Merry’s Musings

When I first started painting all those years ago, I decided that I was not going to paint adults. Never. That limited me to painting trees. Some grass, and, an odd shrub. And laboriously a kid here and there, a dog a bunny. And, no buildings.

I added an odd barn here and there, then, a simple house or a portion of one. And then, perhaps an adult, but only in a silhouette. From there, a commission to do a cable car painting and San Francisco. Eventually, I did pretty much anything.

It was, in the end, simply a learning process. I tried things and eventually after much practice, got quite good at them. In my own style of course.

Me learning to paint, or com-paint as I call it, has been a process too. Every time I open the program I learn something new. Instead of me telling myself, it can never do what I do with my brushes on canvas, I’ve found that, some things it can’t. But it can do some things that I’d never attempted on canvas. Or at least, not without a few broken brushes and a multitude of hissy fits.

Now, as the dog can tell you, I have had a good many hissy fits over the computer and the recycle bin had been bombarded on many an occasion, and an image warped to within an inch of its life. At least with the computer I’m tossing around pixels rather than paint.

So, here is my new offering. Enjoy! And let me know what you think.

Here’s a new, fun little project I did. It is the child’s menu from a local restaurant here in Monterey, the Sandbar & Grill. It is fabulous, by the way.

As I was working on it, on my computer, I was thinking back to one of my first graphic design projects, many, many years ago. More years ago than I am willing to acknowledge, come to think of it. I like to think of myself as 50 and holding (tight). I’d go for younger but though I can deal with amused titters, I am loathe to encourage downright guffaws. But I digress.

I was asked back then to do a menu for an Italian restaurant. It was a full sheet, one page menu. Then, you had to write is all out by hand and I did, all in calligraphy.

Along with the menu items, I did a few line drawings to go along with them. I was happy with the outcome and it was approved by the owners and went to press. Now this was back before computers, and I went to work in a covered wagon. Well, almost. But, there was no editing then, everything in pen and ink. And errors had to be corrected with Whiteout. Have your parents explain what that is.

The menus came back from the printers and they turned out beautifully. I was so pleased with it. That was until I really looked at it. To my horror I saw I had a spelling mistake. Now, this was not just any mistake either. I spelled spagetti wrong. That’s right. Spagetti. Not spaghetti.

I am not sure if they never noticed it but it was never brought up to me. Maybe out of kindness they just kept shtum. But how embarrassing. Still, it looked quite good.

So this menu really took me back, thinking about how I’d done that menu compared to the child’s menu. This was definitely easier with my spell checker built right in. I did have one item at $6.96, instead of $6.95. If you don’t have a spell checker, it does help to have a husband with a sharp eye.

Thank you for all the kind words and thoughts about my furry, little muse. He’s doing really well. Here he is in his “support vehicle”. I am both the driver and the engine. He still can’t wait to get out there every day to see his friends. I hope to be getting back at it soon. So, thanks again for the good wishes. Happy Holidays!

…because we’re shorts of paws. I know; a bad joke to keep me from crying.

My furry little muse had a leg amputated because of cancer this week. So it may be a little while till I add any comments or images.  We’re doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances, as my dear dad used to love to say.

I am often asked where I get my ideas from. I’m not sure. Only that  I never know when an idea will come to me. Sometimes, just sitting out on the back deck, looking at the view, I’ll glance over at my fur-baby ( yes, I am one of THOSE people) and I think, “Wow, that would make a fun painting!”  So I can say I get inspiration from all around me. And no, I don’t really see the fairies, except in my mind’s eye.

No, I do not do pet portraits, by the way.  I have always thought them a recipe for failure. I do what I do very well. But to capture what makes those lovely little creatures so special and individual, is beyond me. Even my little guy, AKA “Oh, Center on the Universe”, I do not think I could paint who he is. How do I capture his joie de vivre when he hits the grass in the park and becomes a little white rocket?

I settle for trying to paint the joy I see in him. The contentment. They are so good at enjoying life’s simple pleasures, worrying only about the next walkies, the next snack, the next meal, the next snooze. We should all be so lucky.

So I  stick to my imaginary world and its inhabitants. And just let myself be inspired by him.

And, finally, for those who want to know, he’s a Westie-hoo. Part Westie, part who knows.

…with apologies and reverence, in memory of the amazing Mr. Maurice Sendak. Here’s something different yet again I thought I’d try out.

I have  neighbors who’s home I walk by every day.  A year or two ago, I saw a landscaping company parked in front of their house, that specialized in ponds and waterfalls. After weeks and weeks of them being there, they cleaned up and went away. I would hear water when I walked by but it was in their back yard. Short of climbing their fence I could only imagine what was back there.

A couple of months ago, I happened to bump into her and asked, quite brazenly, if I could see it. She very graciously invited me into their yard, and as I turned the corner, I was speechless.  It was like walking into a forest glade.  My first words were, “It looks like a place where fairies live!” My first thought was, “Oooo, I want to live here!”

Well, I couldn’t move in but the idea has been rattling around in my head so, for something different, I thought I’d try this. Though, invited to take picture of it, I haven’t been back to do it. I’d really like to, but I made do with this one for now.

I just wanted to let people know, if you are interested in seeing more designs for cards or whatever, I have several that I never posted here, but I did on  my Facebook Merry Kohn Studio .  Some turned out pretty well, and some, just playing around. But many odds and ends that I didn’t bother with creating a whole entry for here. To tell the truth, it seems enough like rambling to me.

Even as an artist myself, while I very much enjoy seeing the finished product of someone’s work, I do not want to hear about the process. Not interesting to me. As I have said before, the work should speak for itself. If it doesn’t, it probably needs more work.

“Garden Fantasy”   Size: Whatever you want it to be

A friend of mine asked me what I would do if someone wanted to buy one of the paintings from the “Sketchbook”. They don’t exist. But they are no different from my actual sketchbook where I use pencil to do sketches of upcoming paintings. They are just in a lot more detail than my pencil sketches.

Though, I have to note, I can’t add the special effects in my paintings. My little fairies will have to glow in the imaginations of my clients.

And over the years, I’ve done many paintings that existed initially in the minds of collectors who had an idea they wanted me to create a painting from. The one hurdle there was that when I’d get a commission, I knew they had an image fully formed of what it would look like. No matter how hard I tired, it was not going to be possible for me to recreate an idea from their head. It was just not possible.  With this, I could possibly build a painting before hand to show what it would look like.  And see how close the ideas were.

So for me, I see the possibility of using this as a very detailed sketch for a upcoming painting. I’ve actually been very lucky with my commissions though, I must say. In the almost, *yikes* , thirty-five years I’ve been at this, I had only one commissioned work that was not acceptable. I have had to tweak a painting here and there but the one that was summarily rejected came after  the request that I change the color of the sky.  That was pretty much the one thing that I couldn’t do.  Oh well! One out of 1,291. Not bad.

The fascination for me in using this to put my ideas down in, is that I can go back and remove entire elements of them or moving sections of the background, making them larger to add elements, and all without recreating the whole painting.  It is a very different process for me.

And lately, for me at least, the art business is anything but entertaining. So to have a new toy to use , the program and the tablet I am learning, has put some of the fun back in my work.

And, as if to prove my point, I am looking at this image and criticizing the fact that there are two purple flower and two orange ones as well.  That won’t do. Not to worry! I can fix that easily.