Carrasco Studio

West Seattle Blog Ruins Tour and CandP Watercolor classes

Hey people...take a look at the West Seattle Blog article about my work and my classes in the March 21 !  Ellen Cedargreen wrote the article and took the photos during my tour of the Ruins and also put in a plug for my classes.  Thanks Ellen!  Thanks West Seattle Blog!  My infamy increases.

Photo by Robert Pisano            The Ruins Ballroom.  40’ by 30’ by 17’ high.

 

Here I was, ready to install after two years of work.

The Pacific Northwest Primeval cartouche ..15’ by 17’ Part of the Ruins Ballroom.

The Nez Perce Cartouche 17’ by 8’  Part of the Ruins Ball Room

J. Edgar Hoofer.  4’ by 2.5’  (in the entry) Part of a series I painted of 30’s political characters. Mr. Hoofer, here, is a cross-dressing zebra.  John Swartley designed the format for all 6 characters.

BTW, the food at the Ruins is fabulous.

And here’s a shot of my wonderful students in a class  a couple of winters ago.

(Each class unit has a different focus....this next unit (starting tonight at CandP Coffee 5612 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98136-1515(206) 933-3125) will feature spring, animals, color theory and creation of space with values and aerial perspective.  All levels of skills welcome.

©Jennifer M. Carrasco 9/17/09  All blog entries on this site, visual or intellectual, are the property of Jennifer M. Carrasco (unless stated otherwise) and cannot be reproduced or used without her written permission.

Spring Inches Across the Land

 My tulips are up and meditating about blooming, and a male robin is patroling our spaded beds.  He looks martial and very smartly turned out.  New feathers and a bit of a black crest on his head.  Aha! A worm! He dives in triumph. (the robin) The early bird...etc., etc.

Which brings to mind.  My watercolor class at CandP starts up again on the 22nd of  March.  I wanted to let you know before it fills up.  Register soon.  The early bird...etc.etc.

Here's the facts.

Brown wrens, martial robins, timorous rabbits, fresh and radiant art loving creatures! Let's express our inchoate yearnings and renewals with splashes of paint and blooming fields of flowers.

Besides having fun, you learn skills and a way to start on your individual path in art. As a teacher, the coffee shop has been my favorite venue. Cameron and Pete, the owners of CandP Coffee have been the souls of generosity to allow us to paint in their space.  We all have bloomed.  You too, come to the meadow.

See ya. Chirp! Ribbit! Cheep!

 

 

Birds and the Bees, Promotion and Saving Sick Children

Carrasco Promotion Panel   30"x 20"    ©Jennifer M. Carrasco   2/15/2005

I think it was Auden who said poetry won't save the world, but maybe art donations to causes might help alleviate some misery. 

        

So, after schlepping down to one of my favorite causes for the 400th time with a matted and framed watercolor to be auctioned off, I put together a system that will be donate-able and save ME the  misery and expense of framing, matting and schlepping.

        

I painted this fancy border, then I tacked on a photo of my latest big project in the middle, and included a  brochure and bio and cards with a certificate awarding the donor 2 hours of decorative painting. With the stipulation, of course, that it will apply to within the city limits and be claimed within 6 months. 

I didn't want to drive all the way to Enumclaw.

        
This donation of hours would cover some hummingbirds over the sink or a flight of butterflies above the tub, and it's a win/win for both me and the donor, since often they want more.  Ergo, more hours and $. Both of us are happy. 

Or the donor forgets to claim the service and the charity and I am happy.  And got some free publicity.

        

I do love painting on a dark ground.  It is so easy.....the images pop and the ground affects the modeling and color in lovely ways.  With this piece I was inspired by  a beautiful decorative French illustration in a 19th century reference book.  I took the concept and ran with it, and it was one of those projects that just flowed.  I did very little sketching....and kept adding animals and flourishes and visual jokes (the mouse and the little fruits watching Kermit  on TV, the butterfly carrying a love letter, etc., etc) and a portrait of myself on a cell phone in the upper left hand corner..."Call me, Call me!"

                            

I finished it in a day. A record. That sort of serendipity is rare.

The material is acrylic gouache painted on black gessoed foam core with some sparkly stuff applied around the edges. 

                                        

Fairies, Continued

I promised my Web designer that I would collate and label my images for a new site he is setting up for me.  So groan.  I am weeding out, drifting through and discarding the slag.

Today I am in my Fairy File.  Here's the project I did for a client who wanted a fairy birthday mural in the deep woods.  She loves Victorian art and decor. I did some vignettes for ideas, and while I usually do a careful rendering before I start, this time I just Did It. 
I decided all the animals would bring presents, and be dressed up.  However, nature girl that I am, I had the animals wrap their presents in leaves and flowers instead of Hallmark, and wear costumes of the same. Some fairies and animals brought light. The deer, of course, were exquisite and brough their present to the fairy on an elegant travois.  The moles, being astimatic with severe sinus problems were mouth breathers and  pictured in too large hats of skunk cabbage (they couldn't smell them) .

As a rule, I am not fond of possums, but wanted to be democratic.  Note the rabbit with many piercings for his earrings, the garter snake with an avalanche lily hat, and the ladybugs traveling from vine to vine on a blackberry expressway.

The fox, transfixed by the event into his gentler nature,  is being observed by an elf.

This is a section of the mural, and the waterfall rushes down over the toy box opening into a blue "water" rug.  I wanted to put inserts of green lily pads rug into the "water" rug, but we didn't get around to it.  This was a project that seemed to ramble on and on...butterflies in the bathroom, constellations above the bed, morning glory borders, etc....the design shows it...a bit tacked on and discursive.

This mural was taken down and put up in five different houses.   The mural even went to Maine. My client liked to move around a lot.

©Jennifer M. Carrasco 9/17/09  All blog entries on this site, visual or intellectual, are the property of Jennifer M. Carrasco (unless stated otherwise) and cannot be reproduced or used without her written permission.

Grey Whales in the Llano

 Llano River and Boulders                        ©Jennifer M.Carrasco  11/21/10

 

I am working with a series of watercolors about the Llano river in Texas.  I find, that in painting, it is always a fine balance between honoring  both the surface and depth of water.

The river is very clear and runs  over granite boulders smoothed by water and time.  The boulders, where they emerge from the water, make me think of grey-backed whales....and pockets of grass in some of the stone declivities add to the illusion.  Blowhole spouts of grass. Each boulder has a middle ring of dried salts with  the water marking a hem of dark pink granite in the lowest ring.

The water doesn't  rush into rapids, but slides sleek and transparent from gentle level to level, eddies in dark green channels and occasionally stills in a hollowed out bathtub of stone.

And all day the Texas wind blows, and the minnows dart in the shallows.  Tiny frogs leap from still puddle to puddle, and hide in the algae from the herons that stalk them.

I could play all day in this sparkle of clear water, smooth  granite and faded blue Texas sky.

 

 

EXcellent TEXas EXcursion....Mural making, Big Bend, Dinosaurs and Donald Judd

Bear with me.  This will have to be a wide and spacious entry since it is about Texas.

First of all, my friend (since we were 14!) Alan had me fly down to Austin to paint a mural on his 5' x 9' entry wall.  He initially wanted something abstract with a nude, but it turned out that he wanted something impressionist (he's an engineer and doesn't do artspeak)and he chickened out on the nude.  so we regrouped, walked around his property.....

.....went over to the Llano river..... clear clear water running over granite in streams....

and I sketched and pondered and came up with a plan he liked.  It also had to have bluebonnets (mandatory in Texas murals) and three "Queen" butterflies....one for Alan, one for me, and one for his 102 year mother. (also a friend of mine) 

In five days I was done, and like God, I rested.  Alan supplied me with Shiner beer and Texas Bar Bee Que (part of my contract) and at night we killed scorpions on his big back porch (a plague for new construction in Hill Country)...20 scorpions in five days.  Also, a pack of coyotes on the trail of something tasty came howling by my window at   2 pm one night.  I thought I was surrounded by wolves.  Nature rules at Alan's place.

Then my friend Norma Jean came down from her home in San Angelo to pick me up and return to Austin to get Phil at the airport.  Norma has been my friend for 45 years...we were roomates in Peace Corps, and I was there when her twins were born.  We went to her daughter Natasha's place and stayed the night, left early the next morning for Terlingua, down on the Texas Mexican border at the west entrance of Big Bend National Park.....600 miles of Mostlly Flat.....through Fredricksburg (adorable), to Fort Stockton on the killer highway 10, Marathon and dropping down through Alpine and on to Terlingua just at sunset.

We checked into the El Dorado Hotel...a homey place that Willie Nelson would have liked....and went out to watch the sunset over the mountains with liquid refreshments and lawn chairs.

Later we went into the bar to listen to music, have a delicious burger, and later View Art.

The next day we drove up to stay in Big Bend National Park (60 miles) with our friends Larry and Gary.  The room was small so it was quite cosy.  Gary and Norma drug their sleeping bags out to sleep on the porch, and Larry, Phil and I snored in harmonic chords.  D-flat, I believe.

Big Bend is an extinct volcano, and you can see Mexico through the awesome notch in the crater.  It has javelinas, skunks, bears and the largest community of mountain lions in the USA.  Uneasy lies the back of the neck of those who sketch alone in Big Bend.  I was always on the alert in the midst of such stunning natural beauty.

The next day we hiked 2.5 miles into the desert to see dinosaur bones.  I blanked out the location name because people steal the fossils and sell them for money.  It was hot, very interesting and full of what Phil called " all those goddamn plants with stickers." Our friends Gary and Larry are men of wide ranging interests, so I learned a lot about the wild life, the history of the area both geologic and human, and the plants.  I LOVED the hike and I did pretty well on my new hip.

People ask me how I found time to do these journal drawings.  Well, I memorized what I could and then spent a lot of time drawing in the back seat of Norma's KingKab on the long stretches.  Texas roads are usually very straight and smooth.  Washington roads are curvey and bumpy....if I drew in the car here I would throw up.

After  Big Bend we drove to Marathon and on to Marfa.  I wanted to see Donald Judd's installations.  He was from New York and is a famous minimalist/conceptualist sculpter (think I got that right). He also started the Chinati foundation there.

It was not Phil and Norma's thing.  Lots of comments about concrete and aluminum packing cases.  However, I enjoyed it.  Very peaceful, and there were lots of dead birds (flew into the plate glass) around the perimeter of the buildings housing the aluminum cubes, and some fantastic grasshoppers.  Shadows and highlights kept moving with the changing light.

After Chinati, we drove through charming Ft. Davis and up to the McDonald Observatory.  Phil and I decided we wanted to come back to that for a whole day of exploring....many wonderful huge telescopes and night skies to see.  I bought myself a sky chart in the gift shop, but it won't do me much good in cloudy Seattle.

We ended up in San Angelo where Norma and her husband Donald were wonderful hosts. Norma has a Huge Garden where she grows heritage veggies and flowers and takes her produce to the farmer's market. I picked peppers for her and Phil helped her cover her tender plants from a threatening frost.  Norma also took me for a massage from her favorite masseus.  His technique was one inch away from Rolfing but I was brave and felt wonderful afterward.

We also went to the water lily garden and of course I went nuts.  I met the man, Mr. Landon, who set it up, and he is very concerned that this national treasure (most complete collection in the USA) is going to be closed by the Texas Legislature.....they have decided that any water plant not native to Texas has to be destroyed.  If you love waterlilies and want to save this contained  collection, contact http//www.internationalwaterlilycollection.com. Mr. Landon said that years ago he planted several species in the Concho river, but the turtles thought they were lunch and ate them all up overnight.  In short, the lilies are not invasive.

After three days in San Angelo, we returned to Austin and stopped by Alan's to pick up my paints and luggage. In Austin,   Natasha arranged for us to meet her twin brother Bernabe and his lovely wife Lauren at a Taco Express (fabulous food and atmosphere).

Me, Phil, Norma, Madeline, Brandon and Natasha and Donald.

And Lauren and Bernabe.

And then we went to the Capitol Building and also to the highlight of Phil's trip, Lance Armstrong's bicycle shop.  Then we flew home.  Jinglejanglejingle.  Git along, dawgies.

Oh yeah.  I forgot to mention.  I made Alan a paint shirt like mine.

 

 

 

 

Hola! What lurks in yon grass?

I'm inviting you to join me on next Tuesday evening, July 20, 6-9 pm and spend some time painting and/or drawing in the meadow, next to the HighPoint pond and all the ducks, barn swallows, cedar waxwings, goldfinches, dragon flies and clovers and grasses, and reflections in the water and fresh air. And it's FREE.  It's accessible to everyone...nice level walks, sloping meadows and viewpoints everywhere.  Tame, safe, and very pretty.

One of my students, Engrid, mentioned to me that she was noticing all the different lovely shapes of the meadow grasses.....the bobbing plumes, the delicate patterns of the crisscrossing blades and stems.  Think about it.  Right in front of our eyes!  We must draw and paint them!  And bring your camera too....

 

Bring what you need for creating, composing or just getting composed, and come sit in the grass with me.  I won't be teaching or even talking, for that matter....just sitting in a peaceful little meadow in the middle of the city  with my watercolors and pen. 

The meadows of the PNW are miraculous to this very Eastern Washingtonian, (Pomeroy Washington in Garfield County, to be exact).  Not only are they lush and full of clovers and wildflowers, but THERE ARE NO RATTLESNAKES!

Let's say hello to summer....it's on the wane already and we'll need to fix it in our hearts to help us brave the rains of coming winter.  And, of course, if it does rain on the 2oth, all bets are off.

 And, by the way, whoever sent me that case of beer via FedEx (with no message).....A big thankyou!  Manna from heaven.  Who needs roses. (I have my own)

 

Full Circle

I ran across this when I was looking for entries for a poster competition.  I painted this mural  a few years ago on a plaster panel for Jergen's Paint, a family owned, high end paint company in Seattle. And herein lies a tale.

In 1991 I left South Carolina in a 15 foot van and a pickup in tow. Broke, scared that I couldn't make a living, and anxious to do any kind of work, I applied with my portfolio to everything from design firms to artist in residence to house painting companies.  Mr. Larry Jergens was the first to offer me a job as a house painter and I took it. I was the only woman working with a crew of very competent union painters and carpenters, and I was next to useless.  After a month, I was offered a more appropriate job, and I went to Mr. Jergens, thanked him for giving me a chance, and we parted on good terms.

About 12 years later, Mr. Jergen's son Tim asked me to do a painting for his atrium, and his plasterer Gavin did the plaster panel and I painted the ornamental  cartouche and birds with the iconic Washington Mt. Ranier scene in its center.  Tim was pleased.

Note the paint stained drop cloth draped at the top along with the hanging  brush.  Below it is  Mr. Larry Jergen's autograph...cleverly cleaned up and stylized by my awesome letter designer friend, Iskra Johnson.  Below that, if you look carefully, you will see a paint bucket.

There is a narrow band of faux marble on the inner edge of the outside molding, and I needed a delicate fillet of some sort to finish it out. I went to a doll house store on Phinney Ridge and a very old woman helped me find the proper tiny molding.  She would bring out miniature things to show me, cupping them in her hand and cooing...."Isn't this just precious?."......or, "this is soooooo sweet!" 

This experience alone was worth the whole project.

O Rose Thou Art......a cliche?

 

I have a problem. I like painting flowers. Unfortunately, it's not exactly an unexplored niche, this flower painting.  How do you keep a flower painting fresh?

 I put little creatures and objects at the bottom of paintings of flowers, but that dilutes the power of the rose image.  Oooo! People coo over the little mice posing on the ledge or shudder at a beetle crawling up the side and disregard the the astounding, erotic, beautiful flower.  It vibrates in it's own field of color.

And the shape and the transparency of the petals.  Even the word "petal" is melting and delicate.  Some roses have little curly triangles for petals, others have notched and gently ribbed petals that all curve inward and hide its secret center.  Other roses are blowzy and amoral,  flopping open with petals that fall onto your hands.

 

I don't want to be another Georgia O'Keefe....she's  become a cliche herself, and I'm sure it would have distressed her. And I really don't like her paintings all that much.

I just want to stand in my garden in the late afternoon sun, watering my garden and drinking a beer and admiring my roses in all their much celebrated glory.  Then, if I feel like it,  go into my studio and whip up a few flowers on canvas or paper.  And, sell them to some nice person who loves flowers too and doesn't mind if they've been "done" since Paleolithic times.

Bliss.

Greeting Cards from (my) Far Cathay

 

Emery-Burton has just put out lines of my greeting cards.  These are samples of  everyday cards, and they can come with messages or without. 

I wrote the messages but they are pretty Hallmark-y, since Emery Burton cautioned me not to make the messages "too weird".  (Like, "Wish you were here with me in this bamboo grove so  we could shoot this pheasant, cook it on a spit, drink lots of wine and have sex later.") 

So, if you want to send something snappy and personal, I recommend getting the inside blank.

The images are from a whole room I painted in chinoiserie, a style developed in Europe by artisans to meet the demands of 18th century aristocrats who wanted images of exotic China on the walls of their chateaus.  The images are on canvas, and I pieced together the sections for the little room (about 10 by 20, with lots of corners and woodwork) for delightful (and delighted, if I say so myself) clients.

 

The company is in the process of putting up a new website, so I'm not on it yet, but if you are interested you can contact Emery Burton for retail outlets and wholesale orders by calling Emery Burton at (206) 329-4321, (206) 782-7069, or (206o0 329-4321.  Also, you can bring up Emery-Burton, Fine Cards and Gifts, online, and e-mail them.  I have 12 images in the set.