Katie Jeanne Wood

Mixed Media Artist - daily painter of portraits, flowers, abstracts and birds

Always

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 6x6 Flower Series No 45 01

Impasto palette knife painting
6×6 white and blue flowers
Flower Series No 45

I must have flowers, always, and always.
Claude Monet

Katherine Jeanne Wood - Friend 04

And, kitties, too, I say. 

Katherine Jeanne Wood - palette and knife

Getting back in the swing of things. Words aren’t coming easily for me, so photos might have to do for today. I type, then delete. My brain is constipated after being away from the blog and internet for a week. Art. What’s art? Remember when I said I didn’t want to stop blogging at the end of 30 paintings in 30 days because I’d freeze up? I’m feeling pretty frosty, but I’ll trudge on. Always, always. 

My opinion of The Goldfinch

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 4x4 Flower Series No 44 01

Palette Knife Painting
Flower Series No 44
Somehow I’ve misplaced No 43, but as soon as I find it, I’ll post it. 

Sitting on top of White Rock Mountain at 3am one morning, I finished The Goldfinch, finally. It took me 3 months to get through it, but I wasn’t reading it regularly because I kept getting bored. It was 775 pages long, and kept going off on tangents that didn’t interest me. I knew I would finish it at some point, even though I went on to read a few more books in the meantime. I give it an “eh” grade or 3 stars. I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. I thought it was incredibly long, rambling, and preachy at times. The author repeated herself way too much. It’s in dire need of an editor. If 300-350 pages were whittled away, it would be a fabulous story. 3 stars is probably being too generous, but I’m in a good mood today. Do I recommend it? Not really, no. There are better stories to be read, which take far less time. 

Space to walk is also space to think

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 6x6 Landscape No 6 01

Acrylic Palette knife painting
Landscape No 6

One of the functions of landscape is to correspond to, nurture, and provoke exploration of the landscape of the imagination. Space to walk is also space to think, and I think that’s one thing landscapes give us: places to think longer, more uninterrupted thoughts or thoughts to a rhythm other than the staccato of navigating the city.

Rebecca Solnit 

Just past the tall corn

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 6x6 Landscape No 4 01

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 6x6 Landscape No 4 03

Landscape No 4
En plein air
Oil palette knife painting
Available here

This little spot is not far from my house, out on a dirt road. It’s just past the tall corn I wrote about the other day. If I could, I’d build a house right here, and enjoy this view every day. 

 

Why I want to keep going after 30 paintings in 30 days

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 4x4 Flower Series No 33 01

Palette knife painting
Big white roses in a water glass
Flower Series No 33
Giclee prints are available HERE

Why I want to keep going after 30 paintings in 30 days..

Make your mistakes, take your chances, look silly, but keep on going. Don’t freeze up.
Thomas Wolfe

I’ve decided that painting every day and making myself blog is easier than getting artist block, and freezing up. Waaay easier. I’ve gone through artist block a few times, and it’s rough. I’m worse than a bear to live with. Grrrr!! It makes you feel like you’re worthless, washed up, a has been, and you’ll never paint again. The days are dark, and all you do is sit around having a pity party for yourself. I HATE when it happens. I’d do anything to prevent it from happening again, and I’m convinced the way to avoid artist block is to keep pushing on through every single day.

Sure there were days last month when I didn’t want to paint, and certainly didn’t want to blog, but I did it anyway. Doing something even if you don’t feel like it is not only the grownup thing to do, but it makes you keeping stepping ahead, one foot in front of the other. If you keep moving forward, no matter the speed, even if it’s just a tiny painting and a two sentence blog post, at least you’re doing it. You’re not sitting there hating on yourself, right? You’re not stuck in a rut. You can’t beat yourself up because you tried. So, that’s why I’m gonna keep pushing on through every day. 

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