New Art

Since the last quarter I’ve focused on gouache paintings that I put together into two spring Portfolios. Based on what I observed as new in the garden, one portfolio is of twelve birds, one of twelve flowers with a snake and firefly thrown in.

© Kathleen O’Brien, “Birthday Snake, Firefly, Lily, Hummingbird”, gouache, 2019

© Kathleen O’Brien, “Sunwise Barn Swallow”, gouache, 2019

Atlas of the Year

It’s been meaningful for me to follow the Atlas of the Year program. This is the tenth cycle of a year making art based on the time and place. For the specific months there are suggested activities, one being to create greeting cards from your art. I used the spring gouache paintings of birds and enclosed the image in a map boundary.

© Kathleen O’Brien, Sets 347-350, greeting cards, 2019

Drawing a self portrait for the second month of the Atlas of the Year program was the first time in years I had practiced that. It is an excellent project to keep up with as an artist.

© Kathleen O’Brien, “Self Portrait”, detail, drawing 2019

Mandala was the activity for the third month.

© Kathleen O’Brien, “Birthday Mandala”, drawing 2019

“Solstice Oak” was painted in remembrance of that beautiful day shared with a soul friend. More on that below. Summer Solstice is the door to the year. In Gaelic door = duir = oak. That morning I picked the small botanical to press and glue later after painting the leaf.

© Kathleen O’Brien, “Solstice Oak”, gouache, 2019

Studio Annex Progress

The next Open Studio, November 2, will be in the Studio Annex, a grand opening!

The Studio Annex

This picture is from winter when we were installing the insulation. That helped to stay warmer and quiet. We had to do that, the dry wall and tape before the electric could be connected. It’s was all wired and ready to go but those tasks took a long time.

Insulation in the Studio Annex

Greg installed the dry wall by April. I decided to have the first event, Spring Open Studio in there with a simple display set up – push pins to hang jewelry. Luckily it was warm enough. Taping came next.

Inside the Studio Annex, west wall for the Spring Open Studio

Yes, taping, filling holes, priming, painting, constructing window and door wood trim. It’s a relief to have beautiful bright walls. Floor is currently being installed. The electricians arrived recently to finish the outlets, ceiling fan, lights and connect the wires to the source at the house. Easier said than done. It’s a big deal. Greg had to dig under the yard and house, in the crawl space and up to the house studio near the fuse panel, taking out a portion of the wall. The cabinetry is in and the bathroom is tiled and grouted.

Visit us sometime! Someday we’ll have a porch all around and awnings…

Front Room

It was finally dry enough to make hay. Here it is raked before being baled. Our Corgis love the short grass.

Hay

Visiting

Speaking of visiting, which we thrive on!

Our long time friends Kitty and Larry from Santa Cruz stopped for a few days on their long road trip all around the country. They infused us with cheer and wander lust. They are both musicians, playing the piano, vibraharp and Celtic Harp. Larry is also a composer who has inspired me to create art to his melodies.

Love Birds

Jennifer Gleason came to share a glorious Solstice day, a long drive from Mr. Olivet. We talked about Atlas of the Year and had a few inspirations for our art projects. “Infinity”, seen at the top of the post, was inspired by her description of the pattern of Hickory King non GMO Corn that she and a team farm in North Carolina are producing. As you look down on the cob it is exactly 8 kernels per row and forms an infinity symbol. She uses this pattern to construct her gardens beds. Read more about Jennifer’s inspirational Sunflower Sundries in this post in the series about Art Farms.

Jennifer Gleason in the Sunflower Sundries Market Shop

Jennifer Gleason holding Hickory King, an heirloom non-GMO open pollinated white corn, photo used with permission

And

please visit us for the next Open Studio November 2 and at the late summer art shows coming up, Music to my Eyes: Visions of Music and Horizon.