Sweating It

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa. Please bear in mind that it's winter in Jefferson this morning. For all you fair weather readers, that means that at 9:27AM it was a snow-crunchy 14 degrees. So why you ask, are we talking about sweating it?

I believe I've mentioned in the past that I try to run (sort of) at least three times a week. Is it my personality type?--who know, but I can not handle even the thought of running (sort of) indoors. Treadmill, forget it. I prefer to go first thing in the morning when I'm not totally awake. With a sleep-fog hanging on, running seems a little less crazy. BUT! Even I have to draw the line somewhere, and at 6:30AM, Jefferson was in the balmy single digits range on the sad old thermometer.

So 9:30AM rolls around, the thermometer shows me 14 degrees, and I determined I could possibly survive it. I did. But here's the funny thing--sweating it! Yup, who'd of thought at 14 degrees with two tee shirts and a hoodie as the layers, I could possibly warm up that much?

Now I suppose you want to hear how this could all possibly relate to painting, right? But of course it does. Think about the commonalities here. It seems pretty logical to me. Look:

1. A schedule. Three times a week, works okay for my "running (ha) career" but I try to paint five days a week. And a schedule is worthless if you don't keep it. Paint on a schedule.

2. Persistence. My husband says mine comes more under the heading of stubbornness. Sometimes the odds seem to be against you. The air temperature for running is abysmal/you painted your best painting ever and it still got juried out, so why keep trying? And here we should enter in my favorite Gretsky quote, "you miss every shot you don't take". Paint with persistence.

3. Prepare to the best of your ability. So, the morning run part of that: is it a two tee-shirt kind of day or a three? Pretty simple preparedness there. But the painting side of the equation is harder. Study, study, study. Either way, some times you have to sweat it. Last night was the first night of this semester's life drawing group on campus at ISU (Iowa State University) Do you get to see the results of my sweating? No. If the garbage guys unroll the wad of paper, they might get to. But revert back to item #2. We meet again next Thursday and I'll be there. Surely it will go better. You can't prosper you art just be wanting. Prepare for it. Study.

And that brings us to:

4. Be an optimist. You can do it. It's possible. Where there's life, there's hope, right? If you can move your feet, you can run. If you can pick up a paint brush, you can paint. True, the quality of your endeavors will depend pretty heavily on how you deal with #1-3, but what's stopping you? Be an optimist.

Oh wait, this is beginning to sound like my last blog post , regarding "cup half full". Hmm, it must be the weather...time to go gain a little sweat equity at the easel. Thanks for stopping by.

Later, Cooper

Oh, and you should click on the red text up there (post) to see my last blog writing over at my website, and the cool new painting that goes with :) The link will take you right there, I promise!

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa. We will discuss The Look today. I'm sorry, but you know it had to happen. And it's not really my fault. We are blaming it on ArtCalendarMagazine, even though those people put out a wonderful publication, which no artist should be without.

I finally got started reading my online copy of ArtCalendarMagazine this morning. Next up was the article about a figurative painter from LosAngeles, Kent Williams. The heading described Mr. Williams as a consummate draftsman and rigorous observer. Rigorous observer. Aaargh. The Look.

Rigorous observer. So easily written. Deceptively easily written. Take a moment and peer into the meaning of those two words, bearing in mind that Mr. Williams is known as a figurative painter.

You don't get it? You must be focusing on landscapes or still lifes.

At a recent event, I was across the room from a friend who was in the motion of painting a bunch of flowers. She was doing "the squint", you know, blurring out the unimportant, concentrating on finding what matters for the painting. Of course, she deserved a bit of teasing, due to the interesting countenance it gave her. But what's a painter to do? We have to squint.

However, you need to be aware, "the squint" is only part of The Look. Back up to paragraph #2 where we unleashed the phrase "rigorous observer". Followed closely by figurative painter. Granted, if that figure you are painting is a model in your studio, they possibly understand the squint. The Look. But some of us are trapped in the intrigue of painting the folks out on the sidewalks of our lives. Those poor folks don't know we are just being rigorous observers. They see someone do "the squint" in their direction, and they begin to worry. A complete stranger, doing "the squint", and following up with a camera--whoa--we have to wonder if sirens and arrest are imminent.

Yes. You are correct. I do exaggerate. But it's a constant battle of artist-desire to capture everyday people doing their everyday thing on canvas, versus artist trying not to annoy those everyday people doing their everyday thing.

So, I hereby promise to try and not be too rude with my rigorous observing. And if you aren't an artist, at least now you know the reason behind "the squint" --- The Look, and you don't have to go running for cover. And if it happens to you, questions or a quick peek at the sketch book are all cool, be my guest.

Thanks for stopping by!

Later, Cooper

Okay, one more little bit. I have to show you this painting again. I saw these kids at ArnoldsPark, in the town by the same name, next door to Okoboji, Iowa. Surely you understand the need to paint them? When photos are involved, more than one is always better. So my camera and I stood fence-side by the "Scrambler", and every time their little car came around, I clicked. By photo #6, the boy in the middle was beginning to show signs of "who are you, and why are you taking our picture?" By photo #7 he was beginning to express his strong desire to have his daddy come talk to me. At that point I decided to let them finish their ride unencumbered by artistic intervention. But it was worth it, right? :)

Slide On Over, acrylic painting on canvas, measuring 30 x 30 inches, and yes, in my portfolio

(click on the red text) as well.

The Geometry Of Art Marketing

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper Studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where I am pondering that old geometry rule about the shortest distance between two points being a straight line. And no, we are not discussing paint-on-canvas kinds of lines today, we are talking about conceptual lines (whew, lift your feet, it's getting deep) and thoughts of art marketing.

Conceptual lines. And that's where the problem begins. Artists are by nature visual people, right? We like real lines. Lines we can see. What are we supposed to do with a conceptual line that's just "out there". We're supposed to be able to see it's reality, even though it's not even there. Dios mio.

Are you ready for my point of contention? I don't think conceptual lines behave well in the geometry classroom. I think conceptual lines ignore the fact that they are supposed to go straight. At least when we are talking about the conceptual lines in art marketing.

Let me share two links to excellent posts that got me started on thinking these deviant thoughts.The first, written by Lori Woodword, is titled The Future Of Art Marketing. http://canvoo.com/blog/23251/the-future-of-art-marketing In the article Lori discusses the future need for galleries representing artists versus artists representing themselves online.


Then you need to go read Olivia Alexander's thought provoking post at http://oliviaalexander.com/blog/23405/challenges-of-the-present-day-artist Olivia mentions her own art marketing is now on a 3 to 1 ratio with painting. Yup folks, that's 3 for the marketing, 1 for the painting. AND don't pretend that's not your story as well. I spent the entire day yesterday "marketing" my art at the Octagon (Ames, Iowa) Art Festival. One way or the other art marketing soaks up an amazing amount of hours.

Okay, now we need to get back to the geometry of this whole mess. I've plotted the two points: PointA (The Future Of Art Marketing) and PointB (Challenges Of The Present Day Artist) Olivia talked about taking an internet marketing "fast" while Lori wrote about limited gallery role partnered with go-it-on-your-own marketing. Surely those are the extremes, the opposite points, right? Quick! Draw a straight line between those two points! Right---it aint gonna happen. I think reality says that if you made that conceptual art marketing line into a visual one, you would see that it hooks and curls and detours all over the place. Quite possibly there are even some road blocks and maybe even a few dead end signs on that conceptual line-turned visual.

So, you are an artist. Where do you belong on that line? Are you on the hook part where you love meeting and greeting patrons and telling them about your art? Maybe you don't need galleries so much. Are you the artist who anguishes over not getting enough studio time? Maybe you are supposed to be hanging out on that conceptual line curl where galleries are oh-so-important. Maybe you are the artist who still has to try a little of both the conceptual line curls and hooks until one of them hits a road block sign, and sends you the other direction. Not a pretty thought, is it, that road block?

Which brings us full circle to my parting shot. (Don't you love how we just came "full circle" in a geometry discussion of two points and a not-so-straight line?!) IF we were all alike, we would paint exactly the same paintings, and we could all market them in exactly the same way. Fact of the matter is, we aren't, we won't, and we can't. Just like painting, we need to find our style, our niche. Find out what works for this ONE artist.

Somewhere on that not-so-straight conceptual line of art marketing, somewhere in between internet fasting and full bore self marketing, is the place that likely has your name on it. How do you find it? It's just like developing your painting style---you have to study, practice, experiment. Oh, and you have to expect a few road blocks and dead end signs---hopefully not too many. Good luck in your search.

Later, Cooper

Iowa City Arts Festival, It Happened Downtown

Greetings,

The Iowa City Arts Festival is happening soon. In fact, very soon. The dates are June 6th and 7th. And I have a painting to show you that's related in an unrelated sort of way. "How does that work" you ask? Ha! Here's the title: It Happened Downtown.

Yup, the Iowa City Arts Festival happens in downtown Iowa City, Iowa. The streets of Dubuque, Iowa, Washington and Linn, are all involved, and yours truely will be location #104 on Linn Street.

AND. The aforementioned painting, at the moment not quite ready, but almost, will make the trip with me. So debut performance on this painting, but there will be others in the 'fresh off the easel' category as well. It Happened Downtown is an acrylic painting on a 30 x 30 inch canvas. If you are desperate for a downtown Iowa City scene, we can pretend this is one, but in reality downtown Minneapolis was the inspiration location. But. Like I said, we allow big imaginations in the world of art :) so you just go for it!

If you have visited with me about my paintings before and are on my mailing list, you should have received (or will shortly) a post card mentioning a 10% discount for a painting purchased during the Iowa City Arts Festival. I would like to extend that to my online fans as well, so make sure you mention reading this, and we will make it happen for you too!

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio on this fine, albeit galeforcewindy day, in Spencer, Iowa. It is delightfully warm, and you can't argue with that!

Have I whined lately about keeping this house spotless? Yes, we are trying to sell, and I am getting close to wearing out the vacuum cleaner. The day is so magnificent that of course the windows are wide open. Couple that with the aforementioned gfwinds, and now I get to dust everything, along with the vacuuming. Another showing tomorrow at noon, so no morning painting. And let me tell you, with that going on till mid-day, it will be mentally hard to paint in the afternoon as well. The whole process does mess with the mind. It's amazing that I get any painting done at all. But I did today. This one is on a 20 x 16 inch heavy paper, still a little rough around the edges in places. We'll see, maybe getting a house ready for showing will zap my thoughts a different direction, and this one will finish up tomorrow. Who knows?

---no title yet, but who wants to bet that it will include "red"?!

Later, Cooper

At The Cooper Studio

Greetings,

A goal organized in 2008 is the quarterly sending of a studio newsletter. Only 25 days late on the quarter :), here's a copy of said newsletter that went out to subscribers earlier this week. If you are desirous of joining the group, here's the link.

___________________________

What's new at the Cooper studio ? We'll attempt for one-liners in an effort to keep it minimal!

My husband picked up a book a few years back, Keep Your Brain Alive, by Katz and Rubin. My favorite subtitle from the book is "routines can be brain deadening". Wouldn't the alternative then be change is good? My brain ought to be like that of a twenty year old. Allow me to share a mere 14 months of change:

1. March 2008 daughter Lindsey and son-in-law Chris decided it was time for me to change to Grandma status. Plural. Girls. Yup, count to two.

2. September 2008 son Brian and daughter-in-law Lynn decided to do it their way. Boy, but they kept it singular :)

3. Son Brent decided he needed to add to the excitement last fall, so he arranged for me to meet him at the emergency room. Do you know what the bottom of a leg looks like when the foot is over and to the left a bunch? I don't recommend that you find out.

4. Because we have four children and all four of them like to keep our brains fit with change, daughter Abbie decided last November was a great time to get married. In Florida . It was perfect, and now we have a Jim in the family!

5. And did I mention our house is on the market? We are planning to move south. Well, a little. Still in Iowa , but closer to my husband's work. This has actually been in the plans for a year and a half while we wait for #6

6. The youngest Cooper (the one who did the premium trash job on his ankle) graduates this May! High school that is. Yes, that means we are also doing all the onward to college stuff. Dios Mio.

Now, after that, aren't we all amazed that I am still mentally capable of creating paintings? But I have been! Let me share a few.

During the November journey to Florida, we came across the coolest of little (emphasis little) cafes.

This cafe, the Heavenly Biscuit, Fort Myers Beach, inspired the painting of the same name, At The Heavenly Biscuit, currently on display at the Wine Bar Art Gallery in Arnolds Park, Iowa. It's an acrylic painting on a gallery wrapped canvas (finished edges) and measures 30 x 30 inches.

Although nothing is finer than to smoosh the paint around on a nice big canvas, I have been playing around with a smaller size canvas as well. A quick peek at a few:

Everybody Need A Little Treat Now And Then, also an acrylic painting on canvas, this one measuring 12 x 12 inches. available here

Maybe I Would Like Some Of That, 12 x 12 inch canvas, available here

I was in Evanston, Illinois last summer. This painting and the following are scenes of some of the people that needed painting outside the "Unicorn Cafe" in downtown Evanston.

Saturday Morning, Nothing Much To Do, acrylic painting on canvas, this one is back to a larger size. Ha! Can't get that much fun on a small canvas. This canvas is 32.5 x 36 inches. It's framed in a narrow black canvas floater frame.

Tea And A Book At The Unicorn, again, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

Icecream Line, 30 x 30 inch canvas, framed in a narrow black strip frame also from the Evanston sojourn, picturing a scene just one block south of the Unicorn Cafe. And there are others. You may hop on over to my website portfolio to enjoy those. Here's a link

Some of these paintings will be traveling this summer. As follows:

June 5-7, Iowa Arts Festival, downtown Iowa City, Iowa their website is http://www.summerofthearts.org/

June 26-28, the 35th Annual Omaha Summer Arts Festival, downtown Omaha, Nebraska their website is http://www.summerarts.org/

September 6-7, the 55th Annual Art Fair On The Square, downtown Lake Forest, Illinois their website is http://www.deerpathartleague.org/

I am considering a few additions to the list, and promise to keep you informed.Surely that is enough for you to mull over for now! If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call 712 580 5315 or an email coopkja@yahoo.com I would love to hear from you.

Later, Cooper

Daily Painting, Someone's Lunch

Hi there,

Welcome to daily painting at the Cooper studio. The paint du jour landed on one of my little 12 x 12 inch canvases. We are calling the painting, Someone's Lunch. As always lately, it's painted with acrylic paint.

I stretched a nice, big canvas this morning, and it's plan is another side walk cafe painting. The person from this little canvas will quite likely show up in the midst of all her patrons on the big canvas. Stay tuned. but for now, here's the image:

Someone's Lunch, acrylic painting on a gallery wrapped canvas, measuring a lovely 12 x 12 inches. You may find it, available at $125, in my portfolio. Enjoy.

Later, Cooper

Snow On The Rooftop

Howdy,

It's official. Summer is a now-fleeting memory.

This is the view out my studio window today. So we expect something unusual to happen inside the studio, right?

You know the line, 'what makes artists paint the way they do?' Too much white stuff outside the studio, two white canvases leaning on the wall inside the studio, ----I had no choice. I covered them up. I grabbed the big brush, found two of the thumbnail sketches I have been working on, and slathered them onto the canvases. In purple. Now, I'm going to go make chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight, and after that, hopefully have a few spare minutes to add some paint to these canvases, so that they are a little more explanatory to all the rest of you. Fortunately, I, myself, know with perfect certainty what they are saying :)

Later, Cooper

Daily Painting At The Cooper Studio

Greetings,

I love days like this one! The sun is shining and I found a ten dollar bill laying on the sidewalk. Yay for me! It happened because I needed storefronts.

Let me explain: the next Boulder musicians painting is on the easel. It's a street scene, but the focus is the people, not the stores. However. I am having a hard time deciding if those stores should look like stores, or if they should be vague. I realized I needed to look at some stores, so trusty HP camera in one hand, and the blond one's (yes, that would be Olliver, aka golden retriever) leash in the other, we set off for downtown Spencer. We had a grand old time taking pictures, with our last photo opportunity being the hotel. One good hotel picture, the camera batteries died, and I found the $10 laying right there on the sidewalk. Perfect!

Now, if I could just decide about those storefronts in this painting. Maybe tomorrow.


Later, Cooper

Daily Painting, Ice Cream And Salad

Greetings,

It's a beautiful Friday morning right after an interesting Thursday! Thursday started at 5:37am with a rafter-rattling lightning strike, the kind that almost knocks you out of bed :) Coupled with the fact that said lightning/thunder caused the dog to come unglued and try to climb into bed, well, we were all set up for unusual!

So as I was stumbling about the kitchen trying to make coffee, with a dog (remember, this is an oversized golden retriever) cowering about my feet, I happened to glance at some grapes sitting in a bowl, and it suddenly occurred to me that I really ought to paint them. And so I did :)

And I kept right on going! A little more paint slinging on the ice cream stand painting, and two new canvases blocked in as well. There is a new Boulder musicians painting coming, and a painting of a playground with children reading and playing.

And tonight is the artist's reception/opening for the A.R.T. exhibit at Arts On Grand. It appears to be another busy day in the making.

Later, Cooper

acrylic painting and sketch books

Greetings! And happy Monday, um, I mean Wednesday to you!

Yeah, I threw out the calendar page for this week, it's all messed up in my head anyway, and today really does feel like Monday! I have been out to Longmont (Colorado) to help with a new grandbaby! Arridian James Cooper, and a handsome young'n he is. (duh, of course!) We will get that picture posted pronto!

And because it's time to get back to some semblance of work now, I was reading work related emails and found this rather interesting bit: Empty Easel has an article about using your blog as a sketch book. Seems to me I have been doing that already, but sometimes feeling a bit guilty about it. I am of the vein that sketch books are for ideas and not needing to look like perfection-honed works of art (read: my sketch books are scribble-y) At any rate, now somebody has gone and given me guilt-freedom in posting any messy sketch book page I want. whoody-ha. On that note, sketch book pages from a recent studio session:

Later, Cooper

Acrylic Painting, Studio Model

Howdy,

Welcome to Spencer, Iowa, where the sky is a smidgen bit gray and probably causing concern at the Clay County Fair, also known as the nation's largest and best county fair. Sunny skies just generally work better for fair goers. Tommorrow I will be one of those. Arts On Grand plays host at the Art Barn at the Clay County Fair, and I will be an able volunteer there on both Thursday and Friday of this week. Stop by if you're in town :)

On the easel: (wow, look, I need to number them!)

1. An ice cream stand painting. It's got no name yet, but the scenario runs with a crowd of people standing in front of a streetside ice cream stand, all waiting their turn. That alone was enough to encourage the painter in me to get to work. The clincher will be if I can manage to get at least one of the giant inflatable ice cream cones that were swinging in the breeze included in the composition. This painting is blocked in in very messy fashion, but I can feel their attitudes when I look at these vaguely rendered folks, so I am pretty sure I am on the right trail. That image will go on my daily painting blog, where I show stages of paintings. But here's a quick peek of where I was:

2. Then, as promised to the many people who saw and enjoyed 'Wild Street Music' at Artsplash in Sioux City, Labor Day weekend, there's another one coming. The next painting inspired by those Boulder, Colorado musicians is still in the drawing stages, but it's going to be fun. At first I thought the stars of the painting were going to be two slightly ragtag musicians, but they just might be getting upstaged. Enter the hound dog and a guy with long blond dreds, who are apparently ardent fans.

3. Last night was spent at the studio at the Pearson Lakes Art Center, where our group of artists meet to paint with a model. I always say I love books that end with the heroes living 'happily ever after' :) I am beginning to wonder if that's a glitch, or maybe (hopefully) a key structual point of my personality. I am beginning to feel like I am painting happily ever after into my paintings lately. Our model last night was perfectly cheerful and always great to work with, but for this pose was not smiling. No matter, because look at that light and airy spring green that ended up around her. (The blue is another painting hanging on the wall) In reality the wall is that awful greybeige that people put on their walls to hide the fact that (1) they are scared of color or (2)they have been told that greybeige is a lovely statement for their environs. Give me a break. But I digress. On this specific studio painting, you have to ignore the fact that I succumbed to that terrible artist disease, where you get home from studio, it's late, you look at the canvas, it's late, but you suddenly see something that needs fixed, and it's late but you go ahead and get a brush out anyway. THAT is what is wrong with her hands. But I think I can fix it :) yet.

Later, Cooper

Shut The Windows! And It's Time For Pumpkin Paintings

Good morning,

and happy Wednesday to you! Welcome to Spencer, Iowa where we had a balmy 44 degrees when the alarm went off this morning. No big deal, EXCEPT every window in the house was open! By my calculations, 44 degrees is a mere dozen from frost. We shut all the windows on the first floor, the weather guy promised we'd like them open this afternoon.

And with that, I am coloring up this post with two pumpkin paintings. Yes, they are last fall's pumpkins. I have been by my favorite pumpkin patch and noted they are ready, but haven't had a minute to stop in. Note to self: must make that happen soon :) With no further ado, two pumpkin paintings:

Still Life With Two Pumpkins, 24 x 30 inches, acrylic on canvas http://karencooperpaintings.com/

Pie and Coffee, 20 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas, http://karencooperpaintings.com/

Thanks for stopping by.

Later, Cooper

"Tea And A Book At The Unicorn", acrylic painting, Artsplash in Sioux City, Iowa

Howdy!

It's Friday and almost quittin' time for this artist. I just got done with 3 (yup, that's THREE) photo sessions with the HP and the SAME painting. Aaargh. I wonder if that's why I need to gather up the newly finished paintings and head downtown to my favorite photographer's studio soon. He's got skills, while the little HP and I just get by. But, just getting by, means I can post a somewhat passable image of the newest painting out of the Cooper studio yet today. It's the cafe scene which at this point is titled "Tea And A Book At The Unicorn" I should share that I am just very pleased with my efforts on this one. Take a look:


So, "Tea And A Book At The Unicorn", acrylic painting on a gallery wrapped canvas, which measures a lovely 24 x 30 inches.

Later, Cooper

PS. For those of you in the Sioux City, Iowa area, Artsplash, the art fair presented by the Sioux City Art Center is just one weekend away. I am scheduled to be there, so that will be the first public viewing of this painting!

Fountain Square Art Festival---wham!

Howdy,

I wrote on my last post that I was "ready" to head east for the Fountain Square Art Festival in Evanston, Illinois. Wrong!!! There was no way of being ready for that. The show opened breezy on Saturday morning, and picked up even more during the day, to the point that it was annoying. About an hour before closing time, I took a quick break at the artist's hospitality room, and the return trip to my booth gave me a dead-on view of a lovely black cloud perched on the west end of Church Street, which just happened to be the cross-section street of the fair. I ran the rest of the way back and sent my weekend compadre (daughter Abbie) after the car. I started bracing for the hit, which is really ridiculous in a nylon covered tent with aluminum legs! But a person's gotta at least try, don't you think? Abbie pulled the car in as close as she could get, which was actually the alley about 25 feet north, and I got two boxes of paintings loaded and headed back for more. You know, when a 70 mph wind gust is descending, running back into that aforementioned nylon and aluminum tent was probably not wise, but there I was. At first I had the crazy idea that I could hold it down, but then I realized that IT thought it could make my fly. I would say the definition of the word surreal was formulated at that point. That surreal moment?---as it dawned on me, I was next to the panel holding my brand new painting of the Minneapolis bicycle races, and in an ahah! moment, I decided I'd save that one at least, and yea for me, I did. With 45 pound weights dragging from each tent leg, and me and my propanels full of paintings on the inside, we ended up in a heap out in the middle of Sherman street. Amazingly the stupid EZ-up (often referred to in the art show world as EZ-downs) stayed on it's feet. All my apendages seemed to be working (!) so Abbie, a good samaritan named Rod, and I started grabbing paintings and putting them in the front door of the shop that was right behind us, because at that point the bucket of rain over our heads decided to start dumping. Net result: stupid EZup has a slight bend in one cross bar, one section of propanel has an interesting curl at the top, and five paintings have scuffed corners that will have to be touched up. Oh, and we do have a few bruises, but nothing serious. Incredible! Because at the south end of the show, it rolled about 40 exhibits down the street, and there was nothing left to salvage. We talked to an Evanston policewoman who was checking people, and she reported artwork flying up to the fourth story windows of the buildings. The organizers put out a newsletter the next morning--injuries included two broken arms, a sprained ankle and some lacerations. Yowza! So do you want to see the painting I decided to save first? :) (sheesh-crazy artist!)

"Between Laps" from the Great River Energy Bicycle Races, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 inches, it's formative stages are shown on my project blog.

Later, Cooper

ps. would you like to see what a pile of about 40 EZups (er, EZdowns) look like all rolled together? Here's a link. Oh, and the guy that wrote the news story with it, talked about the artists with pottery---he kind of missed "glass". Not only were there a number of glass artists there, but lots of paintings are framed behind glass, and when the glass breaks, and your roof is gone, and it's raining, those paintings don't live long---sadly.

Daily Painting, February 5th, 2008, Acrylic Painting "Mums On The Table"

Howdy,

Welcome to my journal blog this February 5th, 2008. It's still winter today in Spencer, Iowa, but I am going to hold off the whining as the weather reports for southeast of here (Des Moines etc.) are growing ugly! But for the meantime, how about a still life painting of mums? Note the window with actual green stuff outside instead of the brown sticks that are currently masquerading outside my window as trees :)

acrylic painting 'Mums On The Table', 15 x 15 inches, acrylic on gessoed paper

I have been painting and reading about painting. What a combination, huh? I promised a few days ago to give you a written opinion of the then current book authored by Kevin Macpherson, but since have polished off an additional book by Gregg Kreutz, and a good magazine article on Margaret Dyer (from a new e-zine: www.createbetterpaintings.com) that will probably have to be included in that written opinion. It's kind of interesting to absorb three artist's 'rules of painting' in that small an amount of time. It would seem that when work from all three artists can appeal to one person (me), they are all well known artists, and they are all sharing their theories, that some of them would overlap, right? I am rereading to discover commenalities, but so far they are few!

On the project blog, I have several images of 'starts' or paintings with just the big shapes blocked in--yeah, one of the aforementioned authors recommends practicing that. One a day, was the presciption, ---kind of sounds like vitamins, and hopefully it will have a similar effect! Ok, time to get back to work.

Later, Cooper

daily paint, October 24. 2007

Howdy,

Today's painting time was spent on the studio painting that I unearthed yesterday. I 'found' her face three times and lost her face three times. That translates to three steps forward, three steps back. Heavy sigh.

My friend Mary Connealy has a group of author friends, and yesterday they were sharing thoughts on rhino hide at their blog, http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com/ Other than the three step portion of my day, I spent my time toughening up my 'rhino hide'. Comes the season for sending away jpgs to see what shows might actually let me hang up a painting. But not just any jpg, today I was working on that special commmodity called the booth shot. A booth shot is a lovely little invention that supposedly gives a vision of the layout of your potential exhibit, while simultaneously answering the question 'can this person really paint enough to fill a whole exhibit space by herself?' To anyone who really wants to know, YES, I CAN! Here, LOOK:

Yes, I know, it's very colorful. :) Later, Cooper