Kathleen McMahon

Work Art Balance

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:17:00 +0000

I've had a fortunate life where I can always make time to create art. Not fortunate enough to make a living from my art but I've worked in my own business since 1995 so that I can balance work to pay the bills and art to feed my soul. Sometimes that is more challenging than other times.

And this is one of those times.

Typically working with small to medium-sized businesses to help them with social media, their websites, their online marketing and relationship strategies, I've taken on a client for 9 months that is much larger than is typical for me. I'm very excited for the project, building a large online community for a very large company, but it will take my full focus to succeed at their aggressive goals. I've built many online communities over the years, and still host one at CraftWEB.com that began in 1994 and is still running and active and vibrant today. I love building communities and connecting people with each other and with good content. So all of that is perfect for me. I'm the right person for this job.

But I'm aware art is going to take more of a back seat in my life for awhile. I'll have to work harder to schedule time to paint and balance that with my chores, and seeing people. The stuff of life. Although a solitary activity for me, art is the stuff of life for me as well.

I did just complete two large oil paintings right before I signed this contract. I'm glad I did that. And while my art studio is there and will wait for me, I also brought a full set of paints home so that I might be able to do smaller projects or maybe just shorter painting stints here and there on the weekends - just to keep it going.

I find I can't let painting go more than several weeks. I begin to not feel quite right. And so, beginning today, I embark on an experiment of balancing work and art and making sure both feel heard and supported and expressed.

A friend (not an artist but someone who appreciates art) told me not that long ago, "It used to be artists had benefactors. Now they have jobs."

I'll take that thought with me as I re-enter the corporate world and create another great space for community online.

Labor Day Weekend 2012 Open Studios

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:42:00 +0000

It's that time of year again. The town of Sausalito fills with people seeking sun, fun, art, music for the combination of the famous Sausalito Arts Festival as well as the 5th annual Sausalito Artists @ Work Open Studios - a chance to see actual local artists in their studios and chat with them and see their body of current work. I'll be in Studio 237, on the second floor. We'll be open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday 11-5pm. I look forward to you stopping by and saying hello!

Lots of art to see at both locations. and Sausalito is such a pretty town and we've had some great beautiful sunny days here.

So come on the ferry if you live in the city, or come by car or bike - just come!

Paper Mache Cow Work in Progress

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:44:00 +0000

The cow project had a setback this week. Last week I sanded the paper mache clay (which has joint compound in it so it is kind of like plaster). I am not going for a smooth surface but wanted to at least have all the jaggies gone.

I then sprayed the cow with gloss jet black paint, from a spray can made for car paint. The gloss in it turned out all splotchy so I thought a second coat would cover that but it didn't. The gloss was taking in some areas and not in others. It was all black but not all gloss.

It was only then that I realized I had not primed it first. DUMB! Here is what the cow looked like at that stage:

That was my setback. I decided now was the time to go back and fix my problems so I primed the cow with grey primer paint, let it dry and then did a light sanding all over.

The paint store told me hi gloss does not come in the spray cans so I decided I valued hi-gloss over an even application of the paint, so I got black hi-gloss acrylic latex enamel paint and covered the cow. Here is the cow getting covered up once again:

and here is the cow after two coats, which I was much happier with (and all the splotchies were gone):

In these two next photos, I have a close up of the surface of the cow to show how I actually didn't want to go for a glassy smooth surface. Oddly, in these photos, it looks like a chrome has already been added but, in fact, it is just how the light looks on the hi-gloss black. But it did give me a hint, of sorts, of how it might end up looking. I won't know until I actually do the chroming next week. I'll post results in the next update.

Paper Mache Cow Sculpture Continues

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:07:00 +0000

Its been a project I've been doing along side my painting and so has taken some time. I've really been enjoying learning to work with the materials and solve problems as they crop up (and boy, did they crop up).

He is a cow starting to stand up and get on his feet and I feel just like that as I move through the project, a little more and more confident and seeing this sculpture emerge.

It is 48" wide by 30" tall.

In this photo, I completed the paper mache process over the crumpled newspaper form. I had to do it in stages, starting with the cow upside down and doing the bottom, letting it dry, flipping him over and then doing the top.

In this photo, I complete the whole paper clay process which was the most challenging part. I learned getting the recipe right really makes all the difference. And patience. I couldn't do too much of a section at a time so it would "adhere" properly. I did also run into a mold problem on the bottom and had to scrap out a big hole after it was pretty dry and remove the mold and I washed it all with clorox and put a fan on it to dry more properly. That seem to fix it. I also went too fast with the head and didn't let the paper mache part dry enough before doing the clay and the whole underside of the face fell apart and had to be rebuilt - paper mache first, let it dry completely and then back to the paper clay. Fortunately, that worked and you can't even tell. The ears are really solidly on there now. The tail was hard to get the clay to stick and get it in the crevices just right.

I don't want any features to be too detailed but I did fashion some basic eyes and eyelids with the paper clay. A little hard to see in this photo but they are there.

Now I'm giving him an overall light sanding. I don't want him to be smooth but I do want to have the surface lightly sanded so it feels nice to run your hand over it. After the sanding is done, then comes the paint job. I'll keep you updated!

Paper Mache Cow - Session 1

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:11:00 +0000

I decided I wanted to experience what it would be like to create a paper mache sculpture. So after watching a couple of youtube videos, I decided to launch into the project with both feet (and no additional resources, probably a bad idea, but how I usually do things).

In my first step, I wanted to just cut out a cardboard shape of the cow's body. I didn't worry about his ears or legs for now. You can see I have really leaped in - he will be a sizable cow for a first project. Who knows, maybe he'll turn out to look like a pig - anything is possible.

I then cut out the shape of the two legs from separate pieces of cardboard. I think I'm not going to worry about the other side of him, because his legs wrap underneath and I can probably build up the shape I need there from just the newspaper. I used masking tape and began build up shape to the two legs. It probably ought to look more exacting but it doesn't.

And that's it for Session 1. Now off to get a lot more recycled newspapers and more masking tape.

Scam Email: Tyler He

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:50:00 +0000

This scammer had trouble faking a decent last name (and then inverted it for his temporary disposable email address), but otherwise everything else about this scam is all to the formula.

Original email:

From: tyler He [he.tyler@yahoo.com]
Subject: [actual name of painting inserted here]

Hello,
How are you doing? Was going through your works and love this piece. I would like to make the purchase if it is still available.

Thanks and i await your response.
Tyler.

Next email:

On Nov 29, 2011, at 1:13 PM, tyler He wrote:

Hello Catherine,
How are you doing? Thanks for your prompt reply. Well, I'm quite satisfied with the details but would also like to inquire about a minimum price...

Unfortunately, I'm on my way to France and few other countries on an official trip (I'm a marketing Executive) and wont be back for another couple of weeks, If you'd like to know, I'm relocating to the UK this month and I'm trying to gather some good furniture for my new abode. I'm buying yours piece amongst others, quickly! before someone else grabs it.:)
Glad if you could let me have me your phone no. so I give you a call.
Best Regards,
Tyler.

PS: In the mean time, you could forward me your full name and contact address so I can mail out the certified check to you ASAP.

Winter Open Studios 2011 Dec 3-4

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:50:00 +0000

My studio is cleaned up and ready for the weekend of Winter Open Studios at the ICB Building in Sausalito, CA. I've got those special Open Studio only prices up. I'll be open Dec 3-4, 11-5pm, along with over 80 other artists in the building. Lots of art to see. I'm located in studio 237 on the second floor right across from the Manager's Office.

I'd love to have you stop by and say hello!

ICB Building
480 Gate 5 Road, Studio 237
Sausalito, CA 94965

(turn left on Harbor Drive from Bridgeway, building on left at Harbor/Gate 5 Rd)

For those who are unable to visit, most of my artwork can be found on my website at kathleenmcmahon.com.

Sausalito Artists @ Work Labor Day Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:44:00 +0000

We had a great open studio weekend at the ICB Building in Sausalito this weekend. It was the same weekend as the Sausalito Art Festival and the whole town was jammed with people as a result.

Lots of people came through and I did well. I love talking to people about art and showing them my process. This time I had my silk painting frame set up and was showing people how I do silk painting. I was able to finish a bamboo silk scarf on Sunday and a nice blue one with dragonflies on Monday.

Sue Averell, the organizer of the Open Studios weekend, had a great party in her large studio (which is right next to mine) Saturday night with lots of great food and wine and balloons and meeting great people. Some were artists she knows from Arizona who had come up to be in the Sausalito Art Festival. A great time was had by all.

My studio mate, Mary Margaret Stewart, was actually in the Sausalito Art Festival for the first time this year and she was on fire! She sold out everything she had. I love the success of artist friends as well.

Here is a photo of some people wandering through looking at my scarves (sorry about the hanging rope from Mary Margaret's studio space in the photo!) and a better picture of the one wall of scarves, though I had others on racks and... well, all over the place. I was also showing my oil paintings and worked on some small oil still lifes on Saturday and sold them right on the spot, even though they still need time to dry.

Presidio Paint Out August 29, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:22:00 +0000

I enjoyed a sunny day in the Presidio for a group paint out event. We were to paint anything we wanted visible from within the park, between 10 and 2 pm and then exhibit our finished work at the Officer's Club from 2-4pm.

I did this event about a month ago and this crowd was twice as big - over 50 artists participated. I decided to find a more unusual area of the park - one I was unfamiliar with, and that is getting harder and harder to do as the years go by. But there was one area I just never went into or explored and that was the Tennessee Hollow Watershed area. I chose the El Polin Spring area, despite the massive renovations and rehab going on there - maybe because of it. Certainly no other artists found their way to where I was. I didn't know anything about the El Polin Spring so I read up on it the day before.

There were convenient picnic tables there I decided to take advantage of. And some bird watchers who said they were watching the humming birds, of which there seem to be a bunch flitting around. They said there were some other beautiful species as well. Some one was doing some kind of bird watching pretty much the whole day. I added a couple of bird watchers into my painting.

Here is a photo of my little painting nook for the day, just as I was beginning to work.

I really enjoyed the day in the park and at the end of the day, seeing what all the other artists chose to paint and how they interpreted their Presidio scenes.

BBQ at ICB

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:01:00 +0000

We had a great hotdog bbq at the ICB art studios building yesterday. We had a lot of fun, good food and drink and company. And we raised some money towards buying ourselves a picnic table so we can eat outside in the sun when the weather cooperates.

I took some photos at the beginning of the bbq but then got involved in talking to people. More people showed up as the bbq went on.

I heard there was an "after" after party, but I missed that....

Plein Air Session at Corte Madera Marsh

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:43:00 +0000

Yesterday, I was seeking to escape the fogged in city to where there was sun so I could paint outside. I drove around Tiburon but could see the fog was quickly coming in to anything I wanted to paint.

I ended up at the Corte Madera marsh and had sun all afternoon. It was a little windy for me (my chair and water container completely blew over one time) but otherwise was a very pretty afternoon.

I kept company with a whole flock of these pretty birds, American White Pelicans. They rotated around the marsh feeding and relaxing. Okay, they came out as just white splotches on my little painting but they were quite beautiful to watch all day.

I painted for about 2 hours and then went and had a lovely Thai dinner and glass of wine in Mill Valley.

The Fisher Collection

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:42:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of going to SFMOMA on Friday and see the small portion of the Fisher Collection. It is a partnership with SFMOMA to house and display the collection of Gap founders Doris and Donald Fisher, more than 1,100 works by iconic 20th century artists in total (this peek had about 160 of total collection on display), dubbed Calder to Warhol. Much of this collection has never been seen by the public. It was great to see some of these works up close and live.

I liked the Gerhard Richter pieces, Anselm Kiefer (I like a lot of his work), Agnes Martin, Serra and Warhol. I had never seen Chuck Close's work up close and there was a whole room for his work and I liked the David Hockney double portrait.

Then I got to hang out with and go to dinner with the Friday Artists' Roundtable group and talk art and other musings.

Here are two Gerhard Richter pieces:

Here is a Anselm Kiefer piece:

Okay, the below Kiefer piece is NOT part of the Fisher Collection, but was on display at the SFMOMA several years back and took my breath away. It's not a great image of it. It was almost room-size and it looked like swarms of locusts lifting from the earth - and the swarms were all sunflower seeds. A better image would have shown the complexity within the "swarm". I loved Kiefer after this in-person experience.

And back to my day with the Fisher Collection, here is part of the Artists Roundtable Group at the rooftop cafe before dinner.

After the Marin Art Festival

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:44:00 +0000

The Marin Art Festival was a nice event but was not without its challenges.

On Saturday, the wind kicked up by 1 pm and was relentless the rest of the afternoon. I was constantly battling keeping things from blowing away. It was also challenging that my booth location turned out to be in the furthest back section of the fair. I suppose *someone* has to be in the way back, but I didn't want it to be me.

The fair was well attended and in spite of all these challenges, I sold. I do feel it is becoming more and more a crafts shows than a Fine Art show. It might be interesting if they sectioned out the fair and put all the fine artists together so the collectors have a section where they know the higher priced art is versus people looking for low-end crafts and gift items. I knew to bring more than my fine art paintings this year and it what brought people into my booth. I have not shown my hand-painted silk scarves here before and they were very well received.

Here are a couple of photos from the day:

Marin Art Festival June 19-20, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:11:00 +0000

I am participating in this year's Marin Art Festival at the Marin Civic Center. Find me in booth #87!

June 19-20 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

Over 250 fine artists in a spectacular setting by the Lagoon in the Marin Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, fifteen minutes North of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Festival foods range from Louisiana gumbo and crawfish, Greek salads, South Western chicken breast sandwiches, fresh crabcake, grilled oysters and French pasteries.

* Stroll through spacious pavilions.
* View & visit with Phyllis Thelen, the 2010 Marin Master.
* Meet with the artists and talk about their work.
* Entertainment Schedule
* Check out our Chance to Dance Showcase: Hula to Hip Hop.
* Enjoy sit down dining with a team of student waiters.
* Sample fine wines and brews.

More information and directions at http://www.marinartfestival.com/

Free entrance pass at http://www.marinartfestival.com/updatedocs/guestpass.html

Hayes Valley Street Fair

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:42:00 +0000

Participated in the Capsule SF street fair in the Hayes Valley yesterday. It was sunny and well-attended but there were horrible winds all afternoon. We watched tents lift up and fly off, people's stuff on their table blow off into the street, and garment racks full of clothes blow over again and again. These certainly were challenging conditions but it was a great day and the margaritas from Absinthe at the end of the day was the perfect topper.

ICB Open Studios 5/8-9

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:56:00 +0000

Over 80 working artists open their studio galleries to collectors and visitors. This weekend is the second weekend of this annual Spring event.

Come visit my new studio space in gorgeous Sausalito as well as all the other working artists in the building. Lots of free parking and an elevator.

My new studio is #237C, right near the center of the second floor, across from the building manager's office.

May 8-9 11am - 5 pm
480 Gate Five Road #237C
Sausalito, CA 94965

While I'm on the scamming topic

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:22:00 +0000

Okay, I guess I've just been a target lately. Makes me want to post every scam email I receive so other artists can get a sense of what these look like.

Here is one today:

Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:39:25 -0800 (PST)
From: Jessica Bianchi
Subject: Art Enquiry
To: undisclosed recipients: ;

Hello,
I and my Cousin have interest in purchasing some piece of Art from your gallery hence i will like to know if you sell internationally (Belarus) and also if you accept (Credit Card) as a method of payment,if you do i want you to get back to me with your updated webpage, so that i can make choice of the Art to purchase from your gallery.
Your response is needed so that we can proceed.
I await your response.
Thanks
Jessica

Well, the TO field being undisclosed recipients was a dead give-away, that they don't even know if I HAVE a website with art and the usual poor email formatting and grammatical errors and the IP originated from San Mateo, CA not Belarus.

At least I don't even have to reply ONCE to this one!

Update: I decided to start my own page with advice on how to recognize these scam emails and also I am keeping a list of the scammers I get. I'm glad these are helping to reduce at least some people from falling victim to them. Wish there was a way to stop them but they are like pesky nat flies. You just have to keep swatting at them. Anyway, here is my own scam alert page. Stay safe!

Another Scam Email Directed at Artists

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:47:00 +0000

Here is an email I received recently. Typically I'm pretty good at identifying emails that are really Nigerian scam emails, but this one had me stumped because there IS a Rose Cole out of Santa Monica and I wasn't sure. I *hate* when I actually have to reply to one of these because then my email is open to being sold off as an "active" email. Darn. Anyway, below is the email and subsequent replies:

Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 02:09:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Rose Cole
Subject: INTRESTED IN YOUR ARTWORKS

Hello,
I am so excited that I came across your artworks on internet search,I am interested in purchasing the following works from you (Two Cherries,Koi on the Move 2) from you.

Let me know if the artwork is still available and how much discounts you are willing to give?I will await your advise on how to proceed.Have a wonderful day.
Regards
Rose.

[I replied with a proposed discount amount] Next email:

Dear Kathleen,
Sorry for the late reply,we have been busy with our movement to our new home.Well,i will be happy to proceed with the payment of the artwork.I will love to know prices when framed and unframed.Please advise.Regarding the shipment,i will inform our shipping agent that is moving our other home decors to get in contact with you via the shipping arrangement today.

Furthermore,do you do commission works?i will love to have a lovely work for my coming baby.Get back to me with your mailing address and your phone number so that i will be able to make an arrangement for the payment as soon as possible.I will await your quick response.
Regards,
Rose.

[Okay, bad typing And not capitalizing pronouns, but I still didn't have enough clues. I knew the Rose Cole I found online was out of Santa Monica and these emails were coming from a yahoo account in NY, but the emails referenced moving. So I wrote back one more time. I said I accept only paypal payments (which doesn't necessarily protect you, by the way - unless it is a verified account and you have delivery confirmation and even then, not always - sometimes PayPal will just keep the reversed payment no matter what) and that I do not work with any third party shippers except USPS Priority Mail. I did NOT provide my paypal email address nor did I provide my address and phone number as requested in the email. I also removed earlier references in the email to what items were even being requested to see what would happen.] Here is the final email which confirmed my suspicions:

Subject: SHIPPING ARRANGEMENT FOR MRS ROSE COLE'S ITEMS
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:06:01 -0500
From: paramountshippers@deliveryman.com

Dear Sir/Ma,
We have been contacted my Mrs Rose Cole to help
ship some of her items with her other house decors to her new
home.Kindly let us know the sizes,weight and name of the item we will
be moving from your place.

Sir/Ma,we will like you to get back to us the location of where we
will be picking up the item as soon as you have Mrs Cole's payment
with you.We will await your quick response.
Fred Anderson for Paramount Movers.

This email originated from an AOL account out of New York. Dear Sir/Ma (Ma, really?) kind of tipped the balance of clues. The icing on the cake of clues were that my response about third party shipper was ignored, that they didn't know what items were even being requested for shipment (I had removed references to them and the scammer had nothing to refer back to which would individualize their scam), the exact same poor email formatting as Rose Cole, and finally referencing "Mrs. Rose Cole". Turns out a google search with Mrs. in the name turns up all kind of Nigerian scam emails with "Mrs. Rose [and then random last names]. Winning the lottery, death of wealthy family member, job opportunity in foreign country, etc. Unfortunately, mine was individualized enough that I couldn't blow it off in the first two rounds. Very unfortunate.

Hopefully sharing this will help other artists not fall into providing scammers any more personal information about yourself than is absolutely necessary in order to clarify whether the request to purchase your art is legitimate or not.

Update: check for more advice and a list of scammers emailing me on my scam alert page.

Fall Open Studios 2009 Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:36:00 +0000

We had a great Open Studios weekend and I was glad the rain held off so it was sunny Saturday and overcast Sunday, but did not rain. There was also a preview party reception Friday night. The warm spiced mulled wine I offered was perfect to warm visitors up as they looked at the art. I sold a large painting, some mini oil paintings and some painted glassware so I did well. Someone even purchased one of my two wrought iron wine racks, which I was not expecting, but I'll sell anything...

Now I can get back to producing more work!

Here are just a couple of photos:

LA Trip August 2009

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:58:00 +0000

I just returned from a trip to LA. I had lived in LA from 1982-1986 and it was fun to go back and revisit the past.

I went downtown to "gallery row", to check out the art and was sad to discovered that most of the galleries were either permanently closed, closed for the summer, or were found in the back of alternative spaces, like the backroom of a Cafe or even the back of a pet store (and even that gallery was closed on a Wednesday). I walked around the Fashion District but couldn't get over how the economy has just devastated the art galleries in downtown LA.

Someone on Facebook had recommended I check out Bergamot Station in Santa Monica which is a collection of warehouse buildings that contain all commercial galleries. I had much more success there and many of the galleries were open. There was some nice art to see, some multi-media installations and a functional art gallery.

Here are two wire sculptures in the functional art gallery that were interesting to me. They were more than life-sized:

And here is a piece I really liked from a new young emerging artist who seem to paint on canvas, cut out shapes, burn the edges and then his larger pieces has some kind of frills added to the edges. He had a large piece of a cityscape, a giant shark, and a free-hanging crumpled house that was interesting. Given I was in LA, and I do remember the challenge of driving around, I particularly enjoyed this piece, which has a pileup of crumpled little cut out fabric cars to the right:

I'll be sure and go back to Bergamot to see more next time.

I also got some good pool time in a gigantic pool, saw a comedy show (was surprised that "Skippy" from the old Family Ties TV show was actually pretty good in his set, but the rest of the show was not so great), and dropped in on an old friend I have not seen since 1989 and that was great.

I came back to San Francisco happy and a little sunburned. Happy to have gone to LA and visit parts of my past but also happy to back in the place that is my home now.

Rained Out Plein Air Session

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Sunday it was my day to return to plein air painting. I haven't painted outside in several years and I was looking forward to getting "back on the horse". I was going to paint with my friends Cynthia and Michie and take them to Sausalito to paint boats, from under the gazebo.

But we got there and it was so rainy and windy and cold and it turned out there wasn't a dry spot to be had under the gazebo and we forgot our chairs and it was pretty darn fogged in (which would have been cool but all the other elements made it not quite as appetizing).

So we gave up and went to Starbuck's for something warm to drink and wandered in and out of the stores and gallery along the Sausalito waterfront strip.

We decided to drive back to the city and after a short rest, Michie and I decided to go to the beach (just blocks away) to take photos. Michie is a photographer and lately she's been working on macro images of stuff that washes up in the surf. There wasn't much but there was a little. It was still cold and really foggy, but the rain had at least stopped. I had my crappy camera and mostly took pictures of Michie taking photos, but it was fun.

Okay, it's all blurry and weird but this was *my* art photo shot with my lame camera.

And here as the real photographer at work.

This is how foggy it was - those fisherman were not too far away!

Had a lovely dinner with Cynthia and Michie and their son Max and while we never got to paint, it was a great day in unexpected ways anyway! And we'll try to make the painting thing happen again soon. But it was a great way to spend a rainy and foggy Sunday.

Skateboard Resin Painting - Final Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:53:00 +0000

You will be able to see from previous posts that I've been struggling (i.e. learning) with putting resin on the below skateboard painting. All had pretty much failed (half of it hardened and half did not, it has weird texture, and it dulled down all the bright colors in the painting). The exhibit I had made it for had a due date of May 1st and I was prepared to tell them I would not have my piece after all, and I was going to just toss it out.

I met a nice artist upstairs in the building who works with resin all the time (apparently successfully - not an experience I have had yet). He suggested - at this point, I try to put a poly-acrylic varnish over it - that it sometimes creates a hard layer over the resin underneath (that will never harden). I went out and got a gloss polymer varnish by Golden and decided this would be my last crack at it before it goes in the dumpster.

It actually worked! It hardened all the parts that were gooey underneath and it didn't even feel soft to the touch. Then I got greedy and put another coat on after 3 hours and then began to notice that the parts that were gooey before were now buckling and crackling. I was kicking myself for going for that second coating! But I decided to leave it in the studio overnight and see what the morning would bring.

And it has a happy ending - the buckling and crackling areas are all clear and gone now and it all seems to be hard and dry to the touch. Yea!!!! So it would appear it has been saved from the dumpster.

In the final analysis, I still have not had a successful resin session, it seems to have interacted with the oil paint and dulled down the brighter colors (giving it an unexpected almost antique look), and the surface has lots of wavy texture - not what I was going for, but certainly different and acceptable. You can compare the below photo with some of my earlier blog postings on this project.

Will I paint on a skateboard again? Definitely. But I'm a little resin gun-shy at the moment and it will take some doing to get my courage about that going again. Maybe just a gloss varnish next time (though I hear it yellows after awhile). There's just something unique about resin but right now, it is stronger than me (I am powerless over resin and need to call on a Higher Power....)

Here is the final photo with all the failed layers of resin and the two layers of polymer varnish on top. It's a done deal! Oh, by the way, it's a painting of the Point Reyes Lighthouse coastal area.

Artists United: Spring Open Studios in the Mission

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:26:00 +0000

There is a new effort on the part of over 8 artist collective buildings (all pretty much within walking distance) in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco, to gather their forces together and emerge as the newest and coolest arts district in the city. It's called Mission Artists United and their first Spring Open Studios was this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Everyone opened at the same time and there were big red dots on the sidewalk connecting the buildings.

I am located at one of those buildings. Friday night's Preview night went very well. There was a nice crowd there and I sold several paintings as well as smaller impulse item buys. I made sure to have a full range of price points so everyone could feel like they get something if they wanted to. Saturday the weather was great but the foot traffic was light and the majority of visitors were other artists making the rounds. Which is fine, but just different. Sunday was another good selling day and also a day some friends I had not seen in awhile stopped by to say hello. It was sunny and warm again on Sunday.

It can be an exhausting weekend (and it was) but very worthwhile. I had a great weekend. Often it is only two times a year (Spring and Fall Open Studios) that a large segment of the Ba Area art lovers will come out and make the rounds to see what artists are working on. Counter to much of the apprehension on the news, people still love art and still want to buy art, even if they can't spend what they did a couple of years ago. Art lovers will always find ways to get more art in their life and there are still a lot of people out there who want to support artists making art they love.

Resin Autopsy

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:34:00 +0000

As a followup to my crushing resin experimentation, I have exchanged information with many artists using resin and the best guess seems to be that perhaps my resin - particularly the catalyst, has probably expired.

One artist told me EnviroTex Lite has a shelf life (again, particularly the catalyst hardening agent) of about 1 year, which is not hard to reach if you include the time from when it is made, sitting around until shipped to a retailer, then sitting around until it is purchased (and then mine sat around for probably an additional 9 months until I got around to having the nerve to try using it).

So rather than give up entirely, I am going to buy some new catalyst (now I know I can skip the quart size stuff) and try another round of experimentation.

It was hard to throw away 6 ruined paintings and I have yet to throw away my skateboard landscape painting, but I know I have to at some point here. It is never going to harden. It was a good thought. It looks cool. Too bad it is a gooey shiny surface.

I'll leap in again. I've got to get it right at some point here. The basic lessons I've learned so far are: mask and ventilation, measuring accurately can not be overly emphasized, stirring sufficiently (at least 2 minutes), low humidity/high temperature (about 70 degrees or so), heat gun helps removed bubbles... and resin *does* have an expiration date.

It won the last battle. We shall meet again...

Resin on Oil Paintings Experimentation

noreply@blogger.com (KatieMoe) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:38:00 +0000

I began a project of something I was always kind of afraid to try - pouring epoxy resin over paintings. Wanting a glassy smooth surface on the skateboard painting I did was what inspired me to take the leap. And leap I did.

I had varnished the painting beforehand to create a barrier between the oil paint and the epoxy resin, to avoid color bleed.

Last Thursday, I attempted the first pour. I got my mask and gloves and lots of paper towels. I had both doors on my studio open and a fan blowing for proper ventilation. The stuff really does stink. I used plastic cups to measure the resin and then the hardening agent (it would appear later on that I did not get these so even on a 1:1 ratio as I needed to).

I applied the resin to the skateboard painting. Here is what it looked like after the first pour:

I had some left-over resin so I applied it to a handful of 5x7" paintings I had previously done, to further experiment.

Because I did not create "walls" to dam the pour, it did in fact drip on the towels, which I had to replace several times. You can't tell from this painting, but I had an enormous bubble problem - not big bubbles but tiny tiny little things. I try blowing on it because I had read that carbon dioxide from your breath helps to get rid of the bubbles. But for me this did not work. I also began to see that in patches, the resin was actually repelling from the varnish - and creating places where there was no resin. My 5x7" pieces had all the same problems. But a couple of those had the additional problem of the colors bleeding anyway, even though they were varnished. Ack. I kept the doors open all day and had a small heater running on low to keep the temperature in the studio up. I read that resin needs 70 degrees or more to cure properly and my studio with both doors open is definitely not 70 degrees.

I closed up the studio for the night and left the heater running on low. I came in the next morning, Friday, and saw my bubble and repelling problem was still there. And this yellowish stuff still dripping along the sides (so I replaced all the paper towels again). I came in Saturday morning and was really disappointed to see all the colors in the skateboard painting actually all yellowish or grayish - a definite dulling down of the whole piece. I was SO so disappointed. I didn't like the painting so much anymore (which I suppose is a part of the process of experimenting - letting go of what was before a certain step because it is now no more). Discouraged, I just left the studio and took my two days off (Sunday and Monday).

Came back in and found the resin never hardened properly. I guess even though I was careful about measuring, I must not have had enough hardener because everything was still sticky days later (meaning it will never harden). I don't know what else could have gone wrong!

I brought my encaustic heat gun in to tackle the bubble problem on the second pour (too late to do anything about the first layer of bubbles). I also read online if I heat the bottles of chemicals up a bit before mixing, that also helps with the bubble problem. Not having a way to access hot water in my studio, I left the bottles in front of the heater (and also wanted to get the room back up to a decent temperature before I did the second pour). Did my measuring again (and made sure I leaned a wee bit of putting enough hardener in) and masked and gloved up and went for it once again.

Here is a picture after the second pour:

You can see from the texture on the skateboard that I still do not have a smooth surface but as the bubbles are much less noticeable this time round, I decided now that the texture was at least across the whole piece and "interesting". Oh I can still see bubbles but not so bad. The encaustic heat gun did in fact help - at least for the second pour. The 5x7" pieces leveled out somewhat with the repelling problem and the color bleed problem did not get any worse. Couldn't get rid of all the bubbles but had a better time minimizing the problem with the heat gun.

You can see in a close-up in the photo below, from the light reflections, how uneven the surface is:

And here is an example (if you put aside the light reflections) of how the color bled on one painting (the orange on the left side):

The light reflection in the brown area is actually an area that is still slightly repelling the resin so the coverage there is not as good as in other areas. But what you see is the light reflection - in reality it is just an uneven textured area.

Now I'll wait 24 hours and see if this second pour will harden properly. If it does, good - I'll just learn how to accept all the ways it changed the original paintings and let them stand on their own. If it does not harden, then the whole experiment is a failure. I'd have to either consider trying *another* layer on top of it (which I'm in no mood for at the moment) or just scrap everything, sticky and a mess.

I'm definitely still in the stage of this seems to be much more trouble than its worth, but so many artists seem to handle it fine so I wanted to know for myself.