The Dodge Nature Center Fall Gala!

The Dodge Nature Center's Fall Gala benefit went super well last Saturday night! I was so honored to be the featured artist in which my work was highly spotlighted all night long. I donated a commissioned figurative landscape painting to the winning bidder in the live auction. It went for a whopping $3500! I was so flattered!!! See all the pictures of the nights events. Thanks to Lee Driscoll for nominating me for the featured artist, and thanks to Dodge and all the great employees I got to work with especially Ann Nelson and Pam Burkley. Thanks to you all!

The example of the "figurative landscape" painting to be auctioned off.  

This one is of my 3!

Tom and Me!

So many were highly interested in my encaustic painting which I will be producing more of in the coming weeks!  Encaustic = beeswax + pigment!  Beautiful!!!

Pam Burkley is all the way to the left in this shot.  She has been super supportive of me and my work so much that she has signed up for my next COLOR CAFE session and bought another spot for the silent auction!  THANKS, Pam!  You're a DOLL!

Eileen Armitage and me at the end of the night!  She looked stunning, as usual!

SPOTLIGHT ON...

... Pam Frecentese! Wow, after only one week painting, look what she produced! She painted this image of her Wheaton Terrior so effectively using her toning - the reds and other colors surrounding the dog's head - and she also put nice color in the light areas and shadowed areas of the doge's fur. Way to go, Pam!

All of my students have gotten off to a great start this fall, and I'm looking forward to journeying through with them to tap into their creative souls!

Orr, Minnesota!

We had a fabulous week up in Orr last week.  It was our 5th year to go, and last week's weather was PURRRRRRRR -FECT!  It was in the mid 80s, low humidity during the day and cooled nicely for night time.  Lots of family and friend time and time to enjoy the beautiful Pelican lake.  I just published a little web gallery of pictures from one day there when one of the Dad's bought materials like rounded, long pieces of wood from a bannister place and tied them together using knots learned during his Eagle Scout days.  The kids were trying it out!  Check out the gallery. Will add more pics here later...

http://gallery.me.com/ckayser#100026

Kids Art Camp II !!!

Art Camp II was a great success, too! I had a couple more kids in this camp and all were mostly older along with young Tate (age 6) who really loves painting so I let him paint in this camp even though he was a little under the age limit. He did a fantastic job! We mixed a world of colors with primaries, secondaries and tertiaries, and learned about toning, texture, composition. We critiqued all the paintings and talked about each artist's pieces. Lots of great comments thrown out to help them along their way in their painting journeys.

Thanks for a great, fun week working with each of you, Hazen, Hugh, Isabelle, Tate, Grace, Blair and Marley!



Precious little Tate painted a thank you note for me! (Thank you for the art class). I hugged him UP after he gave that to me! Thanks, Tate!!!!

Art Camp I - Wow!

I had a wonderful group of young, budding artists this week for my first art camp of the summer! Wow, did they do a wonderful job! We did self portraits first, and this is a shot of them with their paintings. They learned basic color theory, toning, proportion, scumbling and other fun techniques. They even learned critiquing and involving in conversations about art and fun stuff! Way to go Elizabeth, Hannah, Anna, Gemma and Maggie - you were so much fun to work with, and I hope you continue on with your artistic journey!

Putting Down the Camera

As some of you already know, I have decided to end my photography services as I am concentrating solely on painting and teaching. I have agonized over the last several months about this decision with much thought and prayer and feel that this is what I need to do.

I want to thank my clients over the last few years for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to work with you as it has given me great joy in getting to know you and deliver images of you and your loved ones that will be treasured for a lifetime.

I am proud to refer work to my good photographer friend John Magnoski! John does professional fine art weddings and portraiture and is super creative. He's a great guy and fun to work with as I shot a wedding with him last year. I highly recommend his professional services for any kind of photography you might need.

Please continue to check in with me on painting stuff, my blog, my painting blog of all my latest work and if you might be interested in taking a class from me!

Thanks again!
Claire

Twins and Friends Art Show!

Despite flash flooding and power outages all through the evening of the show opening, we managed to have a fairly well-attended opening, and we certainly appreciated those who braved the weather conditions to come for the artful evening! Thanks to Chicago based jewelry artist Jean Basse for outfitting so many of us with her beautiful jewelry made of gemstones and pearls. Here are some pictures from the night! Enjoy!

The main gallery wall in Carole Foret Studio!

Carole, Carla Swinney, and me



Carole (left) and me, right.

Twins and Friends Art Show!

I wanted to post the invitation to the Twins and Friends show on the 31st in Alabama.  You see my painting which is an oil on canvas, my sister Carole's is an encaustic (pigments with beeswax) painting, and the peace bracelet made by Chicago-based artist Jean Basse.  I own this bracelet and wear it all the time - the peace sign is rough silver attached to brown leather.  She makes it with black leather, too.  Jean also works with pearls and other great semi-precious gems.  I can hardly wait 'til her site is done so that you could see what she does and order straight thru her site.  James Dean will also be showing his Pete the Cat stuff.  Great!  Check it out.  Anything can be purchased and shipped to you!  Simply contact Carole or Leslie at Carole Foret Studio at 256.232.2521.

Kids Art Camp Update!

Wow, what a great response to my last newsletter which has helped to fill my art camps next month!  Here's the current status:

August 5-7 (1 spot open)

August 12-14 (FILLED)

If you know of any artistically-inclined children that might be interested, please relay this to them for the 5-7th camp.  So much fun!

Email me at: claire@clairekayser.com

Go to my Painting Blog!

Several new paintings!

SIZZLING 4TH OF JULY OFFER!!!

We are offering a sizzling offer for those signing up for the 

C&C Take Me To the River Painting Retreat 

in Athens, Alabama

on the 4th and 5th of July!

...read more!

2 ladies for the price of 1 at $500

(regular price: $595 per person)

Grab a friend and enjoy all there is in the workshop! It's a steal!

Email Carole and Claire or call Carole's studio at 256.232.2521

HAPPY 4TH, EVERYONE!

Painting at Hudson Boat Marina!

We had a gorgeous day to paint outside at the Hudson, Wisconsin Boat Marina.  Thanks to Joanie Delamater for having us all out to paint and enjoy a most delicious spread of food that she provided for us!  Thanks, Joanie!!!  We battled our acrylic paint drying so fast, but the painting ladies did fabulous work.  Check out the pictures!  Fun time, Gay, Joanie, Julia and Molly!  

Next week, we will be in beautiful Stillwater at Heidi's newly renovated barn (beautiful home) on a lake with a pool and cute pool house, too.  So much to paint!  Thanks to you ladies for your generosity in having us invade your spaces with easels, paints, palettes and fun, crazy women!

Looking forward...!  :))))))

Gay, frustrated with her painting... (It turned out kind of surreal- beautiful!)

Inside Joanie's wonderful boat when we were waiting for Joanie's treats!

Joanie at work!

Joanie's painting and palette

Molly at work on her masterpiece!

Julia at work on her graphic birds.  Sorry no pic of them.  :(

Ladies! Final Boarding Call!

It is July 1--only 28 days until the Take Me to the River Painting Retreat with Carole & Claire! We have more spots available and have also lowered the price 20% as our final boarding call!! Take note, and read all about it on this blog and on our site to get all the information. Or you may call us (256.232.2521) and we'll send you a brochure about it. Whatever you do, don't wait as we expect spots to fill fast! Join us!

Find us on Jennifer's Journey now--a fantastic website for

Women Getaway Events--like ours! ;)

Remembering Julie...

I couldn't believe it when I got the email from a mutual photographer friend Johnny Magnoski with the subject line "Julie Steiskal has passed away".  I was in shock and desperately starting clicking on the Star Tribune link in the email telling the tragic story.  Read the whole story! She died a hero!

I know my friend's death seems tragic, but if there's a blessing in how she went it would be that she was in the great outdoors, in water and helping another individual.  That's what Julie LOVED!  I got to know her from the great community of photographers here in Minnesota that found each other on a photography forum called Open Source Photo (OSP).  She, Johnny, and I planned a huge event here in St. Paul at my house last year.  We had about 30 photographers for the 3 day event in which we did photo shoots and had meetings on the business side of the photography business.  Julie and I shared several lunches and coffees together over the last year, and I was so impressed by the beauty of the kind of person she was  - so upbeat, positive, funny, and she was an excellent writer, too.  Her Christmas card was one of my favorites this past season in which she had a beautiful image she shot of a spruce tree with snow in her yard with the moonlight in the distance.  Her writing on the other side was some of the most beautiful I had ever read.  See her website and blog for more musings.

I will surely miss Julie, but her spirit will forever live in my heart!

Claire

Plein Air Painting & Kid Art Camp Update!

You will want to make plein air painting Tuesdays with Claire and others! No need to commit to any of the days, just come if you can. We will be painting in several different locations over the coming weeks from June 24th thru July 22nd. Cost for class is just $45 or pay for all 5 sessions ahead of time and get a discounted rate $200. Classes are from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Meet at my house by 8:50, and we will travel to our spot to paint. We are at Selby and Western to paint architectural street scenes tomorrow June 24th.

Also, I still have one or two spots left in each of my kid art camps! If you know of someone that might be interested, tell them to come on and bring a friend. We will be painting color mixing and will paint at least 1-2 paintings! Fun, indeed!

Last week while in Alabama, I had the pleasure of attending the Huntsville Madison County Auburn Club Annual Party & Awards Dinner where my twin sister Carole and I painted live. Our piece was auctioned off as part of a fundraiser to raise money for scholarships for Huntsville students to receive and attend our AUsome Auburn University.

What did we paint? Aubie! We did a collaborative piece, painting taking turns, on the same canvas. That was a first for us and was very fun! And the greatest thing was, Aubie loved it!

If you don't know Aubie, he is the mascot for Auburn University's football team. He is also the number one mascot several years running in the nation! He is pure entertainment.

Thank you to Larissa Chastain for hooking us up with such fun event. It was great seeing so many people passionate about our awesome Auburn.

Tom's and My 13th!

Tom and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on June 10!  We were in Alabama with my family to celebrate.  We had a wonderful Italian dinner with all my brothers and sister and my Mom and Dad along with most of my neices and nephew.  It was pretty low key there.  Once we got home, Tom surprised me with a painting I had seen at Cafe Latte and loved last winter.  The painting was by artist Michael Schmidt, and he does fabulous work.  Check out more of his work here!  I love this fan and tomato.  Sorry for the bad angle, but it was the best I could get after we hung it in our narrow kitchen hallway.  Tom bought it after I had said I thought it would be great over the kitchen sink.  Too big!  It's about a 3' x 3'.  Love it!

News! Our new Kayser addition!

TINA!!! 

 Yes, meet Tina Kayser who we adopted last Sunday after several visits and research on Cairn Terriers over the last few weeks.  She's a great little soul!  Very feisty, energetic and sweet as can be.  Thanks to the Radomski's for raising such wonderful Cairns and all the time, energy and love they extend to them.  Tina is now 21 weeks old, so she's not a real young puppy.

She is already well on to being house trained after only a few days.  She walks quite well on leash and loves people!  If anyone is looking for a cute, fun Cairn, the Radomski's still have another male, Rocky - very handsome!

What a GREAT time!

Just got back from Carmel, CA where Carole and I took a wonderful workshop with Artista Creative Manifesta where we learned encaustic painting. Encaustic painting is ancient way of painting dating back to 1 BC. It was practiced then and then again in later centuries not to be seen again for many centuries. Now, it still isn't very popular, but I plan to do it again I loved it so much. Encaustic painting is painting with beeswax producing a glaze effect over your painting. Like melting candle wax, this paint dries within about 2 seconds of applying. Therefore, you must work fast and layer paints onto your supports. This process lends itself well to more abstract styles of painting, but I found it challenging to employ my more representational style to the process, too. FUN! Carmel was so beautiful and an artist's paradise boasting over 100 art galleries in a square mile. The beach was GORGEOUS, too. Here are some pictures from our time there.

Look for some pictures of some of my paintings on my painting blog next week.  They're being shipped right now.

Carole on Pebble Beach

Me, on Pebble Beach.  We just stopped on the roadside, went up the little hill and found paradise on the other side!

from a restaurant that had such a magnificent view!

The beach from Ocean Ave. in Carmel

Sunset, as Carole and I headed back to our hotel.

The Artista studio which was founded years ago by Ansel Adams!

Mr. William Harsh, our great encaustic instructor!  Check out his work here!

Carole, hard at work with her painting.

Our wonderful group of women coming from New York, DC, Canada, Mexico, Minnesota, Alabama and California!