitting next to me with a droopy head.)

Today, I think I may have discovered part of what bugs Pono so much about coyotes. We had just started our morning hike. Pono was off to one side in the bushes, sniffing some fascinating thing or another, when I spotted a coyote ahead, right in the middle of the trail. Fortunately, Pono hadn't spotted it yet, so I was able to get him on the leash. This young coyote actually followed us. At first, Pono didn't see it. We were down lower than the coyote, and it must have been downwind of us. It crept closer and closer, until finally it got Pono's attention. THEN, the darn thing began to tease Pono. It did everything short of sticking its tongue out and saying "nah-nah-nah....come and GET ME!" It was almost as if it wanted to play. I feel pretty good about these photos, considering I was holding onto a leash with a 75 pound, trembling, excited dog on the other end. I did suffer a bruise or two, plus a leash burn. This is the price we pay for coyote photos...

This moment almost did Pono in...(and me, when he suddenly lurched forward towards the offending 'yote.

I have heard that coyotes will lure a dog away from the owner in order for several of them to gang up on the dog, and perhaps that is what the coyote was trying to do. I don't worry much about Pono, since he is well fed and getting older and slower, but I was happy I had him on the leash today. After I was tired of playing tug-o-war with Pono and we began to walk away, the coyote actually trotted down onto the trail behind us and LAY down, as if to say, "you two are no fun at all."

Looks like my next desert animal paintings will be coyotes...

The new bobcat painting, now on display at Metro Galleries in Bakersfield until the end of the month:

"Autumn Bobcat." Oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches. ©Karine Swenson2013

Collaboration

Before we came to live out here in the dusty ol' desert, we lived in a little town in South Central Colorado called Salida. It was another place of beauty and wonder - the kind of wonder 14,000 foot peaks and a river running through town can produce. I was running an art gallery called Cool Mountain Art, which enabled me to meet nearly all of the artists in town right away. One of the artists I met and befriended is an artist named Harold O'Connor. Mr. O'Connor is a world-class goldsmith and an artist I admire greatly.

What I discovered about running an art gallery is that the business of running a gallery takes away time and energy needed to be an artist. So as my gallery became successful, my art got pushed aside. I got to the point where all I seemed to manage were little drawings that I could do in between people coming in, hanging shows and organizing openings. Those little drawings were often tiny - the size of a postage stamp. I began gluing them to card stock and selling them as original art cards. Harold came in one day and bought a stack of them and said "these would make great pins!" Of course I loved the idea that my little tiny drawings might one day become pins, but I did kind of think, deep down, that Harold was just being nice to me because I had shared half of my sandwich with him.

Turn the clock forward and now it's 2013. The phone rings and who is it but my friend Harold O'Connor. "I'm sending you something." ?? What could it be? Well, about a week or so later I got an envelope full of little brochures showing off my drawings alongside PINS Harold made based on those drawings!!! How cool is that?!?

A few of the drawings:

The amazing pins Harold created using my teeny drawings:

My drawings look so much better, transformed as Harold O'Connor jewelry.

In other news, I will be tending the gallery this weekend at JTAG. If you find yourself in downtown Joshua Tree, stop in to say "hello." I will be there on Friday  for a sneak preview from 4 to 7 pm, Saturday from 10 to 3 pm, the opening is from 5 to 8 pm, and then I will be there again Sunday from noon to 3.

The exhibit "Real and Imagined" continues to do well at the Metro Galleries in Bakersfield, CA. The show is up until the end of May.

Real and Imagined in Bakersfield

I did manage to take a few photos of "Real and Imagined: A Collection of (Mostly) Animal Paintings" at Metro Galleries in Bakersfield, CA.

For scale: the blue abstract on the left is 48 x 48 inches.

The show continues through May.

I am giving away postcards and posters for the show designed by Don Martin, the owner of the gallery. If anyone would like either a poster (17 x 11 inches) or a postcard (5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches) let me know. Leave me a comment or email me and I will get one to you!
They look like the image below:

The show is going really well, and I am already working on new animal paintings for the second half of the exhibition!

I hope you all have a great weekend!!!

In defense of art

Ten reasons to buy original art:
1. It has no calories
2. You don't have to feed it or pick up its poo
3. It will always fit, even if you gain a little weight
4. The software doesn't crash or need updating - ever
5. You won't have to get new tires for it or change the oil
6. It won't wake you up in the middle of the night
7. If you loved it when you bought it, you will always love it
8. It uses no electricity
9. It never goes out of style
10. No one else will have one like it.

Seriously though, if I didn't think art was a worthwhile investment, I wouldn't spend all day, every day making it, thinking about making it, reading about it or looking at it. I even spent four years (give or take) in college STUDYING it.

Do you realize that one of the things people travel to see is art? Do you realize that lawsuits are being fought all over the world because of art? Do you realize that when our civilization has gone, one of the things that will be left behind as a record of our time and culture is art? Art is important.

We spend money on so many things that are designed for our physical selves. Art is for the soul.

"Animal Intelligence." Dictionary pages, tissue paper, acrylic and oil on board 11 x 14 inches. ©Karine Swenson2013

The opening in Bakersfield last Friday night at the Metro Galleries went very well. It was a great crowd, and so many of my friends from the desert drove all the way up there to be there with me!!! Thank you to everyone who came, especially those who had such a long drive, but came anyway. I am overwhelmed by you all! The show is up until the end of May, and paintings are selling, thanks to the efforts of the owner, Don Martin. Hooray!

New abstract painting

"Somewhere Between." Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches. ©2013 Karine Swenson

Today is going to be visuals only. Hope that's okay...
Oh, and just a quick but heartfelt THANK YOU for all of your encouraging words. It helped me so much, knowing all of you are out there, rooting for me!!! You guys are awesome.

Happy almost Easter!