in the garden...

Theses days if I am not in the studio, you will find me in the garden. If I want to eat beans like in the picture above (last year's harvest), not to mention my other veggies, then I need to log in some hours, especially in early summer when everything needs to get planted.

You have heard about my 100 tomato plants, seen the pictures, read the green tomato salsa recipe a couple of times over the years, LOL so I won't go there. Just saying I am busy these days!

This morning I was putting down mulch amongst my rows of corn and zucchini and peas. I had a visitor who seemed quite curious about what I was doing. She watched me for a long time. 

We see her just about every day. Sometimes there are two of them. Fortunately my garden has a very good fence around it or I would be planting a deer salad bar. The deer usually eat things in my flower beds. They love daylilies but I have lots of daylilies so I can live with that.

brand confusion?

 Blue Flag Iris 5 3/4" x 8 3/4"
 coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper
copyright Teresa Mallen

A confused customer never buys...a nugget of wisdom from the biz development program I was involved in this past winter. I probably have some confused customers! hum...

Why do I say this? Well, I have been guilty of not posting to my biz Facebook page. I would post, drop off, six months later post again, then oops, life intervened and I dropped off again. Of course this has happened here too, but I know that many of you have been reading this blog for years so you have had a chance to get to know both me and my work.

I realize that my facebook page has displayed only one side of me as an artist. I have posted a lot of funky cp work, all done on sanded pastel paper. This is work that I enjoy doing and it sells well (yeah) but it isn't all that I do nor is it what I have done the most of.

So today, I posted the Iris above. I changed my cover image too. Why? Well first off, I am in the beginning stages of developing a following on my biz FB page and I want my new peeps to get a better idea of what sort of artist I am.

Secondly, I shall be teaching again this Fall and I want FB viewers to see that I can do realism, I enjoy it AND I am definitely qualified to teach it. I do realize that not every coloured pencil artist wanna-be wants to learn how to do funky landscapes or imagination based pieces.

So, time to add clarity and clear any confusion...

I will be giving the details of the courses next week, here on my blog if you are interested. Have a great weekend!

Oh and if you haven't visited, you can click here to visit my FB page. :-)

art and memories

shaggy forest study, 8.5 x 4 inches, cps on sanded pastel paper, copyright Teresa Mallen

I really like how memories can be triggered by a song, or the smell of a certain dish cooking or even art. This little study triggers a specific time and mood memory for me.

 

The time was early last December and my mood was playful and indulgent. I had just worked my fanny off preparing for a Studio Tour, held the last week of November. I had spent a week moving studio furniture, putting all sorts of stuff away, got my display grid walls up, my art that was for sale unpacked and hung, Paypal buttons set for all of the items so that I could accept credit card payment easily, etc. etc.

 

Following this week of preparation, plus two days of smiling until my mouth was sore and talking about and demonstrating cp techniques until my brain felt scrambled - well I was cooked.

 

I remember the effort it took to put my studio back into a working studio setup, versus a gallery. Art was packed up, grid walls stored away, the floors mopped...

 

And then I found myself wandering around the studio, feeling lost, unable to even think of working on something 'real'.

 

I decided to play. I got a small section of olive coloured pastel paper (the sanded, toothy stuff). I grabbed my pencils and I quickly started creating a shaggy forest. :-)

 

Alright, so I don't name my work for sale in quite such goofy terms but seriously the shrubs in this quick bit of fluff makes me think of a shaggy animal's coat, like a long haired yak, you know the gorgeous beast that people get fiber from for spinning?!!?

 

So plain and simple, this was a joyous, recovery piece. Nothing serious, no lengthy time considering perspective and composition or, or, or anything. Just lots of fun stroking down lines of colour.

 

Every time I come across this little study, I quickly get hit with the memories of that week following the Tour weekend and how I really needed to mess about and do something freeing and fun. No expectations, it didn't have to be 'good' or worthy of framing or something someone would buy. I get a warm, positive feeling when I look at it. Maybe I should leave it out so I can remember to connect with the shaggy side of me. :-)

 

What art memories do you have? 



funky, little Fall landscape

a funky little Fall landscape, 6" x 2", coloured pencil on sanded pastel paper, copyright Teresa Mallen

It has been awhile...I am excited to be back posting work and this time I am sticking around. Even blew the dust off of my FB page and well, let's just say that is a big deal cause I have always been rather allergic to all things FB. :-)

 

So was I sitting on a beach reading novels all winter? Umm, no. (couldn't bear to be parted from my goats). I was working on my biz behind the scenes.

 

To start with, I took part in a three month biz development program so I could learn how to take Teresa Mallen Studio in the new directions I have always dreamed of - offering courses and workshops on-line! As well, I have been reading countless marketing books and participating in on-line biz webinars etc. (my new addiction apparently). 

 

Things are coming together slowly, but surely, and the time has come to get visible again. I have been here, drawing when I got the chance and I have a few things to show you over the coming weeks. AND of course there will be shout outs of all new developments. 

 

I am committed to not letting the dust gather anymore. It feels good.

Motivation Monday

 

"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."  Henry David Thoreau

Friday morning on the farm

 

After chatting about apples yesterday, I thought I would try to get a photo of my apple loving goats. In the end, I got a lot of blurry shots of excited creatures. In the picture above, Noah is standing on a ledge in the wall of his stall (treat time was happening just before the goats were let out of the barn to enjoy the day) and I think he is wondering why I am pointing a camera at him instead of giving him a slice of apple! 

There was a cold north wind this morning. After being let out of the hen house the chickens spent a fair amount of time scurrying around looking for bugs and worms. Eventually they took a break from the wind and napped in the shelter at the base of a large thick pine tree.

Have a great weekend, I am off to pick more apples...

apples

coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper, 5" x 7", copyright Teresa Mallen



The sheer number of apples this year is simply staggering. I have never seen anything like it. Ever tree, from carefully tended orchard varieties to scrappy, unpruned old trees in farm fields and road side ditches are loaded with fruit beyond belief.

Goats love apples. My husband and I pick apples off the old scrappy tree in our backyard and the goats are given apple slices as treats throughout the day. Spoiling goats is an absolute highlight of my day, they so love this special attention and really what's not to like about apples?



the view from underneath one of our old apple trees