Random Thought Tuesday - Stretching Myself

Pink Flower

Last September I painted this picture as part of the Art Retreat class I took in Orvieto, Italy.  I had one of the most patient teachers in the world, TracieLynn Huskamp.  She was so encouraging as I stretched myself beyond belief.  To say I was a nervous wreck is putting it mildly. 

First we went on a photo shoot throughout Orvieto, I was drawn to the flowers in the flower shop, they were fantastic.  Then we picked out the photos that we liked and they were printed so we could race them on muslin and then paint them.  When I first painted the picture above I absolutely hated.  I could not get the shading right.  Infact, I just could not comprehend the concept of shading at all.  Internally I wanted to quit, but I just couldn't.  I had to stretch beyond my comfort zone.

I look at the painting now and cannot believe I actually did it.  I am so happy that I did not give up, that I listened to Tracie and embraced the work.  I have grown so much in the past year.  I have continued to take classes and try new things.  I am stretching in ways I cannot imagine.

I have made books with multiple signatures, I have finally learned how to draw zentangles.  Faces, forget about it......I am getting more comfortable with each portrait.

Face Drawn for Radical Wellness Class

 

What does stretching yourself mean?  For me it means attempting to do things that either I have never done before or have been afraid to attempt.  Over the past couple of days, I have given this a lot of thought.  A friend named Monica encouraged me to just be me.  Spend time doing what I love to do, not as a job or work, but as a time to give peace to myself and just be.  It really feels good to take her advice.  Orly Avineri, one of my favorite painters and bloggers gave this concept in the last class I had with her:  :Create, do not Produce."  These words mean so much.  Creativity should not be a production line, rather, for me it must be a time of discovery, allowing myself to be imperfect and love it.

 

Stretching myself has given me peace and joy.  When was the last time you stretched yourself dear reader?  Tell me about it.



Photo Friday -

Today starts a new series, Photo Friday.  I have taken a lot of photos throughout the years and for the most part they just sit on my camera or computer.  Photo Friday gives me an opportunity so share some of them.  No words other than a basic theme.  Just sit and enjoy.

Flowers of San Lodovico in Orvieto, Italy

Random Thoughts.....Using What You Have

I read a post this morning by Danny Gregory (http://dannygregory.wordpress.com/author/dannygregory/.  You should go and read it, it is very good.

This post started my mind churning, thinking about what I have been doing lately.  I am currently in Michigan visiting family.  I packed a limited amount of art supplies for the trip.  If an outsider were to look at my "stash" it would seem like I brought the house with me, but it is really just a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  I participated in Doodle Camp from July 8th to the 12th and found that with imagination and letting go you can make do with what you have.  You can also learn to use those items more creatively.  I am now really comfortable with using a watercolor brush.  This really neat tool is great for traveling, you fill the barrel with water and paint away with your watercolors.  I have used Tombow watercolor markers for years but never to their full potential.  The colors are so rich when scribbled on watercolor paper and activated with a watercolor brush.

I cut squares of freezer paper and used them as a really inexpensive and easy to carry palette (saw this idea on pinterest).  I took my water soluble crayons and colored on the palette and then activated it with water from a mini spray bottle.  whoo boy the colors are so vibrant and I solved the problem of writing over the painted area.  You see  these crayons are waxy and when you color directly to your paper and then wet them, they leave a waxy film.  If you want to write over it, your options can be limited.  BUT......if you rub them on the palette paper and then activate, the act just like any other watercolor and can be written on with anything.  Of course a lot of people probably know about this, but it is news to me and what makes it more pleasing is that I was willing to experiment and try something new.

One other aspect of my art that I have found interesting is the color palette I have developed.  I find that I am liking vibrant colors, reds, oranges, turquoise are so yummy.  It is so fun to paint backgrounds for future work and these colors as a base just sing to me.  Plus that is pretty much what I have with me in various shades and hues. 

Since January of this year, I have been really exploring my creativity and Using what you have has been buzzing in my head for quite some time.  But it was more of a "suggestion" rather than a must do for me.

Now "Use what you have" has taken on a whole new meaning.  I will be taking a class Mastering Twinkling H2O 101 when I return home in August.  I purchased some Twinks, but I have some paints in pots called Angel wings (this may not be absolutely right because I can never remember off the top of my head).  They are little cakes of shimmering paints similar to twinks, so I figured I would use them as well as the Twinkling H2O's.  Colors are just as vibrant and they have the same shimmering quality.  We shall see how it works.

Using what I have has been a learning experience and it makes so much sense.  Why make life harder than it has to be?  Well those are my random thoughts for today..

Peace to you dear reader, thanks for stopping by.

Faces

Faces, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

I am learning how to doodle. I know it should come naturally and anyone can do it. While this is true, I find it hard to just sit and doodle and then not compare my doodles to others. I participated in an online Doodle Camp last week hosted by Dawn Devries Sokol. Let me tell you that it was so much fun.

The photo here is part of that class. We had to draw a random series of wavy lines and then find areas where we could draw faces. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and the camp. It lasted 5 days and we had assignments each day. I find that I am still working on them tweaking color, adding more doodles and just plain old enjoying myself.

I made the book that I used for the camp. Making a book was a part of the process and some really great books were designed by my fellow campers. I do hope that we have camp next year. It was a really inexpensive treat.

Art Has Become a Major Part of My Life

Art has become a major part of my life.  I find that things I did not know exist are coming forth and it is so interesting.  I started the process wanting to develop backgrounds for my greeting cards and the entire journey has taken on a life of its own.  Which is so amazing to me.  I love to try and see what I can do.  I love the colors and the mixtures as they appear on the page.  I love the words, the symbols, everything about it.

The one thing I need to learn is how to relax and let go of expectations.  Just let the emotions and feelings flow.  That will be my goal for the last six months of the year.  To paint without a prescribed agenda, just let it flow and see where it goes.  As Donna Downey says on Inspiration Wednesday, I do not have any idea what I am going to do, so we will just have to see.

So dear reader, I have no idea where the next six months will lead me artistically, we will just have to wait and see.

--Pilgrim

Thoughtful lady

Thoughtful lady, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Portrait drawn on page in journal I won as part of a blog giveaway. Jessica Sporn created the journal. The portrait started out as a circle painted white and blue. I saw a face in he circle and this is the result.

Be Willing To Be Me

Try to please
 It doesn't work.
Try to appease
To no avail.

All I have is me.

Try to anticipate
And get it wrong.
Try to guess
It takes too long.

All I have is me.

Being strong
To meet someone else's goal
While losing sight
of my real role.

All I have is me.

Yes, all I have is me
Who is enough
Me....
Who knows
Me, just me.

I have to
No, I must be,
Willing to listen
Think
Understand
And then...
Be willing to do me

Because all I have is me.

Landscape

Landscape, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Painting done during art demonstration at Desert Art Supply in Henderson, NV

Inspirational Quote swap cards

Inspirational Quote swap cards, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

The above picture represents a group of inspiration cards I received as a part of the Inspiration Card Swap in March of this year.  It was a lot of fun.  A new swap has started and I will be working on new cards and posting them here during the month of July.  Stay tuned.

The eyes tell the story

The eyes tell the story, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Week 24 of Lifebook 2013 - As I write this entry, my eye is staring back at me.  The eye that I drew and painted for the emotions theme for week 24 of Lifebook.  We were instructed to take a picture of our eyes and then paint a portrait.  It took me a while to get up the nerve to do this one.  I had given encouragement to a fellow lifebooker who was having a problem getting started.  Quietly, I was having  a problem also.  I took the photo(it really felt strange to take a photo of me)  and realized that my eyes were quite a bit smaller than most of the eyes that had been painted by fellow classmates.  Oh horror of horrors, small and almond in shape, what was I going to do.  You see I first had to trace your eye on transparent paper and then collage paper that would be painted over.  Could I have enlarged my eye?  Probably, but then it would not have been the real me, it would have been a "photoshopped" version of me.  So, after a rather interesting conversation with myself I traced the eye, iris and teeny weeny pupil and began to collage with small bits of paper.  It was looking good.  Whew I was on a roll.

My fave part was painting the background (learned another cool technique).  Prepping the page; wet it with water and then lay on a light coating of gesso.  Since the paper was curling, I turned it over and wet the back so that it would lay evenly (think I got this hint from one of my facebook buddies).  Once the page was dry, following Kelly's (our instructor) instruction, I wet the page and then painted my flesh tone.  Since I am a person of color, I used a deeper color flesh tone paint (can you tell I am too lazy to get up and look for the name), and dabbed it with paper towel to create texture.  I love how it came out, I mean love it.  Background textures just sing to me.  Anyhoo, once the page was dry I glued my eye onto the page with Matte Medium and painted the eyeball, Iris and pupil.  To add drama to the eye I used a stencil to add drama and texture in cobalt turquoise and cobalt teal.  I also added shading to give more emphasis to my eye since it was so small.  The shading around the eye lid gave it depth.  The words "The eyes tell the story" are so true for me.  I have been told that people can really tell what I am thinking by looking at my eyes.

I was a little heavy handed making my lines in the Iris, need to practice using a lighter touch, but over all I am really pleased with this painting.

 I have learned so much in the past six months about painting and myself.  My goal for the remainder of the year is to just paint for the heck of it.  It has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks that I need to paint and draw outside of weekly assignments and just see what I can do.  I am going to make a book to take to China, it should be fun to make.  Will post a copy when I am done.

Take care dear reader.  Pilgrim

Letraset flexmarkers

Ltreaset flexmarkers , a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

I also won these markers by posting a comment. I really wanted to win these because they are markers in ethnic skintones. Since I am learning to draw faces, I thought they would be a really great addition to my markers. I really like them, Letraset us a great company with excellent products,

I will post a picture soon

Journal made by Jessica Sporn

Front cover of book, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

I am so blessed. I received this lovely art journal from the talented Jessica Sporn. I normally do not sign up for contests on blogs, but I watched the video of Jessica creating a similar journal and really liked it so I thought I would leave a comment. A fellow facebook artist had to tell me that I should check Jessica's blog because I had won, I was very excited, however the day that I found out was the day of the terrible tornado in Moore, Oklahoma so I did not write about it, The words on the cover "Bloom where you are planed." are a favorite of mine. I was the title of a luncheon hosted at my church in Detroit, Michigan many years ago. It has stayed with me and been a driving force in my life.

I may post pictures of this book at as I work in it, but for now, it is sitting where I can look at it and just enjoy.

Sketching

image, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Today I decided to start practicing sketching. I want to do some sketching while in China, so I better get started practicing. I have to loosen up, but I like what was done here.

Stardust ATC's

Stardust ATC's, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Week 22 of Lifebook 2013 project, Artist Trading Cards. So fun to make.

Peace Cuddler - My Guardian friend

Peace Cuddler, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

   There have been times when I have really doubted my ability to create.  Today is not one of them to be sure.  I think creative people often struggle with self doubt because we are really vulnerable when exhibiting our work. Today, however, I had so much fun creating the above portrait which is the week 23 assignment for Lifebook 2013.

Lifebook is really an online class about introspection and then using art to heal and grow.  I signed up for Lifebook 2012 and did not complete one assignment, because I was afraid I could not create anything of substance.  What is the difference between last year and this year?  Me!!!!  I am the difference.  I am not taking myself too seriously.  I am enjoying the process and I am opening myself up to learn.  Isn't that is what life is really all about learning?  When I open myself up to all that life has to offer, I have a really great time.  When I close myself off, I find that negative self talk takes over and that is not good for me or anyone else for that matter.

The thought that came to me today is that it is simply amazing to see the things that have been coming out of me over the course of this year.  I laugh, I cry, I feel happy all because I am willing to be open, to search my soul and then create pictures that pretty much reflect where I am at present.  I have been blogging more, reading more, participating in more projects and just plain having fun.

I have given myself permission to enjoy my life and I am so glad.

Until next time, on a really pleasant journey......Pilgrim

3/4 side view

3/4 side view, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Continuing to practice with faces. This time I was able to try a different presentation of the nose. Very enjoyable.

Purple lady

Purple lady, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Learning to control color

Winning smile

Winning smile, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Practicing drawing a smile.

Journey continues

Journey continues, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

This portrait is on the last page of a memoir I wrote and mailed today for the Arthouse Coop memoir project.

Journey begins-through Breast Cancer

Journey begins, a photo by momoo50 on Flickr.

Post for today. This portrait was drawn and colored yesterday and I forgot to post.