Farmhouse in Spring. Acrylic, 12 x 16. Kit Miracle
Although spring officially began a little over a week ago, the season has been sneaking up on us for a while. The grass is greening with that lovely shade of spring green. The trees are sporting a haze of pinky-red buds or some with more greenish buds.
The daffodils and crocuses are out. The yard if full of spring beauties, a tiny white flower with a pink stripe. It looks like snow in some areas. And the forsythias in the yard and out by the road where I had my son transplant shoots over fifteen years ago. I think it adds a little colorful surprise for passersby.
I’ve been so busy with other activities but have been able to sneak out to catch a painting or two. These are some of my favorite recent ones. One depicts our house sitting on the little hill with the morning sunlight catching the fronts of the buildings. The middle building behind the big house is my studio.
The second larger painting is of our North field looking west. You can see the farm rows from last year’s crops. The white dogwood, some redbud, and the various spring colors on the big trees. Such a pretty time of year.
North Field in Spring. Acrylic on canvas 16 x 20. Kit Miracle
Posted onFebruary 27, 2022|Comments Off on Spring will arrive – eventually
My last post earlier this month was about Snomagedden. The weather in the midwest has been all over the place – ice, sleet, fog, freezing rain. Later this week we are expecting temps up to the 60s. I’ll be watching for spring flowers as the daffodils are already up several inches.
After the gallery talk this month.
My show at the Harrison County Arts in Corydon has been very successful. Last week I gave a gallery talk which was well-received. The reporter Judy Cato came out twice. Once to interview me and another time to bring her friend Lorraine, the photographer. And then this coming week I get to pick it up the show.
Judy Cato (reporter for Southern Indiana Living) and me.
But I am already on to the next thing. I’ve decided to paint some bridges and started with some train trestles and tunnel bridges, graffiti and all. It’s been fun so far. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Stay tuned for the next thing. Happy spring until we meet again.
Train Trestle Riceville RdTunnel bridge on Schnellville Road, complete with graffiti.
This little English robin is looking right at the viewer. Watercolor on Arches paper.
After a very balmy December, we have been experiencing some single digit temperatures this week. Too cold for plein air painting, at least for me. Fortunately, most of the snow has missed us. So I mostly trekked between my house and the studio, a commute of only about thirty feet.
If I haven’t mentioned it before, my studio is an old summer kitchen. This is where cooking and canning was done during the worst of the summer heat, when cookstoves burned wood. The whole point was to keep the heat out of the house. Well, what that really means is that there is no insulation in the building and most of the windows are single pane. It is pretty dang cold out there. I have a wall propane heater but keep it turned pretty low when I’m not there. Sometimes, too low. The water for my work will freeze and it takes awhile for the building to heat up.
Wine, cheese, grapes….oh, and some crusty bread. Watercolor with pen and ink overlay.A beautiful red red rose. Smell the perfume.
However, this is a perfect time of year to create some smalls, i.e., small topical paintings. I’ve been thinking spring, or at least wishing for it. I’ve been painting flowers and bunnies, robins and a cute little mouse. I get on a roll and don’t know when to stop. Well, usually after a couple of weeks, I’m ready for something more challenging.
Mousey and friend. Just a whimsical spring-time scenario. A tiny box of chocolates. How tempting!
These little paintings are popular in the local shops and in my Etsy shops. Although they make great gifts, sometimes it’s nice to just buy something for yourself.
I gave a little background behind the Breaking Bread series. I could only exhibit about six paintings in the series due to space limitations.
My solo show at the Harrison County Arts gallery opened yesterday. This is in downtown Corydon, Indiana, the first state capitol of Indiana. It’s a quaint little town and is about thirty miles west of Louisville, Kentucky. It gets a lot of visitors and many people work in the big city.
Harrison County Arts is a co-op of a group of volunteers who manage and present quality art and crafts of regional artists.
There are plenty of other beautiful art items for sale in the backrooms, ranging from jewelry and photos, to sculpture and furniture.The volunteer staff did a really nice job hanging the paintings. It’s nice to see them up on the walls after they’ve been in storage.
I dropped off my work the week before and the volunteers did the rest. They did a lovely job hanging the exhibit although the space is limited. My show is the last exhibit at this gallery. They’re moving across the street to another space which is several times larger.
This exhibit features a few paintings from my Breaking Bread series. The remainder are mainly focused on Southern Indiana scenes and locations. There are a variety of oils and acrylics with a few prints in a rack.
Director Julie Schweitzer and me. Everyone was masked and being very careful during this time.As evening fell, the gallery lights showcased my work very well.
Despite being a chilly Friday night during a pandemic, the turnout was very decent. Many guests had interesting questions. As an artist, I always have something to spout on about my work. I didn’t see anyone’s eyes glazing over. And everyone wore masks!
The show runs through February 26th and there are pieces in all price ranges. The location is at 121 E Chestnut Street, Corydon IN 47112. Their hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 12 – 4, Friday 12 – 6, and Saturday 10 – 2.
If you’re looking for the gallery, this is the outside. It’s on Chestnut Street in Corydon next to Butt Drugs (yes, a real place).
And the golden ones came, Dreamland Series. 16 x 20, acrylic on canvas, Kit Miracle
My painting activities often insert themselves into my dreams. That’s probably an occupational hazard from creating so much. Reading about art, making art, visiting art. It doesn’t bother me. Sometimes I find that I have worked out a painting problem in my sleep.
But a while back I woke up with a most vivid image in my mind. Very bright colors, semi-abstract, nothing like my usual subject matter or palette. Fortunately, I was able to keep the image in mind (it was that strong) and later captured it in my studio. This does not happen often.
This led to several other paintings in a similar vein. Bright colors, semi-abstract, nature themes of birds and flowers and trees. A few recognizable subjects of water and ponds, bridges and houses. Vivid skies and vegetation.
Dawn at the Little Pond, Dreamland Series, 16 x 20, acrylic on canvas, Kit Miracle
I’m calling this my Dreamland series. There are about seven paintings so far. I’ve been distracted with some other work lately so I hope that I can get back to this idea or state of mind. The bright colors just make me happy.
I don’t have these listed for sale yet as two of them are on exhibition right now. But check back later in my Etsy shop KitMiracleArt to see if they’ve been added.
Sometimes we just need to follow our intuition and have fun creating. Or so I think.
Posted onNovember 7, 2021|Comments Off on Plein air painting in autumn
The Big Rock, East Fork White River. These large sandstone rocks line the river and bluffs. The autumn colors set off the scene. Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 16.
October started out pretty warm with temperatures in the 80s. However, with November’s arrival, the past week or so, we’ve had some heavy frosts and night temps have dropped to the 20s. Daytime still warms up to the 50s and 60s. This is a perfect time to do some plein air painting. The garden has been cleaned out and outdoor work has slowed.
Last Monday I picked up my friend Bill Whorrall to go out and do some work. Southern Indiana is so beautiful this time of year with the fall colors and hilly terrain. We decided to paint along the East Fork of the White River near Shoals. We checked out several spots but eventually landed at the nature preserve Bluffs at Beaver Bend. You can only drive a short way in, then hike along the path with the river on your right and the sandstone bluffs on your left. So many picturesque scenes to paint.
I decided to paint this big rock with the river behind it. Bill traveled a little farther up the path to capture the sandstone cliffs in some ink sketches. We saw an eagle traveling along the river but unfortunately didn’t get any photos.
It was so peaceful there but not as isolated as we had thought it would be on a Monday morning. Several groups of hikers including a few guys from Chicago. They said they always try to get away together this time of year and go someplace within a day’s drive.
We worked for a few hours and then the wind picked up and we began to get chilled. I got about 75% of my painting done and then finished it up at home. I dropped Bill off at his house where his wife Karen had made a vegetable cheese soup, sandwiches and dessert for lunch. I think we welcomed the warmth of the soup as much as the food.
Afterwards we toured Karen’s extensive garden which was still producing raspberries and some other goodies.
Then for a lovely ride home through the autumn colors.
A walk in the woods. This is the complete plein air painting that I showcased last week. Just some autumn trees and interesting shadows with a path leading up into the big woods. Acrylic on canvas board, 11 x 14.Charles House, Richmond, Indiana. Charles House is actually the building on the left side. This location is actually behind the beautiful rose garden on the edge of Glen Miller park in Richmond. I think the little cottage might have actually been a summer kitchen at one time. A very peaceful autumn scene. Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 16.
Italian Eating Italian – Intimate Spaces, Breaking Bread Series. Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30. Kit Miracle
Having your art rejected from a show or exhibition can often be baffling, and sometimes a bit painful. Even for someone like me who has been entering shows for nearly forty years, there is still a little twinge when I receive that rejection letter. More often I am just puzzled.
For instance, the painting above, Italian Eating Italian which is from my Intimate Space Series: Breaking Bread, and which was exhibited for a two month show. It received a lot of attention and was a favorite among many. It exudes a bonhomie and welcoming attitude. I would watch visitors gravitate towards the painting from across the gallery. Something about the hint of a smile, the subject matter, the lighting. It was a very popular painting.
I have since entered the painting in a couple of exhibits. One in which I felt sure it would be accepted…was instead rejected. Whaaaaaa???? I’ve been in that show in previous years but not this year. That pinched a little. Also, since I have attended the show in previous years, I was aware of the quality of portraits in the show. Not too impressed. Oh, well.
The same painting was later entered into another show. It won BEST OF SHOW. That is always a pleasant surprise. But I try not to get too full of myself, either.
The whole point is that on any given day, the selection could have gone either way. Best to keep that in mind.
I have been the judge for a number of shows over the years. It is not easy and sometimes the organizations have special conditions to be met: X number of landscapes, portraits, abstracts, etc. Sometimes the shows are open to members only. On any given day, the selections could go one way or another.
Many times over the years, I’ve sat with judges as they reviewed and selected the entrants for exhibits. Some judges are cursory and flippant about the matter, speeding through so they can get to their free lunch. Others review and review and review, taking enormous amounts of time to make their selections. And there have been a few who only seemed to focus on artists who paint in their own style or medium. That irritates me quite a bit.
Over the years my work has been accepted into shows which I now realize I probably wasn’t skilled or talented enough to actually merit being in. And other shows where my work and experience exceeded the expectations, it was rejected.
It’s a puzzle.
My suggestion is….no matter what your artistic talent or medium….to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back into the fray. Maybe a review of the exhibit will help you to get a better grasp of what was considered acceptable and desirable. Maybe you don’t (yet) have the skills or professionalism to have your work hung in the exhibit. Maybe it just wasn’t your year. Many times you can enter the exact same piece the following year with a different judge and it will be accepted.
If this is what you really want, don’t give up. Be objective about your work and keep trying. It will happen eventually.
Italian Eating Italian, close up of head. Notice the slight Mona Lisa smile.
Posted onJuly 18, 2021|Comments Off on Bread and Miriam
Bread and Miriam. My friend is delighted to display her new painting. We had such a fun morning visiting, talking about books and life.
I had the great pleasure of hand delivering my painting Bread to my friend Miriam. She was so delighted to be able to buy this. “Making this bread was the best experience of my time during the COVID pandemic.” Miriam used my bread recipe for no-touch sourdough bread. I heard back from so many friends and blog followers that they loved this recipe.
Posted onJuly 4, 2021|Comments Off on Independence Day
Flag Day, Milltown, Indiana Kit Miracle
July Fourth has always had a special meaning for me. Far beyond the picnics and bands, the fireworks and family gatherings. There is just something about the holiday here in the United States which makes me proud and excites my sensibilities.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a marching band in person or even a fireworks display, although I love both of those things. The big booms reverberate in my chest all the way to my toes.
And I love the family gatherings. In our case, not quite reunions but a group of friends and relatives who show up to spend a pleasant day in the country. This year is especially poignant since we haven’t seen many of these folks for over a year.
The kids will run around, sneak blackberries from the bushes, and whine about when they’re going to eat. The adults will swap tales and events. And the young men will regale everyone with some awesome fireworks. (Fortunately, we’re not in the super dry western states where fireworks are banned these days.)
But I often reflect on the meaning of the day. Independence Day. The declaration of our split from our English heritage and ruler, King George. What a chance our founding fathers took! What moxy! What great beginnings, too. I wonder what they’d think of the form of government they started nearly two and a half centuries ago. Would they be proud? Astonished? Perplexed? Maybe all three.
I hope that you have a great day, an enjoyable day, and perhaps can reflect on the meaning of this special day here in the United States. Be kind. Be safe.
I'm a professional artist, retired director of a performing arts center, bona fide book addict, and enjoy the quiet life...most of the time. I'd love to hear from you or get your ideas for future posts. Come back soon!
I'm a professional artist, retired director of a performing arts center, bona fide book addict, and enjoy the quiet life...most of the time. I'd love to hear from you or get your ideas for future posts. Come back soon!
my90acres 