Paper Mache Cow - Session 1

 I decided I wanted to experience what it would be like to create a paper mache sculpture. So after watching a couple of youtube videos, I decided to launch into the project with both feet (and no additional resources, probably a bad idea, but how I usually do things).

In my first step, I wanted to just cut out a cardboard shape of the cow's body. I didn't worry about his ears or legs for now. You can see I have really leaped in - he will be a sizable cow for a first project. Who knows, maybe he'll turn out to look like a pig - anything is possible.

I then cut out the shape of the two legs from separate pieces of cardboard. I think I'm not going to worry about the other side of him, because his legs wrap underneath and I can probably build up the shape I need there from just the newspaper. I used masking tape and began build up shape to the two legs. It probably ought to look more exacting but it doesn't.

And that's it for Session 1. Now off to get a lot more recycled newspapers and more masking tape.

Scam Email: Tyler He

This scammer had trouble faking a decent last name (and then inverted it for his temporary disposable email address), but otherwise everything else about this scam is all to the formula.

Original email:

From: tyler He [he.tyler@yahoo.com]
Subject: [actual name of painting inserted here]

Hello,
How are you doing? Was going through your works and love this piece. I would like to make the purchase if it is still available.

Thanks and i await your response.
Tyler.

Next email:

On Nov 29, 2011, at 1:13 PM, tyler He wrote:

Hello Catherine,
How are you doing? Thanks for your prompt reply. Well,  I'm quite satisfied with the details but would also like to inquire about a minimum price...

Unfortunately, I'm on my way to France and few other countries on an official trip (I'm a marketing Executive) and wont be back for another  couple of weeks, If you'd like to know, I'm relocating  to the UK this month and I'm trying to gather some good furniture for my new abode. I'm buying yours piece amongst others, quickly! before someone else grabs it.:)
Glad if you could let me have me your phone no. so I give you a call. 
Best Regards,
Tyler.

PS: In the mean time, you could forward me your full name and contact address so I can mail out the certified check to you ASAP.

Winter Open Studios 2011 Dec 3-4

My studio is cleaned up and ready for the weekend of Winter Open Studios at the ICB Building in Sausalito, CA. I've got those special Open Studio only prices up. I'll be open Dec 3-4, 11-5pm, along with over 80 other artists in the building. Lots of art to see. I'm located in studio 237 on the second floor right across from the Manager's Office.

I'd love to have you stop by and say hello!

ICB Building
480 Gate 5 Road, Studio 237
Sausalito, CA 94965

(turn left on Harbor Drive from Bridgeway, building on left at Harbor/Gate 5 Rd)

For those who are unable to visit, most of my artwork can be found on my website at kathleenmcmahon.com.

Sausalito Artists @ Work Labor Day Weekend

We had a great open studio weekend at the ICB Building in Sausalito this weekend. It was the same weekend as the Sausalito Art Festival and the whole town was jammed with people as a result.

Lots of people came through and I did well. I love talking to people about art and showing them my process. This time I had my silk painting frame set up and was showing people how I do silk painting. I was able to finish a bamboo silk scarf on Sunday and a nice blue one with dragonflies on Monday.

Sue Averell, the organizer of the Open Studios weekend, had a great party in her large studio (which is right next to mine) Saturday night with lots of great food and wine and balloons and meeting great people. Some were artists she knows from Arizona who had come up to be in the Sausalito Art Festival. A great time was had by all.

My studio mate, Mary Margaret Stewart, was actually in the Sausalito Art Festival for the first time this year and she was on fire! She sold out everything she had. I love the success of artist friends as well.

Here is a photo of some people wandering through looking at my scarves (sorry about the hanging rope from Mary Margaret's studio space in the photo!) and a better picture of the one wall of scarves, though I had others on racks and... well, all over the place. I was also showing my oil paintings and worked on some small oil still lifes on Saturday and sold them right on the spot, even though they still need time to dry.

Presidio Paint Out August 29, 2010

I enjoyed a sunny day in the Presidio for a group paint out event. We were to paint anything we wanted visible from within the park, between 10 and 2 pm and then exhibit our finished work at the Officer's Club from 2-4pm.

I did this event about a month ago and this crowd was twice as big - over 50 artists participated. I decided to find a more unusual area of the park - one I was unfamiliar with, and that is getting harder and harder to do as the years go by. But there was one area I just never went into or explored and that was the Tennessee Hollow Watershed area. I chose the El Polin Spring area, despite the massive renovations and rehab going on there - maybe because of it. Certainly no other artists found their way to where I was. I didn't know anything about the El Polin Spring so I read up on it the day before.

There were convenient picnic tables there I decided to take advantage of. And some bird watchers who said they were watching the humming birds, of which there seem to be a bunch flitting around. They said there were some other beautiful species as well. Some one was doing some kind of bird watching pretty much the whole day. I added a couple of bird watchers into my painting.

Here is a photo of my little painting nook for the day, just as I was beginning to work.

I really enjoyed the day in the park and at the end of the day, seeing what all the other artists chose to paint and how they interpreted their Presidio scenes.

BBQ at ICB

We had a great hotdog bbq at the ICB art studios building yesterday. We had a lot of fun, good food and drink and company. And we raised some money towards buying ourselves a picnic table so we can eat outside in the sun when the weather cooperates.

I took some photos at the beginning of the bbq but then got involved in talking to people. More people showed up as the bbq went on.

I heard there was an "after" after party, but I missed that....

Plein Air Session at Corte Madera Marsh

Yesterday, I was seeking to escape the fogged in city to where there was sun so I could paint outside. I drove around Tiburon but could see the fog was quickly coming in to anything I wanted to paint.

I ended up at the Corte Madera marsh and had sun all afternoon. It was a little windy for me (my chair and water container completely blew over one time) but otherwise was a very pretty afternoon.

I kept company with a whole flock of these pretty birds, American White Pelicans. They rotated around the marsh feeding and relaxing. Okay, they came out as just white splotches on my little painting but they were quite beautiful to watch all day.

I painted for about 2 hours and then went and had a lovely Thai dinner and glass of wine in Mill Valley.

The Fisher Collection

I had the pleasure of going to SFMOMA on Friday and see the small portion of the Fisher Collection. It is a partnership with SFMOMA to house and display the collection of Gap founders Doris and Donald Fisher,  more than 1,100 works by iconic 20th century artists in total (this peek had about 160 of total collection on display), dubbed Calder to Warhol. Much of this collection has never been seen by the public. It was great to see some of these works up close and live.

I liked the Gerhard Richter pieces, Anselm Kiefer (I like a lot of his work), Agnes Martin, Serra and Warhol. I had never seen Chuck Close's work up close and there was a whole room for his work and I liked the David Hockney double portrait.

Then I got to hang out with and go to dinner with the Friday Artists' Roundtable group and talk art and other musings.

Here are two Gerhard Richter pieces:

Here is a Anselm Kiefer piece:

Okay, the below Kiefer piece is NOT part of the Fisher Collection, but was on display at the SFMOMA several years back and took my breath away. It's not a great image of it. It was almost room-size and it looked like swarms of locusts lifting from the earth - and the swarms were all sunflower seeds. A better image would have shown the complexity within the "swarm". I loved Kiefer after this in-person experience.

And back to my day with the Fisher Collection, here is part of the Artists Roundtable Group at the rooftop cafe before dinner.

After the Marin Art Festival

The Marin Art Festival was a nice event but was not without its challenges.

On Saturday, the wind kicked up by 1 pm and was relentless the rest of the afternoon. I was constantly battling keeping things from blowing away. It was also challenging that my booth location turned out to be in the furthest back section of the fair. I suppose *someone* has to be in the way back, but I didn't want it to be me.

The fair was well attended and in spite of all these challenges, I sold. I do feel it is becoming more and more a crafts shows than a Fine Art show. It might be interesting if they sectioned out the fair and put all the fine artists together so the collectors have a section where they know the higher priced art is versus people looking for low-end crafts and gift items. I knew to bring more than my fine art paintings this year and it what brought people into my booth. I have not shown my hand-painted silk scarves here before and they were very well received.

Here are a couple of photos from the day:

Marin Art Festival June 19-20, 2010

I am participating in this year's Marin Art Festival at the Marin Civic Center. Find me in booth #87!

June 19-20 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

Over 250 fine artists in a spectacular setting by the Lagoon in the Marin Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, fifteen minutes North of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Festival foods range from Louisiana gumbo and crawfish, Greek salads, South Western chicken breast sandwiches, fresh crabcake, grilled oysters and French pasteries.

* Stroll through spacious pavilions.
* View & visit with Phyllis Thelen, the 2010 Marin Master.
* Meet with the artists and talk about their work.
* Entertainment Schedule
* Check out our Chance to Dance Showcase: Hula to Hip Hop.
* Enjoy sit down dining with a team of student waiters.
* Sample fine wines and brews.

More information and directions at http://www.marinartfestival.com/

Free entrance pass at http://www.marinartfestival.com/updatedocs/guestpass.html

Hayes Valley Street Fair

Participated in the Capsule SF street fair in the Hayes Valley yesterday. It was sunny and well-attended but there were horrible winds all afternoon. We watched tents lift up and fly off, people's stuff on their table blow off into the street, and garment racks full of clothes blow over again and again. These certainly were challenging conditions but it was a great day and the margaritas from Absinthe at the end of the day was the perfect topper.

ICB Open Studios 5/8-9

Over 80 working artists open their studio galleries to collectors and visitors. This weekend is the second weekend of this annual Spring event.

Come visit my new studio space in gorgeous Sausalito as well as all the other working artists in the building. Lots of free parking and an elevator.

My new studio is #237C, right near the center of the second floor, across from the building manager's office.

May 8-9 11am - 5 pm
480 Gate Five Road #237C
Sausalito, CA 94965

While I'm on the scamming topic

Okay, I guess I've just been a target lately. Makes me want to post every scam email I receive so other artists can get a sense of what these look like.

Here is one today:

Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:39:25 -0800 (PST)
From: Jessica Bianchi
Subject: Art Enquiry
To: undisclosed recipients: ;

Hello,
I and my Cousin have interest in purchasing some piece of Art from your gallery hence i will like to know if you sell internationally (Belarus) and also if you accept (Credit Card) as a method of payment,if you do i want you to get back to me with your updated webpage, so that i can make choice of the Art to purchase from your gallery.
Your response is needed so that we can proceed.
I await your response.
Thanks
Jessica

Well, the TO field being undisclosed recipients was a dead give-away, that they don't even know if I HAVE a website with art and the usual poor email formatting and grammatical errors and the IP originated from San Mateo, CA not Belarus.

At least I don't even have to reply ONCE to this one!

Update: I decided to start my own page with advice on how to recognize these scam emails and also I am keeping a list of the scammers I get. I'm glad these are helping to reduce at least some people from falling victim to them. Wish there was a way to stop them but they are like pesky nat flies. You just have to keep swatting at them. Anyway, here is my own scam alert page. Stay safe!

Another Scam Email Directed at Artists

Here is an email I received recently. Typically I'm pretty good at identifying emails that are really Nigerian scam emails, but this one had me stumped because there IS a Rose Cole out of Santa Monica and I wasn't sure. I *hate* when I actually have to reply to one of these because then my email is open to being sold off as an "active" email. Darn. Anyway, below is the email and subsequent replies:

Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 02:09:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Rose Cole
Subject: INTRESTED IN YOUR ARTWORKS

Hello,
I am so excited that I came across your artworks on internet search,I am interested in purchasing the following works from you (Two Cherries,Koi on the Move 2) from you.

Let me know if the artwork is still available and how much discounts you are willing to give?I will await your advise on how to proceed.Have a wonderful day.
Regards
Rose.

[I replied with a proposed discount amount] Next email:

Dear Kathleen,
Sorry for the late reply,we have been busy with our movement to our new home.Well,i will be happy to proceed with the payment of the artwork.I will love to know prices when framed and unframed.Please advise.Regarding the shipment,i will inform our shipping agent that is moving our other home decors to get in contact with you via the shipping arrangement today.

Furthermore,do you do commission works?i will love to have a lovely work for my coming baby.Get back to me with your mailing address and your phone number so that i will be able to make an arrangement for the payment as soon as possible.I will await your quick response.
Regards,
Rose.

[Okay, bad typing And not capitalizing pronouns, but I still didn't have enough clues. I knew the Rose Cole I found online was out of Santa Monica and these emails were coming from a yahoo account in NY, but the emails referenced moving. So I wrote back one more time. I said I accept only paypal payments (which doesn't necessarily protect you, by the way - unless it is a verified account and you have delivery confirmation and even then, not always - sometimes PayPal will just keep the reversed payment no matter what) and that I do not work with any third party shippers except USPS Priority Mail. I did NOT provide my paypal email address nor did I provide my address and phone number as requested in the email. I also removed earlier references in the email to what items were even being requested to see what would happen.] Here is the final email which confirmed my suspicions:

Subject: SHIPPING ARRANGEMENT FOR MRS ROSE COLE'S ITEMS
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:06:01 -0500
From: paramountshippers@deliveryman.com

Dear Sir/Ma,
We have been contacted my Mrs Rose Cole to help
ship some of her items with her other house decors to her new
home.Kindly let us know the sizes,weight and name of the item we will
be moving from your place.

Sir/Ma,we will like you to get back to us the location of where we
will be picking up the item as soon as you have Mrs Cole's payment
with you.We will await your quick response.
Fred Anderson for Paramount Movers.

This email originated from an AOL account out of New York. Dear Sir/Ma (Ma, really?) kind of tipped the balance of clues. The icing on the cake of clues were that my response about third party shipper was ignored, that they didn't know what items were even being requested for shipment (I had removed references to them and the scammer had nothing to refer back to which would individualize their scam), the exact same poor email formatting as Rose Cole, and finally referencing "Mrs. Rose Cole". Turns out a google search with Mrs. in the name turns up all kind of Nigerian scam emails with "Mrs. Rose [and then random last names]. Winning the lottery, death of wealthy family member, job opportunity in foreign country, etc. Unfortunately, mine was individualized enough that I couldn't blow it off in the first two rounds. Very unfortunate.

Hopefully sharing this will help other artists not fall into providing scammers any more personal information about yourself than is absolutely necessary in order to clarify whether the request to purchase your art is legitimate or not.

Update: check for more advice and a list of scammers emailing me on my scam alert page.

Fall Open Studios 2009 Weekend

We had a great Open Studios weekend and I was glad the rain held off so it was sunny Saturday and overcast Sunday, but did not rain. There was also a preview party reception Friday night. The warm spiced mulled wine I offered was perfect to warm visitors up as they looked at the art. I sold a large painting, some mini oil paintings and some painted glassware so I did well. Someone even purchased one of my two wrought iron wine racks, which I was not expecting, but I'll sell anything...

Now I can get back to producing more work!

Here are just a couple of photos: