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!

Working in a Series

Artists commonly work in a series, choosing a theme and creating different iterations based on that theme.

In my series, I began with a photo taken during the polar vortex, when the temperature was about 10 degrees F. My first artwork was a colored pencil sketch done at the breakfast table in my nature journal.  That drawing showed me that I wanted to be able to blend the colors more than the colored pencil drawing. So I made a watercolor painting of the scene.

I was taken by the way the light sparkled off of the snow as the sun set in the west.  The shadows looked as blue as the sky, but I also saw hints of purple and magenta. Wet-in-wet applications of pink, purple and blue was the best way for me to express the sparkly colors I saw in real life.

Each step along the way, I made new discoveries, observed more details in the photograph, and found new ways to express the bitingly cold, fresh air.  

Often, I think, we want to create something "good" quickly. But spending time exploring different techniques and materials gives us more creating time, builds our skills and lets us get lost in the process.  If your only purpose is to experiment, play and make discoveries, there's no need to rush. And when you don't rush, you relax into the process, and that makes it easier to learn new things.

I like the way that the cool blues in both the drawing and the painting lent a feeling of extreme cold and wintriness.  The bare-limbed trees in the midground were delightful to draw/paint, and they created a feeling of deep winter, too.

What scene would you like to get lost in?  Why not try a series of artworks -- in different media, using different approaches, different color schemes, etc.?

Happy Creating!

Quick Sketches: J.W. Waterhouse

As a patron of The Unexpected Gypsy, I enjoy getting inspired by her art practices.  Lately, she has shared her copies of drawings by British artist J.W. Waterhouse.  She included the source material from the book:  J. W. Waterhouse: 93 Drawings ,by Narim Bender.

Copying other artists'work is called making a master copy.  As long as you don't pass the work off as your own original creation, there's nothing wrong with making master copies.  In fact,  it's a great way to learn from the masters.

Every drawing teaches you something, and especially master copy drawings.  

What artists do you admire? Pick a favorite artwork of theirs and try to recreate it.  The process will unlock new understanding and provide inspiration.

Happy Creating!

Quick Sketches

I keep natural mementos at my desk -- feathers, stones, seashells and the like.  That means there's always something fascinating to draw when I want to warm up, or when I'm procrastinating doing something else.

The sketches above were made with a Bic ballpoint pen in my writing journal. The ballpoint pen creates different sorts of marks than a graphite pencil, colored pencils or a fountain pen.  Trying different materials and media expands your art practice and opens up new ideas.

Also, the practice of drawing sketches with no expectations is freeing and relaxing.  Nothing special, just practice and play.

Here are photos of the little items I drew in case you'd like to make a quick sketch.

Happy Creating!

Florida Travel Journal

The beautiful thing about a travel journal is that it is a place to quickly record your observations and sketches.  There's no expectation that you will create finished or "perfect" artworks.  You are free to experiment.

These are some of my quick sketches and watercolor explorations from our trip to Florida.

This pencil sketch of a sea turtle will always remind me of the magical experience of watching an adult sea turtle swim along the beach with apparent ease in the heavy surf.

A loose gesture of the sea oats brings back the feeling of the wind and sun on my face.

And I can just hear the sound of seashells tinkling in my hand when I collected this gathering of shells to paint.

I was sketching the dunes backing the beach, and a man sat down right in my composition.  So I included him in the scene.

Bird observations remind me of how excited I was to witness Magnificent Frigate Birds soaring over the shoreline.

When I glance at this simple kelp drawing, I can just hear the surf pounding and feel the grit of the sand between my toes.

The salt air caused this watercolor sketch to dry with an interesting texture. The salt attracted the moisture in the paints, creating clumps of color.

I encourage you to take a sketchbook with you on your travels, even if those travels are to a local park. 

The act of making sketches cements the memories of the visit in your mind, and you'll have a hand-made memory book to revisit long after you return home.

Happy Creating!