Creating Calm Through Watercolor Explorations: Seashell Painting

In class on Wednesday, I asked my students to pick out a shell or other natural object that they were drawn to.  We made thumbnail sketches, selected an angle to paint it from, and then mixed paint colors and began capturing our shells on watercolor paper.  Here's my painting step-by-step.

The shell and the first washes of color:

Adding in the first shadows and some details:

More details added:

Gouache highlights:

The finished work:

Nature Journal Update: A Stormy Afternoon

A stormy afternoon made me reach for my watercolors and gouache. I love how white gouache sits on top of the watercolor painting, allowing me to lift out highlights in the turbulent sky.

Figure Drawing Update: Kathryn's & David's Duo Poses

I have wanted a chance to really sink myself into drawing duo poses for a long time.  When I teach in the studio, I focus on helping my students, and don't have much time to draw the models myself.  A silver lining to teaching art via Zoom is that I get to draw just as much as my students.  I'm grateful to Kathryn and David for their creative poses to challenge and inspire us!  It was an amazing session.

Nature Journal Update: Summer Thunderclouds

A summery afternoon built cumulonimbus clouds that didn't travel very far very fast, but rumbled and dropped curtains of indigo.  Tired at the end of a busy day, I sat on the front porch and sketched, blissfully.

Collage Creations, Week One

I love the way that creating with collage opens up opportunities to mingle materials and images.  I once used to try to create "perfect" collages and artworks, but I have come to realize that getting in the neighborhood of "good" is far more productive and satisfying.  Yesterday, as I taught Collage Creations online, I spread out my materials and just let my eyes fall on interesting pieces to use -- postage stamps, book pages, maps, pressed plants, etc.  Later, I was happily surprised by connections I saw within my compositions, and it reinforced that I can trust my intuition.  That's the best thing about art for me - the after-effect of peaceful reverie and contentment.

Here are some collage post cards I created during class yesterday.

Nature Journal Update: Sketching People & Plants

Dining out for us of late has meant buying a salad from Trader Joe's and eating it in a park in the sunshine.  On a recent trip into town for groceries, I met a young PhD. student.  We chatted about my art practice and about his love of playing the French horn -- his art form.  Figure drawing connects me with people, and after the months of quarantine, I find myself grateful for little interactions like this one that I used to take for granted.

Figure Drawing Update: Hands & Feet with Amelia

Model Amelia gave us some beautiful poses yesterday during our Osher class. 

I talked about the importance of shading, even simply choosing three tones: lightest lights, darkest darks and a midtone.  By observing these values, and representing them in your drawing, you add substantial depth.

I was working on paper grocery bags from Trader Joe's, with charcoal and colored chalks.

 I demonstrated how to draw hands and feet in class.

I repeated the gesture activity from last week, inviting my students to make a very quick, messy, loose gesture drawing with one color of chalk or pastel, and then slow down and finish the drawing by using a second color of chalk to capture the contour lines.