he has it covered, sort of

Roosty

It all started yesterday afternoon as I worked in my studio...maybe it was too peaceful. I was startled out of colouring mode by the sound of my husband's chair shooting violently across the wood floor in his office. Suddenly the chickens were in an uproar of panicked clucking. There was shouting and clapping. By the time I got to the window, I had missed everything.

I saw puzzled goats huddled high up on their sleeping platform in the lean-to. I saw our German Shepherd tearing around under a pine tree with his nose to the ground and his tail high in the air - a high tail means business! So what was afoot?

I dashed downstairs and out the door my husband had left flung open. Not a sound from the chickens now, just eerily still...my husband was nowhere in site. I was grabbing shoes when my husband appeared from the forest by the house and panted "fox". Well that explained everything!

 Mark (my husband, tired of typing husband over and over) filled me in. He was at his computer in his office when he saw a movement on the front lawn. A fox was running after our free ranging hens.Several hens dashed to a pine tree right in front of the barn and the goat paddock. The fox disappeared under the low boughs after them. Mark by now was in hot pursuit clapping and shouting. The scared fox darted back out and headed towards the woods. It did not have a chicken. Mark was now chasing the fox. You know, to scare it so badly that it won't return. :-) I am very sorry I missed this bit. LOL

The dog was keen on the scent of the fox at first but being old and wise he decided that his 'dad' was messing up the hunt by making all that noise. He quickly realized there were chickens out in the yard somewhere...we nabbed the second predator and got him back to the house. :-)

It took us a while to find all of the panicked chickens so we could do a head count. There were lots of feathers stuck in the branches of the pine tree and it was unclear if the fox had already been here and had returned for a second one.

Now that the initial raid was past, Roosty was having fits (Roosty is our rooster, if that isn't obvious. He is a beautiful Barred Plymouth Rock, honestly that is the only reason we kept him. He is gorgeous, this is what happens when an artist farms, beauty probably counts more than it should!) Roosty was doing his job of corralling his hens to a safe spot inside the goat field, tucked into the base of some raspberry shrubs.

All the hens are okay. This time...The fox will return.

Fox tracks are here all winter and one can see where they come right up to the barn and around the house. This spring we could hear the foxes barking close by so I have no doubt the den isn't far. We have seen a fox too but it hasn't been bold enough to strike. Our neighbour saw two foxes the other day in the afternoon and called us to warn us. Mark said that the fox was thin and it is no doubt a mom with kits. (I actually had a moment of weakness and tried to think of some food I could put out for her.Yeah, I know, it was only for a moment.)

The fox family leaves scat near the barn so the turf gets claimed. Andy, our dog, then reclaims it. :-) 

The hens are spooked today and Roosty is ever more vigilant. He no doubt thinks he has it covered, easy to assume when you are behind the safety of a fence! The chickens are in 'lock down' which means they are confined to the goat pasture, lean-to area and hen house. Which is pretty terrific really. Even if given the chance today, I doubt they would wander far  - for the ones who had to fly up into the tree, the memory of the fox below won't soon be forgotten.

No doubt we will lose a hen or hens to some kind of predator eventually. When we first got chickens, everyone felt compelled to share their stories of how their hens got killed by raccoons, hawks, coyotes, foxes, dogs, you name it. We bought extra chicks for a bit of insurance and built a Fort Knox of chicken houses. Expensive small grid fencing, the works...and then we let them free range in the daytime. :-)

So today, it is once again quiet in the studio, Roosty is on patrol, the dog is dreaming of prey and all is good.

deferred pleasure

Looks yummy but eating had to wait...

This morning was fruit photo shoot time. I am creating a file of photos for a new series I shall be working on, probably sometime later in the fall. The series will involve various items being featured in a mug, the yellow mug in the picture above. The plan is for the various drawings to be small in size ( 5 x 7"or 8x10", small for me anyway) and hopefully executed fairly quickly. Depending on if things go according to 'the plan', I may offer these small works for sale matted but unframed. They would be in a price point that would make them affordable for people who would love a work of mine but are unable to buy a larger piece. I am looking ahead to a pre Christmas Studio Tour I shall be part of and I also plan on opening up my home gallery for some pre Christmas shopping dates as well. Yup, I have plans :-) but as it is just the beginning of July all plans are subject to change!

I cropped this next photo so you can see the gorgeous reflection of the yellow mug on the plums. It is so dramatic it almost looks fake, like I must have touched up the photo. Ah the happy surprises one sometimes sees when it is time to start uploading the photos.

The berries started to wilt in the heat and so did I so it was a good time to head inside back to the studio. I don't know about the 'plan' though - as I look at my photo references I am starting to feel the urge to paint big, maybe funky and bold...oh dear...

At least we can eat this mouth watering fruit now!

maybe a wind machine

Press kit photo shoot, sounds glamorous doesn't it? It is more like agony for us folks here, that would be me the model and my poor husband, the photographer. Yes, the time had come and it could not be avoided any longer - I needed a new picture of myself for my press material.

The main driver for this hideous activity is my website. I am currently putting together an entirely new website and it is so past the time that I do this. My current website has languished for an embarrassingly long time with no new uploads to my gallery and while I have been tweaking info along the way, it needs major work (for starters I needed new web software so I could have more bells and whistles, me and new software, ugh). So, major work is underway...that is good...ah but the photo I used of myself in the past just won't make the transfer to the new site. For one thing my new website is going to have a nice green background colour, carefully selected to colour coordinate with my brand colours and the image snippet in my header. (You will get the idea once the new website is revealed.) A major problem is that the green sweater that I am wearing in my old photo clashes terribly with the new background. Drats. Okay, it isn't the best photo either and my hair is a lot longer than I wear it now and I need a fresh pic for other press material so darn it all, a new photo simply needs to be taken.


A picture of oneself, goodness, doesn't sound too difficult does it? Unless you are a perfectionist and a spend thrift like me. The perfectionist bit explains itself. The spend thrift bit comes into play as I am determined to do this with no budget. As a self employed artist, all expenditures are kept to a bare minimum and going to a professional photographer is just not something I am willing to pay for.


I have put this off to the last hour but my bio page on my website needs the photo now. So this past holiday weekend, while others were at the beach, camping or chilling at a cottage somewhere I was fussing and fretting over a photo shoot. One look in the mirror quickly revealed that the scissors had to come out. I cut an inch off my bangs. Okay, you could see my eyes now and my husband trimmed the back (yes, this spendthrift has only been to a hair salon maybe three times ever and the last time was probably 25 years ago). Then the what to wear decision, can't clash with that background you know. Don't want to look too seasonal, i.e. winter wear or a summer look, didn't want a busy pattern, oh dear. Finally a simple white top was chosen. Next, the studio. Time to frame the shot. Don't want the hanging plant to look like I have something growing out of the top of my head, that painting behind me needs to be changed, the chair in the background needs to be moved...you get the idea, a professional photo studio starts to look more appealing...Then we have to fiddle with lighting!

Now I am not going to show you my bloopers. While I may cut my own hair, I do have some pride! LOL But below you will see one picture that didn't make the cut. I don't know what my quizzical expression is referring to but you can see that we haven't worked the bugs out of the lighting. In some pics I look very washed out, some I look like I have spent my life near the equator, some lighting choices left me with a glow in my bang area that looked like a bald spot... Sheesh...

Finally after some angst and yet with limited nashing of teeth (i.e. it went easier than last time), I have settled on the image below. It will do...But perhaps a professional photographer would be best next time, or perhaps a whole team of experts, you know, hair, make up, the works. :-)  And maybe a wind machine!!!! Don't all glam shots make use of a wind machine? LOL

So what do you do when that professional picture of self is required? Do you struggle like me or do you simply hire the job out?

Anyway, I have this done for another significant chunk of time and I am much relieved.

Does anyone know what the shrub at the top of the post is called? It is in my backyard and I haven't been able to identify it. Whatever it is called, it is a prolific bloomer, simply covered in a mass of very fragrant white blossoms. Beautiful!

a blog rethink

 Why blog? That is a question I have asked myself in recent months. Over time, I faced the reality that the reasons I had started a blog were simply no longer relevant to me.

Initially, I started my blog as a way to help my students stay motivated. I felt that if people who had invested time and money in learning cp techniques could have a way to still be in my studio, watching over my shoulder (as it were) long after our classes ended, it would help them in their artistic journey. Too many promising students were letting life interfere with their art and I was hoping to stir them out of this neglect. I also wanted to have a place where interested collectors could see my newest works as they were being created. Eventually, I realized that a lot of my students didn't read blogs, mine included. They also didn't read the helpful websites that I referred them to. As for collectors, well the feedback there was that they didn't have time to read blogs either. Humm...

Eventually I got bored with just sharing my works in progress. How many times did I want to go over why I chose the support I did for a particular piece and why I chose the brand of pencils that I did? I started sharing more of my life, not just studio stuff. Garden pics were shared, renovation projects (Remember all of the restored chairs? LOL) And then I started talking about the livestock...that was the last straw.

While in California, at the CPSA convention last summer, I became aware that the chickens and goats I had talked about in my blog were somewhat of a focal point for people. (I was getting introduced to people as, 'This is Teresa Mallen, she has chickens and goats.") In hindsight, I think I was naive. I guess I hadn't thought anyone was reading or at least paying too much attention! I started becoming a bit uncomfortable trying to answer questions about why on earth I had goats. So much for my art work!!!

Upon returning, I felt shy about sharing my life outside of the studio. I got busy and didn't know what to do about blogging. I started to ask myself why I would want to continue. I reasoned that I could make the blog just about art, simply a vehicle to talk about my next show, an award win or show a new finished piece. I seriously considered that.

Finally a decision was made, I was going to just be myself after all. I have been revamping this blog, new template and all and I have rewritten my profile info. My disclaimer is now posted right up at the top - this blog shall now include chat, info and pictures of many of my passions - both inside the studio and out. I hope that readers will find something of interest here and for those of you who simply want a blog about art then I would ask that you just ignore the other posts. Thank you for bearing with my discussion of my months of introspection. Now that we have that out of the way, it is time to move forward. I am excited about sharing my interests with you.

The pictures above were taken today in our meadow and in the woods along the edge. I had the great fortune to stumble upon the nest late one afternoon while the baby birds were just leaving, learning to fly. What a wonderful time that was.

Finally, more baby goat pics...you have seen the Saanens (the breed of white goats in the last post) and here are the Alpines (a breed originally from France, the Saanens are a Swiss breed). The first photo shows twins Ella, Dukah, and their mother Rainah.

The next photo is of baby Ella...she is a fireball. Day two she was dashing about chasing chickens. Something she still loves to do. The chickens don't like being bunted around so they scatter with noisy clucking when she comes running.

To all of my fellow Canadians, Happy Canada Day. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor (William and Kate) are here in Ottawa today. The city is in a bit of a stir so tonight I shall forego the fireworks on Parliament Hill and plant apple trees instead.

So why do you blog? :-)

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? :-)