peony petals finished

untitled 'petals', coloured pencil on Stonehenge, 22.5" x 6.5"

While the piece still doesn't have a title, it is for the most part done. I will no doubt go back in and tweak some values before it is framed. Maybe I'll call it Peony Clouds - it reminds me a bit of how clouds look from an airplane! :-) While a peony was my inspiration, I deviated from reality by making the petals a lot more multicoloured and by stylizing the various veins and shapes. I have included a more detailed shot of a section of the piece below.

I won't be in the studio this week because I am heading off to California! I am attending the Coloured Pencil Society of America's convention. I shall also be able to see the CPSA exhibition. Woo-hoo!! The CPSA's 18th Annual International Exhibition is now open for viewing at the Art Museum of Los Gatos. If you are visiting the San Francisco area this summer do take the opportunity to visit this incredible exhibition - all of the work juried into the show has been executed exclusively in coloured pencil!

Now I must confess that two of the aspects of being an artist that I truly love are the quiet and solitude that this lifestyle affords. So...traveling across the USA and spending time in crowded airports is for me an experience right up there with dental surgery!

Ah, but I am looking forward to seeing the exhibition. (Seeing the art submitted for the silent auction is like seeing a second cp exhibition!) And as I discovered at last year's convention in Atlanta, coloured pencil artists are definitely some of the nicest people you could ever know! I am also excited to be attending a workshop on Thursday. The instructor for the workshop is Ester Roi, the inventor of the Icarus Drawing Board. Ester shall be sharing her techniques in working with waxed based media and heat. Ester's work is amazing and I look forward to experimenting with this new way of working. So California, here I come! :-)

Ah, but how could I leave this little guy? He is our three month old bundle of goat cuteness. Fortunately, all of the critters with fur, hoofs and feathers shall be in the capable care of my husband. Guess he will be glad to see me return! :-)

'Petals' wip, farm life pics

Untitled WIP, part of 'petals' series, cps on Stonehenge, 22.5" x 6.5"

copyright Teresa Mallen

Here is what is currently on my drafting table. This photo was taken last week and the piece is further along now. Actually it is almost finished so I shall be able to post the final image next week.

After having finishing a couple of large abstract-ish pieces on sanded pastel paper, I wanted a change. I have been busy in the studio these many weeks (since my last post) exploring and messing about. I did some acrylic paintings, just small studies really and a bit of mixed media work. I didn't end up with anything I wanted to reveal as works in progress. I was just stretching myself in new directions for a wee bit. I am the first to admit that painting with acrylics is not my forte but I do enjoy giving it a go. The enjoyment is very brief and in no time I am disappointed with my results and frustrated with the medium. I am always delighted to return to my cps!

Once I was back using coloured pencils, I started working on a painting inspired by the Solomon's Seal that was blooming in my garden. I was working small, something like 8 x 10 inches, on Colourfix paper. Once I got into the piece, I started to regret my choice of surface as well as the colour of the paper. I knew it was time to switch to white paper and one with a lot less tooth. So the Solomon's Seal piece was set aside. I might rework it another day...

My current 'petals' piece will end up becoming part of a series that I started last year featuring peony petals. For those of you who are familiar with my work, you might have noticed my return to one of my favourite formats, a juicy, long horizontal - 22.5 inches x 6.5 inches. Working on the white surface is allowing me to play with soft colour blending, something I so enjoy with the cp medium. I am really enjoying working on this piece!

When not in the studio, I have been very busy outdoors. Remember those 600 seedlings I started indoors in the winter months? Well, I got all of them planted as well as some veggies direct from seed. Here is a partial shot of my vegetable garden taken a few weeks ago. The plants have grown quite a bit since then. To give you an idea of size, I would guess that the garden is about 80 feet by 80 feet. We started this garden from scratch when we moved here and like my art it also is a work in progress. I hope to increase the size of it next year as there were veggies I wanted to plant that I just didn't have room for. We have an electric fence up to keep the deer out. We now have deer here everyday. One is a mom with twin fawns. They are so cute it is hard to get angry at mom's nightly munching in the flower beds.

I reported in my last post that baby chicks were coming. Here is a shot of them on the day they arrived.


Here is a pretty baby hen at three weeks. She now had some new feathers replacing her down.


Here is a picture of some of the chickens at 8 weeks. They are 10 weeks old now and are bigger than they are here. They are an absolute delight...okay their poop is stinky but once the bedding from their chicken house has been composted, it will make great fertilizer for the garden, so it is all good! :-)

The arrival of my two dairy goats was quite eventful! I grew up on a dairy farm and while our herd of cows was milked by machine, I did see both my mom and dad milk by hand many times. I have learned that milking by hand is quite a skill and it looks easier than it actually is. Getting milk out isn't too difficult but landing it in the pail is more of a challenge and gosh until your hands and arms develop all of the right muscles, hand cramps happen. Here I am milking Veesa.

And here is what it all comes down to, milk hitting the pail!

Here is my girl Rainah, giving her head a good rub. Rainah is a purebred Alpine. Her breed originates from the French alps and she has the breed's characteristic two toned markings.

I was surprised to find that my domestic goats like to rear up and butt heads like wild goats do. Here Rainah has jumped up onto higher ground to give her a bit of an advantage. Veesa is bigger though and could really clean her clock as it were if she chose to. Rainah reminds me of a little sister bugging her older sister. She starts all of the skirmishes. Veesa is a purebred Saanen and her breed is all white and orginates in the Swiss alps. Both of these girls had kids this spring (which is of course how I can milk them). Well, my gals were pining for their kiddies so I ended up returning them to the breeder to be with the kids. My husband and I are making some changes to the set up of our barn and we are doing some more fencing in the pasture. The girls will be back here in about two weeks and this time we shall be bringing their kids here too!

What with putting in the garden and learning how to make cheese (goat milk is awesome stuff - from yogurt to cottage cheese, to ice cream, mozzarella, ricotta, fresh chevre, on and on it goes) things in my half of our home office got out of control. That mess took some work. You might notice a painting on my desk. Well, it would seem that somehow, while we were framing all sorts of paintings for my studio tour last fall, we missed scanning this one. My husband and I both 'remember' seeing a scan but darned if we can find it in any file, on any computer. So...it had to be taken apart.

Taking apart a painting is a sad business. It is so much work to frame one that it seems a crime to have to undo all of that effort.

While I was at it, I took apart Neptune's Leaves too. It had been framed with glass last fall and I needed to frame it in acrylic so it could be shipped to California for the CPSA exhibition.

The backing paper is adhered using double sided tape. It is sticky stuff and not easy to remove fully. While new tape eventually ends up getting put down, I do try to remove as much of the residue as I can so that the fresh paper will lie down very smoothly.

I have also been up to my chair restoration fun. Some of you may recall the old chairs that I found in the attic of my parents' house. Here are two more that I am just getting around to dealing with. The rose one had just been washed (the dried old pigeon poop came off easily) and I ripped off the fabric from the other chair. At one time the back must have contained some homemade stuffing. I have refinished the wood work and the rose chair is now in my studio where it sits next to its mate (a green one that I refinished last year). I have found a place in a town near here where I can purchase a kit that contains everything I need to weave a new seat to mend the chair on the left. The chair is in excellent condition otherwise and once it has a new seat installed it shall be quite a wonderful addition to my collection. Of course finding spots for them in the house is another issue but goodness, they just couldn't go off to the landfill! :-)

What else has been going on? Well, I stained a deck table and two Adirondack chairs.

Major trimming of old lilac trees has taken place, rhubarb pies have been baked, and woo-hoo my raspberry bushes are producing well. The former owner had left a small wild patch in the corner of the rear yard. Raspberry bushes spread quickly if left alone to do their thing so after moving in, I have left them alone and let them spread. Yum, yum.

Humm...my computer crashed and had to go off and get fixed. That was fun. Not.

Oh and I spent an afternoon in the USA this week. Some of you might know of my troubles last year getting my art to the CPSA exhibition in Atlanta. My shipment was delayed by US customs because of a mistake (theirs not mine) and it took some major expediting on my part to get my parcel released. This year, I did up my customs papers (stuff like NAFTA free trade declarations of original goods paperwork and Homeland Security forms) and I went across the border myself, clearing my package with the customs people in person. I traveled to the town of Ogdensburg (just across the border in upper New York State) and I shipped my parcel from there. It is on the way to California as I type. It has to arrive there next week and it shall. Whew!

Finally, while my chickens and goats are wonderful, I would be lost without Mr. Top Dog! Here is my fella with a 'find' on one of our local wilderness hikes - part of a deer leg. Oh doggie joy. Of course some other creature got the good stuff off of it but my guy proudly walked around with the leg for a while before hiding it in a clump of large juniper bushes. We returned there the following week and he fished it out for some more prancing.

Animals always remind me of the happiness found in simple pleasures. Whether it is my chickens clucking with delight at an unexpected treat of leftover rice, or my goats fighting over nacho chips or my dog living out his predator dreams, they bear witness to the truth that if we really embrace living in the present moment, enjoying the small gifts of each day, we can often find the pleasure and joy we seek. I hope you have all had a wonderful late spring and early summer. Anyone else been experiencing this heatwave? :-)

CPSA acceptance, signature status

Neptune's Leaves, Coloured Pencil on Colourfix Paper, 21 1/2"w x 16 1/2"h

Copyright Teresa Mallen

I am delighted to announce that Neptune's Leaves has been juried into the CPSA's 2010 International Exhibition. With this acceptance, I have earned my CPSA signature status! Of course my art has to actually hang in the show in order to fulfill the organization's requirements - acceptance isn't enough. Some of you might remember how last year my painting almost missed the shipping deadline because it was being held by customs officials. Yes, lightning does strike twice, but not real often, right?

The Colored Pencil Society of America's 18th Annual International Exhibition will take place at the Art Museum of Los Gatos California from July 22 until August 20th, 2010. For complete details and a list of the accepted artists, visit the CPSA website.

Congratulations to all of the other artists whose work has been juried into this prestigious coloured pencil exhibition!

And if this news wasn't exciting enough, I just made arrangements this morning to purchase two dairy goats. I shall be adding milk maid to my resume by the end of the week! Here is my husband with one of our ladies...oh and my flock of 25 day-old chicks arrives on Wednesday. Art, chickens and goats - life is very very good!

back from the CPSA convention

Here is a picture of my home away from home last week while I attended the Colored Pencil Society of America's annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The meetings and workshops were held at this beautiful Marriott hotel in Duluth. Everything about the exhibition and the convention experience was fantastic and more than I could have hoped for. The art world may be filled with lots of big egos and arrogant attitudes but not when it comes to coloured pencil folks. All the people I met were friendly, kind and welcoming. What a joy to experience! Oh and they just happen to create incredible art too!!

This picture of the hospitality suite shows some of the works of art donated by CPSA members for a silent auction fund raiser. Seated at the table are Cindy Haase (CPSA Membership Director) and Gemma Gylling (CPSA Convention Director). Thanks Cindy for the impromptu tutorial in all things Twitter!

Here is another shot of some of the silent auction art. I fortunately found a time when this room wasn't busy. On the first evening when everyone got together for a meet and greet it was so crowded you could hardly see the tables.

The picture above is a portion of the goodies table. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars of free stuff is donated by various sponsors. The goodies were later bagged up and given out during a CPSA members meeting. I even managed to snag some loot!

While at the convention I took the opportunity to attend a workshop with Pat Averill. Pat is a very talented cp artist who received her fifteen year merit award this year. That means she has been juried into the CPSA annual exhibition 15 times!! Most impressive.

Pat's workshop was all about rendering water - standing water, waves, foam patterns, reflections, rocks with spilling water and wet sand. Pat is a fabulous landscape artist. What she is creating from her fascination with water is equally wonderful. As an instructor, Pat was very well prepared. We enjoyed oodles of beautiful ocean pictures as Pat shared with us many of her best water photographs in a large screen presentation. There were four exercises to complete and the day flew by. I was most interested by Pat's use of Paraffin wax and crayons in her cp art. I think this info will be very helpful when I consider creating something for the CPSA mixed media exhibition.

The picture below shows part of our workshop room as we regrouped following lunch. I believe there were about 40 people attending this session. I so enjoyed meeting Pat. Like everyone, she was so friendly and welcoming to this new convention attendee. Pat even joined me for breakfast one morning. Unfortunately we just didn't have long enough to chat. If you ever have a chance to study with Pat, I encourage you to do so. She is a wonderful, talented person.

Remember my Newsletter issue of November 2008? I featured Ester Roi's heated drawing board in that issue and I also mentioned the release of a smaller board in my March 2009 Newsletter. Well here is Ester and her husband Mario. I actually had a chance to watch Ester demonstrate how one could work on her heated board. It was thrilling to watch her work her magic. I love Ester's work. The techniques she has developed while working on this surface are worth exploring. Do check out her website - Ester has lots of step by step info and she is using more than just coloured pencils on her board - do go see. I am sure you will be inspired.

Perhaps you are sensing a theme here, but gosh, if Ester and her husband aren't just the nicest people you would ever meet anywhere. Absolutely delightful. Ester, Mario and I hooked up after the awards banquet for a good long chat. It was like we had known each other for years.

Here is a picture of myself and Ester just before the awards banquet.

I took lots of photos at the awards banquet but I will post just this one. This is a picture of the incredibly talented Jeff George receiving the top honours of the night, the CIPPY Award and CPSA Best of Show. The woman at the podium is CPSA President Kay Schmidt. Congratulations Jeff. Jeff is just the nicest man you will ever meet and I really enjoyed a conversation I had with him. I know that Jeff has achieved his level of success because of his determined work ethic. Jeff has a day job and all of the responsibilities the rest of us has. Despite this, for years now he has made it a point to work at his art everyday - even when that means setting the alarm at an incredibly early hour in order to squeeze some time in. Such determination and dedication to his craft has definitely paid off. The vast majority of successful people are successful because of good old fashioned hard work. May Jeff's fabulous art inspire all of us to work that much harder on our own creations!

If you would like to see a complete list of all of the award winners, visit the CPSA website. Also, please note that a DVD of the entire exhibition can be purchased from the CPSA! If you can't get to the exhibition in person, it is a great way to see the show. I was at the show and I bought one so I could remember it!

Before moving on from the awards banquet, I would like to congratulate Holly Bedrosian on winning an Award for Outstanding Achievement. I watched her piece unfold on her blog and it was a treat to see it in person. I had the privilege of sitting next to Holly and her husband at the banquet. I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet Holly in person. And yes, she is as beautiful in person as she is in all of those self portraits!

During convention week, there was a special reception at the gallery for all of the artists. Here is a picture of the Jacqueline C. Hudgens Center for the Arts, Duluth Georgia.

This next photo shows the entrance into one of the main exhibition rooms. Holly's self portrait is on the left.

Another gallery room....

Another gallery room, and woo-hoo I see a chunk of chard!

Now here is one of my favourite photos. This is none other than the incredible Linda Lucas Hardy posing with her amazing art. Congratulations to Linda on winning the Award for Outstanding Recognition. It was very well deserved. I have long admired Linda's work and getting to see this piece as well as her silent auction entry was a real thrill. Linda is truly one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She has such a warm personality, she is funny, intelligent and gosh who wouldn't love that Texas accent? It was an honour to meet Linda and to become new friends. Linda has a blog with convention photos and she even has said hi to me in a post! How cool is that? Didn't I say these folks were wonderful?

Well hey, here is proof that my Swiss Chard Mosaic actually made it there and is on the wall still...sorry for the reflections...

More gallery photos...

Another gallery wall...

Finding room for the 120 paintings wasn't easy for the gallery.

That's it for now. (Next time I shall share some of the ideas that came out of the Mock Jury Workshop I attended). It was a tremendous exhibition and I am honoured to have been accepted both last year and this year. I had such a wonderful time, met such wonderful people and saw such fabulous art. I am sure I shall attend another convention in future! I highly recommend the experience. All of those pictures and not one with a lampshade...humm...did she or didn't she? Ahh, that stays in Atlanta!

Colored Pencil Society of America Exhibition Acceptance!

'Swiss Chard Mosaic', 17"w x 7"h, Coloured Pencil on Colourfix Paper

Copyright Teresa Mallen

Well a big woo hoo and huge yippee! My funky chunk of chard has been juried into the Colored Pencil Society of America's 17th Annual Internation Exhibition in Atlanta 2009!!!!

I am delighted and honoured to have my work chosen and to be in the company of such esteemed and talented cp artists. To read the names of all of the accepted artists, visit the CPSA website.

Now I just have to get my 'Swiss Chard Mosaic' framed with acrylic and then I need to purchase some deluxe packaging. This piece will be exhibited at the Jacqueline C. Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth Georgia from July 9th until August 29th, 2009. The CPSA holds an annual convention one week during the exhibition and I have signed up for workshops, the awards banquet, etc. I have my hotel booked and my passport is ready. I have been a busy gal since I found out about my acceptance! Some of you may remember that last year I was all set to go to Seattle for the 2008 convention but unfortunately life had a terrible surprise for us. We discovered that my Father was terminally ill. I chose to spend those last weeks of my Father's life with him and I have no regrets. So on to a new year and new plans...I think I will wrap my husband up in some cotton batting or something so he can't get hurt or injured before I go! :-)

Congratulations to all of the other artists accepted into this exhibition! I hope to see you and your art in Atlanta in July.

I'm shocked, I'm stunned, I'M IN !!!

'Jack Pine Kaleidoscope'
coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper
copyright Teresa Mallen

Well YIPPEE, I just found out that 'Jack Pine Kaleidoscope' has been juried into the Colored Pencil Society of America's International Exhibition!!!!!

As the title says, I am shocked and stunned. If you haven't heard of this show, I must tell you that this isn't just any old show...this is an exhibition with literally hundreds and hundreds of entries, from coloured pencil artists around the world and only 125 paintings were chosen this year. Mine was one of them - how incredible is that?!

I am so delighted, words cannot convey it. I am familiar with the names and the work of many of the other artists juried in and I am in awe of their talent and abilities. These folks are the best of the best in coloured pencil. They set the standard for excellence in coloured pencil work around the world and to see my name among them leaves me dumbfounded indeed. I keep going back to the CPSA website to check to see if there has been some mistake and to see if my name has been removed.

So now I have to get this piece framed in acrylic (as glass cannot be shipped) and I have to get it packed, insured and shipped off to Seattle Washington where it will be on exhibition from July 2nd to Sept. 29th. Wow. Of course I have moved beyond being concerned about this mundane stuff and I am now pondering things like "Goodness, I will need a new bathing suit as the one I have is ancient and I wouldn't want to be seen by the hotel pool in it." Did I lose you? The CPSA is hosting a coloured pencil convention in Seattle during the exhibition and guess who is scheming to attend?

Okay, so I fly across North America to view my own painting (that I shipped at some expense) on a different wall. How goofy is that...but I will also meet a whole mess of grand c. p. poo-bahs. I know that all these grand poo-bahs are really nice folks, so that would make make the trip most worthwhile. This is a once in a life-time opportunity (I may never get juried in again) so now my brain is clicking along, considering the possibility of attending. We have air mile points so now I just have to find a black market for my kidney so I can afford the hotel fee! Okay, just kidding...anyone want to register for my June classes, how about buying a few hundred kits, a painting or two???

Congrats to all the other artists that were accepted...see you in Seattle...maybe...