Tag Archives: challenge

Oct9

Time To Create Again!

Posted on by
Standard

Anyone who knows me, knows I haven’t been very productive in quite a while.  I’ve tried, but somehow I just haven’t been able to find inspiration…until now!

A couple of months ago, I signed up to be part of the Sketchbook Project!

For the last few summers I have watched each year as this project unfolds, and in the back of my mind, thinking one year I would join in.  This was that year!  Of course, I needed another project, but what better time to start an art project than when you’re  busy, right?  My thinking was that it is only 32 pages, and certainly a little project like that would be a snap for me!  The other thing is, we are all busy all the time anyway, so why wait?

After getting back into our home since having bamboo floors laid in the entire house (studio included), I think I’m ready to start thinking about putting pen to paper, and leaving my mark on whatever community it will be going to.  That’s not to say that everything is perfect in our home.  After all, some of the paintings still remain stacked in the corner waiting to find their rightful place on the wall.  The livingroom looks new, and fresh.   I’ve changed things around, replaced some things, and gotten rid of others.  It feels like a new home to me, and now I’m ready to get back to sketching, and painting!

It’s interesting how something like this can give us an entire new outlook on just about everything, and I find myself energized, and inspired!

Who knows how long it will take me to complete this sketchbook.  The project needs to be mailed back by January 15, 2014, so I really do have plenty of time.  Anything goes this time, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do, anything, whatever feels right!  Poetry, sketches, collage, ink, pen, you name it.

In the next few weeks, or maybe I should say, next couple of months, I’ll be posting the pages I work on, and you can tell me what you think.  Make suggestions,  I’m always open for comments, in fact I love getting comments, it keeps me motivated!

Sketchbook Project

Sketchbook Project

This little Sketchbook will be going to the Central Part of the Mid-West!

This little Sketchbook will be going to the Central Part of the Mid-West!

So for now,…..  Start a project, and share it with me!   I’ll be back!

Mar12

The Practice Never Ends!

Posted on by
Standard
Model for the day!

Model for the day!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Over the weekend, my friend and Art Sister, LaRetta took a class at the ArtBeat on Main Street in Vista. It’s a trendy gallery that the area is much in need of!  Scott Pryor was the artist,  and we were fortunate to have Billy as our model. Billy even brought his little dog, “Kilo” with him. Kilo spent the day visiting with everyone, and protecting the gallery from imminent danger!   Standing on concrete from 9am until 4pm,  left us all exhausted and ready to break out the wine…

But the wine had to wait!

Cleaning up all our supplies, packing them into the car, and driving home was about all we were good for,but we did it!

It has been years since my life drawing classes and my only thought was,  “Crap, how am I going to do this?”  Kicking my ego to the curb, I dug in like I knew what I was doing, and had a great time!  There were only including the instructor, so it was small enough to watch, ask questions, and paint without bumping into someone else.  Since my easel is far too large to be stuffed into the car, borrowing one from the gallery seemed like a good idea.

Believe it or not,

I  had to get help to set the easel up!  All my portable easels were old watercolor easels, and would never work for all it needed to do!  Once the gallery  easel was up, I set about fixing the acrylic paint so it wouldn’t dry out. Retarder  was the item of the day, and that was a   Snap!…

This isn’t perfect, far from it, but it was my first try at painting a portrait on location without the help of a sketch to get started!  There is much to be learned from painting this way, least of all – “ pay attention! “

Will I be doing this again?

You bet I will!  I had so much fun, and I love the idea of doing a painting in a day!  That’s why I loved abstract so much, get in, get out!  And it’s done!  However, once again it’s Practice, Practice, and more Practice!

The practice never ends!

Mar7

And…More Practice!

Posted on by
Standard

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This practice thing is going to be on-going for a very long time.  One might say, it never stops!

I said there were many unfinished canvases in my studio, and I was planning on finishing them.  The more they sat there, the more I started to think, “If they haven’t said anything so far, maybe even they don’t know where to go with themselves!”  So I grabbed a second unfinished painting, and gessoed  over it.  Ha! I’ll show it!  Gessoed over it very lightly, so the under layer of a mix of Quinacridone Burnt Orange, and Quinacridone Gold still showed through in places.  Then the sky came to life with some light blue, and next but not last, I lightly brushed in some violet, orange, and yellow.   That ‘s just the sky!

Now the trees!

The larger trees were already roughed in with tissue paper, so my decision to paint trees was already made.  I just followed through, and added some more trees, but decided to emphasize the bigger trees since they were standing out in the first place.  No big decisions there!  At some point, my thoughts have gone to, “Enough time wasted on this, let’s get down to business!”  While I love to keep playing with my trees, I also want to decide on what to do next, and start something else!

My ideas are all over the place, and usually I tend to jump in feet first, sink or swim……usually sink!  It would be nice to do a little more planning for the next one.  The funny thing is, I love the spontaneity of not knowing where I’m going, or how I’ll get there. I love letting the painting take the lead, with Happy Accidents at the finish of the painting!  The very thing I love the most, is the very thing that trips me up the most!  Is it the planning that is the problem, or is it the subject matter?  Or, am I not listening?

How many of you have the same problem, or do you have answers that I hadn’t thought of?  Let me know because I’ve been struggling here, and someone must have answers….

The trees are speaking……

After playing with lighting, and watching my trees, I pretty much decided to keep playing with them.  My trees are not finished, but still need shadows, more lights, and darks!

While I’m finishing up my trees, I’m also getting ready for another class.  This class will be all day at ArtBeat on Main Street.  This is a fairly new gallery in the heart of Vista, Ca,  that took me by surprise when I walked in.  The ladies that own tArtBeat are down to earth, and easy to know.  They seem to have put together a gallery rarely seen in this area!  It really belongs further south in Del Mar, or La Jolla.  It’s that classy!  So when my friend, and artsy sister said she was taking this class, at her urging I checked it out, and was pleasantly surprised.  The artist teaching will be Scott W. Prior, an artist well known in the art community.

We’ll talk…

Feb4

Just One More Class!

Posted on by
Standard

Weeks ago I signed up for a short four-hour workshop with Cathy Carey.  Cathy is a working artist, with her paintings in many galleries!  She is known for the way her paintings  sing with color and movement.   Many years ago she offered a one day workshop to “Paint Like Monet!”  I jumped all over that, and was amazed at the results.  This is when I was still painting in watercolor, and hadn’t dabbled in  acrylics,or  learn what they could do!  So when I overheard her tell someone else that she was giving a half day workshop, I hopped right on it!

I have admired Cathy for her use of color, and how she marries opposites together for many years, and now I have the opportunity to learn more from her!

This weekend was the class I signed up for, and I was excited to be there!

What transpired was a fun morning with each artist having their own spin on the same subject.  What I learned were things I already knew, but never put together in this way!  I don’t profess to be anywhere in the same category as Cathy Carey, but you have to start somewhere, right?   Especially since I’m all over the place with my art!   This class, and what Cathy was teaching certainly spoke to me – Big Time!  The pictures of my art reflect the process.  I’m sure you will agree how far I need to go, but the results were fun, and I’m planning to keep working on her technique!  I love color!!!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I have to admit, since I’m in love with color, I really like the second to the last photo.  The one with all the opposites, before the final color is applied.  To me it’s a lot more exciting, and it sings, to me!

Jan29

Time Once Again To Experiment!

Posted on by
Standard

What Are Your Feelings On This?

This is the perfect time to start experimenting with our art!  Certainly, if I don’t experiment, I won’t grow.  I have a ten pound box of Cotton Linters sitting in my garage, still in its original box, and waiting for me to decide what to do with it.  The Linters were shipped to me many years ago when I was in my paper making phase, and since then it has been given away (still in the original box), and found its way back home (still in the original box)!  I can’t seem to get rid of them!  But for the last year or so, it has been calling to me….

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Cotton Linters, they are the cotton fibers pressed into large sheets of rather soft paper.  It is easily  torn up, and run through the blender.  The pieces  get pulverized to the point of being put on a screen, filtering out the water,  and dried flat – making handmade paper!  (This is the simple version!)

10# of Cotten Linters just waiting for inspiration!

10# of Cotton Linters just waiting for inspiration!

What on earth could it possibly be saying?

I only have vague ideas of what to do with it, but that ten pounds keeps just on the edge of my creative mind.  There isn’t any way I still want to make paper, but  I was thinking of preparing it the same way, and putting it into a mold of some kind to create a raised, molded image to place in a mixed media piece.  I know this sounds vague, it does to me too.  But like I said it seems to be circling the creative mind constantly!  If it can be pulverized in a blender, why can’t it be pressed into something with a shape.  Now I’m thinking if I put Elmer’s Glue with it, i could make some harder shapes.

OMG, just think of the possibilities!

This is how we come up with new ideas that  haven’t been done before, this is how art is created!  Trial and error!

Has anyone tried to do anything like this?  I’d love to hear about it, or your thoughts, and ideas…

I’ll definitely get back to this subject at a later date, but for now, I’m letting it simmer, and marinate up there in the old cabasa!

Jan21

Just Around The Corner

Posted on by
Standard

Just when I thought I was out of the woods, it hit me…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Every year I make special Valentine cards, or ATC’s for my four grandkids and send them.  They are made with much love, and each one  is different.  The kids love getting them in the mail, and they are  always saved in a special place when Valentine’s Day is over.  I thought about this project maybe three weeks ago, just about the time I was crashing from exhaustion due to the holidays. I thought I had plenty of time!  And that was the last time I thought about Valentines!  Until now!

Now I’m thinking – “Why did I wait so long, it’s just around the corner?”  Not one thought until today!  So today is sketching, and thinking of exactly what I want to create.  After sketching a few simple Valentines, and what I might want to do, the ideas started rolling through my mind.  I think something different might be appreciated, so the hearts will hang three together, one below the other.  Maybe my pasta machine will magically appear!  I could roll some clay, cut out hearts of all sizes, and bake them.  Or, maybe I could make them out of felt , or wax paper with something pressed  between two heart-shaped  pieces.  The last two choices are pretty simple and take practically zero time to make.  But if the pasta machine comes willingly from its hiding place, that might be more fun.  Decorating the edges, writing messages in the centers of the hearts, it could be fun!  I have included some pictures of past valentines for you to see.  Maybe they will kick-start your ideas, or email me your valentines, and I’ll put them up on the next post!

Sometimes the simple things get me going…

These are all simple solutions for creating a Valentine surprise, but it’s funny how something so simple can awaken your muse, and start everything flowing again.  Especially since I feel frozen in time this winter!  I’m not going to lie, every winter I feel the cold, and dampness, and all I really want to do is curl up, and watch a movie – or in this case watch Season 1 and 2 of Downton Abby!  I am officially addicted to this series, and aside from it being really good, I couldn’t even tell you what pulls me in!

So Here It is…

If anyone out there plans to create something for Valentine’s Day, it’s a great time to start!   My sketch is made, but my ideas continue rolling in, and all that has to happen now is the pasta machine needs to find its way to my art table….

Dear Pasta Machine,  I promise to spit shine you when you get here!