Broad Stroke Technique?

Has anyone ever heard of the broad-stroke technique for pencil drawing?

Apparently, it was advocated most famously, by Ernest Watson and Ted Kautzky. I've been trying to find some information online about it, but nothing has come up.

Here's Kautzky's book on watercolor. Look at page 127 to see what I am talking about - that was done with a pencil.

Does anyone know how you get marks like that from a pencil?

Digital Mums and Goals Review

I've been playing around with the digital tablet again...the completely erasable medium...how fun can it get?

The green flower is a spider mum, I think the purple ones are just regular mums.

May Goals Review (as listed here)

Business

• Update website - done
  
• New work - progressing
• Sort out my filing system - done
• Backup Routine - in place and functioning
  

Research

• Applied research - did lots of digital exploration
  
• Reading - done
  

Artwork

• Sketches for the new work - done and to client
  
• Brush and ink experiments - did several
  
• Sketching on the spot - yes, some of the family and neighborhood done
  
• Virtual Sketch Date - loved it!
  
• My Day challenge - did not do (I did attempt it a few times, not my strength!)
  
• CP piece - did one and started another
  

June Goals

Business

• Update website
  
• Update blogroll and "about me" sections of blog
  
• New work - meet with client and continue progress

Research

• Continue reading, especially on botanical illustration

Artwork

• Work for client
• Continue ink experiments
• Continue digital experiments
• Virtual Sketch Date (June 13th is the next one!)

This month is fairly light goal-wise - to make way for summer fun!

Thanks for enduring my little monthly goal reviews, it does help keep me motivated and focused.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Brave Heart or Chicken Heart?

Just an update on this piece. I must confess that I am tempted to abandon it. I like it, I like how it is coming together. However, it is a colored pencil piece on pastelbord -- i.e. it takes time to build layer by layer. This summer is very busy, I'm not sure I can find large blocks of time for this.

So, I think I am shelving this for now. It'll be an experiment to see if I can return to a piece after an absence (something I normally can't do.)

Am I being a brave heart or a chicken heart?

Experimenting...

This post is about mixed media efforts in the above piece.

Originally, I finished the piece like this, without the background:

The problem was that it felt like it just didn't have anything tying it off and calling itself complete.

So I played around in PS Elements. Filling in the background with a few choices:




I really liked the orange background, but there is nothing to tie the orange to blue so I was afraid it would appear tacked on. The light blue option maintains unity in the drawing, but it doesn't have any complementary color "pop" and you even seem to lose a few of the mid-tone edge shapes.

I was too chicken to try and add the background in with ink (as the irises were done) so I was intent on using the very controllable colored pencil. Colored pencil is not really suited for use on watercolor paper, there is too much texture for an unobtrusive background. I added orange into the flowers and to the background, hoping to tie it all together.

I layered the background with the pencil and then lifted it of in a random manner with a kneaded eraser. In person, it has a fairly neat marble effect. Digitally, it just looks bad. So all in all, I am going to have to try and resolve my issues with making background washes - perhaps starting with the background. Trouble is, that with the inks I don't do a line drawing first, so I'm not all that likely to know where to start/stop the background.

Such an adventure art is!

Ernest Watson on Using Your Imagination

This post is about a great quote in Ernest Watson's Outdoor Sketching.

I mentioned Outdoor Sketching a few weeks ago. I have continued reading and found another great quote for you. This time in a section entitled "Use Your Imagination."

He's discussing how to make more of complicated scenes - both from life or photos. He demonstrates how a figure can be lost in front of a busy storefront. He offers a photograph and encourages the student to improvise from the reference.

"Almost everything the artist does makes demands upon the imagination. The more of that he has, the more of an artist he is." --Ernest Watson, Outdoor Sketching, p. 29

And perhaps my favorite quote of the book:
"No one knows or cares what your subject looked like; what you make of it is all that counts." -- Ernest Watson, Outdoor Sketching, p. 29

Above you see my improvisation on his photograph.

Thoughts on Acrylic Inks, Brushes and Drawing with Them

This post is a summary of my thoughts on using acrylic ink and brushes to draw - my process and a few other tidbits and opinions.

My Process With a Brush

1. At the outset I must say that my drawing process is much different with a brush than with a pencil. Pencil in hand, I usually sketch a polygon that encloses the subject, then continue refining shapes and lines from there, almost as a sculptor would work.
   
2. I load my brush with the lightest value that I see (besides a white highlight). I then look at the shape of that value.
3. Then I decide how I need to hold, twist, twirl, or press the brush to achieve that shape in one stroke. Somewhere I read that the first stroke you put down in watercolor is the best, if you go back to adjust it then it only gets worse - I can't find the quote now, but it has made an impression on me. So ink painting has become a bit like golf for me!
   
4. Next, I twist, twirl, and/or press the brush to create the shape.
5. Repeat steps two through four with the medium value shapes. Of course, as there is no outline drawing, it can all go a bit wonky - this where I hope that practice and diligence is improving my eye.
6. Then I finish with the darkest darks.

Acrylic Inks

• I'm not sure what made me try these initially, but I'm glad that I did.
• They come in a great range of colors.
• They have the usual lightfastness standards and issues.
• To me, they are less intimidating than watercolors. Once dry they can be painted over again without disturbing the lower layer. However, when wet they have the same nice "accidental" power that watercolors have.
• They are easily mixed with water and can be mixed together to create different colors.

Brushes

• Up until now, I have used a brush I borrowed from my son's watercolor set and it has worked beautifully.
• Recnetly I purchased a couple of white sable brushes that were on clearance -- they can be used with oil, acrylic, or watercolor - so I figured they'd be alright with acrylic ink. I'll let you know.
  

There is Work Getting Done

Work in Progress,
8 in x 10 in, colored pencil on Pastelbord

Just wanted to check in and let you know that work is getting done!

Virtual Sketch Date #3 in June

Hope that everyone enjoyed the virtual sketch date last week and the results on Sunday. Sounds like most people and a few new ones are keen to do it again - that's fabulous as I really have fun!

As we are gathering more and more people, we need to handle it a bit differently, just to give the most time to drawing and gawking!

Here are the steps:

1. We are calling for a volunteer to provide a reference (first come, first served.) Please comment on this post if you'd like to volunteer.
   
2. I will post the image on my blog on Friday June 13th.
   
3. Participants will have to comment on that post to be on the list (this cuts down on tracking through everyone's posts and finding who said they wanted to participate and maintaining a list.)
   
4. Participants should then post their entry on their blog sometime on Saturday June 21st.
   
5. I will then do a post on Sunday the 22nd with links to everyone's entry.

I'm in half a mind to create another blog to handle the reference image posts and list of links post. I think the sketches should remain on artists blogs. So, if this above steps work well for everyone this month (and people are still interested next month), I may set up a separate blog for the sketch dates.

A Great Quote

This past weekend I picked up a copy of Outdoor Sketching by Ernest W. Watson. He begins the book by cautioning the reader that learning to draw in the outdoors is a difficult thing.

He then says, "Is the prospect, then, disheartening? It might well be so for the weakly intentioned; for those in whom the fire of desire burns brightly the quest is full of high adventure, rewarding at every step along the way. The enlargement of one's power of expression and the awareness of new beauties in nature are great sources of delight."

That sums up the art adventure pretty well, I think.

My wonderful husband came home the other night with arms full of flowers, ice cream and chocolate! I am so blessed.

Here are some quick sketches I did of the flowers during family movie night.

Virtual Sketch Date #2: 3 Three-Legged Cats

This post is for our virtual sketch date held once a month. This month the image was supplied by Jeanette Jobson, her cat Tripod (a striking photo.)

Above you see my entry.

I feared when I first asked Jeanette to do this that she would supply a Tripod image (he is a favorite subject for Jeanette.) Now I am supremely glad that she did. I now know that I can at least create something resembling a cat. I also know that fur is annoying to draw and it won't become my favorite subject!


Here is Teresa in NC's entry:

She said, "It was a challenge. I used a grid to draw the initial image and tried really hard to look at it in terms of value patterns and not as a cat, or an ear, or a nose, etc. That seemed to make it much easier. It was a good learning experience. I probably would not have tackled this image if I had not made a commitment to sketch."

Here's a little practice one I did in PS Elements, sort of Tripod at the disco or something:

All in all, this was a fun sketch date. It's good to be challenged to try new things.

The group has expanded this time to include ten artists. Katherine has a listing of everyone on her round-up this week.

Anyone up for June?

How do you get better at drawing? - Part 4

This post is the fourth in a series on improving your drawing.

The series: How do you get better at drawing?

1. Learn
2. Practice
3. Listen
4. Practice More

Step Four: Practice More

• Like in anything, you will have good days and bad days. There will be times that you can draw anything and times that you can draw nothing. Recognize this ebb and flow. Draw new things when times are good. Draw in your comfort zone when things are tougher.
• Perfection varies. Even your own idea of perfection changes.
• Leave your drawing. Look at it later, it might be better than you think or you might see what's wrong later on.
• Everyone struggles, everyone has failures. The more you produce the easier it is to forget the bad ones.
• Know your weaknesses and work on them.
• The funny thing about practice is that it builds confidence and comfort. You just get comfortable because you do it all the time. Then, your confidence grows because your comfort level has resulted in you loosening up and making better marks.

The iris above is finished, I think. It's a gift for my son's kindergarten teacher, she does a wonderful job in her classroom (with both kids and parents).

How do you get better at drawing - Part 3

This is the third in a series on how to improve your art skills.

The series: How do you get better at drawing?

1. Learn
2. Practice
3. Listen
4. Practice More

Step Three: Listen

I don't think that art skills are best learned in a vacuum. The more that you can interact with other artists the better. The ones who know more than you can teach you. The ones that you can teach will also teach you, you'll know what you know better for having taught it to someone else.

• Join an art class in your community.
• Join a workshop a little further afield.
• Join an online group: Wetcanvas, Scribbletalk, etc.
• Form a private group of artist friends.
• Read online critiques of others work. American Artist magazine has regular critiques. Granted, it is not your work, but you can still learn.
• Read diaries or journals of famous artists. Artists talk about what they are learning and it adds to your experience.
• Read blogs - these are modern day, in real time, diaries often with interactive capabilities!
• Listen to what others (even non-artists) say about your work, it helps you get perspective on it.

The image above is a work-in-progress. Another iris, this time in colored pencil. It's 5in x 7in on Stonehenge paper. The colors aren't quite right, but you get the idea.

How do you get better at drawing - Part 2

This post is the second in a series about improving your drawing skills.

The series: How do you get better at drawing?

1. Learn
2. Practice
3. Listen
4. Practice More

Step Two: Practice
These are some ideas on how to practice, what to practice, and how to keep yourself interested.

• As they say, practice makes perfect.
• Practice as much as you can...whatever works for you...15 minutes a day. Someone recently mentioned starting with 30 seconds a day, just to build the habit of drawing regularly. Whatever it takes, you will not get better if you don't practice. I wrote recently that van Gogh began with very meager talents. He left behind over 1000 drawings. A coincidence? No, van Gogh worked very hard to improve.
• Try drawing different things. Change up your subject matter, it only broadens your repertoire.
• Draw something you've never drawn before, something you've never considered drawing.
• Draw in your comfort zone.
• For something complicated, break down the process, step by step, bit by bit. If you are working on faces, and it's going horribly, start with one feature and work on that one first. Once that one feature becomes more natural, move on to an adjacent feature, etc.
• Try different medium, to change it up for yourself.
• If you are getting frustrated, try doing a "I'm going to just have fun on this one and then throw it away." Sometimes I get too tense with trying to draw something as I want to and then it just goes from bad to worse. In those cases, if I just tell myself I can just "go for it" and it doesn't matter because the drawing isn't destined for anything, I loosen up and it works out for me. (That's when I transfer the image to better paper and start enjoying the work!)
  

How do you get better at drawing? Part 1

This post is the first in a new series answering the question, "How do you get better at drawing?"

Recently I had the assignment of drawing an animal...between you and me, I don't like them, they don't like me, and I have never been able to draw them. However, I didn't want to pull out of my commitment, so I decided I needed to boost my confidence and inspiration and dive in. I wrote these posts to myself, to remind me how I've improved in the past, to keep me eager, and to help me persevere in the task, I hope they are of benefit to you as well. None of these posts is exhaustive, they have books for that, these are just a few words to get you started. Feel free to throw in comments!

The series: How do you get better at drawing?

1. Learn
2. Practice
3. Listen
4. Practice More

On the road to better draftsmanship, the first step is to learn.

• I imagine there are people who have always been able to translate what's in their mind or what they saw into beauty on paper, but I think most artists have had to work at it. So anyone who says it's all talent, is likely lying to you. Even the great Michelangelo said "If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."
• There's that famous early van Gogh drawing, a man walking in a room, the proportions are way off and it looks like a child's drawing. But we know that he went on to greatness.

So, how do you learn?

• Read. Read books, read online, read magazines, etc. Read how to books, read about specific artists, read anything that you think might help you. Ask those you admire for what they've read. There is nothing new under the sun in the art world. The information that you need is out there, in several forms, just find it.
• Copy masters work. This is the time-honored traditional method of learning in the art world. You aren't copying them to steal their work. You aren't copying them to be them. You are copying them to get an understanding of their thought process and technical skill, so that you can use it for yourself. Once I understood how Sargent drew lips, I wasn't afraid to draw lips anymore.
• Look at art. Look at art, lots of it. Look at it in books with good reproductions. Look at it on walls. Look at it on screen. Anywhere you can find art, look at it, long and hard. Ask yourself if a piece is successful or not? Why or why not? What does it say about the subject? the artist?
• Draw subjects you like. Don't just draw subjects that have worked for others, but ones that speak to you personally. This will help you find what you are trying to say, and help you know what more you need to learn to say it better.
  

The photo above is of some weeds that my son picked for me, learning to draw is a bit like that. You start with weeds, but, with love, the weeds become a thing of beauty.

What Can You Do in Another Minute?

I promised to try the one minute drawing/painting challenge again with a brush. Above is the drawing, below the video. At the end of the video you will hear a glimpse of the fun of being an artist mom!

This has been really fun, thanks to everyone who has commented, new and returning friends alike! The challenge is fun, even if you don't video yourself. It's interesting to see what you can do in one minute. I actually was ready for the timer to go off about ten seconds before it did on this one.

Have a good weekend everyone!

What Can You Do in One Minute?

My buddy, Jo Castillo, posted a link to a video of someone doing a one minute painting. It intrigued me, what could I do in one minute? So, I did it. Above you see the drawing, below you see the video.

I'm going to try and do another one, a brush painting.

Virtual Sketch Date #2 - coming soon

We'll soon be doing another virtual sketch date. I have gathered a list of participants, if I missed anyone out, please let me know. If anyone else is tempted to join in, likewise let me know.

When Jeanette gets back into town and gathers herself, she'll send out the reference.

Participants:
Jeanette, Rose, Jeanne Grant, Stacy Rowan, and Teresa.

Above is some sage from my front garden.

At Work and At Play

"At work" means that I am busy on my new project and so I may post a little less frequently this week.

"At play" refers to the image above. I have always admired impressionistic work, like that of Karen Mathison Schmidt (in particular this one). However, I have no idea how one paints like that. Above I was having a little fun pretending that I could paint in such a dynamic way.

Website Updated!

This post is just to publicize that I have updated my website (as promised for my goals.)

What's new:

• New pieces on main page
• New section for my digital drawing/painting adventure
• New works in CP and ink sections
  

April Goals Review and May Goals

This is a review of how I met my goals in April and a look ahead to May.

April Goals:
Business

• finish still life commission - done with good results!
• update website - done and to be done again in a few days.
  

Research

• Taschen book - didn't read another page
• another book - didn't find one
• Degas reading - did finish book on Degas in New Orleans
  

Artwork

• Mendelowitz book - did a few more pages
• Sketching people - happened a few times, not enough to be effective
• CP sketching - yes, this happened
• Digital sketching - yes, this happened

A Look to May:
Business

• Update website
• New work (more on that later)
• Sort out my filing system - with the new computer, I might as well organize the areas that have fallen into disarray. Oh, and get a backup routine running smoothly.
  

Research

• Applied research this month - I am hoping to accomplish the "new work" stated above digitally. Therefore, I am going to be spending my research time this month getting good and comfortable with my tablet and PS Elements.
• There will also be reading, perhaps some reading on drawing the figure.
  

Artwork

• Sketches for the "new work"
• Brush and ink experiments - one from the photo above, clippings from my garden.
  
• Sketching on the spot, hopefully people
• Virtual Sketch Date
  
• My Day challenge - possibly
• I'd like to do a CP piece, but I'm not confident enough that there will be time to do one, so it's a maybe.

That's how my month is shaping up, how about yours?

Have a good weekend everyone!

Why Digital Painting Is Fun

This post designed to show you how much fun digital sketching and painting can be.

At the right are two images, both of the same line drawing. They were done with my new Bamboo tablet. First I drew the iris. Then I began playing with coloring it. This is what I really enjoy about the digital environment.

Drawing Digitally

• Drawing with the digital tablet does "feel like" writing with a pen and paper.
• I haven't logged that much time with this new medium yet, but it's beginning to feel like a friend, not yet an old friend, but we're comfortable with each other anyway! :D
  
• It's better than using pen and paper because you can flip the pen over and erase a line, or hit CTRL-Z to undo something you just did if you don't like it. Those are just awesome features.
  

Painting Digitally

• This is the fun part. You can endlessly modify and try new things out with layers. I think this was the third background idea I had tried, but you wouldn't know it would you? If it was done in CPs or inks, you would.
• Now you don't get the feel of paints or paintbrushes with this, but it is easier cleanup and cheaper on materials! :-)