My very first open studio is Saturday!

Just a quick reminder: I’m holding my very first open studio art party at my studio this Saturday, September 12, 2009, from 1pm to 6pm.

My cluttered studio will be open to visitors Saturday

My studio is located in Valencia (Santa Clarita), California. That’s just north of Los Angeles. Everyone who is subscribed to my monthly email newsletter got all the details including the address. Want in too? Drop me an email! (info@barbarajcarter.com)

Candy-colored dot painting

Ta-daa! A brand new little-bitty dot painting in bright and yummy candy colors!

It is, like all my other “little bitty” paintings, 5×7 inches (12.7 x 17.8 cm). This one took a little longer to do than the others so I’m pricing it a wee bit higher, but it’s still a very affordable little original painting. Because as you know, I only sell original paintings. Even the very small ones.

“Dots 9 (Candy-Colored Dots)” by Barbara J Carter, acrylic on canvasboard, 5×7″ (12.7 x 17.8 cm), 2009.

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A Bewildering Visit to the Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival

Yes, I’m an artist, and yes, this blog is mainly about my art.

But this post is about another side to my character, one I don’t talk about much online.

You see, I’m a wannabe farmer.

OK, not a REAL farmer. I don’t want to get up at 4am and milk thousands of cows or plow hundreds of acres.

But I do yearn for a bit more rurality in my life. A couple chickens in the back yard to lay eggs. A small orchard. An herb garden. Maybe some grapevines. A vegetable garden.

And goats!

Yeah, I know, what’s a city kid like me know about livestock? I mean, I’ve read a couple books, some magazines. I’ve patted a couple goats at a petting zoo. That’s enough to whet my appetite for more information, but I’m still a rank newbie when it comes to rural agriculture. I want to learn! But where to begin?

Well, how about the county fair?

The sad truth is that I’d never been to a county fair. An honest-to-goodness old-fashioned agricultural fair with cattle and sheep and pigs? Never been.

Until last weekend, that is. I finally went to a county fair! Hurrah! It was pretty bewildering, but I had a great time. And took lots of photos like a total rube. Which I was.

We arrived at the Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival shortly after it opened on Sunday. The crowds seemed pretty light. I figure it gets a lot busier as the day wears on. The fair runs from 12 noon to 12 midnight each day (it’s 11 days long, total). There’s heavy emphasis on the musical headline performances in the evening. We didn’t stick around for that. We were there for the livestock! Show me the animals!

There were a huge number of festival-food booths and game booths and junk-souvenir booths. You had to walk past lots of them to get to the agricultural stuff. Another whole section of the fair was given to carnival rides, ferris wheels and such. We didn’t go there. We were there for the animals!

In the center of the fairgrounds, near the entrance, was this lovely open-air roofed pavilion with lots of comfy seating and tables. It was the most popular place in the fair, but even at its most crowded we easily found places to sit. Everyone sheltered here to get out of the crushing sun.

We finally found the livestock displays. There were a lot of pigs in one barn, and they were all sleeping in the heat. The barns were surprisingly cool, with completely open sides and lots of big industrial fans keeping the air moving. I guess when you’re a pig in a small pen deeply bedded with shavings, the thing to do is sleep.

There were a lot of pigs.

In the next building we found goats. Yay, goats! So, yes, I’m completely smitten by goats. These cuties are Pygmies, a mini goat breed that’s mostly used for pets. They stand about as tall as your knee. They were very friendly and came right up to get scratches, which I gleefully provided to several. One sniffed longingly in the direction of the brim of my hat, but I carefully kept it out of reach. There will be no eating of hats!

Most of the goats in the pens were either Pygmies or Boers. The Boers, a popular meat breed, were aloof and not at all interested in being scratched or patted. But one pen had some goats of indeterminate breed who were pretty friendly and active. The white floppy-eared one in this photo looked to my untrained eye like a dairy goat, maybe a Nubian. In contrast with the tiny Pygmies, this full-sized goat stood about 3 feet tall.

We had to laugh when we saw this character standing on a small overturned feed bucket. Goats are notorious climbers, readily clambering up onto any structure they can get at (including trees, picnic tables, and cars). Here is the perfect example: “I’m King of the Hill!” Even if it’s a very small hill.

In contrast with the manageable-sized sheep and goats, the steers were HUGE. This photo doesn’t do them justice. They looked intimidatingly huge even lying down. They were 5 feet wide, and about 9 or so feet long. That’s a lot of beef!

This fellow had a coloration I had no idea was even possible in cattle. Which just shows you how much I know about cattle: very little!

There was an exhibit of hay outside one barn. “Alfalfa is King” proclaimed the sign. It smelled pleasantly grassy.

Inside one air conditioned hall we found exhibits of award-winning crafts, baked goods, and assorted other handmade stuff. This handmade wooden rocking pig caught my fancy. My nephews would love riding it! (I’d give credit to its creator, but there was no sign.)

We took in a youth dairy goat “showmanship” competition before leaving the fair. These kids are all in 4H, which apparently requires wearing a white uniform for showing. It seems cruel to make kids wear white while handling livestock, but what do I know? At any rate, the winner was the girl who showed up 15 minutes earlier than the rest and spent that whole time cleaning her goat. I even watched her wipe inside the goat’s ears, a procedure the otherwise placid animal objected to by ducking her head.

Overall, I had a great time. It was all pretty confusing, mostly because there wasn’t a lot of signage to explain what was going on. Why were there only two breeds of goats on display? Why were there so few chickens on display? Why steers but no cows? Does the livestock change from day to day, and if so, how do you know what will be on display each day? When are the different competitions held? The fair website disappointingly has no such information. I’m still confused, but at least now I can say I’ve been to a fair!

New dot painting: “Blue-Green Square”

Painting rows upon rows of little dots, all lined up, in a subtly changing color palette, is a challenge. My arm, shoulders, and back all tend to cramp up after a couple of hours. On this 24-inch-square canvas, I don’t know exactly how long it took to paint all the dots (there are 7921 of them) but as a rough estimate I’d say about 40 or 50 hours.

“Blue-Green Square” by Barbara J Carter, acrylic on canvas, 24×24″ (61×61 cm). Available here.

This is the same size (and style) as my other 24×24 inch dot painting “Square, Red.”

Here’s a detail view showing the individual dots more clearly:

Detail, “Blue-Green Square”

Once again I was amazed (and frustrated) at how long this larger painting took. The smaller 10×10″ size went much faster, and the “little bitty” 5×7″ ones only take a few hours. The frustration comes not so much from how long it takes to complete one of these larger paintings, but rather from a growing realization that my goal of pushing into even larger sizes is perhaps overambitious. But fear not, I haven’t given up my dream of painting larger quite yet. I just need to work on my painting method and improve efficiency wherever possible.

“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” -Robert Browning

Dogs and Art Galleries

What is it with dogs and art galleries?

Back when I worked at an art gallery in Massachusetts, I was allowed (nay, encouraged) to bring my dog to work with me. He became the designated “gallery dog,” one in a long line of previous gallery dogs.

Barbara J Carter's dog Jesse at the fscottgallery

At the time, I thought this was just the gallery owner being quirky. Little did I know.

After I moved to Southern California, I had occasion to stop by an art gallery with a friend and my dog in tow. I ducked into the gallery, leaving pooch and friend waiting outside. But the owner immediately invited me to bring the dog (and the friend) in. Later, we attended a reception at this gallery and had to watch out where we placed our feet lest we trample the two large dogs sprawled in the middle of the floor.

In spite of this, somehow I still didn’t twig to the ubiquity of the phenomenon. Every time I went to an art gallery and had my dog (and friend) with me, I always left them outside. And every time, I was informed that both 2-feet and 4-feet were equally welcome to enter the gallery. And every time, I was surprised.

OK, so I’m a bit slow. Apparently dogs are universally allowed into art galleries. Just a couple weeks ago my gentleman friend and I (sans dog this time) stopped into Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills to see the amazing paintings by Gary Lang. While there we got a chance to pat a friendly terrier. Yup, dogs and galleries just go together.

I still find it weird, though. I mean, this is the United States of Nanny State, where dogs are considered so dirty they’re not even allowed at open-air farmer’s markets or California State Parks*. They’re tolerated at outdoor cafes, but certainly never in bars or restaurants like you might see in Europe.

Why do dogs and galleries go together? I don’t know! But I like it. Woof!

* Don’t let me get started on California State Parks! Oy!

Good times at the gallery

Last Saturday I attended the opening reception at the Red Brick Gallery in Ventura, California. It was the opening reception for the show that I was a part of, naturally.

Here I am standing by my paintings. You can see why the gallery is called “red brick” eh?

The big painting in the middle is the one that made it into the local press.

The reception was good fun, although three hours of standing is a little hard on the feet. Good thing I wore comfy shoes. I got to talk to a lot of people, watched a potter throw clay on a small wheel (right there in the gallery, with no more than a tarp to protect the carpet), chatted with the other artists, and generally had a good time.

The show, including my paintings (they’re on the right when you walk in the door) will be up through August 16, 2009. I hope you’ll get a chance to check it out!

Red Brick isn’t your usual stuffy art gallery, it’s more like a cool store crammed full of beautiful and useful things. Definitely something for everyone. Open 7 days a week for the summer. Red Brick Gallery, 315 E. Main Street, Ventura, California.

When you go, tell Jennifer (the owner) I said hi.

Some Good Press

It’s always exciting to see your name in print. This one’s by far the nicest blurb I’ve ever had in a newspaper. And I didn’t even have to write it! Thanks to the Ventura County Star.

(from the Ventura County Star’s arts supplement “timeOut” for July 10-17, 2009)

It’s a nice distillation of information about me and my art, quoted off my website. (You can read it if you click on the picture above and then zoom in.) It gives the information for the exhibit I’m in at the Red Brick Gallery (in Ventura, which explains the Ventura newspaper’s interest).

Apparently the gallery sent the newspaper several images from all the artists in the exhibit, and the paper chose to print one of mine. And write up a story with it. They didn’t have to pick me, but they did, and did a very nice job of it too. I’m chuffed!

The story references my exhibit at the Red Brick Gallery in Ventura, California. The show went up this Monday and will stay up through August 16, 2009. If you’re in town on Saturday, July 25, be sure to stop by the gallery between 6pm and 9pm for the artists’ reception. I will be there! And so will that painting in the newspaper article (the painting looks much better in person than in newsprint!).

Thanks to the Ventura County Star for the lovely writeup. You guys rock.

“Yellow Square” painting

Yellow Square, acrylic on canvas, 10x10", 2009

This is another in my abstract dot series, which began with the “little bitty” dot paintings and includes the larger “Square, Red.” Like the others, it is a highly tactile painting, each dot being slightly raised and rounded. I am particularly intrigued by the optical “flare” effect along the diagonals. It’s an optical illusion, but it is particularly striking in this painting.

It is elegantly framed as shown below:

“Yellow Square”, acrylic on canvas, 10×10″ (frame 11.5 x 11.5″) is available for $400 plus shipping. Sales tax in California only. It comes framed and wired to hang.

No PayPal account needed, just a credit card.

One Angry Rattlesnake

I’ve been hiking in southern California for a couple of years now. Recently I met up for the first time with one of our most notorious forms of wildlife: a rattlesnake. One very angry rattlesnake.

My gentleman friend and I went hiking one sunny afternoon in Matilija Canyon Ranch, a secluded little canyon not far from Ojai, California. As usual, I took along my digital camera to take pictures for my paintings.

The Matilija Canyon hike started out on a dirt road but soon turned into a small narrow trail. We thoroughly enjoyed the hike, which crossed the stream several times. Usually I’m not too keen on stream crossings, but this stream had lots of boulders making the crossings quite easy and even kind of fun. Considering we’re in a drought, the stream had quite a lot of water. Here’s a view upstream that I shot while standing on some boulders halfway across:

Being a trail in a canyon, it’s a there-and-back kind of hike rather than a loop. So after a while we decided we’d gone far enough and turned back. We met the rattlesnake on the return leg.

We were on a particularly narrow part of the trail, where the canyon is very narrow and steep-sided. The path was hugging the left wall of the canyon, the stream some distance down to our right. My gentleman friend was in the lead on that stretch.

A sudden violent hiss erupted from the underbrush to our right, and we both instinctively leaped away from it. I shouted “rattlesnake!” as I scrambled backwards on the path. My companion leaped forwards. That left the unseen rattlesnake somewhere between us, hidden in the underbrush next to the path. Great.

I’ve seen rattlers on TV before, and I’ve seen them snoozing quietly behind glass at the zoo, but I had never experienced a live, angry rattlesnake doing its thing before. As it turns out, it’s not so much a “ch,ch,ch,ch” kind of sound like you make with a baby rattle, but rather a continuous “SSSSSSSSHHHHHHH.” It’s LOUD. And it just goes on and on and on without a break.

I’ve read the books. You know, the ones that say “the snake is more afraid of you than you are of it” and “if you leave it alone it’ll just go away” and “rattlesnakes only strike if they are cornered.” Right. Well, apparently this snake hadn’t read the books. It was pissed off and it wasn’t going to move!

We of course backed away from it. A long ways. We each had to retreat a good 30 feet away before the snake stopped its rattling. Then we assessed our options. My companion was safely away from the snake, but I had to somehow make my way past it to get out of the canyon. The canyon was too steep to consider leaving the trail to go around the snake. My only way out was on the path, past the snake. And that snake didn’t want me anywhere near it.

We waited a while so the snake could calm down and, we hoped, just go away, but it wasn’t having it. It was apparently in no mood to “just go away.” As soon as I got closer than 20 feet it started rattling again. I backed away again until the angry sound subsided.

We waited a while, then once again cautiously ventured closer, but the snake was still there and still very pissed, and it started its rattling again. We backed off.

I realized that the only way I was going to get out of there was to make a run for it. Scariest decision of my life. I edged closer to the snake until it started rattling again, then made a dash for it, all the while expecting it to strike at me as I passed.

It didn’t, and I got past it safely. In fact, I never did see the snake. But boy did I hear it!

Fun Times in La Jolla

I had a great show in La Jolla last weekend.

I showed my art, met a lot of really cool and interesting people, got interviewed for a TV show about art, sold some art, and just generally had a good time. Especially on Sunday when the clouds finally parted and the sun came out! Check it out:

Hey, there’s my booth! In the center, with the pointy top:

Barbara J Carter's booth at the 2009 La Jolla Festival of the Arts

Want to see my art in person? You can always find an up-to-date list of all my upcoming shows on my website. And of course I have photos of my paintings on my website, though as I always say “I’m a better painter than photographer”. They really do look better in person than on a computer screen.