Blank Canvas

I'm excited to get started on this canvas. It took a few weeks to make it (raw canvas and big stretcher bars and cross brace treked here by UPS, my artist daughter Emma helped me stretch it, and then I prepared it with three coats of gesso.) These preparatory phases are time-consuming, yet I've come to value the process as a step in creating the work- touching the canvas, I admire it's texture, and applying gesso, I'm connecting with the movement and mood of the image-to-be, and start to see it on the surface. I'll let the gesso 'cure' for a few days, and THEN, I get to let loose with springy brushes and lovely color- can't wait!

Paintings within Paintings

Close-up

Entire canvas

Something's stirring my creative spirit with bright warm colors and large scale! I'm surprised and enthused with the 'zing' of color and gesture in my recent oil paintings, and they are taking off to a  larger size than ever before! It's so rewarding when the canvases develop and start to 'talk to me' rather than the other way around.... I see marks and moods that arose as something beyond myself, and seem to have a 'powerful tenderness', something that resonates and lasts. On these larger scale works, there seem to be 'paintings within paintings', as sections of the painting hold me eye with room to explore, and then weave in to the painting as a whole. Very fulfilling!

'Pastel Sampler' Workshop

Alice Kelsey painting with pastel

I'm one of three artists teaching a pastel workshop this Saturday, and am really looking forward to sharing the wonders of this medium, and creating in general! I'm also eager to talk with other artists, and learn of some of their discoveries and approaches. I'll be covering basic pastel techniques, and sharing the stages of development of several of my works with photos at various stages- I learn a lot from this process, and hope that others will too! I'll also be doing a hands-on demonstration of starting a new painting. Anne Kenyon will focus on materials available to pastel artists, and Marianne Fyda is doing a still life of artful dessert items (and we get to eat the still life when she's done!). The workshop is co-sponsored by the Art Alliance of Central PA and the Central PA Pastel Society, and I just heard that it is filled- sounds like a fun day to be among a tribe of artists!