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My Studio

Lots of news...

• Teresa Mallen Studio is finally on Facebook. If you can see this entire blog page, then you will be able to see the Facebook badge in the column on the right. If you subscribe via email or some other way in which you don't see the whole page, you can find me by clicking Facebook. Go ahead and 'like' my site!!!! Thanks.

• I am offering a class this fall entitled Coloured Pencil Basics. if you have ever wanted to explore the world of cps, then come to my studio for two full days and get all the tips and tricks explained to you. As for the picture above, well I add more tables to my studio space when teaching and the doggie isn't around. (this isn't our new pup, this is our last dog that passed away back in December, just in case you are trying to keep up with my life and are getting confused) Anyway, I realize that dogs, especially big dogs with deep sounding barks, are not for everyone so our new guy won't be allowed to visit during class. For a complete run down of the course, please click here. Registration is now open. You can register on-line with your credit card via the shopping cart on the site. Note, you do not have to be registered with PayPal in order to use your plastic. Spaces are limited so don't delay.

• My summer newsletter has just been published and sent out to my newsletter subscribers. It arrives in your inbox via email. Didn't receive it? Perhaps you have changed your email address since subscribing, or perhaps it got picked up by your spam filter - maybe you need to add my email address as one of your accepted ones or goodness, maybe you haven't ever signed up? If you want to read my newsletter simply sign up to receive one - click here to do that. And please note, I only send out an issue a couple of times a year. I have no intention of inundating you with spam. My in-box gets full enough too and I have no desire to be a nuisance. The newsletter lets you know what shows I am going to be participating in, you are the first to find out about classes that are being scheduled and I share any other tid bits of news that are relevant at that time.

Keeah, enjoying some freshly cut meadow grasses

I would like to say thank you to the lovely folks that have taken the time to email me to say that they like seeing the farm animals. This one is for all of you! :-)

ideas

 Some ideas are brilliant, others are fine and well some ideas should just remain ideas, not something that actually gets acted upon. 

In recent weeks, this Iris piece that I did several years ago came to mind. I was thinking about how I always liked the look of it - especially the tooth of the paper and how it responded to the pigment that was applied. So after some thinking I headed to my closet to check out my paper stock. I knew this was done on Strathmore paper so I dug up a pad of their 500 series Bristol medium surface paper. Why not do my next piece on this? Good idea.This would be perfect for what I wanted to work on for my next idea.

Now I think this idea falls into the fine category - I am starting to create a series of what I am calling 'minis'. Working small will give my collectors a new purchasing option. Lots of people today are downsizing. If potential buyers already have an art collection well under way then it can be hard to find wall space for larger pieces. Of course smaller translates into not so costly to buy. Not everyone is willing to spend a fair bit of money on a large work and some people simply can't afford a larger piece. In this case, a smaller drawing is perfect. Less money also brings the art into a gift buying price range. Finally, having mini works on the go gives me something to work on while I am in between bigger projects or when I simply wanting a break from the larger works. 

The picture below shows one of my bigger pieces, how I normally like to work. The two pieces below are minis that are works in progress. Well the left rose is a work in progress. The right one is trash. That idea to use the Strathmore paper - turns out it was an idea that wasn't a good one after all. As soon as I started to work on it, I disliked the paper. I persevered, remembering how much I liked the iris piece. Yet I finally had to call it quits. I found the paper got gummy with hardly any pigment down, it was 'dirty' (pencil grime was harder to brush off and forget trying to lift pigment with tape, yuck). I was left grumbling at my muse - or whatever trickster entity influenced my thinking (it couldn't have been me that can up with that daft idea). Obviously I stopped working on that paper years ago and for good reason! Duh... So I am re-doing that wee rose on Stonehenge. Ahhhh!!! Bliss from the moment my first pencil hit the paper.

To give an idea of size, the two minis below, once cropped to the final size, would be smaller than 4 inches by 6 inches.

big rose with works in progress mini roses

Please note my disclaimer - artists are very different in their likes and dislikes, especially when it comes to materials and tools. Just because my experience with this paper wasn't one I liked, it is not my intention to prejudice a reader away from trying their own experiments with it. Oh and my muse had the last laugh...I later checked my records and the iris was actually done on Stonehenge! I had it all wrong. :-)

I hope this idea is a good one. Above you can see a small tub of Blue Haze Colourfix Primer. I bought it a year ago but somehow I never got around to using it. Well now seems like a good time so I have primed a 9 inch by 12 inch cradled birch panel with the product. I applied three light coats, sanding off any stray hairs or whatnot between coats. I think this would make a lovely surface for a cloud piece. Remember all of that cloud watching I did last summer? Well, I have some good reference photos to work from. The panel is ready and I shall get at this piece soon. I have the two mini roses almost done and I will show them in my next post. 

I am excited about the apples you see in the picture. I have plans to do an apple piece, just a row of apples nothing fancy, but it won't be a mini - yippee! I just have to get a drawing worked up. I spent some time yesterday afternoon posing the apples. I love that green colour!!!  

This next idea was an excellent one...just ask the goats! After Christmas my husband hitched on our trailer and headed out to two neighbouring subdivisions. The purpose? Why to nab some tasty goat fodder of course!!! Goats are like deer and they prefer to browse off of shrubs and trees as opposed to grazing like cattle. They love to eat pine trees! Now we have a great recycling program here in Ottawa. All used Christmas trees that are put out at the curb on garbage day are picked up and put through a chipping machine. Mulch is created for the city gardens and parks.

But we had a different sort of recycling in mind...Including our own tree, we ended up with 20 trees for the goats to supplement their diet with over the next two months. Trees do add a variety of nutrients that goats don't get just from eating hay and corn. Of course, everything else is covered in snow and/or dormant right now. In these pictures a new tree is being dropped into their field.

yum, yum...

Below, in the picture on the left you can see Dukah and Jonah butting heads (a favourite goat activity)...this one was a rather lazy confrontation, Jonah is still chewing on his twig. The little guy on the right is my precious Noah. I worked hard to save him last summer. When he was born, he was sick and needed bottle feeding. Some antibiotics and many up in the night feedings got me a pet goat extraordinaire! He thinks I am the greatest thing since pine trees were created (or corn chips) and he follows me everywhere expecting lots of attention. He gets it. :-) He has the sweetest disposition and is truly adorable.


 

update on Autumn - art, garden, chickens and goats...

Humpback Hostas, Coloured Pencil on Colourfix Paper, 6.5" x 23"
copyright Teresa Mallen

Here is an update on how my Humpback Hostas piece ended up looking. It has been set aside in my studio for quite a while. I can see one area I am going to give a slight tweak to and then it shall be done.  

I have been working on some other things...here are a few ink and coloured pencil drawings...

Grouse Feather, coloured pencil on Stonehenge Paper, 4" x 6"
copyright Teresa Mallen

...a funky mushroom, coneflowers, Blue Jay feather and a chicken feather (sorry for the dark picture, a very cloudy day and the lighting was terrible, didn't get better with editing either)

Remember when we took photos and had the rolls of film developed at a photo lab? I found this sunflower picture in a box of arty photos that I took some years ago and I have started a pen/ink/cp piece based on this reference.

Sunflower work in progress, pen and ink and cps, 4" x 6"

I haven't been posting to this blog recently as September and October are harvest months here on our small farm. We grow a lot of food, imagine a year's worth of vegetables and you get the idea. The apple harvest was extraordinary this year. My husband and I picked several hundred pounds of apples. Goats love apples and so do we! We are making some hard cider this year for the first time.

Fall is also the season for the grape harvest. A quick trip to the 'little Italy' part of Ottawa resulted in the purchase of several crates of grapes which my husband has now crushed, pressed and fermented. The wine will eventually be transferred into bottles, oodles and oodles of bottles of lovely red and white wine. We are being mentored in our wine making efforts by a neighbour who is in his 90s. He has made award winning wine and he learned his skills as a young man from the elders in his village in Hungary. While the wine has to age yet, the first samples are tasting very promising indeed.

picking apples on a perfect fall day

We had a very hot, dry summer and I think our chili pepper plants liked the weather as there was a bumper crop this year. I guess we are going to be eating quite a bit of spicy food this winter!

I planted around 100 tomato plants and probably another 25 self seeded from last year's crop. They too loved the hot weather. I make all of my own pasta sauce, salsa, soup stock etc. and there is nothing like the taste of organically grown tomatoes from the garden. Oh and did I mention that I started all of my garden plants from seed in the house under grow lights, last February?!!! Yes, all...all of the 100 tomato plants, 50 cauliflower, 50 broccoli, 25 brussel sprout plants, peppers, squash, herbs etc... no purchased seedlings, not one. Many come from saved seeds too. Oops, I did buy some seed potatoes but they were the exception.  

Our young chestnut tree produced a good crop, enough to fill a good sized pail.

when food is beautiful...dried beans from the garden

When the garden harvest is coming to an end, the chickens are allowed in. They love scratching around in the soil looking for bugs and worms.

You might recall my fox story of a few months ago...well the foxes are still here. We see them often in the late afternoon catching mice in the meadow. All of the chickens are still here too! Here is Roosty doing his strut on the front lawn (a couple of hens are in the background behind him).

Goats love tomatoes and here young Ella waits for a cherry tomato to be brought in closer...

Ella's big sister Leah is enjoying a tomato too...

treats and snacks time...Jonah reaching for a chunk of apple...

just picked cherry tomatoes get shared with Veesa...(while little goats watch with envy below)

And here is Leah enjoying having her back scratched...goats so love being brushed too.

Finally, my Cellophane Symphony piece was selected for a feature on Design and Balance appearing this month on the Coloured Pencil Society of Canada website. Also, the prospectus for the CPSC juried exhibition in 2012 is now posted.

Now that the frenzy of putting food up for the winter is behind me, I shall have more time for posting art updates. I am just starting a new piece, fairly big and orangy-yellow...I like a nice orangy-yellow colour! :-)

Jonah Day

Jonah on the front lawn



yesterday was Jonah Day


Jonah eating a lily stalk

Jonah is our one year old Saanen wether (wether in goat lingo means he is a castrated fellow). He won't be fully mature for another year or two and right now he is like a young teenager, rather gangly with his long legs, has a good appetite and sometimes he seems to be bored. I had been watching Jonah for a few days as he has seemed a little down. Perhaps it was the extreme heat getting to him or perhaps he was ill in some way. I wondered. Perhaps Jonah was feeling neglected. Up until this spring, Jonah has been the baby of the herd. But now there are kids getting lots of attention and I think this was bothering Jonah a bit. So yesterday morning as I scratched Jonah's forehead, I declared the day Jonah Day.

We had a lot of fun pampering and spoiling Joe-Joe (his nickname). He seemed bemused at first, especially when he got let out of the field for a walk around the lawn. He got to graze some forbidden goodies and he got to explore places he has only gazed at from afar. As the hours went by, he got lots of extra hugs, cuddles, scratches and treats. By the end of the day he was certain he was King of the herd! Of course our herd Queen was quick to dissuade him of that notion. Poor Joe lives with bossy dominant females!

two Alpines and Jonah's mom

momma Rainah (herd Queen), her family, Jonah's little brother (can just see his legs) and Jonah

All the goats were spoiled yesterday...well they are everyday. Here they are enjoying some Virginia Creeper that my husband cut and draped on their fence.

 

It was quite a bit of fun lavishing all of this abundance upon Jonah. Watching his reaction, it was if his self esteem took a great boost. Such a simple thing to do really, all that was needed was that we pay him extra attention.

This day got me thinking, what if we started a Jonah Day type of movement? What if everyone looked around them to see someone (human or animal) that could use a bit of special treatment? Maybe a parent, a neighbour, a spouse...why not? Pick someone and then treat them like the blessing that they are in your life. Bake a favourite snack, watch a movie together, go for a walk, have a heart to heart conversation, laugh, dance, give flowers, share a coffee or a glass of wine, go overboard - for an entire day! Wouldn't our relationships flourish? Isn't savouring our loved ones what life is all about? Everyone deserves to have their own day. Don't wait for a birthday.

So go ahead, pick someone and declare it 'their day'. And don't forget to give yourself a special day too. There is an art exhibit at the National Gallery that I want to see in August and you can bet it is soon going to be Teresa Day! :-) 

So where were we?

'Hydrangea' coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper, 4.5"w x 6.5"h

copyright Teresa Mallen

I became one of those people...one of those people whose blog for some unrevealed reason just went silent. What happened? Where did I go? Why wasn't I posting?!!!

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who wrote and expressed concern about my well being. I am very well and have been well these past eleven months. Also, thank you to those of you who expressed such lovely sentiments on how my blog was being missed. All of your concern and kindness was and is much appreciated.

I never intended to stop posting, it is truly something that just happened. I meant to resume posting once I returned from the CPSA convention last summer. I got very busy with some things and next thing I knew a month had slipped by and then two and then three and by then I had lost my voice. Not physically mind you. I simply became aware that I had lost my sense of what exactly I wanted this blog to be about. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to say nor how I wanted to say it.

Well, I have figured a few thing out now. I have a lot to say regarding my art journey these past months and I will share more in my next posts. For now, let's go back and catch up a bit, shall we? Where exactly were we when I stopped writing?

Yup, it is time for a look back at what I did on my summer vacation, 2010! :-) I have flipped through the pictures from my trip to Los Gatos California for the CPSA's 18th Annual International Exhibition and Convention (earned Signature Status you might recall, woo hoo) and here are some highlights...

Art exhibit at the Art Museum of Los Gatos, a special reception for the artists...

very well attended event, beautiful gallery and room after room of gorgeous art, all done in coloured pencil of course...

and yes, that is my 'Neptune's Leaves' on the wall in the next pic...

 

the wonderful Ester Roi and myself (in front of Neptune's Leaves of course)...

I attended Ester's workshop. We had a great day learning all sorts of techniques on her fabulous invention, the Icarus Board, as Ester says, 'wax and heat, a match made in heaven'. A terrific workshop and a lot of fun...

a day trip to San Francisco and the surrounding area...crossing the Golden Gate Bridge...

ah, touring the Muir Woods...

CPSA friends and oh so talented artists, Elizabeth Patterson, Dianna Soisson (standing) and Lynda Schumacher. A big thank you to Elizabeth Patterson who provided her car for transportation and who did the driving.

 awards night, I receive a signature status pin and a certificate...here with more CPSA friends and again, oh so talented, Liz Patterson and Debbi Friedman (thank you to Lynda Schumacher for the photo)...

Okay, that is probably enough holiday snaps, right?

Remember the three month old baby goat that I didn't want to leave last summer? Here is Jonah eleven months later, a very handsome young fellow and a delight to have on the farm...

Here is Jonah's mom, no matter what she does she somehow manages to look comical doing it...we are oh so fond of our Veesa...

12 days ago, Veesa gave birth to twin boys, one pictured below. We have four goat kids romping around the paddock at the moment, just too cute...more goat baby pics next time. :-)

So, I am back, thanks for taking the time to have a look and a read. I promise it won't be 11 months before I post again! Oh and do you like the new blog look? Time for a fresh start in many ways...

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? :-)