daily paint, January 3rd, 2008---caucus day!

Greetings all!

So Iowa gets to set the country straight tonight :) Yeah, right. I am planning on being a good little Iowan and doing the caucus thing. My caucusing will be of the preventative nature, and that will be enough said about that, however, you may read between the lines if you wish:)

The weather did abate slightly today. Ollie and I again waited till midafternoon to get out, but instead of the ugly snowmobile suit, I wore running shoes. Yea! Actually they are one of the sizes of soccer cleats that Brent wore for about one season before outgrowing, so I adopted them. Hey, he didn't wear them long enough to do any major damage to them, and they do well on snow/slush.

I painted all day today but didn't get far. And I'm already annoyed with a couple things that will need fixed right away in the morning. Why is it I see things like that better after they've been photo'd and onto the screen? Sheesh.


Later, Cooper

daily paint, December 3rd, 2007

Hey,


We survived the yucky weather! As some of you were aware, Thieves Market was in Iowa City this weekend. Nothing, well, almost nothing, strikes fear in the heart of an exhibiting artist as much as a weather bulletin telling people to stay home, the roads are just too treacherous. Lovely. Saturday, most of the people roaming the building were artists. Sunday, the preciptation stopped and some brave souls braved the frigid wind and came. Yea! In the end, I sold several good paintings! What's the phrase about the obese lady breaking out in song?:)


At any rate, the art center parking lot had a lovely shine on it (by the light of the moon) tonight. Tonight was life drawing, but my organizational skills faltered (oh, right, what organizational skills) and we had no model. Heavy sigh. I promise to do better next week.


I do have the mannequins to show you. We think it's name is 'Vogue'. A lovely 20 x 40 inch gallery wrapped canvas, and you'll notice it's signed. Eh? (crazy artist!)


Later, Cooper

daily paint over run by turkey, November 20th, 2007

Howdy!

Yes, I'm here now. I am sorry to inform you, there was no (none,nadda, zippo,zeroid) daily paint slung about today at my studio.

However, the house is squeaky clean. The meal is planned, and the groceries are purchased; enough to keep 18 (count'em eighteen) people happy, I hope:)

Regarding studio work however, it was a bit of polish off the last little bits kind of day. Two figurative paintings and one still life got their varnish today. Another figurative piece got it's wire attached. And we found the camera! Tomorrow I will do a final photo for you of the two pieces I have been working on to send to the 'Rave On' invitational at the Clear Lake (Iowa) Arts Center.

Right now I will upload yesterday's daily paint. It' s a canvas that I had worked on before and knew it needed more:) So here's more: 'Straight On', acrylic painting on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.

Later, Cooper

ps. Here's a link to 'Straight On' when I first tried to convince myself that it was done:)

http://www.karencooperpaintings.com/blog/1799

art fair, jet lag, daily paint

Good morning!

Today makes me glad that yesterday I finally brought in the rest of the plants targeted for wintering over. 25 degrees at 7:00 a.m. and it felt like it! I found a pair of gloves before Ollie and I did our 'route' this morning!

Jet Lag/Art Fair Lag
I am beginning to think that there is a disease among artists who exhibit at art fairs, kind of like jet lag. I have yet to fly to a show, so we can't officially call it jet lag, but Monday after a show, there's some sort of lagging going on! I exhibited my paintings at Two Rivers Art Market in Des Moines this past weekend. That's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Spencer, which is pretty mild as far as art fair travel goes. My theory is that it's the combination of activities involved. First we labor to get the vehicle loaded, drive like crazy to get there on time, agonize over decisions regarding the perfect setup and how to spotlight the newest paintings, and then we wait. At the perfect show, that first purchase happens right away and takes the edge off, but all you painters out there know that normally only happens to jewelers! Patience must be our badge. At any rate, the end of the show comes and packing it in begins. No matter how many paintings you sell, the remaining refuse to cooperate and fit back into the alotted space. Why is that? --probably the first visible symptom of art fair/jet lag. And then the drive home: it can be 100 miles or it can be 500 miles and it still requires the same amount of coffee---the second visible symptom of art fair/jet lag? Is there a cure? I have one more event on the schedule for this year, Thieves Market in Iowa City, the first weekend in December, and I will contemplate a cure as I drive there!

So there's my excuse for not too much paint brush action yesterday. But let me explain what painting did happen. I painted a still life quite a while ago, and there's always been something about it that bothered me. Yes, it was signed, but did you know it's possible to paint over signatures? :) Maybe it was the aforementioned syndrome that caused me to look at this painting differently, but I think I figured out the problem and even more amazing, I think I fixed the problem. We'll upload that image and let you decide!

Have a lovely day! Cooper

daily paint, October 31, 2007

Good morning!

and a crisp, sunny, lovely colored one it is! It's one of those days that almost makes me wish I painted landscapes:)

I brought a small bit of landscape in recently. There was a mum sitting in my backyard that was having lateness issues, wherein I knew it would not make it to completion. Yes, I am well aware that mums are some of the toughest little buggers out there, but I also remember driving in ugly snow exactly one year ago Friday, so there! I plopped the aforementioned mum into a pot and it came into the kitchen, where it proceeded to bloom with so much effort that I decided to paint it. So, 'Summer Leftovers", 40 x 20 inches, acrylic painting on canvas.

Have a lovely day! Cooper

daily paint, October 24, 2007

Hey,

So today I found the face again, and this time I kept it. Today's daily paint, 30 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas, 'So Thoughts Are Private'

Later, Cooper

*****yeah, click on the image so it will enlarge, it's a whole lot better that way. Some day I will be a great photographer and make it look just like the real painting, but not today.

*****You know I was wondering why blogger wanted a great big space under this post, know I guess I know: I guess I was imagining things when I said click on it to enlarge it---that doesn't seem to work either. But you know, I'm sure it did at one time. eh, go to my website: http://www.karencooperpaintings.com/ I know it will enlarge there:)

daily paint, October 23, 2007

Hello!

So, what, you are asking did I paint today? Well, first of all, I gessoed (primed) a bunch of sheets of paper. Borrrrrring. Then it got better. A few tweaks, and wa-lah: A Paperback Novel Kind Of Day (2)And yes, it is signed, thank you very much. Then I found a canvas that I'd started at a Lakes studio session, that had been hiding in the corner. I started playing with it and like the direction it's taken off to, so I decided to post that as well. Yes, she will get a face eventually. These things DO take time you know. Maybe tomorrow. Later, Cooper

daily paint, October 19th, 2007

Hey,

So I painted all day, and here it is, but I'm telling you right now, it's not signed. We all know what that means, there might be room for one slight change. We'll see.

Later, Cooper

daily paint, simplified, October 16, 2007

I'm back, I'm back! Yeah, that took awhile, didn't it?! My excuse is (was) A.R.T., northwest Iowa Artisans Road Trip. It took awhile to set up and then it took some time to put it away, and it meant that I was 'at work' Sunday afternoon, so I pretended that Monday was Sunday afternoon and therefore my day of rest:) I feel much better now, thank you. And because A.R.T. is a studio tour, I really was painting while people came through, so there, daily paint. I started a large canvas right away on Saturday morning, the first day of the tour. When I paint the smaller 'color sketches' that I put on heavy gessoed paper, my intention has always been to expand on those ideas and turn them into larger canvases. After doing pretty much a bazillion of these color sketches, 'A Paperback Novel Kind Of Day' is reappearing on a 40 x 40 inch canvas. The first version is owned by a mother-daughter team, the Juley's, from La Grange, Illinois, purchased at the West End Art Festival. The larger version is looking pretty fine at this point, but as it is 1600 square inches (sounds huge like that!) I took a time out from that and plopped a pair of pears on my table, smooshed around some pear-kind-of-paint, and wha-la! Today's completed daily paint, Two Pears And A Shadow.

And after all that, it now appears to be an ideal time to go make some popcorn!

Later, Cooper

daily paint, October 11th, 2007

Greetings!

So it's a seasonal kind of atmospheric grey day in northwest Iowa, but seasons are good for us, and the yellow leaves hanging on the trees outside my window are just lovely. My only problem is a vehicle that needs picked up at the mechanic's shop about an easy one mile bike ride north of here, and trying to decide if I need to wear one sweatshirt or two:)

Daily paint for today: 'Zoned Out', an acrylic painting on heavy gessoed paper, finished up from a LakesArtCenter studio session.

It's about 15 x 15 inches. I will zip over to my website and put an image of the painting there as well. Thanks for looking!

Later, Cooper

daily paint, October 5th, 2007

Greetings!

Today's paint slinging episode:) resulted in the completion of the latest in the book reader series! 'Reading In A Red Dress' is an acrylic painting on a gallery wrapped canvas, measuring a lovely 20 x 24 inches.

Actually, the word completion puts me in the liar category---I have yet to give the painting it's protective varnish topcoat---eh, details. We'll get that done one of these days soon.

We will get this uploaded to my web site (paypal friendly) as well. Thanks for visiting!

Later, Cooper

daily paint, October 4th, 2007

Hey,

I painted all day long today, some of it was SherwinWilliams:) Considering the ArtisansRoadTrip is next weekend, I felt compelled to paint the entry way to our house. A person can only live with ugly so long, and this was a good excuse. It has been tranformed from metallic silvery blue wallpaper to nice rich 'cavern clay' paint. It looks LOVELY.

And, the rest of the daily paint: actually I spent quite a bit of time on the latest of the library book series---almost done.

But then I went to my studio group gathering, and guess what? The model was reading too. This one is a little rough yet, but sometimes it's better to stop earlier than later? His book was called 'delta force' something, so that's what we'll call the painting. 'Reading Delta Force', 16 x 16 inches, acrylic on canvas.

Later, Cooper

daily paint, October 2, 2007

Greetings!

Another painting for you to look at: 'Studio With Sunflowers', it's an acrylic on canvas, 16 x 16 inches. Thanks for looking!

Later, Karen

daily paint, September 28th, 2007

Hello,

What a beautiful day, wow! The sun is shining, the leaves are just starting to color, AND not too many of them are laying on the sidewalk yet :) (otherwise known as a no-rake-necessary-day) We live on a street with way more than it's fair share of trees, so don't worry, our rakes will get a workout eventually.

Today's painting comes from a session with my painting friends at the Pearson Lakes Art Center. Most of the work on this one got done there, only a few finish-up details after I brought it home. We're going to call it 'Comfort Zone Sprawl'. It's an acrylic painting, 20 x 20 inches, on a gallery wrapped canvas. Thanks for looking!

Cooper

ps. available for your continual viewing pleasure on my website @

http://karencooperpaintings.com/

daily paint, September 25, 2007

Hello,

The sun is starting to peak through the clouds that carried over from last night's friendly little rain in northwest Iowa. It's not too shabby a day, I think.

I have a painting for you. "Must Be Reading Spring Came On Forever" is an acrylic painting on heavy gessoed paper. (and a good book it is too) Enjoy!

Later, Karen

daily paint, September 24, 2007, "Sleeping With Irises"

Hello,

So it's a drippy evening in Iowa. The thunder portion of the event has passed so Ollie isn't shaking anymore:)

I have a painting started at the art center studio and finished at home, to show you today. It's title is "Sleeping With Irises"


Later, Karen