Expanding horizons

One of my goals this year is to do more sketches of people and animals. I find that I'm often avoiding them because they never seem good enough. Of course, it's hard to get better if you don't practice. So that's what I've been doing. This is a couple of quick sketches of one of our ferrets. These were done from photographs. The ferrets are seldom still enough for life drawings.

On a somewhat related note, one of my favorite blogs lately is Gurney Journey, James Gurney's blog. Currently he's doing a series on animal characters and he has been doing a Sunday series on color and palettes. I've learned quite a bit from following his blog.

Exercising Your Doodles

Before Christmas I bought Bert Dodson's book Keys to Drawing with Imagination. The first few exercises focus on doodles, or rather doing more with doodles. These are some of my examples from the first exercise. I like this book. Even the little doodles feel inspirational. While the book feels like it would be more useful for illustrators, I'm getting a lot of out it. I doodle as much as the next person, but some of these doodles are new to me. As I read through the exercises, I can see how many of these could evolve into paintings. I'm enjoying working through this book.

You won't find much in the way of actual drawing technique. The book does have a lot of good tips scattered in it. There are instructions for building your own light box. There are also many tips for combining and transforming your doodles and sketches into new drawings. The last part of the book focuses on artists and some of the themes they've chosen for their work. I think I'm going to get a lot out of this book.

Praying Mantis and Favorite Web Sites

It's pretty dreary this time of year and I wanted to draw something living. So I went through my photos and found this picture of praying mantis on a patio torch in my backyard. We have a fairly ordinary suburban yard, but I often see a praying mantis out there in the summer. They are so fascinating to watch. I'm not sure why they like our yard, but I'm glad they do. I started drawing this in pencil and then decided it needed some color so I added some colored pencil.

I'm a little late for this, but here are some of my favorite web sites I visited in 2007. By far, the sites I visit most often are those where I'm learning something about art.

Making a Mark - I didn't discover this one until late in the year, but I never miss it now. I have learned a lot about art and other art-related websites from reading Katherine Tyrrell's blog.

Sixty Minute Artist - I've found some good information here, like how to stretch a canvas. I'm not sure that I'm ready to start stretching my own canvas, but the information is here if I need it.

Gurney Journey - This is a blog that I found and lost and found again. I enjoy reading James Gurney's articles about the process of painting and painters.

Empty Easel - Art and Painting tips, articles on artists, and tips for selling art online.

Inspire Me Thursday - Weekly inspirations and challenges. I don't participate as often as I would like but I've enjoyed it when I have.

This year I'm going to try to get around to more blogs. I don't have time to visit many but I like the interaction.

Random sketches from 2007

I don't really make resolutions for the new year, other than trying to do better. I do like to evaluate my progress over the past year though. Sometime around midyear, the rest of my life got very busy. Art and this blog kind of fell by the wayside. Things are still a little crazy. Until things settle down a bit, I thought I would show some of the messier pages from my sketchbook. When you only see the nicer pages from a sketchbook, it's easy to assume that all of the pages are like that. There is the occasional nice, neat sketch but most pages are filled with quick sketches, notes, studies, doodles, silly sketches, lists, and thoughts. These two pages are typical. Every so often I'll make a page of small squares. These are for very quick, less than a minute, sketches, doodles, and value studies. Often, I'm also drawing a subject over and over for practice, like the cat. At the bottom on the right are some quick faces I was trying to draw from the TV. Faces are not my strong point. These extremely quick sketches help me relax a bit since there's no way they can look polished. Here's another page of small sketches.

Here's a couple more pages of quick sketches of flying birds for practice.

My Moleskine watercolor sketchbook is much tidier. I just can't bring myself to make a mess in it. but it's my everyday, inexpensive, messy sketchbook that brings me the most inspiration.

A Quick Value Sketch

Life has been hectic lately. More on that another day, but time and energy for daily sketching has been hard to come by. On those days when I'm feeling brain dead and tired but want to sketch, I'll select a project from one of these books - Mendelowitz's Guide to Drawing (I've had my copy for a while) or The New Creative Artist: A Guide To Developing Your Creative Spirit. This time I selected a value exercise from A Guide to Drawing and used one of the thumbnail drawings in my sketchbook. It's different from my typical drawings and there's not much to it but I like the general idea. I may develop this idea further. Maybe being tired is good for my inspiration.

Needle felting

I've been doing something completely different this weekend. I've been needle felting these little items. The sunny face is the one I was working on this weekend. They are all small. The sunny face is about three inches in diameter. The animal is a ferret and is somewhat poseable. We have ferrets so that's why I chose that subject. I still have a little more work to do on all of them. I enjoy seeing the transformation while I'm working on these.

Ornamental gourd sketch

I bought some ornamental gourds or squash the other day at the grocery store. This is a quick sketch using a Micron ink pen and a little bit of watercolor.

ArtRage Paint Software

I have been playing with ArtRage software lately. I'm a rank beginner when it comes to digital art and I'm not even sure yet how much I like it. This program suits me perfectly. The registered version is a whole $25 US and they have a limited functionality demo that you can download. I discovered it from a mention on Nancy Stahl's blog (scroll down). For me it's an inexpensive way to try out digital art. It works best with a drawing tablet. I have an inexpensive Manhattan drawing tablet that works well. Drawing with a tablet is like starting over again though. I found I had to spend some time just developing my hand-eye coordination. There's some good information on starting with tablets at DaniDraws.com as well as a number of links to tutorials. It's been a fun experiment.

Sea shell watercolor sketch

seashells-30sep07
Originally uploaded by mockingbirdworks

I'm getting back in the groove of sketching and painting. Actually I think the break did me good. Maybe my brain needed to work in the background for a while.

I have a small bowl of sea shells and sponges sitting on a table by the front door. I grabbed a couple of things and did a quick watercolor sketch in my watercolor moleskine. Overall I'm pleased with it.

My How Time Flies

I'm not sure what happened. I got busy with life and suddenly months passed without posting. I haven't really done much art either. So I decided that the way to get back into a routine was to jump in with a painting. I have this birch tree in my yard that I've sketched and photographed several times. It's a large healthy tree right outside by office / studio window. The beautiful peeling bark on this tree inspired the painting below.

Tree Bark, acrylic on canvas, 11 x 14 inches.

Experimenting

Where does the time go? One minute I was sketching along and the next minute I was caught up in family stuff. Things seem to be settling out finally. I could use a week of just staying at home but things aren't that calm yet. Enough wishful thinking though. I did manage to play with some techniques. The picture to the left is ATC / ACEO size (2.5 by 3.5 inches) in watercolor and ink. I experimented with several methods. This one turned out the best. I'm definitely going to do some more work with this.

EDM 112: Something Fresh

I'm behind on my Everyday Matters Challenges. This one is "Something fresh". Unfortunately we've been busy so there was nothing fresh in the house - food or laundry. Outside everything was frozen. I had to wait until we went to the grocery store to get something fresh.

This is a watercolor in my Moleskine waterbook book.

SF: Greed

This week's topic for Friday April 6th: Sin #2: GREED!

This is an ugly one as well....uuuuh! What is it you are greedy about or feel greedy about? Is it material or is it a behavior? Are you greedy for emotions? Do you hoard? How do you want to change for the better? It can be small steps or do you rather take a big step to change?

Sometimes when life gets very busy, I get greedy for time - time by myself, time to rediscover myself. Mostly though, I'm greedy for supplies. When it comes to my knitting, I want lots of yarn and knitting needles. For my art, I want lots of supplies just in case I want to try something new or just in case I run out of something and need it right now.

Cheap supplies, expensive supplies, it doesn't matter. Tiny bits of paper, ancient tubes of paint, they're all stashed away somewhere. In my mind, I can see a use for all of them.

Unfortunately, I also have supplies that I've hardly used, like those colored pencils or oil pastels I bought, just to see if I like using them.

My goal is to finally throw out those old dried up tubes of paint and to actually use some of these supplies I've been saving before I go out and buy more. Now about those inks I've been wanting lately....

A Duck

I was able to squeeze in picture from the Wet Canvas Weekend Drawing Event. There are usually so many nice photos that it's hard to narrow down your choices. This was a fairly quick pastel picture (about an hour and 15 minutes) on greenish colored paper, 9 by 12 inches. I had fun with it.

EDM 111: Bowl

This is an interesting little bowl. It has an ragged rim and it looks like they formed it over a ball. The inside is glazed but the outside isn't glazed or painted. This is a quick watercolor sketch I did in my Moleskine.

SF: Sin #2: GLUTTONY

This week's topic for Friday March 30th: Sin #2: GLUTTONY!

What do you overindulge in during your days in your studio while creating? Food or drink? How bad is it and how bad is it for you? How are you planning on changing it?

Actually when I'm deep in thought or painting or drawing, I tend to underindulge. It's only when I need a break and get up to walk around that I grab something to eat and drink. I forget all about the need for food and drink. If there is anything I overindulge in, though, it would be coffee. I have to start my day with coffee but not just any coffee. It's usually Peet's Coffee, although I try other coffees from time to time. While it's probably bad for me, it's one indulgence I'm not planning on changing. Most of the time, I actually prefer food that's good for me, so this is my little daily rebellion.

Just Doodles

I've been busy the last couple of weeks, with very little time for sketching or painting. I did squeeze in a little time for some fun little doodles though. Inspire Me Thursday is all about wishes this week. Right now, I wish for the time and the money to pursue my art more. Actually I just need to remember that I can have that wish at any time. I just need to make the time for it. I just need a subconscious reminder to myself. That is where these doodles came to mind.

The first one came from an idea I saw on Teri's Painted Daisies blog. She had come across a blog where your name was hidden in the form of a Namelien. So while I had a little spare time the other day, I condensed my wish into a few words and turned it into a wishlien. Mine is very small and not that elaborate, but I like this idea. I might turn this idea into a bigger piece.

For the next little doodle, I took all of the letters from my wish and literally threw them on a page in my sketchbook. Then I colored each outlined segment. I like this general idea. Maybe I'll pursue it more one of these days.

EDM 110: Something with a flame

Since our power seems to go out a few times a year, we have several candles scattered around the house. This is a pottery candle holder that is one of my favorites. Its shape isn't quite as wonky in real life. The painting is done in my watercolor Moleskine. I'm growing quite fond of this little book. Plus the shape was perfect for something like a candle. Overall, I'm pleased with the picture.

EDM 109 - A Clock

I'm still lagging a bit behind on the Everyday Matters challenges, and every other challenge I like to participate in. Life has been a little hectic lately but hopefully I can get back into some kind of routine soon. I did get the clock challenge completed though. This is one of my favorite clocks in the house. It's not the most attractive clock. It's just a simple little travel alarm clock, but it's like an old friend. It's done with a ZIG pen with the glow in the dark bits done in colored pencil.

SF: Fragile

This week's topic for Friday March 9th : FRAGILE!

What is the most fragile in your studio? What makes it so fragile? What would you do without it and where do you keep it so it is safe and won't break?

Other than my sometimes wavering self-confidence, the most fragile thing in my studio are my family photos. Some are particularly old and dog-eared. Most are irreplaceable. Of course, there are some current family photos. It's the photos of family members who passed long ago that I treasure the most. They keep me connected to ancestors and family members I have never met or only briefly met. A few are framed and placed on a bookcase. Most are carefully stored in a box in the closet. Every now and then, I will bring them out and wonder what it would be like to know them then. Would my parents seem like different people than the ones I grew to know through my perspective as their child? Do I really see a part of myself in that distant ancestor?