Taking My Own Art Advice

After my little pep talk on Monday, I thought I'd show you that I was listening.

My art always thrives on learning something new. So, I checked out those library books and here's something I've learned.

From Working Out a Painting - Techniques for Transforming Your Oils:
It's by Colleen Browning. There's a nice chapter on "Drawing for Painting." Most of the tips in the section are things you've probably heard before, but she presents them in a clear, memorable way. I guess I got the impression that the more you seek to remember these things, the more the common errors will disappear from your work.

Folds in clothing:

• "folds widen as they fall, eventually forking into two folds"
• she draws this idea out as inverted an "Y" - this isn't original with her, but it is something I always forget about when tying my mind up in knots doing clothing
• I think trying to simplify the shape of a draped cloth with "Y"s first, and then drawing it, I might be more successful.

Section on the Face and Head:

• this section is just full of examples of common errors and how to fix them.
• connections between the neck and shoulders and the curve of the spine are very important to the believability of a drawing
• she talks about the difference between line and form and how confusing them can age a person in a drawing
  

A Pep Talk to the Homemaker

Yesterday I mentioned I've been discouraged with my art. Well, when my emotions rain, they pour...so the puddles flood into many areas of my life...including my view of how well I'm doing managing the house.

I just get cranky and every little thing annoys me. My desire is always to occupy the children with something and escape to cup of tea, chocolate, and a good moan and sob. And sometimes, it comes to that.

But, other times I remember:

• it's all fixable, given time
• taking the time to train the kids to put their shoes away today is worth it for a lifetime
• stop thinking, just do what needs to be done
• it didn't take a day for it to become like this, it will take more than a day to clean it
• just doing a couple little things will help you feel better.
  
• spend 15 minutes on a trouble spot, that's all it will take to make progress
  
• pick a room a week, hit the trouble spots here and there - soon you'll hit every room
• there is more to life than a clean house

Today's been a busy chore day, so I don't have anything to show you...but I hope to have something tomorrow.

A Pep Talk to the Artist

Lately my art output has been a discouragement to me. I just don't like what's happening on paper. There is a real temptation in times like this to just bellyache and do nothing. So, I had to sit myself down and have a talking to, I decided to let you listen in ;-).

Here's why I'm not going to whine and stop doing my artwork:

• learning what doesn't work is just as important as learning what does
• you don't know what you don't know until you reach beyond your knowledge and experience
• every artist struggles
• every artist has painted something horrible they don't want anyone to know about

Here's what I am going to do about it:

• check out a few art books from the library
• learn at least one thing from each of them
• glance through some books I own that I value and remind myself of some gems in them
• think through where I want to go with my art in the coming year
• look back to the beginning of the year and see how far I've come
• remember that consistency takes time to achieve

Above you see another work based on Susan Borgas' FreeSnapShots' Gawler Ranges series. I'm not that pleased with it, but I have more of an idea where my knowledge and skills are lacking.

Susan's photos are amazing, do take a look. I'm off to read... :-)

Sarah Simblet and Sketchbook for the Artist

Katherine has been reviewing books for October. She reviewed a book by Sarah Simblet. When I was at the library this weekend I saw another by her and thought I'd check it out. This one is entitled Sketch Book for the Artist.

It's a fun book to glance through. I can't say read through, because I just haven't had enough time to get through all of it with my other reading projects. But, I definitely liked this book and plan to continue reading it.

What I really liked:

• Her portraiture section was not overly complicated - just some good simple ideas that you'll remember later. Given her anatomical credentials, one tends to think she's giving you what's important.
• The body section was also very good. This book is full of pictures - not words. There are clues in there, but essentially the idea is to study the drawings (both hers and others) and gain a lesson.
• Her sketch copies of famous works are very interesting. She tells you what she was trying to learn from observing the original and how she went about answering her questions. She has stuff from Goya, Van Dyke, Turner, etc. She even made drawings of the brush strokes to understand movement in the paintings.
• She also displays some series from her sketchbooks. Large city type sketches made on the spot with buildings and people en masse. She talks about doing a series of sketches of just a couple of people - including her process, how she tries to capture the moment, etc.
• She's also got a section on perspective that I plan to look over more carefully (seeing as that was one of my goals this year that has gotten rather neglected. ;-)
  

Things I learned:

• Some basic anatomy about the neck and shoulders.
• How I might approach copying a painting in a museum.
• Some tips on comparing pieces of art by one artist - how to spot and define trends in a particular artist.
• That I really must get out sketching more in public places - I simply love those large city scenes with buildings and people everywhere - the ones that are "quickly" done and really give you a sense of a place.

In short, I really found this book inspiring and will continue to look through it as much as the library will allow :-). In fact, it was so inspiring that I did a little sketching with my free time before my son was out of his art class, above you see my quick efforts. (Please forgive me the horrible scan, I just don't have time to fiddle today.)

Monet Speedlink Summary and Plans

My study of Monet has run over two months. The Fineline Artists who are participating in the Monet project are picking him up again in November, having taken a break for October. I'll be busy with family visiting during November so I won't be posting as much - this is why I carried on with Monet in October. All that to say, here's a summary of what I have done with Monet and what I plan to do.

So far:

• Appetizers and Resources on Monet
• Values and the tree from Women in the Garden, 1866
• Monet and the Presence of Light
• Monet on How to Paint
• Advice to a Young Monet, 1859
  
• Monet on Having a Style
• Monet Could be Downright Odd and Cranky
• Monet and Japanese Prints
• More Painting Tips from Monet
  

Yet to look at (time permitting):

• portrait of Monet
• deeper look at his painting techniques and their applications to CPs
  
• perhaps a copy of one of his works

I apologize for being imageless today...I've got a WIP, but you wouldn't be able to see anything it's at such a preliminary stage. I'll post it as soon as there's something to see. Today is my first parent/teacher conference, so my art time will be cut a little short.

Monet and Caricatures

It's been at least a week since I've done any Monet updates for you. I'm still reading and researching. But as a quick diversion, I thought that I'd dip into caricatures. Remember, Monet began his artistic career with caricatures. In fact, it was because he was so good at them that a professional painter approached him and told him he ought to learn to paint.

So with that in mind, I picked up a book on caricatures at the local library this week. I've had a few quick glances through it - don't think I'm brutal enough to really do well at this sort of thing.

But, in the spirit of challenges, I just thought it would be fun to try a few caricatures - these are my three monkeys (as I like to call them).

More on what I plan to do with Monet tomorrow.

New Pencils...

My new pencils arrived! Aren't they lovely? Just makes me want to get busy on something new.

I've been using Prismacolor pencils up until now. They are nice, but I really love the feel of the oil-based Lyra Rembrandt Polycolors on vellum. As well, I am a bit heavy-handed and I don't want to have to worry about wax bloom.

I'm very excited about this acquisition and just had to share it! Oh, and thanks to hubby for sponsoring it!

Illustration Friday - Grow

Here is this week’s offering for Illustration Friday’s theme of grow.

My eldest son, when he was younger, used to pick up acorns, apple seeds, anything he could find and plant it in the backyard so he could grow a tree. He spent many afternoons sending “GROW!” thoughts to fresh piles of dirt.

Decisions, Decisions

Here's where I got to last night on the commission. Is it done? Hmm, not sure. I can't decide if I need to darken up some of the values to make it pop or not. This one has been a real challenge for me, more so than the others. I've been more nervous on this one than on previous portraits. There are a few reasons for that, good learning points for me.

I did this on Bristol board Smooth, so the texture of the paper is very different for me. Can't decide if I like that or not. In some ways, it gives the portrait a more polished look and looks incredible from a distance. However, there is something "magical" that a textured paper can lend to a graphite drawing, but it doesn't have that "polished" look.

This isn't a morning for decisions. Actually, since it's Friday, I've got a nice little distraction of a new topic for Illustration Friday to think about. Perhaps then I can come back and make a decision on this.

Quickie

I did this a few weeks ago. It is acrylic on canvas board, 5 in x 7 in. When I first did it, I hated it. The next day, I decided it wasn't so bad. Today, I see a big error and a few awkward bits. Anyway, off to carry on with my commission work!

Illustration Friday - Extremes

The topic this week on Illustration Friday is "extremes." This was one of the first ideas in my head. Long ago I heard someone tell a story about taking a walk with a very tall gentleman and the person was puzzled by how short his strides were. Then, when the narrator met the wife of the gentleman, who was barely five feet tall, he understood everything. The point of the story was to show how good marriages work.

New Forum, New Challenge

A Bright Spark,
5 inx 7 in, colored pencil on drafting film

A couple of weeks ago, my cyberchum Wendy Prior started a new forum, called Colored Pencil School. I tend to not get involved in boards, but I decided to try out this one, especially as it is relatively small.

Anyway, they started a challenge section. The rules are to have fun and use colored pencils. Above you see my efforts for the first challenge. As per my experimenting last week, I did this with "washes" and just slowly built it up over the whole picture, no one part being farther along than another. I did use a quick line drawing for the petals on the flowers, however, I almost wish now that I hadn't, particularly on the flower that is not in focus.

I'll assess it along the same lines as before:

• Bravery: OK, it would have been braver to attempt an animal, but I don't think I have enough of the right attitude towards animals to draw them. But, I did think this was going to be a bomb for me, but plunged in anyway.
• Speed: About two and half hours, in one sitting. Not overly fast, but it went fast for me.
• Insight: I did find myself asking good questions about values throughout, and spotting quickly where the trouble spots would be.
• Style: Like I said above, I wish I hadn't drawn in the flower petals, that might have enabled (forced) me to be a little looser.
• Growth: Hmm, well, I used alot of black...never done that before in a color picture. I realized as I was doing it that I couldn't get dark enough values with complementaries or indigo blue (my usual black).
  

With My Chisel

Vineyard in Oregon, reference
approx 4 in x 5 in (10 cm x 13 cm)

This afternoon I decided to do another quick piece. I spent about an hour and twenty minutes on this. It was a fascinating experience, again I used the sculpting idea.

Some learning points:

• Bravery: I took on a complicated landscape, normally I would be afraid to try something like this, but I was willing to go for it as it would only cost an hour.
• Speed: I finished this in a short time (it is small, but I did some peppers yesterday, same size, and didn't come nearly as close to finishing).
• Insight: I just moved down from the top, starting with "washes" in 3 or 4 areas. At each step, my mind could see what to do and my hand just followed. (I think this is why it felt quick). And then, on the next go, as I'd reach a new area, my mind had ideas for that.
  
• Style: I'm hoping this method might push me towards a more painterly style. This is something I've been wanting to explore for a while.
• Growth: It felt really good while doing this to have some of the things I've been learning recently right at hand...complementary colors, cool shades for recession, suggestion over detail, incorporating colors all over the piece.

Next week I plan to move ahead with the commission, do something for IF, and do some more quickies - perhaps with some new pencils. Have a good weekend everyone!

Update on the Commission

Here's an update on the commission. I think that's as far as I'll go on this preliminary surface. I plan to do this on Bristol board. I haven't decided whether or not to put in a background. I may have to do something along the top, otherwise it may look bottom heavy...and it would be nice to spark up the baby's white hat with a darker contrast behind it.

I've been playing more with CPs and the "sculpting idea". I'll show you something about that tomorrow. Have a good Thursday!

A Little Experiment

Last night I was tired. You know that sort of...not-getting-up-for-another-thing tired...too-tired-to-scoop-myself-ice-cream tired. (This fatigue has nothing to do with the Cowboys improbable, amazing to the final second win on Monday Night Football. :-) So, I thought I'd just curl up with a little Monet reading till it went blurry.

Then, I realized that art has been getting the short stick around here lately, which is necessary, but tends to make me grumpy. Anyway, I was too tired to work more on the commission, so I decided to just find something on WetCanvas and have a play around. Right before I did that I decided to check Maggie's blog for a little humor (as I was grumpy). Lo and behold, she had a great post on her process for acrylics. (It's really interesting both in content and that Maggic writing of hers.)

Her process sounds just like Monet's in oil. So, as I had hinted yesterday, I wondered if that sort of "sculpting" idea would work in CPs. The majority of WIP CP works that I see don't follow this sort of process - I assumed that it had something to do with transparency and the need for planning. I left a comment and wandered over to WetCanvas. In my self-imposed time limit of 10 seconds, I found a photo.

Then, I decided that I didn't need to wait for Maggie's answer, why not try "sculpting" this piece in CPs? It's only a "get me out of the grumps" piece anyway. So, above you see my efforts. It's not a tremendous piece, but it was an exciting time of development:

• Working all over the piece and not developing any part of it more than any other part. (I already know this is profitable, it just takes discipline to do it this way.)
  
• Trying to not forget about values and their importance (this is where the sculpting part really sings - but is also a little tricky).
• Guessing around at which colors I really wanted in there (note to self, find a better way to sort your pencils then throwing them randomly into three different cups)
  
• Working without an outline (please forgive the wonky pots)

It's all more food for thought for me...

Monet's Thoughts on Painting

Reading in House's chapter "Buildup of the Paint Surface" the other night I came across a few of Monet's ideas on painting.

• Sculpting: "Work on the whole picture together, to work all over or not at all." (Monet)
• I came across this same idea in studying Sargent in January.
• It is interesting to think of a drawing as a sculpture that you just slowly chip away at.
• It seems to be a popular way of working in oils. It would work in acrylics or graphite. I'm not so sure that it would work with pen and ink or colored pencils.
• Ebauche: Underpainting (grisaille is an underpainting in grey)
• Monet did a quick underpainting (in multiple colors).
• This practice was "determining at the outset the tonality of the whole." (Monet)

Some interesting ideas here, neither of them innovative, but interesting to find that the masters used techniques that are still recommended today.

Illustration Friday - Open

Drawing opens up new worlds

I've been toying with the idea of joining Illustration Friday for a while now. My pal Belinda sent me a "do it, do it" email, and so here I am. Another pal, Kasie, also joined up this week.

The thing is, I would consider my illustrative skills to be almost non-existent. And composing ideas for that sort of thing? My brain never works that way. :-) So, I've been a little afraid of trying it. But, I decided thar I didn't have to make being a great illustrator my goal.

So what are my goals:

• practice the art of capturing an idea in images
• try out a little humor in artwork
• have some fun with art - no research (that will be hard for me), no expectations, just having a little fun making marks.

This week's theme is "open."It took me one day to come up with a good idea that I couldn't execute. It took another day to come up with the above corny idea...I decided to just go with it...that way, I should see improvement quickly!

Monet, Prints, and Composition

Here's the commission I'm working on. This is just a preliminary, maybe an hour's work. It's not on the final surface yet, I'm just trying to get a feel of what will give me trouble...

I'm sorry that my blog has been so thin on the ground this week. It's just been a busy week around here.

I have been reading some more of House on Monet. I've been reading the chapter on "Pictorial Composition and Choice of Viewpoint." I'd like to tell you something fascinating, but honestly, I don't think I really understood what he was saying. He did talk about Japanese prints and the similarity between many of Monet's works and contemporary Japanese prints. House thinks that Monet was more inspired by nature than the prints. He thinks that Monet looked at a scene and it just made sense to him to do it as it had been done in prints, not that Monet was deliberately trying to do something as it would have been done in a Japanese print of the time. He also thinks that the works of Monet that closely resemble prints are accidental rather than intentional. For instance there are prints that Monet owned that are very similar to paintings he did. House thinks that possibly Monet bought the prints later because they resembled something he had done, rather Monet taking a print, finding something nearby that resembled it and painting it in the same composition.

Hard to say what the truth really is...I don't agree that it would detract from Monet if he had deliberately taken ideas from Japanese prints. He still did his works in his own style. Today to mimic a composition from someone else would be considered a mark of respect. And personally, I don't think respecting the work of others, or learning from them, makes you less of a master. Monet was an excellent artist, even if every idea he used wasn't completely his own.

Plans for October

I just thought I'd give a quick sketch of what I plan to do this month.

Master of the Month: Monet
The FineLine Artists are planning to spend two months on Monet, with a little break this month for other activities. I am going to have company for the second half of November, so I am going to spend my second month on Monet in October. So, I plan to continue reading on Monet and will post anything "juicy" that turns up. I plan to look at optical color mixing as well, but that is a significant challenge, so if all goes quiet on that front - you'll know it's not going well. :-)

Artwork: Portrait Commission
My next project is a portrait commission, to be done in pencil. So, I will be working on that this month.

Artwork: Gawler Ranges
One of my goals for the year was to try and get 12 pieces together to do a calendar of some sort for friends and family. As I have left it so late, it is looking unlikely. However, I am at least aiming to do a series from Susan Borgas' Gawler Ranges photos. We'll just see how many I get done.

I've just had a look at my mid-year goals review. (I guess that makes this a quarterly review - just to make sure that I'm happy how I'm spending my art time for the remainder of the year.) I'm glad to see that some things are progressing on that front. The only goals that aren't being touched are perspective and architecture. I have done some reading on perspective, but haven't taken the time to practice any of that. Architecture has really gone by the way-side, but I am happy with where things have gone otherwise.

So, we've got some more Monet, a portrait, and some landscapes coming up!

Final on the Gawler Ranges at Sunrise

Here's my final for the Gawler Ranges at Sunrise piece. I've darkened the foreground a bit and defined the white bushes a little more.

This piece was done from a photo by Susan Borgas, on her FreeSnapShots blog. I highly recommend a look there if you work from reference photos. She's talented and has a good eye.

As a summary on this I thought I would just run over a few goals I had in doing this, and whether or not I met them.

Goals for Gawler Ranges at Sunrise piece:

• Do a "big" work. This piece is 13in x 15in. So I feel like I accomplished something just finishing it. It is different to continue working on something this large as opposed to being able to finish pieces quickly. I'm happy I did it, but I'm ready to switch back to smaller pieces for a while.
  
• How much do I like CPs? I really like CPs - this was the longest we had ever spent together on one piece :-). I'm happy to continue investing time, energy, and money in them.
  
• Where am I getting with my CP skills? I'm better than I was a few months, but I still have a great way to go. I hope to be able to achieve painterly effects with them. I'm not really there, but I think I can get there.
  
• What do I have to learn with CPs still? Quite a bit. I'm getting better with my color theory, but I definitely have a ways to go. Also, I am understanding the medium better and am starting to have preferences about CPs. But, I still am not achieving what I see in my head.
  
• Can I do a complex landscape? I've been doing little macro pieces, or just parts of a piece lately. I wanted to try doing "a scene." I'm glad I got this finished. I was close to getting nervous about doing more than one object in a piece! So, yes, I can.

Final Reflections:

• Was this all I hoped it would be? No, but I am still proud that I finished it and that I see improvement.
• Did this make me keen to carry with CPs? Yes. It made me "more hungry" to improve.

Tomorrow I'll have a bit on what I plan for the month of October.