Drawing in the Museum

Last Friday we wrapped up the Osher class Drawing in the Museum.  We had a lot of fun!

Here's a look at some of my sketches.

The Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History allow artists to bring in only a sketchbook and pencils.  Turns out, having a limited list of supplies simplifies the drawing process and helps me to kick my creativity into gear.  The art and artifacts in the museums are fascinating, and you can imagine yourself as an early adventurer sketching a Native American mask (above) or a Goliath Beetle (below).

Next time you plan a visit to a museum, or even a new park or cultural spot, make it an adventure and record what you see with a pencil and a sketchbook!

An urn in the Hall of Architecture.

Details on a statue.

A detail of a lion capturing a horse in the Hall of Architecture.

I hope you'll take yourself on an art date, and bring your sketchbook along.

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal Sketches from Vacation

Leaving the arctic cold at home and flying to Florida's warmth brought opportunities to see fresh foliage and wildlife.  

I snapped lots of photos while there.  Back at home, I have enjoyed recording the experience in my nature journal.

It's been uplifting to see the bright colors and vibrancy in these Florida scenes. 

Sketching from our vacation photos gives us opportunities to relive a favorite experience and to practice making art. I hope you'll dig out some favorite photos of warmer times and make some art with them.

Happy Creating!

Heart-Themed Weekly Planner

I love making valentines, and this year, had extra painted hearts leftover from my card-making.  You can see my Valentine's cards post here.

Needing a new weekly planner page, I gathered up a fistful of hearts, a few pens, some painted papers and a glue stick to create a collage page.

When I collage, I lay things out on the page, and when it looks sort of pleasing, I glue them down.  I used to try to make perfect collage compositions, which we all know isn't possible.  Sometimes I would abandon a collage creation without gluing things down.  I eventually learned to listen to my intuition, lean into the imperfections, and my creativity flowed naturally.

Now I know that when a piece looks imperfectly pleasing, it's time to glue it down.  

That's what I did in my planner page.  Then I added the days and events.

Following a process, even if your inner critic doesn't believe you're doing it right, helps to get the creativity flowing.  Step-by-step, you make something based on your intuition; something unique and beautiful.  Something that reflects your own inner beauty.

And starting with a low-stakes activity like making a weekly planner page can help you to build your art-making skills and try out new ideas.

Here's my step-by-step process for making a collage planner page:

1. Gather a few materials that catch your artist's eye -- they only have to be interesting to you.  You don't have to use them all.

2. Tear or cut out some shapes or pieces of the collage material and move them around on the page.

3. Listen for that weird little voice inside you (your Intuition) that quietly says "Yes." or "no" or "turn this piece upside down."  I've never heard my Intuition shout.  It speaks softly, gently, and often surprises me with unexpected ideas. 

4. When the collage pieces look sort of interesting or pleasing to your artist's eye, glue them down with wild abandon. If this feels scary, remind yourself that you are allowed to paint over anything you don't like with acrylic paint or gesso, or simply cover over it with more collage.

5. Add any other elements you'd like -- a wash of watercolor or ink, some colored pencil, whatever appeals to you.

6. Add in the days, dates, & appointments.

7. Step back and admire what you've created, with the option to add something else if you like.

8. Enjoy your days, knowing you started the week with creativity!

Happy Creating! 

Mark Making Practice in Beginner's Pencil Drawing Class

A good book can inspire us to get sketching.  These pages were inspired by Pencil Drawing by Arthur Guptill (more on this book here).  I followed the book's mark making exercise as a warm-up, and felt inspired especially by the marks with varying pressure (top right of the page above).

It can help to reduce the fear of the blank page to start off with mark making, and copying another artist's work is even easier.  Even though in school we've been trained not to copy someone else, copying in art (as long as you give credit to your source) is an important part of learning.

Find an artist you admire and make a copy of their drawing, their marks, even a portion of an artwork.  This process will build your drawing skills and help you to see new ways to solve conundrums in turning a three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional drawing.

 Happy Creating!

Beginner's Pencil Drawing Sketches

The world is full of beauty, and in Beginner's Pencil Drawing, we find ways of seeing & drawing it in our sketchbooks.  

We've just embarked on a new series of Pencil Drawing classes at the Community College of Beaver County, and we're having fun exploring the world with our pencils.

The homework this week is to draw your breakfast or to draw a small piece of your life, daily if possible, even for 5-10 minutes.  When your materials are a few drawing pencils and a sketchbook, it's easy to jump right into making art.

The morning after our first class, I sat at the breakfast table, intending to draw eggs and veggie sausages, but these flowers called out to be sketched.  I started by drawing the scene before my eyes.  

I took the above photo to allow me to put more detail in the drawing after the breakfast dishes were cleared away and the light had changed. In my phone's photo editor, I translated the color photo to black-and-white using a filter.  This helps to clearly see the values in the scene.

I started the sketch with a 2B graphite pencil.

Simple marks lightly laid down were the beginning, and I held the sketch at arm's length to check it now and again.  I began adding tone with a 10B pencil once I felt satisfied with the general layout.

I wanted to show the light values of the lily by creating the darker tones around the flower.

All of the shapes of the other flowers around the lily were interesting to my artist's eye.  It was fun adding in darker values and suggesting the shapes of mums, daisies and leaves.

I took a break from drawing, and when I looked at the photo above, I realized that I wanted to add more dimension to the lily.  It looked flat.

I darkened the values around the lily.  I liked the way this popped the lily forward.  Then I added a few dark spots within the lily, unifying the composition.

Looking at a photo of your artwork or simply stepping back from it lets you focus on the whole composition and assess what needs work.  Or what needs to be celebrated! Sometimes you step back and see that something beautiful has developed.  Make sure to be open to that possibility.

Remember that the more you sketch, the more opportunities for discoveries you create. Each sketch -- whether you love it or don't --builds your drawing skills.

Happy Creating!

Designing a Hand-Sewn Patch

I've been inspired by the book, The Wander Society by Keri Smith.  The society's purpose is to promote aimless wandering as a creative pursuit and its motto is "Solvitur ambulando," or "It is solved through walking."

Have you ever noticed how taking a walk in nature helps you to unwind and sort out your troubles?  I walk for exercise, but also for peace of mind and creative inspiration.  I wanted to create a patch that celebrates how walking in nature inspires, heals, and strengthens me.

I started with a sketch on paper, then made a copy of the final design and covered the back of the copy with graphite.  I pinned the paper to a piece of denim cut from a retired pair of jeans and traced the design, pressing hard to transfer the graphite onto the fabric.

It was a little hard to see the graphite marks on the denim, so I darkened the design guidelines with a Sharpee.

I watched a video on making your own decorative patches.  It helped me to figure out how to fill in the boot with color and how to bind the edges of the denim.  Other than that, I have no real training in embroidery.  I just made up stitches, doing the best I could.

I stitched while watching videos with my husband or having conversations with my family. It was a pleasant way to keep my hands busy while listening.

My embroidery thread came from the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse (25 cents per skein!).

I like the wobbly wonkiness of the patch.  It looks handmade and organic. Human.

As a foil to the rise of AI art, I enjoy celebrating human-made art.  I find it makes creating more relaxed when I celebrate my wobbles and imperfections.

I hope this inspires you to design your own patch and create expressive, wearable art!

Happy Creating! 

A Trip to the Beach

I recently escaped winter on a trip to Florida.

I took lots of photos, and sketched while I was on the beach.

When I returned home, I extended my travel experience by painting from some of my photos.

I laid out each painting with a few pencil marks, then painted the sky, with large washes first, blotting the wet paint with a paper towel to create clouds.  After the first washes dried, I added shadows to the sky and clouds.  

I worked on both of these little paintings at the same time, practicing my painting on the vertical version, and then repeating each step on the horizontal layout.

When the paint was dry in the sky, I began laying in washes for the ocean and waves, avoiding painting the white foamy areas.  When each layer was dry, I added another layer, building up colors and complexity.  I finished with layers of earthy brown beach sand.

The wet sand along the shore was darker.

After all of the paint had dried, I added some cloud reflections on the water with a white gel pen and white acrylic ink applied with a dip pen.  Above are the tools I used.

I propped up the finished paintings with a few seashells on my art table to remind me of the Florida sunshine.

I hope you'll dig out some old vacation photos and create art from them.  It's a lovely way to extend the joy of a getaway.

Happy Creating!