Pieces of Parts 

It finally arrived.

I'm drinking a delicious Mocca Java - I really don't do Mugg and Bean normally, but I've changed out my normal groceries mall for a quieter one, and their coffee isle lacks in many ways. But this is doable.

Eating a whole sweet potato cooked in butter and cinnamon YUM - sadly not pictured, too hungry for THAT

Listening to Mr. Mercedes - the super duper new Stephen King

And all the while gloating. To myself. About myself. Apparently that's how I roll now.

I thought I'd spoil the people who actually read the blog when I don't nag about it on facebook, by sharing a different spread - text blurred of course, buy it if you want to read it! Or be patient, I'll probably post the whole thing sometime in the next 2 years :)

It really is something to read about yourself in a magazine. To read 'Kleynscheldt thinks' and 'Kleynscheldt says' is just the strangest thing. But awesome strange. 

Because the thing is: Between high school and somewhere mid becoming-an-adult-age, I would thrive on art magazines such as this one, and pore over them, cutting out the most inspirational paintings and mosaicing my bedroom wall. I spent so much time thinking about the people who created those works, about how amazing it must be to be an artist, how their studios probably looked, what kind of lifestyles those people must have. 

To have those tables turn on me is the weirdest thing.

And that's what excites me. The thought that a painting I agonised over and still love and hate simultaneously could be the thing that inspires a life to change. Some awkward kid might be trying to imagine what 'Kleynscheldt's life is like (that kid should REALLY have followed the link to the blog)

So there's that. And maybe it's oldskool, but it really is different to have proof that people think your work is worth while, worth printing, worth writing about, worth pasting on a wall, than it is to be a featured artist on a website. 

My heart is singing. I'm proud of myself, and just so happy to have made friends and family proud.

It's been a good week to be 'Kleynscheldt'.

Even though my cat couldn't care.

Sugar for my Honey

Sugar for my Honey
80 x 50 cm
Acrylic on Canvas

I haven't much to say today. 

This painting took way too long, but I reeaaally like how it came out. 

I'm drinking a Medium Roast  - quite milky and sweet today

Listening to Forrest Mage by Robin Hobb - but I'm not terribly into it

Eating some soup again. Obviously :)

And I'm off to paint some marbles.

 

OH! Almost forgot! Guess what came in the mail today? 

But I'll freak out about it in tomorrow's blog post, today I'm basking on my own!

Unexpected Thursdays 

Jeez. Aren't Thursdays strange? I started out the day thinking it's Friday today. It's not great to start your day with disappointment.

My Hockney-ed Shelfie

Actually rewind. We started out the day in candle-light, since our lights trip the power now - I think the shower waterproofing just doesn't, well, it doesn't waterproof, and our bedroom light switch (behind the shower) seems to be rusting severely, so there's a pretty strong theory. Only sometimes the stove hobs trip the electricity as well. And the last time the electrician was here, nothing weird happened, and he clearly thought I was just being a woman, or something terrible like that. He also didn't understand my sense of humour (I made a joke with him, he didn't get it and I actually had to explain what I meant..), also he asked me if I was English, because my Afrikaans is so bad. I'm Afrikaans. 
But he's short, so there.

So I restarted my day. Made some coffee, thought I'd browse for a while and then get my paint on. And then I spilled my whole mug of coffee over the desk, completely submerging my phone, and breaking the computer keyboard.
So I restarted my day. Made some new coffee, found a spare keyboard, got the pc to switch on again, discovered my phone still works, and had some homemade soup, to comfort my soul. And covered the wet keyboard in rice. That should do it!

And took a shelfie, because why the heck not, this Thursday already broke all the rules.

In my mug: Woollies Mocha Java - a definite favourite.

In my tummy: My homemade veggie soup - YUM! I just fill up my biggest pot once a week, and freeze portions for lunch, since I've become gluten intolerant I've run out of ideas of what to eat :/

On audio: A fantastically random compilation of music, since I'm all out of audio books for now. (and I'm still on a high from the previous book's incredible ending! Whoa! Dragons! Pirates! Liveships! Too much excitement :D )

On the easel: Still the wrappers, much refined, although I notice that it looks almost exactly like it did on last weeks blog pic - rather frustrating since I've been working on it daily! Let's just blame the bad photography for that. Estimating that I'll finish next week. 

Delivering my Madiba II tomorrow, so that's exciting, hope I manage to keep it dry, it's been raining er (damnit. can't think of a rainy idiom.) it's been raining frogs' beards? I googled it:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/12931/16-international-idioms-describe-heavy-rain
Couple of good ones there, not at all sure in what context to use them though.

And I still haven't received my magazines, but I also haven't checked the post-box in 3 days because of the stormy weather, so I have absolutely no idea if I have cause to be upset! But this being a Thursday, I wouldn't expect any lovely collection notes today.

Progress II

Off to paint. After I've warmed up my hands and coffee. Have a better Thursday than I did! 

Nelson Mandela 

Hugh's Madiba Commission

Pencil on 160 gsm untextured paper
525 x 380 mm

My lovely husband Rouan organised this one; he works with Hugh, and from what I heard, Hugh saw my previous drawing of Madiba over Rouan's shoulder at work, and simply had to have one of his own.
It took some back and forth-ing to decide on a photo, and I was delighted when this one came up as an option, as it was one of the options with the previous Madiba drawing client, and while I preferred this photo, he decided on another one. Needless to say I was fairly happy with this choice!

This one was super challenging because there were no shiny eyes to accentuate, so the face only started to feel accurate to me when his mouth was done. As you can imagine, its nerve-wrecking to work on a drawing for so long, with no idea whether it's going to work, save faith in your own abilities, and a little luck perhaps.

I tend to start with the eyes, and work downwards toward the mouth. but in the interest of not smudging everything, I turn the paper as I progress, that my hand always has blank paper to rest on. 

I know I should acquire one of those giant earbud things to rest my hand on, but we just haven't gotten around to that! (you'll probably be first to know, when I do!)

Around here it became seriously tricky again. Hugh didn't want the bottom of the drawing realistic, he wanted it to sort of fade into skethiness. You can see at this stage I was fading out the hands somewhat, but in the photograph, the jacket and other details behind the hands are very dark, so I had to try and figure out what was there in the first place, and then try to fade it out, without it being too light. 
I didn't want the negative space in the bottom drawing your eyes away from his face, so I kept darkening the sketchy bits, and detailing them more, until it seemed more or less balanced. I had planned it to end up much less realistic, but am very happy with the result!

 These detail areas specifically would have been more or less black if I was going for realism.

*This is Urban dictionary's definition of 

Sketchy. 1) someone or something that just isnt right. 2) the feeling you get the morning after using a lot of drugs, most commonly associated with extacy.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Free dictionary's definition:

Resembling a sketch; giving only major points or parts. 2. a. Lacking in substance or completeness; incomplete.

And now, something completely different

New Wrappers Progress - about a week in I would guesstimate

Dear constant reader (if I could be so bold as to borrow from Stephen King),

I fear I've let you down. To date, updating the blog has been last in my social media priorities list, and by the time I get to it, I really just want to get back to painting, and so I tend to just plonk all the photos down and get out of here. But I do realise that I'm supposed to be giving you a little more, a bit of myself, that you can get to know me, as opposed to just seeing paintings. So, instead of attempts to sound like an artist, I'll give you some of me.

So very regal

Which I'm sort of forced to do, as sir Cat Stevens (aka Skapie) refuses to give over my painting throne today. He has this new quirk where he actually sits on laps of his own accord, but only when it's the worst timing, like when you bladders bursting, or when you're on a painting high.. and then he sighs and twitches his ears wildly in irritation, because you dare to move when he's clearly trying to sleep. 

On the easel: Another wrappers painting, I finally finished my second Madiba drawing on tuesday, but I'll upload that on another day. This poor painting has been waiting in the wings since the commission came in, so today it gets all the attention.

In my cup: I'm on a Mugg and Bean filter coffee today, but I actually tend to buy different coffees every time I shop, just to keep things exciting (living on the edge). The important thing being that it's brewed in my little stove-top espresso kettle, and not plunged. In my favourite blue mug, that everything tastes better in, and that I love so damned much that I bought spare one, for when my husband or I inevitably dropkicks it into despair. 

*Note my teeny tiny little herb garden, which the jerk of a cat who breaks in now and then always kicks into the sink. And the fact that my Reeves titanium white snuck into that mug picture, it IS my favourite white paint, and definitely deserves a mention!

In my mouth: Nothing, sadly. I've half a mind to make an omelette, but the pan is a dirty mess, and I'd rather be doing anything than the dishes. (although I'll probably do them before painting, since my fingers are freezing from typing!) I had a corncake (like a ricecake?) with honey and cheese, but it was nothing to get excited about.

On audio: I'm on Ship of Destiny - The third Liveship traders book by Robin Hobb on audible - thanks to one of the greatest birthday gifts of all time! My brother gifted me with a years worth of credits on Audible, and even though I still have until November, I'm already depressed at the thought that this is not normal, it will have to stop, and I don't want it to.

Robin Hobb is some kind of amazing though, I have been on a Stephen King high since mid 2013 somewhere, and she is the only author who could drag me away (kicking a little) so much so that I'm listening to one series, while reading another on paperback. Also, the books are exciting enough that on the mornings that I just don't feel like sitting down to paint, the thought of starting another chapter while painting is actually good incentive.

On my mind: My article in Acrylic Artist magazine. Which I haven't seen! The magazine is out, so please go buy one if you're abroad, but I haven't seen it since it isn't on sale in South Africa, and I'm still waiting for my copies to be shipped! 

It IS very exciting though, my first real publication, and it's a feature article, so holding thumbs that the right people see it. 

And so, I'll leave you with a couple of links, if you dare:

A little taster of the feature article on the ClothPaperScissors Blog: 

http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/blogs/clothpaperscissorstoday/archive/2014/05/14/one-thing-she-doesn-39-t-have-to-worry-about.aspx

And some of the images NOT featured in the article:

http://www.artistsnetwork.com/medium/acrylic/kleynscheldt-still-life-gallery?lid=MGaahp050914

And as always I urge you to like my facebook page, even though it's a silly place, and facebook doesn't allow anyone to see anything anyone posts! Do it for me! :D

https://www.facebook.com/kleynscheldt.art

And one of my favourite places on the interwebs, BEHANCE! I can lose days browsing. Go there, and give a couple of appreciations, us artistic types thrive on that kind of attention.

https://www.behance.net/marike

That's all for now, have a glorious weekend!

Candy Wrappers

or

The art of Painting

'For the first time since some of my earlier Marbles paintings, this image lends itself to 

intuitive painting; I can choose colour instinctively and without over-thinking it, 

apply strokes where they want to go instead of my eyes being nailed to the reference photo.'

That was my facebook update while working on the painting. 

This is the most fun I've had with a painting in months. It is the painting I was meant to do now, to remind myself why I love doing what I do. I wasn't planning on a very realistic end-product, but I didn't plan anything really, I just worked on it until I became somewhat precious about it, and then signed it. And that's exactly how I plan to approach the next one. 

progress I

progress II

progress III

progress IV

Candy Wrappers
50 x 70cm
Acrylic on Canvas

The Herbst's Floral Commissions

Ina had been telling me about her parents' love for art and their collection for years. And there had been talk about me possibly doing a couple of paintings of flowers from their garden for a while. And with a while I mean about a year!
When suddenly (and with immaculate timing, as always) I receive a whatsapp message from her husband Daneel, saying that Ina's parents had actually visited one of the galleries that show my work that weekend, and had almost done an impulse buy, but finally decided to rather commission a painting directly from me. They gave me their budget and we narrowed it down to one painting of the 'Aasblom'

I made peace with the fact that the patterns would drive me mad, and set to it.

The trickiest part of this painting was plotting out the patterns, they didn't need to be exact, but I wanted it as close as I could get anyway. And then achieving a semblance of depth, which the patterns made really hard. So the part of the 'in progress' that doesn't really show up on the photos, is the subtle tones I added, yellowish becoming greenish, maroons becoming purply, etc.

Orbea Variegata (aasblom)
70 x 90 cm
Acrylic on Canvas

Detail

 I sent them updates on the progress, but decided to surprise them with the final product - as the paintings are rarely done justice by my photography, and they just don't show up as well as I'd like on-screen. Also it's incredibly gratifying to see people's positive reactions, after having worked so hard! And that decision paid off! We delivered the painting to their home, had great coffee and chocolates, and talked art.

I should actually write a different blog about this conversation, but due to time restraints I'll just say this: I learned so much, just sitting there and listening to their stories about where they had acquired different paintings in their collection, and how much the individual paintings meant to them. To the Herbst's, it's not about collecting for the sake of investment, it's purely just for the love of art. And it made me so proud to be a part of that collection, I practically shone by the time we left.

Of course the conversation had turned to gardening (as it does) and I'd told them about my jealousy towards their gigantic and gorgeous protea bush, especially as I'd already murdered one protea plant in my short gardening span, and am working hard on killing the 2nd. And so Mrs Herbst miraculously appears in the door on our way out, with a lovely bunch of proteas for me. 

I of course joke about painting the proteas next, as I hadn't decided what was next - a singularly terrifying spot to find myself in - and they agreed. Later that night I receive an email from Mr Herbst, thanking me for the painting etc. and adding, I could paint the proteas if I wanted, just to do them a little smaller than the Aasblom, as they're running out of wall space!

I wasn't really planning on painting the protea next, I just photographed it soon as I had a minute, in case they didn't last long (super-duper heat waves). But then I of course bought a canvas for it when I did my paint supplies run, and I printed the image when I printed my next reference photos, and then it kept glaring at the back of my head, demanding attention, until I just HAD TO put that work in progress on the sidelines, and start on the flippen impatient protea. 

Which turned out rather well! And it was complete in a week, thanks to the size and just luck I guess.

A single Protea
30 x 40cm
Acrylic on Canvas

*I have no idea what's up with my tenses, it just happened and I went with it!

* Also I've no idea how that terrible crop of the bunch of proteas happened! Wow.