Musings of an unhinged mind.
GETTING YOUR GOAT EYES ON
4/23/2010 8:05:54 PM | By Sandra Haynes | Comment on this
Hi Friends,
After the show in Burns, Oregon last week I went home the long way......actually headed nearly the opposite direction from where home lies over the mountains to the north.
With artist friends in Idaho and being somewhat less than a couple hundred miles from them, it just seemed perfect to go visit. After a couple days the weather cleared enough to consider a trip into the Snake River Canyon country.
Now, there are some really big rocks in that wild river canyon and mostly seem to be vertical. More than just the rattlesnakes that you get used to watching that you don't step on in this country, what I found was a place full of riches....a wildlife watchers paradise.
In a rare day that was warm and no wind at all, the surface of the Snake River was glass in many places, while many varieties of ducks, geese and other birds formed the only ripples in that perfect surface.
All of us on this adventure had brought along binoculars and they were needed to spot the big wild goats. Even though they are white against dark cliffs, it's extremely difficult to see them all. Once you get practiced up...get your goat eyes on.....it was apparent that the place was crawling with them. Mountain Sheep inhabit this formidable country too, along with Mule Deer, while up some of the side canyons can be found Pronghorn Antelope and Rocky Mountain Elk and turkeys.
Snake River Canyon....at the end of the road.....
The photos I have of the river with it's reflections will turn into paintings with a very surreal, almost abstract feeling to them. It was truly hard to tell what was "real" and what was a mirror image.
It was a memorable trip......I look forward to putting some of that feeling into new paintings.......and to going back.
Take care and Color Outside the Lines,
Sandra
After the show in Burns, Oregon last week I went home the long way......actually headed nearly the opposite direction from where home lies over the mountains to the north.
With artist friends in Idaho and being somewhat less than a couple hundred miles from them, it just seemed perfect to go visit. After a couple days the weather cleared enough to consider a trip into the Snake River Canyon country.
Now, there are some really big rocks in that wild river canyon and mostly seem to be vertical. More than just the rattlesnakes that you get used to watching that you don't step on in this country, what I found was a place full of riches....a wildlife watchers paradise.
In a rare day that was warm and no wind at all, the surface of the Snake River was glass in many places, while many varieties of ducks, geese and other birds formed the only ripples in that perfect surface.
All of us on this adventure had brought along binoculars and they were needed to spot the big wild goats. Even though they are white against dark cliffs, it's extremely difficult to see them all. Once you get practiced up...get your goat eyes on.....it was apparent that the place was crawling with them. Mountain Sheep inhabit this formidable country too, along with Mule Deer, while up some of the side canyons can be found Pronghorn Antelope and Rocky Mountain Elk and turkeys.
Snake River Canyon....at the end of the road.....
The photos I have of the river with it's reflections will turn into paintings with a very surreal, almost abstract feeling to them. It was truly hard to tell what was "real" and what was a mirror image.
It was a memorable trip......I look forward to putting some of that feeling into new paintings.......and to going back.
Take care and Color Outside the Lines,
Sandra
SUNNY SIDE UP
4/16/2010 1:13:50 PM | By Sandra Haynes | Comment on this
Hi Friends,
Coming home from a show that was less than monetarily successful is always a traumatic experience.......alright that's a little bit like it came from a drama queen. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm in this for the extreme long haul. So even though I have the usual artist's passionate ups and downs (sometimes by the minute), I'm also well acquainted with the realities of this business, and many times it doesn't follow "the plan".
So let me tell you what did happen at this show.
It was in the southern Oregon desert country in the small town of Burns. Now I knew I would like the people....they are as country raised as I was, and most country people share a common bond. Not to say I don't like city people....I do.....I clean up pretty well and know how to relate to most anyone no matter where I find them in the city.
Anyway, the people that came to see the show were great even though not spending a lot of money.
But the artists from the Burns area were in a class unto themselves. Imagine walking into a room full of friends that enclose you in a group hug, and that will give you some idea of what I experienced there.
The outcome of all this group hugging was a Scratchboard workshop opportunity for me to teach there and in a town about a 100 miles north. This amazing, enthusiastic group picked up the idea and ran with it.......the Burns workshop is almost filled already.......perhaps the John Day workshop will follow.
So was this show a disaster? A show is only a disaster if you allow it to be. Talk to people....make contacts....network with other artists........don't allow the opportunities to slip away.
I hope I can give back to them something that will be of use.
So, my advice is keep the sunny side up even when the smile seems a little forced at times.....it only takes a few seconds for that smile to become truly sincere once again.
More on this trip next week..........
Keep Coloring Outside the Lines,
Sandra
(p.s. To see details about the Scratchboard workshops, click "Workshops" to the right of this screen.
Coming home from a show that was less than monetarily successful is always a traumatic experience.......alright that's a little bit like it came from a drama queen. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm in this for the extreme long haul. So even though I have the usual artist's passionate ups and downs (sometimes by the minute), I'm also well acquainted with the realities of this business, and many times it doesn't follow "the plan".
So let me tell you what did happen at this show.
It was in the southern Oregon desert country in the small town of Burns. Now I knew I would like the people....they are as country raised as I was, and most country people share a common bond. Not to say I don't like city people....I do.....I clean up pretty well and know how to relate to most anyone no matter where I find them in the city.
Anyway, the people that came to see the show were great even though not spending a lot of money.
But the artists from the Burns area were in a class unto themselves. Imagine walking into a room full of friends that enclose you in a group hug, and that will give you some idea of what I experienced there.
The outcome of all this group hugging was a Scratchboard workshop opportunity for me to teach there and in a town about a 100 miles north. This amazing, enthusiastic group picked up the idea and ran with it.......the Burns workshop is almost filled already.......perhaps the John Day workshop will follow.
So was this show a disaster? A show is only a disaster if you allow it to be. Talk to people....make contacts....network with other artists........don't allow the opportunities to slip away.
I hope I can give back to them something that will be of use.
So, my advice is keep the sunny side up even when the smile seems a little forced at times.....it only takes a few seconds for that smile to become truly sincere once again.
More on this trip next week..........
Keep Coloring Outside the Lines,
Sandra
(p.s. To see details about the Scratchboard workshops, click "Workshops" to the right of this screen.
WHAT IS AN ARTIST'S SOUL?
4/8/2010 9:57:40 AM | By Sandra Haynes | 6 Comments
Hi Friends,
As I'm off on another road trip, I wanted to ask you a question that has been on my mind and discussed with various others many times.
If somehow you were to awaken one day with total amnesia, would your artist's soul still be there? If everything you have learned along the way with your art is just that.....learned, would it still be there somewhere, or would you truly not have any recollection of it?
As time went on, would you be moved to pick up that paintbrush, pencil or whatever and create, or is that truly lost? What keeps you creating? What got you started in the first place? Were you born knowing it was your calling?
Would you then become an Accountant? Police Officer? Taxi driver? Engineer? Fan dancer? (Some of us have already done some of those things. No, it wasn't fan dancing.) What do you think you would do?
Talk to you all next week,
Sandra
As I'm off on another road trip, I wanted to ask you a question that has been on my mind and discussed with various others many times.
If somehow you were to awaken one day with total amnesia, would your artist's soul still be there? If everything you have learned along the way with your art is just that.....learned, would it still be there somewhere, or would you truly not have any recollection of it?
As time went on, would you be moved to pick up that paintbrush, pencil or whatever and create, or is that truly lost? What keeps you creating? What got you started in the first place? Were you born knowing it was your calling?
Would you then become an Accountant? Police Officer? Taxi driver? Engineer? Fan dancer? (Some of us have already done some of those things. No, it wasn't fan dancing.) What do you think you would do?
Talk to you all next week,
Sandra
NOTHING BUT BLUE SKIES
4/2/2010 1:00:26 AM | By Sandra Haynes | Comment on this
Hi Friends,
With total determination my artwork has maintained it's number one position of importance in my life. At what point does it become an obsession?
Do you focus so completely on something that life seems to be in the way? After this last successful art show, life seems to have run over me like a truck. Now mind you, these aren't earth shaking, huge problems......just things I don't want to deal with right now.
Number one on the list has been a sick cat. With a really terrific vet cheering me on, I have the cat at home, doing an IV four times a day, a catheter that has to be removed tomorrow (believe me, I didn't want to get that acquainted with my male cat), and 3 different kinds of medications that apparently taste vile as I end up wearing quite a bit at each session.
He's now getting well and faster with each treatment.......and I'm determined he will get all of them since the vet bill was still pretty sizable. Reminder's that he lives only because I allow it seem to be falling on furry little deaf ears.
This new little painting is something I focus on and always brings happy thoughts of summer skies, and the John Scharff Bird Festival show coming up in Burns, Oregon next week instead of some of my more usual wildlife and western shows. With a detour into Idaho on the way home to photograph scenery for upcoming landscape paintings and to visit artist friends, this road trip will have it all.
"Blue of the Sky" oil 10x8" $300
With the Mountain Bluebirds, Goldfinches and Rosy Finches now in nesting mode it seems like such a glorious time of Spring, and between snow showers, such a promise of the hot summer to come here in the Oregon desert.
I hope your days are filled with blue skies too......
from Sandra (and her wretched, ungrateful cat)
With total determination my artwork has maintained it's number one position of importance in my life. At what point does it become an obsession?
Do you focus so completely on something that life seems to be in the way? After this last successful art show, life seems to have run over me like a truck. Now mind you, these aren't earth shaking, huge problems......just things I don't want to deal with right now.
Number one on the list has been a sick cat. With a really terrific vet cheering me on, I have the cat at home, doing an IV four times a day, a catheter that has to be removed tomorrow (believe me, I didn't want to get that acquainted with my male cat), and 3 different kinds of medications that apparently taste vile as I end up wearing quite a bit at each session.
He's now getting well and faster with each treatment.......and I'm determined he will get all of them since the vet bill was still pretty sizable. Reminder's that he lives only because I allow it seem to be falling on furry little deaf ears.
This new little painting is something I focus on and always brings happy thoughts of summer skies, and the John Scharff Bird Festival show coming up in Burns, Oregon next week instead of some of my more usual wildlife and western shows. With a detour into Idaho on the way home to photograph scenery for upcoming landscape paintings and to visit artist friends, this road trip will have it all.
"Blue of the Sky" oil 10x8" $300
With the Mountain Bluebirds, Goldfinches and Rosy Finches now in nesting mode it seems like such a glorious time of Spring, and between snow showers, such a promise of the hot summer to come here in the Oregon desert.
I hope your days are filled with blue skies too......
from Sandra (and her wretched, ungrateful cat)
