Snail Mail

I love snail mail. A distant friend and I have recently begun sending each other REAL MAIL, rather than emails or phone calls. It is intensely satisfying to put a pen to paper and write to a dear friend. It is also exciting to look in the mailbox and find a letter. I think this may be my new hobby. I used to write letters all the time, and I have had many pen pals over the course of my life. It all got wiped away by the internet. Email. Skype. The dreaded Facebook. Maybe I am regressing. I don't care. Modern technology and instant gratification be damned. I'm reverting to the old fashioned notion that all good things take time.

The mailbox also yielded some other excitement today: a book!!!! Creative Photography Lab by my friend Steve Sonheim with Carla Sonheim. Some photos I took using my smartphone are featured on page 23. How cool is that? Well, I think it's pretty cool.

I met the talented photographer Steve Sonheim and his wife Carla in Salida, Colorado. Now they live in Seattle and I don't get to see them as often as I would like. This new book might interest you if you want to learn how to take more expressive photographs. There are 52 exercises in the book. I have only had a chance to skim over it, but so far what I have read is great. I can't wait to do more of these exercises! I am honored and flattered that I was included. Thanks Steve! You can see more of Steve Sonheim's work here.

Mexico

Last week I had the good fortune to travel to San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, to have a little getaway with my sister, my eldest niece Natalie, and her friend Grace. Girls only!!! We had fun. It was the first time I had ever been to that part of Mexico. So beautiful! So relaxing! So humid! I brought back some photos and a nice little heat rash. I didn't take that many photos, except for the ones I always take with my own eyes.

It was nice to see a familiar face - the desert iguana. Just like the ones in Joshua Tree!

Lots of pelicans

Sisters

Even artists need a holiday, every now and then. The visual library in my head has now been refilled. Back to the studio!

Lizard Wrangling

I made a new friend last week. If you are on Facebook, you've already seen this, but some of you aren't on Facebook, and I thought you might enjoy seeing the photo. Pono and I had just returned to the car after a nice hike one morning and I found this wonderful creature underneath the car. I didn't want to run over it, so I poked it, to get it to run away. However, it was in the shade, and it was a pretty cool morning (for us). The lizard didn't move. I picked it up to move it, so as not to run over it. While it was hanging onto my fingers, I decided to photograph his (her?) handsome mug. 

Horned lizard.

Desert Camouflage extraordinaire!

If you would like to see another post I wrote about the horned lizard a while back, click here. Many people on Facebook said that they used to see a lot more of these lizards when they were young. According to some research I have done about them online, one of the main reasons we see less of them is because their diet is pretty exclusively ants. Since more and more people are using poison to kill ants, the horned lizard has a hard time. So if you want to see more horned lizards, let the ants live. (preferably outside.) I have been told that borax or dish soap will create a barrier that ants won't cross. So if you can find where they are coming in to your house, maybe try something like that to keep them out. 

In the studio, I have once more gone off in another direction. I would love to hear your thoughts about this new work, as I always love to hear from you, my readers.

(This one is still untitled.) Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches. ©karine swenson2013

Have a fabulous day, and thanks for reading!

What IS talent?

tal-ent \'ta-lənt\
Noun
1

a: any of several ancient units of weight

b : a unit of value equal to the value of a talent of gold or silver

2

archaic : a characteristic feature, aptitude, or disposition of a person or animal

3

: the natural endowments of a person

4

a : a special often athletic, creative, or artistic aptitude

b : general intelligence or mental power : ability

5

: a person of talent or a group of persons of talent in a field or activity

A young boy is bored one day in class. He begins to doodle in his notebook. His father happens to see the doodles and buys him a sketchbook. Shows him books about art. Takes him to museums. Introduces him to working artists. The boy draws and paints throughout his school years. He eventually goes to college and then graduate school where he studies art. He graduates and immediately gets recognition for his work and gallery shows. Is this talent?

A young girl who is shy and awkward in school doesn't make many friends. She doesn't get good grades. She reads a lot, alone in her room, and begins writing in a diary. Her parents don't make much money, and they are too busy with their own problems to give her much attention. She makes it through high school and college without any major accomplishments. Her guidance counselor worries that she doesn't show any real interest in school or friends. She floats around from job to job. She works as a waitress for a while, all the time writing in her journal. She never marries or has children. When she dies, her journals are discovered. They are filled with magnificent stories and poems, many of which are published posthumously. Her writing is read by millions worldwide. Is this talent?

I have been reading about talent, genius, creativity and success, always hoping to gain a little insight. Maybe hoping to learn something valuable. I have yet to read Gladwell's Outliers, but I am familiar with some of the ideas he outlined in his book, particularly the ten thousand hours theory. The main thing that I have so far concluded is that there is no one thing that leads a person to succeed. Not only that, but success is defined differently by everyone. Talent is also defined differently. Many of you probably already know that I have never put much faith in talent, whatever it is.  I am a proponent of the parable of the tortoise and the hare (and that's not just because I live near them and paint them!) 

I have spent too many hours writing this post, and reading about all these ideas, and now I sit here wondering why. I suppose it's because for most artists, there is always a point in time (sometimes more than one point) when we look at how we spend our days and we wonder. "Why do I paint?" "Should I paint (write, dance, sing, etc.)?" "Is creativity important?" "Do people who aren't artists even care about art anymore?" Introspection is a big part of the creative life for me. I question everything. I doubt everything. And then I go back into the studio and paint some more. Because I don't know the answers, and making art is how I search.

"A question of Time." Acrylic on cold press watercolor paper. 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches. ©Karine Swenson 2013

"Pools of Light/ pools of water." Torn envelope and acrylic on cold press watercolor paper, 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches. ©Karine Swenson2013

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” 
― Calvin Coolidge

What do you think?

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