art by Kathleen Nesi

hello!

2012-02-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

hello, happy new year! A bit belated, but I've been extremely busy. I am now working full-time in a pre-school teaching in the pre-k room while one of the teachers is taking a leave of absence. It will be over in June. In the meantime I've been desperately making deadlines for shows, went on an art retreat,am taking an on-line lettering class, reworked a wall of the studio and made a journal page for the ART-IS round robin. As i can, I will post on each and everyone of those things and not in chronological order.

first up: my round robin page.

The ART-IS group of fantastic artists has a series of art journals traveling around the world. Mine arrived at my house the day I was leaving for my art retreat. Today I made time to make my entry before passing it along to the next participating artist. The loose theme of the journal is 'COURAGE'. my entry is self-explanatory. one thing i'd like to mention, i'm using more lettering in my work. (i'm taking an online class with joanne sharpe)

my entry for the ART-IS round robin journal

this is how santa's elves feel!

2011-12-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

I've been busy preparing for my studio sale. (which is this sunday 3-5 and monday 10-5)

why is it that we never feel we have enough? well i've got glass tile necklaces, scrabble tile charms, prints of my work, originals of my work, fabric tote bags...and now 20 journals!
i've made 20 - 16 page pamphlet stitch journals filled with gorgeous paper that accepts both wet and dry media. they all have handpainted covers, are handbound and they all have charm danglies hanging from the spine. i just love danglies!

here are 8 of them

then i decided to go crazy! I added fabric prints of my art and stitched all over the cover! how fun! this really is mixed media!!

i have 12 of these babies!!

it's funny, each one is different and i'm attached to them all.

i can see different art in each one, or lists, or special writings or quotes that appeal to you! my daughter just came home and spotted the 'peace heart' one and said, 'oh cool'. approval from a teen. i guess i'm on the right track with these!

now i'm off to make some felt ornaments.....

STUDIO SALE!!!!

2011-11-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

Ok,I bit the bullet and decided to have a studio sale. I have original mixed media paintings, and all kinds of things featuring my work: notecards, necklaces, handpainted, handbound journals...I'm even taking orders for totebags that you must see to appreciate!

so stop in, even if it's just to say hi before the holiday gatherings make it impossible!!!!

HERE'S ALL THE INFO (click on the picture):

p.s. email me if you need the addy....

Snow-creations at the Homestead

2011-11-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

Today I had an art day. The hubby is in Arizona on business, the girls were at a volleyball game and I decided I needed some creative time with my Art Is... pals. Sue Pelletier was in town and teaching her wonderful vintage snowmen and I was lucky enough to get into this fabulous class.

We had a wonderful time catching up, having a spectacular lunch including some delicious pumpkin layered brownies made by Betti Zucker and just having creative fun. It's always nice to bounce ideas of one another and get a little silly! Using paper clay, beads, buttons, glitter and lots of vintage treasures we made snowmen/women/children! Here are mine:

my snow creations

I just love the chess piece for the hat and the little jack dangling from his scarf

this is Verla. She is on her way to meet her friends Betti and Pearl at the opera. As my niece would say, 'she's fancy'.

this one is my favorite. I decided I like the monochromatic ones the best.

Art Is....2011

2011-10-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

I'm part of a family, a big art family called ART IS... It is headed up by Ellen Legare and Sallianne McClelland and I love them and all the attendees. When you walk into an Art Is Retreat the first thing you think is, I'm with my people! You can wear what you want, you can behave how you want, you can eat what you want. no judgement! In fact, more than likely someone next to you will even join you! It's a place to share ideas, get inspiration, be yourself and be supported. It is the most wonderful weekend of my year and I look forward to it every year.

This was the 5th year of ART IS... Loretta presented Sal and Ellen with mixed media canvases celebrating the anniversary. They were signed on the back by the attendees.

This year I taught there for the first time and had the BEST students ever! I am looking forward to teaching again next year. Thank you for your support, Dawn, Loretta, Linda, Angela and Pat. You all did wonderfully and am so proud of your first attempts at woodburning!

here are some photos i took,( i usually forget to take pics as i get so involved in what i'm doing.)

I learned coptic stitch binding with Diana Trout.
and now i am hooked on making my own journals. i use the kind of paper i want and the size paper i want! thanks Diana for sharing the art of bookmaking with me!

My class space set up and ready to go.

I gave each student a goody bag filled with not only the supplies they needed for class, but also a hand painted, hand bound journal filled with drawing paper.

display of my work in the style of the class i was offering. the class sample is in the center. tall poppies.

look who i shared my class space with! so excited...i love tracy!!

This is Dawn Gold. She was the first student to sign up for my class and came all the way from England to attend ART IS... I've known Dawn 'virtually' for years through an online trading site. It was so wonderful to finally meet her in the flesh!

Linda Willis took my class! She is a fabulous artist...particularly in fabrics and quilting!

Pat was one of the brave ladies learning a new technique!

and Angela concentrating to hard! we call her angel hugs!!!

and my dear friend, Loretta. She did a nice job too!

After woodburning my students blocked in color and added other mediums. (you'll have to take a class with me to find out how we do this!)

my students with their finished/semi finished projects! i'm so proud of them! you did fabulous ladies!!!!

After I taught my class, I took a class with Tracy Stilwell. I admire her work so much and love to spend time with her. so inspirational! I glammed up my old pair of jeans. i wear these in my studio a lot and wanted to spruce them up a bit.

I opened up the leg seam and created this little garden out of fabrics and embroidery stitching. this was SO much fun to do and reminded me of my high school days! These were also a big hit with the children at the nursery school I teach in!!!

My friend Dawn and I saying our goodbyes...
until next year...maybe ART IS will go to LONDON!!!

a special week with a special friend

2011-07-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

This is my student and friend, Alexandra

She makes 'clucks' which you can find out about here.

This week she joined me in my studio to make a tote bag out of her own art and out of fabric scraps. We had so much fun playing with gelatin prints on fabric and on paper

printing our own original art on fabric for use later in our projects

and sorting through mounds of fabric!

Next we had to piece it together

and sew

and play with a dog

or two

and sew

and sew some more!

until it was all finished!

a view of the inside

great job alexandra! and the puppies were sad to see her go!

taking time to try new things

2011-07-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

As a member of the New Rochelle Art Association, I feel as if I should participate in as many shows as held. The last show was the Jules Bauer Award Show and featured a prize for watercolor. I didn't win the Jules Bauer award, but I did win Best of Show for this watercolor, titled Waiting for Racetime. It is a painting of my daughter, Nicki waiting for her turn at a big invitational meet. I was trying to convey the pre-race jitters she goes through. The body language portrays that.

And I also won 3rd prize in the mixed media category for this painting, Nature of Gemini.

It was a good show, and a good month.

Now I've signed up for Traci Bunkers 30 day Art Challenge (see badge at right). You make the rules, you just need to create for 30 days consistently, no excuses! I'm up for that challenge. I think a better challenge for me would be to see if I could update my blog for 30 days straight!

The Nature of Gemini

2011-04-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

My latest work - 24"x24" on birch plywood

WhenI designed this piece I had difficulty choosing which swan should be the white (good) swan and which should be the black (evil) swan. I couldn't decide if I was creating this with evil conquering good in mind, or that evil was the protector of all things good.

Seeing that there is enough evil conquering good in the world, I decided to go with the latter thought; my black swan would be a guardian, and my little white swan was submitting to being protected and allowing for someone else to take care of her. This is something I struggle with personally, letting someone else care for me, letting go of control, relinquising the reigns if you will.

From this the title "Nature of Gemini" was born. Gemini is a dual-natured sign, a mix of ying and yang and represented by twins. Gemini's easily see both sides of an issue and can be restless, much like my swans and me.

i'm uber relaxed!

2011-03-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

yeah, right! well, i'm part of a group called "the uber relaxed page traders". we're a bunch of artists who have traded japanese moleskines in the past, who have decided we can't deal with strick deadlines, so we are trading pages at our leisure. each artist has a theme, a page size and some media guidelines (which it seems everyone is uber relaxed about this too!). this is my kind of group. we are encouraging, grateful and inspired by each other's work.
so, i've completed my first page. the theme: crows the size:5"x7" the media:anything.

for my media i chose watercolor and ink pen. I recently discovered the work or Roz Stendahl. I think I must have been living under a rock! I can't believe I never found roz's work before. it is just stunning! her blog is a wealth of information for anyone interested in keeping and/or making sketchbooks, using gouache or watercolor or dip pens. anyhow, I tried to do a page using some of her techniques. it's hard for me. first, i really like saturated color and secondly, i tend to be very stiff! But, I did draw this by looking at negative space! :)

I know I need to still work on 'loosening up', but some habits are just hard to break! this is a little crow squawking about this or that for my uber relaxed art friend helene...i hope she likes it!
and the finished page:

so hard to get into a flow

2011-02-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

here in NY we've been hit hard with storm after storm. we've had 7 storms in as many weeks. the kids have been home, the dogs come in and out of the house and since my studio is in my home, it's been hard to get a flow of work going.
i did manage to get a submission ready. the theme is shakespeare's women and i've had so much fun getting these pieces ready. keep your fingers crossed at least one will get in the show.

viola

queen elizabeth i

cleopatra

shakespeare's women

2011-01-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

this week i'm working on some ideas for a submission. the theme of the show is shakespeare's women. i love this theme. so much fun to work with and so hard to pick! there's cleopatra, juliet, viola, lady macbeth, katherine, ophelia, desdemona...i started off with cleopatra. i made a study of her and struggled with the skin tones. the colors kept getting muddy and i was getting frustrated, but finally, i got it!

only to be informed by my history buff daughter...cleopatra was NOT egyptian!!!!! (she was macedonian)
back to the old drawing board!

so my next study is this one. i'm liking her. she needs a few adjustments (smaller eyes, not so doe-eyed, thinner lips, better hair), but like i said this is a study. the final piece will be done in my usual style, woodburned and then painted, stamped, printed, colored etc.

CAN YOU GUESS WHO SHE IS???

and the sketchbook challenge begins....

2011-01-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

i am participating in the sketchbook challenge just for fun! i'm excited to see what other artists come up with for pages given the same theme. the theme for january is 'highly prized'. of course, my family is highly prized, so are my dogs and art supplies, but when i REALLY thought about it and dug deeper, i came up with WORDS as being highly prized to me.

text reads: where would we be without words? from our young days we are encouraged to talk, then read, then write and as soon as we think we have our native tongue mastered, a foreign language is tossed in to the mix...words can provide comfort, strength, love, hurt, warmth, humor, fun and most of all they bring knowledge.

i'm published!

2011-01-01T14:09:00.000-08:00

Back in june i showed you this tease: http://kathleen-nesi.blogspot.com/2010/06/trade-magazine-submission.html

It was a long journey, but it has happened! i'm published! find my piece, 'remembering our military' in the jan/feb 2011 issue of somerset studio.

jan/feb 2011 issue

page 115

true colors of the piece

folk art inspiration

2010-11-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't done any kind of folk art/primitive painting since the mid 80's. Back then, I did a lot of tole painting and created work in the "country" style. recently, I took a class with Laurie Meseroll and learned how to create her Mudcakes style paintings. Using her techniques and my love for birds I created this little guy and titled it "unruffled". It contains vintage sheet music, scrapbook paper, fabric, acrylics and mica flakes on a 12"x16" gallery canvas.

I'll be donating this to the local library fundraiser. thanks Laurie!

unruffled

detail of unruffled

poppies

2010-11-03T10:03:00.000-07:00

another poppy painting. this one is woodburned on 12"x24" birch plywood and then layered with lots of fun textural goodies...tissue paper, acrylics, printing, stamping, fluid acrylics, stencils, colored pencil and gold flakes and finally beads in the centers of the flowers. this may be offered as a future class, for now...enjoy!

winter...it's a wonderland

2010-10-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

i'm entering another show. the deadline is this week. this is the piece i made. the theme is winter wonderland. as i sat thinking about what winter meant to me...the feeling, traditions, the magic and beauty...i kept going back to an earlier piece i did in a journal. i made it a full size work. i love my snow tree. it incorporates the feeling of winter to me with graphics. do you know the feeling of snow as it lays heavy on a tree? When everything is covered in white. after a really big snow, when everything is still, silent and quiet? i love that! it isn't until the sun comes out that the world awakens from a large snowfall...

...this captures the very beginning of that moment!

the last moley entry

2010-09-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Over the past year, i have participated in 3 japanese moleskine exchanges over at atc's for all. At times, it was challenging, trying to find time to work on my "little hobby". At times, it was inspirational, fueling the fires to create works of art. Mostly, though it was just plain fun to get something in the mail other than a bill!

This is the last entry I had to create for the last moleskine exchange. The theme for this one is WHITE. It was made with napkins, acrylics, collaged papers, vintage sequins (that were my grandmother's) and stamps. My "Snow Tree" is heading on its way home to its owner in California.

I am looking forward to joining another moleskine exchange in the near future, for i have fallen in love with these little books and the wonderful collection of art i have acquired from them!

Apples of Carthage

2010-09-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

The ancient Romans called pomegranates "apples of carthage". My grandmother called them "Chinese apples". We call them "superfruit". The pomegranate has long symbolized fertility, Catherine of Aragon had one in her crest hoping to produce an heir to the throne. I painted them for one reason: I LOVE THE COLOR OF DEEP RED! enjoy.

woodburning, watercolor pencils, colored pencils, italian text, paper, acrylics, tissue paper

italian text gifted from loretta marvel...love it for leaves!

I AM THE SPOTLIGHT ARTIST FOR THE MONTH!

2010-09-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

This is so exciting for me! I am the featured artist of the month over at atc's for all! It is an honor, for there are many more talented artists than me over there! Here is the feature:

Artist Feature Spotlight on the Artists

this is the spread i did for Goatgoddess' japanese moleskine

Kathleen Nesi (known to us as Knesi07 here at AFA) finds art an opportunity to escape and relax. It has always been that way for her. Even as a child, she loved to draw and paint, and enjoyed copying Peanuts comics into a spiral notebook. These days, her favourite media is mixed and she loves nature inspired work as it's a reflection of time spent growing up in the country--something she misses now that she's in the suburbs of New York. She loves to have little books of art to treasure, so participates in chunky book and Japanese moleskine journal exchanges. As her own work grows and develops, she finds it has more of a "story" behind it, while staying very bright, bold, illustrative, and layered. Woodburning has also started showing up in her work.

Kathleen has enjoyed her time at AFA because of all the kind and inspiring artists she's met in the cyber-world. Their talent never disappoints, she says, and it motivates her to push herself in directions she might not have taken otherwise. She's a member of the New Rochelle Art Association and will have work in two upcoming shows. See more of her work at www.kathleen-nesi.blogspot.com.

Aside from her art pastimes, Kathleen enjoys photography, running, playing with her dogs, and hanging with her art friends. Her daily philosophy can be summed up in three words that she embraces: live life fully.

art auction piece

2010-08-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

I just finished my piece for an art auction happening at the Art Is...East Coast Art Retreat in October. The auction will benefit the Little Baby Face Foundation. It is titled Poppy Pods. It is my signature style, woodburning, bold saturated color and layers upon layers of paint, tissue paper, prints, gold leaf, colored pencil and india ink.

my BIG bird painting...finally finished

2010-08-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

Literally, a BIG bird painting, it is 24"wx48"h. I started this painting well over a year ago and somewhere along the way lost my muse. Luckily, I found it again and completed this piece...Assimilation. At first, this piece was titled "one of these things is not like the other". After getting back to it, I felt it was more about fitting in, getting along, assimilating to be like everyone else, buckling to peer pressure.

once again, layer upon layer of color and texture.

i'm juiced!

2010-08-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am hoping to participate in an art show this October, called "Juiced". It is a theme based show...the color orange. While orange is NOT one of my favorite colors, I took on the challenge and became inspired. I made two pieces for consideration.

1. "stella maris a l'orange"

this is my typical style...woodburning, tissue paper, layers upon layers of paint and glazes and lots of texture!

2. "static kill"

this one is a little different for me. it is more abstract. in response to the BP oil spill....the fish and seaweed are deteriorating as the oil gook is all around. made with tons of layers, the fish and seaweed were printed using hand carved stamps. The oil gook is pouring medium which i mixed w/shades of orange and bronze. it doesn't show in the photograph, but it actually shimmers a bit.

detail of deteriorating fish

see ralph swim!

2010-06-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

finished another piece today. i'm so infuriated with the whole BP oil spill, that i just can't help but think of all that wildlife in the vast blue (speckled w/blackish red oily gook) ocean. i got to thinking of the saltwater tank we used to have (don't ask) and my clown triggerfish named ralph. ralph is another example of the beautiful black/white graphic pattern found in nature...i'm starting to detect a theme here. once again i used tissue papers, woodburning, acrylics, mica flakes, colored pencils, stamps and stencils on this piece.

fini!

2010-06-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

finished another piece today. i've always been infatuated by pattern, particulary pattern found in nature. i was speaking w/someone recently about my summers as a child in NH. i remembered being out with my dad and on the lake was a loon. he was so excited to show it to me. i love the patterning on their feathers...so graphic...so black and white! this memory inspired this piece:

trade magazine submission

2010-06-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

so, i am finally taking a leap. i'm submitting to a trade magazine. i was all kinds of inspired by one topic they put a call out for, so over the weekend and today, i finished up a piece. the only problem is that i'm not allowed to share it. so i'll share a tease....

moley moley moley......

2010-05-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

One of my moleskin groups is coming to an end. My spread for Pippin's floral/flower wonders is below.

I've been taking an online class w/Traci Bautista. I think the influence is evident in this spread.

before color:

with color:

bold, saturated, color!

2010-04-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

i just finished this background for a painting i'm making for an old friend of mine. she told me it had to have red.....
well it has red, and yellow, and orange, and teal, and colbalt green and burnt sienna and magenta and cadmium red dark and titanium buff and on and on and on.....

for the record, i love making these backgrounds! :)

moley entry #2 for this week

2010-03-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

This moley comes from Washington state and is part of the #7 moleskine exchange over at ATCs for All mail art group. The theme is In The Garden. Using a napkin background, I collaged a fairy and added some yummy good stuff!

another moley entry

2010-03-22T06:41:00.000-07:00

For some reason, this theme was hard for me. The subject: my favorite things. why was it hard? is it because i have so many favorites? was i blocked because i didn't know how to execute it? i don't know, here is the page:

my favorite things: my family and friends, odd numbers, stars and swirls, my camera, photography, nature, ocean, bright, bold color, textured layered backgrounds, New York and the New York Mets, books, grafitti, stamp carving, birds, and mashed potatoes...LOL!

What to do on a Sunday? - The Sketchbook Project

2010-02-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

This past weekend finally came! The weekend the the Art House Co-op's Sketchbook Project came to Brooklyn! My friends Penny and Loretta accompanied me on my journey to see all the sketchbooks, including my own.
It was just over the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, in a neighborhood full of cool graffiti:

This is how it worked:
Each artist was given a sketchbook and a theme:

and when you were finished filling it with your art, you sent it to the Art House Coop to be part of a traveling library:

First stop: 303 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY

there were gorgeous sketchbooks from around the country

this beautiful timekeeper's diary from Sharon Tomlinson! I couldn't believe I was holding it in my hands! Such gorgeous, saturated color...the kind i like!

and one about the end of the world by Nancy Martini from the Miami area

there was an elephant in the room by Misty Mawn

as well as a beautiful book from the UK about the other side of the tracks by Elly Wright

and one from South Africa by Carina Claassens

These were artists whose work i've admired and to actually see it in person and to

TOUCH it

HOLD it

EXAMINE it!

How amazing!

here are some other pages i loved, but didn't get the artists' names...if you're out there, and see your work...let me know, i'm happy to give you credit!

remember the robot from lost in space? danger danger will robinson!

The Sketchbook Project is continuing it's journey to Boston next, then onto Californina, Missouri and Illinois...if you get a chance...check it out. There aren't enough hours in a day to see all the books, but even seeing a few is truly inspiring!

Flyer for the 2010 Sketchbook Project tour

2010-02-12T07:38:00.001-08:00

Flyer for the 2010 Sketchbook Project tour, originally uploaded by arthousecoop.

come see my sketchbook!

monster fun

2010-02-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

i picked this little guy up at earth angels toys. it is a monster bag by valerie weberpal of harvest moon designs. he just called to me, so i bought him.

then i discovered what his real purpose was:

this monster bag is really an art journal holder! my moleskin sketchbook fits perfectly and a pencil and waterbrush fit in the front pocket! there was a REASON for this purchase! YaY!

spring...

2010-02-04T07:16:00.000-08:00

after wishing for a snow day yesterday and not receiving my wish, look what spilled into my journal:

moley entry

2010-02-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

i belong to a fabulous art trading group called ATC's for All. within that group i have signed up for 3 different japanese moleskine book trades. it works like this: the owner of the book picks a theme for their book. the participants take turns putting an entry in their book. when all entries are in, the book goes back to the owner. the result is a little tiny treasure of art from around the world.

last week i worked in a book for a group i belong to called the "lucky 7". we consist of 10 members: 7 from all over the US (Illinois, Virginia, Texas, Minnesota, Washington and NY), 2 from Scotland and 1 from Sweden. the book i worked in last week is owned by kristib, her theme was open media, meaning the artist could do whatever they wanted using whatever they wanted. i played!
it is called "free" here is the result:

fini!

2010-01-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

transformation...finished! i love when i finish a piece.

such a feeling of completion!

Transformation

Life is a transformation from the moment we are born to the moment we die. It is a series of changes, of growth, of wisdom. The swan symbolizes change, beauty and grace and is an emblem of the beauty and purity of light, both solar and lunar. In this piece, the trees represent the family, both maternal and paternal. The branches envelop the swan as she forges her path. They are there to provide her strength and balance, day and night....always.

the lyrics are by paul simon...from father and daughter...per request of client.

created on wood with acrylics, colored pencils, paper punches, watercolor pencils, glitter paint, liquid pencil, embossing powder, stamps, distress inks, tissue paper, stencils, pearls, fresco flakes, india ink and gold leaf.

layers layers layers

2010-01-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

my next step is to layer. i have added stamps, (sorry for the photo, but the stamping didn't show well) stencilling, paper punch outs, tissue paper, fresco flakes, and more acrylic paint. still more to go.

continuing

2010-01-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

continuing to work on Transformation. this is the color blocking step. i use watercolor pencils, colored pencils, liquid pencil and very very sheer acrylic paint to start blocking in colors.
much more to come...

Transformation

2010-01-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

this is a commissioned piece i am working on. i call it transformation because it is about the growth of a baby girl into a woman. swans represent transformation, they are a symbol of beauty and grace. they are also an emblem of the beauty and purity of light, both solar and lunar.

step one: woodburning

New Year, New Work

2010-01-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

The Art House is having a traveling sketchbook gallery. It is a library of sorts. check them out here:http://www.arthousecoop.com/ My assigned theme is: An Elephant in the Room. While I was tempted to create a cover and send in my sketchbook blank, creating my own elephant in the room, i decided that was a cop out. So in one day and ten messy fingers later, I made my pages. Since my time was so limited, I just had fun and do what i do best...paint!
my pages:

the Sketchbook Project will be in Brooklyn from February 19-21, 2010 at

303 Grand

303 Grand St

Brooklyn, NY 11211

Go and check out all the other sketchbooks and themes, it promises to be a tactile experience!

2009-10-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Fall, a time to feel inspired! look at all the color around you!

1st post

2009-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

this is my first post, and while i want to blog, i fear i won't have time to keep it up. i have made a deal with myself to only post art related things here and not get too personal. we'll see how that goes.

fall is in the air. it is crisp, dry and cool. the opposite of summer and i'm happy. here is my journal page about that.