"Self-Reliance" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson





Left side



Right side





(click images to enlarge)

"Self-Reliance" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

12" x 24" x 1.5"

acrylic on canvas

$500 + $30 shipping (contact)

I was inspired by Colorado artist Kate Dardine's recent quest to revive half-finished, forgotten paintings that have been sitting around the studio. This buffalo painting was, for the most part, finished - but I wasn't happy with the final result, and it has since been collecting dust. I decided to use some leftover paint from recent pieces and try to work as loosely as possible (I save all of my extra mixed paint in tupperware containers...once I spray them with some water and close the lid, they can last for weeks).

I've also been reading an anthology of literature by the American Transcendentalists. It has a lot of classic pieces that I could re-read time and time again, as well as some really fascinating journal entries, etc. that I've never read before. The Transcendentalists' writings have been a foundation in my life since I first delved into them...Ralph Waldo Emerson, in particular, really speaks to my soul.

I decided to choose a quote by Emerson (his work is in the public domain) to write on the sides of the canvas...the image of the lone bison really seemed to call out for something from "Self-Reliance".

The left side of the canvas features the following text, handwritten in a Sharpie pen (which was surprisingly difficult):
"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world."

RALPH WALDO EMERSON: Self-Reliance

...and the right side features this text:

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." - Self-Reliance

RALPH WALDO EMERSON



 When I feel like I need to loosen up between other paintings, I might continue this trend and try my hand at creating some similar Transcendentalist-themed paintings.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson

http://kristinjurist-art.com/

http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/

kristinjurist@gmail.com

"A Moment's Rest" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"A Moment's Rest" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on canvas

24" x 36" x 1.5"

$1100 + $45 shipping (contact)

I've been using a different method lately when I paint. To build up the impasto layers, I would normally mix pigments into an acrylic matte gel. I would then apply that wonderfully frosting-like paint to the canvas with palette knives, and, after letting the impasto layer of paint dry, I would add a bit of brushwork with thin glazes. I've been using more and more brushwork on top of the impasto layers over the past several months, so I've been accordingly changing the process a bit.

For this painting, and for most of my other recent work, I've been starting off each piece by applying a thin layer of pigment to the canvas with a brush. I then apply acrylic matte gel only (no pigment added); I move it around on the canvas with palette knives, and my intent in doing so has been to create more motion in the image. Once the thick gel layer has dried, I apply thin washes of pigment. These washes interact with the original background color, which has been softened and muted by the semi-transparent matte gel. I don't go through pigment nearly as quickly as I used to, and playing with the matte gel in its non-colored state allows for a lot of creativity.

Joni Mitchell's "Night Ride Home" album has been my painting music of choice, lately. I've been listening to it nonstop.

Nature, I would be thy child,

Sit and worship at thy feet;

Read the truth upon thy face,

Wait upon thine accent sweet:

I would put my hand in thine,

Bow my head upon thy knee,

Live upon thy love alone,

Fearless, trusting all to thee.

-Mary Morgan, "To Nature"

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/
http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/
kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Falling Snow" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Falling Snow" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on canvas

24" x 24" x 1.5"

$900 + $30 shipping &  handling (contact)

I've been in a wintry mood lately - that is to say, I've been aching for peaceful, snowy days that make the world a lot quieter and hot chocolate all the more delicious.

Since it's mostly just a rainy mess out here, I found a lot of my atmospheric inspiration from reading a poem by Joanna Klink called "Porch In Snow." It helped to put me in the right mindset for this painting. Originally featured in Klink's amazing book of poetry called Circadian, I first came upon "Porch In Snow" in an absolutely outstanding anthology called Montana Women Writers: A Geography of the Heart (seriously...this is an amazing book. I highly recommend it). Klink is a professor of graduate creative writing at the University of Montana-Missoula.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/
http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/
kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Crossing the Yellowstone" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Crossing the Yellowstone" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on canvas

24" x 36" x 1.5"

$1100 + $45 shipping (contact)

I tried loosening up a bit more for this painting...I wanted to focus on the colors and give a more surreal impression to the landscape.

FYI, Proctor Art Gallery (Tacoma, WA) will be having a lot of events throughout the month of October...it's "Arts Crush" month in Tacoma.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/

http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/

kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Silent Witness" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Silent Witness" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on canvas
24" x 12"
$525 + $30 shipping (contact)

I'm steadily catching up on my painting after a crazy couple of weeks.  I'm working on a series of farm animals for an upcoming show at Jubilee Biodynamic Farm.

I'm still painting lots of wild fauna, of course.  I just finished this particular painting, which was my first attempt at painting a cougar.  It's amazing how much my own housecats resemble this impressive animal.  Cougars are the largest cats that can purr (to the best of my knowledge...scientists are still debating, apparently).

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/

http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/

kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Little Bighorns" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Little Bighorns" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on canvas

14" x 11"

$275 + $20 shipping (contact)

I decided to experiment a bit with this one.  I used isopropyl alcohol to dissolve droplets of paint on the canvas; I started by using the alcohol drops just on the rocks, then I liked the effect enough that I expanded them to the rest of the canvas.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/

http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/

kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Allies for a Season" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Allies for a Season" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

24" x 36" x 1.5"

$1100 + $45 shipping (contact)

I came down with a head cold and fell behind on my painting. Nonetheless, I managed to produce this wintry painting, which definitely fit my under-the-weather mood. :)

The pigments have been mixed with incandescent pearl paint, and I laid the colors on layer by layer. A soft purple/magenta shows through the blue layers, but this unfortunately doesn't show up so well in the photographs.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/

http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/

kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Grazing I" & "Grazing II" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

 "Grazing I" and "Grazing II" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

8" x 8" x 1.5"

$115 each or $200 for the pair

Available for purchase at Proctor Art Gallery, Tacoma, WA

I bought some crackle paste awhile ago and finally decided to try it out. I combined it with a light molding paste so that the centers of the canvases wouldn't be as crackly.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson

http://kristinjurist-art.com/

http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/

kristinjurist@gmail.com

"The Great Gray Ghost" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"The Great Gray Ghost" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
14" x 11" x 1.5"
$275 + $20 shipping & handling (contact)

This particular piece is a departure from my usual four-legged subjects...I just had to paint that beautiful eye! That striking yellow-orange color is the actual hue of the owl's eye - I based the whole color scheme of the painting around it, accordingly. Iridescent gold paint is mixed in with the pigments.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/
http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/
kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Shy Elk Calf" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Shy Elk Calf" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas / 11" x 14"
$325 unframed or $400 framed

Available for purchase through Freshwater Studio & Gallery, Dillon, MT (contact)

I still had wet paint leftover from some recent paintings, so I decided to keep rolling with the elk theme and produced this little guy. I never realized how knobby an elk calf's knees were until I painted them...

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/
http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/
kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Awakening" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Awakening" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas / 18" x 24" x 1.5"
$575
Available for purchase through Freshwater Studio & Gallery, Dillon, MT (contact)

Here's another elk in dawn light with an entirely different color scheme & mood (as compared to Morning's Call). Iridescent copper paint is mixed in with the pigments to give the piece a more subdued glow.

I've been having a lot of fun trying new directions lately - it's far too easy to box oneself in, so I'm working on experimenting more and forcing myself to let go of the attention to composition in my reference photos. Over the past few months, I've been focusing more on the portraying the form of a subject (I waxed philosophical on that on my blog in July) - I'm trying to convey the "elk-iness" of an elk, the "morning-ness" of morning, etc. I have a lot of work to do, but it's an exciting journey:)

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com
http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com
kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Running Before Time Took Our Dreams Away" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Running Before Time Took Our Dreams Away" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on canvas / 24" x 36"
$650 unframed or $875 framed
Available for purchase through Freshwater Studio & Gallery, Dillon, MT (contact)

I was listening to Pink Floyd's album "The Division Bell" while painting this one. The painting's title comes from a line in that album's last track, "High Hopes" - it really stuck out to me as I was working on the buffalo.

The photo has some light reflection on the left side, which helps to reveal the texture a bit in the photo. I've been working on practicing patience lately with my art, and I feel like that's permitting me to produce richer colors on the canvas (that effect isn't translated as well when photographed). The immediate gratification of using palette knives to mix colors on the canvas is wonderful, but I wanted to achieve more depth without using more texture. Texture is still an integral part of a painting like this, but I've been layering textured paint with light color washes to make the effect more subtle. I've also been scraping with the knives more; once several layers of texture and color have dried, I literally scrape more color onto the canvas to achieve softer highlights and to make the paint break in a natural-looking way. The layers of colors interact with each other to produce a bit of a glow.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com
http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com
kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Morning's Call" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Morning's Call" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson
acrylic on canvas / 24" x 12"
$525 unframed or $650 framed
Available for purchase through Freshwater Studio & Gallery, Dillon, MT (contact)

This was my first attempt at painting an elk, and surprisingly enough, I found that the antlers were my favorite part of the process...I had assumed that they'd drive me batty. I mixed more of that lovely iridescent gold paint in with my pigments. I dripped paint from the bottom of the canvas toward the top to vaguely suggest the appearance of a field.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com/
http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/
kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Uphill" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Uphill" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on canvas / 24" x 12"
$525 unframed or $650 framed
Available for purchase through Freshwater Studio & Gallery, Dillon, MT (contact)

The mighty American bison is truly a remarkable creature - it's so solid and powerful. What I love in particular about them, though, is how they're both majestic and goofy - they always have that ridiculous patchy fur in warm weather and they like to roll around in the mud as much as a dog does.

The background for this painting consists of several layers with both palette knife and brush work. I wanted it to have a sort of cave-ish appearance, and the acrylic gels work really well when trying to achieve a rocky, organic look. The buffalo himself is painted in shades of red and yellow, and his horns & hooves have a blue-ish tint to them.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson
http://kristinjurist-art.com
http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com
kristinjurist@gmail.com

"Summer Relief" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

"Summer Relief" by Kristin Jurist Haakenson

acrylic on canvas / 24" x 12"

$525 unframed or $650 framed

Available for purchase through Freshwater Studio & Gallery, Dillon, MT (contact)

Sketching this moose prior to painting him was my first foray into the world of moose-drawing. They're beautiful creatures - I love those big goofy grins and huge noses. I remember being in the Grand Tetons once with my parents when I was young...we were hiking and spotted a moose calf no more than 20 feet away from us, just off the trail. Its mother was close by, eyeing us suspiciously and ready to trample us if need be. It was really quite an impressive encounter, and I gained a lot of healthy respect for those big animals. And here's my little nod to them: a bull moose getting some relief from the summer heat.

I used my new iridescent pearl paint for this one. It's particularly noticeable when the light hits it from different angles. The textured background was created by applying paint with palette knives.

Kristin Jurist Haakenson

http://kristinjurist-art.com/

http://kristinjuristart.blogspot.com/

kristinjurist@gmail.com