Inspirations from South America

This past April, Danny and I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to South America, as part of Danny's international curriculum for Emory's MBA class of 2009.  The South American experience was incredible all around! Most importantly the friendships that were gained through the program are lifelong.

I have been exploring these South American experiences on and off again since we have returned in May. Here is what I would like to share, and there are more in the works!

 Santiago Courtyard, 18x12, Pastel & India Ink

Often times when I am excited about capturing a destination or simply intrigued by a subject, I like to begin my exploration process with a gestural pastel drawing. From these quick gestural drawings, I get an idea of composition, color and size. This Santiago Courtyard above is an example of how I explored a destination/subject with gestural quick strokes in pastel and india ink, which soon after gave me the vision to create this piece in a much larger size as an Oil painting.

 

Santiago Courtyard, 56x30, OIL

Santiago Plaza, 18x12, Pastel & India Ink

 

Andes Mountain Horseback, 36x26, OIL

This is a moment that I had to create as an oil painting! I absolutely love horses and think they are gorgeous creatures. The oil painting above is a snapshot from horseback riding around the Andes Mountains.

Erracuriz Winery, 18x12, Pastel &  India Ink

Recoleta de la Cemetary with Church, 12x18, Pastel & India Ink

I created this piece on-site of this fascinating cemetary with the church steeple in the background in Buenos Aires, Argentina! The cemetary is called Recoleta de la Cemetary and I found myself going back many many times for inspiration. I am still intrigued with the skyline of crosses and angels. Family heritage is honored in a strong way within this sanctuary, which I highly respect. Within the gates of this cemetary there are about 100 cats that roam around as locals would say, "to keep the bad spirits out."  While I was creating this piece in an alleyway of this incredible cemetary, I had many of these cats come by and check out what I was working on wanting to rub all over. For a cat lover, you would have appreciated this moment too! 

Recoleta Cemetary, 12x18, Pastel & India Ink

Recoleta de la Cemetary, 24x20, OIL

Recoleta de la Cemetary, 18x12, Pastel & India Ink

Prayer, 12x18, Pastel

Paraguay Courtyard, 18x12, Pastel & India Ink

JKeim On-site creating this hotel rooftop piece in Paraguay!

Mariachi Trumpet, 18x12, Pastel & India Ink

Mariachi Band, 12x18, Pastel & India Ink

Mariachi Duo, 18x12, Pastel & India Ink

Mariachi Guitar Duo, 18x12, Pastel & India Ink

 

Mariachi Guitar Solo, 12x18, Pastel & India Ink

Mariachi II, 18x12, Pastel & India Ink

Mariachi Trumpet Solo, 12x18, Pastel & India Ink

Paraguay was the start of our South American experience and one of my favorites! Thanks to wonderful lifelong friends that we met in Emory's program. The Mariachi pieces are a glimpse into the Paraguay experience at our friends home in Paraguay.  I have other works in the making that are not quite ready to showcase!

JKeim Studio

I love the smell of "artist aroma" in my studio. It's often a mix of oils, cut wood, glue and fixative. All encouraging signs that the creative juices are flowing and moments in life are being captured.

My dear friend and professional photographer, Renee Brock http://reneebrock.bigfolioblog.com/ beautifully captured these moments in my daily life as an artist. These incredible photos were taken two weeks ago in my studio. Artist hands at work!










The piece I am working on in this photo is for an upcoming show in Atlanta, Spotlight on Art, that features Southern Artists.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Trinity-School-Spotlight-on-Art/117084064066?ref=ts
This particular piece is called, Piano Concerto. It is a pastel on 48x24 wood panel piece.
Here is the work completed!

Visual Mind meets Blogging!

Hello to all!

I will have to be honest and say that this is my first time to blog and even begin to understand blogging. So in many words, thank you for being patient as I try to loosen up and understand the blogging concept!

Just to give you a little spritz into my head and thinking, I am a true visual! Landmarks are my memory not so much street names unless I am impressed with the font, color is my everything, and creating is a passionate craving on mine. Creating artwork stems from fourth grade with private art lessons at the Columbus Museum from Jill Chancey-Philips, a local and well-known southeastern artist. I still remember the excitement and ease of her first lesson. She had us draw thumbnail sketches of a group of images to loosen our hands. The Light/Shadow demonstration of solid geometric shapes came directly after. Fourth grade is where it began and truly has not stopped!!!

I would consider myself a classically trained artist and proud to say. My learning and understanding of art continued through high school under a wonderful teacher, Robert Dozier. I then furthered my education from the University of Georgia by graduating Cum Laude with a BFA in Drawing and Painting. I truly believe one must know basic drawing techniques. It all begins with basic drawing skills! And I am so very thankful for those many many lessons of studying light and shadow on cubes and even the six months of figure drawing and painting in college. I can't even tell you how many times I have drawn a boob and a butt! Either way I am very thankful for learning the classic techniques of drawing and painting. These techniques are my core to having a sharp eye and confident brushstrokes. Here is an example of how I used my classical training techniques to create this pastel portrait of my heart and soul, Edith Jane. This is my chance speak without any words.

COMING SOON!!!!