Monday, Dec 31, 2012~

The last day of 2012-  sun on snow, brilliant glare on the highway for a last breakfast with Beaner before she flies back to England, two small boys making a fort behind the living room chair with all available toys, Gus appears recovered from his expensive teeth removal of last week, and we are smoothly moving into the next year~  I sincerely hope all is well with you and yours!

This is a larger painting, so much fun to paint!  One of the trees at Lake Hiawatha, before the snow... hmm, I guess maybe this doesn't quite fit in the "White on White"  idea, but I'm hanging it anyway!
Come see it and it's partner this Friday!

Saturday, December 29th, 2012!

Yay!  Had some time to do some painting today, as Duane took Max to the studio to run around and make giant wooden Semi trucks...  then to the Riverview Cafe, since they have a wonderful kids' play area~  I can almost get work done there while Max plays if there's another kid to play with!
So I am trying to get a few more dogs done, thank you SO much everyone who has sent me images!   I will be posting a couple every day til Friday, Jan 4th!  We'll be at Rye that evening, 4-7pm for Happy Hour and a White on White Opening!  I have been working on playing with the representation of white through the use of color~  and I love using my favorite models, dogs, as my subject though I couldn't resist a few landscapes!  All paintings are for sale, and if you see one you like here, send me an e-mail and I will hold it for you!  My brother said he was awed by how large they are!  He was in town for Christmas from Seattle and hadn't seen any of these in person, so come see them at Rye on Friday! 1930 Hennepin Ave , Minneapolis, MN

Wed December 26, 2012!

Yay!  What a great Christmas!  Lots of great people and great food and great gifts and recipients!  And now Max is sharing his popcorn with me while I post a few more dogs~

And I also have a quick request of all of you~  I am doing a series of "Winter White Dogs" that I will be hanging at Rye next week and I invite you all to join me next Friday, Jan 4 at Rye for a Happy Hour Opening Celebration of the new paintings!  AND I have time to paint a few more!  SO if you have any photos of white dogs, PLEASE send them to me NOW!!!!

Friday December 21!

wahoo!   most days I'm pretty darn glad just to make it back home!  But NOW I've made it to.... WINTER BREAK!!!!!!!!!

Man.
Seriously.

Some dogs~because I'm not done yet...
xo!

Tuesday, Dec 18, 2012

I love communication.  Thanks everyone for your responses to my last post...
NOW I just have a few more commissions for your enjoyment.
And I would appreciate your helpful comments as well-  does that look like reflections of trees in the water back there?

And can you see an angel on this kitty's head?

Saturday, Dec 15, 2012

There are so many things I want to say about death.
Our friend Jim Koplin died today.  I'd only just heard he was in the hospital with pneumonia, and was trying to figure out how to get Duane and Max over to inject some youthful energy in him this week when he'd be feeling stronger....  man.  It's just that that's the end.  Like the final end; like when I think I want to publish my memoirs, I'm not really thinking that for the reader, the end of the story is with MY end...
Ack.
And the suckiest thought.  
The HORRIBLE ickiest thing....
Your kids die before you do.

Sorry.
This has been a sucky, holding Max close and forgiving stupid things I'd usually jump on him about...

Anyway, some things that people love...

Thursday, Dec 13

We had a great painting class last night, and I totally forgot to take PICTURES of what the students accomplished!!! Dang it, Kelly and Sarah, I still want to see those again, darn it!!! And I forgot to take pics of my stuff too...
And yes, I am kicking out the commissions!

Here's another one...

Wednesday, December 5th!

Got some great art done tonight!  First, a commission~  and I don't think I'm blowing anyone's cover because this was for a birthday last week...
If I AM painting your pet, and you DON'T want it on here, do please let me know!

And we worked darn hard tonight at class!  These works are painted on a wash of complimentary color to the dominant color of the composition~
Whew!

Sunday December 2, 2012

WOW!!! Thank you so much everyone who came over for the Seward Winter FROLIC!!!  We had a gas at the Bottle Rocket Building, and Duane wants to throw MORE art crawls!  Max got filthy crawling around all the studios and I had to wash his blanket as soon as we got home last night, which caused a lovely ruckus....  but he's asleep, I'm working on commissions and watching "The Big Bang" first series with Duane, both of us laughing out loud and shushing each other because we don't want to wake Max...

 This is Giggs~

Sunday, November 24 2012

Wow-  just got back from a family adventure to the Fitzgerald to see Kevin Kling and Mason Jennings in a show about HOME.  And of course, I was all mushy and weepy-  man, two great guys with incredible stories that reveal you to yourself... that is ART.
And here's a few dogs...

Saturday November 17, 2012

Yup~  Saturday night and what am I doing?  What do you think I am doing?  I am PAINTING!  I am working on a series of White Dogs, as a matter of fact, and want to get a few more done and then go swap out some work at Rye and have a wee bit of a Winter Dog Opening Gathering thingie, to which you are invited whenever I get it figured out~
I also have a lovely batch of commissions to work on, which I am extremely grateful for.  To have work to do, and such delicious work, that feeds my heart and my imagination (to say nothing of my ego!) is one of the luckiest feelings I have ever known!

So here is one of my favorite dogs, painted last Tuesday-  I met this one at LOLA this August, in front of the Riverview, and he happened to be owned by a high school friend of mine that I haven't seen since high school and who happens to live just down 38th Street!  Ain't this a fun crazy ol' world!  SO we got to chat and chat and I snapped a few pics, and I am terrifically happy with the shadows and light play here~

Sunday November 11, 2011

I love PBS, and NOVA, and all those people who actually spend their lives researching such things as can animals be friends with other species (YES!)... and DO dogs know right from wrong (not really-  they know what we want them to do!)?
Man, my next career will be as Doctor Dolittle, which is really what I wanted to be from the first time I ever heard of him and read Hugh Lofting's books...  I did think I could talk to the animals for a very long time in my youth, and I do get clients remarking how well I get along with their animals, that other people usually don't click so well with them.  I love that.  Nothing like getting respect from other species~
This is Stoli- and yes, his tongue is meant to be sticking out~

Had a great weekend!  Hope you did too!~

November 7, 2012

SO, I'll just say "Yay!" and be done with it~
Tonight was the first of another session of Painting Lessons, and despite having a bit of a cold (sorry folks!  And I swear I kept all my germs as close to me as possible...) it was super dang fun!  I really REALLY enjoy talking to people about art and painting and how to see, and I always feel like I am learning at least as much as the students!
Rather than showing you my painting (because I forgot to take a photo of it) I'm showing you some of theirs~

Not too shabby if I do say so myself!~

Sunday, Nov 4, 2012~

Alrighty then!
It is Sunday night, we've made it through the first of the Daylight Savings bedtimes, and Max appears to be asleep with tonight's beloved pet, a snaggle of gummi worms...
I am aware that most moms probably wouldn't allow their child to go to sleep with a candy item, but I do know that he won't be eating them, and I don't think they'll be seeping much onto the blankets... they seem to be rather stale.
Anyway, here is yet another pup from LOLA at the Riverview, and I can't remember her name but the owners were really sweet~  I'm putting her up for adoption at Dailypaintworks...  so you can click here to bid, starting at $50~  I know, it's cheap, so TELL HER OWNERS!
Or hope I paint your dog surreptitiously...

Friday, Nov 2, 2012!

My Winter "Painting Lessons" start next week, and I am encouraging my participants to subscribe to Canadian painter Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Newsletter because I find what he says to be of incredible value, particularly this edition I received today with a quote from David Bayles and Ted Orland's Art and Fear, a book that has helped me overcome blocks in my own psyche.  It is YOUR life, and YOUR art, so just do it.  Really.  Paint.  It gets better the more you do it, painful as it may feel to start.

AND here is the back of Ila's house-  I have to paint the front now, and there are more dogs coming too, I have just had too many out-of-town guests this week to get much done!

Here is another link to Robert Genn's website, where you simply scroll to the bottom and click on the SUBSCRIBE part.  Really.  It is worth it!  Witty, funny, with some intelligent remarks...

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Man, the days are just SCREAMING past me here!
'Nother dog fer ya~

I think I may lighten up the sidewalk/background....   whadaya think?

Monday, October 22, 2012

SO, the big Art Emporium this weekend at the convention center was a bit of a wash... I imagine part of it was because of the beautiful weather, and part was because people were out of town for MEA.  Mom and I got to know a lot of other artists much better!  It was a tough one, because there were people there, but they did seem to be there more for info about gutters and siding than to buy some lovely art.  Not many artists did well.  I hope to get a few commissions from the event, so we'll see about that.  The nice thing about getting commissions is that I don't have to freak about selling art right at the event-  I can relax a little and talk to people about their dogs and cats (and goats and donkeys...) and not push selling right there...
Oh and I also end up with time to paint!  So here is a dog from last August's LOLA-  if he is yours or you know whose he is, let them know!

I was really happy with his smile!

Sunday October 14th, 2012

So I lucked out and was commissioned to paint two extremely happy rescued dogs...
Kirby is the Golden Lab and Gracie is the Huskie mix~  and what incredible SMILES!!!!!!

This is what Libby, their owner, says of Gracie~
Gracie came to me 6 years ago. She had been given up by her family and had bounced around to a few places, but no one wanted to keep her. My ex-husband just loved her and knew the original owner.  She was about to be brought to the pound, when he asked me to take her for just a week to see how she did with Kirby. She came in the house, jumped up on my bed and never left. She is sweet as can be, and I love her to pieces!

And I need to mention that my Painting Lessons are FULL~  sorry! There'll be more in the new year~  and if you are free this weekend, come see me and mum at the Convention Center (Mpls) for the Art Emporium part of the Home Life Expo!  I have plenty of free passes, or you can print your own too!  Or actually this link says you can get in free with something for the food shelf, so COME ON DOWN!!!
Oh and DO come to Barebones Halloween Show as well!  We're taking Max next Sunday night~  7pm Hidden Falls Park!  Duane's been working his BUTT off on this, making a gigantic Alligator skeleton (longer than our mini-van) and two huge skeletons....
E-mail me if you have questions about it!  It's GREAT!!!

Wednesday October 11- Trees....

It's just that time of year when I really notice trees- well, really I notice trees all year round because I'm weird that way.  There are times in the summer when I am pleasantly thinking of how delicious their shade can be, and I think of places where there aren't trees, or there used to be but they were cut down for firewood or cows, and how that changes the atmosphere and simple FEEL of a place.  Trees are pretty darn amazing...
I am having my Creative Design kids work on negative space trees, where they have drawn their trees out on black paper with pencil (shows up silver- I LOVE it!) and they are painting in the negative space of the sky.  It always gets confusing at first, and they struggle with the concept and want to just paint the tree in too, but when they are finished they really get it!
So here is one of mine, but I did put some purple-grey into the trunk for the bark.

And this Fall/Winter's Painting Lessons is full!  Sorry, it does fill up quickly!   There will be another in the early spring~

Sunday October 7th~

Wahoo!
Mom and Dad are doing the Great Circle Tour (which is a drive all around the Great Lakes of the midwest and Canada) and she sent us (my siblings and me) these great shots of the leaves up there.  My family is big into art, and we discovered the Group of Seven some years ago, probably through Grand Marais exposure...  here's the Wikipedia link too~ and I've always been fascinated by Tom Thompson's paintings where he leaves a little bit of the ground showing through the paint... 
SO I painted this tonight, from one of mom's photos, 

 And here is Tom Thomson's paintings...
This one is Lake in Autumn, 1916

 And this is Evening, Canoe Lake, 1915.

Can you see what I mean about the edges showing the background color?  They are so poetic and dreamy and quiet...  and painted plein air on untreated 8x10 pallet wood....
I want to do this!  Aren't they GREAT?

MOnday, OCTOBER 1!

Dang!  A whole new month already!  Wow~  well, here's Ollie so far, and I got a couple more houses to tackle.

Duane thinks his right eye needs to be darker- and maybe the left side of his nose-  anything else?  I'll ask his owner too...
I also will be teaching another painting class this November into December at the Shasta Building in a new studio space Duane and I will be sharing!  I'm really excited about the chance to have a REAL studio space and to be able to argue and bicker with Duane about who left what where and who gets to clean it up!  I'm kidding-  he usually cleans everything up and organizes it beautifully-  I am a very lucky person!
SO if you are interested in Painting Lessons, send me an e-mail right away to hold your place.  It will be Wednesday evenings, 6:30 to 9pm from November 14 to December 12, with December 19th as an alternate date for missed classes, for $150.
http://katcorrigan.com/katcorrigan.com/Welcome_files/Painting%20Lessons%20November%202012.pdf
This is the link to the PDF with more info!  Let me know if it isn't working....
Whew!
More houses tomorrow night~

Thursday, Sept 27, 2012

It has been a busy week!  This is my neighbors' house, and was meant to be a wedding present last Saturday, but I didn't have it finished in time...  so they just got it today!
And this is also Sophie, who I am happy to be painting in exchange for some lovely wind chimes by an artist that I met at LOLA this year-  I'll see if she has a website and post it on another blog~

And I do love trading for art, in case you were wondering how you'd pay for that couch sized portrait of Fido....

Saturday, Sept 22

What a lovely, blustery day in Minneapolis!  And what a day to be thankful for dogs and neighbors...  nothing like observing a bit of wrongdoing and then having a neighbor join you in your walk so you feel safer... dogs really are good theft deterrents....

Speaking of which, here is Hazel!

She's a redo for me-  here is the first version...  and there was a second which had more pinks on her cheeky side...  it all has SO much to do with the eyes!

Max and I are off to Savers for more cars for him-  he helped me clean the living room floor with handy-wipes after a painting frenzy.  Gotta love life with a 3 year old!

September 18, Tuesday Morning!

Sheesh! This is ridiculous!  If I go this long without posting again, would some of you PLEASE e-mail me at katjojo@hotmail.com and nag the HECK out of me?!?  Such a terrible manner~
I obviously have been a bit busy-  adjusting to a new schedule, attempting to run/walk every morning (ha! more walk than run),  researching street art for my students (which gets INCREDIBLY fascinating!  If you haven't heard of Banksy yet, you have to check out his work!
See?  I just went to his site again and got distracted!
ANYWAY, here are a couple commissions I finished this week, and I wanted to invite you to my mom, Rita Corrigan's art opening at Diamond's Coffee Shoppe this Friday from 6-8pm!  I'll be there with her, and she has some lovely new pastels from her trip to Croatia with my sisters this summer.  She and I will also be at the Mpls Convention Center October 20 and 21 for the Home and Heatlth Expo... I have free tickets I'll be happy to give you!  There will be a lovely lot of local artists with work ready to hang on you walls (or your house!)~
Oh and I am also planning on doing a different 30 days project in November-  30 Otters in 30 Days, is my thought...  what do you think?