January 2, 2016 Werewolves of London

January 2, 2016

Today I have to finish the mixed media piece that I am taking to the gallery on Monday.  I stopped working on it at the beginning of December when I started getting ready for Christmas.  I thought that I would get back to it, but that did not happen with visitors and extra preparations.  So here I am, trying to complete the piece in two days.  Luckily it was about 2/3 done.  What is it?  I am illustrating the song that I wanted to include in my 60s show, Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London."  But it came out in 1978 so that excluded it from the 60s.  I am illustrating the first verse about going to Lee Ho Fook's Chinese restaurant.  Meise Fahsl told me that the name means Good Fortune.  It was probably great fortune to be mentioned in the song.  I imagine that fans want to go there.  I found a menu online from the restaurant which I printed and am collaging part of it in the werewolf's paw. 

I am also completing framing of The Springfield Alphabet which consists of 26 6-inch x 6-inch canvases.  I am entering it in the competition to be shown at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.  Entries are due on Monday.  I decided that there was no way that they would accept 26 separate canvases, so I am connecting them so that they can be hung from a single wire.  It is a job because the canvases have information on the sides and cannot be connected tightly.  I am leaving two inches between them.  It is an interesting problem.  I hope that it works.  I am also going to enter "The State of the Union" (rusty hat) which is also a problem.  I have to get it professionally photographed for the Incite book before taking it to the gallery.  Monday is going to be a busy day. 

January 1, 2016 Incite 4 and Cloth, Paper, Scissors blog

January 1, 2016

My artistic journey continues.  I had a wonderful surprise Christmas gift on December 25 when I opened my e-mail and discovered that the Cloth, Paper, Scissors blog/daily e-mail posting was about my piece, The Journey, which was published in Incite 3, The Art of Storytelling.  The online editor, Cherie Haas, called the posting " An Entire World of Possibilities" which is how I ended my story about the piece.  I was so excited that I smiled the rest of the night, even while asleep. 

Then, on December 30, I learned that two of my pieces will be included in Incite 4 which will be published in September 2016.  They accepted "The State of the Union" which is a 3D piece made up of rust.  It is a Lincolnesque top hat which I constructed from odd bits of rust.  I have collected rust for about 25 years, picking up interesting bits whenever I see them on the ground.  I knew that someday I would make something of them long before I became an artist.  I created this piece for the Backyard Sculpture Show at the Prairie Art Alliance in September 2014.  The premise was to create art from items found in the backyard (I used the wider sense of backyard to include all over the community).  It won Best in Show.  Then last January I entered it in the Chatham Library Art Show and it won Best in Show again.  So having it accepted into the Incite book for 2016 is like winning the Triple Crown.  I did have this piece for sale, but now think that it is definitely a keeper. 

The second piece accepted for Incite 4 is "Season of the Witch" which is the first piece that I made for my 60s show in October/November.  This piece was difficult to create because when I heard the Donovan song, a vision came into my head.  It was of a beautiful, strong woman wearing a grey hooded cape standing in a birch (or aspen) forest.  There were two white birches to her right.  She was a younger woman (about 40) and she had a definite presence.  I tried to create that vision on canvas.  NOPE.  It did not happen.  I tried, painted it out, tried again, painted it out again, and gave up on the vision.  So I let the art direct the scene.  Whenever I am lucky enough to turn the creation process over to the work itself, the piece is wonderful.  Instead of painting the face, I collaged a face from book pages.  She was old and not beautiful.  But she had a presence.  The forest became a thicket of twisted trunks and vines.  The old woman is carrying a basket (woven out of strips of book pages) which has a toad peering out.  The toad is also a collage from book pages.  The other animals in the scene are 7 ravens which are scattered throughout the scene.

My third wonderful bit of news is that the Chatham Library wants me to have a one-woman show there in June/July.  That is very exciting and a little daunting.  I have a lot of work to do in the next six months. 

October 25, 2015

October 25, 2015

My show has been up for a week with no additional sales.  I worked at the gallery last night and most of the people who came in prior to going to the play did not understand that I had illustrated 60s music and that the records would actually play a few seconds of the songs.  After I talked to them and demonstrated, they thought it was really fun.  I did sell a piece of art last night, but not from the featured artist show.  I sold an embellished print that I made of my church, Blessed Sacrament, to a parishioner. 

I have had 3 people tell me that they did not understand the angel with the upset woman in Bridge Over Troubled Water.  They thought the bridge was a physical iron bridge.  I see it as faith being the bridge that secures peace.  They said that after I explained, it made sense.  Most people really like Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show.  I am surprised that it has not sold.  But I like it too and would not mind keeping it. 

Even though the rush of getting the show ready is over, I am still creating.  I finished two frog canvases (collage) for the silent auction for Dancing with the Stars.  One is the wife who is cooking a skillet of flies and the other is her husband who is reading the paper.  I also painted a young Lincoln painting for a local cover contest.  And I am currently working on painting a scene from the Alaska trip that I made 14 months ago.  I took a lot of good pictures on that trip and many would make good paintings.

I am going to concentrate on entering art contests and finding new ways to get my art out since it seems likely that the Prairie Art Alliance will not continue for long.  I may start selling art instead of just cards in my Etsy shop.  But that is a long shot.  It would be nice to have another gallery.  I was in Jacksonville at the Eclectic and in Peoria at the Main Statement, but both are closed.  Art galleries are not faring well in the current economic climate—at least in central Illinois where we don’t know if the state will stay open much longer.

October 19, 2015

Thanks to everyone who came to the opening on Saturday.

Kathy and Hurdy Gurdy Man     

Kathy and Season of the Witch plus 3D pieces.

 

  I certainly appreciate your participation and kind words. The show is up until December 3. Six pieces are sold, but there are still lots of nice ones available.  I hope that you get to come in if you have not already done so.  The gallery is open on Tuesday through Saturday from noon until 7 p.m.

October 17, 2015

October 17, 2015

OPENING NIGHT!!  Yes, I have been using Facebook (and my Blog) to try to build interest in this show.  Many of you have been kind enough to say that I have accomplished this.  I hope to see many of you tonight.  I hope that others can come to the gallery between now and December 3.  For those of you who live far away, I have posted my 60s series on my web site.  You can see it at katherinepippinpauley.com   Click on the 60s series.  There are 6 pages which you can view as a slideshow, although that goes too fast to be able to read and view.  You can also click for a larger image.  Thank you all for bearing with my artistic ramblings over the past month.  I appreciate your support. 

October 16, 2015

October 16, 2015

The opening is tomorrow.  Openings are exciting events.  Friends and family come to see your body of work and, hopefully, appreciate it.  Creating art is a very private thing.  Yet we put it out on view for anyone to criticize or ridicule.  At my very first show in 2007 I felt as though I had put my soul out for everyone to see.  It was so emotional that I could not help tearing up when I was asked to speak.  Now I have more experience and have had many more shows.  But it is still a time that causes a little bit of fear.  Will people like it?  Will they understand my vision?  Will they appreciate my sense of humor? Will anything sell?  Buying art is the best validation that you can give to an artist.  I have come to realize that after several years of trying to be an artist.  I try to buy as much art as I can because I like it, but also because I want to help them continue to create.  We all need to create and we all need to feel accepted.   

October 15, 2015

October 15, 2015

Psychedelic imagery is a big part of 60s art.  It was on posters and record album covers; it covered the walls of many bedrooms and dorm rooms.  I had put small touches of the psychedelic in some of my work (the large collaged flowers in ‘White Rabbit’, the line of bright symbols under the kaleidoscope eyes in ‘Lucy in the Sky’).  But I decided at the last minute that I should have a really unmistakable psychedelic image in the show.  The perfect song for this piece was ‘The Magic Bus’ by the Who.  Most of my work for this show uses bright colors, but this piece is so bright that you may need your sunglasses! 

Today the State Journal-Register ran the interview about the show in the Arts and Entertainment Section.  I want to thank Carla Jimenez for taking the time to interview us and writing about our show. Her article is on page 3A in today’s entertainment section.  It is called “Retrospective art show starts at Hoogland” and shows a photo of my Hurdy Gurdy Man and one of Linda’s lovely boxes (a picture of her heron is on 7A).  If you are in town, save me a copy, if you are out of town, here is the URL to see the article:   http://www.sj-r.com/article/20151014/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/151019878