Low-Key Practice to Improve Your Paintings

One of the most important things I've learned about making art is that we all need time to play with our art supplies without any expectations or pressure.  Athletes and musicians spend endless hours practicing.  We artists would do well to take the same approach.

I sat outside recently and painted the light and shadow on this summery scene.  It was a simple sketch -- no pencil drawing underneath, no plan.  I just sketched what I saw, playing with light and shadow, mixing a variety of greens.

The puffy clouds cast strong shadows that moved through the landscape.

Here's a more zoomed-in version of what my eye saw. 

I focused on the shapes, the values and the textures of the scene before me, curious to try mark-making -- from the soft merging of wet-in-wet marks to the wobbly shapes of tree leaves, and the loose, scratchy marks of the weeds & grasses.

I mixed these different greens:

Foreground yellow-green & medium greens =Winsor Lemon + Ultramarine Blue

Background deep, dark greens = Phthalo Blue + Burnt Sienna

midtone greens = Sap Green + a touch of Alizarin Crimson

This little sketch is not a stunning work of art, but I post it here to share the everyday sort of projects that can make your art -- and your enjoyment of your art-making -- better.  

When I stepped back from painting to regard the sketch, I enjoyed the high contrast shadow of the tree snaking across the grass and up the hill.  I delighted in the rough texture of the weeds in the foreground on the right.  I enjoyed the looseness of the tree on the right, with dark limbs showing through.  

And it was relaxing to sit with my paints outdoors and explore.

I hope you find time to create and explore -- to simply practice!

Happy Creating!

Weekly Planner: Spring Flowers!

Snow was falling as I created this new planner page. Our weather had turned from warm and spring-like back to winter, so I was hungry for some spring petals.

In Art World, you can have any season you like!

I created loose watercolor florals in the style I learned from Wendy Solganik of Willa Wanders. You can see her Teachable classes here: 

https://willa-workshops.teachable.com/l/productssortKey=recommended&sortDirection=asc&page=1

After the watercolor paint dried on the page, I played with line work around the flowers in ink, and added the dates & days. Later, I wrote in the events of the week. It's refreshing every time I open my planner and catch a glimpse of the colors and energy of spring.

What is your heart hungry for right now? I hope you create it with your art supplies.

Happy Creating!

Post Card Practice

I keep a stack of 4.5" x 6" postcards cut from sheets of 140# watercolor paper in a ziplock bag in my art backpack.  When I have a little time and some inspiration, I can work small. It's an easy way into creating, a warm-up.

I find the trick to making progress or even maintaining your art skills is persistent practice. Find anything that interests you and practice drawing or painting it.  Working on loose pieces of paper can reduce the fear of making a "bad painting." You can toss it if you don't like the results.

Every painting and drawing teaches you something.  You can step back and notice what you do and don't like about each creation. 

I like the loose hydrangea blossoms in the post card above.  I like the contrast and edges created by the dark shadows around the lower leaf.  I don't like the upper right area's blobby lack of definition.  Perhaps a few ink lines would add the definition I desire, but I don't want to lose the lower leaf's magic, so I'll likely leave it as is.  It's a postcard after all!

I share this to give you a sense of how you might look at your own work.  Instead of saying "It's awful!" or making some other broad statement, notice what you do and don't like about your painting or drawing.  Now you have a list of things you can work on. You have goals.

In my case, I want to make more paintings that are loose and use dark negative space shadows to create positive space shapes. I want to define the subject with high contrasts in color and value.  I'm willing to let things be abstract in places, but want to create lively lines.

I guess I'd better keep practicing!

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!

A Vase of Fall Flowers to Draw

Don't you love the beauty of Chrysanthemums in Autumn?

I bought myself a bouquet of mostly mums and then played with making sketches on scrap paper.

I used a Conte crayon and a white watercolor crayon.

 

The first drawing I made (above) looked like a bit of a jumble.  

I still enjoyed the sketching process, and it was good practice. 

No worries; I turned the page and started fresh.

I love the freshness of this drawing and have it propped up in my studio.  

I learned from the first sketch that I needed to simplify and pick 3 flowers because the Conte crayon is so dark when added to the text on the old paper.

What do you love to look at in this season? Making a sketch of it will deepen your enjoyment and enrich your observations of it.

Here are my top sketching tips:

1. Pick something you love to look at and are curious about drawing.

2. If you feel too pressured to make "pretty art" on the blank page of a sketchbook, start with scratch paper or a loose sheet of drawing paper.  If you want to include the resulting drawing in your sketchbook, you can always tape it in later.

3. Let your eyes drink in what you're drawing.  Look at your subject (a flower in my case) 85% of the time, and take quick glances at your paper.  This may feel "dangerous" at first, but if you trust your hand and use your eyes to see all the beautiful shapes, lines and textures in your subject, your drawings will come to life.

4. Keep speaking encouragingly to yourself.  It's quite common to have an inner critic who loves to yell its negative opinions about your art, especially when you try something new.  Please remember this critic is wrong.  Incorrect.  Off the mark.  Never right.  So just keep drawing, because the more you draw, the more fluid your drawings become.

5. "Bad" art: If you make a sketch that you don't like, turn the page and try again.  Later, you will notice parts of the "bad" sketch that you do like (for me, it's that dark leaf with the light vein that hangs down on the bottom right side of my first sketch).

6. Just keep drawing!  Everyday if you can, but as often as possible.

For me, following the contours of flowers is always pleasant & relaxing.  What is relaxing for you to look at and draw?

I hope you take 20 minutes and make sketches of your favorite things this week!

Happy Creating! 

The Importance of Playing with Your Supplies

Don't you love discovering new artist authors and delving into their work?

Jill Bays is my recent discovery.  I admire her bold, confident lines. In this drawing workbook, she leads you through ten basic lessons to improve your sketching skills.  Since drawing is the foundation of painting and other art forms, it's a valuable pursuit!

Here are some of my sketchbook pages from the first chapters.

I really enjoyed the process of simply testing out various drawing supplies to discern their properties and answer questions like:

What medium gives me the darkest values?

Can I smudge this material to make softer textures?

Can I erase out parts of a scene, using the eraser to "draw" images?

When you explore materials and experiment, there's no pressure to make "good art."  You're just playing with your supplies.

And having an experienced artist lead you through activities to build your skills takes away the common fear of the blank page.

Your world is full of objects to draw and explore.  What would you like to sketch or experiment with?

Happy Creating!

Pencil Drawing: Portrait Practice

On the last night of my Pencil Drawing class at CCBC, I showed my students how to draw faces from photographs.  Above is my sketch of a student's adorable great granddaughter.  

We practiced drawing some of the models on my Portrait Reference Photo page here.

I find that it takes me several tries at drawing facial features.  I make an attempt, then see where I went wrong, erase and try again.  

That's the essence of drawing -- You make a sketch, step back, then reshape the parts that need it, and then step back again to see what you'll modify next.  

Pencil drawing sometimes feels like sculpting because it requires a series of corrections, reshaping your original marks into a final drawing.  

But as you draw, you can drop away into a place of calm focus, like a meditation.   When you step back, you've got a drawing and a new perspective.

I hope you'll keep drawing -- whether you were in my Beginner's Pencil Drawing class or not!

Cloud Study

After painting the lake from a canoe (See my post: Nature Journaling from a Canoe), I was taken by the way I could paint fluffy summer clouds decking a brilliant blue sky, and so I made this study using white gouache and phthalo blue watercolor paints.

I sat on my front porch and watched the sky, painting the clouds I saw floating by.  Of course, the clouds were constantly moving and changing, so I let the clouds morph on the paper, too. 

Making studies is a wonderful way to explore a part of the landscape, to practice your painting or drawing skills, and to simply relax.  There's no pressure to make a "pretty" picture, because you  know you're just making a study.  You're not creating a composition, just exploring and playing.

What catches your eye today?  Your cat's ear, a zinnia bloom, a fresh apple in a bowl on the kitchen counter -- make a study of it!  

Studies and sketches are a great way to warm up and get your creativity flowing.

Happy creating!