Now bring on the snow....
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| "Magic Sands Beach" Kona, Hawai, 8-26-12 |
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| Hawaii trip 8-2012 |
Summer, friggin busy summer
So let's see ...what has happened since summer? Well you all know I did the Farmers Market to earn some vacation cash. Can't say that it was a great fiscal move(I broke even) but it sure was fun and I got to hang with my cousin Lori. Hawaii was and absolute BLAST!!!! A once in lifetime trip!Since summer, I have decided to pare down my activities to focus mainly on painting and art. I have too...this summer just wore me out! I completed a commission, repaired the commission (shipping didn't treat it so well), went to Hawaii, worked on a magazine article, came back to find out commission again didn't fare well in transit(that whole things just stressed me out and made me sick inside), contacted a great friend in California who was willing to repair the painting, made oodles of hot sauce and salsa from all my garden bounty and have been drying all the peppers and just completed another portrait and now moving onto oils.... sigh...I'm TIRED!!!
As for the condition of commissioned painting, as of yet, my customer has still not contacted my friend Tim who was willing to pick the painting up, repair it and deliver it free of charge to customer. So this whole thing has left me a bit sour and I have decided to take on no more commissioned work as a result. This whole thing just makes me upset but I know I did everything I could possibly do to right the situation. Perhaps I'll change my mind about commissions, because we all have things that go awry now and again however I'll have to let some time settle between now and that decision...
My magazine cover and article
Before I left for my vacation, I was in the middle of doing an interview with my friend Marissa Oosterlee from Holland. We did the interview over Skype, then firmed up and edited the article while I was on vacation. Man technology is great or what???So I am 'officially' published now (save for some newspaper articles and gallery promos) and I am quite thrilled!!
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| I am featured artist in Issue 39 of Airbrush Technique Magazine |
I mainly just like to 'create' things and I don't make much money at. Nursing is my main gig. The latter affords me the ability to paint what I want versus what others want me to paint for them.
When you paint what you want, your personality rings through clearly and people learn to see you from the inside out ward. You enjoy the subject matter more and so its almost effortless and joyful while your creating each piece.
I do take many of my paintings to my little local gallery, The Kingsbury House Gallery in Howe, IN. I am slowly starting to sell my work but things are starting to pick up a bit and that just thrills me!!
Its a bit of pocket change and that's a nice feeling! :)
a heartfelt memorial tribute...
Most know that I am a nurse and that's something that I feel I am 'meant' to do.
In a small office like ours, you really develop strong bonds with your patients and many times, you have entire families that you see. One such family was that of a husband and wife who had been married for 50+ years(I think 52). They had just went to a family wedding where they danced...
During that dance 'Bo' had told his wife how much he loved her and then proceeded to hug her and kiss her. She recalled that "It was so out of character for him" to show such public displays of affection but he did and his wife was so happy that day!
When they went back to the table to sit down, 'Bo' suffered a massive stroke. He was hospitalized where he had several more strokes and subsequently passed away. They both were/are very close to all of us.
His wife came in 2 weeks after he passed away and I sat down and counseled her. She told me this story while shedding many tears though intermittently smiling and laughing as she recalled 'Bo'.
She asked me if I thought he knew he was about to pass away because of how he acted during the dance... I said 'no, but I think 'someone' gave him a gentle shove and left you with an extremely wonderful gift!'
It was at that point if asked her if I could paint him for her, to kind of give him back to her in my own way. That gave her something to look forward to(which was my intent). She spent much time finding just the right photos to give me. One photo was an older one and one was from the wedding, taken right before they danced.
It was a challenge because the photos I had, two were not great but 'enough'. They were two 3x5" images that were taken at a distance. I had no way of scanning them (my old scanner was no longer compatible with my new computer) so my good buddy Tom gave me some advice and upon his goading, I purchased the large format Mustek scanner he told me about. It is working out very well for me!
I did a 'Frankenstein' maneuver with photo editing software and came up with a composite from both images. It was a challenge and a learning process.
I completed the painting yesterday and I am pretty pleased...although it's not photo realism, it's a very, very nice painting and that's about as good as I could get with what I had... Here is Bo!
If you would like to see a step by step completion of this project, you can do so by visiting my Facebook page, The Art of Kathy Leib.
There you can look in my album titled 'Bo' and you can see the photos I had and the composite I ended up working from. I also show in progress images so you can literally watch him come back to life!
My new friend Harry Kirkpatrick drove down from Chicago and spent that first day with me when I started this painting. All in all, this whole process has been challenging and a blessing as well. :)
next projects and things to come...
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| My first full oil painting from life |
I always like to continually grow and challenge myself artistically so I have taken up oil painting as well. I have always wanted to try my hand at oils but had been too afraid of them. I tried once years ago and wound up with mud but after much studying and growing as an artist. I took the leap.
Many of my friends have seen my EPIC painting I have been working on for 2 years now, The Spanish Market. My friend Stuart Hughes finally convinced me to layer oils over acrylics and that's what I have done.
This tank of a painting has been such a behemoth to complete however its a labor of love and one I am extremely PROUD of!
I am still in the process of correcting colors, values and layering oil glazes on top of the acrylic under-painting. Its been an extremely long process with many art interruptions in between.
So now my plan is to work on the still life painting during days with good adequate natural light, which equates to about 2.5 working hours a day on studio days which is just 3 days per week AND work to complete this massive monster during the other hours in the day... I hope to complete this by January. Thats the new goal!
Things to come......ART CLASSES!!!
In January/February 2013 I'm going to start heading up some local art classes, one night per week at the studio. Each session will be roughly 3-4 hours and I'll charge a modest hourly rate. We'll focus on drawing and painting skills, use of color and the necessity of correct value. I am going to JAM PACK the knowledge in!
In December, I'll start advertising. I had no intentions of ever doing anything like this but had entertained the though in my head with a couple other friends(one a professional illustrator and the other a dynamic sculpture). My new friend Rob Smead was the one who got to ball rolling hoping to get a group of painters together in order to learn, improve... Cyndi Marks, my old high-school art teacher thought of me and linked me with him. Funny part is, Rob works with my husband!!! Small world!
So, I am going to put together a lesson plan, just the core basics and we'll have a project to work on, something simple... Not quite sure what to call the class...was thinking "Paint that POP!...How to get your painting to POP with life!" I dunno...just tossing things around...
Thank God snow is around the corner because now I FINALLY have time again to work all things art!!!
Okay...THAT was a long winded catch up to what's been going on and now my hand is a claw and I need more coffee!!!
On that note...I hope you all have a wonderful week!!
Kath
