Cirque- new eBay

Oil on canvas, 9"x6" SOLD
Yesterday I took a friend to see my new painting and it
was a rich experience for me. I realized after all the talk
and struggle to go toward meaningful figurative work I
had hit something with this painting. Looking at it with
a new witness I saw that it carried the kind of power
and meaning I have wanted to express. In it's largeness
and boldness it tells a story of the light and the dark, the
known and the mystery, of earth and space. I feel a lot
changed for me in doing this painting and look forward
to doing a new large piece.

Thank you so much to Don Gray for allowing me to use
his lovely studio space, for all his feedback, knowledge and
humor.

Kelly Snelling- Art and Meaning

"In the Belly of the Bird" acrylic on wood, 7" x 5.5"

"What meaning does doing art have for you?

I have always made things in one way or another
be it photographs which I printed myself, or collage,
or painting, or when in nature, shapes with sticks/
flowers/rocks/earth. Making things is as right as the
rain falling for me. It is who I am as much as how
I walk or the way I twirl my hair. I've never wondered
why I do these things. It is good to wonder.

Making things, painting, gives me balance. It opens up
that door into the world where time stands still. Once
through that door the problems of my life all fall away.
It is bliss. Even when a piece is a struggle or I am
questioning the outcome instead of focusing on the
process, it is always about trusting myself enough to
accept everything just as it is. It is me giving myself
permission to get out of my own way and Play (with
a capital P). It is how I work out my dreams, my
frustrations, my fears. It means I don't need therapy.
It means I can find and I honor myself, which is also
a gift back to my family because I'm not a mean
woman who has had no time to paint.

There was a time when I questioned what I was doing
all this for. I felt selfish for spending the time away from
my children or for spending the money on the supplies
only to give the pieces away or pile them up in my studio.
But when I am not painting or making things I feel
hollow. I feel less than myself. I can still find joy in my
life, in the clouds, in the flowers, in my family, in
dancing but it isn't as shiny a joy as what I feel as when
I am pouring some payne's gray or scumbling yellow
ochre or dabbing some crimson. Now that is some good
joy.

Kelly's work can be viewed and purchased at:
http://www.soulhumming.typepad.com
http://www.kellysnelling.etsy.com
http://www.acharmingexchange.com

Chasing Stars

I think I am almost finished with my large painting.
It is funny for most of the process the left hand side
has remained the strongest. I have been working
to bring the rest of the painting to the point where it is
as strong and brings your eye all the way across. 10 feet
has been a long way to bring attention. Now the left is the
part I am questioning. I do feel it is close and that the whole
painting is what gets your attention.

I reposted the image and it is finished now.

Tahiti

Charcoal and ink on collage SOLD

I didn't go to the studio yesterday. The day before when I
came home the house smelled like dog and the apricots
were going bad from the heat. Time to pay attention to the
home front. Don finished the mural and has it posted on his
blog www.dailyartwest.com. Now he has to move it and
install it.

'Tahiti' is another collage drawing I did around the time
of 'Long Tall Sue'.

W.I.P. Session 6

Well here I am back with more on my large painting's progress. Yesterday was a big step. Realizing being stuck on the wall was holding me up I took it off the wall and hung it upside down and did some work that way. Then I took it off the wall and put it on a tarp on the floor and mixed paint and poured it on the canvas. Some how my brain still does understand the scope of this painting as I had a difficult time making enough paint to pour. Then, much to my excitement I put it on a wall where I am not fighting the glare. The painting is now in an awkward stage but an exciting place because I am back at having something to respond to. The painting was getting to a place I was liking too much too early. I was treating it as something precious and was immobilized.

W.I.P. #4

W.I.P 10'x4'7"

I am slugging along with this painting in the heat.
I spend an awful lot of time sitting on a chair in
Don's studio. Don mentioned that with all the energy
in my paintings it surprised him what a contemplative
process it is for me. It is true. I get clear on one thing
to try, and then I do it until I am no longer knowing
what to do then I go back and sit in the chair and
stare until the next step comes to me. The big trick
is to get up and paint when an idea comes to me and
not want the next 3 or 4 ideas to come. It does not
work that way for me. Right now I am working with
getting the eye to carry all the way through from left to
right and not be 2 paintings. I have never worked with
this long of a canvas and it is a challenge to pull the eye
all the way across.

I am thinking about using grommets instead of stretching it.
Anybody know about this? Do they need reinforcing?
Would it hang straight?

Angel Giclee- New eBay

24"x18" Giclee Print EBAY SOLD (other prints available)

Is it as hot where you are as it has been here? We gave a
forecast of temperatures in the 90s for the next ten days.
I do not like hot. Let me tell you it gets warm up in Don's
studio! I decided not to bore you with the latest update
on the painting. Instead I decided to put one of my Giclees
up on eBay at 1/2 off. I will not be doing this too often
but I need art supplies. So if you have interest in this print
this would be the time.

W.I.P. #2

Oil on canvas 10'x4'7"

Here is my progress on the painting. Also a photo of Don
at work. Gives you an idea of how different the work is
that is going on in this studio, how big Don's studio is and
how mega talented Don is! (The sky is not turquoise, the
photo is off). Check out the double decker Taboret...Don's
invention. This is only a little over half of the mural.
Check out www.dailyartwest.com to see the whole picture.

Work In Progress

Photo: Don Gray

The first step for me with painting is simply to get the
canvas covered with paint so I have something to respond
to. Before that, though, I decided to do some graffiti on
the canvas in ink, hoping the ink would come through.
Here I am designing a rocket ship (just kiddin'). Covering
the canvas used a large amount of paint and all my medium
......1 1/2 tubes of galkyd gel. YIKES! However I must say I
am loving working on such a large canvas. It is so powerful!
I am excited about getting back there today and working
with the painting. I measured it yesterday and it is 10 ft. by
4 1/2 ft.

Solstice

Oil on canvas, 20"x16", $325 plus shipping
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

OMG it was hot in the studio yesterday. I almost
melted! It certainly has been fun though working with
this large canvas. Just as much fun is watching Don at
work on his mural. He had to be really hot though working
on scaffolding! I don't know if I am going to make it over
there today, but it is amazing the pull of that canvas!

Crossroad- New eBay

Oil on canvas, 9"x6" Click to BID

New eBay listing today. Kirby talked me into it. So here
it is, 'Crossroad' starting at 1/2 off.

Started on my bigger painting yesterday. It is amazing
how much paint it takes to just cover the canvas. Don
and I were talking about that being the first step. Just
covering the canvas with paint so you have something
to respond to. I was having a blast putting paint on it
somehow reminded me of finger painting it was so much
fun.

While I am painting in my style Don is doing what he does.
That, too, is very fun to see, watching him whip out his dailies
and prepare a huge surface to do a mural. You have to go to
his blog www.dailyartwest.com and see the beginning of it.
He is going to be chronicling his process on the blog.

The comedy that goes on around all this is our two dogs
playing underfoot. His puppy Winslow is full of mischief.
Don thought we should try introducing my dog Maggie into
the mix and actually it worked out well. She became a bit
of a babysitter while we painted, keeping Winslow occupied
and enamored.

Richard Shilling- Art and Meaning

'Cliff Pebble Stack'

"What meaning does doing art have for you?

It has taken  weeks for me to answer this question,
not because I haven't been trying, but because I have been
learning more about that answer all the time. Realizing a
little of what that answer might be, I understand that the
search will be a life-long quest.

My art, for me, is like climbing a mountain. The target is
the summit, yet the important part is the journey to the top.
Without the summit to aim for, the journey becomes
less meaningful, the journey not possible without the goal.

When I go out to make something, the "summit" I am
initially aiming for is a sculpture that expresses a part of me
and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  However, those
things on their own are hollow.  I seek a a path where my
senses open to all that is around me and I feel I am working
in collaboration with nature.  This may sound a bit cliched,
but it truly is the feeling I'm seeking.

I create intuitively and rarely plan what I will make. I
first go to a beautiful, natural place and just wander
around looking, trying to get a feeling for the location. I
will inspect the leaves and watch the insects, searching out
hidden corners and soon enough a rock will inspire an idea
or a beautiful leaf will catch my eye. Or  the colour of a
flower will set my imagination racing and the next thing I
know I find I am sitting down and making something.

As I do this I gain a growing feeling for the material,
examining it'sstructure.  At the same time I'm noticing the
animals and birds around that place.  And the movement
of the sun, or the tide's ebb or changes in the wind.

As I immerse myself in the process and the environment,
I discover more of what I miss day-to-day. I find out my
senses are closed to so much of what is around me. Each
time that I open them, and find out more, I want to do it
again. And again.

Each time I go back and work  in the same place,
or with the same material or the same idea, I discover
fresh revelations about how things change over time, how
materials are one way in one season and different in
another.

The whole process is not solely mine. Nature plays her
own part in what I create. I don't just mean the materials
she provides but that she takes a more active role. For
instance the wind will control what I am able to create,
the temperature dictates what you can do with ice, the
sun will move and hide behind a cloud.  There are so
many other factors.

Today I made a pebble sculpture but the wind was so
strong that the pebbles blew away.  So I had to make
the arrangement on sand so the pebbles would not roll
away. This is exactly what I mean when I say nature
has a hand in the sculpture itself. It happens time and
time again. A successful collaboration with nature must
be simply spot on.

The place and the conditions shape what I end up with.
And often this can change right up to the end as I adapt
to what is happening.

So as I plod on towards the "summit" I discover a little more
about nature, a little more about the seasons, a little more
about myself. I feel I can realize more about myself through
discovery in nature ... as though the two are intertwined.  In
that lies the meaning of my art, the reward in the work.

My art is a quest of discovery. Each new discovery I make
reveals to me that there are even more waiting ... waiting for
someone just to take a look and see.

'Color Leaf Sun Star'

Richards work can be seen on Flickr at:
http//www.flickr.com/photos/escher1/
His blog:  www.jrlandart.blogspot.com  
His book can be viewed and purchased at:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/742798

Copernicus

Oil on canvas, 24"x30", $750 plus shipping
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

You are going to start wondering why isn't she posting
any new work? Well there might not be any for a little
while. My friend Don Gray has invited me to put a large
canvas up on the wall of his gloriously large and light
studio and paint on it. So yesterday I stapled a 4'x8'
piece of canvas to his wall and gessoed it. It may take
me a while to turn that into a finished piece.

The piece I am posting today is one of the remaining
pieces of abstracts that are typical of the way I used to
work. I have greatly reduced the price as I am ready to
move it on.

Long Tall Sue

Charcoal and ink on sanded paper, 30"x22"
Collection of Prem and Binny Arcot.

Summer, I have discovered is a difficult time for
blogging. Number one reason being that sitting in
front of a computer is one of the last places you
want to be. Same with most everyone else, so the
interaction is thin. People are slow in getting back
to me on the Art and Meaning project. But, hold,
on to your horses folks there is a good one in the
wings getting prepared.

This piece is obviously from the the same pose as
the painting 'Susan'.

Tikal- new eBay

Oil on canvas, 9"x6" Click here to BID

Today is the end of my eBay auction so I thought
I'd start another one. I don't know how long I will
keep doing this, but I am having fun for now. It
of course would be a lot more fun if there was some
auctioning going on. I have been getting 1 bid on each
painting. I have no complaints. I am setting the price
at a place I can feel good about.

So anyhow Tikal is on eBay
The starting price is $47.50, one half of it's normal price.
The shipping is a flat rate of $10.35 plus insurance. I am
doing this because I have been losing on shipping. Ah......
live and learn.

Susan

Oil on Board, 20"x16", $365 plus shipping
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

Another older piece today. This one is hanging in my
studio and I wish someone would buy it off me before I
splatter paint on it! I think I did a tiny bit of work on it
since this photo, a little more of one of my favorite colors
Jaune Brilliant and a little more dark to delineate the couch.
For those of you who haven't met ol' Jaune Brilliant it is a
lovely rosy yellow. My friend Rachel introduced me and
Jaune and I haven't been the same since.

Rachel has been off with her husband camping and Plein
Aire painting near Weaverville, CA. The end of their time
painting in nature was to be a show in Weaverville of the
work. Cool huh? It opened on the 4th. Are you back
Rachel?

Anna

Oil on canvas, 48"x36", $1800 plus shipping
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

I was wondering what the heck I was going to post this
morning. I mean I have lots of images to post yet, but I
wanted to do something different....and then I realized I
hadn't posted 'Anna' (or I don't think I have). I did this
painting in my studio in Portland. One of my favorite
models posed for it and I believe it was a four session
pose at 3 hours a session. Cindy and I painted next to
each other on this one and I own her lovely painting from
it. This painting was extremely challenging for me as I
was trying to break through to a more expressive place.
I was successful, but not in the way I was hoping for.

Lucienne Ollweiller- Art and Meaning

'Carry Me', 20" x 24", Acrylic on Canvas

"What is the meaning of doing art for you"?

Right now I think that painting is the most beautiful
thing that has ever happened in my life. It continues
to amaze me daily, and has helped me to survive what
has been one of the most painful times of my life.

My art journey started about two years ago, after the
death of my mother. Something really mysterious
happened that I am in awe over. Two years ago in
July about 200 crows landed on my house and were
making a lot of noise. My husband commented that it
was like something out of a scene from Hitchcock's
movie "The Birds". I thought it was amazing at the time
and very strange as I had never seen that many crows
together, and they were just sitting on our house and
just screaming at us. I had no idea that this was the
beginning of an amazing story that would affect my life
forever and change everything about it.

The night after these crows came to our house, I had a
dream that they all were in this beautiful tree (I would
call it the tree of life). They all had colored woven fibers
that they were weaving into this beautiful tapestry. They
took this tapestry or blanket and wrapped it around my
mothers body and lifted her up to the beautiful blue sky
as if they were offering her to the Universe. I remember
that her body looked new and transformed. I woke up
and thought the dream was strange, but had no idea
what meaning it would take on. A couple of weeks later
my mother went from being a mostly healthy 82 year old
to being given six weeks to live. She was diagnosed with
several brain tumors. My mom was my closest and dearest
friend. I had the privilege of helping her through those last
six weeks of her life and being there when she made her
transition. Her promise to me was that she would give me
a sign and come to me through a crow or raven.

Since her death, I have seen so many, just when I need them.
It's all so mysterious and fascinating. There are many more
beautiful parts to this story and all of my art is about her
story and it helps to lift my heavy grief. Art has helped to heal
me in so many ways. It can be very frustrating at times,
because the images I see in my mind are so beautiful that I
feel I will never be able to capture them fully. But the process
is so healing and powerful that it doesn't matter to me
anymore about how my finished product turns out. I am a
beginner and just learning so many things. It's really exciting
to know that I can put my pain, joy, wonder and everything
else my heart feels into a piece of art. It's wonderful to be
able to tell a story and connect with others in that way. I
really believe we are all connected and art speaks to the soul
at that level. It helps you to not feel so alone on this planet,
you know?

If you belong to Creative Souls Lucienne's work may be seen at:
creativesouls She is relatively new to being an artist and has no other links.

Imnaha- New eBay

Oil on canvas, 9"x6", SOLD

Once again I am doing a repeat posting as I have put it up
for auction on eBay. Sorry about that. The auction is again
starting at $47.50, 1/2 the original price.

I am working up to doing some new work I promise. I have
just put the finishing touches, i.e. signing, painting the sides,
varnishing, on all the work I have sitting around so it is ready
for display. I delivered 'Crow Speaks' to Pendleton for sale in
the Gift Store at the Arts Center. I delivered photos to
Eastern Oregon Symphony to be used on their brochures
and posters. I have very few excuses left and I found out I
have a solo show to get ready for in October. It's creating
time.

Bird Woman Drawing

Charcoal and conte on paper (framed) $650
(unframed $500) plus shipping
If you are interested in purchasing this drawing please
me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

Usually I start my morning with a cup of tea in front of
the computer doing my blog, flicker, facebook and general
communications. This morning though I did a very healthy
thing and sat outside in the cool morning air and had my tea.
I think I might have started a new routine. One of the many
things I love here in the summer is the return of the Doves.
The mornings are filled with the sound of Doves cooing.

Well on the note of birds, this morning I am posting the
original drawing that inspired yesterdays painting. Please
remember it was drawn left handed. Also the photo is not
great as it is a slide translated digitally. I also notice that it
was not the right wing that was pinned down !?!?!?
Maybe I was drawing a mirror image.

BirdWoman

Oil on canvas, 60"x48" Collection of artist

I have hesitated to post this image as the photograph
does not do it justice and it is in my eyes one of maybe
5 of the most successful pieces I have created as an
artist. During the time I was studying at The Drawing
Studio in Portland I developed a frozen right shoulder.
Not to be done in by an arm I could not move I switched
to my left hand, my non-dominant side. As difficult as
this was there is no faster way to access the right side
of the brain. I started drawing a nude and she became
a bird woman with her right wing tight against her side.
I liked her so much I took a 5'x4' canvas and started to
translate her into oils. At first she looked like the drawing
but it did not translate in oil and she had little pizazz. I
kept going for the next year. Now she has a place of feature
in my home and reminds me what is really meaningful to
me in my expression.