<![CDATA[KAREN HALPERN ...ARTIST - Blogging in Color]]>

<![CDATA[KAREN HALPERN ...ARTIST - Blogging in Color]]>Mon, 21 May 2012 16:04:15 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[On a High...No drugs Necessary!]]>Sat, 19 May 2012 15:06:44 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/05/on-a-highno-drugs-necessary.html

My days and nights have been filled with thoughts about mixed-media/collage pieces....materials, papers, adhesives, possibilities, textures, sources. And I've been having a wonderful time exploring this method of working, as well as incorporating it within my acrylic paintings. The last two portraits I painted have led me back to this method of working, and I wasn't even searching. It was one of those mystical doors that opened to me and led me into a garden of endlessly fruitful variables from which to choose. I didn't have to drink a magic potion, or even take a bite from an inviting cookie. I just found myself drawn further and further into the forest of no return. Lest you get scared, I need to let you know that This is all a GOOD THING! I'm not resisting at all! The ideas just keep coming!

This method of working is by no means new to me. I have constructed parts of paintings out of corrugation to make them three dimensional, and I have explored combining many kinds of paper in one painting, painting over their inviting textures, letting them orchestrate all that would take place on the picture surface. As usual, it was the give and take of the materials directing me, and me molding them according to my own will. Together we get the job done, me and the materials. I have to say that neither of us could get the job done without the other.

I will have more to say about this in the future, even digging back through my archives to review earlier, but different, examples of this kind of work of mine.

]]><![CDATA[Thanks to My Students ]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 18:27:35 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/05/thanks-to-my-students.html

Just anxious to extend a "Thank You" to these four students, Cis, Linda, Maria, and Alice. It was so supportive of them to make a "road trip", as they call it, after this past Wednesday's watercolor class in Troy, MI. They went to see my paintings, both acrylic and watercolor, which are being exhibited in the gallery of work hung on "Artist's Avenue", as it was dubbed, at West Bloomfield Michigan's Henry Ford Hospital on Maple Rd., west of Drake Rd. It's an honor to be accepted to show one's art there, where the paintings are included in the Healing Arts Program. This current exhibit will be on display until July 10, 2012. Although one may be an artist for more than 40 years, as I am, it's still always rewarding to receive praise and attention for artwork you have accomplished. I'll never stop savoring that. So thanks guys for you support, as always!

]]><![CDATA[Back on the Job]]>Sun, 06 May 2012 19:56:43 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/05/back-on-the-job1.html<![CDATA[Back on the Job]]>Sun, 06 May 2012 19:56:39 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/05/back-on-the-job.htmlSpent so much time last week on paperwork and printed images for an exhibition submission. If there were only two of me, the one who paints, and the one who does the secretarial work, that would be great. Although I don't actually dislike wearing that "other hat". I have chosen to do it over the years. No one is forcing me, and I take pleasure in how it all looks or how the wording reads. It's a presentation, after all, and I want it to represent me and my artwork the best it can.

So now I'm back to spending more time creating paintings. The one I'm posting here below is a mixed media acrylic painting. It began with a nondescript portrait I painted in 3 hours in the Independent Painters session with a model. I found the setup uninspired and uninspiring. After I let it sit for a couple of days, I thought I would get some special rice papers or other decorative papers from the art supply store, and I would just "play" with that portrait's surface.I spent perhaps an hour walking round the assortment of these beautiful paper surfaces displayed hanging over rods in the back of the store. With 3 of these in hand, and a roll of corrugation in my van that had made a home for itself there months ago, and which I had stopped noticing, it being there so long, I drove home. I was thinking excitedly now! Couldn't wait to begin transforming my mediocre painting, hoping it could be salvaged. Then I cut some pieces of corrugated board which I had manicured to the right sizes and shapes, and adhered sections of those lovely papers to the canvas with a heavy acrylic gel, placing them strategically onto the painting. I was now liking it better, but all the elements didn't seem integrated. Back to work! Tonight I painted again on the piece, sometimes overlapping my brushtrokes across the papers. I wan't intent on creating a likeness of the model, although I had photos of her with me. But I did feel it needed the feeling that this is a real person, so on I trudged. I did a makeup and hair job on what I had previously painted, and made adjustments to the clothing. Below is the finished piece, signed! You can click on it to view it an enlarged size.

]]><![CDATA[Life Drawing, That's Life...]]>Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:08:35 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/04/life-drawing-thats-life1.html<![CDATA[Life Drawing, That's Life...]]>Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:08:31 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/04/life-drawing-thats-life.html

Wonderful model to work from today in the figure session. Good muscle tone, good variety of poses, great ability to hold a pose for long periods of time. Don't know anything about him, but his poses are graceful in an athletic way. I had a great time and found it very challenging to get it all down on paper, even in the half hour poses. Above is my favorith sketch from today's work, drawn with a brush and liquid acrylics in neutral tones. I prefer this drawing, which was the last pose today, because I had decided to place him in a way that I would only draw part of him, instead of his full length. It worked for me because the drawing sits in a pleasing way on the page. On the page of portraits and figures , as indicated in the list to your left on this page, I have posted other drawings I completed today

]]><![CDATA[Returning to Myself]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:25:44 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/04/returning-to-myself1.html<![CDATA[Returning to Myself]]>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:25:40 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/04/returning-to-myself.htmlI've been feeling a little lost, out of connect with my artist self. Today, looking for a subject that would insist on being painted, I stopped after work at English Gardens, a plant nursery. I must have spent an hour and a half going inside, outside, and upside down, to decide on what would draw me into its lair. At first I was looking for a left over Easter Lily plant that might still be in good shape. Seeing them all bedraggled, I noticed some plants of Stargazer Lilies that were still blooming, showing off their inimitable forms. That was it for me. Of course, I had to see everything else that they have in the store at this time, to be sure this was the best of the lot.

I have painted this type of plant before, as well as the Easter Lily. What is always mesmerizing for me is that from the structure of the stalks (this plant has 3 stems) and their leaves protruding rhythmically around them, there is wonderful repetition and parallel forms to work with. The integers, of the leaf spacing ,and the negative spaces that shout at me, provide rich patterns to be conveyed to the page. Of course, the blossoms themselves are beautiful shapes, with their depth and their poetic sweep as the petals spiral back on themselves, again giving me much substance to play with as I commit a drawing to the page, the pristine white of the beautifully textured paper. This drawing will then consume my attention for a period of hours, flowing onto the paper with fits and starts in the same way the musician rcords bits and pieces of his music, as it shows itself to him, using his tentative calligraphy to convey what he is thinking and feeling. So this drawing for me is not a photographic representation of what I am lookng at. As I blunder along, as if blindfolded, proceeding down this path, it's all exploratory, and I follow its scent as if it were an enticing perfume leading me. My eraser is ever present, since I don't know how it's going to emerge, what exact form it will take. Once committed to the page with finality and a sense of every mark feeling right, I put away the plant and begin to paint, letting the colors and shapes guide me. Tonight I hope to begin developing the sketch. The necessary block of several hours will continue tomorrow. I'm posting below a few pictures I took of the lily plant, so you have an idea of where I am starting. When I finish the painting, I'll post that for you to see where I ended up...somewhere far away from photographic reality, but in a much more satisfying place. YOU CAN CLICK ON EACH PHOTO TO ENLARGE THE IMAGES.

]]><![CDATA[Painting again at long last!]]>Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:40:08 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/03/painting-again-at-long-last1.html<![CDATA[Painting again at long last!]]>Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:40:04 -0800http://www.karenhalpern.net/1/post/2012/03/painting-again-at-long-last.html

It feels like such a long time that I haven't painted, since I've been involved in preparing, (cooking and organizing) for the Jewish holiday of Passover, which has consumed much of my time. Before that I was trapped by the endless paperwork necessary in order to enter the competition that has interested me recently, an exhausting ordeal.

So it felt great today to participate in the figure drawing class I typically attend. I loved that some of the model's poses were held for 1/2 hour or an hour. This allows time to sort out how I want to position the model on my page, and what is important. The risk here is that the length of time can lead to overworking a piece, simply because you can! I trashed the last 1 hour sketch that had started to look (to me) like an Egyptian profile figure (a la Nefertiti), and I felt it was reminiscent of the period in history when the Jews were enslaved in Egypt .(Must have been my enslavement cooking matzoh balls, chicken soup, matzoh kugel, etc.) I pictured that my figure was forced to labor building the pyramids. Now we are FREE, I told myself joyously, because Moses led us in our exodus from Egypt, escaping across the Red Sea, as it parted for us to pass.

After all that thinking and some joking about the figure I drew, I just couldn't take it seriously, so in the garbage can it went. At the top is one of the successful drawings. More can be seen on the my web page portraits and figures (see my site map on the left). Some are included in the slide show when you scroll down far enough on that page.

It was a productive day, and also made me laugh, so it was good in several ways. I topped it off by watching "Great Balls of Fire", the Jerry Lee Lewis story, with Dennis Quaid playing the riotous and talented Jerry Lee. It's one of my favorite movies! Rowdy and awesome!

]]>