Carrasco Studio

Watercolor Triptych. A Day on the Llano River

I finally mailed off my Austin client's watercolor triptych.  I framed them with cherry and left extra wide mats, and I think he'll like them.  My client wanted a realistic rendering and wanted a local butterfly included, so I spent some time developing a technique for working with glazes and textures appropriate to the subject.  Here's a close up of my left painting. 

I got better as I went along.

The effort of coming up with detailed work was helpful, since I plan to do a series of loose paintings of the same... closeups and  and more abstract.   I spent  actual time on the river and took many photos and did many sketches.  There was a gentle wind, and I kept singing to myself, "Hear the wind blow..."

The Llano River and I became well acquainted.

My right painting.

My center painting.

...and my left painting.

The center painting is wider...12"....and the left and right paintings are 9" wide.  All are 30 " long.  The right painting is the river coming "in", the wider center painting is the point of view, and the left painting is the river going "out"

I was taken by the granite rocks, the transparency of the water, and the animals and the colors of the underwater strata.  Since the rocks are metamorphic and have been carved by rain and wind, they have strange inclusions and holes.....the navel(s) of the world.

    
 ..... ikebana-like arrangements of pools, rocks and grasses.

and pockets of still water and creatures....

I am fascinated by the river and water in general, and find the transparency and the difficulty of watercolor both appropriate and  challenging for the reflections, clarity, the torrents and deep still pools.  I will get better.  I can hardly wait to start on my series.

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.

Fifi and Fo Fum. French Yaps

 
A few years ago I was requested to present a client's small dogs in panels for her living room.  They were to be portrayed "in the French manner" Perfect for Rococo.

I always like to meet the real thing when I do a job, so I drove over to meet the little creatures with some doggie treats and a camera. 

They were tiny gnat-like creatures.  Little yapping ectoplasms to one used to gallumping labradors and hunting dogs, but the client loved them....all five of the little dogs swarming  around in a bunch at my feet.......if mosquitos could bark.

I have the rest of the series....somewhere on a CD, and once I get this wretched job of getting my images and projects ready for my web guy, I should have them all together....

Journey to Far Cathay

 

Journey to Far Cathay (maybe)                                         ©Jennifer M. Carrasco 2008

 

I painted this on a panel for a door to a little girl's bedroom.  Of course I made up a story for it.

The princess is sailing for Far Cathay to be married to a barbarian prince.  Hence the pensive attitude. 

She is accompanied by her duenna, the old crow in the bow, and an unreliable crew of flighty birds.  She may never arrive in Cathay. 

Who knows, the sailor birds may lose their compass and sail to Tasmania. Or drop off the edge of the world.

©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.

St. Nicolas Trudges On

I've heard it on the best authority (Drudge and Celebrity News) that the old guy is on his way through the frozen North.  He's been walking a lot and dieting (Recession) and the reindeer are on strike for higher wages, so he had to start early. Tomorrow he'll be at the Canadian border and be in line at customs, but if he clears that, he'll be at your house on schedule.

Since you all have been good, I'm sure you'll get yo-yo's instead of sticks.

Happy Holidays from me and Phil.

My cards, both for holiday and events,  are available at www.Emery-Burton.com.carrasco carrasco

 

Arctic Daydreams

This is where I learned to memorize images and then go inside to draw them.  My ink would freeze, otherwise.

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.

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.

 

 

 

 

Night Spirit

Last week I read a wonderful tribute to marriage and art on Connie and Randy Coita's website, Studio Abbellire,  http://studioabbellire.com/blog/?p=444,  as well as a stunning post of her latest project, a trompe l'oeil Luna moth on a lichen covered panel. Connie is a gifted painter, and her husband Randy is a fine painter as well.

Randy writes that like the Luna Moth,  we artists often start our lives at night and work until dawn. Yeah, I know, it takes a very understanding partner and no other obligations (i.e. kids) to do this very often, or at all.  It's a very uneasy balance with doing art and doing the mother, wife and worker bee at the same time. I've been there, and like many women, I felt I was pulled in too many directions to be good at any role.

But, if your life has evolved into a situation where you can work into the night, it is the most peaceful and focused time to do it.  No meals to prepare, no bank accounts to balance, no kids to soccer.  Like the actual Luna moth I encountered on our screen door one humid night in Georgia, you have time and space just to be.....to  fan out your creative wings and make beauty. For an artist, it's the gift of a quiet time to create in your mind , on a canvas, or to connect the lights of  fireflies in the night.

I have loved the Luna moth since I was a little girl and my mother gave me "Girl of the Limberlost" to read by Gene Porter. Mr. Porter wrote of many lovely things, but the Luna was a repeated icon in his book.  If there is ever a tender, evanescent testimony to the beauty of the natural world, it is this exquisite moth. 

My painted image of the Luna is from a chinoiserie room I did for a client.  Here's a wall of that room.  Like Waldo, the moth is hiding with a lot of flora and fauna. Can you find her?

And thanks, Connie and Randy, for sharing your vision of "a little night music."

Bagheera

My friend Tania Seabeck mentioned on Facebook that there is a vegetarian spider named Bagheera kiplingi.  I was struck by the name....in the Jungle Book by Kipling, Bagheera, the panther,  is a close companion of the boy Mowgli. 

"We be of one blood, thee and I" says Bagheera to Mowgli.  For some reason,  the statement and it's old speech syntax gives me a frisson of pleasure and dread, much as certain passages of music puts  shivers up my spine.

Several years ago, I did this painting  of a great panther and his familiar (spirit companion? devotee) for a friend who felt an affinity for this animal. In the painting, the human and the panther both have blood red flower hearts  and the  boy dances toward the big reclining cat.

I think with any profound spiritual connection, one experiences an alliance of love and fear...and approaches shyly,  obliquely before such grace, such  power and beauty. A dance of terror and devotion.