bye Mummy

this is Mummy. my Mummy. odd I know to call your mother Mummy but that's what we did. She passed away on Friday, April 17th about 6:15 am est. there was no fanfare, no flowers or phones ringing from well wishers. just the end. the three of us kids left with an assortment of stories and memories, a few tangible objects to sort through but that's pretty much it.

Mummy had been clinging to life for years and we all anticipated the day she would be gone but you never really know how your going to feel. it's sad, very sad and i'm sad. i hope she knows she was loved and that she is missed.

much love Mummy. sleep well.

self portraits are one of my very favorite things to do. they are not often pretty but usual telling. funny how you feel, how you see yourself, what kind of mood your in all shows up in a self portrait. this one I did in about 15 minutes during a pastel class I was taking. we were all to be working on an exercise and I was finished and just killing some time. and there you have it.

i work very quickly and have the attention span of a gnat! in the time most other students would be just really starting to block in their colors and starting to get a real feel for where their painting is going... "I'M DONE". it's not necessarily a good thing or even a bad thing, it is just the way I work.

spring is finally starting to sprout and I am looking to lighten my work load through the summer so that I can paint, paint and ride my bike. plant a garden. go swimming. hang out. (might be wishful thinking, but without dreams, hope and wishful thinking where would be?!)

Trip to Portland Art Museum

The actual exhibit that we went to see was called
" La Volupte du Gout" French paintings in the age of the Pompadour. WOW. can you say, cupid, pink, voluptuous, decadent... as you can see these are not the images I am sharing with you. I do see some influence in some up coming paintings maybe but these paintings I am sharing with you are a few that really caught my attention. I love portraits. I do them regularly of myself. It is the face and emotions I know best. It is also always available. But check these out would you! I found them tucked away, barely getting any attention and they are totally fabulous! don't you think? Crazy but I ddn't even get any pictures of the French pieces.

here is the link to the Portland Art Museum. Check out a sample of the paintings to get an idea what it was about and you can read about the time period. It was an wonderful exhibit with music and low light and really something to experience. It completely immersed you in it. See it if you can... http://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/feature/La-volupt-du-got-French-Painting-in-the-Age-of-Madame-de-Pompadour

and so it goes...time that is

well...since December I have had a few shows, sold a few pieces, given a few paintings away, created more paintings. I still have so many and yet there is no stopping from creating more. and so it goes...

I submitted three pieces to the "Unclad" show" again this year and I have always done well with this show, but this year I
didn't get in. I wish I knew why. You will need to visit my web site www.kelceybates.com if you want to see the newest nudes that were passed over. This small collection of nudes I call Cherry Pie. (can you hear the bitterness in my voice?) I am a bit disappointed and I was surprised. I really enjoyed this small series of paintings. I think they are fun and a little twisited and cute in an odd sort of way... anyway they were obviously not what jurors were looking for. and so it goes...

most recently I have entered a show for the NW Pastel Society. they are asking the artisits to think outside the box. that could be ground, subject matter... just be experimental. funny, i think everytime I go to paint or draw I am experimenting (so it goes...) but I tried harder and the piece you see here is one of the examples. I REALLY enjoyed doing this. I love the subject matter, I am all about shells and rocks and sticks and... I have many paintings involving shells and rocks and such. I could paint them over and over and over and never tire like I can other subjects. I will let you know if I got in or not and again sorry but if you visit my web site all three paintings entered in this show can be seen.

and this is all for now. come back soon for more. I PROMISE.

new painting. (from our Oregon Coast trip)

FINALLY I am getting started on some paintings from Rob and my bike ride down the Oregon coast. So far the ideas and approach are completely random and vary with my mood and ability to focus. Focus of course is a HUGE deficit and my biggest challenge every day of my life.

anyway...the paintings that I imagine being born from this journey will come from a combination of things. Photos I took, guide/travel books, memory and my imagination. I have been a bit smitten lately by people using imagery that although based from reality take on a whole new perspective...can you say Chagall? or perhaps Freda Kahlo, Gauguin, Picasso (more commonly known. although I haven't really studied them like the other two). you get the picture. It could be that what I paint needs to be explained? maybe not, I am not totally sure where they are going. I will let it happen as it does in the studio. Just because I have ideas and images in my head doesn't always mean that that is what will happen. (back to that focus thing again) once I can get a solid block of time in the studio it is much easier to turn off the "world" and enter my own place/space/time. we shall see.....

p.s. how did I get a Florida sky?

sorry for the loooonggg delay!

I know I have shown this piece before, but this piece was the corner stone of my my resent gallery walk on November 7th. Really good turn out and the woman that I was lucky enough to share the show with introduced me to many a local artist artist. well established local artists who are struggling starving artists and have been for years. Impressive and inspiring.

http://www.cascadiaweekly.com/pdfs/issues/200845.pdf. this is a local free paper that EVERYBODY picks up. Check it out please, turn to page 2...tada! yep, that's my painting, front and center!

I had visits from friends, made new connections, sold a painting and well, just had an all around splendid evening. It had been puring for days and blustery. But on the evening, just long enough for us to get set up through taking it all down we had fine fall weather. It's a bit of a majical evening for me. but then art shows for me always are a little bit majic. I wish all of you could have been there!!!!!

PEACE
kelcey

working on it

well, as you can see I completely went in another direction. this is so not my norm. I am trying to understand how to paint water and this is one of many attempts and so far the closest to really representing water. my project now is to make it "my" water, in my style. this feels a bit contrived to me, but hey I'm learning and working it, trying to figure it out. I am already on to another painting, the new one includes water but I am trying to make it more dream-like, more like a memory and the way the walk on the beach felt...
yeah, well, I will post it soon.

as for life in general, other than watching the world dramatically change right before our eyes, all is well. I am really enjoying my work but still trying to figure out how I can make a living at it. I like the flexibility, the problem solving the caring and sharing it takes now if I could just transpose all of that into $$$. but then our $ isn't worth much or go very far anyway these days. (enough of this depressing stuff!) I have been taking a class required by one of the agencies I am working with. I have learned some interesting things. mostly it has confirmed that I am totally a hands on person. all of the hands on things we have done I am excelling at and the book stuff I let to much heart in and forget the legalities. imagine that!

off to the studio for an hour before work!