Carrasco Studio

The Spinach that Ate Seattle

No, I have not abandoned the Art World.  I have not flown up on my own private rapture.

I have been waiting for the planets to align so I can get photos of this year's big mural projects.....about three of them.  However, due to Seattle's extremely wet winter, the stucco has sprung a leak  for the site of my three 5'x 9' canvases. The wine room client has had to have surgery, and the 9'x12' mural in CleElum is installed, but the furniture has to be just right before the client will set up for photos.  Sigh. Life.

So, I have been busy with my other art....gardening.  Note the size of the spinach  on the right hand  side of my raised box and other spinach slithering along at the box base.  I got the seeds from Annie's Annuals and Perennials and the combination of rain and compost  and this special seed has created acromeglic spinach. Huge, and more huge.

  Phil is getting tired of spinach dishes and the whole green thing is getting out of hand.  We've started to go to bed with a machete on the bedstand.

Also, we have put in a living room space in our basement apartment, and it has really amped up it's cuteness factor. (and we can charge more)

Got a new sleeper sofa, found the 50's TV trays at a neighbor's estate sale, and a real little Persian rug at a dry cleaners. Phil worried about the vases tipping over, but I told him that for 99 cents at Goodwill, we could deal with a little tipping.

And, I lowered my standards (and enjoyed it) by painting some Sofa Paintings. Two acrylics...sort of color fieldish with some leaf and water elements, and a gouache ala DeKooning/Carrasco for old times sake. Like when I struggled in Painting 101.

Leaf color field                                                                                    5'x 2' Acrylic on Canvas

Leaf color field                                                                                  3'x 1.5' Acrylic on canvas

Garden Frenzy                                                                 20" x 30" Gouache over watercolor

Hint: I painted the gouache over a big watercolor I screwed up....it was really fun....worked mostly with chip brushes, sharp points to scratch with and pastel pencils. I think I'll do more of these.  After 40 years, I finally got the hang of it.  Besides, I have enough messups in watercolor to keep me busy for a while.

Abstract art is a lot harder, in my opinion, because you don't have the resonance of an image to play against.

And Phil  had real challenges with making the new room watertight. Seattle basements always leak.  I thought Lynne would appreciate this, since she has an artisian well in her basement.  Note also that Phil has installed earthquake plates all around the foundation of our house.  San Francisco is not the only shaker and mover along this ring of fire!

I made the mistake of showing Phil  the levels of finish for sheet rock that Regina featured on Fauxology. Now I warrant that our renter will be the only one living in a level 5 finished apartment!  Painstaking.

Sheet rock knees.  A disease of carpenters.

And also, I've been working on a series of watercolors called, eponymously, "Clear Water"  They are quite large, some of them.....20" by 30", and so far I have about 10 I like.  Here's one.

And then.....I have developed 4 images for a children's nursery that I plan to reproduce.  But I'm keeping those under my hat until their grand opening.......

So, you see.  I haven't been lolling on the couch eating bon bons.

 

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!

 

 

Valentine 2011 Caution and Passion

Through dim forests,  flowery meadows and the high seas
I carry a wireless torch for you.
   
 I love you, I like you.

Affection, Admiration.
Sometime Trepidation.

This year I vow, Beloveds,
to be more attentive
 to those I love,
 spend more time in my garden,
and make more art.

And, when I dine
 with the Devil or Alligators ,
 to sup with a long spoon.

(I suppose this means less time online.)

Electric Valentines to All

©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.

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.

 

 

 

 

What I did on my Summer Vacation

 

We spent an idyllic two days on the Kitsap Penninsula with our friend Paula.  The clouds are massing......summer is showing it's sunny behind over the Olympics.  I stand on my front porch and wave my hankerchief at the passing season.

Paula's feast. A Primary Poem.

 

Ah.

Can yellow be so round?

Webs of algae.

 

Paula's garden, Paula's hops

......that reflection and shadow thing....again.

 
Port Townsend Market...and all the beets and carrots, color co-ordinated.....


 

Sea salad

Glorious potatoes.

Farewell Blue Heron.

Attack of the Teen Aged Ducks

Ducks at Highpoint pond        ©  Jennifer M. Carrasco 1/21/10

The mallards born and raised on this pond since last spring are used to being fed, and while they don't really attack, they are very enthusiastic when they see people park themselves at the edge of the water.  " O boy", they exclaim in quacks, "bread on the water", and they churn over, with chevrons of reflected light in their wake.  If you feed them, fights and exclamations ensue.  Splashes, sparkles and honks.

A very pleasant evening in the late summer sun was spent with friends in the meadow, and later, on my front lawn with roses, hummingbirds and a sunset Tiepolo sky.  Thanks for coming!

For the stalwart who attempted the West Seattle bridge construction project and turned away in despair, I apologize for not reminding you about the hideous traffic.  In the years to come, we will again have a convenient connection to the mainland.  Just remember, if you plan to visit at this point, pack food, water and a sleeping bag.

©Jennifer M. Carrasco 7/21/10  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.

Help Help. Poppies on Fire

For those who know me, my idea of perfect bliss is to sit on my stoop on a summer evening as the sun goes down....a beer in my hand, the sun setting behind the Olympics, and all my flowers nodding their heads at me.  Hi flowers.  Hi Jennifer.

Here is Phil's leaning tower of peas...with, of course...poppies, archer's thyme and bachelor buttons.  

I tend to belong to the gardening school of wretched excess.  This was my sweet pea harvest of a few years ago.  I haven't been able to replicate it since.

The following photo was of my garden in October 2005.  It looked like an example of Agent Orange.

Here is my front garden now, June 27, 2010.
The mulch on the median is the remains of red clover that I pulled up after it bloomed. The raised beds have veggies and potatoes and nasturtiums, and I have  squash planted that usually (IF IT WILL EVER WARM UP THIS SUMMER) clambers over the mulch.

The tree on the left is a pie cherry tree.  Birds don't like the sour cherries.  I adore the translucent red of the fruit, and I love cherry pie. Like with my scheduled refrigerator cleanup, I bake once a year.

Home on the Value Range. Drawing Lesson #4

 

Line  value drawing with cross hatching. 1981

Lesson 3  Drawing on the right side of the brain.

1.  Look at drawings...memory drawing of room and  Ed Koch....Shift?   Judy’s question...analytical? More analogy, relational, holistic.Suspension of time, no decoding speech, active without anxiety.When is the crisis time for young artists?   Look at drawings of Koch and have each student “explain”  their room drawings. 
 

Yeah, I know....this is an iris in my garden, not an ironweed....but the poem is so lovely and applies to iris as well...."profoundest violet", indeed.

Ironweed

By Robert Morgan

There is a shade of purple in
this flower near summer’s end that makes
you proud to be alive in such
a world, and thrilled to know the gift
of sight. It seems a color sent
from memory or dream. In fields,
along old trails, at pasture edge,
the ironweed bares its vivid tint,
profoundest violet, a note
from farthest star and deepest time,
the glow of sacred royalty
and timbre of eternity
right here beside a dried-up stream.

1.  Iris......modified contour line. Mark midlines on your paper view finder. Stare at my leaf and negative space until you see the shapes of the negative.  Hold up your viewfinder and do the same for the iris.  Try drawing the negative spaces (Right brain) instead of the iris.  Don’t tilt or move your head and arm.  Get comfortable first!

2. Again, draw your hand holding something on the plastic.Then cover a sheet of your notebook with charcoal and rub it in with a piece of paper towel to get a medium value tone..


3. Do hand exercise., pg. 106-110  Pick up some of the highlights with your eraser.  Darken some shadows with your charcoal.   Hand out Escher drawing....look at the shadows and highlights.

Assignment:  Read chapter 6.  Apply charcoal to your paper. Using the viewfinder (prop your paper viewfinder) over a complex vegetable like a radish with leaves, a tomatilla, or three green onions.  Let some of the veggie parts go off the edge of the view finder.  Draw and shade the veggie(s) like you did with  the hand exercise.

Have a flowery day.

Bearded Iris                                                                       ©Jennifer M. Carrasco 5/12/10                                         

©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

Offerings to the Lilac Buddha

I wish I was light enough

to climb to the top of my lilac bush,

drape myself

across its crown of flowers

and take a nap.

Easter and Passover Greetings: Book of Carrasco

"Honor thy tulips, for they shall inherit your spring."

Book of Carrasco: Cruelest Month 68: Psalm 4-5

Shalom, bunnies and renewal and reflection. 

Sap is rising. Don't forget to take time to be silly.

Happy Easter/Passover.  Resurrexit Sicut Dixit, folks.