Hurah for Peter!

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I want to introduce you to my dear friend Pete Moraites, who works under the moniker of Sebastian Process as VJ and photographer. He had a big spot at the Los Angeles downtown Art walk showing his process of animated photography this last weekend and I’m sorry to have missed it. (Next time!)

Stages of his new work can be seen at livevideo.com/sebastianprocess and myspace.com/sebastianprocess. Pete/Sebastian Process is a member of the creative-expression championing collective Eye Pscience, and the eclectic music-art combo Salvador Dalek.

On display was the Pete Moraites "Spelling Test" collection of animations set to original music. Spelling Test features solo visual and musical works as well as visual collaborations with Alyson Boote and musical collabs with Eric Scott (as Salvador Dalek). Best known amongst the "Spelling Test" collection is the viral hit "Program Yourself".Influenced by Richard Bandler's Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Ericksonian Hypnosis, and early typographic design music videos of Underworld (designed by Tomato) "Program Yourself" is a visually administered mimetic catalyst designed to induce trance in the audience and access our most enthusiastic, joyful, loving, happy, and knowingly amazingly capable thoughts of ourselves, energize these thoughts, and set them looping in our subconscious as well as part of our conscious minds which frequently loops a catchy piece of music. Linguistically engineered with viral properties, the piece has enjoyed over half a million viewings online, was a number one feature on YouTube and a featured story in Noyse Magazine. A wild mashup of animated styles and media including photography, drawings, clay, video, and text, with an inspired soundtrack to match, "Spelling Test" is a tribute to the joys of Creative Play.




The LA art walk runs the Second Thursday of Every Month in Downtown Los Angeles
453 South Spring Street (btwn 4th/5th Street) Los Angeles, CA 90013.

Peter and I will be doing a collaboration piece soon – we’re talking about a photo comic strip of me doing my art work…we’ll see what we create together. Stay posted. Cheers, Deb.

Naming your art work

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How do you choose or find the right name for your art work? I just finished a new piece in my “Faux Encaustica” series which I entitled; Travel Plans. The title came easily when I decided to incorporate bits and part of our e-ticket stubs and travel itineraries from our most recent travel adventure into the painting. I love to travel and I also love to plan trips, so this title really felt right. But sometimes I have no idea what to entitle my work so I have a few tricks I want to share with you…

I keep a list of painting title ideas in my journal. Sometimes when I’m writing in my journal if an idea comes to me about a series of paintings or a specific title or concept I’ll tab it using a specific tab color so I can refer back to it easily.

I also use these resources to search for painting titles when I’m stuck:
  • Thesaurus
  • Baby name book
  • Write down good lines from a movie (one of my favorites)
  • Highlight a great line from a novel I’m reading
  • Newspaper headline
  • See what other artists's entitle their work and use it as inspiration/start off point

My friend Lana Grow when she’s really stuck on naming one of her abstract pieces will ask one of her 10 grandchildren to name it!

So I’m curious, how do you choose the names for your pieces? There is a place below this blog for comments. Please use it, I’d love to hear from you!

Travel Plans - Deb Chaney 2007, 30” x 40”- Mixed Media, Acrylics and Collage on Canvas, $3200 USD

All of Deb Chaney’s original artwork displayed in this blog is for sale. Visa and Mastercard are accepted. For purchase inquiries contact Deb at (805) 403-9870 or deb@debcreative.com. Shipping, handling and tax are extra.

Don’t have the budget for original work but like what you see? Prints, poster, mugs, magnets, t-shirts,etc - less expensive items with my original art work on them are available at http://www.cafepress.com/debchaney.

Art Image Collection

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I like to put images of paintings and designs I like into a book dedicated to art images. I collect pictures of art work I like from magazines, postcards from art shows, & off the Internet.
Having my own hand-picked art image book is a great resource for ideas and inspiration .
Using the back of a stepped palette knife, I apply Golden soft gel (gloss) to glue in thin papers like magazine cut outs and I use Golden heavy gel (matte) to blue in thicker postcard papers that need greater adhesion.
It's a fun thing to do when I'm not intersted in painting but want to do something mindless and creative!

You could use this same idea even if you're not a visual artist - collecting images that support your dream however that appears to you - a table that you'd lke to make, a quilt pattern or colour that inspired one you intend to create, images of clothes you'd like to acquire for your wardrobe. You get the idea... Have fun!

Here I am at a local cafe putting gel medium on the back of an image before I put it into my image book. I sometimes use a brayer to smooth down the image.

Artists Dates – Vancouver café artists

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Something I love to do when I am traveling is go and check out other artists shows in café’s, book stores, and galleries. A few weeks ago when I was in Vancouver my husband, daughter and I enjoyed some time strolling along West 4th. (Can't remember the name of the cafe - will let you know if I do.) When it started raining we ducked into a little café with a winding staircase up the middle and comfy sofas all around. The art was fantastic mixed media which gave me such the impression of the artist having a great time doing it. Scott Schafer is a Vancouver artist and when I contact him he shared the following with me.


Scott recently wrote me of his newest painting endeavor; “....I've just finished a collection of images being shown in Calgary this week for the next 12 weeks....the collection was painted in Ontario, thru out this summer...on Lake Erie, in an abandoned church,....I rounded up everyone's old paints and varnishes....and on several large canvases I painted a mixed media of topographical views of the earth, involving everything I could use...or what would actually stay on the canvas....everything I paint now is outside...so I work totally in open air environments around the world...next is Thailand and HongKong.....I'm deeply affected with how life rotates around the artist....my painting is a priority...it comes first...with that commitment...I will see the world...dada”.


Here are pictures of two of Scott's mixed media pieces on canvas that represent what he had exhibited at the café August 2007.

Whether its actual physical objects in our surroundings like Scott is doing and adding stuff he finds to his work or just mentally collecting images, thoughts, and emotions around us, this is what we as artist do. We ‘mine’ the world and then take it home and use this to create. Everything is our work. Living is working is playing…could we get any luckier?

You can contact Scott at scotty.schafer@gmail.com cell: 778.838.4636 Or visit him online at: http://www.thequeenscloset.ca/.

On this journey of being a working studio artist

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On this journey of being a working studio artist, there are many challenges - not just in staying inspired and motivated to paint daily, but forging into the business of being an artist is like making a whole new art piece in itself – in a new medium, in a foreign studio, with different tools…..

I just received my 2007 Artist’s Market book and am in process of paging through it going through the galleries and deciding which ones to look into further – check out their websites and see if my work is compatible. It’s daunting and scary and brings up lot of feeling of vulnerability. But with Kaizen small steps I proceed and enjoy the process of beginning this new portion of my career.

Somewhere in one of my journals (I need to go and re-locate it) I have a list of the top ten things I would like to attract in a gallery and gallery owner representing me. Well, there is the wish list of perfection – a trap that can stop me in my tracks. And then there is the reality of just starting applying! (Hey, if you’re interested I’ll post the list on the blog, please let me know in the comments section – I’d like your feedback.) Anyways, My next little step is to start writing a query letter to the galleries I’d like to apply to. I’m hoping to find a template online to follow. No luck yet.

(By the way did you read Eric Maisel’s newsletter on the fears and excuses we artist come up with when thinking about getting our work out there and applying to galleries? I thought he wrote it to me personally! You can subscribe to his newsletter on the home page of his website: http://www.ericmaisel.com/)

Meanwhile, back to the fun part of the painting! I am working on 3 paintings this morning that are teaching me a lot. I have not painted anything like this before and am enjoying the burnt umbers, iron oxide yellows and ultra marine blues. The composition is still coming together and at this point I feel that two of them are definitely in their puberty, ugly duckling stage. This is normal. Paintings don’t always just work out, it takes time and finishing them is often the most challenging part – what needs to be taken away? What needs to be added? If the painting could talk, what would it say?

My mentor Lana Grow taught me to take photos of my work and then use the photos to judge what needs to be done. The photo gives us a sense of ‘standing back’ a useful perspective when I’ve been in close all morning putting around with a cloth and palette knife.


So here’s to trusting the process, honoring the ugly duckling stage and taking small steps forward towards our goals.

Back in the studio

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I got up this morning around 6:30 am and then headed to my studio at 7 after writing my morning pages and making my daughter’s lunch. It was a pretty long labor day lull and I didn’t get a lot of painting done in the last three days. Wayyyy too much TV! I’m currently addicted to that Kyle XY Series – fascinating.

So it felt odd walking into the studio this morning. Time to get back into my creative groove, out of zombie mode. What am I doing to do? I don’t feel like working on that! Lots of resistant thoughts came up. “So what! Let’s do it anyways” is great for when the little voices take over and we freeze up.

Luckily, three large paintings, each 36” x 36”, caught my eye and I had an idea of adding a little transparent yellow oxide. So I just threw some paint on and started working. Then a little ultra marine blue.

Also, I have some music ( my husband picked it up somewhere and put it in my studio as a gift) that really gets me flowing creatively too, so I put “Creative Mind System – free you artistic expression”, by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson. And before I knew it my daughter was up and it’s now 8 am!

So this is what’s its really about .Being in that zone where time disappears and there is just the color and texture and small questions like “what would work next?” It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling to be lost in time like this and this is why I work as an artist. Because my work is play.

River Rocks

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Lately I have been re-reading the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron as one of the required books for the Kaizen Muse Creativity Coaching Certification program. It's definitely taking me down memory lane as I think it was about 10 years ago when I got my first copy and did the 12 week program. Anyways, before leaving on the Nahanni River trip, I finished a chapter where at the end one of the tasks was to find a rock (or two?) for fun, for beauty, for a reminder I can carry anywhere in my pocket. (This task is page 113 on my copy of the Artist’s Way)

I’d forgotten all about this task during the trip when Jackie, part of river group, starting collecting the most beautiful rocks along the river bank during a stop for lunch. Wow, art in rocks! The shapes, colors, lines, and textures were beautiful and then the Artist’s Way exercise came back to me and I thought, what the heck, I’d start my own little river rock collection!

Here’s a photo of a journal sketch I made during the trip of river rocks and their beautiful colors- especially when the rocks are still wet. And I’ve included a photo of the rocks I ended up finding on the tripa lso. They now have a special place in my studio, next to my little Inukshuk, on the window sill. The river rocks remind me of the energy I get from being out on the land, fully in nature. They remind me of a great trip, good times with my Dad and my husband. They remind me of beauty and they add delight in my studio.

Compromising

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Compromising is a topic that came up during the March 2007 Santa Barbara art workshop I took with painter *Nancy Reyner from Santa Fe, NM. Nancy talked about compromises and how they can affect us in the studio when we are painting. It all starts with our first choice, and when we compromise that, we set the stage for compromising everything.

Let’s say you want to paint a really big painting, say 40” x 50” but you already have several smaller sized canvas in your studio. Remember the big painting is a metaphor for whatever you want to create – a new business, a tidy & organized kitchen, a restful day, write a chapter of your novel, a better relationship with your partner, etc. The big idea is the real dream.

So, in the case of the studio artist, you decide to compromise and use the smaller canvases you have in your studio. You justify it to yourself that you’re saving money not getting the bigger canvas, saving time for the trip to the art store, and the underlying belief that accompanies these non-actions is; “that it’s Ok ‘cause I’m not really worth it anyways”. You tell yourself a good little story about why you’ll just make do with what you have. So here is your first compromise.

Now you have set the painting session for compromise, what’ll it be next? You don’t have the exact shade of yellow you envisioned – you wanted to use Naples yellow but heck that’s special order historic color so you’ll just use that old tube of yellow ochre will do? The pallet knife you have has a broken handle, but oh well, it’ll do. See what’s going on here? Compromises and Energy drain!

So we end up with a half baked painting that really wasn’t what we were dreaming at all. Or a day where we had planned something special for ourselves, but let other things get in the way…We let the compromises win out and the energy drains away…

And it all started with our first compromise with ourselves when we didn’t really follow our heart, the spiritual direction, our inspiration i.e. in-SPIRIT-ation – we were sent initially about what we were really supposed to do.

So, it takes guts and bravery to learn to go for what we really want from the start. It takes trust that the original thought came from a higher place and are orders to be followed, not ignored, compromised, or worse – utterly case aside. And it takes belief in ourselves, that we are WORTH IT – worth the big canvas, the best paints, the new pen, the 10 minutes of writing time towards that novel….Because we lose energy every time we waiver from our original inspiration and compromise our true desires. We also lose trust in the Great Creator who intends us all to create abundantly and follow our dreams.

So, on that note, I’m off to follow through on my intention for today of my artist’s date with myself to visit a new gallery in town here in Santa Barbara. If there’s anything cool worth mentioning I will let you know! Thanks for reading. Keep painting. Love, Deb

*(Nancy is the author of The Acrylic Revolution a great book for starting to learn about mixed media painting with acrylics.)

SMIGs

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SMIGs is s a ritual I do every evening, yup, even managed to keep it up camping in a little tent in the middle of nowhere on this last river trip on the Nahanni. It’s about paying attention, cultivating awareness in the little moments and honoring all the big and little pieces of our daily life.

Simply, SMIGs stands for: Success, Magic Moments, Intentions, & Gratitude. The little ‘s’ at the end reminds me to keep it small to take small steps ! This exercise brings you into the now and let’s us see what we’ve done as well as honoring the beauty in the little moments of our day that are worth remembering.


Here’s a photo of my SMIGs exersice in my journal. Notice the contents of my “create-anywhere kit” a fold down wash bag which includes soft gel gloss, paint brush, palette knife, C’aran dash water soluble and non water soluble crayons, lots of pens and little post-it notes. I put together these supplies so I can create anywhere and stay in my creative painting flow even when I am away from my studio.


SMIGs sample I wrote in my journal on this last trip...

Wednesday August 15th 2007- Deb’s Journal Entry camping along the Nahanni River, North West Territories, Canada

Success – Did Qi Gong and yoga in the morning. Wrote 3 morning pages. Canoed a lot!

Magic moments – Absorbing the natural earth energy during my Qi Gong practice, Soaking in the natural hot springs by the river (awesome!), had a nice little nap on the raft on the way down the river, enjoyed being in Keri’s raft – laughing, singing & telling jokes. Collecting special rocks with Matt on shore.

Intentions for tomorrow – drinks lots of water, write 3 morning pages, stretch, enjoy the experience.

Gratitude – great dinner, beautiful scenery, being with my Dad and my man, health, love, life, my journal.

You could make it simpler and write just one thing for each section.

New work : Faux Encaustica Series

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Good morning! My daughter is sleeping in so I thought I’d tell you about some of the new pieces I am working on in my “Faux Encaustica Series”. Well, first off I must say these paihntings are the most fun ever.. EVerytime I go in my studio and take a peek at these pieces I get little shiverse of exciment…hmmm….what am I going to do next? Such fun!

Often in the mornings I go into my studio and re-bound (jump up and down on a small trampoline playing some funky music – my late favorite is a Jimmy Cliff album I have on my ipod that starts out with “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”. So I jump and sing outloud sometimes and look at these paintings and figure out my next step.

Here I am in the studio with Ruthie (4) and all the Faux Encaustica series paintings in progress! It’s great to be working on canvas again. We’ll see how things pieces evolve!

This technique is all about using acrylics and acrylic mediums to beautifully imitate encaustic art (wax). I took a workshop with Nancy Reyner in March of this year and learned all about combining and using Golden products such as Soft Gel, Heavy Gel, Matte Medium, Gloss Medium, GAC 800 and all sorts of other ingredients to create the wax look. Nancy is a Golden Working Artist so along with learning a lot about the Golden products we all received a ton of free samples! Nancy teaches all over the US. It’s a great workshop I recommend.

Here is the first completed piece in the series which for me I called “Staying Connected” because what I am learning from these paintings is the sheer joy and fun of being in the moment - connected fully to my creativity and the process of creating. These paintings are truly a reflection of connecting with the playful kid inside me.


First completed painting in this series, Staying Connected, 24” x 24” , mixed media, acrylics and collage. Deb Chaney 2007. Original For Sale $850 Visa/Mst Accepted (805) 403-9870 deb@debcreative.com

On the Right Track

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Hello, it’s been a while. Thanks for coming back to my blog. I’ve been away, a way up north actually. No internet in the great remote outdoors, so that’s my official excuse for a break in blogs. Me, Matt, and my Dad went for a week long paddling trip down the Nahanni River in the North West Territories of Canada. Wow, what a spectacular adventure.



Deb on the Nahanni River. Aug 2007.

Being in the outdoors re-fills my creative wells and energizes my spirit like nothing else. The big wide open spaces, big sky, interesting geology, wild rivers, black bears, green trees, canyons and mountains for hiking, lakes and hot springs for swimming and, I am sold. I am in love with the north. I am as passionate being in the outdoors as I am about painting.

On my way up to the Nahanni River in the North West Territories of Canada we stopped through Yellow Knife and I had a day to peruse shops, enjoy the local scenery and experience some of their fabulous northern cuisine. I picked up a few souvenirs at a few of the local artisans galleries. One of them being a soapstone carving of an “Inukshuk”.

Here is a photo of my little Inukshuk nestled into my “Heaven on Earth” studio window still along with some other goodies. Nothing like toys in your creative space!

Inukshuk’s are little stone figures made to look like men. The Inuit people of the north would build large Inukshuks’ in order to mark a path or give some kind of helpful information to fellow traveler’s to come. The human like stone form could say “ you’re on the right track, keep on” or “good fishing here”. They were left as positive guides.

I think positive sign posts and guides are a essential for artists. We need to expect them. Ok this painting is working out, I’m on the right track. Wow, those couple hours in the studio sure felt fun last night, I’m on the right track. I’ve sold quite a few art pieces in the last few years, I’m on the right track. I really love being an artist…..and so on.

Sometimes we feel like we might be off the track, that things may not be going how we intended. At this most recent show I had at the Sojourner Café, I did not sell a single painting. I have never had this experience of not selling art work I’ve put on display. How lucky am I?

Perhaps I could be discouraged or feel like I’m off track. Not at all. I wasn’t too surprised at these results for a number of reasons. But more importantly I gained a lot from doing this show and this series of 18 paintings. I painted a body of work and became a stronger artist and person for doing this. The show gave me a deadline. I’ve never worked with collage before and this series gave me the freedom to explore using paper with paint. And most importantly I painted this work for myself, to express deep feelings and release them in a way that would contribute instead of destroy. These paintings were healing. Regardless of what happens I feel I was on my right track when I was painting these works.

So perhaps I have not sold any of these paintings yet, but I trust they will find their homes to the right person at the right time. Meanwhile my Inukshuk sits on my studio sill and reminds me I am on the right track. And I know that I am.

Studio Visitors

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Recently my husband and my daughter went to Disney land for a couple of days. They did it to celebrate her 4th birthday. I opted to stay home, have some personal time, and paint. Any true artist would understand the gift in alone time. The minutes, the hours, I relished all of them. I don’t think I slept much…I didn’t want to waste a single second!

I vowed to take care of myself though and went for a massage. On the way back I remember telling myself; “ I won’t stop by the art store, I don’t need anything, I know what they have” of course the universe only hears “art store” so next thing you know I’m walking back from the massage and I’m at the art store. It was right next door to the massage place, hardly easy to avoid. There on the front door was a posted sign for a play about Jackson Pollock. Suckered in immediately, I got my notebook out to write down the place and time. Turns out it was that evening – my last evening alone before my crew came back. I made the decision right there to go.

[“We think we are alone but we are not” I Diptych Deb Chaney 2007 Mixed Media, Acrylics, collage on 300 lb paper, 23” x 30”, unframed $1500. Currently on exhibit at Sojourner Café. For sales contact MeganHavrda@hotmail.com. ]

I am not a theatre person. My mother likes to go to plays and will often ask, sometimes drag me to plays when I visit. Last time I was up in Vancouver she asked me if I wanted to go see a play. “What about?” I asked. “It’s about mothers, mother hood, teenagers and stuff” my mum told me. We ended up going to see Mums the Word II at the Playhouse theatre on Granville Island for a nice little date out together. The play was fantastic. Hilarious. Heart wrenching. I was close to tears and then close to standing up and yelling “you go girls! Go mamas!” So the last experienced was a good one I thought I’d risk it again and went downtown that night to stand in line outside the playhouse on Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.

I have not seen the Jackson Pollock movie. Nor have I studied in any formal art classes, art history, whatever. So for me, since I started painting full time, I have learned along the way who is who and how abstract expressionism emerged into America and became ‘acceptable’ even popular art. For me the still continuing journey of discovering Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, William de Kooning , Hans Hoffman and the rest of that gang started out by a teacher here in Santa Barbara, Rick Stitch, who said to me if you want to be a great artist you’ve got to study the great artist. He loaned me a couple of books (yikes, still need to return the last one! Sorry Rick) and my education began. This play was the next step in my art education.

Jackson Pollock, as depicted in this play was angry, frustrated – it seems- and extremely ego driven “what about me? How is my art? Will they buy it?” He also seemed incredibly insecure. I could relate but also felt like this time has past. Living in the “me” game is the recipe for suffering. I would hope artists today could start moving on from this. He got so volatile in the scene where the photographer came to photograph him in his studio close to the end of the first act, that I left. I couldn’t handle the energy.

Anyways, in the process of getting my ticket and being seated for the play I had connected with the artistic director, William. I knew I recognized William from a movie or two – his face was so darn familiar – but more than that there was a spark between us and when I mentioned I was an artist, he expressed an interest to come visit my studio and see my work. We talked on the phone later that weekend and invited him for dinner a week later on a Friday night.

[“We think we are alone but we are not” II Diptych Deb Chaney 2007 Mixed Media,
Acrylics, collage on 300 lb paper, 23” x 30”, unframed $1500. Currently on exhibit at Sojourner Café. For sales contact MeganHavrda@hotmail.com. ]

I haven’t had a whole lot of studio visitors at this point in my career as a working artist. I’m sure there will be more. I think the concept of inviting people into my studio needs to be done with keeping a balance. When I am in full-on creative mode I don’t want anyone near within a mile. (my dream is to own 10 acres with a big studio space and trees all around, quiet, quiet, quiet. Gulf Island preferably, thanks for asking. J) but sometimes it’s fun to have people come over and play - so to speak.

William brought me his movie set prop portfolio (His card does not have a website otherwise I’d give you the link . Hey William, if you’re reading this send me your link so I can put it here for people to see you awesome work! deb@debcreative.com ) and I showed him some of my finished new works ( The Raw Expression series) and a number of other paintings and projects I was working on. At that time I was working on the painting that ended up being called “We are not alone” but at the time of William’s visit it was going in a totally different direction.

When I first started creating this piece I was really inspired by the beginning and ending images in the Matrix movie. I enjoyed the first movie and the whole concept within the movie of taking a pill and waking up to this life being a dream. For me, I watched that scene and went “wow!” that’s really how it is. This life is a dream. I was really taken by how they presented this concept. So I was moving towards imitating those green computer screen images that the matrix is known for. Funny thing is when William looked at the in-process painting he saw a city. Turn it around and it does look like a whole bunch of high rise buildings, sort of New York-esque. I liked that and it caught. The whole piece changed from his comment and opened up a new door for me.

I like that I was open to the new idea. To changing where the painting was headed. I’ve always loved the views of high rise buildings in the night with their windows lit up and the yellow and orange light bursting out into the night. There were some paintings depicting this beautifully in a newer book put out by Natalie Goldberg. She did a wonderful job of capturing it. I looked at the paintings in her poetry/art book several years back when the book first came out and thought; “ I want to paint those”. So here I was doing collage in the same theme, exploring the beauty of cities and all their buidlign and the lights through the windows. Funny how things happen.

So, studio visitors, well I think it’s good to let people in once in a while. Not all the time. Not just anyone. After all, our studios are sacred. We must preserve the energy, the space, our time. But once in a while I think inviting someone in to take a peek, have a look, come an dplay can’t hurt. I think it can even add to our growth as artists.

So, William, thanks for the help with that painting.

Much love,

Deb

Art Marketing & Buz Mgt update

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Progress on Marketing/Business side of being an artist. Yes, I'd rather be in the studio. But I also want to get my work out there and I'm willing to do what it takes....

Here's some of my Success so far!
1. Got credit card processing. Decided on Intuit services for QB b/c they have remote online terminal access and I can do it all through QB. Yay! This was a big step.
2. Sent art show announcement – next time will use BCC function as suggested by Ann B ( Thank you!)
3. Got an email from a photography student who could take new picts of me in my studio for the brochure and website. WE will meet in August when I get back.:)
4. Reconciled accounts in QB, paid invoices owing.
5. Went through the marketing to do list!

Current To do list that I will look at when I am back from our Canada/Alaska vacation:

  1. Continue building the new database in ACT!
  2. Continue uploading images and setting up www.cafepress.com/debchaney to sell prints, posters, mugs and t-shirts based on my art images.
  3. Research sites for high quality art prints (get site names from Tammi again)
  4. Make a meeting date with my web woman regarding:New 2007 Raw Expression BrochureWebsites for just art printsCafepress.com – add more images, add more productsHtml newsletter template – either Tam helps me or someone else
  5. Find someone who can build a CMS (Content mgt system) website for me that I can upload myself. And Overall website update/re-vamp
  6. Blog thoughts -Put up dashboard ( got the images from Tam, need to upload)Learn how to create side snippets ( really like the favorite books Claudine Hellmuth put on her blog)
    Create a blog schedule and decide how many times/week I will add things.
  7. New 2007 'Raw Expression' Brochure - Choose 8 favourite imagesRe-write Feng Shui and art relative to Raw Expression paintings
  8. NewsletterKeep adding ideasTalk to Tam about template that mimics websiteFind out where I could get snippet little facts about artThink about different sections to write about: creative inspiration, mixed media painting techniques, events/shows, other.
  9. Research if I can convert digital images to slides? Find online sight
  10. Talk to Troy about making a poster with Emerging and Vof H images & ask him about slides.
  11. Application for 3 art organizations Lana mentioned ( get 2 other apps)
    Find out date for entry to SB and LA Art organization
  12. Call Natural History Museum about Art walk show in September
  13. Learn how to write a kick-ass query letter to submit to galleries – choose 3 galleries to submit to. Maybe pick up the Artists Market book.
  14. Organize binder with promotional tools, tips and resources for art marketing.
  15. Prioritize this list (!) - do on next blog, (OK, list still needs to be prioritized but at least I went through it!)
  16. Breathe!!! (most important thing here!)

Raw Expression - show announcement

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August 3, 2007.

We are pleased to announce RAW EXPRESSION a new series of paintings on paper by Deb Chaney.
View all 18 new works at www.debchaney.com

August 1 – 25th, 2007 the Sojourner Café
134 E Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101
http://www.sojournercafe.com/

A WOMAN’S EMOTIONS….RAW, HEARTFELT, AND EXPLOSIVE can take many paths and express much energy. In this series, mixed media artist Deb Chaney allows her inner self the unrestricted freedom to express as she has never done before.

Deep radiant reds and the use of contrasts illuminate the power and vitality behind this work. “Each piece in the series started with a thought written in paint on the paper.” The words are then devoured by layers of red, black and white papers, and mixed media to create the texture and vibrancy of the finished abstract image.

Provocative, playful or expressing a deeper consideration, Deb just puts it out there and lets her intuition guide her. “It’s about taking risks and trusting the process. If I’m feeling cross or naughty, I just go with it. My job is to set the intention and then allow the creative process to flow through me”.

Deb’s work transforms spirited thoughts and emotions into stirring visual form in bold and imaginative ways.
Originals are 22” x 30” mixed media, acrylics, collage and unframed on 300 lb paper and $1500 ea. For original sales inquiries please call Megan Hvrada Havrda (805) 637-3670 or MeganHavrda@hotmail.com. Visa and MasterCard as well as personal checks are accepted. All California sales subject to 7.75% Sales Tax.
All images can all be viewed online at http://www.debchaney.com/.

Prints, posters, magnets, tote bags and much more with Deb’s art images are available for sale - Raw Expression paintings images on them as well as some of her past work at: www.cafepress.com/debchaney.


Deb’s best selling image “Valley of Hearts” is now available in small and large prints at: http://www.cafepress.com/debchaney/3385059.


Deb’s Little Inspiration Book, Ideas to Empower Women is now available as PDF format for easy download to your computer. Or buy the real book at: http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=1504

For stories, artist commentary, details on how the paintings were created and more please visit Deb’s blogspot at http://debchaney.blogspot.com/.

THANK YOU ! None of this would be possible without the help and support of so many people including; My husband, Matty-baby for first off triggering many of the emotions that I channeled into these paintings, for building my kick-ass studio, and loving me fully for the woman I am. My daughter Ruthie Firefly for being the little spark you are. For Pete Moraites, for allowing me to vent and cry and be frustrated and suggesting that I take these emotions to my paintings. To Patsy Flemming for your amazing work which truly set something off in me. For saying “fuck” when I first met you and melting that ice right away. Katja, Alice Marie, Patou- I love you women! Tammi for all the work you did in setting up www.cafepress.com/debchaney and updating http://www.debcreative.com/. Megan for being the woman you are and playing a key role with art sales. Thank you! My creative coach Shirley who is helping me co-create the truly great artist I am meant to be. To Peggy McInerty for re-juicing my batteries with Raiki, CST, and Shiatsu. I am so blessed to have your grounding support. For Lana Grow for your heartfelt love, support, teaching, mentoring, inspiration, encouragement, and friendship. To Ann Baldwin for your phenomenal workshop in collage, your kind words and encouragement. Jill Badonsky for listening when I needed an ear and allowing me to process how I self-sabotage. Lisa Saanich for listening to me process myself, my work, my life on our hikes and for letting me experience baby Julian’s beautiful little spirit along with us. Alyson Stanfield, yes we have only talked once thus far, but your website alone has given me sooo much. Can’t wait to work together in October. Miss. Dr. Jenn Waterhouse. I am so proud of you, of us, following our dreams. I am so thankful for you being here in my life for over 20 years!!! To Marcel, the Big Bad Business guy. Thank you for being the man that you are and being part of my support team. And, to the mountains, beaches and trees of this beautiful City of Santa Barbara. The natural beauty feeds my soul and replenishes my spirit. I am so grateful having all of your support, I could not have done this alone.
From my heart, Thank you!!

Getting Stuck and Continuing on to Completion With a Creativity Project

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When the idea of painting the Raw Expression painting series really took form and I was at the beginning/ “Oh yeah…this is co cool!”/ “I could paint a 100 of these things!” stage of this creative project, nothing could stop me. Plus I was on a painting retreat, so really, nothing could stop me. It was like this for the first six paintings in the Raw Expression series. “I think it was me who needed to listen”, “It was a glorious way to live” “ I had to become the painting (Before I could proceed)”, “ Maybe making the art was the only risk she needed to take” and “She fucked him for breakfast, lunch and dinner”. They came out and it was easy, fun and new. However, getting back home to life, my studio and the other 12 paintings was another challenge.

It’s funny the timing of the universe because just as I was in process with what would turn out to be the last six paintings of this series (time constraints and a show deadline helped determine this) I had just started taking an online/teleclass class on becoming a Kaizen Muse Creativity Coach. In the first class one of the instructors, Jill Badonsky, talked about how it’s common in when we immerse ourselves in creative endeavors – like painting a body of work, re-decorating our home, writing a novel, new job, new relationship, etc.- to be excited in the beginning and then mid-way loose interest. She was saying this because it might happen with the class we were just starting.



"I must not get too caught up in all the details I and II" Deb Chaney 2007, Diptych, 23" x 30" Mixed Media, Acrylics, Collage on 300 lb paper. On exhibit at the Sojourner Cafe from now until August 25, 2007. Originals are for sale, contact Megan Havrda (805) 637-3670 or meganhavrda@hotmail.com. Prints, posters, mugs, magnets, of these images are being made available at http://www.cafepress.com/debchaney.


I laughed internally as she spoke these words because it was happening to me right now, in the middle of this body of work. My show deadline was fast approaching, I had six paintings in process but not completed and I was ‘bored’, ‘no longer interested’, ‘out of inspiration’ and whatever other word you can come up with for basically not enjoying the process and not being able to finish the job.

The solution, Jill explained was in understanding the excitement often carries us through in the beginning of a project, but good habits and positive self talk will carry us through the end. I resolved to get in my studio every morning and look at the paintings, *even if it was just for a minute. I also embraced her catch phrases; “Close enough! Good enough!” These helped tremendously at hte very end to get the paintings out of hte studio and h ung at Sojourner Cafe.

[*Note – doing something for one minute a day is an extremely powerful way to over ride the resistance, fear, boredom, procrastination, etc. How this kaizen theory works (Japanese for small step) is explained beautifully in Dr. Rober Maurer’s book One Small Step Can Change your Life the Kaizen Way.]

So, one morning, I went into my studio first thing and looked at all six of those last paintings laid out on the counter top. I worked on two of the paintings but I was stuck on the two diptychs. It was then that the words flew out of me and I ‘wrote them’ in gesso on the red ground I had pre-painted; “I must not get too caught up in all the details.” As well I was stuck with “ I need to let go and go deeper into the wild unknown of abstraction”. After writing the words and letting them dry several days later I still felt stuck on how to progress. I think part of me knew inside what I wanted to do, but part of me was afraid to let go and go for it. Scared to move forward, Ever had that feeling?

A couple of days later I went hiking with two friends Lisa and Lori. Lori Katz is a friend of Lisa’ visiting from San Fran whom Lisa had been telling me about for months. She’s been painting for well over 15 years and is a dedicated studio artist. I figure I’d ask her opinion with being stuck on this work while we hiked. She suggested putting the work aside. I told her I didn’t have time. We then talked about other more interesting girly topics like Prada hand bags and jeans that make your ass look great since if you do 5 classes of yoga a week or hike regularly or whatever you are doing to keep your body trim and fit you might as well show off your great ass. We all laughed it was a great hike. Good times. Girlfriends rock.

I got home and I had the courage to finish the paintings. Pouring black paint all over those nice little white squares. It was liberating. I love those two sets of paintings!


"I need to let go and go deeper into the wild uknown of abstraction I and II" Deb Chaney 2007, Diptych, 23" x 30" Mixed Media, Acrylics, Collage on 300 lb paper. On exhibit at the Sojourner Cafe from now until August 25, 2007. Originals are for sale, contact Megan Havrda (805) 637-3670 or meganhavrda@hotmail.com. Prints, posters, mugs, magnets, of these images are being made available at http://www.cafepress.com/debchaney.%20and

Raw Expression

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Sunday July 29, 2007

The purpose of this blog is to explore the next step in my current painting project "Raw Expression". This is a body of work of 18 mixed media abstract paintings currently showing at the Sojourner restaurant in Santa Barbara. So the work is up and the question is: so now what?

I painted this work to apply to galleries and to show myself I could do it, and for the artist I would become doing this series. So the paintings are done. The show is up and now I move into Phase II of this project - getting the work to work for me!

("I learned I was enough" Deb Chaney 2007, mixed media, acrylics, collage on 300 lb paper. Currently on display at Sojourner Cafe in Santa Barbara)


So, as much as I'd rather be in my studio, I knew it was time to learn about marketing and promoting my work. I've got myself a super -duper art biz coach (I'll tell you all about her later...stay tuned) and her first suggested was to start a blog - so here I go!




So why did I cal this series 'Raw Expression'? Really it all started out at the annual watercolor retreat at Kanuga in North Carolina March 2007. I met a bodacious group of woman artist; Katja, Patou and Alice-Marie who really inspired me to well, be me. I had come to the retreat with the intention of working on something else - some other paintings- which I was really struggling with. After taking off from the retreat center one evening and having a fabulous gourmet dinner with extremely titillating conversation I came back and these paintings started to unfold. Unplanned, unrestrained, pure raw expression.




Katja, one of the women in our newly formed Kanuga art click, was telling us about how she and an older gentleman she was dating had decided to, well, 'get together' one evening. The event took all night and all morning appearntly because the viagras her lover pooped took well into the morning to finally allow him to "get the job done" if you know what I mean. All of us women listened to this story at the edge of our seats, laughing hysterically . I came home that night and started painting. These were the paintings that emerged. I felt free. It was divine. This was new for me.




(first painting in the series; "She Fucked him for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and still it was not enough" Deb Chaney 2007, mixed media, acrylics, collage on 300 lb paper. Currently on display at Sojourner Cafe in Santa Barbara)




Six paintings were completed while I was at Kanuga and then the next 12 were completed in my home studio in Santa Barbara from March through to June. Yeah, production slows down when you get back to your 4-year old, husband, business, house, laundry, life distractions…you know the deal.


A little bit into the painting mechanics for the curious artist readers ( Personally when I see work I like I always want to know how it was done)

I started each painting by laying down texture using Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso (great stuff!) and then pushing and indenting it with everything from corrugated cardboard to pieces of floor grip and bath matt to make cool textures. Then I did the under painting with several layers of Quinacradone Crimson ( I use Golden Liquid Acrylics) mixed with gloss medium. Obviously each layer had to dry before the next one could be added. And then came the fun part – writing down the thought or feeling that consumed me at the time, using white gesso from a squirt bottle, right over that brilliant red base layer. The last part – finishing of the pieces- ( I always worked on 6 paintings at a time for this series) – was all about playing with the collage pieces and adding black and white paint to balance out the compositions.



(Photo of Deb at the Annual Kanuga Watercolor Retreat Clotheline Show with her first six Raw Expression pieces in the background. March 2007. Thank you Katja for the photo.)



So now begins the business of marketing my art and here is what I have on my to-do list:

  1. Email an art show announcement to current (old) database.
  2. Continue building the new database in ACT!
  3. Consider lowering original painting prices to incentive sales
  4. Get Credit card processing – Costco Merchant Services has best prices.
  5. Continue uploading images and setting up www.cafepress.com/debchaney to sell prints, posters, mugs and t-shirts based on my art images.
  6. Research sites for high quality art prints (get site names from Tammi again)
  7. Make a meeting date with my web woman regarding
    New 2007 Raw Expression Brochure
    Websites for just art prints
    My website image updates
    Cafepress.com
    Overall website update/re-vamp
    Html newsletter template
    Blog dashboard creation
  8. Blog thoughts -
    Put up dashboard
    Learn how to create side snippets ( really like the favorite books Claudine Hellmuth put on her blog)
  9. New 2007 'Raw Expression' Brochure
    Choose 8 favourite images
    Re-write Feng Shiu and art relative to Raw Expression paintings
  10. Newsletter
    Keep adding ideas
    Talk to Tam about template that mimics website
    Find out where I could get snippet little facts about art
    Think about different sections to write about: creative inspiration, mixed media painting techniques, events/shows, other.
  11. Photos – get black and white professional photos of myself in my studio for the new brochure and updated website. List an add on Craig list.
  12. REsearch if I can convert digital images to slides? Find online sight
  13. Application for 3 art organizations Lana mentioned
  14. Find out date for entry to SB and LA Art organization
  15. Call Natural History Museum about Art walk show in September
  16. Learn how to write a kick-ass query letter to submit to galleries – choose 3 galleries to submit to. Maybe pick up the Artists Market book
  17. Organize binder with promotional tools, tips and resources for art marketing.
  18. Prioritize this list (!) - do on next blog
  19. Breathe!!!


    Meanwhile, I am continuing to paint daily. I paint every morning and I’ve started working on a new series of techniques, paintings, and ideas. I just got back last week from a week’s painting in Door County Wisconsin at the Peninsula Art school where I studied with Lana Grow. So there is plenty of new stuff to keep me busy. I will start to post some of the new emerging works as it appears as well as some studio shots. I've got lots of great stuff to share with you. Stay tuned! Thanks for reading. Deb