Cool Blue River
June 11, 2016 at 11:50 am | Posted in Art Studio | Leave a commentTags: Art, drawing journal, Kern River, river, sketch
©Joan Desmond, The River.
Insert Catchy Title Here
December 27, 2015 at 10:43 pm | Posted in Art Studio, Considering Ideas | Leave a commentTags: abstraction, acrylic on canvas, Art, considering landscape, painting
for this post about a body of work. An unfinished body of work it is. Yet, today I’m having trouble seeing the beginning, and the parts that came after. All because I couldn’t remember when, when, when, I painted this acrylic.
©Joan Desmond, Day/Night. Acrylic on canvas, 24″ x 30″.
I recall the name Day/Night. It’s about opposites in many ways. The visual thinking I see and recall easily. It was a time of exploring tensions between geometric and organic, of the vertical and horizontal, color polarities, all that stuff. When was that? For me, painting is usually a process that morphes into something else with a little of the old, and a bit of a new direction. There are breakthrough works, exploring works and new direction works, it’s always ongoing when the immersion is there. But the dates don’t stick.
You’d think I’d have records. Surely I have records somewhere. It wasn’t the only undated, unrecorded, un-moored painting I found while looking around. This would not be an issue if one documents things. So that’s the catchy title angle. Document, date, ’cause you forget. You forget so much. The sanity you save may be your own.
Winter Lights
December 6, 2015 at 1:00 pm | Posted in Art Studio | Leave a commentTags: Art, digital design, holiday season, lights, Winter
©2015, Joan Desmond, Winter Lights.
Shine
September 1, 2015 at 1:00 pm | Posted in Art Studio, Poetry | Leave a commentTags: Art, Joan Desmond poetry
© Joan Desmond, Shine.
Only
Within a universe
of a trillion stars
I breathe, therefore I am
I think, I’m a thinker
I love, I’m a lover
I walk, I’m a walker
I stumble
I fall
I rise
Within a universe
of a trillion stars
I sing, I’m a singer
I dance, I’m a dancer
I drum, I’m a drummer
I paint, I’m a painter
I stumble
I fall
again I rise
Only
the soul knows
when I started
where I traveled
how I came
to this
brief twinkle
Within a universe
of a trillion stars
-Joan Desmond 2015
Where Have All The Songs Gone?
March 24, 2015 at 4:00 pm | Posted in Art Studio, Considering Ideas | Leave a commentTags: Art, bird, owl, raven, rhythm, Spring
©Joan Desmond, Into The Wind. Acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 24″.
March pushes brazenly into the canyon. Wildflowers splash with vivid abandon on the hills this year, and the customary wind cuts deep, frantically knocking winter’s junk from pine trees. Accompanying such visual and physical, seasonal flurry, is an atypical silence on the trail. The usually rich warble, chirp, and cheep of the feathered ones have almost disappeared. It’s nesting time.
Gone are the pompous displays of song and plumage from February when the dating game was in full swing. Now, birds are paired up, busy, and strangely quiet. The male raven rarely takes his seat on the telephone pole. Nor is he at the window asking for peanuts. He waddles up the driveway noiselessly, one of his feathers amiss. I like to imagine him tired from feeding his incubating mate. A single blue jay comes foraging, rather than six or ten. No juncos, mourning dove, quail, sparrow or finch forage under bushes. No owls hoot in the dark. Occasionally, a colorful, unidentified stray flies by looking lost.
Soon this interlude will spin into April with new bird, sky antics. We’ll watch lumbering young raven take-offs, and near aerial collisions as parents caw directions; shrill alarmist blue jays in training are sure to chant endlessly, unable to distinguish a ground stick from a snake; and the sweet, versatile trill of the mockingbirds will charm again from tree and shrub. The rhythm sustained.
Are You Well Versed?
April 15, 2013 at 10:23 am | Posted in Art Studio, Poetry | Leave a commentTags: Art, Joan Desmond poetry, National Poetry Month, Poetry
©2013, Joan Desmond, Microscopic.
We are halfway through National Poetry Month, which highlights this literary form. See also April Is Poetry Month. So have a go at it. Pull out that anthology. Read some words, maybe craft some rhyme, and verse up your month.
The wind blows the dirt
It flies in furtively
through window screens
disguised as fresh air
it scurries
over furniture
hides
under couches
I chase it down
scoop it up
and throw it
in the can
Then, once a week
it is tranported
isolated
in the back
of a white truck
twenty-five miles
or so
I take it to the dump
release it
into the landfill
and there
the wind blows the dirt
The Wind Blows the Dirt by Joan Desmond 2013
Boots Up For Art
August 31, 2010 at 3:11 pm | Posted in Art Exhibitions, Art Studio | 1 CommentTags: Art, benefit, Cows On Parade, high-gloss enamel paint, Kern River Valley Art Association, Kernville, painted concrete boot, Shirley Davis
It’s 22” tall, 30″ in diameter at the widest point, and a weighty 75 lbs. or so.
It’s a painted concrete boot!
You may have heard of Chicago’s 1999 “Cows On Parade” which started the public art phenomenon in the U.S. Since then there have been public displays of artist’ painted horses, dogs, cats, lizards, fish, cranes, guitars… about anything imaginable with themes often reflecting geographic locations, local history or regional culture. These art projects highlight community creativity and can raise funds for area non-profits.
Many of the sculptures used are cast fiberglass, manufactured specifically for this type of undertaking. However, Shirley Davis, of The Kern River Valley Art Association found concrete boot blanks in Kingman, Arizona, considered size and price and thought they would be “A do-able public art project” for this region. History here reflects early California mining, and ranching; one of the towns, Kernville, is home to the annual Whiskey Flat Days with a Wild West theme, so a western boot design is fitting.
Still, I never thought I’d be painting one. Or that it would be so engaging and fun! Or that I could drum up a pretty good rhythm on its partially hollow shape!
The boot was given to me already primed. Then interior/exterior gloss enamel of two or more coats was used on the surface, making it very reflective in photos.
The design is asymmetrical. I love the interesting, visual tensions created with that approach. Also, I had a blast mixing hues, there are seventeen various tints and shades used; they contrast and create tension in the design also. Use of color pulls together the four distinct sides of the boot. An idea that developed while working on it was that various color areas represented different musical genres. There are painted notes on the front.
Kick Up Your Heels is the title of the boot. Have fun, create, dance, and make music!
The boots are for sale to area merchants for public display. Money derived after costs will go to local art education programs organized through the KRV Art Association.
A reception will be held this Friday, September 3, 2010, at the Odd Fellows Hall in Kernville, CA from 5-8 p.m., with all of the colorful boots on display.
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