First Day of the New Year - First (Real) Steps Down the Illustration Road

Had I been thinking more realistically as a young adult, I would have majored in illustration at Cal State Long Beach instead of going with the Drawing & Painting specialization.  There's a lot of overlap in the requirements, but there were a few classes that I missed out on - mainly those on rendering, character design, sequential imagery, and of course, anything having to do with computers (that all came rushing in as I was on my way out of college).  A lot of these things are topics I've been looking into and practicing on my own over recent years along with practical, real-world, business-end topics.

I've been plugged into YouTube for the past couple days, soaking up everything I can possibly find on illustration and the business of it (the scary part for me).  I was delighted to find quite a bit online. Most notably, Will Terry's Channel seemed to zero right in on most all of the information that I've been seeking.  And, upon visiting his website, I found his video series that included rendering, character design, storytelling with imagery, and the real-world topics of marketing and submitting work!  The series costs about $30, but well worth it as it was just what I was looking for.  And, I appreciate his honesty and experience.

Last thing I'll mention is Will Terry's video on How to Set Up Your Illustration Portfolio - that was very helpful as well.  I felt as though I've been floating around at the whim of an artistic breeze lately.  This helped me to have a more deliberate direction to move in.  And, in turn, the ideas are flowing freely.

Work in Progress - hopefully I can finish in the next week.

However, hands-on art for me at the moment consists of a painting that I'm doing for our church (those with young kids in AWANA might recognize this guy).  It's not a commissioned original design or anything - just something from the Cubbie book to brighten the walls.  And, it's nice to pick up a paintbrush again.

Forgive My Absence...But, It's Time For Some New Releases!

I've found it very difficult to get to the creative work recently - it's always hard this time of year with the ending of the school year and trying to get things completed, the end of the Family CoOp and related celebrations, the end of spring soccer seasons and it's related celebrations...if I never have another pizza it will be too soon!!!

"Spring" Signed, Limited Edition giclee print on paper
of original pencil drawing, 9"x12" $50.00

Anyway, during this hiatus from actual art production, I did manage to FINALLY have some new prints made!  They are lovely quality giclee prints from the only place around here that seems to do them (and Les does a wonderful job) - Palette Arts in Nipomo.  They are available directly through me (if you want a signed limited edition, quality guaranteed) or through my site at Fine Art America (which would not be signed and they print on demand on various sizes and surfaces, however I am unable to check the quality against the original - looks good on screen, though).

I'm sure long-time visitors will recognize the drawing above - the first to be released in a series of 4 seasonal drawings.  Obviously, this one represents spring - my goal is to try and release a new one during each season until the series is complete.

"Tweet" Signed, Limited Edition giclee print on paper
of original gouache painting, 6"x 8" $40.00

#2 in the series

#1 in the series

You'll also recognize this little guy - part of a series of 3 kid-friendly, primary color images that were originally done in gouache.

"Still" Signed, Limited Edition giclee print on paper
of original acrylic painting, 9"x 12" $55.00  OR  16" x 20" $65.00

Of course, my favorite is the recent painting "Still."

Last but not least, I have some 9"x12" prints of the chef study that I used for the mural.

A Perfect Day...Mostly

Another lovely day - great for painting...and smoothies!  I love living in strawberry country!

"Look Mom!  I've only been working 1 minute and I've already got paint on me!"
It was nice to have company in the studio today!

After a morning trip to the grocery store, various around-the-house "to do" stuff, I was beginning to think that I wouldn't get much painting done.  By the time I got out there it was after lunch!  When I finally did get out there, I was quickly joined by two other family artists.

A good start - more to do...

It's alreay Thursday!  What made me think I might actually get 2 paintings done this week?  At least this one did flow once I got started - I was able to get paint on the entire canvas fairly quickly.  What you see above seems pretty far along, but there are still layers to be added, details to be refined, problems to fix...I always notice more problems once I photograph a project.  I'm cringing as I type.  If only I had all of tomorrow to paint.  But, we're off to see a matinee of Robin Hood at Cal Poly's Performing Arts Center.  That will be fun, too.  Hopefully, I will be able to finish it before we start back to school on Monday, though.

Springtime, Easter Vacation, and the Pre-Painting Begins...Finally

Believe it or not, these are flesh tones
 (base, warm & cool shadows, and highlight)

I can't believe it's already Wednesday and I haven't started officially painting yet - Easter Vacation is just flying by!  But, yesterday, I updated my playlists with some new songs and headed out to the garage for some of the prep-work.  I always like to start a larger-size project with as many premixed colors as possible so I don't end up running out of something in the middle of painting.  It was my "mad scientist" day - I felt like I should be wearing a lab coat and laughing maniacally when I achieved the right shade.  I will still have a palette for additional mixing and fine tuning of colors, but I should be able to do a lot with these.

Mixed, labeled, and ready to go...

One of the nice things about working in the garage on a sunny spring day is that my littlest gets to play in the front yard (which she doesn't normally get to do).  Although her big sisters are usually with her, there's a nice big window so I can keep an eye on her and she has her boundaries so that she's stays within that window of sight - of course, that's also the window where crane flies go to die this time of year.  They were all over, stuck between the glass and the screen or in webs in the corners.  So, I had to clean up that disgusting mess, too - YUCK!  But, it's fun to see my bouncing beauty enjoying the sunshine.


Now, I can't wait to actually start painting - maybe I'll get to do that tomorrow.  Hopefully, I'll get at least one painting done this week and still have some family time.  In the meantime, my painting looks a little freaky with all of the test spots created as searched for the right base colors, highlights and shadows.

Color test spots making the subject look a bit strange

Hoping for a Productive Week Ahead...

Easter Vacation is officially here!  The girls finished up their classwork today and we all have a break for the next week (from school, anyway).

The new painting is underway and surprisingly farther along than I thought!  Earlier this week, I started with a pencil drawing which I painted over and refined with burnt umber - I wanted to take the time to get the proportions right.

Happy to have a use for leftover mural mixtures!

I realized that I had several color mixes leftover from the mural - some that I had mixed in quantity and kept in airtight containers - that would actually work with this painting.  Some will need to be adjusted slightly, but they were well suited for the underpainting portion of the project.  Sooooo, I was able to get started.

Underpainting underway...

BUT, I hesitate to say that this painting will go quickly, even with all of my studies and pre-mixed colors.  I've done that before and there's always something that I get hung-up on that extends the project for a while.  I can still hope, though, and I do know that the time I took with the studies has helped me a lot.  After all, it's a complicated pose, especially when it comes to the tilt and angle of the head - I fought with that one a while.  But, I was much more comfortable with it when drawing it out on the canvas (all freehand - no projector for this).

Meanwhile, while mom's busy painting in the garage, my youngest 2 have found a way to entertain themselves before the weather turns.  I'm not sure if this is a rain dance, but...

Fine Art Monday

Well, an unexpected day off takes me one step closer to the painting projects that I've been really excited to begin.  We will taking next week off of school for Easter Vacation and I'd planned to take this Friday off as well.  However, the girls insisted that they would rather take today (Monday) off instead of Friday.  Who am I to argue? But, I think they'll regret it come Friday.

The garage door is a perfect spot to hold the studies - canvas is ready for paint...

So, I gathered all of my drawings and studies for the "Listening" painting and started sketching it on the 30" x 40" canvas.  I can't wait to get going on it - I LOVE the colors, the subject, the pose, and the many studies I did will hopefully result in smooth-sailing when it comes to painting the final.  Since I cleared out the last of the dried-out color remnants from the mural, the next step will be to start mixing some color combinations for the new project - that's what I'll try to work on between now and vacation.

Mural mixes in the trash...time for something new

Another thing that I've been working on is a re-do of my hiking bear.  The paintings that I've been working on are much different than the illustrations that I've been playing with for the past several years.  So, this is a nice little change of focus.  It's still in progress, but not far from done.

Redo in progress...

Hiking Bear original...

The Real Story...

Easter vacation is coming and I'm hoping to work on some full-scale paintings.  In the meantime, I've been working on another study.  I've had a sketch in the sketchbook for a while - one of many familiar nursery rhymes that are always rolling around in my mind (my illustration side asserting itself).  In this case, those 3 men in a tub have wanted to be in a painting for a while.  HOWEVER, I've been wanting to merge the fine art and the illustration a bit more - although it might be a case of me finally accepting the fact that I can't separate the two.



New study in progress

Anyway, long story short, I was wondering how I could take this simple rhyme that kept calling for my attention and use it to glorify God.  The answer came in thoughts of Renaissance art history classes I had in college - paintings that were packed full of symbolic images that had religious, mythological, or historical meanings.  I always loved studying those art pieces as there were hidden stories within the compositions.  This project just seemed to fall right into that and, to tell the truth, I think it is road that I'm interested in traveling through more projects. 


One of the books that I kept from those days was a Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art which explains multiple meanings behind different objects and scenarios.  The more I thought about it, a more complete tale began to emerge.  I'll elaborate more when the final product is underway.  See what you can determine from the study...

Rub-a-dub-dub
Three men in a tub
And who do you think they be?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick maker,
Turn them out, knaves all three

Spring Is In the Air...

So, where've I been?  Well, busy as usual - getting one child ready for high school graduation and another enrolling in high school, proofreading the annual research papers for my 5th and 8th grader, running my mother-in-law to and fro on errands...the usual.  Not to mention daylight savings - can't get used to that one!  I've actually been productive on some art projects with some newfound springtime motivation - I just haven't been able to get the laptop away from my teenage daughter lately to download my pictures.

Kids presenting research paper summaries to the Writing CoOp

The weather is getting to where I can work in the garage again, so I spent all day yesterday clearing out the piles that have built up and reorganizing the workspace (post-mural).  I picked-up a 30"x40" canvas for the study I recently did (shared in the previous post).  I wouldn't be able to work that large in the corner of my small bedroom.

Garage work space ready for new projects...

I actually did have a request for some artwork for a friend and the charity organization that she's involved with.  There is an upcoming fundraiser for Royal Family Kids and she asked me to do a design based on their Old West theme to be printed on placemats along with their logo.  Maybe a little something for the portfolio...

A Little Study...

Worked on a study - a close up of the face in order to troubleshoot some issues. The bad news is that I had a hard time achieving the "looser" painting style of the original.  I blame my little palette - in respect to the size of the study - since I would quickly run out of my color mixture.  I was unable to load up the brush and lay in a layer of color.  Instead, I was trying to make the color stretch and that resulted in thin, smooth and blended colors and it was frustrating to have to keeping stopping to mix colors.  So, note to self, when I go to work on the larger canvas, I'll have to make sure I have small containers of colors mixed (just like I did with the mural).

The good news is that with all of this painting and repainting, mixing and remixing, I figured out a skin tone mixture that I like a lot.  I had always used a lot of ultramarine blue in the shadows, but for this I went heavier with more burnt umber (inspired by a documentary about Manet that I watched recently - don't know if that's what he used, but I noticed his warmer, neutral shadows).

The last thing I have to say has to do with studies and redoing a drawing or painting.  I always tell my art students not to immediately write off a redo as bad or worse than the first. It will always look "different" in some way, and beginning artists often get frustrated because it does look different.  Usually, when I walk away from it for a while, I come back to find that it's not as bad as I thought, and there are some things that I might like better after all.  Or, I can learn something from the redo - as I did here.

A Bit Rusty in the Figure Painting Department...

I've worked on the study over this extended weekend, and it's been a bit of a challenge.  Painting the figure has always been a challenge for me simply because I haven't done a lot of it.  What I have done has been more along the lines of illustration and hard-edge drawing.  But, I did manage to make progress and actually get some results that kind of work.

I painted out the face MANY times before I finally achieved the
"soft" look that I was going for - less is more...

This is just a study, and I may do another one just of the face to get a better grasp of it.  In the end, it will be a larger painting (as I think I mentioned before).

On Deck...

I've tucked away the porcelain creamer, little orange flowers and cascading drapery, replacing the objects with photo references for a project I'm really excited about doing.  The inspiration was a photograph of my oldest daughter taken about a year ago at El Capitan State Beach.  However, I'm changing the location from a rocky beach to a rocky riverbed with some trees in the background.

I'm looking forward to playing with some colors that have not been on the palette for other projects - mainly Phthalo blue and green.  I'm also excited about exploring colors and patterns of stones in water - I've always been drawn to that in nature.  But, most of all, I'm delighted to be working with a specific concept - trying to capture the moment of quiet contemplation or listening in prayer.

I have flashes of what I think the end product might look like, but I've learned not to get hung up in those fleeting visions.  They give me a direction, but the journey will likely take me down any number of possible paths.  But, this is merely a study for the sake of exploration.  Ultimately, I see this as a fairly large painting - large for my space, anyway, requiring more than a little tabletop.  By the time I'm ready to move on to canvas, the weather should be comfortable enough to work in the garage again.

So Much For Being "Done"...

A rare day-off for Lincoln's Birthday, the big kids all gone to friends' houses, and a little sunshine on the front patio means that my littlest can have fun playing out front while mom updates things on the laptop.

Spring flowers have already arrived.

Anyway, didn't I say I might just tweak the painting a little?  Well, that wasn't exactly true.  When it came down to it, I think I tweaked it a lot.  Of course, it may not look different but, with a little close observation, one might notice differences.  Frankly, I became frustrated with the 2 flowers on the right - they became rather muddled by overworking with to many colors - I even completely painted out the bottom one and started over.

I think it's done - but I'm still not happy with the leaf - I'll just tweak it a little...

Light was an interesting challenge as I had a changing light source (a south-facing window) to my left which caused moving shadows and a secondary interior light overhead/right which created shadows of its own.  I realized that I was giving conflicting information with cast shadows of the flower petals on both sides of the vase/creamer, but I liked the shapes and decided to keep them.  And that's what was truly liberating about this project compared with the first one which was much more dependent on observation.  For this one, I gave myself permission to use more artistic license and mostly responded to what was happening on the paper.  Besides liking the shapes of some of the shadows, I also liked the orange from the flowers reflected on the porcelain surface - it wasn't nearly as pronounced in real life, but I liked it in the painting.

I still have dreams of one do doing a "quick" little still life that captures its essence with a minimum of strokes... (sigh)

A Different Perspective...

On this lovely afternoon, I was able to spend time painting.  I realized that the little still life I just painted was OK, but...something about it isn't sitting well with me.  I'm happy to be more comfortable working with acrylic paint, but it's still falling flat.  That contrast that I like to emphasize just wasn't there once the colors dried.  Also, I wanted to try something a little looser now that I'd solved the question of colors and mixing.  So, I decided to try it again from a slightly different angle.

First paint (left) and today's painting (right)

I definitely like the 2nd one better - it has a greater level of contrast and it is slightly looser (although I think total reckless abandon just isn't how I was created to paint).  There's still a little tweaking that I'll do, but it shouldn't change too drastically from this.  One thing that I thought about while painting was how much easier color mixing has become.  In the early days of painting, color mixing was a little confusing - sort of hit or miss.  But now, I have a better sense of whether I should add a blue, a brown, or a black for a shadow; whether I should add a white, a yellow, an ochre, or some other color for a highlight.  I'm actually quite happy with my painting now - I want to have one foot in the natural world and one foot in the expressive without swinging too far one way or another...at least for now.

This doesn't exactly accurately represent the saturation of some of the colors, but it's close...

I've been watching some art programs on the Ovation channel lately and I had to pause one episode of Art in Progress to write down a quote.  The show focused on the artist Donald Sultan - I was not particularly familiar with his work and I liked it to some degree, although it was a bit to conceptual for my tastes (a topic for another time).  But, he said something that really struck a chord in me as I so often "overthink" things.

"One of the mainstays of making art is that you don't think of new ideas - you discover them.  So, that's why you have to work all the time.  If you go out and just lie around and start thinking and waiting, you know nothing is ever gonna happen.  And, the longer you wait, the more you realize that when you come back to it, you're right back where you were.  You're not any further along even though you thought and thought and thought - you didn't really go anywhere."  Donald Sultan

I appreciated this thought since I often like to spend time - too much time - thinking about what I want to do.  And, sometimes it's paralyzing.

Why Am I So Complicated?

I always have the best of intentions - my plan was to start working on small scale and simple still life paintings to play around and further explore acrylic paints.  I’ve been going around the house selecting objects that might make for visually interesting paintings.  As usual, as I start putting things together, a story begins to grow, more specific items are then needed, and the next thing you know I have a large-scale project in my mind!  Not only do the concepts go from simple to complex in seconds, but many of the items that interest me are very detailed.

A few of the objects I've collected for still life paintings

S-I-M-P-L-I-F-Y…why is that so hard for me.  I guess my personal challenge to myself is just to grab some basic items (nothing fancy), throw them together on a table, and see what comes out.  It all comes back to that balance I need in my work - in this case, the balance of the conscious and subconscious.  In other words, it’s time to shut off the brain a little, quit over-thinking things, and "play."

Game on...

Revisiting "FINE" Art..

Time is ticking away - Christmas vacation is slipping away.  But, I'm enjoying looking at the New Year, trying to plan how I can fit everything in that I want to do - especially art.  As it stands, I will be the featured artist at the Town Center Gallery in October and I've got to get busy producing new work.  Although it's a smaller-town member gallery, I'm excited about having a goal to work for.  And, I'm really delighted to be taking steps back into the more "fine art" world - it can only enhance my illustration.  I'm inspired by new ideas that I look forward to pursuing - I'll get more into that later.

Today, I carved out an hour OUTSIDE of the house, no less, to do a little sketching.  I'm wanting to do some small still life paintings to get into the swing of things and play around with my new and improved understanding of acrylics (thanks to the mural).

OK Santa Maria locals - can you guess where I went by these items?

Anyway, during my break I've been addicted to watching previous seasons of the PBS series Art 21 on Netflix Instant Watch.   It has reawakened my interest in fine art and all of the discussion that goes with it that I miss from college (although I can't say that I took proper advantage of the opportunities for such discussion back then).  I'm going to dust off my many sketchbooks from back then and see how my ideas have changed since then. Maybe I'll post more on those thoughts soon.

New Projects On the Horizon...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!  I was blessed this year with the means to purchase a new camera - nothing too high-tech, but my other camera was completely dead.  So, now I can take pictures of things I've been working on again...

There hasn't been as much time as I'd hoped during this vacation period to pursue any projects - the week before Christmas was spent preparing, baking cookies, etc. and the week after has been recovery of the house and things like that.  But, I have at least given some thought to new projects that I hope to complete in the next several months.  The above picture is a sketch from a photo of my daughter - a pose that I always liked.  It fits well with the concept I have for a painting.  And, it's exciting for me to be going in a different direction than I have in the past - inspirations from the mural project.

Au Revoir...Adios...Adieu...

The mural is now en route to a sign shop where it will be framed and then it will probably wait in storage until the corner of Cook and Broadway is ready for its placement.

Jill in action - with complicated back-lighting, no less...

This morning, my friend and photographer Jill Martin of Jill Martin Photography came over to get a shot of the panels all lined up together.  Overall, I'm happy with it, but seeing it all together in the light of day after not really paying attention to it for weeks, there are a couple things that stood out and I wish I had done them differently.  But, I'll keep them to myself as no one else will probably care but me.  A couple of the panels have a little warp - I'm sure the sign company will be able to handle that in the framing process.

Saying Goodbye 

Anyway, I did do some last minute touch ups in a few spots - I was never able to put together more than 2 panels at a time inside the garage, so there were a couple of details that didn't line up.

Soooooo Close...

You have to look close to see strawberries...

I'd say that I knocked a lot off of the to-do list today!  The biggest hurdle was what used to be an undefined field beneath the cauliflower wave.  Now, it has been planted and is full of strawberries ready to be picked (although no one will be able to see them unless they're up close).

The field "before"

The field "after"

Other things that were done were little touch-ups here and there, including the chef's shoes - he's now wearing creepers (a nod to my husband, Smitty).

Anything after this will be minimal changes - I'm thinkin' more contrast on the columns, maybe on some viney pieces as well...then it's varnish time!

Letters and Leaves...

Spent a good part of today kneeling and lying on the garage floor painting...and repainting...letters.

I think I already mentioned that I wasn't excited about painting letters and, yes, I did overfuss it.  The more I tried to refine the letters, the less I liked them (and the more they seemed to draw attention away from the mural).  In the end, I went back to fairly loose letters (sans serif).  The title simply reads:  Celebrate the Harvest - Santa Maria Valley (across the bottom of 3 panels)

I also worked on detailing the leaves around the pumpkins and building a little more contrast in that area.

Now, I'm a little more excited about working on the mural again.  I will be moving some panels tonmorrow to (finally) detail the field beneath the wave.  There'll be a little bit of greenery and some dots of red (strawberries) to pull a teensy bit more color into those first two panels.

At least I won't have to lay on the floor for the next phase!