Teresa Mallen Studio

ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:21:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

big rose with works in progress mini roses

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

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

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

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

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

yum, yum...

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

coloured pencil info

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:47:00 +0000

I have some cp sites loaded with great info to share with you. First up let's talk lightfastness. We all want to create with pencils that will ensure our art's longevity but finding information on all of the pencil brands can be rather overwhelming. Help is on the way! The Coloured Pencil Society of Canada has a new article on their website this month, written by Manon Leclerc. The topic is lightfastness and all aspects of this issue are covered. The best part is that Manon has done extensive research into the pencil brands and has provided all the information we need to check out our favourite pencils. This info is in the middle of the article so make sure you scroll down far enough. I suggest bookmarking this one!

Another site you will enjoy viewing is the home of Colored Pencil Magazine. Issues of this magazine are available in print or as a download. You can also have a have a free preview of the January issue (since writing this earlier today, the February issue is now also available). It is worth checking out the January issue just to see the gorgeous cover art created by Ester Roi. Ester is featured in this issue and if you haven't heard about Ester's work or her wonderful invention, the Icarus Board then you can read the article as well as visit her website. If you don't know, the Icarus Board allows cp artists to work over heat - the wax binder in wax based pencils softens allowing the work to be burnished without solvents and without using heavy pressure. Ester has a terrific website chock full of beautiful artwork in her galleries, she has lots of info on technique and you can link to her blog. If that weren't enough, Ester has youtube videos!!!! Do check out all that Ester has for us to view. You will come away enchanted and inspired!

Okay, back to the Colored Pencil Magazine, well if you are familiar with Alyona Nickelsen's work (she is the author of the Colored Pencil Painting Bible) then you will be pleased to see that Alyona has signed on to answer readers questions every month. Alyona is another woman with a very comprehensive website and it too is worth a look. She offers on-line classes, has a newsletter, etc.

I hope you enjoy checking out these resources. I truly love looking at what other cp artists are getting up to and all of this is simply a click away. Happy surfing folks!

Motivation Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:08:00 +0000

Dealing with loss can mess with our motivation.

Whether the loss of a loved one, or perhaps the loss of an aspect of our health, the loss of a job or perhaps the loss of a dream that we have held onto for years...loss comes in many forms. We all experience loss in one way or another.

How do we keep pressing on when we feel burdened by the weight of loss?

George Sand wrote "One knows what one has lost, but not what one may find." That's it in a nutshell. We simply don't know what we may find. The truth is most of us deal with painful situations at various times in our lives, yet it would serve us well to remember that life is also filled with a lot of good. As this year progresses, I am hanging onto this wonderous promise - that right now I can't possibly know all of the good that is coming my way. So, I ask you, are you looking forward to what you may find?

peony petals finished

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:14:00 +0000

peony petals, copyright Teresa Mallen, coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper, 8" x 8"

I haven't thought up a name for this one yet but here is my latest peony petals piece, pretty much finished. I will no doubt tweak it here and there before signing my name and scanning it for posting to my website. The contrast isn't as good as it should be in the photo above but once I started fiddling with that then the colours went crazy - you know how it goes, suffice to say it looks brighter in person.

The eleventh day into a new year...I am a gal who loves a fresh start and a new year seems to be the perfect time to wipe the slate clean. Our journals and day planners are bare and I relish the opportunity to embrace a new beginning.

I must confess that 2011 was a bumpier ride than I would have liked. There were unexpected challenges and loss. Quite honestly I am very ready to see the back end of that year and to welcome a new one.

I have been thinking much in past months about goals and such and the other night I curled up in front of a fire, with my journal and a glass of wine and I got myself sorted. I planned, prioritized, dreamed and dared to visualize a very bright future. As I type, 2012 offers 355 new days, neatly parceled into weeks, months and seasons. Such a delicious chunk of time, of life filled with lush possibilities and gifts I can't even imagine. I am ready. Very ready.

I am not sure what my next new piece shall be but I have some ideas. I hope to get some time later today to sift through my reference photos. In the meantime, I have some volunteer work to attend to. I am on the executive of a group that puts together a twice a year Studio Tour. Today we shall go over last years finances, plan the next tour, jury in new artists, etc. It is always enjoyable to get together with fellow artists and I am looking forward to brainstorming ways to leverage this tour to new heights of success.

Have you planned out your new year yet? Remember to dream big!

new works in progress

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:01:00 +0000

peony petals, work in progress, coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper, 8" x 8"

I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday season. Things are great here. I am not a hustle and bustle kind of gal so the last place anyone would find me is out hitting the shops for after Christmas bargains. Instead, I have been spending delightful days in my studio.

The above image is of a piece that I started this week. It will become part of my 'petals' series. Once again I am working from my stash of peony pictures as a drawing reference. I wanted to work small for a change and this one is just 8 inches by 8 inches. I am also enjoying a return to Stonehenge paper after months of working on sanded pastel surfaces. It is fun to change things up now and again.

While I normally don't have several pieces on the go at once, the drawing below is one that I am getting back to after a bit of an absence.

Solomon's Seal, work in progress, coloured pencil on Colourfix paper, 8" x 8"

This drawing of a Solomon's Seal plant is rather small as well. It has been shelved for a while as I had tried different approaches to the background and I wasn't satisfied. This morning I erased most of my funky background and decided to try going with something more simple. I have just started adding some replacement pigment and I plan on heating the wax to fill in the tooth of the paper. I shall keep you posted on how this progresses.

Finally here is a fun mixed media piece that I have been noodling with. I am working on a sheet of Colourfix pastel paper and the art itself will be cropped to 22 inches by 15.5 inches. Right now I have a base of watercolour paint down as well as some coloured pencil. Oh, and the image is my interpretation of the underside of a yellow mushroom - something for my abstracted realism series.

mushroom gills (abstracted) , work in progress, mixed media, 22" x 15.5"

So, there is much fun going on in the studio. Winter is my favourite time to log in hours working as I am unable to grow food or tend gardens and I am not distracted by the long lovely daylight hours. Having said that, I am now going to grab my snowshoes for a walk in the forest before we put the goats into the barn at dusk. We had a winter snowstorm yesterday and every branch is coated with snow and topped with sparkling crystals. I simply can't stay inside any longer. :-)

Happy New Year everyone. I wish you peace and many blessings in 2012!

you're invited

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 02:41:00 +0000

This coming weekend, November 26th and 27th my studio shall be open to the public and you're invited! If you are in the Ottawa area I do hope you will take the time to stop in and see what I have been up to in recent months. This open studio is part of the Red Trillium Studio Tour (you can click here to see the brochure and view the map). Thirty-nine artists shall be exhibiting their original art and crafts in fourteen studio locations. Guest artists at my home shall be Retta Rive who creates fabric art and Kristin Trudeau of Little Lamb Creations, maker of fun and functional baby accessories.

This tour is being held four weeks before Christmas and I am sure you will find lots of terrific,one of a kind, gift items for those you love. Please note that I offer a layaway plan as a payment option. Perhaps you might wish to set aside something special for yourself this year! Included in my exhibition shall be a few pieces being offered at special prices - all part of my intention to keep my studio closets nice and roomy. Browsers are welcome too of course.

The tour is a wonderful opportunity for us artists to exhibit our work before the public and it is good for us to come out of our studio caves once in a while to function amongst society. Okay, maybe I am just speaking of myself here. :-) I really do enjoy spending time with our animals but it will be a treat to talk to humans, especially folks that really like art.

This event is being held on both Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 to 5:00 and there are refreshments served at most studios/homes. So, mark your calendars and don't forget. I look forward to seeing you! And if you read this blog, introduce yourself and let me know you read this stuff. Feedback is welcome and it is always good to know there is a friendly soul at the end of the mouse click.

Okay, must dash, I have a studio to turn into a gallery and furniture to empty out of the living room so my guest artists can set up. And some cleaning to do... yikes...

(P.S. If you subscribe to my newsletter you should have just received my latest issue. If you didn't see it in your inbox, please check your spam folder. You may need to enter my email address into your address book in order to avoid the newsletter getting whisked off to the reject pile. If you don't see it, contact me and we shall get things sorted. Maybe you have a changed your email address. If you don't already subscribe and you would like to get the latest news from my studio (I only send out a newsletter three or four a year) you can sign up at my website,www.teresamallenstudio.com or you can go directly to the sign up page by clicking here. Thanks!)

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

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:46:00 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

picking apples on a perfect fall day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coloured Pencil Society of Canada, coloured pencil resources

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:59:00 +0000

I am delighted to present to you: the Coloured Pencil Society of Canada. Did you even know there was one? I am happy to tell you that there is! The society is under a year old so if you haven't heard of it, that isn't too surprising. Actually the society was loosely formed many years ago but it never got off the ground, at least not on a national level.I actually talked about the society to the founder and current President Gordon Webster back in the spring of 2007. It has taken quite a while for the organization to get fully launched.But fully launched this group is. There is a website you can visit: http:colouredpencilcanada.ca and the latest big announcement is that details for the first annual national exhibition, scheduled for the summer of 2012 have now been released. You can read all about it on the website. The juror shall be none other than Canadian artist Bernard Poulin, author of The Complete Colored Pencil Book (as well as other books). Mr. Poulin is VP Emeritus of the Coloured Pencil Society of America and this year he was the juror, awards judge and guest artist for the United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society.

I am very fortunate that the exhibition shall start off here in Ottawa. I shall be lucky enough to go see it in person. There are plans for the exhibition to travel to Toronto and Montreal and if that actually occurs, that would be incredible. As for entering, you bet I shall, I feel the pressure already! Bernard shall be a formidable judge to go before, but then so he should be.

I encourage you to visit the websites of these various cp organizations (click on my highlighted text to use the links). These sites are chalk full of info, art and links to artists. While you are at it, check out the Australian Coloured Pencils Network, the Coloured Pencil Society of Denmark, and the Japan Colored Pencil Society. All of these organizations are very young and they have accomplished a lot in a very short time period. The oldest organization is the Colored Pencil Society of America founded 21 years ago and this year the UK group celebrates their 10th anniversary.

Resources such as those pictured above can be purchased from the Colored Pencil Society of America. The Signature Showcase book features art from all of the members who had earned signature status prior to the book's publication. I earned CPSA signature status the year the book came out (last year) so I shall have to wait for the next volume. :-) DVDs of the work that is juried into the CPSA exhibitions can be purchased as well. If you become a member you will receive a copy of the CPSA magazine To the Point. Back issues can be ordered on line as well.

The medium of coloured pencil is thriving and growing in popularity and awareness. How wonderful is that? My congratulations go out to all of the hardworking folks at the Coloured Pencil Society of Canada. Your volunteer efforts are shining for all of us to see.

new website, new date for open studio workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Cellophane Symphony, 14" x 23.5"
Coloured Pencil on Colourfix Paper
Copyright Teresa Mallen

At long last, my new website has been uploaded and is ready for viewing, click here to check it out. I am delighted to finally have a site with up to date information and images. My website has been needing such a complete overhaul that I decided to create a new one. I had stopped adding new material to the old site while the new one was in progress and as a result many pieces from 2010 and 2011 have not been available for viewing. For example, my work entitled Cellophane Symphony (shown on left) would only have been seen by someone reading my blog.

I confess I am not 100% happy. I have viewed my site on laptop screens and it looks fine but on my husband's desktop, the colours are not what I had planned. Also, Google Chrome is adding an underline to the text that accompanies my gallery images. So the site may get an adjustment or two over time, but the way it is shall suffice for now. I have checked all of the hyperlinks and PayPal buttons but if you find a link that doesn't work, please let me know. Thanks!

Now for the fun news: I am offering an Open Studio Workshop on Saturday September 24, 2011. That is just a week and a half away, so if you are in the Ottawa area and interested, please visit my brand spanking new website to check out all of the details. Click here to get to the classes page. Workshop enrolment is very limited. I want to make sure every one gets the assistance they would like. Therefore to avoid disappointment don't delay in registering.

The workshop shall be in the afternoon, from 1:00 - 5:00 and our coloured pencil fun shall include yummy goodies and ~~booze~~, I mean refreshments, hehe...okay just a wee bit of wine, honestly... :-) If you have never attended an Open Studio Workshop before, here is what you can expect. You can arrive late and leave early if you need to. The atmosphere is relaxed and spa like (soothing music, candles lit and those refreshments I mentioned). You bring something to work on and/or perhaps something that is finished that you want critiqued. You can be at the analysing a photo reference stage, the sketching stage, or the final tweaking stage. You can work on exploring different techniques that you have learned from me or elsewhere. I am here to assist and guide you. I shall answer your questions and offer tips. Basically, no matter where you are in your journey as a coloured pencil artist you are welcome to bring your issues and troubles and together we shall get you sorted out and back on track.

I like these open studio workshops because I really enjoy helping people who need to simply get some fresh insights, a bit of help and perhaps some encouragement. It always amazes me what just a bit of advice and assistance can do for someone. It is very gratifying to see people leave motivated and excited about continuing with their art.

Here is an interesting find on this morning's walk...

This interesting leaf has an unusual growth. The dark sac thing is surprisingly soft (no it isn't a nut). I have never seen anything like it before. Also, found on the walk today was some fresh bear scat (fancy work for poop). It was on the forest trail right behind the house. My dog tracked the new scent around to where the bear's favourite apple tree is. The apples are gone so the bear was out of luck. I have seen three bears in my many years of hiking and trail walking and each experience was a positive one, i.e. the bear had no interest in eating me. Black bears are a lot smaller than you might think. Most people conjure up images of the grizzlies they see in movies. Anyway, I shall keep on my alert so I can give the bear a respectful wide berth should we happen upon it and I shall leave the bird feeders empty for a while.

a date with Caravaggio

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:33:00 +0000

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

Time was running out, Caravaggio was leaving town, well at least his paintings were. The exhibition was ending on the 11th so last Friday, on the 9th, I hightailed it off downtown for Teresa Day (regular readers might recall a recent Jonah Day, same idea only now it was my turn).

The National Gallery of Canada (here in Ottawa) had a summer long exhibition of Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome. The exhibition was an exploration of how one brilliant and temperamental artist changed the course of art history in a career that spanned less than two decades. Five years in the making, the exhibition brought together a dozen of Caravaggio’s masterpieces along with more than 40 paintings by other great artists of his time who looked to him for inspiration.

As for an actual date with Caravaggio - well that would have been way too scary. I learned that he was successfully sued for libel, had a hot temper, he killed a man in a brawl, escaped from the authorities looking for him, later seriously wounded another man, was imprisoned for this but escaped a month later, went into exile at the home of an old friend and while there was able to further his art career by completing some prestigious and lucrative commissions! Upon leaving a tavern one night, Caravaggio was ambushed and violently attacked, an attack from which he never full recovered. Basically the sort of guy your mom warned you about!

Only some 70 works by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio still survive, and those are rarely sent on loan by their owners. Not one of his paintings is held in a public collection in Canada. I consider myself most fortunate to have seen this exhibition.

Well it was a grand day - I toured Caravaggio's work, watched a film of his bio, scooted through the galleries permanent collections and feasted my eyes on originals by Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Cezanne, the Group of Seven...etc. etc...On and on it went. Yum, yum... I get visually weary of seeing great art reduced to posters, other print media and the internet. It is quite refreshing to stand in front of originals - to soak in the true colours, the size, the brush strokes. I also enjoyed experiencing the progression of art history as I viewed Caravaggio's art from the 1600s right on up to the contemporary work of today. After I left the Gallery, I walked a short distance down Sussex Dr. and popped into a few private art galleries, more wonderful art.

And I bought a rock! Isn't this 'Ruby in Fushite' lovely? It is only three inches long but oh the patterns and colours...I bought it at a groovy wee shop on Sussex called Jade. They sell gem stones and jewelry. This particular rock 'spoke to me', I could see all sorts of abstract paintings in the patterns so I treated myself and brought it home to inspire me.

Ruby Fushite

And I met a kindred spirit - the woman working in the store. When making my purchase, I shared that I could already see this rock inspiring a future series of abstracts. Her face lit up and she got quite excited. She started to enthusiastically talk about a Russian painter friend that lived with her and her family for a year. He apparently painted her a gorgeous watercolour abstract. Later, after being hired to work in this store, she found a stone that contained the exact colours and patterns of the painting. How cool is that? We had made a connection. We went on to spend many minutes looking over the rocks together and oohed and ahhed at their beauty. I told her how such patterns shocked me with their beauty, like the patterns found in wood. She looked at me and exclaimed, "Oh don't get me started on wood grain, I love wood grain patterns." And suddenly we were off on that topic for a while. Yup, a kindred spirit alright...had a great visit...

I should have asked her if she was into cloud watching! (would have never got out of the store, LOL). This sunset makes the sky look on fire.

So what else has been happening? Gee, we have had a bear visit a couple of times. He/she mangled and chewed an old apple tree located about 30 feet from our house. The bear was determined to get all of the apples. The tree has now been 'pruned' rather harshly but it should survive this. I do wonder if there might be a problem with all of the bark damage where the bear seriously chewed the surface. I hope not. The woods are full of fallen acorns for a bear to consume and it seems like he/she has moved on. Of course when walking in the woods these days, I am being more alert to any sounds of breaking twigs, anything that signals that the dog and I are not alone...Interesting notion though, the idea of having to consume lots of calories in the fall, like a bear does, in order to make it through winter. I think I would be up for the challenge... :-) Did I mention I baked an apple crisp this afternoon?...hehe...

I have had some time wasted dealing with the property where my parents lived. There has been some trespassing activity that needed attention, we had an pitiful offer come in (got to toss that one back, we didn't even try to negotiate, I have never done that before but it felt good) and I have spent hours emailing our agent (whose performance I am having to start to 'manage') as well as emailing/talking to my sister. Unfortunately it isn't all cloud watching and art around here.

And woo-hoo last night was opera night! Another trip downtown, this time to the National Arts Centre for an Opera Lyra production of Pagliacci (Anyone thinking of the Seinfeld 'Pagliacci' episode with Crazy Joe Davola as the clown? I forget all sorts of things but something like a TV sitcom episode stays stuck in my mind. Sheesh...) The opera was fabulous as usual and folks, Joanna G'froerer - principal flute player was in the house. Wee-hee! Every year we have front row, centre, season's tickets and from here I can lean over and look down into the orchestra pit. Being in the presence of Joanna, so renowned and so talented that she is, is a real treat. Okay, I am a flute player, not in her realm of course but gosh, to hear her play live, just feet from me, well I get goose bumps I tell you!

This has turned into a long post so my announcements and such shall have to wait. More tomorrow...

gifts of August

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:41:00 +0000

the heat and sun of August coaxes forth flowers, an endless variety of form and colour

plants and trees bear fruit

August gifts us with so much...warm winds, a barley moon, cooler evenings, needing a quilt, watermelon, sunflowers, peach pie, stacks of fluffy clouds, the smell of second cut hay, those first ripe tomatoes, sweet corn...

meadows are filled with wildflowers, different grasses, clover

and the garden harvest begins

What were your favourite moments of this month?

farewell August; welcome September...

Motivation Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:21:00 +0000

Do you ever feel like you have too many dreams and too little time? Does it sometimes feel like where you want to go with all of your creative goals and plans is simply too far off - so far off that it starts to seem unattainable?

All of the time you have invested in pursuing your dreams is not wasted. A simple way to boost your motivation is to look at how far you have come with your dreams already.

Remember when you were a student and you dreamed of the day that you would be out working and your school loans would be paid off? Remember when you rented an apartment, how you longed to buy your own place so you could do what you wanted to with the paint on the walls and you wanted to have a yard? Remember how you were so tired of having to get everywhere by bus and you longed to own car? Remember how you dreamed of being in a relationship, perhaps dreamed of having a family? No matter what we have wanted in our past, chances are we have realized a lot of our dreams over the years. It is easy to take all of this for granted. But have a look around you. I'll bet you will see that your life now is full of fulfilled dreams.

And so will your life in the future! Simply keep pursuing those creative goals, keep making those plans and crafting ideas. Do the work and sooner than you think you will find you have more dreams to add to your fulfilled list. Stop looking at the clock and the calendar, just do what you can today...it all happens one step at a time anyway, right?

(for convenient reading, all previous Motivation Monday posts can be located in one spot, simply click the Motivation Monday banner in the right hand side bar)

yummy art books

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:40:00 +0000

Some delightful finds...

The other day my husband and I cleared our schedules and had a date afternoon. We headed off to the town of Carleton Place, just outside of Ottawa. Our destination was Wool Growers, a fabulous livestock supply store. Okay, so we had an errand we wanted to run but the date part was two other stops - Ballygiblins for a very late lunch (highly recommended if you live in the Ottawa area and can make it there) and The Book Gallery. The book store is located in a very old Victorian brick house and the attached renovated storage buildings and it houses over 100,000 titles of used books.

Of course I spent my time in the art section and I came away with some books that reflect my artistic passions - illustration, botanicals, nature art and books on art that flat out makes me swoon. My loot consists of: Janet Marsh's Nature Diary, Glen Loates A Brush With Life, Arthur Rackman A Life With Illustration by James Hamilton, The Art of Andrew Wyeth, and The Complete Writings of Emily Carr. If you are not familiar with the illustration of Arthur Rackman, the art of the Wyeths (a very talented family) nor the art of Emily Carr (one of my personal inspirations with regards to her life journey as well as her art) then I encourage you to check these folks out. (all highlighted text in the post has hyperlinks to other sites).

I don't know how independent book sellers stay in business. Who would want to have to compete with Amazon and other discount sellers? It felt very good to support a local business and to give some lovely art books a new home. I am looking forward to my next visit as I didn't have time to look through the gardening and cooking books.

When we returned home at around 5:30, the goats were all up on their play structure staring out into the field. The fox was back! The chickens were blissfully ignorant, eating all over the property in front of the house. Mark scared the fox away again...it ran off rather reluctantly as it was hunting mice. It continued to be a feral evening. Our dog managed to catch a meadow vole while out on his evening walk and he chomped it down, we sat out in the meadow with the goats until dark and two deer came out into the field and watched us, the resident owl started hooting at dusk and later coyotes howled. Wildlife abounds here and we love it.

Now for a few pics I took the other evening whilst heading out to the barn for evening chores. My new hobbies, cloud watching and now cloud photography...Did you know there was a Cloud Appreciation Society? I didn't but thanks to fellow blogger Ann Nemcosky, I know now. Thank you Ann. Their website has inspired me to start a new photo file of cloud photography.

Yesterday the clouds were so beautiful I found it hard to stay focused on my work! :-) Perhaps I need to explain that for two decades I lived in houses that were surrounded by forest. Lovely, most definitely yes, but it sure was difficult to grow veggies without much sun and I never saw the sky. Ah, but now that we have moved here, I see sky and I am very smitten - storm clouds, snow clouds, big fat summer clouds, it is all so beautiful. Why not add some beauty to your life and make time for a bit of cloud watching?

The fox was back yesterday afternoon. He/she was once again hunting mice in the field, was stared down by goats and ran away when it heard my voice. The chickens were once again oblivious. Right now a cull of the flock doesn't seem such a bad thing - two hens have started laying eggs in an outdoor manger (which has a lid, the goats eat from between slats on the side) and somebody is pooping in the nesting boxes. My husband has re-engineered the manger to thwart the chickens and there is much annoyed clucking going on. Of course, Mr./Ms. Fox would no doubt not get these offenders but probably eat our well behaved best layers... :-)

more pen/ink/cp pieces

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:08:00 +0000

pen/ink/coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper, 4" x 6"
copyright Teresa Mallen

I have finished off seven more of my 4 inch x 6 inch pen/ink/cp drawings. Of course they will look much better when they are presented with a mat so the ragged paper edges don't show. They are enjoyable to do and I like that I can have a finished work quite quickly. Sometimes my larger pieces can seem to drag on a bit... :-)

Harvest season is upon us as veggies ripen in the garden. We are also storing up food for winter of a different sort - hay for the goats. A year's worth of hay was delivered Saturday morning.

Looks like a lot but it is only 200 bales.

I grew up on a dairy farm and the conveyor is actually a smaller one that we used on that farm. I am delighted to inform you that I shifted that entire stack of hay myself last Saturday! My husband was stacking the hay in the mow.

Two hundred bales by real farming standards is nothing, just two wagon loads. If there is one thing I learned on the farm while growing up, it was how to handle hay. During my teen years, my mother and I unloaded tens of thousands of bales (from a wagon, not spread all over a lawn - took a lot of walking on Saturday). I had no brothers and there was no hired help. So, yup, this wee pile was a piece of cake and I loved every minute of it.

To this farm girl, the smell of hay is divine and it is very satisfying to know that your animals are set for the winter, no matter how deep the snow nor how severe the cold may get. Did I mention that it was 29 degrees (84F) with 100% humidity the day we put up the hay? And that these bales weigh between 50 - 60 pounds each? I have no idea the amount of water I lost in sweat and my face was the colour of a very ripe tomato but I got the last bale sent up to the loft about 10 minutes before a rain storm blew in. Wet hay is ruined hay.

As a added bonus, I find all of these farming activities provide great therapy for wrists that suffer from too much typing on the computer. A session of planting garden seedlings or pulling weeds, mucking out stalls or shifting bales seems to exercise my hands in a very thorough way. We truly weren't meant to be sedentary creatures and our bodies often remind us! So yeah for farm work. :-)

a mystery

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Well it had to be done. Sorting pencils and finding ones that need replacing is a 'yawn' task if there ever was one, for me anyway.

I did have two surprises though and one of them is a mystery. First of all, I was quite surprised at the number of pencils I have to purchase! It has been a very long time since I replenished my stash but I hadn't realized just how long.

The second surprise occurred when I checked my bin of neutrals. I discovered short pencils in colours I don't use!!! Honestly, cool grey 70%, 20%, 10%, french grey 30%, 50%, 20%, warm grey 10% etc. (Prismacolor's Premier line has oodles of greys if you didn't know).I am puzzled! I don't like using grey pencils - I prefer to make my own greys/neutrals by using layers of other colours, like painters do. And just what art have I done in the last year that would have included greyish areas anyway? Humm...none... Soooo, what's up? A colouring intruder? A ghost with a penchant for grey? Weird goings on around here, I say...

Here is a peek at the humpback hosta piece...

work in progress, cps on Colourfix paper, 6.5" x 23"
copyright Teresa Mallen

There is much tweaking to be done, some dark areas to lighten and some modelling to do but it is getting there. In my pencil sort out, I discovered a pencil I didn't know I had. I thought I needed to purchase it in order to work further on the background. So with my new found pencil in hand, I settled in to work on the upper background. The photo is a tad dark and doesn't show the subtle colour changes between the upper and lower areas nor does it show well all of the colours that are in the background. Trust me they are there. :-) I really enjoy using several colours in my backgrounds as I think it gives the work a vibrancy and an energetic quality that increases the closer you move towards the piece.

I like the change of pace backgrounds give. No fussy detail work, just flat out colouring. While one might think a 23" wide piece would require quite a bit of time to lay down several layers of colour, it doesn't. Over the years, hours of practice has earned me the ability to lay down colour in quick even strokes. If you work in cps, you might recall how in the early days you had to concentrate to get a consistent even stroke. As I used to tell my students, it will become automatic one day, just wait and see! Anyway, I dashed this off while listening to Donizetti's opera Maria Stuarda on 'Saturday Afternoon at the Opera' on CBC radio and I was done long before poor Queen Mary of Scotland met her doomed fate with her executioner. Goodness, as the confrontations between the two cousins, Queen Elizabeth I of England and Queen Mary heated up and insults were exchanged (in Italian of course) and as the drama of passion, betrayal, love and death unfolded, my pencils were flying with the excitement. Isn't it funny how we can get all caught up in a story, even when we know the plot and the outcome?

For drama of a quieter sort, I have been taking reference photos for some landscape pieces that I might do some day. So many ideas, but only so many hours...

I live on the Carp Ridge in rural Ottawa (Canada) and just a few minutes from my home there is a huge tract of land (hundreds of acres) that is publicly owned and protected from development. It is a wild rocky place filled with deep ponds, some the size of lakes. Here is a small study I did a couple of years ago, inspired by a fall outing.

And here are a few pictures taken while on a recent hike.

Carp Ridge Cuties, two of them but you can't see my husband... :-)

studio update

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:36:00 +0000

hosta leaves work in progress, coloured pencil on Colourfix paper, 6.5" x 23"
copyright Teresa Mallen

Here is the Humpback Hosta Leaves piece as it looks now. There is much to be done but I am pleased so far. I am letting it sit with me for awhile so my subconscious can work out where I want it to go next. Also, I am unable to continue with the background as I am out of the pencils that I want to use. I haven't been to the art supply store in ages so I guess this is to be expected. Time to draw up a shopping list!

While allowing time for the above piece to percolate in my noggin, I moved on to a different project, one of my first art loves actually, pen and ink. I love to draw and I love working in ink. I get lost in a happy place when I am crosshatching shapes and values! :-) I am working on a series of simple little illustrations, done in pen and ink, coloured with cps of course which shall be offered up for sale as matted originals. (sorry for the dark picture, I fiddled with it but this is as good as it is getting)

Pen/ink/coloured pencil originals, copyright Teresa Mallen

They are conveniently sized in a 4 x 6 inch format and with a mat will fit nicely into a store bought 8 x 10 inch frame (the customer buys the frame of their choice).Very affordable and would make a great Christmas gift! Yes, I am preparing for a pre-Christmas open studio sale and a November studio tour. I am even thinking of images for holiday cards. I don't mind thinking of Christmas while in July. I really like winter and I have not let big business ruin my experience of the Christmas season. Might even put on some Christmas music while I work on them - I can hear your groans! LOL

Well it is early afternoon and a perfect summer day so I am leaving the studio. I am going to scoot the vacuum round the place and after that I intend to head to the meadow to pick some daisies, brown eyed Susans and Queen Anne's lace to arrange in vases. After that I am going to weed my huge front flower bed. Somewhere in there I shall squeeze in time to brush the goats (they love being brushed) and time to sit on the veranda with a glass of wine while cloud watching. I love watching clouds...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jonah Day

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:14:00 +0000

Jonah on the front lawn

yesterday was Jonah Day

Jonah eating a lily stalk

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

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

two Alpines and Jonah's mom

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

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

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

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

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

reminded me of something

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:47:00 +0000

Stuck in a rut, predictable? I like to think of it as style - my fondness for the horizontal format. This is what I am working on now, the paper is Colourfix (sanded pastel paper), and the image is 6 1/2" high and 23" long. I think of this piece as a cousin to Neptune's Leaves (NL can be seen in my right sidebar and a segment of it is in my header). The main similarity is that the background is going to be a gradation combo of aquamarine and teal-ish colours. Also, the subject matter is based on leaves which shall be funked up according to my imagination.

The inspiration comes from pictures I took of one of my hosta plants. The shape of the leaves and the graceful curving lines were what got me. As I looked at my small preliminary sketch of these two leaf shapes, I kept having the thought that the lines in the leaves reminded me of something. Once I worked my drawing up to the 23 inch long version, I saw it - the lines remind me of the curved ridges on the throat of a humpback whale! Humpback Hostas, how is that for an obtuse title? :-)

As you probably can tell, I am letting the tooth of the paper show so that I can benefit from the glow of the red paper. By the time I have all my layers on, the tooth shall be more covered more but the red shall still be influencing the look of the piece. No burnishing here. My favourite medium of art work to look at is pastel so when working on sanded papers, I like my work to have a sense of pastel about them.

Summer is whizzing by, it shall be August in a few days. I was sorting some garden pics last night. When I saw the lilac pictures, I was struck by how having all the lilac bushes in bloom seemed such a long time ago...I would like to hit some sort of summer pause button!

remembering mellow

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:14:00 +0000

Two mornings ago, quite unexpectedly, I found myself transported to a deep mellow mood. It happened while I was in the barn. I was sitting next to Rainah, milking her, when the music on the radio was interrupted by the morning news. The UN was declaring a famine in Somalia. Words poured forth - drought, civil strife, tens of thousands dying, mostly children, an estimated 10 million people on the move seeking water, food and shelter. In the peaceful moments of sitting in the breeze coming in the open barn doors, stroking the side of my sweet goat my mind struggled to grasp the concept of millions of people wandering a drought parched land seeking sustenance. I sat, humbled by the fresh milk in the pail, humbled by the knowledge that just feet from the barn there were freshly laid eggs to gather from the hen house, a vast vegetable garden was thriving with enough vegetables to feed us for a year, a cold frame of salad greens was overflowing, ready to be eaten. Oh the abundance of it all. Who were we to be so blessed?

Immediately, in that moment, a deep awareness of how petty my days concerns were consumed me. How could anything I face that day possibly compare to not having enough water or food? Have you ever stood in front of a full pantry or refrigerator and looked at all that food, whining that you didn't know what you felt like eating and perhaps being too lazy to cook something? I have.

I spent the rest of my time in the barn in a sort of haze. Everywhere I looked I saw abundance, blessing, stored hay and grain to feed our animals, a lush summer landscape in the yard and fields, no drought here. Back in the house this mellow mood of deep peace and gratitude stayed with me. Time seemed to have slowed. Beethoven's Symphony #6 (the Pastoral, one of my favourites) came on the radio. Just how much bliss could one take? I stopped what I was doing and listened. Yoga seemed the best accompaniment and a few poses later, that crick in my neck that I had awakened with was gone.

The day continued like that and it was profound.

Two days later, I am stilll haunted by that news cast. I am also haunted by our abundance. I am a gal that practices staying in the present moment and counting my blessings isn't a new revelation but the depth of my recent awarement is something I wish to hang onto.

Simple things like a loaf of freshly baked bread and a pile of just harvested rhubarb waiting to be made into a cake takes on new meaning when you try to comprehend starvation. How casually we voice phrases like, "I'm dying of thirst." Yet, somewhere in the world, literally thousands are.

So, I seek to remember this mellow mood and to maintain that peace. Life has thown a few curve balls in the past two days and I could use a strong awareness of peace and contentment. My studio time has been eaten up by a real estate deal that has unraveled, something beyond my control. (Some of you may recall my ongoing challenges with settling my parents' estate.) There are more issues here than I wish to recount but suffice to say that it takes a great deal of my time, requires me to be out of town and in general uses up a significant amount of energy.

Consciously seeking balance is a life line to sanity. My tag line (in the header) of adding beauty to life isn't some trite little phrase. It is how I survive the rough bits. Something as simple as trolling the roadside ditches to gather daisies, chickory and Queen Anne's Lace and filling my home with their beauty keeps me grounded in the wonders of this journey.

Enjoying the hollyhocks outside my kitchen window helps too! Whatever you are facing today, I wish you peace. If necessary, go snip some ditch weeds, it helps. Most importantly though, lets remember that it isn't all about us. If you can give to an aid organization to help the victims of this famine, I encourage you to do so. We simply have so much...

he has it covered, sort of

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:48:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:03:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:04:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:24:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:05:00 +0000

'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

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:18:00 +0000

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! :-)