Some doodles and a challenge

We are finally getting a rainy weekend here in Silicon Valley, which means I have a really good excuse to stay home and paint.  I have decided it's time for me to catch up on the EDM list.  I am vowing to complete at least 6 challenges this weekend.  Here's the first:

I broke my awesome pair of glasses about 2 weeks ago and here they are now, in pieces.  Thank goodness I have my old pair!

I have had to sit through a lot of meetings and classes lately and when I get bored (which is often at these things) I doodle.  This set of post-it art was from a particularly long training. The training should have been done in 45 minutes and was amazingly stretched to 2 1/2 hours!

Not the best work, but I kinda surprised myself on the gazebo- the bottom half doesn't look that bad... the top is hot mess, but I can just call it abstract and get away with it :-)  Each is of a different part of Bellingham, Washington: the gazebo and tree are from Elizabeth Park, the waterfall is the diving basin in Whatcom Falls State Park, and the last is my reoccurring favorite- the view from Marine Park.

Speaking of which, the class I'm taking for continuing education credits has been taxing at best- a class of 18 year olds "discussing" literature they didn't bother to read will do that. So I took the opportunity to draw my (apparently) favorite scene...

I think this one came out nice... the people sitting directly next to me in class seemed to think so too :-)  I really think that art should make you happy when you see it (even if the subject matter is sad) and *this* makes me happy.

From pears to apples

Still working on Jane's first lesson... here's my second painting on the awesome hot press watercolor paper (5" x 7")!

I can't express my love of this paper enough.  I really feel like I know what I'm doing using this stuff.  Thanks for everyone's reply to my last post.  I've been feeling like I'm improving (or even if I'm not, I feel more confident) and it's nice to get some confirmation from others on the subject.  I'm glad I found EDM at the beginning of my art "career"- it's kinda cool to have people watch me get better besides myself.

Well I'm off to gather leaves for our lesson on greens!

Pears

I am taking Jane LaFazio's Joggles.com class and the first assignment is fruit.  I chose pears mainly because I figured if I was buying the stuff it should be fruit I like to eat :-)  Plus I've always really enjoyed the colors of pears... they've always appeared more matte than apples to me and I like that lack of shine.  Anyways, here it is!

There are some new things and techniques I have tried on this piece.  First, I'm using the most expensive paper to date- Acquarello Artistico extra white 100% cotton hot press 140lb watercolor paper (5"x7").  Yep, that's right- hot press.  I didn't know watercolor could be done on hot press until now and all I have to say is holy jeez!  Where has this stuff been!?  My paint all of a sudden flowed just like the people I've watched who know what they are doing!  It was so forgiving- I might never go back to cold press again! (Well that's not true cause I still have a ton of cold press left... but you get the idea.)  Totally worth the extra monies!

Second, I really planned out what colors I was going to use and really took my time painting.  I know I spent a long time layering my Deception Pass piece, but I really just flew by the seat of my pants on that one.  This piece I really thought about what colors I would use in advance and really gave each layer some time before I added to the paper.  I think it came out better for the time I spent.

Lastly, it's important to note that I finally figured out how to use the scanner function of my printer!  Hooray for better picture quality!!  I'll prolly rescan my Deception Pass piece because the pictures posted here really didn't reflect the colors on the actual piece.

Deception Pass WIP #3 and Finished Piece

I am very glad I decided to do this piece in stages.  Using the whole sheet of paper is still kinda scary and I loved my pencil sketch so much it was hard to add color.  I kept thinking that I was going to ruin it somehow.  After I did the mountains, I worked on the sky, trying to get the fade to almost white towards the horizon to look natural.

I was still rather unhappy with the mountains' color... a little too green.  So when I took up the painting today I decided to add more browns throughout and I think it looks more like the real thing.  I also decided to try wax to create the reflection of the sailboat in the water as well as the crests of the waves left by the faster passing ships.  I found that layering the blue after amble drying time got the color dark enough finally.  Overall I am pretty proud of myself.  I really like it.

I am already trying to find another larger subject to paint so I can feel more comfortable with a whole sheet of paper.

Deception Pass WIP #2

I have finally conquered  my fear of putting paint to paper on this one.  I decided that I will do this in stages, especially because the color is a little too mossy green... I need to add some more tanny browns for the rocks on the far shore, but I didn't want to overwork the paper.  Anyways, less chat more art.  Here it is.

Some of you may notice that I have no ink on this painting.  I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  First off, the bridge is green and I don't have a green sharpie that dull industrial green color- or anything even close!  Secondly, I kinda am feeling more natural colors and textures would best suit this landscape.  So after staring at the sharpies and the drawing for a long time, I decided to be brave and not outline anything on this one... though I'm still not sure about the sailboat which was all white with white sails.

Deception Pass - WIP #1

Last February I got to visit Deception Pass inbetween Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island in Northwestern Washington State.  It is beautiful there, though I must say I didn't venture out onto the bridge by foot.  It is amazingly high and my fear of heights stopped me in my tracks.  We hiked down to the strait's shore and I got this amazing photo:

I decided about a month after this visit to try to do my first full page watercolor (ordinarily, I fold the page in half because for some reason a whole page is just too scary :-).  So here is the pencil sketch I have done so far.

Now that it's all sketched out, the paper doesn't seem so big and scary anymore :-)  I hope to have the inking done soon.  Then I plan to watercolor the whole thing.

Some of my first doodles

I did these two doodles while waiting for my online game to load between zones...which can sometimes take a while.

Both are done with whatever Crayola crayons I could find in the computer desk drawer, a medium point black Sharpie, and generic computer printer paper.  Not the fanciest, but they definitely got me through those long zoning times.

My latest EDM Challenges

As I said in my last post, this summer has been crazy, but I have still managed to do some art!  I did a bunch of EDM challenges recently in my watercolor moleskine.

#6 is of a glass horse figurine I've had since I was very little, maybe kindergarten age.  I had a rather large glass object collection, of which only this piece remains.  I've never been a horse girl, but for some reason this horse was special to me.  It has had its leg broken twice and fixed with glue, the lines of which are still visible.

I won this coffee tin in the teacher's egg-on-a-spoon race 3 years ago.  I was first place which can only be described as a miraculous win!  I have no idea how I managed to keep that thing on the spoon!

I bought this necklace for $3 at Payless cause it spoke to me.  I drew out ever single stone or doodad on each string, really trying to pay attention to each stone's angles and the overall spacing of each item.  I got to listen to KSER 90.7 Everett's Nordic Root and Branches via the interwebs while drawing this one, which made the fiddly work rather enjoyable.

The school year has started for me, and while the kids and parents may only see the well oiled school day, the planning is pure chaos, loosely held together by memory and this planner.  I am lost without this thing during the school year.  I honestly don't think the year would go as well with it and copious amounts of post-its.

Boulevard Park after the job interview

So I haven't been posting as often because this summer has been very crazy for me.  I have been trying to relocate to Bellingham for a while but teaching jobs are not easy to come by anywhere.  I finally got the calls I had been waiting for and was quite the jet-setting commuter for a couple of weeks as I went to a couple of interviews.  On the last trip, I had lots of extra time to actually enjoy the town I want to move to.  So I went to Boulevard Park, found a bench, and managed to get a whole painting done before the call to sign a contract came in. (In an non-art related update, that job didn't pan out, but it's okay... next year it will work out better.)  So here is the inspiring view:

And here is my interpretation:

I learned a lot from this painting (which is water color and sharpie on kinda cheap 90lb water color paper):
1. 90lb paper doesn't allow much reworking.
2. En plein air only really works when there isn't so much wind :-)
3. Colorless colored pencil isn't good for masking unless you want that spot to be permanently white (I've since gotten masking fluid).
4. Mountains, especially those in the distance, are hard!  What the heck is that color anyway??  I ended up using a light purple, then yellow, then neutral tint, and it still didn't look the same... any ideas?
5. I would like to practice landscapes more. It was fun to do this, but I tend to only draw one or two objects at a time, so I will try to do more of these wider views.

I like to remember what I was listening to and where I was sitting when I make a painting... this one was particularly meaningful because of the fond memories I have of the park and the reason I was there in the first place.  But I love the people around me too... there were these 2 women who were meeting to do a bible study together (they had beautiful covers for their bibles!) and they decided to sit on the rocks somewhat in front of me.  They only lasted for 5 minutes though as the winds were crazy and they finally gave up.  They mentioned how brave I was to stick it out and that I was smart to wear a sweater for the chill. Despite it being late July, I have found it's always best if I pack a jacket.  The bench I was sitting at was dedicated.  I don't who the man was, but it's such a nice bench with a beautiful view, I thought I'd share the plaque too.

Back in the...backyard?

So I am very happy that 2 days in a row I am painting!  I decided that since my trip to the park was so inspiring (not to mention relaxing) I was pack up my stuffs and head out again to be one-ish with nature.  This was not meant to be.  A huge party was in the picnic area with a huge sound system blast music. While yesterdays party noise was inspiring, this was jarring.  I feel for the neighbors of the park cause I could hear the music loud and clear 3 blocks away.  So much for peace and nature.  So back to my patio I go to make this simple but finished piece of the view I did get today.

I find it amusing that yesterday my piece was all about the sounds around me, and today's is all about wanting an absence of sounds.

Back in the saddle...

It has been a rough couple of months for me and I sorta lost my drive to draw or paint or sketch or doodle... or anything creative really.  I've tried but couldn't do it.  But today I felt different and for the first time in a long time I got my stuff together, headed to the park, and decided I wasn't going home until I had something done.

There was this birthday party in the park and the kids were really having a great time with this pinata.  It didn't matter how far away from them you got in the park, their screams after each whack would reach you.  So I drew my own.  The thing that will stick with me though is the little Indian girl, maybe 8 years old,  playing soccer with her dad near where I was sitting.  After kicking the ball around for a while, they finally sat down and the girl starts talking.  And talking.  And talking about life, the universe, and everything.  I was so intrigued at the sheer volume of material she had to talk about I started timing her.  She talked for at least 14 minutes straight (I didn't start when she started... this is how long she talked when I timed her)!  The dad just sat there and listened to every word she said.  What's strange is that this piece has nothing to do with the girl and her dad but the two are joined now.

The artist I forgot I was...

Well it has been an age hasn't it.  My life has taken some twists and turns that remind me why I hate rollercoasters so much.  It's been really really hard to pick up a brush.  I have all my supplies staring me in the face and I can't bring myself to create a thing.  I know this will pass, but it will take a little while... once things are more settled I'll be up for creating.  I have some great ideas....

In the mean time, I've been doing a lot of cleaning and organzing of my stuff.  In the process, I've found my art portfolio from middle and high school.  It was amazing to see the stuff I created back then- a real kick in the pants!  For all my protestations of my lack of talent, even I have to be impressed with the me of yesteryear.  Let's take a walk down memory lane...

Lots of EDM people have been talking about the upside-down drawings being easier than rightside-up.  Apparently, the 15 year old me agrees!  Here's a close up of the directions from my teacher's handout.

I am really excited to see how my attempt turned out... when I get my muse back I'm gonna give it a shot again and see if I fair just as well.

Next up on the non-hot tub time machine tour, an assignment from 8th grade (1994).  We had to pour through magazines to find a picture we would cut in half in a direction of our choosing.  We were then to use acrilic paints to re-create the missing half of the picture.  Here's mine with the label from my district's art show (I'll spare you all the picture of me standing next to it in full 1990's Jersey flair, lol).

I remember being proud of this faucet when I was making it, and I am really happy to have it back.  Up next was an excercize in negative space.  Another piece I actually remember making.  My penchant for brighter colors matched with black comes through even then.

I also am impressed with my experimentation with techniques as illustrated with this next find from high school (yes yes I was made to this by my teacher... but I kept this so clearly I was proud of it.)

Some of the techniques included sponge and paper textures, scrafitto, and blending.

Lastly, I present my most favorite art piece I've ever made.  The assignment from 11th grade art was to make a surrealist painting with acrylic paints.  I remember very distinctly the vision I had for this painting and while my vision was exactly realized this painting comes the closest to what I envisioned than any other painting I have ever painted.

I hope you've all enjoyed my trip in the wayback machine.  I hope seeing what I was able to accomplish will jump start me back into creating art again.  If I did it once, I can do it again.

New EDM challenge and my first assignment for the Imaginary Trip to the Beach

I have had a busy couple of weeks as far as my art goes!  I bought Arlene Steinberg's Masterful Color as well as the 24 box of Prismacolor Premier colored pencils!  I am reading like crazy and hope to have some of that art posted here soon.  I am trying to understand color more and this book is really helping.

I also finished EDM #5- Draw your bed!  My bed is very special to me because it was a handmade present for my graduation from Grad school.  I helped design it and picked the colors!

I also have bought Danny Gregory's The Creative License and am working through it.  It has been very inspiring!

The latest news is that I have signed up for Laure Ferlita's Imaginary Trip to the Beach.  This really has me out of my comfort zone and has me trying loads of new things like waterbrushes, finihing sometime this year :-) and not outlining- essentially it has me using watercolor the way I think everyone else does it.  It also had me going to the art store to buy the water colors in the tubes- yes that's right!  I have paints other than my $4.99 set from Michael's!  I bought student grade instead of Artist's grade but since this is so new I figured baby steps.  Here is my first page!

Back after some time away...

Well the holidays and getting back into the swing of school (I teach 1st graders!) took its toll on my free time- meaning I had none.  But this weekend I was determined to make time for me!  I got a blank calendar to track which days I do art stuffs and I sat down with some good movies, a huge pot of earl grey tea, some almond biscotti, and drew!  I finished 2 EDM challenges.  I decided that I am going to do them in order.  I hope to be caught up by August... not an unreasonable goal I think.

I got some pretty cool presents for Christmas- a huge portfolio in which to put my completed works, and Pigma Archival ink pens (Micron 01, 01, 05, and 08 in black), and a block of watercolor paper (Montval  140lb cold press Watercolor paper).  I also got a great basket to put all my stuff in and thus keep it from spreading out everywhere.

Well enough gabbing... on to the art!

EDM #3 Draw a wallet, purse, or bag.
I choose a basket thing that I have used as purse at SCA events (medieval re-creation).  The pattern is actually all over the real purse, but I thought that painting the pattern everywhere would make this too cluttered.  It is now that I would like to declare that I reserve the right to redo any challenge at a later date...when I have more experience.

EDM #4 Draw a cup or mug.

I drew the first mug (in fact the first anything!) I bought for my very first apartment ever.  I got it at Ross, which means it is far from unique, but I loved the colors and amazingly it has survived living on campus with 4 roommates, moving back home (with a less than considerate brother), and 2 moves to my current home.  Not many other items can boost such travels.  I really want to practice round objects.  Depth was hard on this one... but I did mange to capture the chip and a shadow (however faint)!