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April 2008: Seren is on her way to the World Science Fiction Convention, August
6 through 10, 2008 - Get ready!
Okay, so here's the deal! I've reserved edition #1 (of 250) of each of the four Seren limited
edition prints for the Denvention 3 World Science Fiction Convention art show held in Denver August 6 through 10, 2008. These limited edition
prints - #1 at that! - have been beautifully framed with vibrant iridium-style contemporary frames and museum quality
non-glare glass all ready to hang, and you'll be the proud owner of certificates of authenticity showing that you are
the very first fan! Of course, if you miss out on the auction, other Seren limited edition prints (with certs) will
be available in the Print Shop at the show, either matted or in shipping tubes - but they won't be #1...
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Seren is seeking her adversary and you've just interrupted her. Better be bright,
brief, and gone, as she has work to do.
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Seren has just finished a treaty that has been years in the making. Will it stand?
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January 2008: Francine is here! I keep saying "Wow!"
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| Francine |
Wow! Francine is my first live model for a series, and was that fun or
what!?! The whole thing came together under a crash schedule (is there any other kind?!?) as Francine was
in the midst of a career-related relocation away from Colorado. I was just beginning to get to know her a
bit when the relo zoomed up and that put me into snooze-and-lose mode. She didn't know that I was an artist
at the time, or that I'd had my eye on her for a character for some time (uh, make that two years).
I came home one night whining and complaining that Francine was preparing to
relocate. My wonderful wife spanked me pretty hard and told me that I'd better get in the game (cuz she sure didn't
want to hear me whine about it later). So I guess you can imagine how that conversation the next day went with Francine
... "Ya, uh, er, uh, hey do mind posing for ...? My wife doesn't mind <wink wink> - really!" But she
was a real trooper and lit up at the prospect before knowing anything about where my art is heading. Another testament
that life comes down to compelling events.
All I can say about this one is that Francine is a very remarkable, strong, confident, career-minded,
and independent woman - she's serious about what she does, measures twice before cutting once, doesn't do something unless
doing it well, and not afraid to go after what she wants. A nice breath of fresh air, to be sure (not to mention a dead-center
archetype in many ways for Kolander Images).
Though Francine had never really considered posing for an artist before, like most of her
endeavors, she jumped right in and felt quite comfortable in front of the camera within a matter of minutes. This
was simply the confidence on display, as there's certainly nothing vain or conceited about this woman! In
fact, when it comes to her looks, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a clue :) Yet another breath of fresh air.
Over the course of a few hours, I snapped about a hundred digitals not having much of an
idea about final context. This is when I was able to learn more about her interests, family, hobbies, and so on, which
I tried to stitch into each of the paintings. However, the Snow Leopard was my little joke, as Francine is an avid canine
lover, and I'm a cat kinda-guy.
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| Our killer attack-cat, Nikita |
But in the end, the strongest theme became Francine's Italian background and wonderful
connection and reverence she has for her Mother.
So European teaveler it was!!
My wife said "Thank God!!!" because she'd been hearing me trying to figure out how to "do"
Santorini and Italy for a long time and was getting pretty sick of it, I now realize. :)
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December 2007: Santa brings a hardware upgrade!
This isn't your Grandma's 24" CMYK Inkjet, which in its day was quite impressive.
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| Art studio in the digital world |
That tiny plotter over in the corner is the 24" HP Designjet. The bad-boy in
the front is the new Canon iPF-8000 with a 44" platten, 12-color pigment, and dual print head with an over-30,000 nozzle dual
print head delivery system. Listen for the Tim Allen grunts.
It all started when I decided to upgrade my laptop to a big Dell. It came with Vista
(tm). Vista does not exactly pay homage to older software. Oh, it ran alright, but each keystroke resulted in
the invokation of the Help screen. No, running in compatibility mode did not solve the problem. So I was treated
to upgrading all my art-related software. And for dessert, a trek down "driver lane" trying to find reasonable drivers
that would function under Vista. Through all the crashes and mis-printings, I was finally able to determine work-arounds
and within a mere three weeks was back in production.
New laptop - why not new printer? Simple logic... So I go shopping online and
get completely pulled in. Moments later, I'm the proud owner of a new Canon iPF-8000. And within a few days, I'm
treated with a tracking number from a private trucking company, where I dutifully monitored the trip from California to Colorado,
coming to rest 20 miles up the road, where the 485lb crate sat on a dock for 10 days waiting for the "special" truck equipped
with the hydraulic lift (because I was fresh out of front-end hydraulic loaders at my house). 8:30PM the truck arrives
and we wrestle the thing in 15-degree Colorado weather into the garage. An hour later, I wave good-bye to the woman
trucker.
Each day, I'd stand in the garage, looking at the 8' wide 5' tall box and wonder how the
!*$%# I was going to get it: a) up in the front room; b) up the stairs, around the corner, and up more stairs to the art studio.
My wife simply wondered when I was going to clean the studio, wringing her hands and sounding a bit like Renfield. The
next day, I discovered: 1) my 19 year old son can deadlift a great deal of weight; 2) I cannot. A broken bannister and
several hernia attempts later the Canon came to rest in the art studio, where it sat for two days while my arms and legs recovered.
The initial boot-up cycle of a Canon iPF-8000 takes most of an afternoon as it accepts,
ponders, and processes each of 12 color pigment cartridges. These are not your normal go-down-to-Office-Max print cartridges,
mind you. They are paint tanks. The Canon produces mechanical arms that reach up and grab the paint tanks right
our of your hand, as if an automaton from a B movie about to go bad. Wiz, whir, wiz whir, and the front panel finally
read "Ready". Remember the trip down "driver lane"? Think "driver labrynth". But I digress.
The print quality, vibrancy, and over-all performance of the Canon was simply spectacular
and well worth the ravages to my body and time. This is a serious piece of equipment.
Now then, I have a hot date with my first live model! Gotta go.
January 2007: Seren is back!
Okay, so it's been two years. Job promotion, relocation, and a custody
suit in my favor kept me off the web for a bit, but I'm back.
This time, the self-destruct is on coundown, the computer command functions are offline,
and Seren aims to keep it that way! Just try and change her mind.
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November, 2004: Seren Goes Sci-Fi
With the largest annual science fiction and fantasy convention in the State of Oregon, ORYCON 26, coming in early November, Kevin could not resist an opportunity to come up with something a bit more tailored for the convention.
Entry requirements include that the theme must convey science fiction or fantasy. Well, Kevin simply could not decide.
That's right, you're seeing Tolkein's Tengwar Elvinscript on a Scottish Claymore pitted against some sort of HAL/9000
- SAL/9000 hybrid from the MGM/UA Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke 2001/2010 storyline.
When technology controls everything...
When negotiations fail...
When justice must be served...
There is Seren.
Kevin's wife has the dubious honor of naming Kevin's pieces, which include a first name and a series context.
It's pretty clear that time, steel, and results-based interactions are involved. Check this out: Seren - Steel Persuasion.
You got it, those stockings are hand drawn and composed of over 1,000 discrete lines each. This is no pattern fill
effect, folks, Kevin drew all of the lines and included realistic distortions. The result - they look like dressed-to-kill stockings!!
Stay tuned - this series could get interesting!
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| Seren (artist proof 1 of 5) sold at auction for $210 |
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| Kolander goes looking for a date |
September, 2004: Rachel goes DIVA!
The Downtown Institute for the Visual Arts,
DIVA, is Eugene Oregon’s (pop 136,000) largest art gallery enjoying its
second and most successful year yet. In connection with the annual Eugene Celebration
block party from September 17 through 19, Salon des Refuses in their 13th and best year yet hosted their event at DIVA in
the heart of downtown Eugene
from September 17 through October 22. Named after the 19th Century
Salon (of the refused), where impressionist painters exhibited their work when not approved by the all-powerful French art
academy, Eugene’s analog pulled in a whopping 306 pieces this year that were not selected by the Mayor’s Art Show
stable of around 50 pieces.
A quote from Bob Keefer’s article
in the Eugene Register Guard:
Eugene's
art world turned out by the hundreds Thursday night for the opening of the Salon des Refuses, the popular yearly exhibit of
art submitted to - and rejected by - the Mayor's Art Show.
While a live band played, art fans toured the warren-like
galleries at DIVA to see 306 paintings, watercolors, prints, drawings, ceramic pieces and a few indefinable works that didn't
make it past the mayor's official jury.
Salon founder Steve LaRiccia said this
year's Salon is showing the vast majority of the art the mayor's show turned away. "We had more than 80 percent of the people
turned down by the mayor's show bring their work over here," he said. "People really enjoy being in this show. When I was
over at the Jacobs [Gallery] on Monday (when the mayor's show winners were announced) there were a handful of people accepted
in the mayor's show who were disappointed that they won't be here."
With the Mayor’s Art Show not particularly
friendly toward accepting limited edition copies and not being acclimated to Digital Original Limited Editions, Rachel - Evenings instance 1 of 250, expertly framed by Eugene’s high-end Framin’ Artworks
studio, became a shoe-in for the more coveted Salon during Eugene's largest gallery event of the year. Displayed prominently in the DIVA’s grand gallery, Rachel’s debut (of Kevin's first piece in
a gallery) landed a collection of Blue Ribbon cash awards.
August, 2004: Kolander Images debut on the web
You're here folks - WELCOME and ENJOY!!
It's time for Kevin to start announcing and promoting his wares.
March, 2004: The Digital Age
Sorry folks, the Rachel's that Kevin created at his wife's behest in acrylic airbrush, color pencil, and ink pen hang
in his bedroom and his wife won't give 'em up at any price. The Danni's line the walls of his living area and those
aren't going anyplace anytime soon either. There are a few Artist Proof digitals still floating around, but you're going to need to ask about 'em.
February, 2004: Moon City Big Surprise
Kevin's freind Richard buys a new mega home in upscale Eugene repleat with hardwood floors, marble and stainless steel
kitchen, media center, and plenty of empty 11 foot high walls. He goes on an art shopping mission to Albequerque while
staying at a friend-in-common's summer home for several days and comes back home empty handed. Well,
we just couldn't have that.
Danni - Moon City, the original concept, was born in 36" by 48" canvas and acrylic applied by hand. This piece took Kevin quite a while
and was his second attempt at something large scale (following the original concept of Danni - Afternoon Tea that hangs over Kevin's fireplace). When Moon City was done, Kevin had a wee bit of trouble
letting it go, but finally resigned to his wife's reminder about the original mission. Richard's housewarming provided
the perfect surprise context. Richard selected a location in the main entry that would be quite difficult for anyone to
miss on their way in!
Kevin made a few concept changes before releasing Danni - Moon City as a limited edition. The true "original", including the perfect glow from the moon, will forever live in Kevin's
heart at Richard's house.
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