Categories
Drawing Faces Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Sketching in the Rain; Fingerpainting with Coffee

Potted Palm, Ink & coffee in sketchbook, 8x6"
Potted Palm, Ink & coffee in sketchbook, 8x6"

I’ve been desperate to get back to sketching and was determined to do some today while I was out for a walk doing errands. Just as I sat down to sketch, cup of coffee in hand, it started raining.  I didn’t care. Little drops of rain splattered on my paper, making interesting texture where they met the ink.

I’d forgotten my watercolor kit at home and was annoyed until I looked at the cup of coffee in my hand and thought of how much I liked sepia washes that Pete Scully sometimes adds to his sketches. I dipped my finger in the coffee and began finger  painting.

Then it was time to head home and get ready for a special 10-year-old’s birthday party. I’m the antithesis of a party girl these days, preferring quiet time alone or in one-on-one time with friends. But last night’s dinner party and today’s birthday party were both “command performances” so I gave myself the push I needed to show up.

The intimate, sophisticated dinner party for 6 last night was a joy; the other diners brilliant, funny intellectuals beside whom I felt like a peanut brain. But I adore them all and it was an absolute delight. What a contrast to the non-stop activity and noise of kids loaded up on sugar and then cooped up  indoors because of the rain today.

Mariah's Birthday Guests, pencil drawing, 8x6"
Mariah's Birthday Guests, pencil drawing, 8x6"

I spent the last hour of the 4-hour birthday marathon trying to sketch the jumping-bean children. They were nice kids; a junior United Nations representing as many nationalities as there were guests (and there was a dozen of them, I think).

I’m happy to be home now with no plans for the next couple days besides painting and sketching.

Categories
Glass Oil Painting Still Life Watercolor

What’s the Point?

Juicer #2, watercolor on hotpress, 6x4
Juicer #2, watercolor on hotpress, 6x4

I spent hours and hours standing at the easel this weekend, determined to once again try to paint a portrait of a little boy whose photograph I took a couple years ago at the San Francisco Museum of Art. After many hours and sore feet, below is how the painting turned out:

Canvas painted over with white paint
Canvas painted over with white paint

It had a few promising phases but I just couldn’t “execute” any of them to completion. At the end of the day I gave up and saved the lovely linen canvas to reuse by painting it over with white paint.

Tonight I decided to do something in watercolor just to try to have a little fun.  When I went looking for a subject to paint everything seemed tired and insipid. I think I’ve seen one too many meaningless little still lifes with a clove of garlic, a lemon slice, or an apple.  I started wondering, “What’s the point?” so the pointy juicer seemed a perfect subject.

I wasn’t happy with the first (overworked) version below, so I tried it again and the second version is at the top of the post. I didn’t have an orange to juice so I made pretend orange juice with watercolor paint.

What's the Point? watercolor on hotpress paper, 6x4"
What's the Point? watercolor on hotpress paper, 6x4"

Since I’ve been in a stuck place for a couple weeks I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of artwork would bring back my creative juices. Just making pretty pictures, developing good enough technique to be able to make classical still lifes or impressionist landscapes or traditional portraits isn’t it. So I made a list of what I do enjoy:

  1. going out sketching with ink, watercolor and sketchbook
  2. painting subjects with emotional content (like the two autobiographical series I’m planning)
  3. painting large, getting lost in the painting, having unexpected things appear and running with them
  4. drawing complicated subjects or painting details in watercolor
  5. painting my crazy dreams
  6. creative thinking to come up with concepts and images based on one-word challenges like Illustration Friday offers
  7. painting without a lot of planning, just jumping in and seeing what happen

I was  stuck on #2 because I was envisioning working with large canvases (30×40″) but thinking about the cost of the canvases and the paint to cover them, and where I’d hang them or store them if I actually made as many in the series as I intend…. and then as I was writing about this in my journal I realized the solution:

Just start! Go for it! Go wild! Play! Forget about the product and enjoy the process. So I’m going to START with the bigger of the canvases I have on hand and just keep going from there.  And I’m going to get out and sketch more.

Categories
Acrylic Painting Flower Art Glass Gouache Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Painting Camellias with Mariah

Camelia #3, Watercolor on paper, 4x6"
Camellia #3, Watercolor on paper, 4x6"

Last night my step-granddaughter Mariah, a brilliant, almost 10 year-old artist with an enviable  sense of design and assurance and confidence in her work came over for a visit while her parents went out to dinner. Even though she she was sick, she was still up for doing some drawing and painting.

We picked a few camellias from my tree and got to work (or was it play?) drawing. She wanted to use acrylics; I fooled around with gouache and watercolor. Here’s her painting:

Mariah's Camelias, acrylic on paper, 8x8"
Mariah's Camellias, Acrylic & graphite on paper, 8x8"

And here are the two I did last night. (The one at the top top of this post I did this morning, with the flowers beside the window. I wasn’t ready to stop painting these pretty flowers, the first of the flowers to bloom in my garden.)

Camelia #2, watercolor on paper, 6x4"
Camellia #2, Watercolor & ink on paper, 6x4"
Camelia #1, Gouache on paper, 6x4"
Camellia #1, Gouache and graphite on paper, 4x6"

I really don’t like the way using white with gouache looks so chaulky.  I much prefer the clear lights in watercolor that you get by leaving areas white or only lightly glazed with color.

Categories
Drawing Faces Ink and watercolor wash Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings Watercolor

It’s All in My Head

Cat-Tail Aloe, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook
Cat-Tail Aloe, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook

My artwork, that is.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and planning for my next art projects, but other obligations have taken up my art time and energy. All I’ve done the past few days is the watercolor sketch from a trip to the U. C. Berkeley Botanical Gardens (above) and the BART subway sketches below. The aloe was drawn and a bit of wash added on site; then I messed with it some more at home. There were so many wonderful options for sketching there, but my companions weren’t interested in sketching so I didn’t want to make them wait for me.

Backpacking on BART, ink in sketchbook
Backpacking on BART, ink in sketchbook
Big Feet & Big Glasses, ink in sketchbook
Big Feet & Big Glasses, ink in sketchbook

I’m quite sure this woman knew I was drawing her and I think she intentionally held her pose for me. I started with her feet because they interested me and  I didn’t think I’d have time for anything more. But because she held still I continued on up her legs and eventually ran out of room when I got to the top of her head. She gave me a big grin when I got off and I gave her one back. It was a cool little acknowledgment between us.

I’m going to start keeping my “business cards” handy when I subway sketch (those cute little Moos with bits of my artwork and blog address on them) and hand them to people I’ve drawn as I get off the train (if I have the nerve).

Taking Notes, ink in sketchbook
Taking Notes, ink in sketchbook

These two women weren’t really  seated this close. I just used the space on the page that way.

Sometimes I forget that people from my “day job” read my blog. I was in a meeting last week and one of the participants began the meeting by mentioning that she’d seen my sketches from the previous meeting we’d attended and immediately recognized some of the people in the sketch. What a compliment that was! (Thanks A. B.!)

Categories
Glass Oil Painting Painting Still Life

Balsamic Vinegar from Trader Joes

Balsamic Vinegar Bottles, Oil on Gessobord, 6x6"
Balsamic Vinegar Bottles, Oil on Gessobord, 6x6"

I love Trader Joe’s Balsamic Vinegar. It’s delicious as a salad dressing all by itself; it’s not too tart or bitter and has a pleasant, mild sweetness. I bought a second bottle to take to my office and when I saw them sitting side by side on the counter I thought they looked cute and wanted to paint them.

Then, just as I was nearly finished with the painting, the panel  popped off the easel, and seeming to be in slow motion, bounced off the brush holder  and landed on the floor, right side UP! I was so surprised, since nothing I drop ever lands right side up, but it did. I was really relieved and went back to doing some final touch ups.

The next thing I knew it was sailing through the air again, flipped, bounced twice, and finally hit the floor painted side DOWN this time. I was ready to get really sad, but amazingly there wasn’t too much damage. The biggest problem was the cat hair. I’d been meaning to vacuum sometime soon….

I touched up the areas that lost paint, picked out all the cat hair using a clean soft brush, wiped the paint off the floor and declared the painting done. I may work on it some more after it dries. But for now, it’s time to clean up, make dinner and then (ugh) do my taxes.

Categories
Art theory Colored pencil art Drawing Landscape Life in general Oil Painting Outdoors/Landscape Painting People

Hannah’s Reflection Revised

Hannah's reflection, oil on Gessobord 12x16"
Hannah's Reflection, oil on Gessobord 12x16"

After I posted this painting a few weeks ago I realized I’d left off the foamy bubbles on top of the water. Last weekend I worked on the painting some more, at first planning to just add the bubbles but ended up adding a whole new layer of paint. I gave Hannah another haircut and slimmed down her dress a bit. I felt a little afraid to go back in and start messing with things, but told myself to just have fun and see what happens.

I don’t think I quite got the essence of the foam, it looks more like rose petals floating on the surface, but I decided I liked that idea and left it alone.

I’m wondering if there is a problem with the grasses behind the rust colored reeds on the middle right that sort of point towards her head. Should that patch of yellow-green grasses have less texture, be cooler and more blurry so that they recede more? I think so.

Here’s what it looked like before in the original post:

Hannah's Reflection, Oil on Gessobord, 16x12
Hannah's Reflection, Oil on Gessobord, 16x12

I’m trying to get over the idea that paintings need to be completed in one painting session or in one day. Alla prima and plein air painting is great,  but so is letting layers dry and adding more more until the painting says it’s done. Sometimes it forgets to say “When” though, and then it’s overdone.

I have the same trouble with steaming vegetables. I lose my concentration and before I know it my broccoli has turned to mush. So is the revision mushy broccoli or an improvement? Do you think I should soften those grasses or move on?

Thinking about painting and broccoli reminds me of this poster I made a long time ago:

Listen to Your Broccoli, Colored Pencil, 24x18"
"Listen to Your Broccoli and It Will Tell You How to Eat It," Colored Pencil, 24x18"
Categories
Acrylic Painting Flower Art Monoprint Painting Print making

Monoprint Experiment with Golden Open Acrylics

Paint on plexi plate 3
Paint on plexi plate 3

After watching a demo of how Golden’s new Open Acrylics can be used for monoprinting (since they stay wet 10 times longer than regular acrylic paint) I was excited to give  it a try. I love monoprinting but working with oil-based inks can be messy and the cleanup isn’t fun so using acrylics seemed like a great option.

I think Golden’s Open Acrylics have a lot of promise as a painting medium, and seem to combine good features of oil and acrylic, but I wasn’t at all happy with the way they worked with monoprinting. As a matter of fact, these two preliminary painting layers (above and below) on the plexiglass plate, pleased me much more than the prints I pulled from them. I had much better luck previously when I used printing inks (see previous posts  Persimmon Monoprint, Magnolia Monoprint and Turtle to Swan monoprints).

Paint on plexi plate 2
Paint on plexi plate 2

Below are steps along the way:

To read the details about the photos above, or find out how you can watch the video demo that inspired me to try this by artist Tesia Blackburn,  please click Continue:

Continue reading “Monoprint Experiment with Golden Open Acrylics”
Categories
Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Blinded by the Light…of Tulips

Tulips, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook, 6x8"
Tulips, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook, 6x8"

I was taking a walk today, trying to find my way back into to the world of the living from the Zombie world I’d been in the past few days, when these tulips seemed to jump out at me. Although I had my sketchbook with me, I was multitasking on this walk, carrying groceries home from the market while talking to my mother on my cellphone. Since I couldn’t really stop and sketch, I took a few pictures and sketched in ink from the image on my computer monitor when I got home.

I’m feeling so grateful for the simple things in life right now: being able to eat and sleep and walk and sketch and breathe and be warm and dry and cozy in my own home. Sometimes it’s worth having a few days of awfulness to be reminded of just how good life is.

Categories
Drawing Faces Life in general People Photos Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings & Feeling Like a Zombie

Silly Pose on Bart, Graphite 8x6
Silly Pose on BART, Drawn later at home, Graphite 8x6

Riding our subway known as BART the other day, I sat down beside a young man who was talking to his  friend in the next seat. I asked if they wanted to sit together and they made a joke about not liking each other (actually it was a racist joke that shocked me  at first when I thought they were serious—they were of different races ). So I sat down and took out my sketchbook like I usually do. The guy beside me insisted I draw his friend and his friend immediately struck a crazy pose for me to draw.

I said I only had 5 minutes before I was getting off but they egged me on. I drew as fast as I could (in ink—what was I thinking!) and was making a pretty bad job of  it—talk about pressure! Then I had to get off and we all had a good laugh about the bad sketch (see below). I asked if I could take his picture and he agreed, continuing the pose as I quickly snapped a photo with my iPhone and then jumped off the train as the doors were closing. Here’s the photo that I put on my computer monitor across the room to draw the sketch above in my sketchbook last night:

Quick Photo of Silly Pose
Quick Photo of Silly Pose

And here’s the original sketch done on BART, along with a few others from this week:

Now, about feeling like a Zombie… I’ve been doing prep this week for a colonoscopy this afternoon. I’ve had nothing to eat since yesterday morning, except sugary clear liquids and the gallon of “Go-Litely” (hah! what false advertising!) and very  little sleep due to drinking the first half gallon last night and then “Go-ing” all nite, thus the only “Litely” was my sleeping! And for the three days prior, I was told to eat none of my usually healthy diet: no vegetables, no fruits, no whole grains. Just white bread and meat, basically. The procedure isn’t until 2:00 so until then, I’ll be under a pile of blankets in bed trying to get warm and watching a movie on my laptop.

Zombie signing out…

Categories
Art theory Oil Painting Painting Still Life

Artichokes Redux, Improved?

Artichokes Redux, oil on Gessobord, 8x8"
Artichokes Redux, oil on Gessobord, 8x8"

My artist friend Laura (of Laurelines) offered some wonderful suggestions for improving the original version of this painting.

Artichokes, Oil painting on 8x8" Gessobord
Original version

Laura said:

“One thing I’ve noticed about your oil paintings is that you don’t have the same strong value differences within objects that you do in your watercolors.”

I agreed with her and gave it another go-around, this time adding some dark glazes in the dark area and more lights in the light area. I was working from a photo (since the original artichokes are long gone), so the colors were a little different than the original.

I am so appreciative of the wonderful community of art bloggers and the sharing we do with each other. Laura and I continued the conversation, and talked a bit about plein air painting and impressionism. Then she said:

Your watercolors are pure 21st century YOU. They are clear, strong, bold, and sometimes, though not always, quirky. Your flower paintings are YOU. In oil, it seems to me, anyway, that you’re trying to be someone else or are being encouraged to try to be someone else. That way lies horrible frustration. YOU can use oils in transparent glazes, with shimmering lights and darks, that will feel like you. YOU can use complements to create shadows. YOU can do all those nifty things in oil that you do in watercolor.

What a gift it is to have someone speak from the heart like that. She so hit the nail on the head about what I was struggling with in oil painting. I told her that in watercolor I found my direction early on, knew what I liked, what I wanted to do and developed the skill to do it. In oil I started out wanting to paint like I do in watercolor and everybody told me that “you don’t do that” in oils. I had to learn about the importance of brush strokes, edges, filling the canvas rather than putting an interesting object on a white page, etc. All the books and blogs stressed alla prima, completing a painting a day, impressionism, etc. Somewhere along the way I lost my direction.

I sometimes picture life as a series of turns made when angels have perched on the signpost and pointed in the next  good direction to take (sometimes the guides aren’t angels but rather tricksters saying turn left when the correct direction is right — heaven knows I’ve made many unfortunate turns in my life). I think she might have been one of those angels, pointing me back to my right path.

I’m not sure if this version is better than the first. There are definitely more darks, but it seems to have lost its glow, partly due to working from a photo rather than the brightly lit subject. What do you think? Does it need more work or is it overworked?