Collage Planner Pages

My best friend Robin says that instead of "To Do" lists, she makes "Get To Do" lists for each day.  

I love that idea, and have taken it one step further, collaging and decorating my "Get to Do" pages.

I started with an out-of-date planner that I purchased for a quarter at the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.  The quality of the paper, and the graph paper style attracted my eye.  I simply write a new date over top of the printed date.

I decorated these pages with stamps I made by cutting designs into pink erasers.  You can read a blog post about making those stamps here.

You can see some of my other collaged journal pages here.

I also use colored pencils & permanent ink pens to create pages like these.  I doodled a shape, then responded to that shape by adding other shapes and lines.

This is one of those projects that eliminates the fear of not being "perfect." It's just a planner page, so there's no pressure.

It helps me to see how reducing expectations on myself opens me up to follow my intuition, to stop judging my art making, and to free up my lines.

What if I created like this all the time?!

What if you gave this a try? 

Use what you have and doodle in your daily planner.  See what develops.

You may find new lines, shapes and approaches in your art making.

Happy Exploring!

 I got a new set of Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencils for the Pet Portraits in Colored Pencils class at the Community College of Beaver County.

One of the easiest ways to drop into creative mode, I find is to simply test out your new supplies by making a chart with the name of each color and a sample of that color. This process of swatching shows you exactly what color each pencil or paint type is.  

Now that you are familiar with your new supplies, ideas pop up for sketchbook projects.  In my case, the daylilies were blooming right off the front porch where I sat in the late afternoon sun.

I hope you'll try swatching your art supplies.  Perhaps you have some colored pencils or watercolors, or a set of markers.  Testing them out can be your entryway into creativity!

Portrait of a Kitten

I recently taught a Pet Portraits in Colored Pencil course at 

the Community College of Beaver County.  

As a demonstration, I used the photograph below to create the drawing above.

A high quality photograph is the best reference to have, so references like this Life magazine will give you a great start.  Because photos like this are copyrighted, you can't sell your resulting artworks, but they are very helpful to use when you are practicing.

I started with a graphite sketch, then erased most of the graphite marks, and began adding in the colors swatched along the left side of the drawing.

I started with the eyes, as I find that they are the most important feature in a portrait.  If you get the eyes right, and give the idea of the other facial features, with loose lines for the fur, 

the viewer's eye fills in the rest.

If you'd like to practice drawing animals from high quality photos, 

check out my Pet Portraits in Colored Pencil page here: 

https://betsyblissart.blogspot.com/p/pet-portraits-in-colored-pencil.html

I hope you have fun drawing these beautiful animal friends!

A Zoom Art Date with The Unexpected Gypsy

As a Patreon supporter of The Unexpected Gypsy, I get regular inspiration and instructional videos from artist Wendy Robinson. One recent benefit of supporting her was a live Zoom session in which she & her Patreons created while we chatted.

It was lovely!

Each of us chose our own project to work on.

I created these faces on old book pages using an India ink brush pen.

The ink flowed readily from the brush, and sassy, peaceful, powerful faces appeared.

I find that doing this type of open-ended creative project while listening to a conversation or watching a video allows me to shift into a relaxed attitude and just play.

This character looks like a fairy superhero to me -- I added splashes of watercolor to the face after the India ink dried. 

I hope you find an opportunity to create in a loose, unplanned way.  To simply allow yourself to play with your art supplies.

Painting The Space Upstairs

You may recognize this scene from my earlier post, The Value of a Value Study, about creating a monochromatic study of this photo taken in The Space Upstairs dance studio in Pittsburgh.

I used this value study to help me lay out the values of the final painting.

I began the painting with a pencil sketch.  When I had laid out all the shapes and gotten the geometry of each object correct, I began laying in washes.

I started with the lighter values, but added in some of the darker values and details to get a sense of the contrast and depth of the painting.

I slowly added more definition.

I paid attention to the values within areas of detail. 

By representing those values, I created a sense of that feature.  

For instance, the briefcase (brown towards the bottom) doesn't have any fine brush marks, 

but I did look carefully at where the shadows on the handle and the latches were, 

and tried to create those values.

The stacks of papers on the briefcase had much more detail in them than I included in my painting, 

but I decided that I wanted other parts of the painting to be the focus.

The final painting is my homage to The Space Upstairs and its magical creativity.

Many thanks to Pearlann Porter, Artistic Director of The Space Upstairs for the inspiration!

Watercolor Sketching

 

A simple wash or two can tell a story if you express the values you see.  This was a quick demonstration for a plein air watercolor class I held recently.

I splashed in cool and warm greens, added shadows, and incorporated the wild grasses in the field.  Finishing with Derwent Inktense pencils to express some of the weeds in the foreground, and the hickory tree gave a sense of the place. 

I may add more detail to this sketch, or I may leave it as it is, a reminder of a lovely, sunny summer day spent with other artists creating in nature.

I hope you take 15 minutes this week to sketch a scene that catches your eye!

Armchair Travel Painting Part 2: Remote Cabin

In an earlier post, I described the inspiration I took from YouTuber Steve Wallis and his video Overnight in Remote Cabin.  

The cozy wooden cabin that Steve spent the night in inspired me to create this journal sketch just after watching his video.  The warmth of the planks of wood siding, by lamplight, and Steve's joy in finding the cabin, all called out to be painted in watercolor.

Many thanks for the inspiration, Steve!