Colorado Siamese Rescue

I am so happy to share this news: I am now a Promo Partner with my favourite charitable cause. Check it out!
Rocky Mountain Siamese Rescue

Ostrich Fern Blues

The ferns are peeking up from the earth, and are about to unfurl. It is all I can do not to eat these fiddleheads with drawn butter, but no, I shall let them grow.



I'm sharing so much photography lately, because I have a bit of a block painting-wise these days. It sucks. I get out there, and nothing good happens on my Arches.

Brokenose Cove

Spent 7 hours at emerg clinic last Sunday. Broke my nose (fainted when I had that nasty 6 week long flu I caught at CMW '06) and it is all infected. And the infection has spread. I feel like hell. When will it end?? Hope the new antibiotics kick in soon!

So, I am forced to rest and recoup. Those who know my bouncy bohemian nature know I am not so good at that...

No time like the present to post in my poor, neglected journal!

Speaking of Rogers Canadian Music Week 2006, here are a few photographs.

Matt Mays and El Torpedo play the 'Sirius / Standard Radio Showcase" at The Phoenix
Shot handheld with my beloved Canon EF 16-35L f2.8.



Poor Pelly and The Kent Boys at Cadillac Lounge.
Unique. Love that washtub bass!



"Barshots TV" Producer Paddy Fagen in the Epic Lounge at Fairmont Royal York.
He smelled wonderful.



One day, I was lucky enough to be granted a pass from House of Blues to shoot Dallas Green (City and Colour, Alexisonfire)



Lots more at this linky

I have not been painting lately but hope to get back to that as soon as I recover. Thanks to Jacq for the recent encouragement on that front. ;-)

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Lake Louise is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and what a hotel. Totally recommended!
It was fantastic to see old friends and meet new ones, and especially to hang with my agent, Roxanne. I was asked to do a workshop there this year - Make Your Own Hudson Bay Blanket Mittens - was great fun; I LOVED doing it and hope I did Bruce Bembridge proud. Also exhibited a selection of plein air paintings, and snowshoed to my heart's content! Painted four new snowscapes this trip, which will be up soon. A new flash slideshow of adventures at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada last month is linked below. 59 pictures in there so far, it takes a while to load, so get a coffee or single malt while ye wait. I'll keep this up for only a while, then archive it.

http://www.kittengale.com/photoshows/flashLL2006.html

Poonch-Key

This detail is from a recent commission portrait, 22 x 30 inches on Fabriano Artistico 300lb. Watercolour.



A joy to paint! He is part Jack Russell, part something big. His name, Poonch-Key, means little Polish donut.

Saturday's Child

I was born on a Saturday Night, in 1965.

Mom and Dad, then strict Catholics, got pregnant on their wedding night: after their Alberta wedding they climbed into a car decorated with powder blue toilet tissue roses and shaving foam slogans, and went directly Southbound. I was conceived in Great Falls, Montana. I guess you could say I was Made in USA.

A few days later, the happy, gorgeous newlyweds were whisked off to France in a Hercules Freight Airplane for Dad's new posting at the local Fire Hall there. (Dad was a Search and Rescue dude at the time.) Whisked off to a land where they knew not the language, nor the customs, nor the food. I think Dad had never even even eaten PIZZA before. Or was it Chinese? My Mother had only cooked one thing ever, a chicken, but that is another story... We're talking poor kids from smalltownville.

Anyhow, almost 9 months later in France, my Dad had gone out to the absinthe bars with his newfound car racing mates, and Mom was at home eating garlicked escargot, smoking Gitanes, and voraciously reading Sci-Fi, when all of a sudden, water broke and all that breederly stuff. I was early.

Off to the hospital in Marville went Mom..., and me, eager to greet the world just like a good ENFP. I came out, ugly. Preemie. No nose. Huge eyes wide open. And smiling and cooing! Oh, and covered in slimy green waste. My character was already entrenched!

Mom immediately wanted to know when she could go back to work. She had used her Science degree to get away from her folks, and dammit, no biological event was gonna stop that now! It would be thirteen years before she and I had our epiphany, made peace, and became friends bonded at the soul. (In anger, I threw a peanut butter sandwich at her and immediately regretted it rather than feeling bratishly RIGHT about doing it.)

Anyhow, back to 1965... Dad came by tipsy afterwards and named me after a childhood memory of words that sounded poetic to him. He was pretty freaked at having adulthood so rudely thrust upon him. He didn't know he would be the wonderful man he is today then.

Even though I have never been pregnant, and (by choice) I am not going to procreate, I am so fond of this story for some silly reason. Maybe because I love my parents unconditionally. They are really, really great.

My friend's incredible step-daughter and her husband are having their first wee sprog very soon and all are wondering when it will be born. Placing my bet for a Saturday in February.

The Lottery Win What-If Game

As I sit here up to my armpits in Corporate fiscal tax forms for my two businesses, my brushes languishing sadly in the tote, I am daydreaming like any artist does periodically.

What if you won the lottery?
Charities, family, friends, etc. aside. What would you do with the money left for yourself?

I'd spend it on education and life experiences that I cannot afford currently.

Finish my BSc. Study Epidemiology, just for interest's sake. Buy a better microscope for my micro photography.

Build an art gallery and studio down by the lake so I can show other artists' work - Lara and Helen come to mind.

Organize a plein air workshop in Antarctica; everyone gets fitted with ArcTeryx gear and the best art supplies!

Travel down the entire East Coast of USA painting at every place that I dream of, ending up in the Florida Keys.
Paint in Hawaii. Paint in Italy. Paint in Scotland. Paint in Greece. Visit Paula in Bavaria and paint paint paint.

Photograph every band that I love, with top notch equipment.

Give B. a retirement party, a dreamboat, and a house on the hill at Pacific Pallisades.

(I will never retire, I love my work too much. But I would hire a freaking bookkeeper!!!)

Okay, enough dreaming, gotta get back to the number crunching...

New Year's Resolution

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work. - Emile Zola

Here's hoping I have the gift, and can put it to use this year.

Happy New Year, and Goodnight!

current muse

Paula Weber-Lohmeier, Wendy Bush, Karl Weber, Bob Lefsetz, Misha, Ted, Panda, Emily Carr, Woodcuts

Art Movement or Individual Artist?

Someone on a web board I sometimes frequent asked:

"Are you drawn to one particular movement, or drawn to individual artists?"

Performance Art. Marina and Ulay Abramovic, Bueys, Kaprow, etc. were deeply inspiring to me as a young performance artist. So I guess you could say I favour this "movement."

Regarding more traditional art forms, for me it is mainly European Expressionism and Abstract Expressionism, no question, plus a few others who pushed the limits of traditional art forms.

Individuals whose body of work I admire:

Paterson Ewen (always my favourite)
Marcel Duchamp (brilliant innovator)
Oskar Kokoshcka
John Singer Sargent (watercolours only)
Max Ernst
JMW Turner
Tom Thompson
Eric Fischel
Egon Schiele
Franz Marc
Whistler
Caravaggio
Emily Carr
Andre Durain
Kirshner
August Macke
Marc Chagall
Dave Beckett (pastel)
Stephen Ross
Jim Dine
rb kitaj
Anselm Keifer
Kathe Kollwitz
Bacon
Goya
Joseph Beuys
El greco
Albrecht Altdorfer

Oh there are so many...

Growing up, I was only vaguely aware of a few artists, notably Dali (saw a few in a New Brunswick gallery during a family vacation) and the Pre-Raphaelites via posters on a friend's walls. But later as a first year art history student, I spent a life-changing hour in a gallery with Oscar Kokoschka's "Die Windsbraut." Later that same day, another hour staring at and hallucinating in front of a massive Rothko colour field work, trying to "get" what he was doing; well, I got it! Gave me goosebumps.

Seeing art in the flesh and spending time with it really floats my boat. No slide, poster or book can ever come close. So much art, so little time!

What a great question, though. Has me thinking!

Right or wrong, my compulsively analytic brain is wired to look at artistic innovation/trends/styles/ways of seeing and place it within the artist's current social/political/technological contexts, so I'd say the former is true for me personally. I tend to try to ask "why" the person created what they did, who their contemporaries were, etc. Of course, within that parameter, I have my own subjective "favourites" who I feel did it "best." ;)

Sleddogs

Just back from a music conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Snapped band Sleddogs at Shannon's Irish Pub. These dudes are so sweet and hilarious; they really need to take a filmmaker on the road with them.








Also attending the show was Dave Erickson of the recently major label-signed (Clive Davis' J Records) band Inward Eye. So, being the naughty camera-totin' pixie that I am, I boldly snapped him and his lovely companion, after which we shook hands and I welcomed him to his first taste of paparazzi. Hee hee! It was hysterical.

Six New Feline Works

Completed some felines that have been on the easel for quite a while. I truly enjoyed working on them. These are pure single pigment acrylic impasto on Belgian Linen. Nice, buttery and luscious, I love working with it! The effect is like flowy watercolour meets glossy oils. Next, siamese on black velvet! Any takers? Hee hee hee!!

On iPod: Chet Atkins & Les Paul's "Chester & Lester"
In my teacup: Balvenie 12 yr old

Stutter

Fun at the legendary Horseshoe in Toronto with London band Stutter! That's Allan Mamaril from Canadian Music Network at left, and second from right is brilliant mixer / engineer Rich Chycki. Stutter's live show is quite pleasing. ;-)

Latest Commission

I truly enjoyed the challenge of this commission: there were so many subjects to render; eleven felines! She emailed me numerous photos to work from, plus I asked for descriptions of each cat’s character, and who they liked to hang with and who they didn’t, so I could come up with a composition that paid tribute to each furkid's special uniqueness.

The title is “Purrfect Moonlight"; it is watercolour, pure pigment, and gold leaf on deliciously heavy and textured Arches 300lb 20” x 30” (full sheet). (It's difficult to capture in a jpg how it glows)

Various stages during the process of its creation are here: (LOTS of images!)

Part 1

Part 2

Major thank yous to Elizabeth and Jack for such a thoroughly satisfying and enchanting project!

AZ Artwork is Up

Back from Arizona - new work is up at allaprima.ca

Grrrrrrrrrr

Heads up - The Raveonettes had their gear swiped. GRRRRRRRR...

We are completely devastated. Our gear was stolen on Friday Oct. 7 in Brooklyn, NYC. So much has been lost, but these 4 listed underneath are truly the things that matter to us... like Wagner's Jazzmaster from 1961 that he has lived & travelled with, played & written on for the past 12 years. And Sharin's beloved Gretsch from 1965. If you see or hear anything about these 2 guitars and 2 basses please email us immediately on info@theraveonettesDOTcom and you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams.

Yours, Sharin & Sune

• Gretsch
Chet Atkins 6120 1965 Guitar Orange V89V391

• Fender Jazzmaster Guitar, Sunburst 55820

• Fender Precission 1974 Bassguitar L. Tan 317392

• Rickenbacker 4001 1974 Bassguitar OK 7546

 

Even More Sedona

Gallery hop: Loved all the gorgeous raku pots I saw in the galleries. Some extremely creative jewelry and glass work, too. I coveted a particular glass jellyfish very much. The painting scene was mainly limited to imitative photorealism in oil; (ubiquitous renderings of Cathedral Rock, women grinding corn, chief on horseback in full regalia, vaguely homoerotic cowboys, etc.)

At Sedona Art Center, however, I found the art in the galleries to be more varied. There’s even a huge live Plein Air Festival later this month – wish I could have participated. Met a neat fibre artist named Barbara who was volunteering at reception that afternoon.

Foodwise, Sedona is really mixed – everything from Indian to Sushi – and certainly lots of Mexican, which is what I go for.

An order of cactus pads at Oaxaca was a novelty! They are rather like okra in texture, (think the Alien movies, with the stringy goo) and taste like they might have peyote in them. The shpines were removed.

More Sedona

Dramatic spires tell time by the millenium. There is life in the rocks – microscopic blue-green algae, in a tiny cosmic balance: little wonder that mythologies develop around this sort of geological phenomena. There are areas where it is strictly forbidden to climb on the rocks, as it will upset the ecological balance of this living “crust.”

Word of the day = Grounded: No way could you ever be concerned about trivial matters when confronted with ancient rocks like these... they were there before you and shall remain there, passively, long after you are gone.

Not to be missed: the Chapel of the Holy Cross, built by Marguerite Staude, a sculptor and Frank Lloyd Wright fan, in 1956. Nestled high in the red rocks, its architecture is mid-century modern perfect. I was incredibly motivated to sketch there. A very special spot not to be missed, regardless of your faith.

Rosy mesas, canyons, striations, jaw dropping sunsets... At one point, I sighed, “That sky is so incredible, yet if I were to paint it thusly, no one will be believe it was really that way!”

Sedona

Ahhh Sedona... I was first there 23 years ago – man, has it ever grown! But the red rocks are the same. Just remember to look up, not across at the strip mall selling trinkets and time shares. The vibe is more commercial, but head out off the beaten track as I did and you’ll be rewarded.


Coconino National Forest and its spectacular views:
Stare at these vistas long enough and you start to see things...

Sun Lakes, Arizona

I'm working in Sun Lakes, Arizona - it is freaking hot!!!