Author: Katherine

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Starting at ….hmmm, where?

I’m tired, but my brain is spinning so I guess I should post. Maybe it will give me some clarity.

J and I went to Albuquerque yesterday, so he could fly away this morning, and so he did. I then went about my list, and number one was a visit to his mom. She’s great by the way. She lured me to see her newly installed, less than new, computer, and sat down. Uh oh. I leaned over her till she was afraid that I would end up looking “like an apostrophe”, and then took her seat. For starters, starting is sooo slow, one could nap while waiting for it to load. (Wow, am I spoiled or what? with my (not new anymore) Core(TM)2 Duo processor and 2GB RAM..I’ve no patience anymore for a 1200Mhz Celeron with 256mgs RAM) Guess I better go digging in my closet…….

She’s learning to go online, and use email. The whole business of doing that is perplexing to her and I’d been home for an hour and half (it’s a three hour drive) when the phone rang. I took care to put everything she regularly needs, on her desktop, and showed her how to open, minimize and close them. Oh dear. I have a new empathy for those tech support dudes who have to try to diagnose what’s happening when we say things like, “well, when I click on the blue thingy with the rainbow colors, nothing happens!”

Oh no…don’t get me wrong, my mother-in-law, miss Jane, is a delight. The sheer fact that she’s really trying to give it a go with the computer, is almost miraculous, and I REALLY don’t want to discourage that!

I did notice that her arthritis twisted hand was really having a hard time with the mouse. hmm. is there a better tool? She does ok with the touch pad on a laptop, but right now, has a desktop and a typical ms mouse and keyboard. I have a spare track ball, but I’m not sure that would be any better for her. I’ll have to take it down there and see. Any ideas? Please comment and let me know. The answer to “nothing happens when I click here” is that the curser wasn’t really there when she clicked, and then when it was, she couldn’t really (double) click fast enough (my, the things we take for granted!)

I put solitaire on her desktop and told her to play, hoping that the practice would help her with the mouse. It was ok till she inadvertently closed it. oops. Can you hear the phone ringing?

Too bad mouse pads aren’t “touch pads”! hmmm…interesting idea…anybody make one?

I bet there are a whole lot of finger-mobility challenged people who could use something like that!

As for me, I need a massage and good night’s sleep. At the hotel last night I woke up every time the heater (two feet from my side of the bed) came on (at about every half hour). Then there was the smoke detector in some room other than ours that kept going off. Not the beep beep beep of a low battery. But the Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…….(ad inifinitum) of one that’s been triggered. I pulled a spare pillow from the floor and covered my head. ack. No wonder I left Jane with questions about how to open a new game of solitaire!

So, I’m hoping it will dump snow tonight so that i can’t get out. I know, I know. Not what I usually say. But I have long list of things that need to be done here at home…and J is gone…and it’s the perfect time to get busy. Maybe I’ll just play hooky anyway…..Wait…I’m the owner…if I’m not there, the gallery is not open. Sigh. Guess not. The list will have to wait a bit longer. I have paintings to paint and videos to record and edit. Oh, and grant proposals to finish and ………
good grief. I better stop now or I’ll overwhelm myself! Good night, friends. Let me know if you know of a way to help Ms. Jane. Thanks.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Bail Out Blinders

I have my bail out blinders on. Can’t stand to listen to the news anymore. Spend, spend, spend and benefit a few, but not any of us who do the right thing, fight like hell to pay the mortgage on time, borrow from peter to pay paul every day of the month, struggling to keep that credit score well above 7. There will be nothing for us. Once again penalized by the politicians for being a stand up person and doing the right thing. It makes me sick.

I called the mortgage company, to see if they’d work out a lower rate. Nothing doing. Know why? because I’m not behind. I can’t refinance because I’d never qualify in the current credit debacle, so, because I’ve done the right thing, I’m screwed. How upside down is that!?!

Deep sigh. Ok, I’m done with the rant. I’ll turn my thoughts back to the task at hand which is the development of www.katherinesarttv.tv and www.myarttv.tv (not up yet). I’m recording everything I do every time I pick up a pencil or a brush. My camera’s hard drive is almost full, so probably this week I’ll start editing video. While it is time consuming work, I’m excited when I’m at that because I’m excited about these sites and getting them fully operational. From the 10 or 12 hours I have recorded right now, I’ll probably get 3 or 4 videos, all on watercolor. In the next set I’ll focus on fun techniques but that’s probably at least a week off.

It’s way more soothing to ponder watercolor, and better yet to pick up that brush. Unfortunately my home studio is still a disaster zone and my brushes and paints are at the gallery. I guess that’s ok, because the dryer is beconning. Back to domestic duty. Important stuff, you know, laundry. So off I go.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Superbowl Sunday thoughts

A last minute once over clean up ensued first thing this morning, since we decided about 12 hours earlier to host a game party. We’ve never been big football fans, but as we were watching a recorded NCIS on the 80 inch projection screen, we said, “hmmm….”

So, phone calls made and friends coming over, thank goodness I have Robie. That’s how we affectionately refer to our Roomba (vacuuming robot). I refer to him as he, even though he has a she voice. No, it’s not a transvestite vacuum…It’s just silly. But he does do a good job, as long as I’ve remembered to empty and clean him after the last job. Even that’s not a big deal, because he reminds me, “beep beep, please remove and clean Roomba’s brushes” or “beep, beep, beep please inspect and clean Roomba’s cliff sensor (so he doesn’t fall down the stairs).

Anyway, I turn him to go on, and he runs around the house sucking up all the dog hair and debris which gives me time to clean the bathrooms (joy) and, oh…up…post on my blog. gotta love that!

So..I won’t pontificate about who will win. To be honest, I don’t even know who’s playing. There you go..my true Artist self showing through again. At any rate, we’ll have fun….and I hope you do too!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Painting in Progress

Ok, so I thought since I talked about the piece I’m working on, I would show you the current status. so, here’s a pic. The angle is a little wierd because I took it with my webcam, but you can get the idea. And they are, as a result of the webcam..reversed, so that’s kind of funny! oh well. I’ll show you the finished piece when its done, and you will be able to see the difference.

This has about 5 glazes on it..except for the steeple which only has one..so you can see the difference.
It’s fun, but time consuming. and if you’re not carefuly, the newest layer will lift the layer below it!

So, stay tuned and I’ll put it up when its done!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Quiet Saturday

It’s Saturday and lovely, though cool outside. I guess everyone is out on the mountain enjoying the fresh powder, cuz they certainly aren’t here! The up side of that is that I’ve been working hard on my next commissioned piece..and recording it. It will be a long video, so I’ll likely release a small segment on youtube and then refine the rest for a full lesson on katherinesarttv.tv

I got the membership software installed and the initial free videos and posts up already, now comes the hard part of recording all the videos! It takes about 9 hours of video recording to get a full hour of indepth content and lesson. At least I can do what i love while I’m recording…..Paint!

So, despite the fact that it is still January, I’ve broken the block and have been painting most of the last two days. The piece I’m working on is an 18 x 18 watercolor on canvas of a Northern New Mexico church. Painting watercolor on canvas requires many many layers so I’ve been working on it for about 30 hours already, but not altogether of course, as the layers have to dry in between application.

Speaking of which..it’s time to get back to it.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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What is it about January?

Hmmm. I’m stuck. Advice please. Most of the time, I’m an endless stream of passion to paint, dreaming of the next painting, and the next and the next. Moved to moodiness and, my husband would say, grumpiness, if i can’t pick up the brush.

Then comes January. Stymied, but not sullen. Optimistic in the midst of debilitating economic forcasts. But finding a million things to do….BUT paint. Are there weird ions in the air in January? Is it the snow flying out my window? All this indoor time, shouldn’t I be running to the canvas/paper/scratchboard?

I’m supposed to be recording all those strokes I make. The camera is poised on the tripod. The light focused on the canvas on the table below, but off; the brushes at the ready, even the water containers are full. But the palette is closed. And I am typing on the laptop. Good grief, what is wrong with this picture?

I have a growing stack of commission to do. This is a good thing. So, what’s quashing my passion? Any ideas? I’d love to whack it out of the way…..

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Georgeous here!

wow. January and the temp is 41. May be cold to you…but it’s regular heat wave! Hoping for more snow as the warm temps have been slowly eroding the pack we had…but the Resort is working hard to keep it great for the skiers! Not being a skier myself, I rely on what my friends say and they say it’s good.

When I drove home yesterday the dirt road that leads to my house was a veritable river. While we’re enjoying the moderate temps…we are a ski town. Need that snow. Hoping it comes soon as is forecast. It’s kind of unpredictable here in Northern New Mexico.

Not skiing…but painting. Have a line up of commissions to do (yay!) and figured I’d better get started. Not procrastinating, exactly…for some reason I find it hard to paint in January. No explanation. But I did get started anyway.

Had a rare visit with my dear friends Nancy and Art. Sweet.

Tonight I’ll go to the Jack Ingram Concert with the girls. It’s been decades since I was at a live concert. Got my boots on. Ok, so they not cowboy boots. I’m not exactly a country girl…

Painting is dry. Back to it…

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Bright and Glorious? I hope so

All eyes are on Washington, D.C. where our 44th President is about to take office. You can’t turn on the television, the radio or pick up a newspaper and not know it. There is hope tangible in the air. I must admit, that I feel the buzz even when I’m trying hard to paint. (what is it about January? I have commissions stacking up and the canvas on my table is white…..)

So, it’s my day off. I thought I’d have a leisurely day for a change. We had friends in for dinner last night, lots of laughs and the dog (Grace) soaked up enough attention to last at least 10 minutes. (grin)

I got up and hit the button on the espresso machine and inhaled deeply as the crema formed in the cup. Ahh, a day off.

It wouldn’t be long before it was clear that the pipe from the toilet to the septic was, um frozen. I glanced at the outdoor thermometer. Oh, no. 5 degrees. Deep sigh.

So, the morning was devoted to every trick I’ve learned. First the plunger. Nada. Then the snake. Nope. Then the hot water poured into the nearby drains that were still operating. It took nearly 3 hours.

It made me wonder about a couple of things….like those 7000 port-a-potties dotting (ugh) the otherwise beautiful landscape on the Nation’s Mall. Not that it isn’t necessary, but, Egad.

Then I pondered the fact that HBO “bought” the exclusive right to broadcast the opening concert at the Lincoln Memorial. I say, NOT FAIR!

The inauguration of the President is the celebration of THE PEOPLE.

I canceled my HBO service long ago, and now I wish I hadn’t, just so I could do it again. It is OUR party! We should all be able to partake, even if it is on the screen in our living room or at the local gathering place, if not able to be there live.

I think the committee that SOLD the rights of the people to HBO should take every last dime and give it to all the people who have filed for unemployment in the last 2 months. I realize, 2 million is peanuts and wouldn’t go very far. It’s the point. And I’d love it if everyone would cancel their HBO. Not that I think either will happen. The stench is overwhelming.

Now, my toilets are flushing, the sky is blue, I’ve have a glass of wine and I’ll settle down. The real game begins on Wednesday, after all.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Thank God 2008 is gone..high hopes for 2009!

In thinking back over the past year, my high point was my low point. The struggle to decide to move my gallery was the 800 pound gorrilla in my life. In the interlude, while we were in Mexico (how gloriously providential that it was provided and paid for well in advance) was also both. Coming to the realization that the continuous struggle to monetize my passion, and promote and make the artists in my gallery successful had so weighted me that I was exhausted even to stand up was an earth-shattering understanding to me. Finding a way back was tenuous and scary for me. I had lost sight of the goal and been overwhelmed by the task of getting there. When? I’m not sure, but sure that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

Being away from it all, no phone, often no internet, no gallery, cleared the windsheild of my soul and let me see it. Then the question was, do i let it go and walk away? or do I let it go and hang on for dear life to see where it would take me.

I guess by now you know I chose the latter. I can’t explain the sense of well-being or the upward bend of the corners of my mouth. If I listen to the pundits on TV I’ll be out of business by the end of the first quarter of 09. For some reason, I just don’t believe that.

And so, Happy New Year.

I’m working on a new website, by the way. I’m working on a 26 week (or more ) course in drawing and painting. Video instruction. I’m laying out the curriculum and researching hosts and how to offer it. I’ll start recording as soon as next week. Drawing will come first, since that is really the foundation of every good painting, even the ones that get drawn with a brush. Watch for news of it and I’ll send the links to it from here, so follow this blog with the link on the right.

And for now, the sun is shining and the sky is clear. I’m unabashedly optimistic and moving forward like it matters. My resolution? I don’t really have one, but I am setting new goals and ways to reach them. May you reach yours too.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM