New Painting!

"The White Barn", 10 x 13 1/2, watercolor on paper

It felt like the time was right to paint this barn--stately with its red-centered tractor wheel and overgrown purple sage. This barn actually exists at Gospel Flats farm in Bolinas, California. It's a spot I've come back to for many of my paintings, as it's so rich with inspiration at every corner. Everything screams to be painted!

Kate's Updates: New Painting!

"Garden Party" watercolor on paper,  30 x 22

This took my a while, but I think I finally got it together! Another Nasturtium painting to follow in the footsteps of a previous, large Nasturtium painting I did earlier. 

Inspired by an overgrown garden, this time with the beautiful leaves of a Carex with the tenacious Nasturtium peeking through.

I'll be showing this piece at the Two Bird Café at the end of this month. I'll keep you posted!

Kate's Updates: New painting!

"Tools of the Trade" 15 x 16, watercolor on paper

The latest in my funky, West Marin-barn-farm-bucolic series. These implements were hung artfully on a barn door at Gospel Flat Farm in Bolinas, Marin County--the same locale that inspired my "Lucky Bobbers" painting. Once again, I used a lot of sepia, pthalo blue, prussian blue and my toothbrush (for rubbing away the color on the wood paneling).
I absolutely love this kind of tableau and I suspect I will find more such farm-funkiness this Spring and Summer as we begin another Art on the Farm year!

Kate's Updates: New painting!

Hung Out to Dry, watercolor on paper, 22 x 15

I just finished this painting today, and as usual, I'm not sure what to think of it! But I am very happy that it's done as this subject has been on my mind for a while.

These boots were hanging on an old barn door in a West Marin farm (Gospel Flats). This place was a treasure trove of funky, funny and odd juxtapositions of objects and animals, that every niche seemed to be filled with a would-be painting! What I love was the added touch of weirdness of the small, rusty scythe and the goat bell strewn with spider webs. For that I used the Zoltan Szabo technique of scraping a razor blade over the dry paper to make that spider web pop. I also used lots of dry brushing and toothbrush scraping to get that weathered look in the wood and the boot rubber.
Just a note: these boots were all actually a deep, army green, but I changed the palette a bit just to make it more interesting.

Kate's Updates: New painting -In-Progress

'Lucky Bobbers"  15 x 22, w/c on paper

Just finished last night! I'm not sure what to think; I think I like it, but it's a bit odd. I had a lot of fun painting it and it definitely gave me the confidence to try more complicated pieces in the very near future.

Kate's Updates: New painting -In-Progress

"Lucky Bobbers" in its latest phase.

As a land-lubber, I wasn't aware that what I was painting and so attracted to, were fishing bobbers--not lures! So, in this phase, I changed the working title to what I think will be more appropriate, if not final. The difficult thing for me here is trying to get the values working in the bobbers as well as making the bramble convincing as I have it climbing into the light. Much of the photo I worked from was not clear in this area! So, I resorted to the tried and true method of "faking it".
The painting as a whole still seems abstract and unclear, but I hope the final product will be intriguing, rather than confusing.

Kate's Updates: New painting -In-Progress

Old Fishing Lures, Part Two

This is the latest piece I'm working on, inspired by the watercolor show at the Marin Art & Garden Club.
The California Watercolor Association put on the 42nd show and it's brilliant: the pieces are a far cry from the usual flowers and pastels one normally associates with watercolor. The winning piece, Let Your Fingers Do the Walking, is painted on Yupo, a synthetic paper, utilizing collage (see first page of the Association's web page).
Unfortunately, the mask I used was a bit too old and it rubbed off the top layer of paper, making lifting and glazing a wee bit more difficult! I still have some mask on the uppermost painted lure, so we'll see what happens when I lift that out. This piece is fun but challenging with all the pieces and planning I am doing.

Kate's Updates! Art on the Farm News!

Art on the Farm in Bolinas, at the Bolinas Gallery, November 7 through the 30th

Opening and Reception:
Saturday, November 7th at the Bolinas Gallery, 52 Wharf Road.
Folks, this is a show not to be missed! 26 artists will be showing their work for the entire month of November. We are even selling prints, photography and greeting cards and if you come to the reception, you'll be able to chat and imbibe with the artists, all in the groovy town of Bolinas. Hours are 12 noon to 5 weekends, Friday, Saturday and Sunday .

Kate's Art: More "Flowers of Marin"

Another Flower of Marin! This time, the wild Lupine....

Lupine, 5 x 5, watercolor on clayboard, $80, framed

Yes, another little flower for my collection...this one was more difficult to do than I imagined, but I listened to Scottish music to help me along. I hope it grows on me! I wanted to do another, true wild flower of our fair county and I was bound and determined to do the lupine. If I do more of these, I'm sure another version will pop up of this wonderfully scented flower.

Kate's Art: More Chickens!

"Gospel Chickens"...newest watercolor for Art on the Farm!

"Gospel Chickens", 9" x 12", watercolor on clayboard, $300.00

I loved these chickens! There were globs of them everywhere---under apple and pear trees, inside coops, on top of coops, on their own chicken-sized mountain. They were fairly relaxed and were quite amenable to having their picture taken. They actually cooed.
It was a beautiful late afternoon at Gospel Flat Farm in Bolinas, and full of animals, plants, machinery and lovely laundry that I will paint next. (I love laundry pinned with clothespins or just draped over a line. I guess it's my love of John Singer Sargent...)

Kate's Art: More "Flowers of Marin"

This one, "Mallows", is from the little community garden in Point Reyes Station


"Mallows", 5" x 5", watercolor on clayboard, framed, $80.00.
Like most of my other "Flowers of Marin" paintings, a percentage of
the sale goes towards Marin Organic.

Kate's Art: Spring Calves in Olema

New Painting depicting some very happy calves along Hwy 1.

This is actually a very long piece--30" x 7". I had the urge to do something long and narrow and something with a lot of space. I always bring my camera along Hwy 1 because you never know what will be there.

Kate's Updates! New Watercolor

"California Quail", watercolor, 9 3/4" x 4 1/2"

My newest painting depicts the wonderful California Quail that I love so much. This little
gathering was busy pecking at the dry grasses at Mt Barnabe Farm. This painting is for the Art on the Farm charity: 1/2 of the sales of this painting goes towards Marin Organic.

Kate's Updates! Art on the Farm News!

Big party at Claudia Chapline's Gallery for Art on the Farm!
L to R: Alan Mart (founder of Art on the Farm), Claudia Chaplin, Chris Adessa, Christin Coy, and Richard Lindenberg.

Sunday, March 8th in downtown Stinson Beach was the date and the setting was the Claudia Chaplin Gallery. It was a lovely spring day and many of the participating artists from Art on the Farm were there to celebrate their auspicious 2009 Show!

Connie Smith Siegel & Chris Adessa, both contributing artists.

...artists, art and lots of wine and goodies...

A look at the first wall of the show.

My friend a fellow art-on-the- Farmer painter, Colleen Proppé. Her painting is directly above her.

My painting, "Peeking", and me in a Vanna White pose
(Yes, "Peeking" is for sale!)

Kate's Updates! New Show!

New show at Local Flora, Marin's "green" full-service florist!

I feel very honored to have my work showing at Local Flora, 100 Red Hill Ave., San Anselmo. My paintings look that much better surrounded by flowers and recycled wood! The show will be up through March. Please stop in and browse this wonderful, certified Organic flower store and check out the artwork, including a few new pieces!

Kate's Updates!

Flowers of West Marin. These little paintings (each 5" x 5") are meant to capture the fleeting but lustrous beauty of Marin's flowers. I really enjoyed not laboring over detail in these watercolor sketches, using as big a brush as I could get away with!
From top left, going clockwise: Nasturtiums, Roses, Milk Maids and Scabiosa.

"Peeking"...Newest Art on the Farm painting

Come see this painting and others at the Point Reyes Winery, featuring over 40 Plein Air painters of Art on the Farm! Wine, oysters and other goodies. 12:30 to 5pm