Planning & Planting my Vegetable Garden

I'm almost finished with planting this summer's garden!  I made a little watercolor map of where I'd like to plant everything.  I've got a total of 6 garden beds in various locations around the house.  

This year we'll have strawberries, asparagus, onions, garlic, beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, zucchini  cucumbers, radishes, beets, swiss chard, baby romaine, raspberries  eggplant, acorn squash, green beans, basil, thai basil, mint, oregano, thyme, sage, and hopefully cherries!  

I also built a 5x10' raised bed garden this year to keep out the roving herds of rabbits that reside in our yard.  I plan to add two more 4x4' beds next to this one, but I think I'll wait until the fall to do that. :)

The perennial herbs I planted a few years ago are already up and doing great - clockwise from the top: sage, mint, oregano, and chives.  These are growing along the south side of our house, and they do great there despite the fact that they are a little bit shaded.  Plus, they look lovely once they start to grow and fill out. 

The onions just started to pop out of the ground today.  I can't wait!  For some reason it is impossible to find a fresh onion anywhere in South Dakota.  Seriously, all of the ones at the grocery store look diseased!  I'm going to eat so many onions this summer.

The swiss chard also popped up this morning.  I can't wait!  I love chard - it produces all summer, and around here the leaves get huge!   

And there are a few pretty flowers starting to pop up all around the house. 

Happy gardening!

Professional Roadie/ Wife

Nate and I spent the last few days in the Twin Cities.  He performed a concert at the Amsterdam Bar as part of the SEAMUS conference at McNally Smith College.  I tagged along to help him record the performance and to expertly pack and unpack music gear from vans.

He did a really great job, and it was fun to tag along and watch the other concerts too!

On a side-note - I'm completely ready for winter to be done.  I haven't even thought about my garden, and I probably should've started seeds already!  Hopefully it warms up quick - I've forgotten what sunshine feels like!

Snow Daze

About a week ago we had two snow days at the university.  It is rare enough to get one snow day - but two in a row is nothing short of a miracle.  So, we made the best of the situation and walked down to the local coffee shop to knit for a good portion of the day.

We got about 14" of snow over the two days.  I wonder if we'll even have 'spring' this year, or if it will just go from snow to summer.  

Downtown Madison - piled with snow. 

Can you spot the car?

Nate and I decided to go on an adventure/walk during the snowstorm to get out of the house for a bit.  

I think I've had my fill of winter now though - bring on the warmer weather please!

Everything all at Once - Progress in the Studio

I've been chugging along in the studio these last few weeks - slowly chipping away five paintings all at once.  Oil paint dries fairly slowly, so I like to have a lot of things going on at once.  The only downside to this method is that sometimes it feels like I go a long stretch without finishing anything.

I'm almost finished with both of these paintings at this point - I've just got to tighten them up a bit.  Another 4-5 hours on both of these and the'll be done. :)

I'm also making good progress on these tondos - they are a lot of fun.  I've got to add another layer of grey to the background to flatten out the color and get them super-smooth.  

Alongside the paintings, I've also been assembling some stretcher bars.  I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to materials and surfaces, so they usually take me a while to build.  I route the face of the lumber to create a raised edge for the canvas, and then chamfer the edges so there's a smooth transition for the canvas.  I think if I wasn't a painter, I'd probably be a woodworker.  

I'm hoping to do some large pieces - I've been waiting patiently for winter to end so that I can get back to building frames in the garage.  Unfortunately, we're going to be getting snow (argh!!) this week, so for now the cross braces on these pieces will have to wait.

Let's hope it warms up soon - but in the meantime - here's some shots of the South Dakota countryside:

Hope you all have an excellent week.

-Cassie 

Artist Feature: Marcie Oakes

Marcie’s work has been growing on me for a while now – so I figured it was about time to introduce you all to her strange and wonderful paintings.

I find myself completely wrapped up in the environments that she’s found amidst the chaos of the spattered, dragged, and mashed paint.  The painting below is my favorite from her most recent body of work. 

{Cheer Upward – Marcie Oakes – 2012}

For me, this image is haunting and beautiful at the same time.  I keep wanting to personify the elements of this painting, and when I do – it is even creepier.

She describes her work in her statement below:

"My paintings are a representation of slow chaos. With the environments mostly still and controlled, there is an underlying devastation occurring within each piece. With explosions, melting, and spilling throughout the abstract environments I’m portraying an ever-changing world that projects beauty as a direct result of spontaneous destruction.

My practice is based heavily on experimenting with my painting medium, acrylic paint. Each painting starts with a mess of colors smeared, mixed, splattered and then manipulated to represent what the painting implies it is becoming." 

{Falling in Lines - Marcie Oakes}

This painting really got my attention because it feels so grand in scale.  I love the contrast between the gloppy and runny paint, and the structured thin lines that give it such an epic presence.

{Pile Pillar - Marcie Oakes}

This is another example of a painting in which she obscures part of the paint layer below with a flat layer of purple paint.  The end result is stunning – an unknown strange monument emerges from the commotion.  We try to make out the form, but it evades our attempts to envision something concrete. 

{Silk Summer Stuff - Marcie Oakes}

And then there are pieces that are unrelenting.  They explode outwards towards you without giving your eyes a place to rest.  The feel of these paintings are completely different than those where parts of the foreground are tamed or reined in by a flat background color.

For more of Marcie Oakes’ work – please don’t hesitate to check out her website:  MarcieOakes.com 

You won’t be sorry!

-Cassie

Multiplying Rabbits - A New Painting in the Works

Started working on this guy recently - 16x20" - Oil on Canvas.  I usually use pieces of scrapbook paper as backdrops for these figurines, but I've been having a hard time finding the perfect colors so I've been painting backdrop panels for the last few. 

I'm hoping to power through some paintings this weekend!  Nate's got a few music gigs, and we've got a long weekend because of Easter Break.  We did a lot of traveling over spring break, so it will be nice to have a span of time where we are home and not working! 

And most importantly, Rascal says hi.  

Paintings in Process

I've been logging in a lot of studio hours this week - working on some new pieces. 

I finished the underpaintings on these three still life paintings.  I'm loving working on these round panels!

I also started this bear.  He cracks me up.

I'm usually not fond of purple - but it fit so well with this figurine.  I got the underpainting finished this evening.  It'll still need a few more layers, but it was good to get everything blocked in nicely.

In the Studio: Tondos, Panels, and is it Summer Yet?

I've been plugging away in the studio on and off the last few days.  I'm working on three of these weird little still life paintings, and having fun working on round surfaces - 'tondos' - in fancy-pants terms.  This guy is 8" and oil on wood panel.  

I've also been doing a lot of not-so-glamorous studio work too.  I cleaned most of the studio - organized my current canvases and panels, and primed a bunch of wood panels.

Aren't they pretty?  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  I used a foam cabinet roller instead of a brush to prime them to keep the surfaces super-smooth.  

I'm also ready for winter to be over.  Usually I'm not such a wimp - but today the windchill was -16 C.  Good think I have a parka that goes down to my knees. 

In other exciting news I'm going to start doing some features of other artists on my blog - so stay tuned - I've got a few in the works already!