Thursday, April 14, 2011

Workshops

I teach to each student what their personal spirit is to creativity and painting. I ask questions of them and in the answer, I go with what they are attracted to by their response, it is from the essence of them that I teach what they need to know. Every class is different depending on the range of the student,I teach the person, not the class, I can multi-task to each individual and always everyone learns from each person's diverse spirit of creativity.

2011 Workshops
Asheville,NC: 
May: 22-24, 2011 (one space left,  3-day popular yearly class, so it fills up fast), $285 at 
310 Gallery at Riversedge Studio at 191 Lyman street. Contact Feta (e mail contacts below)
ALSO, Asheville Terrific Tuesdays mentoring /probelm solving days held on July 19 and August 9, $35, 10-1, contact  Fleta Monighan, 
co-ordinator, 828/776-2716  or www.riversedgestudioclasses.blogspot
Cashiers,NC: 
May: 12-16, 2011, 4-day class at the spectacular residential Lonesome Valley & its famous Canyon Kitchen. Unbelievable views! This 4-day class has plenty of perks! $400
Contact Eli Corbin at ecogothicrose@aol.com
828/243-0200 for offered accomodations/activities/ class.  
Fee depends on your 4-day accomodation needs.
STARTING IN APRIL, 2011 > MAGICAL MONDAYS in Cashiers, $25, 10-4: Bring your unfinished problem paintings and we will finish them together as I mentor and share with each student in my home-studio! Limited to 4, you MUST rsvp the week before, PLEASE. This is what I call a chance to get your grove on w/o a 3-day workshop committment.
Highlands, NC:  
October: 20-22, 2011, 3-day class , $320 at The Bascom Museum. Contact any of the staff in the education department, 828/526-4949 or www.thebascom.org

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Students, I am still in the "Kindergarten Club"

Space & Time, 48x48, oil on canvas, all palette knife    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Like a lot of struggles, the solution may just be a simple one. Organization is so simple yet if you waste time not putting things in order, then it can be exhausting to catch up. In painting, you need to collect yourself everyday. Just by doing it at the same time makes you conscious of bold habits, effective prayer time at the easel, virtually setting your mind to tasks. Some painters have joined the virtual social breakfast club, checking e mail and facebook every morning at the same time. I am one of them. I see that what they are up to and take note of the time, so I am calling us the "Early Morning Painters Club." Then we go into our studio and work, sometimes making posts during breaks, sometime posting problems paintings or just "lookeehere what I am doing" posts.
I wonder if they are still in their pajamas. I have been know to do some great pajama paintings. 
sometimes they post, I am blank today, of ideas," then bingo sometimes kicks in, maybe after a walk. Creativity is endless, boundless, intensified by the doing. As the easel dance continues, idea and motifs form and give us clues to how to proceed. We can pat ourselves on the back after the day is ended and the wine is brought out. As I pour my glass, I wish I had a chart on my fridge like I had when my boys were little that contained gold stars for the doing of chores and tasks. I would give myself a red one today, very close the the old one of yesterday, just  for an extra connection to the end of a painting.
I now can go to my social page and write about the stimulation and excitement, the beautiful calmness, a connection to the history of the past artists and the other early morning creators. We are connected by the task of cleaning up, by the smell of turps and mediums and the welcome procession of creative joy, If we stay organized we can have our mind working in perfect harmony with creating and cleaning up and doing it all over again each day. Like Kindergarten, they teach you do do your tasks everyday the same, and you complete your tasks well.... so much then, it becomes mindless. It's a miracle these days we can can proceed, and it is worth the aloneness. Oh..... and membership is free to the club.

"Boldness has genius, power and magic. Engage, and the mind grows heated. Begin and the work WILL be completed." Goethe

Monday, April 11, 2011

20th Anniversary of Painting Show in Charleston, SC, July 14, 2011















^Time After Time 36x48, oil on Linen

Waiting for the World to Change, oil on Linen,70x60 >


Painting for this show is carefully planned to create new work that is different from anything presently in Charleston. It is a chance to show others and collectors what I am doing now in my current work. It is going to be in conjunction with the CFADA Palette to Palate Weekend. I am veryexcited to work with Ella Richardson Gallery on this event.  Come see me in Charleston on July 14, 2011 at 50 Broad Street from 5-8!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Accidental Collector







A friend comes into my studio and asks laughingly, "I am here to see if you have created something accidentally that would fit into my house". 


There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see— Da Vinci 
A Good Year of Sales at Blackbird Gallery >
in Asheville, NC, June 27, 2010





You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist— Friedrich Nietzsche


To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.




I had a great show opening
at Blackbird in May
and sold 6 paintings.The art studio stroll  in Asheville was also a success selling 5 paintings. Art is alive and well, and there are so many paintings in my head from suggestions from visitors in my working studio, friends and collectors. And two commissions. 

Now the first Cashiers Plein Air festival is coming soon. I am so-chairman, and it is a blast putting it together with a terrific group of artsy people. 24 artists will be in Cashiers (our second home location) to compete! Build it and they will come!
These are some of the paintings & buyers from the 24 painters that did the 'boot camp' of plein air painting, performance painting at its best! Big sales and lots of plans for another one in Cashiers.

FROM the blog of Artist ROBERT GENN:
He wrote this on MARCH 12, 2011.
<!--Painter's Keys Badge-->
<div style="display:block;border:0;padding:2px;margin:0;clear:both;"><a href="http://clicks.robertgenn.com/" title="The Painter's Keys - A community for artists">
<img src="http://clicks.robertgenn.com/images/ads/fal-banner.jpg" alt="The Painter\'s Keys - A community for artists" border="0" width="150" height="200" /></a><br style="clear:both"/></div>
    

If only  folks could be aware of the life-centering force and personal 
power one gets from the harmless little activity known painting.
Yep, I'm talking about painting as a spiritual event. The act has something to do with making a physical tribute--a sort of a visual prayer--honoring the gifts that surround us and the life we've been given. Before you hit that delete key or drop a note to say I've gone wonky again, here are a few observations for those who might be buying my oysters: 
Art establishes and makes tangible a time, a place, a thought, an idea. 
Art, properly made, enhances and enriches the lives of others. 
Art gives an opportunity to endow new life and new meaning into the ordinary. 
Art gives an opportunity to design your own world, and, as in your children, create a significant immortality. 
Art is hard-earned work that is its own reward and has a degree of permanence. 
Art, because it's so easy to do, and yet so difficult to do well, encourages humility in the human soul. 
Art is an apprenticeship that can be stretched into a lifelong education. 
Art thrives on democratic ideals, freedom of expression and rugged individualism. 
Art permits you to step out of the labyrinth and into a quiet corner of your own private joy".
 Art permits you to step out of the labyrinth and into a quiet corner of your own private joy".


36x48, Under The Radar
ep, I'm talking about painting as a spiritual event. The act has something to do with making a physical tribute--a sort of a visual prayer--honoring the gifts that surround us and the life we've been given. Before you hit that delete key or drop a note to say I've gone wonky again, here are a few observations for those who might be buying my oysters: 
Art establishes and makes tangible a time, a place, a thought, an idea. 
Art, properly made, enhances and enriches the lives of others. 
Art gives an opportunity to endow new life and new meaning into the ordinary. 
Art gives an opportunity to design your own world, and, as in 
36your children, create a significant immortality. 
36 is hard-earned work that is its own reward and has a degree of permanence. 
Art, because it's so easy to do, and yet so difficult to do well, encourages humility in the human soul. 
Art is an apprenticeship that can be stretched into a lifelong education. 
Art thrives on democratic ideals, freedom of expression and rugged individualism. 
Art permits you to step out of the labyrinth and into a quiet corner of your own private joy".
 Art permits you to step out of the labyrinth and into a quiet corner of your own private joy".

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Collectors

What is a collector of art? In my opinion it is more that the dollars to buy a significant piece of art. It is about abundance. ABUNDANCE meaning a gift to the self, or to the soul.  It is the desire to make a purchase toward an investment of the spirit, the artist’s creative spirit and the buyer’s acknowledgement of this symbiotic experience.  Not only a monetary investment, but an investment of your soul connecting with anothers. The buyer becomes connected to the artist, and harmoniously that connection lives in perfect balance in a space for a lifetime. Then when the time comes to be parted, the effort must be made from the owner to place it.... or will it to heirs, or perhaps place it into another hand, a professional art dealer. There are planners or consultants out there that can help place valuable collections in precise order for their value and provenance. I worry about the people who purchase art to match their decor, when in fact a Monet or Picasso may be dwelling right there in their living room without their knowing. No one knows how valuable or famous an artist will be after time has passed, so collectors need to be wise about its careful planning for their art. I have a collector friend who says, “It only hurts once to buy quality.” Her pocketbook diminishes only a fraction compared to her soul lifting with abundance.

Artfully speaking,
Karen Weihs
(Beginning two oceanscapes, both 30x40 for the July Show in Charleston, SC

Letter to Students

LETTER TO THE STUDENT OF PAINTING BY A NC ARTIST;

"Your day contains a great measure of freedom. Your responsibility as a painter is here within the walls of the studio and in the setting of the landscape. You have the opportunity to exercise genuine mastery at every step, and it is in this spirit of grand possibility that I hope you will reflect on the advice made plain here.

Do not grieve too long for the troubles of the outside world. There is important work to be done here. We can best express our care for all others by attending to our work well.

Allow yourself the peace of purpose and the knowledge that to make another attempt with the brush is a noble thing. If you accept the discipline of the truest principles of art, then yours is the reward of an unbroken line of tradition.

Therefore, you may earnestly free your mind of all heartaches, sadness, and transitory despairs. Creation is above these things.

Your vocation is as real and as true as any other. Those who denounce the artist as idle manifest a deep ignorance of the nature of art. Have faith that the civilized will somewhere, at some time, value your well-wrought works. It is a miracle that the world keeps its havens for art and yet it does. Know that to create art is to do a necessary piece of work. The most noble pleasures and measureless joys result from such endeavors. True art is undeniable and it is a gift for all humanity.

The threefold responsibility of the artist is: to creation, to individual talent, and to humanity. For creation - the whole of nature - we must cultivate prayerful awe. This is our source of work and our refuge as well. We should seek harmony with nature. For the individual talent - long hours and years of steady industry hope to find our abilities fulfilled, our minds, hearts, and hands put to valuable service. In this way, we maintain the sanctity of art. Lastly, we make to humanity a willing gift of all we do. Our control over the material world lasts only a lingering moment and it takes a generous soul to build the ambition of a lifetime and then to hand it over in trust to the future.

Painting requires the bravery of solitude. Painting requires disciplined labor. To be a painter is to search the world with a benevolent eye for every subtle beauty that the infinite world offers.

Here is the opportunity to give your honest effort and to add in any small way to the legacy of art. Cultivate patience in your heart and you will improve. Learn to see well and your hand will become sure.

No pain or doubt can invade the honest soul engaged in the communion of creation. We artists must love the world with our deepest selves and forgive it at every turn.

To paint even a little passage with a measure of quality is to achieve a life's triumph.

Spend your days wisely with the best thoughts and works of those who have walked the road before you. Search their paths, their timeless inspirations, and the lineage of their genius. Learn your craft well and your talent will mature into its full possibility. Keep an obedient heart before nature. She is the master above all other masters. Nature is the concrete manifestation of all that remains true and sublime. Let us always be thankful for her abundance and hopeful that we might approach her in our art. Nature will renew every generation of painters, ready to illuminate the minds of those who practice the art with what is calm, rational, beautiful, sublime, and eternal.

MIS EN PLACE
from my book OUT OF MY MIND, life lessons as an oil painter:
Before I start my day, I go through a process I call mis en place, which is French for “ everything in its place,” or as I put it: Get organized, both physically and mentally. Through the external process of getting organized, I can internally organize myself. My husband’s attention to mis en place taught me its value. In chef apprentice school, he was trained to put everything he needed in place before him so the job would be easy. Over the years, I have learned to do the same with my art. The mornings of painting include putting the paint out the same way every time. I insist my students do the same until they memorize the names  and position of the colors on their palette. The studio has to be organized and in place so there is no interruptions. Prioritizing is critical to mis en place. Knowing that I have an active and slippery mind makes me appreciate the need to organize and put order into each task.

Some days I am not inspired or am empty of ideas. When I go about the organizations process of filing, cleaning or looking at art books, it seems by separating from the worry of ideas flowing, I find that ideas begin to churn in my head. Time is not wasted with mis en place, it is a necessary process. That process includes the following stages:
PREPARATION; When you are immersed enough in a subject to become curious.
INCUBATION: The period of time when  ideas churn around, just below the threshold of consciousness. Sometimes they surface in dreams, when driving a long distance, or a not bath.
INSIGHT: The moment when all of the puzzle pieces come together to give you the excitement, or the “A-ha “of decision.
EVALUATION: The stage where you step back and you ask yourself, “Is the endeavor worth doing?”
ELABORATION: The actual permission you give yourself to do the work. This is when the 10% inspiration merges with the 90% perspiration. When the project is completed, there is no better “high”of achievement. It is this link of imagination and reality, which gives you the greatest sense of individual freedom. 
When mis en place is activated, these stages take hold.

The desire to paint usually comes from a strong sense that all things are somehow connected-moving in a particular direction and bonded by some architecture of immense beauty. I want to paint to reach beyond the subject and tap into the power that moves behind it.  Unlock the mystery of your own creative adventure be establishing your own pattern of mis en place and stick to it. Once you get organized, you won’t find any more excuses to put off your creative work.

Artfully Speaking,
Karen Weihs

My Home, Skylight Farm, Cashiers, NC



SKYLIGHT FARM, CASHIERS, NC
www.cashiersskylightfarm.com

Skylight Farm is my home and one of those special places where people come to share magic in my studio. Students, painter friends, and gourmet foodies who like Chris’ cuisine (my husband)  come for exceptional learning opportunities on pretty well everything our world needs right now. Organic cooking lessons, wildcrafting, writing, breathing, dancing, meditation, nonviolence, healing, social consciousness, strategizing, loving, shamanism, the purposeful life, contemplation, mysticism, leadership, photography, focus, immersion, enchantment, authenticity, creativity, painting, cognitive therapy, leadership, and lemme see, fellowship? We call it” life artist therapy.” Some students bring their paintings that are in a stuck mode on what I call” MAGICAL MONDAYS” and we fix them, re-shape or re-paint them into a finished state, or more of a polished place. What we all get out of it is confidence and a perfect day of thought and contemplation of a work well done. It works well when there are 4 students ($25 each) and I mentor them into a more confident state of mind. I have been there and done that so I get to correct my own mistakes over and over again, so of course I get a lot out of it myself. It is kinda like a chance to get your groove back. Once in a while we will get a married couple that do the cooking lessons with Chris and the art lessons with me on a private venue. Life is about sharing, and Skylight farm is that special place we get a chance to share with others.

Artfully Speaking,
Karen Weihs
Working on the painting that in now
called "Silent Wings," 30x40 on my banner above. It will be featured in the July show at Ella Richardson Gallery in Charleston, SC.