Spring Has Sprung..... With A New Painting

 

"Chestnuts Two"  , casein ,  12 x 12"  ©2015  www.kathipeters.com

 

 

I have been in the studio a lot of late. I have been drawing and working a lot on tonal sketches. I feel I always need to be learning, and stretching my art.  I have also been stretching my hours in my day, as I work in the studio, the gardens, the barn and the house. And stretching my back , pulling weeds and raking the perennial garden as it awakens from its winter slumber.  I sleep well at night!

 

Spring is finally here in our part of the woods, and I have just finished a spring like painting of two chestnut horses in their field in its light spring colors before the green appears. They are busy horses foraging for any tiny blades of grass that might be poking through the warming ground. "Chestnuts Two " is a 12 x 12" casein on board. I have put it up on my website now.

 

If you haven't gone yet to see the River Art Gallery's latest exhibit I suggest that you head on down/over there and see "The Natural World". The show is wonderful with works from Maine artists from all over the state. I am one of the artists juried into the show. You won't be disappointed.  My painting "Ripe Arbor Grapes " is hanging there for your viewing pleasure. It looks much better in real life than the internet can display!!

 

 

"Ripe Arbor Grapes" . oil on copper panel , 12x12" 

 

In the meantime I will paint!

Back At The Old Farm, Old Memories, New Magazine Interview AND New Painting

 The family's stone farmhouse. 

With good intentions I have been promising to be better on posting my blog. And for lack of a really good excuse I keep putting it off. But we were away on a mini vacation where we attended a family wedding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a detour to Brandywine country to Chadds Ford and the Brandywine Art Museum to see the current retrospective art show of Jamie Wyeth and a look see at Gettysburg’s battle fields and old barns. We also went to the old village of Harmony to see my family’s old homes and gravestones. Lots of old memories relived.  I admit that it also was an epicurean trip too, with much good food and fine wines and local brews to fortify us all throughout. The downside of the trip is that we came home with the flu, and now through the worst, we are still recuperating. Time lost.

Brandywine River Museum Of Art

Upon arriving home to Cob Cottage, I received the good news that my interview with Equestrian Culture magazine was on line and available for folks to read and see a lovely display of some of my work. I think they did a bang-up job of layout ….. and it pleased me no end to see my work beside, and compared to, my creative heroes, Lucy Kemp Welch, Sorolla and Munnings! Hope you can take a look at the article and I would love to get your feedback on it and my work. Thank you Equestrian Culture !!

I guess the only painting I have finished since my last blog post is a 12 x 9” casein on paper, titled “Inspiration”. I was playing with loose and suggested movement in this small painting. I think I nailed it. It is available on my website.

 "Inspiration"  , casein  12 x 9" ©2015 www.kathipeters.com

I am back….. back working in the studio, finally! I am working on a 16 x 16” Maine landscape…… I have so many paintings that need doing………..and all before the gardens awaken from their long [too long] winter nap. And then carriage driving begins again. Ah………..I love spring!!!! 

So You Want To Paint With Casein? My Latest Painting

" The Big Boys"  casein on claybord , 16 x 16' ©2015 www.kathipeters.com

I have been so often asked how to paint in casein. It is hard for me to explain how I love working in a media that so many find difficult to use. I have been working in casein since I started using it , along with tempera , years ago while living in Italy. I love tempera, but I am in love with casein and always have been. Both are opaque paints , casein a milk based paint.....and tempera an egg based paint. Both paints smell. But I love the smell of the casein emulsion......and the way it is works, for the way I paint. I work in small spirts of studio time. I work with glazes a lot, and can paint a layer  and let it dry and then come back and add another glaze, with the length of time left between glazes dictating how much of the previous layers will effect the newest layer.  I have done some workshops on to paint with casein....but my feeling is that if you are interested in a medium......then read all you can about it. Get some of it  and experiment with it.

I just finished the above casein painting of two handsome draft driving horses. The pair were working up at Acadia's Wildwood Stables last summer and are another in my works depicting the handsome horses pulling the carriages along the carriage roads of Acadia National Park. This painting is available on my website.

Mother Nature has be teasing us with some spring like weather. It felt so good after months [it seems] of being in the cold hard grasp of  winter and too much snow. Our snow is melting. There is hope.

Until it is gardening weather I will paint!