Martha Kelly Art blog - MARTHA KELLY ART

MARTHA KELLY ART

Dog walk sketching

6/30/2016

I've been walking and looking at the light through a particular forest archway all week. I had an easy morning and some cooler weather today, so I packed a butt pack with my small sketching kit and took it along on my morning dog walk. We did most of our loop and then swung by the water fountain to fill Mr. Darcy's collapsible water bowl and settled in to do a sketch.

I'm hoping to do a second forest print from this, since my first one that was in the Dixon show last year was well received. I love sharing the beauty of this place I enjoy every day.

Oils

6/29/2016

I've been diving back into oils this week. I have one painting that has languished on my easel for far too long. I was working on it when Dixon hit last year, and by the time that was all over, plus Christmas shows, I had just lost steam and momentum on painting. Prints continue to call my name, but lately I've been looking at skies, and I can't do them as well as I'd like in watercolor. I decided it would be fun to try some in oils, and it would give me something different for my fall show, since my last Paris show three years ago was all watercolors and prints. This one will be heavy on done-on-site watercolors as well, but I'd like a variety of work to go with them.

Plus, my early watercolors didn't have enough depth to paint from. These later ones have more shadow and layering and give me enough information to try a little painting. So I'm branching out again and trying to keep the brain fizz that comes from doing new things humming along.

Weekend sketching

6/26/2016

Aside from my printmaking workshop this weekend, I've been to the Shell twice in two nights for the free concert series. (In my park, five blocks from my house. Perfect.) Friday night was the Steep Canyon Rangers, and I was too busy listening and hanging with friends to sketch. Last night was the Stax Academy kids, and I did a watercolor of the bandstand for an upcoming feature for the Daily News (so I won't post it yet). I also had a couple of young boys come watch, ask me to sketch their shoes, and then want to draw with me. The more excited one wanted to use my paints too (I had my full set out for the watercolor instead of just my mint tin one). I showed him how I have different sections to mix different colors, and he was super careful to keep all the colors placed right. It was neat to see him so excited about making some art of his own. I sketched his shoes while he did a landscape. He had done his shoes too and also asked me to draw them. I did one for him with both their pairs of shoes and then a second quick one for me to remember the moment in my journal.

After I got home, I was having such a good time drawing that I did Mr. Darcy, along with my foot, as we were hanging out on the couch. It had been a little since I'd drawn him, and I was due.

Printmaking workshop

6/23/2016

I'm teaching my first teach-for-myself printmaking workshop this weekend, and I'm really excited. I taught it through Dixon last summer and had such a lovely time having people making art in my space. I've been saying I'd like to do more workshops, and I'm excited to be starting. It will be two afternoons to have people carve and print a small edition of a single block print.

In a stroke of good timing, a letterpress printer from Portland just came through for a studio visit. Tony works with the IPRC there, which is a community space for printing. It was fun to talk about getting to share love of printing and make equipment available. I'm really excited about possibilities now, for my own printing and for classes.

Yorktown and Williamsburg

6/22/2016

I had a historical kind of day on Saturday. I walked through both Yorktown and Williamsburg. It was fun to see the old houses and history, but once again, I notice that what I actually sketched are the trees. I have realized recently that one reason I like old places is that they also tend to preserve their old trees. I sketched the tree above on the fringe of the Yorktown battlefield.

Just for variety, I tried the bridge nearby as well, next the farmers market they have. I've been trying to work more in markers again, but this one wasn't particularly successful.

I also sketched quickly in the Yorktown graveyard. I'm a sucker for old cemeteries, and the side of this raised grave was both beguiling in design and covered with colored lichen.

We moved on to Williamsburg after that, and I enjoyed walking through the village. I was especially drawn to the gardens there. This tree branch echoed the curve of the gateway into the churchyard and completely beguiled me.

I finished with one more garden, somewhat hidden away, with a gorgeouly gnarled tree at its center. It was a lovely shady place to sit, and I couldn't resist sketching as well. Many thanks to my patient tour guide who hung out while I did all this. I was just on a panel at Crosstown Arts about art and travel, and one of my fellow artists said one key piece was to pick patient traveling companions and also make sketching just the thing that you do, so they know it's a part of who you are. Good advice all around. I tend to travel solo usually but am grateful to my periodic traveling companions who do end up being kind and patient while I sketch a bit.

Tidal Creeks

6/21/2016

I am a total sucker for sawgrass. I got to hike in two Virginia parks over the weekend that featured water snaking through sawgrass, ospreys, herons, eagles, crabs, dragonflies, and sunshine. Both parks also had gorgeous forests, but since I get to do forest sketching at home, I focused on the more exotic (to me) scenes.

Markers

6/17/2016

I had such fun the other night on a panel discussion at Crosstown Arts on art and travel, two of my favorite things. I flipped through a bunch of old sketchbooks getting ready and realized that I haven't been using markers lately, and I've also been using much less text and narrative in my sketchbooks. Both of those add texture and depth, so I'm going to try to move back in that direction. Here's my first marker sketch in a while.

Joe Newberry House Concert

6/14/2016

I have had SUCH a lovely 24 hours. Joe Newberry, songwriter, banjo player, Prairie home companion regular, and truly fine all around man played a house concert in my living room. He and his wife Susan were driving from Missouri and made Memphis a stop on their way home. I love having house guests, especially ones I can talk music and art with (Susan is a textile artist).

Plus there are occasional people who just feel like kin the minute you meet them. I've been friends with Joe long distance for a while, through mutual banjo friends on facebook, but the minute they drove in, they just belonged.

Joe did an amazing concert. He sang his own songs (including one made from a poem his grandfather wrote, which resonated with me, living in my grandparents' house and being raised by a poetry loving father). He sang a capella ballads, which gave me goose bumps. He sang Red Rocking Chair with gorgeous banjo accompaniment, and I love that song.

He played banjo tunes and led the group in singing. And most of all, he radiated warmth and kindness to everyone throughout the evening. I had just been thinking about the craft involved in weaving a set together instead of just playing a bunch of songs, since I had performed on a small scale last Saturday. Joe has it down. He does enough introduction to really get the audience invested in a song (which especially helps if you play less familiar music), giving a bit of background or information as a hook, but he never talks long enough that you wonder when the song is gong to start already. (Which can be a common failing.) I feel quite comfortable in the role of dance caller talking to a room full of people, but doing a solo set is a whole different thing. Joe was perfect. The whole room was charmed.

Mr. Darcy was charmed too. We were both sad to see them go this morning, but I loved having a slow morning and breakfast out with them before they left. The thing I miss most about calling dances regularly is hanging out with the musicians, who seem to always be quality people. Joe was also kind enough to agree to jam with my local group here after the concert, in spite of being in the middle of a multi day drive. It was joyful to my house to have all of that music and laughter fill it, and I was so delighted to be able to have my friends meet and hear him.

Printmaking week

6/8/2016

I finished the three day process to a second proof of the phlox forest today, and I'm largely pleased. There's a little glare on the photo. The black will be black in person. And I have to clean up color in the path a little, but it's about ready to pull some final prints.

I'm also sketching out a new small travel print of the Rodin Museum from my sketchbook work I did while I was there. I'm having fun doing the travel prints with the deco lettering again.

And I also had a lovely discovery this week. I tested the first of these small prints on my big Chandler and Price press. When I first got it, I couldn't get art prints right, just note cards, and I just gave up and moved on. It would be lovely to have the quickness of printing of the production press for these smaller and simpler ones, though, and with my increased familiarity by now, I got it to work on my proof. I'm excited about the possibilities and will have to get some paper cut and just go for it soon.

Second Proof

6/7/2016

I pulled a second proof of the Sacre Coeur print today after refining a good bit. I need to do a bit more work on the stairways, and I don't think the small trees alongside them are working visually, so I may just simplify and take them out all together. It's getting close to what I had hoped, though.

I'm also working on a second proof of the phlox block, but since that's three colors and three layers, it's taking three days. Tomorrow I can put the third and final layer on and see how everything is lining up for that one. I'm about ready to start on a new trip print while I'm fiddling with the last stages of these two.