Some work in progress for today. The image this painting is based on was another winner in my November Gratitude Giveaway. Such emotion! I am back to watercolor, as you see :). I discovered that working in other media, in addition to being challenging and interesting in itself, also refreshes my love for watercolor.
In other news, my artwork will very soon be gracing checks, checkbook covers, and address labels that you will be able to order for yourself. Stay tuned for details!
Not the kind of values you are thinking about if you're in tune with the world of art-making, but very much important kind nonetheless. These are concepts that are important to me as a person and as a businesswoman (yikes! I just called myself a businesswoman 8-O ). It's another exercise from Right Brain Business Plan. The prompt is to think back to a time in your life when you felt on top of the world and fully alive. The goal is to identify your core values. Once you have an understanding of what they are, you create a collage for each of them. I did it on index cards. The image above is actually six index card collages combined.
As with the previous exercise, I discovered (or, rather, uncovered) a few things about myself. One of them is the fact that respect is extremely important to me, which is why I can't stand bullying and condescending attitude. Apparently, only a few people (excluding my own husband) are aware that I like me some adventure. Now, I did put motorcycles and plein air painting in the same category here, but that's because plein air painting can be quite thrilling. Try it :) Also, I like my adventures to come with basic necessities of life, like hot showers.
I'm not sure I'll get to finish a painting tonight so I'm posting this instead. It kind of counts, no? I definitely spent quite a bit of time on and put quite a bit of thought into it.
What are your values? Please share in the comments! I would love to know!
Another scene from my backyard (the first one was the IKEA chair). Once again, I became inspired by the afternoon light hitting the things I see every day and making them appear special and beautiful. The inspiration caught me on the treadmill, of all places :) We have one next to the window looking out into the backyard. No, I didn't paint on the treadmill...though there is something in the idea...I paused it and snapped a picture with my phone.
I got myself a set of palette knives probably about a year ago, with the intention of using them with some kind of heavy-body medium. That's pretty much the only way I like working in oils. But somehow, I still haven't pulled the oils out or bought a set of water-soluble ones...So, here I gave it a go with acrylics. It was fun, and I'm pretty sure I work faster in acrylics than I do in watercolor.
The subject is from a photo that I took a few days ago. My sister-in-law sent us this charming set of handmade (by her!) blue cups. I filled them with milk and threw in come cookies :) I probably ate the cookies afterwards...Maybe :)
I guess I am quite partial to sunflowers. I find them a joy to look at and a pleasure to paint! I am cheating today and posting a painting that I did last year...I did not have time for a daily painting yesterday as I have commissions that people actually pay me to paint, so...I got to do that. Tomorrow is my official (as of three weeks ago) studio day. What that means is that my primary source of inspiration time-sucking parental responsibilities goes to preschool for the whole day and I get some time to myself. Mind you, I am still left with a baby but she's easier...
Today, I met up with one of my former students and current friends. We spent some time talking about art stuff and sketching. It was great and I really hope to be able to do this more often in the future. I would love to have a local group of artists to hang out like that, go for a plein air session once in a while, do critiques, visit each other...That would be so awesome. And I'm pretty much on the very edge of toppling over and actually organizing something but I know I can't pull it off with the kids and the commissions and everything else. I feel overwhelmed as it is...
Anyway, this is the sketch I did at the Starbucks we met at. The girl with blue hair really had big cobalt blue hair and the guy with the laptop was typing with his index fingers :)
So I don't know if this qualifies as a piece of art but it's what I worked on yesterday and I'm pretty proud of myself for making it :). On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I attended Jennifer Lee's Right Brain Business Plan online workshop via CreativeLIVE. Both Jennifer and CreativeLIVE deserve a separate blog post each, but I'll try to manage it with one.
First of all, I've had Jennifer's book for a year. I bought it after reading someone's excited review of it, and I liked it right away. I read it up to the point where you are asked to actually do stuff, and even a little bit past that point, and then I put it away until I had time (which, as you know, never really happens). I did sign up for her newsletters (which are awesome, by the way!) and when I saw her offering a free online video workshop, enrolled right away.
That was the first time ever I've heard about CreativeLIVE. Their main idea is offering great video courses online, with the opportunity to watch the streaming videos on the day of the course for free (plus, you can participate in the chat). If you want to re-watch it later, you have to pay. I loved Jennifer's class (although it is very challenging to dedicate the whole day to something like this, while also taking care of the kids). My head was spinning by the end of each day, from the amount of information given in both the course and the chat accompanying it, and my own ideas. I made quite a few connections with creative people of all kinds of professions and I am definitely going to attend more CreativeLIVE courses.
Now, back to the Right Brain Business Plan (abbreviated as RBBP). The main feature is the connection between your creative, intuitive self, and the real world of business and money-making. These are some of the questions Jennifer asks on her website, and it's a "yes" to all of them for me:
Do you dream of making a living doing what you love?
Does the very thought of writing a business plan make your skin crawl?
Are you looking for a fun and accessible way to map out your business success?
Right now, I am at the very beginning of it. I created my vision collage. The process was very intuitive and soul-searching in itself. I think being in my current creatively-adventurous-30-paintings-in-30-days mood helped quite a lot with letting go and seeing what I come up with. And what I came up with is this accordion book you can see below and, in flattened-out version, at the top of the post. I made the book itself out of a manila file folder, by cutting it in half horizontally, gluing the pieces together, scoring and folding the pages. The stuff I glued on it came from magazines, catalogs, and internet. And prints of my own artwork :)
I had quite a few revelations while I was working on it. My MAJOR revelations were 1) that the work/life (im)balance is the source of greatest stress for me right now and 2) that I really need a support group. The latter was surprising, because I've always thought I would be glad to just lock myself in my studio cave and paint my life away. Turns out, I need a little bit of good people now and then :)
Here is a little summary of the ideas in the collage:
- Get more of my art into more homes.
- Have a dedicated studio outside of my home, one that can also serve as a gallery and a teaching space. See if you can find my "Artist's Butler" :) Hey, a girl can dream...
- Travel.
- Teach. I want to launch an online painting course this year!
- Get a mentor. Become a mentor. Find a support group.
- Have work/life balance. Easier said than done, but I guess naming the problem is the first step to solving it, eh?
- Enter and win shows and competitions. Get featured in magazines and online.
- Travel more!
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The 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge is in full swing and I'm still feeling up to experimenting and trying new things, just like I did at the beginning. I think that's great. And I'm also looking forward to taking a few weeks to catch my breath when it's over :).
The painting today is another abstract that I don't even have a title for yet. Here is a secret (though maybe it's not a secret by now :)): even though my work is almost exclusively representational, I love abstracts. Not all of them (did someone say "Pollock"?), but some. I love the powerful connection they can have with your very own, personal experiences, associations, and just unclear fuzzy feelings. I love how much space they leave for the viewer.
Does this image make you think or feel anything? Please share, even if it's negative! :)
Should art be intuitive or thoroughly thought out and planned? The truth is, there is space for both approaches. Most of the time, I combine both, with heavier leaning towards pre-planning. I start with a general idea and, most likely, a sketch, and then let my gut lead me in terms of color choices and general development of the painting. I almost never just jump in and start making art...but I really should do it more often. The little painting above happened by itself, without me having the slightest idea where I was going when I put my brush on the paper. And there you go, it's a tree, and it's kind of mystical, and there is a person :)
How do you do it? Do you trust your intuition or tend to micromanage every stroke?
I had this intense desire to paint a chair. It came to me as I was falling asleep a few nights ago and it would not let go of me! I noticed that at a certain time in the afternoon, the sun hits our weathered backyard IKEA folding chairs and they somehow become architecturally interesting...So yesterday, I painted one of them. I still feel awkward doing acrylics but it helps to lower expectations and just let things happen :)
Still need to do a little bit of work on this one but I'm pretty sure it will be finished today. This is a commission for a local family, their father/grandfather who passed away last year. I was intrigued by the reference photo and the character in it. It also reminds me a bit of my blacksmith painting.
I took advantage of Artist Network TV free trail and learned a few things about pastel yesterday. Like the difference between hard pastels and soft ones and when to use both (hard pastels to layout and build layers and soft ones - to bring in rich colors closer to the end). This is not the first time I've used pastels, and I have a decent size collection of them, but I don't have a lot of experience. It was pretty fun (especially once the kids went to bed). I am still enjoying the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge!
Reference photo for this painting was the winner in one of the contests during my recent Gratitude Giveaway Facebook extravaganza. I loved the story implied in the picture: a parent (or grandparent) and a kid exploring the nature together. When I was little, my grandma used to take me mushroom-picking. We would get up before dawn, walk to the bus station, and take the bus outside the city. We would walk through cool, misty forests, with sunlight breaking through the trees and the ground smelling with leaves and pine needles. Sometimes, it would be a meadow with wild strawberries and raspberries or a creek with unbelievably clear water. I loved those days.
These days, I rarely find myself without a commission to be working on. Right now I have four. It's a good thing because:
- I get paid for what I love doing.
- Most clients let me "do my thing" without micromanaging. They know I know better :)
- I actually like bringing art into their lives by painting something (or someone) they already love.
There are some down sides to doing custom work, of course, but I'm okay with them for now.
The two sketches today are for portraits of two brothers that I will be working on over the next few weeks. Thumbnail sketches are what I do after reviewing the reference photos and before starting the work on the paintings. I find them helpful in many ways, such as getting familiar with the subject, figuring out format and composition, getting a feel for the colors I may use in the painting, and communicating to the client my vision for the portrait. Sometimes I do several sketches and let the client choose...people like having a choice :)
Interested in commissioning a painting? Go here.
Yesterday was my son's first day at a local preschool/day care. He was there the whole day, which means, even with another baby at home, I had time to paint, respond to emails, make calls, update websites, and paint! It was awesome! I felt like I had an unbelievably vast amount of time to do (almost) what I please with.
I painted this still life arrangement from life. No drawing, no planning, just letting the paint run. When I was done, the eggplant and tomato were sacrificed and made into a pretty yummy dinner :)
Tried another something new here. The texture underneath (which is much more pronounced in real life) was made by accident. I was mounting a sheet of watercolor paper on a hardboard panel with extra heavy gel medium. It didn't quite work as I wanted it to, so I ended up taking the paper off and mounting a new sheet with regular consistency gel (which worked just fine). The leftovers of the extra heavy gel on the first sheet created interesting texture, so I saved the paper for later experimentation :)
I missed another day of 30x30 yesterday :/. I kind of expected to not always be able to do daily painting but it makes me sad when I'm busy with "life" and can't paint :(.
Pretty sure this is my first underwater scene! The reference photo is from Monterey Bay Aquarium. I've had it for years and thought it would make a good largish watercolor painting, whenever I get to paint it. Well, the time has come, and in the spirit of adventure, I did this in acrylic. I also took some progress photos and will post a step-by-step soon.
You might or might not have noticed that I missed Day 7 and did not post yesterday. This is mostly due to the fact that my painting time the night before got sabotaged by my son throwing a fit while climbing his bunk bed, falling and hitting his head. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, but Elijah has hemophilia. We wanted to make sure there was no internal bleeding and took him to the emergency room. He is fine.
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I am almost beginning to like my "failed" paintings more than my "successful" ones. The reason? Because I can tear them into pieces (and that is satisfying in itself :)) and make collages out of them. I am thoroughly enjoying the quiet, wondering, intuitive process I just discovered.
What do you see? How does it make you feel?
After the acrylic pear, I wanted to paint one in watercolor. By the time everyone went to bed last night, I was wiped out and needed my daily painting to be quick. It seemed like a good opportunity for my watercolor pear! I grabbed a piece of paper, started painting and immediately knew it was Lana. The paper handles so much different from all the other brands I use. It seems to have almost no sizing, so the paint doesn't move once you put it down. It's harder to do blending and soft edges. On the pros side, it shows layers of different colors so beautifully. You can almost take them apart as a puzzle.
In case you are wondering, this is not the same pear that I used for the acrylic painting. That one fell prey to my 9 month old daughter's excellent food-finding skills...
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Another abstract piece today. Instead of writing a long description of how it was made, I will give you the sequence of layers:
Layer 1: Illustration board.
Layer 2: Acrylic gesso, pushed around with a palette knife to create the ridges.
Layer 3: Watercolor wash over the whole surface.
Layer 4: Gesso "float" - watered-down gesso applied in a vertical stripe. I masked the edges of the stripe with artist tape.
Layer 5: Graphite pencil in the gesso stripe.
Layer 6: Conte crayon line on top.
Layer 7. The reddish spot on the bottom was competing with the red line, so I added some more graphite to tone it down. Done!
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