Covenant

Oil on canvas, 60"x48", $3600
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

Today I am posting a painting that is representative
of the way I used to work. I have painted many,
many of these atmospheric textural pieces. I am
amazed to say that I have very few of them remaining.
I have been very fortunate in my sales of them. I
reached a place where I had to do something different.

Jeane Myers- Art and Meaning

muslin, graphite, and oil on canvas - work in progress 16"x20"

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

To be honest, I don't really think about why I do art.
If I had to give a reason, which Katherine has asked us
to do, I would have to say, I just love to make art. So I
guess I do it because I love it. Is that too easy? Maybe.
I gain benefits from making things. I stay balanced
and so I maneuver better in the world. I have the
opportunity to express many emotions through painting.
That goes back to staying balanced I guess. I have
learned how to stay true to myself and trust my choices.
I don't do art to please anyone but myself. If other people
enjoy what they see, then that is a huge bonus. I get to
go deep inside myself because my art gives me a place to
put what I find.
Right now I am learning a new medium. Oils. This is
already a challenging journey. The image I have included
is a work in progress that is 'the ugly' part of 'the good',
'the bad' and 'the ugly'. I think it is important for people to
understand that not everything we lay our hands to is worthy.
We must do the practice daily to reap any of the rewards.
I will continue to work on this piece and start the process of
this new learning curve. I'm excited because I will discover
new things. I will have to push myself in ways I haven't
before. I do art because I love it. I'm richer for applying
myself. I'm better in the world.

UPDATE: And even though I refer to the painting as 'the ugly'
in 'the good', 'the bad' and 'the ugly'?, I was referring to is
the first image I sent Katherine. I actually like where this
piece is now.

Jeane's blog is:www.jeane-artit.blogspot.com

Please be patient. I am finding it impossible to upload my image for today.

Uta Mooney- Art and Meaning

'Little Miss Series: Quirky'
'Little Miss Series: Coy''Little Miss Series: Prim'"Little Miss Series: Proper'
Each painting mixed media on canvas 36"x24"

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

My name is Uta Mooney and I live in Adelaide, South
Australia. I found your question very interesting and
thought about it for quite a few days. Why do I show
up in the studio day after day? The answer is very
simple. I need to show up in the studio day after day
the same way as I need to breathe. Without it I would
cease to exist. It's a way I reach my deep self. Turning
up at the easel transports me to a place where I can
truly be me...no, it's more than that. It's where I can
simply be.

Uta’s blog address is: http://uta-mooney.blogspot.com/

Another link: http://www.redbubble.com/people/utam

---

Open Range

Charcoal, Conte and gouache on paper, SOLD

Gone Fishin' (so to speak) be back Monday. Y'all have fun.

Daniel

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

It is a bit daunting to follow a realist painter.
I decided to put a figurative piece in, which actually
feels more risky than one of my abstracts. Well, hey,
if it wasn't for risks I wouldn't be an artist.

My partner is a screenwriter and Daniel is one of his
collaborative partners. He is a really bright and
imaginative young man.

Stock Schlueter- Art and Meaning

Oil on linen, 36"x50", Plein Aire

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

For me, the meaning of doing art has changed over the years.
When I first started out I was going to change the world with
each new masterpiece. I’d be discovered the next day and
showered with fame and money. It was all about making a
big impression.

Here I am some forty years later still climbing one step at a time. The trick is to not look down, or too far up the ladder. Each new canvas starts with new hope. At times I am mildly disappointed, but there are enough splashes of elation tossed in to keep me coming back. Many say how lucky the artist is to do what he or she loves. They don't seem to understand that it is real work, and if one takes it on as their livelihood it is a long and winding road, most of the time with no idea of what is around the corner. To the professional there is no waiting for “inspiration". Yes, you can be inspired, but you may starve waiting for it. You must view your art as even more than a "real job", because you are going to have to work more than a forty hour week …and with no guarantee that you’re going to get paid. There are great perks, including freedom and excitement, but it is still work. So, another way to answer the question: it's my job.

I don't need to change the whole world anymore. Just the act of painting is enough.

Stock's website is: www.stockschlueter.com
His blog is www.stockschlueter.blogspot.com
Stock will be featured in this June's Southwest Art magazine

Katherine McCullen- Art and Meaning

'Resolution' Journal page

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

When I paint I love the feeling of play and freedom
that emerges on my canvas . I feel unfettered, as
though all the sensations inside are released on the
canvas before me. Often I have felt the sensation
of healing or escape when I am painting. I can use
whatever I am experiencing and channel it into my
art, making something strong and positive regardless
of it's origin. Each of my works is a celebration of life
and all its experiences. I believe that, when I am
creating, I am closer to that self that I want to be.
I believe in the power of imagination and that all
humans are strong creative entities. As a special
education teacher it is important to me to share that
belief, and I try to help my students find their own
inner power. I teach them that we are all responsible
for our own healing and that we are all capable of
actualizing the reality we've imagined. I feel invincible
and whole when I am in my world of art. I feel that
I am part of something beautiful and powerful and
joyous. That is why I create.

Kathy's blog address is:
www.amusingmuses2.blogspot.com
Her Flickr photostream is:
www.flickr.com/photos/kathymccullen

Picnic

Oil on canvas, Sold

My blog is being no picnic today I will tell you that!
I tried to post an Art and Meaning post today and
the text would not post. Oh well. Here is a little
piece of mine.

Pollination

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

It is amazing how the sun coming out can make
a difference in one's attitude. I think it is a symbolic
event as well as actual. I know it affects our bodies
and provides goodies we need. It makes everything
look more beautiful (if you are somewhere beautiful
that is). It gives hope on the deeper levels, the symbolic
gesture of light appearing and the clouds disappearing.
The sun is there when it is cloudy, we just don't see it.
It is sunny here today and the forecast is sun, sun, sun.
Light is a great thing.

M. Lehrer-Plansky Art and Meaning

"Gold 9" is mixed media, acrylic, fabric, stones,
wire and gold leaf 9 as a set , each canvas
measures 4" x 4"

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

The quick answer is love...love for art making but
to give a fuller answer let me begin with the many
reasons I no longer have for art making. In the
beginning I wanted to BE an artist, I wanted to
prove I was good at this art making. So everyday
I would work at it, taking classes, juried shows,
small venues to show work and then galleries etc.,
all to prove I was an artist and I did a fair enough
job...even with some moderate sales. I had a studio
back when my children were small and I felt the
pressure of studio rent...proving my time and money
spent on learning my craft was important. Underneath
all that was this little girl excitement about art.
Gathering myself and going to the studio (stopping
for coffee first) was one of my most joyful experiences...
me going to MY studio.

All that is past, my children are grown, my studio is
in my home (rent free) and I have proven myself
enough,...great pleasure in accomplishment but my
real reason is for the love. I'm still learning, still
willing to grow but not in the proving mode, now it's
finding ways to best express Mary Ann.

Some days I go in with a story or journey I want to
explore, beginning one way and willing to have a
dialogue with the imagery, the paint and texture. I've
been doing this most of my life and I don't feel I have
scratched the surface...I'm never bored and always
willing to go back in to see what is next. Sure, I get
disappointed but most important is today and the next
and the next day. This is creating and the love of
creating and it is what we are made of.

Mary Ann's blog is:
www.blueskydreaming-sc.blogspot.com
Her email is: marnya@cruzio.com

Gemini

Oil on canvas 9x6 Reworked since posting. SOLD

I couldn't believe it this morning, I woke up to snow!
The trees are beautifully coated and it will be gone by
late morning, but none the less this late in the season
it is losing it's charm.

I am getting work ready to deliver to my gallery at the
coast and I am varnish challenged. I am trying to get
the right balance of gloss and matte and having a heck
of a time with it. Then yesterday I spilled a good portion
of the varnish I had left which means ordering more.
Oh honestly! I do love varnishing though, all the colors
come back to life and the different levels of matte and
shine in the dried painting even out.

Doug Kaigler- Art and Meaning

"Today's Special, David's Dilemma"

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

Far Back...........

I recall sitting in the back seat of our 57 Olds

gazing out the window

marveling at the landscape and architecture rushing by

my heart beating to the rhythm of the radio

my father’s head nodding ever so slightly

road markers appearing, disappearing and reappearing

a quick glance through the glass as another car passes by

our eyes meet

Years later........

Fresh from her mother’s womb

that look in my daughter’s eyes

she knew at birth

the connections, the rhythm

Today........

There are times in the studio

in the salvage yard or the river

my steps, my will, my intuition

they move together

appearing, disappearing and reappearing

I keep coming back with the hope of remembering more

Link for Doug's work: http://www.eou.edu/art/

Lee Kaloidis - Art and Meaning

Oil on canvas 24"x30"

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

"I think I'm driven to work partly by curiosity, partly
by daring, partly by insecurity. Curiosity because
I never know what to expect, daring because failure
is part of the equation, and insecurity because I need
to prove to myself over and over again I can actually
make a successful painting.

I suppose I'm also something of a
masochist because art is not easy.
It's like doing hill-work as a runner,
except the hill-work of art lasts all
day, day after day. Like running, though,
art is just; meaning you generally get
back what you put in.  I have a love-hate
relationship with the process because
it's so damn challenging and live
largely for the results.  But I would
have it no other way.

I believe destiny is the path one
takes to identity. For me that path
has been art."

Lee's site is: www.leekaloidis.com
Lee's email is: lkaloidis@comcast.net

Petroglyph

Oil on canvas 24"x30" $795
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

A friend of mine on Flickr said that she didn't usually
like hands in paintings but this one looked to her as if
it was throwing confetti. I always love hearing what
people see in my abstracts.

I am very happy with the response I am getting from
artists on my project. I already have four Art and Meaning
posts lined up. I can't wait to get more! I love reading
what each person has to say and each one is so very different.

Eva Lynn Hassan- Art and Meaning

A still from the collaborative hypermedia project, Eroica.

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

"I really like the way James Hillman speaks about anima

mundi and soul making...for me I think of what I do as

soul making; feeding the life spirit; maintaining a

connection with the unconscious for myself and thereby

for others. Painting, sculpture, photography, drawing,

literature, poetry, theater, music- all the different

media/mediums are potential avenues for reflection,

connection to the dream world, to avenues that poke

holes in the world of everyday, mundane business as

usual and more. Not all art does this...it depends on

where it is coming from....but also with all the many

sorts of people there are in the world it takes all

sorts of ways of working to feed the hungry....and I

think/feel this is especially true now with the

intensity of a market driven money hungry world,with

the pressures of technology, the locked down logic/reality

orientation... the need for metaphor, poetic insight, the

non-linear, passion that touches us is very great. Seeing

a film about raves in San Francisco made me think about

the Bushmen of Africa....the need of humans to enter the

oceanic states of beingness for renewal, for healing,

for permitting a new perspective to enter, to be connected

with life and here we are in the 21st century having to do

our dances in the underworld...hmmmmm. We live in a

Judeo/Christian world that is very sociology driven...

that doing good is associated with "feeding the hungry"

or saving people from oppressive regimes, etc. which is

certainly true....but there are other aspects to our lives

as well that need tending and some of us are are gardeners

in these other realms."

Eva Lynn's email is hassanio@verizon.net

Origami

Oil on canvas 9x6 SOLD

It's difficult to follow yesterday's posting with a simple
little painting of mine but it's ready so it is getting posted.
This painting feels to me like the evidence of Spring
coming to Cove. There are Crocuses in theflower bed at
the library next door. Thank God for Crocuses, they are
so small and brave coming up with their bright colors
when the nights can still dip in the twenties. It was almost
70 yesterday though. Yipee! I have been wearing my
Chaco sandals for 3 days now and my feet feel
liberated.

Art and Meaning will return tomorrow with another artist.

Mark Horst , Art and Meaning

"Seated Figure No. 9, 36"x36" Oil on Canvas. 2008"

What is the meaning of doing art for you?

"If there weren’t something that remains hidden from
us much of the time, something precious and wild, I don’t
suppose I would bother with painting.

I do love paint. I love the smell of the linseed oil and the
raw colors squeezed from the tube. And I do love painting:
standing before the easel; the open window of a fresh canvas;
the first brush stroke of paint dripping and clear; the
deliciousness of seeing shapes and patterns and shifts
of value and intensity.

But for me painting is—above all—a way of being present.
It is the daily practice of paying attention with enough
intensity that when the hidden world steps closer, I have
a chance of noticing it; so that when the wolf stops to sniff
the air outside my window, I can catch a glimpse of her."
Mark Horst

Mark's work can be seen at:
www.flickr.com/photos/markhorst/
Mark's blog is:
http://www.markhorst-studionotes.blogspot.com/

Mark's email is:
horst.mark@gmail.com

Blackfish

Oil on canvas 40"x30"
Collection of artist
Starting next week, if all goes as planned, I am going to start
including in my postings the answer to a question from
various artists. I will introduce one artist at a time along
with an image of their art.

The question is: "What meaning does doing art have for you?
Why do you show up in your studio, or wherever, and pick up
your tools day after day?"

This is something I have thought of doing for a while as a
book, but now I have the blog and, who knows, maybe it
could become a book. I am very excited about this. I can't
wait to hear the answers. Showing up for their creations is
often an irresistible pull for artists. Many of us at any given
time ask ourselves why we are doing it.

I want to hear the artists' answers. If you are an artist and
would like to contribute please let me know.

I, of course, will continue to post my own work.

Tin Drum

Oil on canvas 9x6 $95 plus shipping
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

Yesterdays blog was the result of the fact that I am now
dreaming that I am blogging. I am talking about every
night! So I thought if I put a piece of sold work, a quote
from someone else, and didn't dally in the blog world
maybe the dream world would give me a break. No
such luck, same thing last night. I mean I understand,
it is a bit like writing a journal that anyone can read.

Aztec

24X18 Oil and gold leaf on canvas
Collection of Richard Speer

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is
translated through you into action, and because there is only
one of you in all time this expression is unique. And if you
block it, it will never exist through any other medium and
will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business
to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it
compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep
it yours clearly and directly....to keep the channel open. You
do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have
to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate
you. Keep the channels open!"

Martha Graham Dance to the Piper