I must not/must resist

I continue to produce my Above and Below pictures which has grown into quite a collection. I enjoy doing these abstract landscapey and watery pieces. I have put a number of them up on my walls in frames. I like having my pictures surrounding me.

With each of these, I used paper with a nice tooth, or texture. Then turning it on it's side, I lightly dragged a stick of oil pastel  over the paper. Because the paper is so rough, the color sits on the little peaks and leaves plenty of white. I started each piece the same way, using different color oil pastel. As I felt like I was experimenting, I admit I didn't take the time to plan out the picture. I was more interested in the kind of effects I'd get.

I've used oil pastels with watercolor before, so I knew not to use a good brush, or one that was too soft. A good brush gets kind of torn up and waxy. The soft one fills in too much of the white.

The oil pastel acts as a resist, causing the paint to skip. I mostly held the brush by the end of the handle, in an effort to apply the paint lightly. l always find it interesting to focus on the materials and/or technique instead of an object or photo in front of me. There's great freedom in not having to get it right.

Spot On

I rarely spill anything. Can't remember the last time, but the other night I was using purple watercolor and didn't realize it was dripping off the table until I shifted in my chair and it dripped on my foot. Shreeek! Besides the purple splashes, there was a purple puddle on the carpet the size of a slice of white bread. 

I grabbed a full sheet of paper towel and began to blot. I blotted and blotted and filled the wastebasket with purple soaked Bounty. 

Then I sprayed the stain remover we bought some years ago when we had the ungrateful dog houseguest.

I was dizzy from bending over and inhaling stain remover when dirty beige bits of carpet fibers started showing through the now fading purple. A few more rounds of spray and blot and it really was looking good. We were heading out to an appointment so I sprayed again and left it to marinate. Came back several hours later to find....a purple spot the size of a slice of white bread. But it really was much lighter. 

What was I doing with the purple paint before it ruined my carpet and maybe my relationship? I was just messing around. I got interested in dark lines on a painted background. Not sure where I was going, but tried a few variations. Here are some samples.

Like Night and Day

Day

Night

I always have the IPad handy when I'm painting. I use it to take photos of the work at various stages to see how I'm doing. I sometimes use a stock photo or my own, which I keep open on the screen as a reference.

As most of the work is viewed online, it's helpful to see how it looks on a computer. I will make changes based on what the camera captured.  As the pictures are back-lit on a screen, they look different than in person (often more vibrant). It's also convenient for uploading a pic to my blog or sending in an email.

The IPad is not always the best solution as you cannot get a high enough resolution for printing. If you want to get prints made larger than a postage stamp you need a camera.

Lighting when taking photos is, of course, vital. When I'm painting in the studio after dark and have lights on, the colors are very different than when I take a picture in daylight. Here's a dramatic example.

Take Away-an exercise in mindfulness

Non-dominant hand

As I first saw it

Taking lines away

This week, in our mindfulness art group, we explored drawing an object as it is, then drawing it again, taking something away. This prompt could as usual, be interpreted in whatever way we chose.

There were beautiful flowers on the table and I took a few to my seat. In the warm-up, we drew the object as we saw it, with non-dominant hand. After that came drawing it again and again, taking something away each time. What we took away was left up to us.

When asked to describe our experience, I realized that taking something away, even if it's a mark or color, not only can radically change the picture, but it can also change the way I feel. As I brought fatigue and sadness to class, (the reason to be discussed over drinks some time perhaps), doing this exercise tapped into a sense of loss. Each time I took something away was a very powerful experience. I was aware of feeling vulnerable already, and thought I was playing it safe by just changing line, layout or shape, etc. Interesting...

Taking away the stems, leaves

Changing view, background, layout

Sea Me Later

Well! It's been really tough. We've been in techno-hell for about 

2 weeks. The voicemail was down, the TV kept crashing; the computers just kept loading and loading. It goes on and on. Could not rely on any of our devices. It's been seriously stressful and disturbing.

It has been particularly limiting since I'm in the middle of several projects; all on the computer. I see that after I spend a few hours wrestling with Mail Chimp or Wordpress, there isn't much energy left to draw or paint or write.  

I have an agreement with myself to create something on paper every few days, and to post to the blog. I have not been able to produce much recently. I did finally, last night, finish this piece. 

So the message is to just keep going, even if it feels like you're under water, without oxygen. Chances are, you will surface very soon, and begin to swim with the current.

It started with an apple

So what happened was, we brought home a big bag of apples

picked from our friend's trees. Some of them were really gnarly, and many still had a piece of branch and their leaves attached.

I couldn't help but want to draw. I got really interested in the leaves as they still had some energy, but were getting a little crispy.

I was using a pretty soft pencil. It was soft and dark and I think that I probably would do better with another as it would take longer to look like I did too much.

I made about a dozen sketches 'til I got one that I wanted to paint. I was working at my table and when I was finished, the afternoon sun was peeking through the trees, making shadows on my painting. So I took a photo.

I made a book! ( with help)

Had a great time at the book binding party at Rosemary Starace's studio Wednesday nite. In preparation I gathered up some of my cartoons that were in many different files and tidied them up, printed them out, etc. Sounds simple, right? It took me all week to organize them.

I knew nothing about book binding, so I just brought card stock and mat board to make covers. Not good choices.  The 'ruggedly handsome' print maker, bookmaker guy, Michael Vincent Bushy, and trusted sidekick, Jean Carrie Converse, managed to help me, as well as the other participants (there were a lot), finish a beautiful book before the end of the workshop. As I'm not very precise, Michael also creatively did corrective surgery on my book to make it look better. I loved the event. Thank you Rosemary and Alan for hosting. Thanks Mike and Carrie. You were all amazing. Here are a few photos of my cartoon book.

Need to get out more

My brain is fried. 
Our email is down. Been trying to fix it for a couple of days. Verizon and the Geek Squad couldn't find the problem. We're going out to Best Buy to buy a new router. Sure hope that works.

Meanwhile, I've been obsessively preparing for a class we're going to tonight on book binding. I've printed out a bunch of cartoons that I've drawn and am curious about how to make a book out of them. Here's a sample cartoon, applicable to today.

Geo-metricks

Been playing with some ideas inspired by a variety of pictures I found online.

The examples here have to do with geometrics dividing up the page, trying some new materials, and creating textures in ways I never tried before.

In the first 3, I used various objects to create the shapes on paper. Also, bubble wrap, splatter, salt, scratching, masking tape, netting that held potatoes, inks as well as watercolors.

In the 4th, I gessoed a piece of cardboard kind of willy nilly to get some very interesting textures. I'll try it again, but using the gesso is rather messy for my small studio. I would like to apply the gesso with an intention. Also, I'd to try it with a much looser composition; something kind of flowing, to see how the paint goes on.

Today's Paper

I believe Asians have innate talent in making art. After all, they invented paper and writing. I discovered some raw rice paper I had bought some time ago when I was studying Chinese brush painting. I decided to test it out with watercolors this time, as opposed to ink. Raw, or unsized rice paper has those threads running through it. You can see the threads in this close up.
click the pic to enlarge.

This paper is very soft, almost like fabric, and it absorbs the paint and makes it spread very easily; too easily. It's going to take practice to get some control. One really needs a sure hand and a light touch.

Next--You can see how the colors got absorbed and ran together. Also, the paper buckles from the water. You have to iron it afterward to correct the crinkles.

After making a number of 'practice pieces' I still think  I may take some time to improve working with this paper. I do think it can be beautiful.

Building a Stone Bridge

It challenges me when I want to draw a something that looks fairly simple, and my hand just doesn't get it. Here's an example of what I'm talking about: I had the idea to paint a stone bridge. I looked for a photo as a reference. I'd never drawn one before and I wanted a photo that wasn't too complex.

 

I found a picture that I liked.Well! I had such a hard time capturing the arc shape of that bridge.
 I drew on layers of tracing paper so I could make my corrections without ruining the expensive paper. 

I kept trying and erasing. I'm only showing you some of my attempts.  I was at this for hours, but  I finally got a drawing I could work with. Here are a couple of the preliminary drawings and the unfinished painting.  I did enjoy the challenge, and I will probably do it over, differently. It was much more difficult than I imagined.  I learned a lot from this experience. 

It's Watercolor

Another example of my fascination with images of under and over in nature. Glub
 glub

Mindfulness - various mediums

In Mindfulness group this week, we were given the exercise of using different mediums. We were to choose an object and materials we might not readily use to draw it. We had 3, 3 minute warm-ups using our non-dominant hand. Then 3, 20 minute time slots to come up with more variations.   I enjoyed this class as it just felt like play time. No pressure or expectations of myself. Using  the non-dominant is very freeing. Experiencing the different mediums more reasons to appreciate the swiftness, smoothness and beauty of watercolor (my medium of choice).

Non-dominant hand - charcoal

Non-dominant hand - colored pencil

Non-dominant hand using craypas

Colored pencil

Cut paper

Ink, pen and watercolor

I Sea You

Landscope: which way is up?

I enjoyed painting this piece. I bought myself a large tube of bright, white acrylic paint. Typically, in watercolor, one uses the white of the paper. White can be part of a watercolor palette, but it doesn't cover well. In this piece, I used the white acrylic extensively, dabbing it on undiluted and very thick.
I also used a very limited palette of colors to set the tone as quiet and having a bit of mystery. 
Once again, I played with looking at it from different angles and settled on the upside down version, below. Comments are welcome. I'm interested in feedback.

Landscope-- Dwellings

I've never intentionally made a series of pictures, but have found that I've used a similar composition several times now. I'm enjoying the challenge of making variations on a theme. I don't necessarily have a result in mind. I start with a light simple sketch to help me see where things go on the page. As the paint dries, I look for shapes to appear, then add definition by building up layers with colored washes. Varying the type of brush and the brush stroke keeps me interested. I also like painting to music, according to my mood. The colors are very important. I find that colors can affect me almost like a tuning fork; they help to align me.

My brush with feelings

In our mindfulness art group this week, the prompt had to do with 'feeling'. We could choose a feeling and illustrate it however we liked.

I chose this paintbrush and painted it several ways. My intention was to imbue the paintbrush with emotions and use the drawing, colors, backgrounds and paper to show how it felt. An interesting part of this process, for me, was that I painted the pictures first; based on impulse. Afterwards, I assessed the mood of each picture, sometimes surprised at what I had painted spontaneously.

In this piece, the paintbrush had beautiful colors as mementoes of all it's experiences. The background had similar colors and brush strokes. Overall, the paintbrush looked comfortable and confident in these surroundings.

Turn it Around

This pic turned out to be a practice piece, so I grabbed the cray-pas and gave it more color. It still wasn't quite right, so I did the 'ol turn it upside down thing. Suddenly, it looked different, and better. It looked like the bottom was water and it was reflecting the top. Do you see that, too?

Well, it pleased me more, then, so I decided to post it on the blog afterall.

Funny, isn't it?

BTW- here's a topic I will write more about sometime: staying disciplined with creative work. My sister and niece are visiting this week and I've been out and about much more than my usual recluse-like behavior. Well, there is just so much energy to go 'round, and so many hours in the day. I have not painted much in days. So how to get back to it? How to stay on track? Hmmm
Click the pick to see it bigger

Landscope or Still Life?

What do spheres have to do with this series of 'Landscopes'?

I started off sketching in pencil. They were horizontal lines that I would use to divide the page. That's pretty much all I planned. I then had horizontal sections to lay in some color washes in each.

I continued to add various brush strokes and colors, then the spheres rolled in. I just saw them in the picture, kind of sitting on the shelf. That made me chuckle 'cause it reminded me of a still life. The whole lower half of the page seems dark and moody to me. What does it all mean? It's just something that I created as part of my almost daily creative practice. Click to enlarge

Circularville

I've been painting circles in between working on Landscopes and Trees. I find it helpful to paint a variety of subjects and styles. Keeps me engaged and experimenting.

What's interesting to me about these circles is that they're
orderly. I'm enjoying the grid and the circles all stationed in their place.

Usually my circles are flying all over, off the page.