Last Exhibit of the Year - Happy New Year

Kay Morris Solo Exhibit

Venue: Water 2 Wine

Location: Sky Ridge Plaza - 2000 S. I-H 35 - Suite H1-2 -Round Rock Texas 512-310-WINE(9463)

Reception: December 30th 2011

Time: 5:00pm – 9:00pm (Live Music will be from 6pm - 8pm - Don't miss it)

Directions: Please click here: http://www.water2wine.us/googlemappopup.php?p=9-1

Doing something to give back

Vineyards of Suzette 12 x 12 oil on Canvas

GRAPHIC IV

Benifit the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Texas

Was May 22, 2010 at the Bob Bullock Texas

State History Museum.

Vineyards of Suzette was an Auction item at this event.

If you were interested bu unable to attend this event, you can visit my entire website or send me an email; any sales that are created from this event will result in a 25% donation on BCRC.

So go ahead visit my website: http://www.kaykmorris.com/ or send me an email at kaymorris@kaykmorris.com .

If you have questions about the event please contact Barbara Formichelli - BCRC Director of Marketing and Events Dev. at barb@bcrc.org.

Heroes Nght Out

Eagle for Our Heroes

12 X 16 Oil on Canvas

When I met the founders of Heroes Night Out, Wes and Judy they were all smiles. They give from their hearts every single day. All the heroes are family to this couple and they give to all their children. This organization is created to give veterans and their family just a few hours of healing, their hearts, family, and spirits. The organization's mission is simple : "To provide our wounded heroes and their families dinners, a day or night at a sporting event, amusement park, or any other venue that gives them a well served break from their every day routine while recovering from their injuries...To show our appreciation and support we provide our Heroes with a Heroes Night Out Appreciation wallet. Each wallet includes up to six (6) $50.00 gift cards to local restaurants., providing our Heroes and their families some valuable and well deserved family time and an opportunity to heal their hearts." In appreciation for all they do for our wounded heroes I presented Wes and Judy with a painting of an eagle with dog tags in it's claws.

So if you have the opportunity go to the website http://heroesnightout.org/ and make a difference.

What is your view

Ol' Timer 12X12 Canvas on Birch

Well once again it has been awhile since I posted. I have been busy with kids' sports, finishing small paintings and working on a 15X30, and a variety of other projects around my home.

In just returning from a trip for the kids sports, I realized I am always thinking about art, painting, networking etc. In the past 5 or 6 weeks we have traveled out of the Ausitn area 4 times. Each drive was a minimum of 4 hours (one way), so there were long periods of kids that were sleeping, watching a movie or listening to their IPods. There was limited conversations with mom, unless they were hungry. So I had the opportunity to do alot of thinking about my favorite subject, painting and the creative process. Occasionally stopping (with lots of protests) to take a photo or two. There was a time or two they even suggested a view, which always surprised me.

So back to the 40+ hours of thinking and driving (really it was that long or longer). Since there was so much time, I challenged myself to find out what it was about art and or painting that I really enjoyed. Did I use every possible avenue to promote? Why did I take so many photographs? With all the additional questions that arose because of the in-depth conversation with myself.

Did I use every possible avenue to promote myself - Most likely not. Now days there are so many ways to promote oneself that if that was all I did , I would do a much better job, but my main focus is painting. So if you have any suggestions please pass them on, I am always looking for new or better ways to promote. But I will have to say that I really connect with people. Each place that we visited; I was truly inspired by someone. People are what life is all about, and they help me get inspired about the landscape around. Thanks to Jay (Yahsu Jay), who reminded me of my heritage and why I am here painting, MJ and Carol who kept me laughing when I wanted to cry or scream, Merrie whose kindness just blew me away. Each person I meet or connected with adds to my bouquet of life's experiences and leaves a footprint that will never be forgotten. Each of these experiences adds to the emotion for each painting in that area.

What was it that encouraged me to take so many photos, even when there was not much to photograph? Well, to be honest this one eluded me for a while, till I figured out that I was trying to capture more than the location. I was trying to document via photographs the emotion that was inspiring me in the first place to view the landscape. Granted there are probably only abut 5% of all my photographs what will make it onto canvas to be painted. I try to capture what is around the view, the light, or other points of interest that help me get inspired. And that's ok with me.

As for why I paint, after a few hours of contemplating I came to quite a few conclusions; the main being it was my passions set deep inside of me. So what did that mean to me (more soul searching), I found that it was the spiritual emotion that I felt at the location that inspired me to look harder, feel the spirit, and become on with the location. How that made me feel and what I thought about when I was communing with what I was seeing. I came to an even deeper conclusion that it wasn't just what I was seeing it was the emotions and spiritual connection that was felt, which is what I wanted to paint along with the scenery. This is what I'm inspired to paint. As I review the photographs that I had taken all the emotion comes back to me and I work at conveying that in my paintings.

Critiquing and the tax man

Artists have such a wonderful job; we create on a constant basis, we love our job, and we have an expanded view of the world we live in. Granted we have other jobs too, but our passion that is seeded deep in our soul is to create. We are always looking for the next painting in everything that we see, and that expression is what can transform our painting. Artists look at life as the whole then drill down to the detail, so we see the forest and the trees at the same time. We even look at what is not there. Critiquing today was very inspirational for me. Not only did we talk about each painting (10 in total) we also incorporated what it means to be in the business of art selling, what the tax man is looking for and what we can do to be sure we are compliant with the tax man. I recently read a wonderful article on this in the Artist Magazine Jan/Feb 2010 edition. As the article states and I have heard from two CPA's is that the IRS looks at us (artist) as hobbyist till we prove them wrong by running things as a business, a real business. I encourage all artists to get this magazine and read the article. During the critiquing each of us found that we were really done with some of our paintings even though we thought we were not. Kirsten, Kitty and I all have very different styles and approaches to our work which really makes this group so fun. It is teaching each of us to look at things a bit differently and understand where each needs support. We all had stories to tell about our painting which is what each painting was expressing all on its own. Is it not what a paintings is supposed to do? And is it not what we as artist are trying to create, or tell, or get across; the story that encouraged us to paint in the first place? So I encourage each of you to see if your painting/creation is telling viewers the story or statement that you want to be told. Are you creating just to create or are you enjoying your passion? Do you have others that support your soul and your creation, if not find someone who does. I promote spending time reading, researching about other artist; comment on blogs you are following and getting out - all this will assist you in creating your next wonderful painting. Life is ever changing with creative inspiration around every corner. Keep your brushes full of paint and your mind fresh with new creations.

A New Year...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope your holidays went well and you are looking forward to this new beginning. Each year I set new goals for my art, last year it was to paint 25 paintings, I actually painted 35. This year it is to create 40 paintings, enter at least one international competition, and two national competitions. So to bring in the new year with a bang I have already create one painting and entered an international competition. The revised - To Paul's Since my last posting I have been reworking a few of my last two paintings; adjusting, tweaking, and pushing something back for more depth. Matter a fact I've been worked on the entry to the competition since mid August. Tweaking here, pushing back there, and changing angles. Till I was totally satisfied with the painting. So when it sat on my spare easel and I passed it I could not find anything stand out as being off or wrong. This is just one way that I can be sure a piece is complete. I encourage all artist to have a plan this year. Write down how many paintings you will paint, and any other goals for your career you want to expand or explore.

December Critiquing

LEFT TO RIGHT KIRSTEN, KITTY, MELINDA

This month's Critiquing was full of information. Not only did we change the location for something new, we did a demo. Our location this month was at Melinda's studio in Dripping Springs. Melinda's studio was awesome, lots of creative space to work in, with inspiration surrounding you on the walls.

Our first mini talk was about networking and selling paintings. Some of the area that were suggested were getting your artwork into galleries, belonging to art groups, doing shows, and talking with owners of different venues to show your art like small cafe's. No matter where you live there is at least two places you can have your artwork, look at independently owned salons, cafes, or other places where there is lots of traffic. Art groups are always a great idea. Most cities have an art guild or something similar to learn, explore, and share information. Art shows can run anyway from a weekend up to a month if there is a competition/gallery involved. You need to show your work to potential clients so they know you are an upcoming artist.

What do you use to paint on? We have a variety to choose from. Yes we have the typical canvas stretched on a wooden frame, but have you tried untreated hard board nailed to 1 x 2 strips of wood, then add some Matte Medium, and several coats of Gesso? Melinda talked about how she creates her own painting surfaces by this technique. Amazing. Michael Skalka wrote about this technique in an artist magazine.

There was a demo on how to stretch your own canvas. I used the following tools framers square clamps (4) Canvas Stretcher tool, staple gun, and measuring tape. One thing we found out is not all stretcher bars are created equally or should I say work with other brands. So when you purchase your bars be sure if they are from different companies or they work together. Some company's male tab that fits into the next frame is in the opposite position as others. I started with placing the framing bars in the framers square clamps after putting the square or rectangle together. I measured the opposite corners to verify the frame is absolutely square. I placed staples on the same side but opposite ends of the same framing bar. Then working from the center of each side pulling the canvas tight. The next staples are place on the right of the first center staple then the left of the opposite side so the second staples are on the same side if you are looking at the canvas. Then the opposite ends are done the same way. Back to the first staple side. A staple is now placed on the left side and the opposite end is on the right and you work your way around using the canvas stretcher tool to pull the canvas tight each time. Each staple is place about an inch to an inch and a half from the next. When you get close to the corners pull the first initial 4 staples so you can continue with the stapling to about 3/4 of an inch from the corners. Now there are two ways you can do your corners, one way is like a linen fold for your bed sheets or the second is pulling from the center of the corner then staple each side of the corner.

We talked about pricing our paintings and what seems to work best was length x width x price per square inch.

Our critiquing was so much fun. Kirsten had a small abstract that was not of a woman. It had great lines and lead our eyes around the canvas with great resting places. Her second piece was much larger 24x36. The painting was done with the width being 24, but I felt that it needed to be turned and what a difference it made. Melinda had a well started pastel stick abstract; it had a great red in the center. Her next piece is a still life with a great composition and dramatic shadows. Kitty did something new an abstract sunflower. Great colors and composition, with a deepening of some shadow the piece is done. Kay reworked a previous painting and it was well done; however I need to remove a shadow that now cuts the painting. The second painting just needed a little shadowing added to one plant and we can call that one done too.

Our next meeting will not be till Jan '10' so we are taking a break for the holidays. In the meantime I will post toward the end Dec. Have a great few weeks.