Blind Contour Drawing

She's not done, but so far I kinda like her... She looks like she knows something that I don't... And she looks content.

I did a blind contour drawing with a black Stabilo pencil, brushed over that with water (to get the greys and the drips--love those drips!), then used some pastels over her.

I'm sure she needs paint, but I really don't want to cover up the drips...

I Am in Love

With her!

Working on loosening up a little bit--This is the first piece that's feeling 'done'--

An Interesting Effect with Paint

I brayered some acrylic over the collaged papers, and before it was completely dry I used an eyedropper to write with white India ink across the page. The paint (I believe it is Behr Wall paint) kind of swam up to the surface of the ink. I like the effect--almost marbled looking.

Page isn't done, but thought I'd share!

Did this piece for the "Twenty Minute Challenge"--you can find it here.

Love love love working like this--no time to think or agonize or get it perfect--my handy dandy hairdryer was awfully, well, handy, for drying the paint. I left time at the end for colored pencils, charcoal, and a white Sharpie Poster Paint marker.

The whole concept of perfection really bugs me. We emphasize it so much in the schools, especially in regard to art and writing. Don't get me wrong, public writing needs to be perfect, and you want to be happy with your art before you send it out into the world--but in emphasizing perfection throughout the entire writing and painting process, we create children who think they can't write and can't paint/draw/create art.

In the beginning stages, all creation is about experimentation and expression. Finetuning and chasing that elusive beast, perfection, comes much later.

Homemade Drying Rack

And yet another use for those wire cubes! I've been working on paper a lot, but have learned (the hard way) that wet painted papers STICK TOGETHER. So, my drying rack.  It's only attached at three corners so that large journals and papers can fit it, and once again it's held together with zip ties.

When I get back to painting on canvas, I'll just turn it on its side to hold even large canvases comfortably.

Space Saving Storage for Paint

I've been frustrated with my bottles of craft paints--seemed like they were always getting buried on my table under papers and books.  I hated wasting time searching for the right bottle, and after some thought I made this to hang on the wall and store my bottles of craft paint.

I started with some pieces of those wire cube sets that they sell at Target and WalMart:

 

Two whole pieces made the front and the back, and then I used my trusty hacksaw to cut the side from one panel.

 

You can see in this closeup that there is a one-grid-wide strip running down the side:

I held it together with zip ties (love those things!), strung wire from the top, and hung it from two Gorilla hooks. I used the connectors that came with the set for the back, so that the whole thing would be a little bit removed from the wall.  That way, there are two squares holding each bottle.

Craft paints fit in nicely, but my one-ounce bottles of Golden fluid acrylics fit perfectly, since the shoulder of the bottle catches the front grid. 

It's been up for a couple of weeks now, and I love it.  I can see the paint color from the dabs of paint on each cap, so it's easy to find the right color, and it's vertical storage, which saves space--love it!

Some Jewelry Experiments

Ooooh a secret!

All rolled up in a soldered glass vial! The page is from a 1869 dictionary page, but I won't tell you what it says because--it's a secret!

Soldered Charms

Etched brass

Created the resist using a rubber stamp and solvent ink--I think the unique background texture is because the ink didn't completely cover the brass...

Etched Metal Sheet

Etched nickel-silver--first experiment with etching!

iDroste app

Very cool, isn't it? I took a picture of the clock we have over the mantel, and then used an app called iDroste, which turns the picture into a spiral. There are sliders for choices like iterations and centering and transparency--would have loved to have something like this when I was teaching geometry and trig!

The Big Draw--Day Eight

All done with my right hand! It's like it shifts my brain into another gear.

The Big Draw--Day One

Blind contour drawings…

Journal 01-15

Journal 01-09

Some Work In Progress

Been experimenting with doing an underpainting before I do my faces--makes a difference, especially since the Golden Fluid Acrylics and Golden Open Acrylics that I use are (mostly) translucent. The most opaque paints I use are the cheap craft acrylics, and even those aren't completely opaque...

I started this yesterday, from a sketch done last year. I'll post more as I work today.

I've also been experimenting with using Shiva Oil Paintsticks for doing faces--I'll try to scan those this morning, too.

How To Build An Inexpensive Easel

Yesterday I decided to figure out a way to build an easel for myself without spending lots of money. I sat at the kitchen table for awhile, sketching ideas, wandered out into the garage and shed to see what wood scraps were lying around, and finally (I think) figured it out. I've been using the easel for two days now and really like it.This isn't a fancy easel, mind you, but it works--hold my canvases upright so I can paint without hanging onto the canvas.

To build this, I first screwed together a square of four wood pieces.

Next I held up my vertical long board to see what angle I wanted it to rest at. I measured (roughly) from the board to the bottom of the back of the box, and cut a board that length. The idea was that I would make a triangle (and, since I used to teach geometry, I'll point out that because of the Side-Side-Side Theorem of Triangle congruence, there's only one way this triangle can go together. I know you needed to know that). After I cut that piece, I marked where the brace would rest on the back of the long board, and then glued and screwed in a piece of wood there.




Below, you can see how I took a big piece of cardboard and taped down my substrate--this way I can work on four pieces at a time!

Mixed Up Media All Over the Place...

I've actually been painting quite a lot, in little short bursts while I can sneak outside to the studio--well, okay, I'll be honest with you. When I get grumpy (which I'd like to say NEVER happens, but...it does) my kids actually ASK me to go out to the studio...So I'm actually not sneaking, I'm being sent, kinda like when you were little and your mom sent you to your room...

"Mom, that is ENOUGH, now! That's it--You go right to the studio, right now, young lady!"

Or something like that...

The whatever it was that I was struggling with seems to have abated, and I can see some new direction in the pieces I've been working on. This first one was painted entirely with my fingers, and I loved loved loved doing it!

I will post more as I scan them.

Image Selection and Placement

When creating a collage, where you place something is as important as what you're placing.

As an example, I'm going to share my morning's conundrum regarding placement of the words on today's collage for the day. In this first image, below, I've placed the words 'I thought you'd gone'. I have one more word cut out: 'away'. But I stopped here and thought, hmmm. Do I want this word or not? Then the question became 'and if I do want it, where should it go?'


For me, these three choices are significantly different from each other. Can you see the difference? Rather than an aesthetic difference, to me it seems a difference of tone, as well as message.

I still haven't decided where the word will go, by the way! Today, we're off to watch Joel's team play in a baseball tournament about 45 minutes away--one game today, two games tomorrow, and one game Sunday. Not too hot out, so I'm really looking forward to it.

A P.S.--After getting the chance to look at these three all together up on the blog, I realize there's a fourth choice: to place the word 'away' at the bottom, but lined up with the other words. That may be the best choice. (Just goes to show you how valuable a scanner and editing program can be--you can create virtual images of possibilities, compare them, and then choose! Ah, the joy of technology.) I was going to say I'll take some pix of Joel at baseball, but I'm not allowed to photograph him while he's playing, his rule. He says it bothers him. So no more technology for me, today! Have a great day.