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Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where today, the subject is mud.

Yes, mud.  Not a very highly rated word, is it? Normally when we think about mud, it's in terms of it being stuck to the bottoms of our shoes, only to be tracked into the house.  Or think about the dog, that you so enjoyed the sight of playfully scampering through the yard, but now eagerly at your knee, possibly even jumping, in his desire for affection, on your very light colored pants, with his muddy paws? 

Ah, yes, mud.  Nobody wants it, right?  Wrong!  Have you missed the fact that an extremely large portion of the central United States is involved in a severe drought?  Central United States, aka, bread basket of the nation.  Now I know much of the population of the United States believes that what happens out on the farm really doesn't affect them.  (and I have a bridge I can sell you, as well)  After all, food comes from the grocery store-right?  Okay, here's a heads-up:  if the nation's corn crop is reduced by 1/3, your grocery bill will notice.  Last week, farmers near Springfield, Illinois were discing up the now dead corn crop, hoping on an outside chance that they'll get some rain and be able to grow a short season crop.  Farmers in Wayne, Nebraska are attempting to bale what's left of their corn crop - no corn on the stalk, but hopefully the leaf portion of the plant will appease some hungry cows.  Here are a couple of articles for further insight:

 article 1  and article 2

But here's my point:  when there's mud available in large quantity, not too many people are thrilled with it.  In fact, quite a few people will go out of their way to avoid it.  When it's in short supply, or in today's case, NON EXISTANT, everyone wants it.  People are praying for rain.  Praying for rain, that will make mud. 

"Now, how in blazes is she going to tie this into a painting blog?", you ask?

Simple.  Supply and demand.  When there's a whole bunch of it, nobody wants it.  When it's scarce, it's pretty darned desirable.

Keep that in mind, as you contemplate printing off images of your latest painting, 100 copies each of three different sizes.

And help pray for some rain, please.  Thanks.

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, soon to be temporarily transplanted to Geneva, Illinois.

Yes, there is another art fair on the immediate horizon.

Geneva Arts Fair, in the lovely burg of Geneva, Illinois. 

"A link?" you say?  But of course:  http://www.genevachamber.com/artfair.html

However, the brief info version is:

Geneva Arts Fair

S. Third Street, Geneva, Illinois, with the all important dates as:

July 28-29, 2012
and the hours being:

10AM thru 5PM each day

And because most blog posts these days are way too black and white, here's an image of a painting for you - On the easel, but getting close. 

A 12 x 12 canvas about a "reader" on the beach with shoes that barely qualify as beachwear.

No promises, but it should be ready to make it's debut at Geneva.  See you there!

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where we are recently home from Krasl Art Fair in St Joseph, Michigan.  A lovely event, to be sure.

Something happened there that made me remember this quote that I had put away for safe keeping:

"I paint life as I would like it to be." (Norman Rockwell)

I have a similar line posted at the top of my pro-panels:  "painting people enjoying life".

All of the above mentally came into play, along with a blog article, written by Jack White not so long ago.  That article included the idea that if we ask visitors of our art exhibits, any questions that can be answered with a yes or no, then we are losers, or something like that.  You may use just about any definition of loser you want to there, I think they all work in this case.

Anyway, a woman walked into my  booth at Krasl art fair.  Remembering Jack's wise words, I asked her what I could tell her about the paintings.  Never ask, "is there anything I can tell you about the paintings",  right??  Because that would make a yes or no answer suitable, and the conversation would end there, not helping anyone.

Anyway, this woman told me she did not want to talk about the paintings.  (hey,it wasn't a yes or no answer)  The next day, she called to make sure she hadn't offended me with her curt answer, but she had been busy listening to the paintings talk to her.  Hunh!  Now that's an excuse I can appreciate!

But, I wondered:  if I had been selling reproductions, would she have been equally captivated?

Thus end-eth the thought for the day.

Happy painting to you!

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where we are once again packing.  For an art show, that is.

Krasl Art Fair On The Bluff, to be specific.

This weekend, St Joseph, Michigan.  Yup, that's just around the corner of Lake Michigan from Chicago.  A lovely spot in the world, to be sure.

Dates:  Saturday July 14th and Sunday July 15th.

I am exhibitor #167, on the "bluff" side of the park.  Do stop in.

A new bicycle painting "The Bicycle Pages"  will make it's debut.  Now if I can just get a quick photo before it takes it's place in the trusty artmobile....

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa.  Did you notice my absence?  We were vacationing.  And it was great.  Even the add on.  Now that part has you curious, right?  That "add on" bit?  But first we need to highlight a word from the title of this post.  Promotion.

Promotion - yes, you could erroneously assume that I am going to give you a sales pitch on some paintings today.

Promotion - yes, and you could also erroneously assume that my job status has been elevated.  That I am now CEO of karencooperpaintings.com.  Oh, wait, I already am.  (Heheheh.)

But what I really want to do here is tie "promotion" in with that "add on" bit.

On our way back from way up north, the map lead us through Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.  Population:  more than Jefferson, but not 15,000 either.  We knew that Leinenkugel Brewing Company was in Chippewa Falls, and we thought, well, that 'd be something to do on our way through.  We were getting tired of driving, you know.  So we cruised around town, and accidentally found "Leinie Lodge", which turned out to be their "meet and greet the world" facility.  We walked up to their information desk to ask about tours. 

Terry was the guy who greeted us.  Yes, they were getting ready to close for the day, in ten minutes, give or take a few.  But Terry was still hustling.  No lean on the counter and whine about the long day with this guy.

So, tours were done for the day, we had already pretty much assumed they would be.  We were planning on staying in town for the night, we just wanted to check time schedule for tours the next day.  Terry let us know that tour reservations were a really good idea, their time slots were already getting full.  He added our name to an open spot.  And could have left it at that, right?

But he continued.  What else do you need to know about Chippewa Falls?  We've got great places to stay, all kinds of restaurants, a stellar park.  Terry filled us in on all the local places.  And yes, he did mention the chain hotels and restaurants out on the interstate.  But he definitely highlighted the locals.  He pointed us toward an old-school style inn, just up the road from Leinie Lodge. called the Glen Loch Inn.  Probably a 50's era place, but almost impossibly meticulously well cared for.  Continental breakfast was simple but served on white table cloths.  The inn keeper was just absolutely gracious and friendly.  Does her own gardening, and it's as meticulous as everything else on the property.  The patio was perfect for the continental breakfast.

But Terry the tour guy also noted our bicycles strapped to the back of the Jetta, and mentioned if we enjoyed riding, that Chippewa Falls has a great park, with trails.  300 plus acres in the middle of town, beautiful trails, a band stand, a waterfall, even a small zoo.  We enjoyed.

And Terry also pointed us toward a great local restaurant on the lake at the edge of town, called (of course) The Edge.  Perfect.

So where's this all going you ask?  Promotion.  Terry's job was to promote Leninkugel.  And he did that very well, as a Leinenkugel host.  But he also promoted his peers, his neighbors, his fellow Chippewa Falls-ians.  Terry seemed to know that every bit of promotion he did for his neighbors, was going to come back around and be good for Leinenkugel.

Not all of us in the art world, especially the summer art fair world, understand that concept.  I see artists being protective, even secretive, about information that would benefit their peers.  It's not hard to find an artist based forum on the net, where artists are talking about who's copying who.  And "that was mine, and they copied it!"

Here's the thought to ponder:  everyone does better when the community is well.  Helping your neighbor is just another way of helping yourself.

We're already planning an autumn trip back to Chippewa Falls...

Later, Cooper