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Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, on hiatus, in Penza. Yup, travel mode, accompanying the spouse on the seek&explore of a new feedmill operational concept :)  The things artists do!

But!  There's nothing like opening the email while sitting in the MKZ office near Penza, Russia, and finding this:

Congratulations! Your painting, "Looked Out The Bus Window And There You Were Pretty Scarf In Bryansk", was selected as part of the FAV15% (jury's favorite 15% of the entries) in the March 2017 BoldBrush Painting competition.

Oh, happy day!  And I DO believe they are right.  It's a gem.

From the Looked Out The Bus Window And There You Were series:  Pretty Scarf In Bryansk.  And for details click the link

Of additional note, the very series this painting is part of, will be included in my solo show of paintings scheduled for August/September at the Octagon Art Center, Ames, Iowa.  And a link for that also, of course.  

Later, Karen

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, on this fine Thursday morning in Lipetsk.

I had scheduling dilemmas on Monday, so count this as the third day in a row for the morning run.  Normally, I like to spread them out a bit more, but things happen. Possibly my legs were a bit pre-tired because of that schedule.  But I am here to put the blame on a different factor.

I am not a fancy runner.  In fact,call me a plainJane runner, and I will take it as a compliment.  Yes, I have quality running shoes, but that's about where I stop with the running gear purchasing. Somebody once gave me a jersey that might be an official runner's jersey, so I have borderline coolness there.

This morning, my normal black pants that I just always grab when the weather is like this, and I am headed for a run, well, they didn't make it through the laundry in time.  I rooted around and found some black knit pants, lots of spandex, how could I go wrong? WRONG.

I rounded the first corner, and realized something was not quite right.  Are my socks pulling on the pants somehow?  I separated the two by an inch or so. and headed on down the path.  As I rounded the building at the back of the park, my entire self was screaming for a walkblock - way too early in the morning for that nonsense!

I struggled onward while mentally attempting to isolate the problem of the matter. And it didn't take long. My leg muscles were battling with the substitute running pants.  Who'd a thunk it possible??!! But there you are.  I had picked the wrong pants for the job.  Instead of aiding me, they were fighting me.  My legs wanted to do one thing, the pants said no.  I made it back to the doma, peeled them off and threw them on the floor. (yes, seriously) When I am done writing this, I fully intend to throw them in the trash.

Is there a tie-in from all of that rant, to the always-purpose of this blog?  Painting?

Yes.

I bought a couple of new brushes in March.  I was tempted by a new label on the shelf, and they looked interesting.  Maybe they were better than my normally purchased brushes?  WRONG.

But they were brand new. And now they are brand new used, as in, not returnable.

Even if we could speak the same language.

New brushes. Money spent. Have to make them work. WRONG.

When I get done writing this, I am going to throw them in the trash along with the black pants.

Painting advice for the day: isolate the problem, and eliminate it. One of my spouse's favorite sayings is "being crazy is doing the same thing over, and over again, and expecting a different outcome the next time."

All painters make mistakes, right? It's also our job to figure out what's fighting and throw it in the trash.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Oh - and may your trash be painting-free today :)

Later, Karen

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Lipetsk.

Today you just get a quick note, but hey, it's got good color, so no room for arguing!

I have written in the past about the drawing/painting/study group I work with here in Lipetsk.

We are fortunate to have very good models for our group.  They are extremely patient, and understanding, and willing to repeat at multiple sessions of study.

Such is the case with one recent model, Nastia.  Which is, of course, a nickname for Anastasia.

I now have several different canvases with Nastia on them.  A few I hope can be completed and shown here eventually.

But for today, I'd like to show you the most recently photographed.

For those of you who think a painter can walk into the studio one evening, and walk out with a masterpiece, I am here to tell you that it's not quite so.  You study and persevere, and study some more.  And then some more.  Maybe someday if you are lucky you end up close.  I think I have with this canvas:

Nastia 3 17 2017

and for a nice zoom view, you may click this:  (link)

Thanks for stopping by!

Later, Karen