A Workshop in Sedona

This past weekend I attened a workshop. I did it despite the time contrains and committments I already had. I signed up for it despite the fact that I had to juggle funds to do it. I signed up for it despite the fact that the subject was still lifes and I don't ever paint still lifes. I signed up for it because I admired the work of the instructor and I needed my cage rattled.

I am now officially rattled.

The first observation I made was that I do not draw enough. The second was that I rely on intuition and memory far too much. The third, and in my opinion the most important, is I had become quite complacent in looking.

I do not believe it can ever be overstressed that when you are learning to draw, you are actually being taught to see. Yes, there is an amount of hand eye coordination that is involved, but the looking and seeing the edges and the shapes, the values and how they contrast, that is the trick. And, like all good things the trick takes hours, and hours of rigorously looking to train yourself to see.

I have said it before and I will say it again, if you love something enough you will struggle and strive to get better, and you will love the struggle. Maybe not every minute of it, but most of it.

The timing of this workshop was very bad for me, because now I do not have the luxury of going into my studio and drawing for extended periods of time that require critically looking. I can only hope that in three weeks the dust has not settled too much.

Thank you Scott Conary for kicking the pegs out from under my cage and raising some dust.

Too Many Choices

One of the things that happens to me in the studio is I have too many choices. This may sound good, but it keeps me from finishing something. I think of myself as a painter, but it's not really as straight forward as that.

I work on canvas, paper, prepared wood panels, yupo, and almost anything that doesn't move. I paint with oils, watercolors, and acrylics and often combine them. I create paintings, collages, cards, prints, and drawings.

I start a painting on canvas and suddenly the paper is calling to me. I pick up the charcoal and see the bright and sparkling pastels beckon. None of this would really be a problem if I would just stay on task.

In an effort to manage my time better, I decided to eliminate some of the choices. I have been going through my studio and selling items that are still very good, but that I will probably not use in the next year.

Gone are the dry artist pigments. The some of my vast collection of watercolors have found a new home. The pastels will be used by an artist in the Pacific Northwest and the etching ink is being used in the Big Easy. My art materials are fulfilling their intended purpose.

There are still shelves to be sorted through and boxes to be unopened, but I have managed to select what paper I will be keeping and what will be sold. Now to sell it so that I may start painting again.

Pleased

I am so pleased to get these out into the morning post. I sold a painting to a lovely woman in North Carolina during Kentucky Derby Week and so off these go to benefit ReRun Thoroughbred Rescue and Remember Me Rescue, both doing so much good.

Fortunate

Untitled

Mixed Media on Paper

30" x 22"

NFS

I am fortunate. I grew up with two parents that wanted me to be happy. Not Kool Aid and Potato Chip happy, but deeply satisfied and content happy. This means that it was always okay that I wanted to be an artist.

My friends have understood me. That I am a painter, I am prone to fits of despair, I am prone to fits of elation, I get lost in thought and conversation. That I will spend enormous sums of money on paint while fretting about how to pay the electric bill.

My friends and family believe in me. Maybe not that I am a great talent, but in me. That my pursuit of happiness is valuable, if only to me.

While it hasn't been easy and there are times that I wish I could go and get a 9 to 5 job, I am happy.

I am grateful for the support I receive in a myriad of ways, from clients and patrons buying my work to someone saying "This is beautiful", to a fellow artist discussing media and techniques. I am fortunate that I realize it and I am grateful for every bit of it.

Thank you.

Relieving the Stress

Shooting Star

Oil and Mixed Media on Panel

From time to time someone approaches me and wants to know if I will do a lay-away plan for them on a particular painting or print. They are usually a bit shy about this, but they shouldn't be. The answer is almost always yes.

The monthly payment plan gives me a bit of relief from stress. I know I don't have to worry about this bill or that because a check is coming in. That in turn allows me to focus for easily on creating.

To those of you who have or are on a payment plan for art, thank you!

Farming and Painting

Spring Romp

mixed media on paper

Framed 

34" x 42"

4250.00

I have long believed that I have the heart of a farmer. I love the smell of the soil and planting things. I can send hours choosing seeds, and bulb, and trees from catalogues and spend countless more drawing diagrams for where to plant them.

How to amend soil fascinates me. What to add to your compost to make it better for area is intended for is a subject I am enthralled with, and lets not even get started about my love for my earth worms.

Why do I think this gives me the heart of a farmer and not a gardner?

Well it's only those things in part. You see like a farmer I work tirelessly at what I love. I choose colours and canvas with care. I spend hours noticing which paint brand has more transparency than another. What happens when I mix this with that. How do get this effect or that on this surface.

And then there's light. I can become quite delirious when describing light. The mere thought of good light makes me swoon.

A farmer, you must understand is also a gambler. Willing to put all of their hard work into what they do and be at the mercy of external forces. One good hail storm will flatten a wheat field. New mown hay lies there at the peril of rain until it is baled. It's biblical in nature, all the misfortune that call lay waste to good crop.

And then there is the market. You have the most beautiful crop of white peaches that you have ever seen. People, however are buying strawberries. The peach buyers  ask "Do you have any cling free peaches? I am not sure I will like white peaches, even though they are beautiful and fragrant." You smile and know they are missing something, something you possess in spades, you are will to take a risk!

Days, weeks, and months may go by without a sale, and you are nagged by that practical voice in your head regarding why you keep at it. The answer is simple, and clear. I do what I do because it is what my heart desires and when it is good, it is glorious!

I have the heart of a farmer.

In the Still

In the Still

Acrylic, Charcoal, and Graphite on Yupo

20" x 26"

Sold

I usually don't have a plan when I started working on a painting. This was clearly the case when I started working on this one. I would just apply a layer of acrylic paint down, wait for it to dry and apply another layer.

After awhile I was satisfied with the result. I set it aside. Every day or so I would pull it out and look at it. After a few weeks of this I decided I was going to finish it.

 I gathered my materials and was about to set to work on an entirely different image when I notice the first horse emerging out of the field of blues and greens. Gradually they all made their presences known.

This is the result of wandering and allowing.

To purchase please contact me or go to my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/listing/457615114/in-the-still?ref=shop_home_active_2

Kentucky Derby Today!

Acrylic, Charcoal, and Graphite on Yupo

17.5" x 23"

Sold

So today's the day! At the moment I don't have a favorite, I wish them all the best and a safe trip.

I love Thoroughbreds. I learned to ride on them. My first horse was a TB, and in fact the majority of the horses I have owned have been Thoroughbreds.

I also believe in giving back. So in celebration of the bred that has give so much to me 20% of all art purchased from between now and May 8th, 2016 I will be given to ReRun and to Remember Me Rescue. Both of these organizations do an outstanding job in giving Off the Track Thoroughbreds a life after racing.

My original artwork may be viewed at www.tannerjensenfineart.com and in past blog post.

As an added incentive I will be providing free shipping in the contiguous U.S.

If you have any questions, please email me at ctannerjensen@gmail.com

Thank you.

An Artist Statement

Foundation Stock

Acrylic, Charcoal, and Graphite on Yupo

17.5" x 23"

875.00

I am constantly evaluating my art and studio practice. Trying new media and experimenting with different applications. Working to improve my skill set. Playing with different ideas and approaching the same problem, question from different angles.

As a result of this my artist statement changes. The changes are subtle as I move closer to my own truth.

This is the latest.

I paint horses.

I paint them because I love them, and this love has led me to spend thousands of hours with them, learning about them, and coming to an understanding of them.

There is a moment when I sense an ineffable something that dissolves all the boundaries of my prescribed being, and I am filled with a joy that verges on heartbreak— a feeling so overwhelming that it takes my breath and all my words away, and I am only left with marks and color.

It is in these moments that I feel the most authentic, and want to share what I have felt.This is what I paint. This is what I have to share.

Always More

Detail of Work in Progress

"The mind is arrested and raised above desire and loathing" James Joyce 

Aesthetic arrest.

This is what I am striving toward.

Texture

Leap of Faith

Acrylic, Graphite, and Charcoal 

on Yupo

17.20" x 23"

Sold

I have been working on Yupo for the past few weeks. It has a lovely smooth surface. The graphite and charcoal glide across the surface. It accepts the paint and also resists it. It is a fascinating and seductive material to work on.

Detail of Leap of Faith

Generally I do not incorporate a lot of texture in my work. I prefer implied texture, even when working on canvas. However, I find myself building and manipulating texture on the Yupo, both actual by building layers that have more body and implied by layering paint of different values and transparencies.

Detail of Leap of Faith

I have no idea where this is all leading me to, but I am enjoying the trek.

Mad about Yupo

Comin' In

17.5 x 23

Mixed Media on Yupo

Sold

I LOVE the surface of this paper. Yupo is a synthetic paper made by a company in Virginia. It has soft and velvety texture. It accepts the charcoal and will then release it, leaving only a ghost of the line. A line like the memory of a dream.

I have been using acrylic, and gesso, and charcoal, and water-soluble graphite on it. I have been working with a limited colour palette, and yet I feel there is so much to still explore with in these boundaries. It's intoxicating, I love being a painter.

Light and Dark

Untitled

26" x 20"

Mixed Media on Yupo

Sold

I have been experimenting with Yupo. It is a synthetic paper and responds quite differently than traditional paper. I have been fooling around with it from time to time for that 8 or so years.

A couple of weeks ago I decided that it was time to complete a painting on the Yupo. I used Golden Acrylic along with water soluble graphite, ink, and vine charcoal.
This is the result. A horse in shadow with light illuminating the lower half.

Spring Cleaning!

It took a week, but my studio is clean and reorganized.

I sorted through hundreds of pieces of paper, collage elements, tubes of paint, and old works. Went through boxes, drawers, and containers and grouped all the like items together. Threw out old sketches, half finished work, and old pieces that I was over.

  

Now to return and create.

It's Nothing Personal.

I am fascinated by the arrangements in medicine cabinets and junk drawers.

Leave me alone with your personal correspondence, a diary, journal, or stack of open love letters and I'm not going to read them. I not even tempted. In fact I probably won't even you if ask me to. However, I am going to open your medicine cabinet or pull out your junk drawer.

Oh don't worry. I'm not interested in exactly what you're taking. This isn't about learning anything about you. It's about me, I am interested in the shapes, colors, and composition of things.

Medicine cabinets, in most cases appear to be ordered. Tooth paste and dental floss sharing the same shelf. Bottles of medicine line up, their round and oblong pills inside. A razor lying next to a comb.

And the junk drawer. Heaven! A pair of scissors, one rusty nail, spare change, a piece of red twine curling around a toy giraffe. Wine corks, rubber bands, a shoe horn, measuring tape, a solitary lego, the plastic clip from a bag of bread. The colors and the random way they seem to have been shoved together to spend and undetermined sentence until the are needed.

They tell stories, these places where the things we don't consider until needed reside.

This is why I love creating collages. I like arranging color and shape, bits and pieces taken out of order and assembled into the beginnings of a tale.

Once upon a time there was a sheep who fell in love with a fish.


My collage may be viewed and purchased at my Etsy Shop

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheSuperlativeHorse?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Fresh off the Easel

Ghost Horse

Mixed Media on Panel

15" x 15"

1250.00

This painting took years and moments to create. 

I had a panel that I had been adding and subtracting color to for years. Literally years. I have memories of this particular panel that are at least 8 years old.

Sunday I was looking at it. I really like the color. I started adding lines with a pencil that became the outline of a horse. I started mixing paint and applying it to the surface and then removing it. I added more lines with colored pencils, I added more paint, and so it went on.

Yesterday morning I looked at it and thought it was finished, so I left it alone. Today I believe it is ready to share with you.

I Believe in Beauty

I believe in beauty.

 Not just the beauty of something pretty, but all beauty. The beauty that comes from something you feel so deeply you weep. The heartbreaking beauty that is there when after countless rejections and disappointments, you willingly, lovingly, pick up the task again. The beauty that is present in loss.

I believe in beauty.

The beauty that is present in the still quite early morning hours when all is dark except the glittering stars. The beauty that is there in the sunrise when the day lies before you and everything is still possible. The beauty of the fading light in dusk.

I believe in beauty.

The beauty that is present when your friend, or child, or lover smiles. The beauty of exchanged smiles between strangers. The beauty in kindness.

I believe that it is transformative, restoring, and ever present, even in descent. I believe it has the power to comfort, elate, and enlighten, and I believe it is the doorway to joy.

I believe in beauty.

Delighted

Yesterday I received this photo of "Wild at Heart" hanging in it's new home. I am delighted when I get notes and photos of where and how people are living with the artwork I have created.

If you are living with one of my creations, please by all means send me a picture. I love seeing where they make their homes.

Thinking & Inertia

Detail of painting in progress

This is the perfect image of a painting I am working on. It's a little dark, a little out of focus, which is exactly what I am feeling.

I thought this painting would be finished two weeks ago. It is no where close to bringing finished. Why? Because I am so easily distracted by what I think I should be doing, instead of doing what I should be doing.

Thinking can become my trap. Over-thinking is my down right nemesis. Heaven forbid I start awful-izing! All of these ultimately lead to inertia. Like a shark if an artist stops moving they start dying.

I recently came across an article that addressed this issue. The correspondence between Sol LeWitt and Eva Hesse to stop thinking and just paint, to just DO IT!

So now I am off to the studio to just DO IT!

Fires of Change

Nineteen

Katharina Roth

photograph by

Tom Alexander

The Coconino Center for the Arts has a remarkable, "Fires of Change" show on exhibit this month. I have seen it twice and I know I will go again.

There is one piece in this show that brings me to my knees. Artist Katharina Roth of Sedona, Arizona  chose the Yarnell Fire and the tragic deaths of 19 of the Granite Mountain Hotshots to memorialize. The installation is entitled "Nineteen", 19 beautiful crafted porcelain helmets were fired in a wood kiln. The result is beautiful and profound. Traces of black and red are the marks left by the fire. The intense heat has wrapped and in some places has cracked the fragile media. It is breathtakingly beautiful and terrifying in the same moment, just like wildfire.

She has also given us hope. There is a small tree growing out of an upturned helmet place on a tree stump. For this I am grateful.

After I left the Center I thought about this piece, it haunted me. As artist we are in the world and experience that. Some of these experiences and public events take hold of are thoughts. Scratching away at us, embedding themselves in us until they are part of us. Like seeds, they start to germinate, to sprout, and then to leaf out. They will not be ignored.

When they become mature, or just to painful to carry alone we start to create. We take are private moments with these subjects and turn them into art, and then we expose our wounds to the world for healing.

Not everyone will ever be moved by a single piece of art. However, those who are touched by are work, become our tribe. A group of individual points of consciousness that are connected by fine strands of understanding, filaments of the heart. We may never meet them and we may not have anything else in common with them except for this one moment. It is though, sublime. It is enough.


This exhibit is "Fires of Change" is up at The Coconino Center for the Arts , 2300 North Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, AZ and on exhibit until October 31st, 2015