By The Campfire

20"x 16" Oil, c. 2009 Ernie Kleven.
If Nancy and I weren't staying in Northern California this winter we would likely be around a campfire just like this. This is a scene reminiscent of one several years ago in Quartzsite, AZ when a TV crew from "Retirement Living" came by to film our activities for their show. The setting sun was still on the hilltops as we gathered around the campfire making a striking scene which is burned into my memory. I've made a few changes to the composition with my "artistic license" but this gives you a flavor of the scene.

As a matter of historical accuracy this group was the Big Sky Chapter 28 of Escapees RV Club. The Chapter represents Montana, Wyoming, and the southern half of Idaho. They along with thousands of others put on RV Rallys every January in the desert around Quartzsite. The small community of Quartzsite swells from approx 2500 inhabitants to estimates of 500,000 or more each January.

I will now deviate from my art for a moment to share with you who are peanut butter lovers my personal recipe for the greatest peanut butter ever. It is very simple. I use a food processor and virginia peanuts. Dry roasted will work but give a slightly different flavor. The secret is using olive oil which marries well with the peanuts. A cup of peanuts to which I add a tablespoon or two of oil adjusted for texture, results in crunchy peanut butter to die for. I keep it in the refrigerator because no preservatives have been added. If you make several batches a little less oil will be required after the first one. Let me know if you like it.

Back to art. Awhile back I shared with you my pallet which is Jack White's "Double Primary Pallet". His wife Mikki Senkarik uses it to paint her gorgeous works. I've learned some things just following her blog. http://mikkisenkarik.wordpress.com/category/original-oil-paintings/

Jack recently shared with me his methods of successfully marketing paintings on eBay. I am now beginning a series of miniature paintings for that purpose. Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted.

Please forward this Blog to anyone you feel might be interested in it and your comments are welcome. If you are a visitor and you would like to be added to my Blog email list please email me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also please visit my website at http://www.erniekleven.com/ On the other hand if you wish to be removed from this list please reply with "Cancel" written in the subject line.

A Cruise for 2010 in My Imagination

After the holidays and during the long winter days ahead our thoughts may turn to the warmer climes of a Caribbean Cruise. Unfortunately I have never been on a cruise so this is how I imagine a cruise ship anchored in the harbor of a Caribbean island might look like at sunset. I like to dream sometimes don't you? Can you picture yourself enjoying the peaceful sunset from the deck with a cocktail in your hand. Ah-h, the good life, eh?

When I paint a scene like this it is like being there. Even if it's only in my imagination and what an imagination I have. If you only knew the things I can imagine. My entire life is but a dream. Just ask Nancy, my wife. I am a dreamer. I always have been and I always will be. Once when I was a young lad my mother sent me up to the grocery store just before dinner. When I didn't arrive home when I should (It was only a 1/2 block away in a small town) my dad came looking for me. He found me standing in front of a store window day dreaming away. I don't do that anymore - walk to the store I mean :-).

PS: "There is an occupation known as painting, which calls for imagination, and skill of hand, in order to discover things not seen, hiding themselves under the shadow of natural objects, and to fix them with the hand, presenting to plain sight what does not actually exist." (Cennino Cennini 1370-1440) I borrowed this from Robert Genn's Weekly Letter.

If you would like to be added to my Blog email list or have a comment please email me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also please visit my website at http://www.erniekleven.com/ On the other hand if you wish to be removed from this list please reply with "Cancel" written in the subject line.

George Allen Durkee

Happy New Year everyone! To begin 2010 I want to share a most interesting artist with you. He currently lives in Murphy, CA and has graciously agreed to come to Auburn next Tues morning (Jan 5th) and put on a painting demonstration for the Placer Artists League (PAL) of which I'm Co-Chair in charge of programing. The time is 10:00 a.m. and the location is the Placer Arts Building, 808 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA. For those of you who are local there is no charge and everyone is welcome. Here is more info about him:

FROM SAN FRANCISCO STREET ARTIST to PAINTING JUNKYARDS
George Allen Durkee gave up a successful career painting streetscapes in San Francisco to, as he put it, ".....to keep his work fresh." He needed a new challenge which he found in junkyards. Even his streetscapes were kind of funky but he really went wild in junkyards. He even went so far recently as to have "40 or so collectors" over to his first Annual Junkyard BBQ. It was a huge success. (photo available)

George recently authored a new book Expressive Oil Painting-An Open Air Approach to Creative Landscapes which is published by North Light Books, a well known and respected publisher of art books. He has had articles published in The Artist Magazine" and "The American Artist" magazine. He is co-owner of an Art Gallery in Murphy, CA with his artist wife, Sharon Strong. I have this book and it is great for artists of every level.

George says he was no child prodigy, "I didn't get into painting until I was twenty-five". There was no art school available so he signed up for a mail order course. "You're just kidding yourself, " someone told him, "You'll have to wait 'til your dead before your paintings will be worth anything." "So began the unorthodox career of this accomplished California artist." His paintings are worth plenty and he isn't dead.

"When I stopped last summer to watch George Allen Durkee painting in San Francisco, I knew I'd discovered a different kind of artist. Durkee is the Coca Cola of urban Painters - the real thing. His paintings are so energetic, so full of life, that I wanted to discover just how it is that this solitary painter, standing alone on an ordinary street corner, could conjure up such inspiration. Last October (1995), I met with George and recorded to my delight the following conversation......Rex Lampman". (Taken from George's website: http://www.gadurkee.com/)

"Some people paint barefoot in quiet, sky lit studios with flowered rugs and music to match their moods. Me, I'm a more public kind of painter. That's why I pilot my motorcycle, loaded with art gear, south across the Golden Gate Bridge, into San Francisco. My studio is the sidewalk, and my music is the cacophony of characters clomping on the San Andreas Fault. I prowl the city streets on my Honda, searching for the perfect subject. I can't tell you what I look for, but when I find it, I know because I want to rush in...to start mixing paint right away. I see the spot! Jumping the curb, I park my bike. The pavement shudders as a bus rolls by. Unfolding my easel I claim half of the sidewalk - pedestrians detour around. From the box locked to my Honda, I slide out six finished paintings and prop them up in view of passersby.........." (taken from his article "Scenes From a Sidewalk Studio" published in The Artist Magazine.)

"The faces behind the red door of the Art Gallery in Murphys bring life, love and art to the country and the world. Artists George Durkee and Sharon Strong share the cozy two-story gallery on Main Street, filled with mystical masks, colorful landscape paintings and even a small sitting area............"

"At age 14 Durkee ran away from his home near Seattle to lead a more independent life. He lived on the streets and in a hideout in a park in Tacoma. During this time, Durkee had no interest in art whatsoever. 'I was interested in girls,' he admitted, wearing paint-streaked jeans during an interview at the gallery. It wasn't until age 25, while working on a farm pruning apple trees, that Durkee discovered art. He was living in Yakima and his employer, Irene Watkins, was an amateur artist and a 'Sunday painter." (From an article by Kate Gonzales, calaverasenterprise.com, 2/15/07)

"......It's not enough to paint things the way they really look. We have photography and video cameras for that. Artists need to go beyond simply reproducing the physical appearance of things. Emerson said, 'Art is nature seen through a temperament.' Art is painting the guts of a subject. We cannot be overly concerned with perfection. Painting is messy. The painting will be whatever it turns out to be................." (From George's 8/25/07 Blog, We Walk on Quicksand.)
There is much more to be gleaned from George's website http://www.gadurkee.com./

If you would like to be added to my Blog email list or have a comment please contact me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also please visit my website at http://www.erniekleven.com On the other hand if you wish to be removed from this list please reply with Cancel written in the subject line.

Goodby 2009, Hello 2010!

This portrait was an interesting challenge for me. This pretty young girl's grandmother commissioned me to paint it for a Christmas gift. The biggest problem was working from a dark 5"x 7" photo and interpreting the look of her teeth under braces. I had the painting checked several times during the process to verify correctness. Fortunately the client is happy with the end result. Would I do it again? I'm not sure. Ask me next year. Actually I had fun doing it. I never thought I would ever say something that sounds so masochistic but it's true. With every new challenge comes knowledge gained from the experience and I love challenges so I must be getting smarter, right? ........Don't answer that.

Nancy and I had a nice holiday with family members who live locally. We always wish the entire family could be there but that's never possible anymore. That's kind of sad.

What's ahead for 2010? As I mentioned in my last post we will be staying here in Loomis, CA over the winter and I plan to build up my painting inventory for the Art Fairs this summer. This, of course, will depend on the progress of the economic recovery. I want to paint some larger paintings which seem to do better in the West. Most of my current works are smaller 8"x 10" to 16"x 20" and some of these I'm selling at auction on Ebay to Easterners where, I'm told, smaller works sell better.

Ebay is a tough art market because customers there are looking for bargains and there is so much work available world wide. In the future this may change as marketing art on the Internet becomes more acceptable to collectors and there is no reason why it shouldn't. Naturally you have to use good common sense just as you would any purchase and make sure the seller is legitimate. In most cases you are guaranteed satisfaction or your money back. In my case I even refund the shipping cost of returning it.

Please email me with your comments at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also you may click on http://www.erniekleven.com/ to go directly to my website to view other works of mine.

Early Morning Color, Oil Painting

Have you ever walked along a quiet frozen creek in dead of winter? I have and it is amazing. The crunch of the frozen snow under your feet warns of your advance keeping the animals and birds v-e-r-y still. Stop for a few minutes and the forest comes alive with bird calls and squirrel chatter. The air is crisp and Jack Frost bites at your cheeks and fingertips. You feel alive, really alive and it is good.

Memories of scenes like this live in my mind from days of my youth in North Dakota and adult hunting outings in Wyoming, Idaho, & Montana. I remember a time when I was a Boy Scout in Cavalier, ND when in the dead of winter I and a couple of my buddies decided to try winter camping in the woods of my friend Bill Well's uncle's farm. I had to borrow a sleeping bag and the zipper didn't work. It was a really cold night and I would get up every hour to re-start the fire to warm up. I was elected to sleep with the canteen to keep it from freezing but guess what? It was frozen solid in the morning. We were only a mile outside the town limits but we had to hike back in a blizzard and temps about 10 deg below zero which was common in those days. That memory is as clear as if it were yesterday.

As usual I've been re-miss in keeping up with this blog. I've have another painting just completed which I will post next and I've been working hard on a portrait I was commissioned to do of a granddaughter for her grandmother. It is a present for Christmas so it has to be completed in time to dry. I'm almost finished with it. Right now I'm nitpicking it finding little corrections to make. I'll post that on a future blog.

Normally Nancy & I would be preparing to leave for Arizona for the winter months but we have decided to stay in Loomis, CA through the winter this year. The winters here are mild anyway, just a little wet in normal years. In fact it is raining as I write this. It has been 12 years in a row that we have travelled to Quartzsite, Yuma, & Wickenburg during the winter months so this will be quite a change for us. I expect to be working the Census beginning in March through June or so. I did Census work in 2000 and it was fun with a little adventure added here and there as some individuals feel they don't have to give census information. I have news for them.

Well that's it for this time. Oh yes remember the paintings I posted for auction on eBay? One was shipped to upstate New York and the other to Virginia. You missed a great buy if you didn't bid on those two. It's customery to leave a comment, positive or negative, about the transaction and I was please to receive this from the last one, " Painting is a real gem! I feel lucky to have won it!" Thank you so much.

As always please feel free to forward this blog to your friends and family and should you choose to discontinue receiving it simply reply with the word, cancel, in the subject line.

If you would like to be included on my mailing list please email me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also you may click on http://www.erniekleven.com/ to go directly to my website where you may view other works of mine.

Coming Home

"Coming Home" is the title of my recent 9"x 12" Oil painting which I'll probably use for this year's Christmas card. I absolutely love painting mountains and having been raised in North Dakota painting snow comes pretty natural to me. There is a waterfall dropping into the lake which is mostly frozen over except where the moving water passes through it and spills over into a small stream which then passes under a one lane bridge leading to a snow covered cabin.

I'm working on another vertical painting which is yet untitled. You will be seeing that one shortly.

In the meantime if you didn't bid on my last eBay auction you missed a great buy. It went to someone in upstate New York. I have placed another small framed painting of a old barn and wagon with again an opening bid of $19.99. The retail value is $249 including the frame.

If you want to check this auction out just click on the hotlink below. It is an 8"x 10" original oil on canvas and framed as you can see. The title is "I Remember When" and I certainly do. These old barns are rapidly disappearing from the countryside and being replaced by all steel structures, not nearly so attractive to my way of thinking.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180422536030&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

All works are copyrighted and all rights reserved by Ernie Kleven.

If you would like to be included on my mailing list please email me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also you may click on http://www.erniekleven.com/ to go directly to my website where you may view other works of mine. Feel free to forward this to your friends and any comments are welcome.

A Bargain For You

I can't believe time slips by so fast. Aside from the email I sent you by mistake the other day it's been a whole month since my last post.

The news is that I've just completed another publication rights sale of my newest painting, "RV Rally Campfire" for a future magazine cover, the date yet to be determined. Since the rights they are purchasing are "First Publication Rights" I can't publish it here until after the magazine comes out. I think I mentioned before that it has 16 figures of people in it so it was an ambitious project for me.

I am again setting my display up every Sat morning in front of the Blue Goose Produce bldg on Taylor Rd in Loomis, CA. I hope to continue through Oct as long as the weather is good. If you are in the area come see me and buy some fine fresh produce while you're there.

I've also been juried (accepted) into the 2nd Annual Placer Valley Wine & Art Party, Oct 17, at the Fountains in Roseville between 6 & 11 p.m. It's a fun evening and I'm looking forward to it.

I mentioned prevously that I would be cleaning out my inventory by posting some of my older works on eBay. The above painting entitled "High Country" has been posted with a beginning bid of $19.99. It is a bargain since the retail price is $299. Check it out and place your bid by clicking: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180409409859&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

I'm sorry I didn't get this posted sooner but I had some trouble uploading the photo of the painting. Computers are great. (when they work)

If you would like to be included on my mailing list please email me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also you may click on http://www.erniekleven.com/ to go directly to my website where you may view other works of mine.
© Ernie Kleven, All Rights Reserved


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