by kathleen-obrien | Apr 30, 2025 | 4 seasons, studio updates
In this Mid-Spring Studio Update I share what’s new since mid-winter. This is another favorite time of year, when we see the joyful return of spring perennials, and with hope plant seeds and welcome the light half of the year – Beltane, May Eve! (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Feb 20, 2025 | collectors
“Just want you to see what a lovely part of my life you are.” (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Jan 30, 2025 | studio updates
I am grateful for the creativity that bubbles up from mystery. This cold snowy season has provided long quiet days to proceed with creative activities. I’d like to share what’s going on. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Dec 31, 2024 | year ReView

Spring Flowers and fauna
Just in the nick of time I looked back at this incredible year and wrote the ReView, it’s always satisfying. Do you practice this as well? (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Nov 25, 2024 | new art
The best title for this diptych eludes me, so I’m calling it “Breadcrumbs” which refers to an assignment to follow the breadcrumbs suggested by Nicolas Wilton. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Oct 30, 2024 | 4 seasons, Open Studio, studio updates
Whether you celebrate The Night of the Ancestors (Samhuin), Dias de la Muertos, Halloween, or all of them, Happy Mid-Autumn Celebrations! (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Oct 15, 2024 | new art, Open Studio
If lilacs can bloom in October, certainly I can honor that by memorializing the occasion. Funny, I had started correcting “Lilac Enchantment” in the summer, maybe because I missed them blooming at their usual April appearance. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 30, 2024 | new art
The Long Journey Home is a series of four acrylic paintings. What began as expressions of feelings, with no thought of what the paintings would become, (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 30, 2024 | artist book, artists
Pocket Books is a collaboration with Ellen Reinkraut that combines affirmations she sent to me many years ago. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 22, 2024 | 4 seasons, artist book
Continuing with the equinox ~ equinox project, I was happy to be back home and get back to work. Maybe I was trying to create a cool respite from the heat. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 18, 2024 | 4 seasons, artist book
Continuing with the equinox ~ equinox project, I must have been imagining how the road to Colorado on the Pony Express would look the following week.
(more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 15, 2024 | 4 seasons, artist book
Continuing with the equinox ~ equinox project, one thing I began to consider was painting over some collaged watercolors. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 11, 2024 | 4 seasons, artist book
Continuing with the equinox ~ equinox project, most of early June was devoted to painting the series “The Long Path Home” (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 8, 2024 | 4 seasons, artist book
Continuing with the equinox ~ equinox project, here I was trying different palettes the stirred me towards one I’m still using for series; Cerulean Blue, Naphtha red light, light magenta and quinachridone gold. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 4, 2024 | artist book, retrospective
Continuing with the equinox ~ equinox project, I remember being so in love with the spring. Everything was so fresh, (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 1, 2024 | artist book, retrospective
For an equinox ~ equinox project, I have challenged myself to do a blog series about my daily art practice (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Jul 14, 2024 | studio updates
Shall we say it is an interesting mid-summer season of first harvest? Here on our little patch of earth food and flowers are coming early and passing quickly. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Jun 27, 2024 | celebrations, inspiration, retrospective
My chapter, From Inner Realms to Outer Worlds: An Artist’s Time Journey, in Geography of Time, Place, Movement and Networks, Volume 1: Mapping Time Journey Experiences, has just been published by Springer Nature Switzerland. My husband, Greg Orth’s chapter Amateur Archaeology and the Mystery of Daniel Boone’s Footprints: Persistent Myths Collide with Native American Indian Archaeology in Volume 2 has also been published! (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | May 1, 2024 | studio updates
Fresh Pastures, New Vistas
The birds are welcoming the light half of the year, the lusty month of May, it’s Mid-Spring, Beltain, a favorite time for many folks – how pristine the air and flowers are! The next season is open for fresh pastures, new vistas in the studio and garden. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Jan 31, 2024 | studio updates
I love mid-winter, a beautiful time to celebrate all the beloved Aquarians in my life – soul friends, grandfather, father, grandsons, and niece. How many (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Dec 12, 2023 | year ReView
As the year rolls along, the December rituals unfold. One of the most enjoyable practices is to compose a year review. The more I gather ideas from calendars, blog posts and notebooks, the more I appreciate my projects and bodies of work. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Dec 5, 2023 | artist book, classes
Color Book Class ~ exploring color, tools and materials. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Nov 30, 2023 | beads, talismans
One of the first talisman bead necklaces I made started out as a single strand piece. A few years later I used a bone spacer to design a three-tier necklace out of the same beads, making it a shorter. The stringing material was still intact, but I decided to restring it (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Nov 20, 2023 | new art, Studio Special
It turned out to become “Atmospheres”, a collection of ethereal textured abstract watercolor paintings, to be revealed on November 25 for Small Business Saturday (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Nov 6, 2023 | celebrations, Open Studio
My heart is full of sweet memories when I think about the 15th Annual Autumn Open Studio. My mind is full of amazement that it was the best open studio to date, after considering that it might be the last (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Oct 31, 2023 | 4 seasons, celebrations, Studio Special, studio updates
Greetings to you at Mid-Autumn and happy Halloween, Samhuin, Dia de los Muertos, All Soul’s Day. Along with peoples of many cultures, I celebrate the Night of the Ancestors by remembering my parents and grandparents. In the Celtic tradition we believe that by telling stories about them, placing their beloved objects out, offering some special treats and lighting candles to guide their way to us, we will not be tricked by forgetting them. In this war-torn year, it is a more solemn night than usual. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Oct 9, 2023 | 4 seasons, inspiration, Open Studio
Now that its autumn things are falling into place nicely. After six months of creating a myriad assortment of paintings, rare bead jewelry, artist books and new card designs I am preparing for the presentation cycle of studio work. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 28, 2023 | artist book, celebrations, videos
On short notice we had a few days vacation, so we got away from it all. It is a beautiful drive from our place through the Cumberland Gap to Hot Springs NC. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 22, 2023 | Art Farms, beads, inspiration, special event
I just love conversation about beads, especially at a setting like Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. I am grateful to them for once again giving me the opportunity to share my art with “the world”, as the Believers would say. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 12, 2023 | art shows, beads
Yesterday I catalogued some of the beads from my collection that I’ll be talking about Saturday (Sept.16, 10-5) for the bead demo at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. It is a task I’ve been meaning to do for ages. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Sep 1, 2023 | inspiration, talismans
Chakra Necklaces are a series of monochromatic talismans, in chromatic scale, inspired by the seven main energy centers of the body, vortexes that connect the subtle energies and consciousness with the body. (more…)
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by kathleen-obrien | Aug 1, 2023 | 4 seasons, studio updates
Drawing a blank
It started with sitting in the studio staring out the window, again. Just drawing a blank. No idea what to do or make. So I decided I would draw a blank. (more…)
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