Going To The Birds

"Gull-Up Close & Personal"    Casein on board        6 x 6"     copyright 2011

For three days I have been trying to write my blog post since Irene pushed her way into our lives. Every time I have lost it to cyberspace. All this also done while trying to cope with Irene's mess littering the landscape and dealing with the farm daily chores. I have not had very good luck trying to find studio time. And an Oct 7th two-person art show opening at Gallery B in Lexington is breathing down my neck...I am one of the two!!!..so I must persevere. I can do it!!!

I have managed to finish three bird themed small gems. They are available on my website.

"Crow # 1"   Casein on board  6 x 6"    copyright 2011

"Crow #2"   Casein on board   6 x 6"  copyright 2011

I am in the studio.....and to work!!! 

Summer-Enjoying It While It Lasts

Nellie likes the cool shade and grass. copyight 2011 Kathi Peters.com

The weather has been summer like.Warm with humidity in the air, with cooler nights where the fan is needed for sleeping.Our gardens are growing like Topsy ...flowers reaching for the skies and zucchini popping up overnight. Red tomatoes line the kitchen windowsill and bounty fills our plates. Nellie enjoys lazy afternoon in the shade of the arbor,laying on the cool ground blanketed with soft grass. This winter when the winds howl we will relish memories of the too short summer.

The scent of roses fills the air.   copyright 2011 kathipeters.com



My days are mostly spent in my cool basement studio.I work at my easel or drawing board,as I watch life go by in my back gardens. Some days I can leave the studio door open,hear the birds songs and the chipmunks chatter as they pursue their daily activities in the gardens. Nell lays in the doorway, catching a breeze and wishing she could catch a chipmunk.

I have been working on the second painting I started at Equidae Gallery in Saratoga Springs, New York, in the beginning of the month. This demonstration painting on canvas [on board ]started as a casein, is becoming an oil pastel, but a nocturnal scene this time and it is almost done. But today I am backing away from it, to return later with a 'new eye' to finish it. Today I am working on three 6 x 6"  caseins .....not of horses...but of crows and a seagull.
Nell sleeps at the studio door.

Finished and Signed!!



"At Rest"       Mixed Media    12 x 12"  copyright 2011/Kathi Peters

The first demo painting is actually done. Ready to go...!! It will be up on my website.I started with casein and ended up with casein and oil pastels. I am in love with the mix and plan on doing the second demo painting the same mix! Stay tuned!

Demo Painting Continued

The Saratoga demo starts
.

Terry Lindsey, of Equidae Gallery, invited me to do a demonstration of how I work in Casein paint and to tell about this much misunderstood milk based water medium. I hope I was able to dispel some fear that folks have about Casein, a paint medium that lost artists' interest when acrylic came into being. I have worked in acrylic, sometimes mixing Casein with acrylic in my mixed media works...but for the most part Casein is my favourite medium, and the majority of works done by me, and collected by collectors of my work, is done in casein...pure and simple. Casein, a clean milk based water–soluble medium requires no strong solvents. Because of that, I am comfortable using it in my home based studio. And because it dries quickly to a velvety, matte finish and over time, it becomes resistant to moisture,  it is possible to lay on a glaze and move onto the next stage within a few hours instead of waiting for days,like I do with my oil paints....or even watercolor. Did I say I like Casein?

I explained how I work in Oil on copper versus Casein on canvas.




Demo #1

All most done...or done? I need to put it against the wall for a bit,then look again!

This shows a bit how one of the caseins progressed. I turned it into an oil pastel painting when I got home. I don't know why. Maybe just because I could. I think it is done now. I will know that it is in a few days....after looking at it a while.Or NOT looking at it for a while!!

In the mean time my sunflowers are growing!!!

copyright 2011 Kathi Peters

Back From Saratoga & Back To Work

At the race track...

It seems that time just flew by. Last week was taken up with packing, getting the farm sitters introduced to our daily routine and then the drive to Saratoga Springs. And now here we are back home,getting our life back on track with the art show and the excitement of the racetrack behind us.

My work hanging at Equidae Gallery,in the Holiday Inn in Saratoga Springs,NY.

It was nice to get "off the farm" and to see new places, horses galore at the track,and wonderful art work in Saratoga galleries....but now I am back in my studio, working on the two paintings I started in my casein painting demonstration that I did for Equidae Gallery  in Saratoga.One of the paintings is turning into a mixed media piece....I have gone into it with my Sennelier oil pastels and am liking it!

The gardens grew while we were gone....the grass grew.....the weeds grew. We have our work cut out for us,so to speak, when the rain has stopped. But for now, I am painting away making up for lost time. A gallery is asking for new work for an October show! So it's back to the drawing board!

A new casein turned mixed media ....in progress!!