look for this sign

Look for this sign as you drive through the countryside for this weekend's Open Studio ARTTOUR.

©John A. Dixon, ARTTOUR sign, 18 x 24"

And I will look for you coming down my driveway at Sunwise Farm and Sanctuary to Kathleen O'Brien Studio.

Map to the ARTTOUR Open Studios

Click here to find a printable map to all 12 locations on the ARTTOUR. This is the first year that there are 12 locations in Mercer and Boyle counties. I am very excited to see the interest that will be generated in the arts. In the past years I have teamed up with Pleasant Hill, Mike Frasca and Fox Hutt, so now we have really expand! Enjoy a scenic country drive November 2 - 3 and stay awhile.

©O'Brien & Dixon, thumbnail of the ARTTOUR map

On the same website, find a printable itinerary;

©O'Brien & Dixon, thumbnail of the ARTTOUR itinerary

And you may follow us on our Facebook Event Page.

You Will See New Art in a Gorgeous Setting

I just got so excited watching last year's Open Studio video. It brought back memories of talking with you about art & life. And just seeing, again, some of the art that went home with you brings my mission of art more clearly into focus. So as I hang my latest I look forward to hearing your responses in a few days.

©Kathleen O'Brien, Monad, watercolor, drawing, rose petal, found image, ink, collage, 12x7.5"

Surprises & Prizes at the Open Studio

If you remember after last years Open Studio I sent an email saying if you printed it out and brought it to my 5th annual Open Studio you would have a chance to win an original collage. Well, if you forgot, contact me, I will resend the email to you. There will be more surprises. I'll show you here 1 prize for the first 6 visitors who want a souvenir from Sunwise Farm & Sanctuary;

©Kathleen O'Brien, Flower Seeds

but I'm not saying all...

A Surprise for Your Kiddies

Here at Sunwise Farm and Sanctuary we have hundreds of birds. they are distracting at times. Like on a dusk walk if we see a big bird, we know it is the owl. I thought for my 5th Annual Open Studio I would make a coloring book about a few birds you may see while you are here.

©Kathleen O'Brien, Some Birds You Might See at Sunwise Farm & Sanctuary, coloring book

While you are here seeing lots of art, you might want to walk on our numerous trials to have a walkabout, probably escorted by one of our or neighbor Corgis.

©Kathleen O'Brien,  trail back to the house from Honeysuckle Haven with Corgi

I will be sending updates to our ARTTOUR facebook event page. You will want to find out about the other 11 participating locations' activities!

A Table of Elements with only 25...

...or is it a Magic rectangle of 5 x 5. If you look really closely while your are here at the 5th annual open studio you will see that the tiny heart shaped petals are glued onto parts from the periodic table of elements.This multiple is not quite a magic square, yet upon closer look each of the red numbers adds up to 65 horizontally.

©Kathleen O'Brien, 7 Elements, watercolor, drawing, solder, petals, collage

What are the 7 elements that you see?

©Kathleen O'Brien, 7 Elements, detail, watercolor, drawing, solder, petals, collage

Wood Fired Bread Oven Preparations

In a few weeks we will fire up Greg's masonry bread oven to cook harvest fare for the open studio. We enjoy it, and we know it's getting close to the time we'll see you.

©Greg Orth, wood fired bread oven

Greg's book,  "My Experience Using "The Bread Builders" Book, or How I Made a Masonry Wood Fired Oven" is available on Amazon.com. It has many photos of his meticulous step-by-step process.

©Kathleen O'Brien, Greg working on the oven

And you might enjoy watching this video we made last year, just before 4th Annual Open Studio.

Show 1901 "Transparent Nature"

The Kentucky Life show #1901 on Kentucky Educational Television is now online.

©Kathleen O'Brien, page 24 from WOW Journal, watercolor, ink, KET card, 7x5"

It is about half hour long and the segment about my art "Transparent Worlds" is the last 10 minutes. I am very happy with it. It is amazing the detail closeups they capture. The first 2 segments are very interesting, about Bardstown being named America's most beautiful small town, and Doc Shuffett, who I would like to have as my doc. I think you will enjoy the whole show. Please let me know!

Simply Numbers

You will see a lot of new collages at my 5th annual open studio. Since the summer time numbers, math, geometry have continued to hold my interest. This multiple is simply numbers. When I was painting I wanted to have every color, I felt like a kid. That stage was really loose and fun.  Each number was drawn with ink, then laminated over the watercolor. Each piece has that number of petals, mica & scripts. Either I am regressing, or this was created for a child's room. Or both... .

©Kathleen O'Brien, Numbers 2,detail of Numbers 1-9, watercolor, drawing, collage

©Kathleen O'Brien, Numbers 1-9, watercolor, drawing, collage

For Ms. Rosa

When Becky from Tribeca Trunk told me Ms. Rosa's daughter bought her 9 Bird Eggs for her birthday, from the Light, As a Feather exhibit it made me very happy. Happy to know how joyfully it was received. Since you asked to know more about it, Ms. Rosa, I write a few thoughts about one of my favorite artworks.

©B.N. Ochenkoski, Ms. Rosa's gift of 9 Bird Eggs by Kathleen O'Brien

I usually begin art making without any preconceived ideas. This piece was different, I intended to create collages as a multiple about bird eggs. It required some research about birds habits. You can also see this as a magic square of 9.

©O'Brien, 9 Bird Eggs, multiple collage, 30 x 30" 

After painting the backgrounds abstractly with watercolor, I drew each egg with Prismacolor pencils. Each one in the collage is the exact size one would find in a nest. Each drawing was glued onto the painting.

©O'Brien, 9 Bird Eggs, detail of Mocking Bird Egg

Mica pieces that I formed to size represent the number of eggs one would generally find in that birds nest.

©O'Brien, 9 Bird Eggs, detail of  Meadowlark Egg, mica

For each bird I attempted to gather botanicals that each would use in their nesting materials. so in this example of the Song Sparrow - one of my favorite song birds - you see leaves and grass glued onto the painting.

©O'Brien, 9 Bird Eggs, detail of  botanicals, Song Sparrow Egg

In all my work I have scripts that are an invented language, a universal language that you may bring your own meaning to what you see. This is symbolic of the importance to everything in life, of communication. Notice how these strips of scripts are aligned in 3 rows, intended to feel connected. This symbolizes our connection to all life.

©O'Brien, 9 Bird Eggs, detail of  Bluebird Egg, script

May you enjoy this as much as I have cherished it, and belated Happy Birthday.

Sharing Figs

Part of everyday for the past few weeks is spent gathering figs. And we are also harvesting our first lemons. Imagine.

©Greg Orth, figs and lemon

For YOU and the 5th annual Open Studio I have concocted a fig, lemon, caramelized onion & orange thyme jam to go on crackers we'll make in the bread oven. (see next week's post about Greg's wood fired oven). 

©Greg Orth, fig tree & 6' zinnias

Gratefully, we had plenty of rain this summer so our fig tree this year is immense, with hundreds of figs. And we were looking up at those zinnias, unbelievable. Along with giving bags of figs away, eating fresh ones everyday, i have made fig - lemon marmalade, fig - orange marmalade and dried so many. Soon your can taste for yourself