Palmer Museum- Gallery Talk

I attended a gallery talk about Japanese Woodblock Prints at the Palmer Museum on Friday, and enjoyed it immensely! The museum has a special exhibit of these works, "Floating Between Worlds: A Conversation about Japanese Woodblock Prints", which ends December 9. Gallery talks and other special events take place several times a month at the Palmer Museum, and I'm really glad to have these opportunities to learn about different media and styles! If you're interested, check out http://www.palmermuseum.psu.edu/events.html

Evolution of a Work - 'Winter Field and Wild Cherry'

I like the peaceful feeling and sense of distance in this piece, which was inspired during a walk around a neighbor's farm.  In winter, neutral colors predominated, and the red of twigs on the cherry trees became even more prominent in contrast to the background colors.

'Winter Field and Wild Cherry' by Alice Kelsey - completed

I set up my easel and made this quick pastel sketch on location.  It was pretty cold, so there was no question of working for a prolonged time!  Even though I recorded only the bare essence of the scene, there is something about painting on location that enables me to see more and get a feel of the conditions of that particular day.

Initial sketch made on location

Back in the studio, I worked over the top of the field sketch (see image below), elaborating on the colors, emphasizing the pull to the distance with colors growing lighter and bluer, and the energetic tangle of the red twigs.  I liked the mood and feel of the piece, but I just didn't feel the composition was resolved.  My eye didn't move throughout it- rather the two trees in the foreground either drew my attention or my eye moved to the hedgerow... but the parts of the painting didn't seem to relate to each other, and the shapes didn't lead my eye to circulate throughout the painting in a pleasing way.

'Winter Field and Wild Cherry' part way done

For several months I was stuck on what to do with this piece, until one day after I hadn't seen it for a while, I pulled it out from storage and I saw what it needed.  I took out the base of the left hand foreground tree, and then cropped out the left side of the painting, leaving about two-thirds of the original composition (compare the pre-crop and final version of the painting below).  In this resulting square format, the movement from the right foreground tree to the hedgerow seems balanced and pleasing to me - my eye circulates freely through the painting without getting 'stuck' on any one spot.  I also simplified the shapes by quieting the colors in the fields, and taking out the underbrush in the left foreground because it created a visual barrier to the rest of the painting.

I really like this piece with its apparent simplicity, yet strong mood and lots of space and textures for the viewer to explore.  It has that harmony 'as a whole' that I strive for, and I'm really pleased when I can get it, like in this painting.  In the end, it really reminds me of what I felt walking on this land on that cold day (and my gratitude for being there).

'Winter Field and Wild Cherry' before cropping

'Winter Field and Wild Cherry' by Alice Kelsey - finished

Rewarding Time at Lewisburg's 'Stroll Through the Arts'

"Redbuds at the River"

I enjoyed sharing my artwork and talking with art appreciators last night at Faustina's Gallery in Lewisburg, PA. I was one of many artists in and about the town sharing our latest creations during the annual 'Art Stroll' event, and greatly appreciate the comments from viewers about what they see and feel in my paintings. Some frequent comments related to a strong sense of color, distinctive style, expressive gestural mark-making, and a poetic quality of overall mood. I'm really glad that these qualities in my paintings come through to viewers, since they are very powerful aspects of what inspires me as an artist, and what I feel that original visual art is able to add to enrich our lives. The joint exhibit, 'Upstream: Images of Susquehanna Waterways,' includes twenty of my recent oil and pastel paintings, and continues through November 17 at Faustina's Gallery. I hope that you get a chance to see it- if so, please let me know what you think! The gallery is located at 229 Market St., Lewisburg, PA and is open Tuesday - Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm, and by appointment (phone 570-524-5080.)

Studio Tour and Demo. Oct. 20 & 21

Alice Kelsey painting in studio

Here's an interesting, fun opportunity to see original artwork in many media, and a glimpse of the working set-up and approaches used by area artists. I'm one of over twenty artists participating in the Art Alliance of Central PA's "Fall Colors Studio Tour." I welcome you to visit my studio and studio gallery on Saturday, October 20 and Sunday, October 21, from 11 am to 4 pm. I'll display finished oil and pastel paintings in my studio gallery, and also demonstrate pastel technique with an in-progress work in my studio. I'd enjoy sharing my work, and workspace with you, and hope that you can drop by (637 Loveville Rd., Warriors Mark, PA 16877, 814-692-4438.) Might be fun to make a day of it with a road trip to many other studios as well! A brochure listing participating artists and a map can be found at http://www.artalliancepa.org/news.htm

Stream Paintings Coming Together

"Spruce Creek- Plein Air", Pastel

The series of paintings of area streams which I've been creating over the past year are coming together! As I finish framing them in preparation for the joint exhibit, and they hang next to each other on the walls of my studio gallery, they speak to me of the forces of nature and harmony in the places where I traveled to paint on location. In this series of paintings, I wanted to create a body of work giving an overview of the watershed (mostly tributaries to the West Branch Susquehanna), over four seasons. Together with fellow artist, friend, and flyfisher Jeanne McKinney, I painted at over twenty sites during the past year, from mountain brooks, to valley streams, and on to the Susquehanna itself.

As I frame the paintings one by one, the fifteen finished works which will soon be in the show gather on the walls of my studio gallery, enriching me with the 'voices' of these places, and resonance as a group. I am glad to have been to these places, and feel gratified in my part in capturing some of their spirit in oil and pastel. There is some of my voice too- a relatedness between the works in marks and touch- and I feel very satisfied in doing my work.

I'd love to share them with you if you are able to see the show (see www,alicekelsey.com for details of where & when.)

Juggling

I'm happy, yet tired, preparing for my joint exhibition which opens in a bit over three weeks. This time in the creative cycle, 'harvest time', feels a bit like juggling- keeping lots of balls up in the air in a steady rhythm- put those crucial finishing touches on paintings, choose frames, cut mats, mount painting in frame, and get the word out about the exhibit. I enjoy the process and satisfaction of each of these parts of my job as an artist , yet need to be very focused and reach a bit here and there to keep up with the cycle  of steps- if one ball falls, the whole process falls apart!

Luckily, I do know how to juggle (literally juggle, I mean- a fun little thing I fell in to learning many years ago.) Today I put varnish on custom hardwood frames made by my husband, worked on an oil painting, went on a walk, and tonight I'm framing, and loading art supplies in my backpack for an early morning plein air painting excursion. I'm looking forward to being back out in the land, which so consistently fills me back up again! AND, I'm really excited about the exhibit of this 'crop' of work (opens Oct. 19 at the Faustina Gallery in Lewisburg, PA)- I'll post more about that soon!

Evolution of a Work - 'White Deer Creek'

'White Deer Creek" by Alice Kelsey - finished

I was journeying around in R.B. Winter State Park in Central Pennsylvania with Jeanne McKinney, my collaborator for the "Upstream: Images of Susquehanna Waterways" show (which opens on Oct. 19 in Lewisburg, PA).  It was late afternoon, and we'd already been painting at a different stream.  I was tired and wasn't sure if I could find the creative energy to start a new work, but when we came across this scene along White Deer Creek, I lit up inside seeing the slanting sun strike the far bank, a dramatic light in the midst of deep woods darkish shadow. It glowed, and touched me, and soon I was immersed in painting.... just reaching for ways to somehow get close to putting on paper what I saw around me and my gratitude for it. I especially liked the triangle in the distance where the green bank glowed, and the reflections and cascades of several pools.   When I was working on the spot, I focused on trying to get that mood and the sense of light sparkling in, and capturing enough of the structure to remind me so I could work on it back in the studio, rather than worrying about the details. 

Plein air sketch made on location

When I looked at the sketch in the studio, I felt that the painting needed to be a bigger scale (size) than my initial field sketch (17" x 11".)  So I grabbed a 24" by 18" piece of paper, pretty big for a pastel, but something just called for that size- it was a Big Scene.  I really wanted to lay in lots of dark underneath because the wooded streams really are largely dark brown, and the other colors glow off that darkness.  So that's how I initially began working on the larger version, getting those darker values and basic drawing structure accurate, and working loosely to have some energy to harness.

Initial lay  studio version (large)

I then started to lay-in some colors, especially that lit up far bank that really inspired me on location.  I then  paid attention to the flow of the water with the three sections of riffles, where the white bands create a rhythm.  I lightened up the farther forest to help it recede.  I like the transparent look of the water pouring over the foreground rocks, with that 'slick', 'skimming' feel of moving water.  I am really happy with how the final painting holds on to what really spoke to me at that day and time, and for the gift of having been there to share in nature's creation.

Starting to lay in colors