Weekly Planner: Spring Blooms

On a recent walk in Pittsburgh, I saw these flowers blooming.  Their shapes looked like fairy skirts, and the blue color inspired me.

So I decided to decorate my weekly planner page with them.  I sketched the flowers with my Lamy fountain pen and black waterproof ink, then added color with Caran D'Ache Aquarelle watercolor crayons.

I added the dates, and the page was ready to be filled in with the events of the week.
 

A little art can enchant even a weekly list of appointments and responsibilities.

Happy Spring!

Nature Journal Updates

It's been a wonderful time to take my nature journal for a hike.  The ephemeral wildflowers have begun blooming in the woods -- like this Spring Beauty -- and curiosity is rewarded around every bend of the trail.

Even last year's dead weeds have taken on a new beauty next to the greening grass and the forest canopy beginning to leaf out.

Skunk cabbages have been blooming for some time in the low wetlands, and now unfurl bright green, cabbagey leaves.

Salamanders wriggle in creeks again, and the acorns that survived being eaten over the winter now sprout to begin new oaks.

Back at home, perennials are returning in the flower beds.

And just sitting on the front porch for a half hour yields a long list of signs of spring.

I hope you are enjoying the turn of the season where you are.

Happy Spring!

Figure Drawing with Model Selena

 We finished our Osher semester with model Selena and a focus on Dance and Movement.  We began with 6 x 2-minute gesture poses, grouping them together on our paper in 3's to represent 3 dancers in motion.

Selena gave us graceful, dancerly poses.

Next, we challenged ourselves with a 2-minute, continuous gesture. Selena moved slowly but constantly from one pose to another, and used a long, flowy piece of tulle to help express her movement.  

It was hard to try to complete one full gesture drawing of Selena in any pose, but we watched mindfully as we drew, and relied on our memory to complete each gesture.

Though the end drawing looks scribbly and imperfect, the process of drawing this continuous gesture sharpened our skills and exercised our visual memory.

We wrapped up our gestures with a 5-minute upside-down pose.

After a break, we moved on to the long drawing, beginning with a 4-minute sketch to determine how we wanted to lay out our final drawing.

I was glad I took the time to lay out my drawing, as I realized exactly where I wanted Selena's body to land on the page to give her space to look up, creating the composition I wanted.

Many thanks to model Selena for her beautiful poses and inspiration!

Weekly Planner: Stenciled Feathers

A recent visit to the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse (https://pccr.org/) turned up a wonderful selection of used stencils for 25 cents each.  I decided to test some out in my weekly planner.  Because I wanted to be able to write with a ballpoint pen on the page, I used watercolors.  I dabbed on the paint first with a brush, but found that it spread too much, so I tried a makeup sponge.

After the paint dried, I added in some definition and design with a few Posca paint markers.

When I looked at the finished results, I liked the design, but realized that the paint was too dark for the details of the week to be legible.  

I turned the page & started fresh with the Posca markers.

Adding a few feathers in lighter colors with Posca pens worked out well, decorating the page but not being so dark or detailed that I couldn't see what I wrote on each date.

If you create something that doesn't turn out as you like, turn the page and start fresh! You now have valuable information about what doesn't work, and probably have lots of ideas on how you could do it better.

Happy Creating!

Worms Inspire Art!

In spring, my thoughts turn to gardening.  I've wanted to set up a worm composting bin for ages, and finally made it happen.  

When the UPS package of worms arrived, I assembled all the parts, added some vegetable scraps, and then created this art journal page about my vermicomposter (worm bin). I used collage, colored pencils, ink, and alphabet stamps.

The page shows the thrifted tote I punched drainage holes into the bottom of and used as the worm bin, the shredded paper that became the worms' bedding, the mortar pan to catch water drips, and the worms that I dumped on top of the bedding.  I can't tell you how exciting this is for me! 

I had a worm bin years ago when I worked as a park district naturalist.  Setting up my new worm bin brought up feelings of nostalgia and happy memories from those days.

Celebrating the things we love in our art journals is a way to deepen our enjoyment of them. 

Happy Creating!

Weekly Planner: Spray Ink & Stamps

Shopping for class materials at Michael's I found the clearance section and scored a 3-pack of Ranger Distress Oxide Spray for half price.  I love the antique paper look they create. My weekly planner is a great place to test out new supplies, so I spritzed on some Vintage Photo and added a dash of Walnut Stain.

When the ink dried, I stamped in the days of the week and dates with a little alphabet stamp kit I bought years ago.  The page still needed a bit of decoration, so I used a few hand-carved eraser and cork stamps I made years ago.

What supplies would you like to test out?  Having a weekly planner or even a sketchbook where you allow yourself to experiment with no expectations is a great way to relax and make new creative discoveries.

Happy Creating! 

Spring Cleaning & Inspiration

I've been spring cleaning of late, turning out boxes, baskets, even entire closets of stuff, and sorting out what no longer serves me.  It's a beautiful feeling to refresh our spaces just as the warmer weather arrives.

And my work turned up this little slip of wrapping paper from a gift someone gave me.  I loved the loose, playful watercolor design!

It inspired me to create a 5" x 7" card, just for fun.

May your next tidy up yield some inspiration for a creative project!

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal: Coltsfoot is Blooming!

A stroll on a sunny, almost-spring day turned up an unexpected Coltsfoot bloom (Tussilago farfara).  I snapped a photo of the flower and painted a sketch of it in my nature journal later.  

The time I spent walking was good exercise and uplifting to my spirit.  The time I spent painting felt like a meditation on the beauty of nature and the change of seasons.

The first blooms of the warming weather are all the more special after the months of cold and snow.  Giving yourself time to sketch or paint these beauties is a wonderful way to celebrate spring's renewal.

Happy Spring and Happy Creating!

Spring Flower Inspiration

A walk through the greenhouse at The Frick lifted my winter weary spirits and inspired me to paint.

Though I didn't have my paints with me in the moment, I snapped a few photos with my phone and made this watercolor sketch at home later.

Admiring blooms and playing with color always raises my mood.

What do you love to look at?  Does it lift your spirits to draw or paint those things?  

Give it a try!

Happy Creating!

Storytelling with Model Elizabeth

Our Osher Figure Drawing class was fortunate to have model Elizabeth as our collaborator in artful storytelling in our most recent class.

We looked at the art of John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), a British Pre-Raphaelite painter whose artwork took myths, the poetry of Keats and stories of contemporary authors as their subjects.  His work was rich with detail and color.  We set out in class to tell our own stories with studies of Elizabeth's elegant poses.

We began with 2 minute gestures.

In each pose, I could imagine a story being told of picking fruit from an apple tree,

or of listening dreamily to a story being told.

Perhaps now she was reaching into a pond for a magical crystal.

Here, she seemed to be admiring a lover or watching the stars.

And now, she was being coy with her fan at a party.

We moved on to a long pose, and took the first 4 minutes to create a quick gesture of that pose to help us in composing our drawings.

Elizabeth held a silk rose to her breast and several more draped at her feet.

For my final drawing, I imagined Elizabeth dreaming of her true love in a rose garden, escaping the summer heat in a shady patch on tasselled brocade pillows.

Isn't it amazing how we can infer a story from another person's posture?  

Elizabeth's imagination and elegance swept the class away into a land of stories and creativity.

Many thanks to our inspiring model, Elizabeth!

Figure Drawing with Model Ryan

For our second Osher Figure Drawing class, I brought in India ink, brushes and dip pens to play with sketching the figure in ink.  The challenge of ink, of course, is that you can't erase anything.  But this is also the beauty of ink.  It pushes you to commit to the strokes and marks you put down.  I find that facet freeing.

Our theme for the class was "Men at Work," so our model Ryan held gesture poses representing hoeing a garden...

...lifting blocks...

... and carrying them to build a wall.

In his last gesture pose, I imagined Ryan as a shepherd watching over his sheep from the shade of a tree. I added the background details after class.

In his long, seated pose, I found that being pushed to commit to marks made my process much faster, so I had extra time.

I took the opportunity to practice drawing Ryan's hand in light and shadow with a water-soluble pencil. I love the combination of being able to draw details and move the pigment with a brush.

Many thanks to model Ryan for his "Men at Work" poses!

Figure Drawing with Model Tiffany

We kicked off a new semester of figure drawing at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CMU with model Tiffany.

Her beautiful poses got us back into the flow of drawing with a series of gestures.

We began by turning our charcoals on their sides and drawing with big, swoopy marks and lines.

We changed to a more abstract approach, and created 5-line drawings, allowing ourselves only 5 lines to tell the story of Tiffany's pose.

Like a Haiku poem, the limitation of lines forced each artist to find the most expressive marks possible.

At first, my 5-line drawings felt inept and childish, but soon a flow took over, and I really liked this final one.

All of these gestures prepared us for a beautiful long pose.

Having an inspiring model makes all the difference in the world, and Tiffany's poses swept us away into the joy of drawing an expressive figure.  Many thanks to model Tiffany!