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!

Finished Blue Blooded

Blue Blooded, Coloured Pencil on Colourfix Paper, 19" x 17" (48cm x 43cm)

Copyright Teresa Mallen

Here is a finished image of my funky Blue Blooded. The colours are brighter and more vivid in real life but this is the best photo I have at the moment. Until I worry about getting a good image for my website, this shall suffice. I have had this done for quite awhile but every time I wanted to take a photo, it was raining outside. I find this a spooky piece to have in the studio unframed. It looks so much like pastel that every time I move it from one spot to another, I keep expecting pastel pigment to fall off!

Things have been real exciting in the studio - I have been taking inventory. Woo-hoo. :-) I have gone through my pencils and I have shopped for ones that needed replacing. I even got out my superglue and glued pencil stubs to my new pencils. Now I realize that some cp artists think this is going over the top. Many just throw out their pencils when they shorten down so much that that they are impossible to hold on to or sharpen. Me, I like to glue. I find it works really well, they sharpen just fine in my electric sharpener and they look really cool when people visit your studio!

I attended a presentation last week by local watercolour artist Brian Seed. For readers who are watercolour artists, you might wish to check out the handprint website. Brian recommended it as a great resource for info. I had a look and it does seem like you could spend quite a bit of time there.

I always like seeing the work of coloured pencil artists. The April/May 2010 issue of International Artist featured several pages of cp art by Judith Burton. If you don't have a copy of the magazine, you can see Judith's work by visiting the pencil gallery on her website. (just click her name for the hyperlink)

Well yippee, my taxes are done. Now I am working on tweaking my website. In the studio, I have some pots of Colourfix primer (the same stuff that is applied to the surface of Colourfix sanded pastel paper) waiting to be applied to some birch panels that I have bought.

For those of you who have been reading for awhile, you will be well aware of all of my trips out of town to get the house when my parents had lived ready for sale. I am happy to report that much work has been done and the property has now been listed in real estate. That translates into more time in the studio for me. Finally. Oh and in the garden too. :-)

It is a beautiful spring here in Ottawa. Here are a few pics I took today.

Starting with daffodils...

forsythia shrub...




white hyacinth...



and some red tulips that are starting to open...

You might recall my basement grow-op that I mentioned a few weeks ago. Here are some of my tomato plant seedlings as they look now...

And here are some squash seedlings...


May you be enjoying a wonderful spring where you are!

Dare we discuss?

Do you dream about art? If so, in what way? Do dream you are painting or working on something or do you perhaps get inspiration for your work from your dreams?

I confess I don't normally dream about art but I have had a couple of art dreams recently. The other night I had a dream in which I was painting abstracts. I think I was using acrylic or oil (not cps!) on canvas. I remember one work in particular quite vividly - I loved the composition of the piece as well as the colours that had been used. One day I am going to use this dream as the inspiration to create a piece that will hopefully look something like the one I imagined.

A few years ago, I had another dream in which I was painting abstracts. I was using cardboard type shapes - circles and rectangles - to block out areas. On these paintings I was using very thick paint, impasto style. Again, I considered trying to create what I had seen in the dream but I never did get around to it. I find it interesting that in both of these dreams I was painting abstracts with brushes and paint, not with my much loved pencils. Over the years this hasn't been my usual subject nor my usual method of working.

The other art dream that I had recently took place one night a few weeks ago. I must have been working on my CPSA exhibition entries at the time. In the dream, I had just arrived in California (where this year's convention and exhibition is taking place) and I was at the hotel. I went off to attend some sort of workshop or meeting and I remember not seeing anyone that I knew or recognized. I remember being surprised that the folks I had met in Atlanta last year had not gone to the convention this year. The dream then became rather disturbed - I couldn't find my way to my room, the doors had several different numbers on them, none of the numbers corresponded with the number on my key, I was going to be late for something, I was hungry and the restaurants had closed, I still couldn't find my room, I asked some people if they could help me and while I was being 'helped' my credit cards were stolen...not really an art dream now, yikes! Anyway, when I woke up, I remember being very glad that it had all been a dream and then I thought ruefully - hey, at least my art got accepted into the exhibition! :-) Of course the jury is still out on that one in real life...

So will you take a moment to delve into the workings of your subconscious and will you dare to discuss your art dreams? Tell me, do you dream about art too?

Motivation Monday

Are you scared by your artwork? Humm, maybe you should be!

I hope you will be inspired and motivated by the following quotes from artist Sharon Knettell:

"I think life is so freaking short, I don't care if anybody doesn't like my art. When you get older, you lose your fear of the audience, the critics. You have to go to the point where your ideas scare and challenge you. 'I can't do that' - well why not? There are so many images you dismiss because you think you can't do it or it won't work. You just have to say, 'What the hell!' and leap."

I couldn't agree more with Sharon. Why not get committed to losing your fear of the viewer of your art and instead get scared by your challenging ideas? I promise you that when you stretch yourself to reach for what you think isn't possible, you will experience new levels of energy, aliveness and motivation. You might just scare yourself right into your next masterpiece!

(Sharon's quote is from the March 2010 issue of the Artist's Magazine.)

erasing coloured pencil, presentation reminder, growing new subjects

crocuses in my backyard this morning

A comment left with my last post, leads me to discuss the topic of erasing with cps. Last time, I mentioned that I had made changes to my work by using my electric eraser to erase cp pigment from the surface of my Colourfix paper. I want to be clear that there are other ways to lift pigment. In fact removing pigment is really what cp artists do to correct work because erasing doesn't work. Using a regular eraser and a rubbing motion will only smear the pigment and might possibly damage different types of paper. (the exception is if you only have a bit of pigment applied to the paper and you have used light pressure)

With printmaking paper, I like to use reusable adhesive, sometimes known as mounting putty. I dab the paper with a wad of reusable adhesive and the putty removes the pigment. You can use a kneaded eraser in the same manner. I also like using transparent tape and masking tape. They differ in their degree of tack. Sometimes you want a lot of lifting power and sometimes you want less. As a matter of personal preference, I don't like using my electric eraser on printmaking paper. I find I like the subtle control of tape the best.

When using a sanded pastel paper, such as Colourfix, I like to lift pigment with my electric eraser. It does the job really well and doesn't harm the surface. Having said that, do experiment with any removal techniques on scrap paper. You don't want to eat a hole in your paper or lift up fibers.

If you are interested in my upcoming presentation for the Nepean Fine Art League, please be reminded that it is tomorrow night, Tuesday March 23, 2010.

'Blue Blooded' shall have to wait in the wings while I get ready for the presentation. I also have to get my CPSA submissions ready later in the week. Dealing with my parents' home has started once again as well. I was out of town on the weekend in order to get the house opened up. My husband and brother-in-law installed new toilets while my sister and I sorted more stuff in the kitchen and elsewhere. I return this weekend. It shall be a busy year but hopefully the farm will sell sometime in 2010.

When not in the studio, I have been growing new photo references. (Remember my 'peas in a pod' piece?) :-) Last fall, while sorting stuff at my parents' home, I decided to rescue an old shelving unit from the recycling pile. I hauled the dusty, dirty beast back here and asked my husband if he could transform it into a plant growing thing. With the purchase of some 'plant and aquarium' bulbs and some inexpensive shop light fixtures, I now have a bit of a grow operation in my basement. No marijuana though! Just plant seedlings, around 600 of them. I have planted veggie seeds such as cauliflower, tomato, hot peppers, yellow peppers, squash, etc. as well as some flower seeds. Of course I shall be sowing lots of vegetable seeds directly into the ground but these seedlings will help get things in the garden off to a faster start...some new subject matter for future veggie art I hope...

We had a bit of excitement yesterday when I started a fire in the woodstove and a starling flew out, past my face and into the house. Nothing quite like a soot covered bird flying around, banging into the walls and the ceiling! Thankfully, there was a happy ending, the bird made it out alive and the walls required minimal washing.

Finally, thoughts from some Monday morning musings...While having an early morning coffee, I noticed an ad for a visioning workshop in the artsy publication I was reading. The description of the event mentioned how it was useful to aid people in knowing what they want. Humm... my mind started musing about how this seems to be a first world affliction, this not knowing what you want business. In developing countries people know that they want clean water, adequate housing, food to eat, education for their children. Here, we need to attend workshops to know what we want. Interesting isn't it?