I've been feeling a lot of energy and freedom in the studio lately--perhaps from watching so many other people applying paint and wax in my workshops. Their countless ways of approaching color and mark-making make me aware of my own need to keep open, keep exploring.

In my most recent work--in progress for for my February exhibit at Circa Gallery in Minneapolis--my palette is shifting away from the very earthy colors of my last show in Santa Fe. That one was all about my residency in a remote area of the Pyrenees, and the year's work that came out of it, so earthiness made perfect sense. The colors also seemed really appropriate for setting of the show, an old adobe building that houses Darnell Fine Art.

Circa, on the other hand, is a big, modern, wide open space, and I sense that I need to command that space with stronger color. No photos yet, though I hope to have some soon. I suspect I'll tone down the color somewhat in the final stages, since subtlety remains important to me. But in several paintings that I'm working on, the color intensity is still holding up after many layers.

I also have several going that are quite the opposite--light, ethereal panels. So I think it will make an interesting mix.

The small painting above is not one of the new ones--it's from a few months ago, but it illustrates the kind of gestural line I've been exploring, in addition to stronger color...Flux, 12"x12" oil and wax on panel.  ¶ 12:19 PM 1 comments links to this post

  studio workshop
It was a good day in the studio with these three women--Sandy, Karen and Kim. (Sorry that the photo is a bit blurry--I mistakenly had my camera set on close-up.) All three drove considerable distances to come--which I very much appreciate--and all made excellent progress on several panels each throughout the day.

As usual when I teach, I learned a thing or two from them...Karen, who has taught many workshops herself, had some good ideas for the business aspect of teaching (something I've been learning as I go.) Kim Grant came up with a technique for printing a shape--she coated the rim of a small suction cup with wax, then dipped that in powdered charcoal. The circular shape transferred very cleanly onto her panel. Sandy, the third member of the group, achieved an impressive rich color/texture on one panel using a metallic powder/wax mixture. Those are just a few highlights--whenever a group of people get together to explore cold wax and oils, the day is pretty much one visual surprise after another.

The online group Oil and Wax: Exploring Cold Wax Painting that I started a few days ago has taken off very well, with 43 members from ten countries already signed on. The group is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about this process.  ¶ 6:56 PM 0 comments links to this post

  new site for oil and wax discussion

I've been thinking for quite awhile about starting an online discussion group for people who have taken my Oil and Wax workshops. Most people I've worked with seem eager to carry the ideas forward in their own studios after the class ends, and there is a desire for feedback and continued sharing of information. There's also a social factor--all the people who have taken the class, regardless of where they did so, have a lot in common with each other and I figured they would enjoy "meeting ." A big Oil and Wax party, online!

So--yesterday I signed on with Ning.com and created a site called Oil and Wax: Exploring Cold Wax Painting Techniques. The response has been wonderful, with 25 members and growing, and quite a few posts already. Members include past workshop participants, a few people who are anticipating a workshop in their future, and a few more who are just interested. Membership is open to anyone who is curious about the use of cold wax with oils.

(The painting above, Green Wall, is another in my series of new 12" square paintings.)  ¶ 9:10 PM 2 comments links to this post

  small paintings

I've spent most of my studio time this weekend on small pieces for several upcoming shows--I have about a dozen 12"x12" or smaller paintings that are either done or in progress. Some are for Darnell Fine Art in Santa Fe where a group show of small work will be hanging from mid-November through the holidays. I'm also sending some to KC Willis in Longmont,Colorado, in order to familiarize people in her area with my work (I have a workshop scheduled there in April--scroll down the linked page for information.) And there are several shows in January and February for which some small work will come in handy.

My small paintings are generally done on a single panel, and I often create some sort of horizontal or vertical division that serves the same function as the juxtaposed panels in my larger, multiple panel work. The painted divisions are less defined than the "seams" between panels--I like to play around with lines and smudges that cross over and blur the edge. This has led recently to some similar effects in the larger work, lines and colors that cross over between panels. I really like how one group of work can influence another--a good reason to keep several series or ways of working going at the same time.

The painting above is Rusty Wall, 12"x12" oil and wax on panel.  ¶ 4:08 PM 1 comments links to this post

  the work of lynne haagensen
I was really pleased today to hear from Lynne Haagensen whose artist residency coincided with mine at the Centre D'Art I Natura in Farrera, Catalonia, last year. She emailed several photos of the completed work that she started at CAN. Seeing this brought back memories of our time there, and of coming across her while she was out drawing in the village. I recognize a lot of the images in the drawing, and enjoy the line quality which resonates with the complex textures of the landscape. I found her process quite intriguing--I'd never before met anyone who regarded a photocopy machine as an art tool. Here she explains her working methods:

I started this work by making drawings on transparent plastic. I then developed the drawings into photocopy monoprints using a color copier in unconventional ways: chance variables made every print a little different. The next step was to put the prints together in the larger work; where I felt change was necessary, I used collage. While most of the sections are single sheets of paper, perhaps a dozen have several physical layers.

The photo below is one I took in Lynne's studio at CAN, while Marina Broere (my painter friend who came with me to CAN,) her husband Cor and I were looking at Lynne's many drawings on plastic.

  ¶ 5:42 PM 0 comments links to this post

  new stuff
When I have a show coming up, pictures come into my mind of how it will look when it's all done and installed. These are general visual impressions, nothing specific--since my work evolves as it goes, and is never planned out ahead of time. But these mental pictures do tend to guide and inspire me as I work. For my October show in Santa Fe, I pictured earthy colors and textures reminiscent of the area in Catalonia where I spent a month last fall. (The painting above, Dwelling, 30"x34" oil on board, is one that I shipped out for the last part of that show, after several had sold.)

For my upcoming February exhibit with Maren Kloppmann at Circa Gallery in Minneapolis, I am picturing brighter, more vibrant color, and livelier paintings in terms of gesture and mark-making. A friend asked me tonight what is inspiring me lately, and my answer was simply ...color. Color in rich layers, color in unusual juxtapositions (or at least, unusual for me.) Nothing is very far along yet, but for now this is my guiding idea. I think colorful paintings will show especially well with Maren Kloppmann's work--what I have seen so far are her sensuous, minimalist black/dark colored and white porcelain pieces.

I have recently bought a variety of new kinds and colors of paint, and I'm also excited to work on some of the new large panels from Ampersand. Previously the largest size they stocked was 36"x24", and now there are ready made panels up to 48"x36." it's not a huge step up, but I appreciate the difference. Sometimes it only takes a small change to inject new energy, and new art supplies do that for me every time.  ¶ 9:37 PM 2 comments links to this post

  self-promotion

The painting above, Tangled, is now at Darnell Fine Art in Santa Fe--one of several 12" square pieces I sent out last week.

For the past few days I've been thinking about the issue of self-promotion for artists...how much is too much? When I got back from my last workshop, and posted some photos of it on Facebook, that seemed fine to me. Then I realized I should do the same thing on my Facebook "fan page" (since not everyone who is a "fan" is also a "friend.") Then, naturally I wrote about the workshop here on my blog, since it was a major event for me, and my blog readers are all over--many are not connected to me through Facebook. However, my blog appears on my Facebook page as a "note"...so if we count the photo of the class that I posted on my Facebook "wall" there were four items about the workshop that went out to all of my Facebook friends. Which was probably about three too many. At least I no longer "tweet" so Twitter followers were spared!

As anyone who has delved into social media knows, there are a great many places now to post information--for me, besides Facebook, my blog, and website, there are also a number of professional sites like Plaxo, and also artist information sites that request announcements of shows and workshops. It's all good, and I've been amazed at how information travels on the web. (In the past few weeks alone I've had emails from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Singapore--in both cases artists asking about my techniques.)

On the other hand, it can seem like a chore (and sometimes an uncomfortable one) to continually go on about myself and what I do. I've spent the past 30+ years in the Midwest, where there is a strong cultural taboo against "tooting your own horn" and I sometimes cringe to hear how casually I now do so. Yet I recognize the necessity for a professional artist to self-promote. We've all heard the saying, if you don't do it, who will?

Once you've been well-received by a gallery owner or workshop organizer, it's a lot easier to approach the next one...but in the beginning, self-promotion is a very daunting obstacle to overcome. It's not just sending around announcements and descriptions of what you do--it's having some confidence that this is news someone wants to hear. Many of us pick up the skills and avenues of self-promotion gradually as we go--for me there was never a huge hurdle to jump, just a series of small steps that get somewhat easier as time goes on. (Though now on the internet they seem to be multiplying at an alarming rate, and in sheer numbers are hard to keep up with.)

I still do find it tricky to know the right level of self-promotion for each situation, though, or to correctly sense whether it is appropriate at all. I'm most at ease with situations that come with unwritten rules or guidelines--for example, in making initial contact with a gallery or in giving a slide lecture, I know that talking about myself and my work is expected. That's true also for this blog--I figure that my regular readers must be interested in my work and my feelings about it if they are sticking around. From my own experience and from the comments of others, I know that an artist's successes, failures, insights, and experience provide valuable information for others on the same path.

There are definitely situations, though, in which speaking about what I do beyond just stating the facts is not well received. Talking about my work with any degree of emotion or enthusiasm can easily be heard as boasting--causing eye-rolling and a "who does she think she is??" reaction. Because these situations are not so well-defined, it's possible to stumble into them and to end up being quite embarrassed. I'm guessing that most artists have had these experiences, and try intuitively to avoid them. (It's interesting to note that many who offer business advice for artists advocate fairly relentless self-promotion--with strangers in all sorts of situations, as well as with acquaintances, friends and family...but I can't see it.)

The key to self-promotion seems to be, who wants to know and how much do they want to know? And the people who don't even know they want to know...can you second-guess them? There are lots of pitfalls, and the truth is that in the course of self-promotion (even if you follow well-accepted, appropriate channels) you will at some point be embarrassed, misunderstood, disrespected, and/or ignored. Accept that and the way is cleared to reap much more positive outcomes. I continue to have moments of discomfort, but the rewards of growing recognition and exposure make that all pretty much OK. I wonder what other artists reading this have to say on this topic? It seems to be on many people's minds, and there are no easy answers, only individual opinions and anecdotes.  ¶ 10:32 AM 4 comments links to this post