How to Add a Text Link to Blogger Comments

Some blogging platforms make it simple to add a link. If one types http:// at the beginning of an address it automatically becomes a live link.

Blogger does not have this function but you can still put links in your comments. To do so requires adding just a few more characters:

Let’s say for example that I wanted to put a link to this post about a hike up to Mount Hollywood in a comment. The url of the link is http://katherinekean.blogspot.com/2006/07/mount-hollywood-on-4th-of-july.html

I would then add this in front of the url:



And this after the url:



And it will come out as a clickable text link:

Mount Hollywood on the 4th of July

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Progress

It’s a new month and I’m looking at what I want to accomplish in July. Out of the eleven paintings that I’ve had in progress all but two are nearly complete. One of them, a large one, is taking longer than I had anticipated, which is okay since it looks like it’ll be worth the extra effort. I suspect that I’ll be abandoning the other one altogether. It doesn’t have any major flaws, but when I look at it, or think about working on it, I just get a blah feeling and I just have too much to work on that I’m excited about to continue to spend time on one that feels so lackluster to me right now. I’ll keep it around for awhile in case it seems like it might come back to life later on.

I have canvas ready for three new ones and have started sketches of the compositions, which I’ll post as they progress.

Thumbnails of six that are all part of the same series are shown below:

works in progress
© 2009 Katherine Kean

Related Posts:

Lava Haze: Work in Progress

Unabandoned Paintings

Waves Coming to Shore: New Work in Progress

View of Halema`uma`u Ash Plume

April Gornik Videos

I set some time aside this weekend to look at the 2007 Art/New York No. 62 DVD I picked up at April Gornik’s exhibit.

In this video she talks about her road from conceptual artist to landscape painter. She talks about how scale is important to her work and the idea of making the work a size to include a human body rather than showing people within the paintings. She goes on to say where some of her inspiration comes from; her own and other's photographs, from novels, and from imagination; as in following an imaginary waterway. She also discusses the perspective of her work, her intuitive way of working, and how her work differs from the Luminist painters to whom she is often compared. There are some clips of her working in the studio: I thought it was interesting to see her working over the red underpainting for one of her blue toned cloud/seascapes.

Other interviews in this DVD about April Gornik are with art critic Donald Kuspit, curator Dede Young, and gallery owner, Renato Danese.

Here is an excerpt:


While looking around for the link I found another, more recent clip for you from New Art TV:

April Gornik's Luminous Landscapes

There are several reasons why I chose to take such a long journey to see this exhibit. I've always felt an affinity with April Gornik's work and have seen her work in magazines, books and online, but I had never seen her work in person, so I had no real sense of the scale or texture or what the brushwork might be like. Also, this exhibit includes work covering a timespan from 1987 to 2009.

In person the paintings reveal some layering in the broad areas where sections of color below show through and influence the top layers. Often in photographs of artwork dark areas of paint seem to read as black, but I saw a great variety of color in the darks including dark blue greens and yellow greens. Another observation was of the slightly built up texture in the foregrounds. I found the brush strokes wonderfully loose and free in many areas, which was somewhat unexpected as I had been interpreting her rendering of forms as being more tightly painted. There was as well as a nice combination of soft and defined edges overall. The scale of the work - all are roughly between 5 to 6 feet high and 6 to 10 feet wide - gave me the feeling that I was looking out of a very large window, or standing before the actual landscape itself, depending on the angle.

Some reviews state that there are 13 paintings in the exhibit, however I counted 12. There was also a large photograph of April, taken in her studio by her husband, Eric Fischl.

The paintings included in the exhibit:

1. Fresh Light 1987

2. Mirror Lake 2004

3. Suspended Sky 2004

4. Lightning at Twilight 1993

5. Turning Waterfall 1997

6. Red Desert 2008

7. Field and Storm 2004

8. Sun, Storm, Sea 2005

9. Storm at Sunset 2000

10.Rising Moon 1991

11.Twilight Dawn 2009

12.Marsh Waterway 1998

Twilight Dawn is the most recent. Just finished in January this is the first time it has been exhibited.

Five of the paintings can be viewed at the Heckscher Museum's website.

Benjamin Genocchio review in New York Times: An Eye For Landscapes That Transcend Nature

Oh That's Mine! Conversation with Robert Ayers

Perusing the exhibit:





The Luminous Landscapes of April Gornik
May 2, 2009 - July 5, 2009
The Heckscher Museum of Art
2 Prime Avenue
Huntington, New York 11743-7702

Long Island Road Trip

After I had made plans to fly back east for a long overdue visit with my parents I found out that one of my favorite artists, April Gornik, is having an exhibition in Long Island. On a whim I googled the directions from Cape Cod to the Heckschler Museum where her work is showing. According to the link it would be a mere 255 miles taking about 4 and a half hours.

I've never seen any of Gornik's paintings in person so this seemed like a great opportunity and 4 1/2 hours isn't too much of a drive, right? I invited my parents to come along if they wished, or not, if it seemed like just too long in the car to see a few paintings by an artist they hadn't heard much about. To my delight they decided to go - lucky for me, because it actually turned out to be about a six hour trip each way, partially due to construction and stops. My dad is an excellent navigator which made it much easier on me as the driver.

For the return trip we drove to the end of Long Island and took the ferry to New London, Connecticut. It was my first time on a car carrying ferry and it turned out to be a relaxing way to go. The ferry ride just about breaks the trip in half and gives an opportunity to relax and have a bite while enjoying the views.

Photos taken from the car on Long Island:





Getting on the Ferry:







I'll post my thoughts about the exhibit on Friday.