Steinbeck and the Last Visible Dog.

I have just finished reading 'East of Eden' by John Steinbeck. It's my second reading and a better one, because I took my time and read it properly, thinking about it as I went, sucking the marrow, so to speak.

I am struck by the similarity of Hoburn's philosophy in 'The Last Visible Dog' and the idea explored by Steinbeck of guilt, right and wrong, personal growth and personal accountability vs. fate, etc. 

When I revisited my ex once, he had a note on his fridge 'If it's to be, it's up to me'. It doesn't matter that this seemed a new idea for him, something he had to remind himself. Some of us are helped by parenting and circumstance to know this, to have incorporated it, and others not. 

These are different ways of seeing the same idea.

The older I get, the more I am disquieted by the idea of atonement. I am uncomfortable with the notion of karma. These, to me, smack of childish superstition.  I feel 'forgiveness of sins' is not useful.  They all remove personal accountability and the incentive, even necessity, for personal growth.

Here is one summary of 'East of Eden'.  It's a nicely crafted story, gritty, graceful. Allegorical. Great Steinbeck. 

Do not ...

Here's a choice. But very much N O T my own!
Having said that, it makes for a harder 'live'.


I'm reading 'Room With a View' and Lucy sings:

"Look not thou on beauty’s charming,
Sit thou still when kings are arming,
Taste not when the wine-cup glistens,
Speak not when the people listens,
Stop thine ear against the singer,
From the red gold keep thy finger;
Vacant heart and hand and eye,
Easy live and quiet die."

- Sir Walter Scott
from The Bride of Lammermoor.

It reminds me of Dylan Thomas : Do not Go Gentle ...

Questions people asked me a long time ago.

I hardly want to admit how long ago it was that I invited bloggers to pose me questions about my art and artist life. I stumbled on them a few weeks ago ... 

Recently I have gone through a 'I'm not a real artist' thing (quite common, I'll get over it) and at the moment call myself an illustrator. However, I might graduate onto 'Painter' and live there for a while. Art is such a weird stuff. Even artists can't agree what it is. But the questions of how I travel on this road were interesting to me to answer, so I thought maybe they would be to you too.

So without further ado, here are the questions, with my replies.

Yorkshire Pudding: Some artists are partly motivated by the notion that by leaving something of worth behind they will achieve a measure of immortality. To what extent do you fall into this category?

Kate: My motivations (to make art) are thus: 5% gaining immortality through leaving something worthwhile behind. 15% the desire for fame and fortune in my own lifetime. 30% to help the natural (not man-made) part of the Earth by helping people explore what there is to treasure and care for. 30% to give myself pleasure by the learning and capturing process of subjects I am fascinated by, and 20% to give other people pleasure.

Yorkshire Pudding: Your art often seems driven by a passion for the natural world. What unvisited aspects of the natural world would you most like to capture?

Kate: All of them. Plus I would like to present the visited/ familiar aspects in an unfamiliar way, to counter any weariness or contempt that that familiarity my have caused. (Yes, to do all this I need a few more life-times!)

Yorkshire Pudding: Your portfolio appears people-less when some other artists might specialise in human faces and the human form. Why are there no people in your work?

Kate: Although much of my early work had few people (with the notable exception of my ‘Saemangeum’ triptych), it was mostly that my focus was and is on an Earth that is in danger of being irreparably damaged by people. To that end I felt that by eliminating people from my work, I was symbolically eliminating their affect on the natural world. Of course, humans were implied in the works, very strongly.  They just didn't appear as images. I especially refer to the Godwit Series.

However more recently with my International Bee Appreciation Society series, I have intentionally installed people as the focal point, with the hope that viewers will associate themselves with the people in the paintings, and in this way, align themselves with the affection that the portraitees clearly have for the bees that are with them. (PS I have another International Bee Appreciation Society Meeting (show) planned, and am looking for people who would like to take part. Taking part means answering some questions about your interest in bees and having your portrait painted (from a photograph) and shown in the gallery. Taking part also means you automatically become a member of the IBAS (International Bee Appreciation Society), and purchase of your portrait qualifies you for a beautiful illustrated Membership Certificate.)

Karl Von Frisch (below)  is long gone, so couldn't get his certificate, sadly.

Karl Von Frisch - the 'Father' of the bees. 
He discovered the 'waggle dance'
communication of bees. 

Helsie: When did you start to paint?

Kate: Too early to recall Helsie. The first time I remember I was especially proud of something I painted was when I was about 11. I had been given a dip-pen that, for some strange reason I chose to use upside down, as it then gave the most marvellous spidery, even line. I remember deciding to draw something very tiny. I found a narcissus flower, a cherry blossom, and a broccoli gone to seed. I drew them very small on the front of three envelopes and then coloured them. I liked them so much I never sent the envelopes with letters. In fact I still have the drawings. They are about 2 - 3 cm tall each.

Helsie: What training have you received ?

Kate: When my children were small I did three years of weekly watercolour classes. Then a few years later when they were at high school, I went back to high school myself and really loved a (‘17-year-old’) year of painting and art history classes. I surprised myself and came top of my class. Then the next two years I went to the local polytechnic and studied full-time. I came top of the class both those years too.
The next year I was encouraged to enrol in the university as a Post-grad student (- a massive jump, even though I had a Bachelors degree in science from years before) and I gained my PG Dip at the end of the year - the hardest year of my life.

Helsie: What made you take up this ( the painting of fish , birds etc ) type of work?

Kate: I was raised in a small house with a large garden, a horse paddock opposite, and a river behind, and always loved either being outdoors or drawing indoors. I spent a lot of time watching creatures or pulling plants to bits.  I suppose I still find living things the most fascinating.  Someone seeing me may have thought I was a lonely child but I was so happy and completely absorbed in my own world of ants or moths or grasses or stones.

Helsie: Is it the fine detail that captures your interest most?

Kate: I love working small. I like little creatures. I feel like it was a world that others hadn't noticed or weren’t interested in, so I could ‘own’ it and discover it for myself. I am a patient illustrator so enjoy making the small, precise marks of small subjects. If I was to paint a landscape my default setting would be to paint every blade of grass on every hill.

Yorkshire Pudding: I have thought of another intellectual question:-
What’s your favourite colour?
Kate: Green. Of course.

Rhymes With Plague: Who is (are) your favorite artist(s) and why?

Kate: I love and relate strongly to the approach of Leonardo da Vinci. I think I am an artistic scientist, rather than a scientific artist. For the same reason I really admire Dürer’s work. I dream of being able to capture a bird’s plumage the way he does in his painting of a blue roller wing. But I admire many, many artists, too many to list, many that create work much more loose and free than mine, and on almost every subject, especially if there is an element of dry humour, of irony, in the work.

Rhymes With Plague: Do you prefer working indoors or outdoors? Why?
Kate: Indoors because my paints (watercolours, usually) dry up too much outside and my paper flaps in the wind. I love my studio.  It's a 10 sq metre lined 'shed' in my back garden, in amongst the trees.  I love it out there as I can work undisturbed, which is very important to me. Time just flies out there.

Rhymes With Plague: Do you prefer morning or afternoon light? Why?

Kate: To work in, I prefer neither.  For preference a south (non sunlit) set of windows for an even, unchanging light all day. This of course would be north-facing windows if I lived in the other part of the world. I designed my studio with all windows except one, facing south.  The doors open to the sunshine, but I cover them when I am working. But to take photos I absolutely love the 'golden' hours just after dawn and just before dusk. The light then is wonderful and the shadows throw things into relief.

Rhymes With Plague: How early did you know you wanted to be a professional artist?

Kate: I actually wanted to be a scientist or a geographer. But I only wanted to do the drawings (plants, dissections, graphs, geometry, maps, diagrams, plants, fish, microscope views etc etc.) in each of these subjects! I was about 30 when I found I had to start expressing myself more freely in a visual way or part of me was going to die, and I really felt I wanted to make my living this way about three years ago when I signed up with Pikitia Postcards and now have four of my NZ birds available in Pikitia Postcard stands all over New Zealand.  What a thrill.

RWP: Which medium is your favorite to work in? Why?

Kate: Watercolour and coloured pencils. I like the control they give me if I need it. Next favourite is oils because that media is so permanent and versatile.

Kiokio NZ Fern.  Work in progress. 

RWP: Which medium is your least favorite to work in? Why?

Kate: Pastels. Because it is so hard (and therefore expensive) to frame up a pastel work. Part of the creative me is very pragmatic you see!

GB: Do you concentrate solely on the type of art in your last exhibition?
I say this because I know - and love - some of your other works (particularly 'that' landscape) as well as the more detailed work on the Godwits etc.
GB: I try to focus GB, but fail. There are so many things I want to paint.

Jenny Woolf: I would like to know what the first thing is that you can remember drawing and being pleased with.

Kate: My parents tell me the first recognisable drawing I did was not the usual face with dots for eyes and a line for a mouth, but a circle with six ‘arms’. When asked about it I said it was our village (Havelock North) roundabout, and named each of the roads.  I do remember making a lot of maps when I was young.  I loved how I could 'travel' in my mind along the roads, and I think they were the first drawings I made that had meaning for me.  They opened up my mind to a world of creative possibilities.

Thank you to the most excellent questioners above! If you want to visit them, click on their names on their first question.
If any readers to this blog have any more questions you'd like to ask me, please write them in the comments below and I'll do another post.

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Shameless plug:  My website is in the process of being updated with prices for my original works.  And archival quality prints of many of the works you can see there will soon be available through my online shop.  Enquiries and commissions always welcome to art@katherinesteeds.com

Plastic fire-bellied Toad.  2013. Acrylic on stretched canvas. NZ$2,700 + P&P
A3 print on cotton rag museum quality natural paper: NZ$270 + P&P

Botanical Paintings in Progress.

Hello everyone.  Many apologies for my month's absence from your comment box and blogging bin, but I have been busy painting.  I am now proud to announce (Ta dahhhh!) my participation in the group show 'South Seas Botanical' which opened a few days ago.  Those of you in Aotearoa New Zealand are of course warmly invited to see the show at the Zeus Gallery, Tauranga.  Those that are not currently in NZ, here are some views of my works in progress (w.i.p).  Next week I will post some views of the completed work on the gallery walls, and of the other three exhibitors' works too.

Dianella (blue berry plant).  The berries have not developed yet.

The soft hairy young leaves and small flowers of NZ Korokia 

Korokia

Colourful bacterial and fungal deterioration of Whirariki - Mountain flax
 (Phormium cookianum)

Whirariki - Mountain flax (Phormium cookianum)

Karaka - NZ Laurel (Corynocarpus laevigatus)

Karaka berries in progress - NZ Laurel (Corynocarpus laevigatus)

The very tiny karaka flowers and bud.

Karaka flowers.  Just putting in the first layers.

Tanekaha (Phyllocladus trichomanoides)

Tanekaha (Phyllocladus trichomanoides) wip

Puriri (Vitex lucens) with flowers and young berries.

Puriri (Vitex lucens)

Puriri leaves wip

Puriri leaves wip

Puriri flowers

Puriri flowers coming along.
The green moth is the 'puriri moth' Aenetus virescens, the larvae of which burrow
into the puriri tree and consume material before emerging as the adult.The adult only lives a day.

Kiokio - Palm Leaf Fern (Blechnum novae-zelandiae)

Kiokio wip

Extincted.

DSIDE - EXTINCTED from Thievery Studio on Vimeo.

Inktober

It is that time of year when some people post (usually on social media like Instagram and Facebook) a quick ink sketch or drawing each day, rising to the challenge of "INKTOBER".
I have begun, but as I am very busy with botanical painting too, I may or may not adhere rigidly to the one 'every single day' thing.
I thought you might like to see the ones I have done so far.  They will eventually be available as printed cards with envelopes once I've given them some colour. And got my Etsy shop up and running.

New Zealand Bittern hides in the reeds.

Hips and Pods

NZ bush robin 

The Making of an 'Earthbag' Bedroom.

My post about the passage grave in Skåne made me think about how it might be possible to build a dwelling in a similar way - by using the materials to be had around.  There are no stones in this area, but plenty of dirt... add plastic (which I don't really like, but let's forget that bit for the moment) and you have: A new little house! 
This construction journey video is just wonderful on many levels, not least that of the relationships strengthened.

The Mouse and His Child

The title of my blog, 'The Last Visible Dog' comes from an idea posed in a book by Russell Hoban entitled The Mouse and His Child.
I have written the merest summary of it in the link under my blog heading, but * here is a better one that may give you a clearer idea of how profound, unsettling and interesting it is.

My battered early copy of The Mouse and His Child with its illustrations by Lillian Hoban, would be one of the first things I would try and grab if I ever actually succeed in setting my house on fire by walking away when I had put the tea on.

Incidentally I'm very impressed that Jenny Brown and her friend Teresa at Shelf Love have posted a list of books they have read in the last twenty years. Their blog of reviews began about ten years ago, and that's a long-running blog too.

*If the first link doesn't work, here it is again: https://shelflove.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/the-mouse-and-his-child-review.

If you want another personal reaction to the book, there's one by Stuart Kelly of the Guardian, here.

If you want a review with more of the plot explained (spoilers alert), you can also find one here at Tygertale.

Just to complete this little round-up, there is now a wiki page for the book here, and the animated film version here.

Finally, if you are thinking to purchase this for a child, I would mention that both the book and the animated movie have parts that are rather scary, even 'nightmarish' for some children, although this book certainly sits somewhere in the children's book genre.  Perhaps a perfect one to read to them, and then discuss the meaning and metaphysics afterwards.

The Clock

"Lad"

I have recently watched a movie simply entitled "Lad".  Produced in 2013, It's about a young Yorkshire boy coming to terms with the early death of his father.  I really enjoyed it, not least for the amazing scenery and peek into a way of life I have been interested in for many years.  Unfortunately I didn't get up to Yorkshire on my last visit to The World, but definitely next time!

The acting was excellent although a tiny little bit uneven in parts. The song at the end of the movie was perfect to finish up with, although it made me feel a little bit sad.  I suppose the older one gets, the more likely one is to have someone close who has recently died... That's just the way it is, unless one has no friends, and who would want that state of affairs?

You can watch it here on YouTube as I did, or it's probably on Netflix etc.

Balance

A Thank You to my Dad. (Father's Day 2018)

Story of Flowers

In keeping with my previous horticultural post, I present:

Shifting Sands

Rather gorgeous.

It began with a Stone.

I wonder if some of my new visitors might enjoy reading this post from some time back.  In it I document the process of creating a commissioned painting.

Here is an image from it, part of a knight in armour. Or, if you prefer, armor.

Rose Chafer Painting

In my never-ending search for a way to depict iridescence, I bought some of those alluring metallic pens.  I used them on this clockwork chafer beetle, with some success.

There is still the problem that the shine doesn't really show up unless the viewer is moving and looking at the same time, which people don't tend to do.  And the necessary glass over the paper-based painting also prevents a real engagement.  

Hmmm, maybe I could use the pens on a canvas, along with acrylic or oils.  That's something to think about another time. Although I would probably want to avoid the canvas texture.  Perhaps lots of gesso would do it, sanding between layers.

It's gone now.  It sold the first time it was shown to the public, and now infests the house of an eminent entomologist.