#Inktober Day 20 Feathers

Feathers

Day 20, woohoo.  This is really getting to be inspiring for me.  I have only drawn feathers once before so it was fun to see what I could come up with without looking at an inspiration photo.  Time to think about what I will try tomorrow.

#Inktober Day 19 - House Plants

House Plants

19 days, wow...

#Inktober Day 18 - Mr. Teddye

Mr. Teddye

I learned to give a horizon line so that the image does not appear to be floating in the air.

#Inktober Day 17 Glass and Bottle

Glass and Bottle

Day 17 of #Inktober, this is getting to be really a learning experience.  I am trying things I have never done before.  Today it is making shadows and texture by using cross hatching with a black fountain pen.  I love my little book.  When October is over, I will put it away until next year's challenge.  However, I will not stop these little drawings.  This is really giving me diversity.

Until tomorrow.....

#Inktober Day 16

Day 16 Apple

Wow, day 16.  Keeping it simple is harder than I thought.

#Inktober Days 12 to 14

I have had a few busy days.  Day 12 was drawn on the Bus as I went to church.  So I am posting three days in this blog post.

Day 12 Tulips

Day 13 Owls

Day 14 City Scape

Day 14 is go rogue Friday, so no prompt.  I really like drawing cityscapes.  So far I have made through 14 days of Inktober taking it one day at a time.  It has really been fun,

#Inktober Day 11 - Jack-O-Lanterns

This is getting to be more fun everyday.  I am learning from this daily challenge to just have fun.

#Inktober days 9 and 10

Hi, today I am posting two drawings, day 9 which a bird and day 10 dedicated to mushrooms.

#Inktober Day 9 - Bird

#Inktober Day 9 Mushrooms

Until tomorrow....

#Inktober Day 8: Leaf

The drawing today is of a leaf.  It was drawn with an Elegant Writer and activated with water.  Elegant Writers are like magic because of the blue, pink and green hues that can peak through once the ink is activated.  This is only my second time using this supply and I really need more practice, but I love the concept.

#Inktober Day 7 - Mr. Bunny

Today was a fun day.  My Bunny is one of my favorite characters.  I drew him for the first tine in June of 2015.  This is day 7 of #Inktober.  Until tomorrow.....

Inktober Day 6 - Pitchers

My Inktober journal

First page of journal

#Inktober Day 6 Pitcher

Today is day 6, so far so good.  I am keeping up.  I thought I would share the journal I am working in, it is a small Journal (probably 5x6 inches).  I love the paper in it and wanted to use it for something; Inktober seemed like a perfect idea since I am making small, simple stylized sketches.

I have seen some of the most beautiful sketches, very intricate and stunning, but; I am determined to stay the course with my small simple sketches which for me is fun.  I normally work much bigger, however; I want to develop a comfort level with working small and folksy.

Until tomorrow....

#Inktober - Day 5 Sneakers

My prompt today is sneakers.  It was fun to draw a shoe, but just a shoe was not enough so I created a scene,  High heeled sneaker in the store window, you know you want a pair or two.

Until tomorrow...

Inktober Day 4 - Crocuses

Ok, I have to be honest.  The prompt for today on Creativebug was Roses.  Well I have a phobia against drawing roses, so I got my oriental garden book and chose crocuses.  I love the simplicity of this flower.

until tomorrow.....

InkTober - Day 3 Comfy Chair

Today I drew a chair.  As part of Inktober, I am sketching things I have never really tried before.  Creativebug.com has some great draw something  day for 30 days.  I am following Lisa Congdon and today's prompt is a chair.  Seems simple right?  No it is not, but it is fun.  I will have an arsenal of objects to add to future paintings and journal pages.

I have to say this is fun.  Please excuse the shadow on the photo.

#Inktober - Day 2

Day 2 of InkTober a rendering of my favorite tea cup.

Here you can see the actual size of the book I am using and the type of paper (I love the texture of this paper).  The paint I used for the swatch is Paper Artsy Fresco chalk acrylic paint.  It has a very matte finish and I love it so much.

InkTober

Yesterday I started working on the #Inktober challenge and toyed with the idea of posting everyday about it.  This morning I thought why not, so here goes.

Inktober is a challenge to draw in pen and ink for 31 days.  I am using a small journal I purchased last year while at the Shakespeare Festival in Utah.  I painted a swatch of paint on each page, just cause I like the look and will draw something each day for 31 days.

Here is Day 1 - A group of Trees

Integrative Portraits with Orly and Katie

On July 21st I travelled to Bainbridge Island, Washington to attend the Integrative Portrait with Katie and Orly Art Retreat.  I have taken several classes with Katie and Orly.  It was a real treat to have them collaborating on a retreat about portraits.  I spent many days anticipating what the classes would be like until I decided that it was much better to be open and receive whatever was presented with open arms and spirit.  I was not disappointed with this decision.

Each morning started with some method of meditation and setting intention

Katie Kendrick
Katie presented on day one and we began with an exercise related to mark making.  There was a different feeling from previous classes because instead of using an 18x24 or 24x24 canvasses we used an 8x10 watercolor journal.  The mark making involves graphite and white gesso and is very organic.  I love this process because there are no mistakes.  It really gives you a base to explore and use as a starting point for more work.  The beauty of a journal is that you can take days, weeks, even months to complete a spread.

Our next project involved using a small sheet of transparency film and making a sketch of our table mate to the left.  My mate was my dear friend Michele Unger,  once the sketch was done, we painted the underside of the transparency and with the paint wet, pressed it onto the journal page.  It was so cool and I definitely plan to try this process many more times.  We then painted the journal page.  I absolutely loved this process, it was fun and challenging at the same time.

Our final project for the first day was to pick a picture and use it to tell a story.  Now this sounds pretty safe, right??? Well let me tell you.....after working for about a half hour cutting out paper images to collage and tell the story, Katie said pass your book to the right, Huh???? your neighbor was to add to your page.  The book was passed around the room one person at a time until you got it back.  I was so happy to get it back and then..."Ok, not pass your book to the left."  What the What???? this time we were to add paint to the page, so once again it travelled around the room until you received your book back.  My reaction?  " What the Hell?"  To say it looked a mess is putting it mildly and I did not think to take a photo, you will have to trust me on this one.  Anyhoo,  our task was to embrace the page and use it as a jumping off point for further creating.  I was initially overwhelmed and then thought, "just look at one spot and fix it".  This kept me from getting overwhelmed.  I decided to make an angel but could not get the face to work.  I sat there thinking for a while and remembered a course I had in January taught by Brian Kasstle and Roxanne Coble.  I picked up my paint brush and painted a blue block on the page, then curated some ephemera and clued to the page and I was off to the races.  My page changed completely.  The original work became texture under the paint, collage and detail work.  The lesson of this project is truly process, do not get over attached to your work and being able use anything as a base for future work.

Mark Making with graphite and gesso, great warm up

sketch of my table mate

Redo of class collaborative page (still in progress)

Orly Avineri

Friday Orly led the class.  One of the projects was using a rusted scroll and wrapping all types of ephemera around it.  I used a lot of different items including napkins, deli paper sprayed with dylusions spray ink; lace, half a doily and other papers; then tied the package with string.  It was put in hot tea to soak for a few hours and then laid on a table to dry.  The outcome was fantastic.  I forgot to photograph the bundle before I pealed the pages (boo hoo); but I do plan to do it again.

The next project was to paint 95% of a spread (making sure to leave some white space) with black gesso and tracing picture from a magazine on the gessoed page using white graphite tracing paper.  We exchanged our page with our neighbor to the left and then worked on painting our pages.  Mine is still a work in progress but truthfully, I love the way the tracing looks without completely painting it.

We also did a process inspired by artist Marlene Dumas with water and watered down black gesso.  It was interesting and I think my portraits came out pretty well.

The rusted scroll and a portrait to be used on our scroll of ephemera

Tracings on black gesso with white graphite paper

Portraits based on the process of Marlene Dumas

All are works in progress and that is wonderful.

Orly and Katie

Saturday was less intense a day, we did a smash technique where we were to use two colors of paints on a spread and our neighbor to the left used two colors and then we smashed and dragged our spreads to mesh the page colors, it was so great.  We also unwrapped our bundles and the reveal was simply amazing.  I just was overcome by the process of revealing each piece.  I cannot explain it really.

I worked on the smash and drag page and the outcome was stunning especially the page with the whales.

ephemera soaked in tea

Smash and drag pages

We had a picnic dinner on the beach, dinner with friends who drove up from Seattle and a lot to really open my eyes.  I love Washington State and Bainbridge Island and the time here with this class was memorable.

On to Maryland.....

A Tale of Two Art Retreats Part 1

Over the next few posts I am going to write about two Art Retreats I attended between the period of July 21st to July 31st. It was a glorious time experiencing two very different venues and yet the same.  Two very different styles of art and yet the same.  Just a wonderful experience.

On Wednesday I will write about my time on Bainbridge Island in Washington State.  The theme of the retreat was Integrative portraits with Katie and Orly.  On Friday I will write about the Maryland Art Weekend held in Linthicum, Maryland outside of Baltimore.  Sunday will be a comparison of the two.  Will they be different or the same?

Both events stretched me and made me want more.

Today I am going to post art from the past, Wednesday and Friday I will post art from each retreat.  Life is something to be cherished and each day is to be treated as a new canvas waiting for the very first mark or swash of paint.

Post card painted for a Sketchbook project

Painting of black and white photo from Lisa Bebi's class at Art Fest

Portrait drawn in Doodle love book

Portrait inspired by a painting done by Mystele Kirkeeng

Posting these photos are more for me than anyone else.  To see progression is comforting.

Check back Wednesday to hear about great times on the beautiful Bainbridge Island.

Who is to Define What is Safe?

Hello dear readers, it has been a while; but I promise to do better.  I have been running a few ideas in my head based on some suggestions from friends and I think I will start to work on them soon.  However, the topic of this post is needless advice/criticism.

I participate in a lot of challenges throughout the year aimed at building confidence and stretching myself.  During the month of July there is the #worldwatercolormonth-july2016.  The paintings below are days 1-5.  I decided to try this challenge because I wanted to practice painting with watercolors.  It is fun and yet takes a lot of practice.  I got the really groovy idea to work through one my books on watercolor and make greeting cards instead of painting on a canvas.  These cards will be mailed on Monday as part of project to send encouragement to those in need of a good word.

Now you may ask what got my knickers in a not?  Someone posted in the Facebook group for the watercolor challenge that people should be brave and paint harder subjects and stop painting safe.  Well, what defines safe; and who is the one to define it?  It takes a lot of courage to post your work among strangers, even if it is a dot on a page.  The act of painting and then sharing is major; at least it is to me.  Plus, this not a class, it is a fun challenge for artists at all levels.

There was a time a statement like that would send me into hiding for months (and it was not even personally directed at me).  It is just the fact that as my daughter likes to say (and she is so right), we never know a person's backstory.  What seems safe to one person could be a major challenge for someone else.  

Each one of the cards below have things that could have been done better; backgrounds could be blended better; position on page could be in better proportion, etc.  However, the fact that I did it means so much to me.  And if have adopted the following attitude; I am doing the best I know how at this given moment and I am very proud of that.

I am so proud of all my art friends and always make sure to say an encouraging word.  Why, because they may need that word on that day.  

Watercolor Flower in Pot

Flower with Blue Background

Cute Little Birdie

Simplicity

Building Doodle on Watercolor Background

So dear readers be careful.  If you are an artist of any type; writer, chef, painter, jewelry maker, etc, think what you would want to hear and then act accordingly.  Don't tell a person on Youtube they have a terrible voice or talk to much...if you do not like it, just don't watch.  Everything we do is not going to be perfect (personally, I think perfect is overrated).  Yet, and this is very important, we tried and that is taking a risk; that is not playing it safe.

Ok, I am off of my soapbox now.  The smoke has cleared and on to another day of painting.

Until next time.....Pilgrim

2016 - Year of Rebirth

Photo taken in Alhambra, CA

I was just watching a video on art Heals hosted by Heidi Easley, it is a free series that is really good.  Today Lucy Chen was interviewed and what she had to say was phenomenal.  I am going to listen to her interview again.

She said that 2016 is a year of rebirth and that resonated with me. I realized that at the end of June, the first half of this year will be complete.  The thought occurred to me that I still have time to continue on my journey toward discovering who I really am.  But, I need to get busy and get back on program with purging "things" that clutter my space.  I need to set up my easel and commit to painting on that 30x30 canvas.

Art does heal and I have been trying to wrap my head around how I translate my feelings to the art journal or canvas.  I have kept so many deeply hidden, that I do not necessarily want to talk about, but need to be releases, so my goal for the rest of this year is to learn how to use art as a means of self expression, not a regurgitation of art class lessons.  Hmmm, this could prove to be really interesting.

See you soon, pilgrim.