Danish houses

I have been having a "new year" spring clean of my house and my computer of late, sorting out all my photos and files and getting rid of things that are just taking up space.

In my ventures i came across this painting. It has great sentimental value to me for a couple of reasons. One that it was my grandmothers and i think that she actually painted it (though i am not sure) but i can always remember it being in our house. It reminds me of Denmark which is where both my parents come from and i remember seeing all the beautiful thatched roof houses on a few holiday we have had there. i plan to do a series with this subject one day, its something that always gives me much peace and makes things feel like home.

Blue Swirl Pot2

Ok, here is my wip of my second blue pot.

I have taken alot more care with this one and erased a few times particularly in the wood where i was going much too dark with my values. Or totally the wrong colour. This wood is a little more true to the actual wood and photo.

After reading Hillberry's book in my previous post i tried to follow a few tips regarding wood and i also turned my work upside down and to the side to work on this area and that really seemed to help me focus on the values rather than the grain. And then the grain seemed to flow on after, much more betterer. :)

I took more time in altering the drawing after transfering (i received a few tips from the ppl over at AAF regarding the previous pot) and i had realised that the photo was incorrect in some of its lines and proporions. So i think this all helps.

I am pulling myself up on my strokes (i tend to get lazy and just colour all the same way) and i have also been using some of my colour knowledge (which i tend to overlook) for shadows etc. So all in all i think its coming along fine. There is a few things i am not sure about .. but lets see how it pans out.

Maggie's JSS

Maggie Stiefvater has completed her John Singer Sargent project and it looks fantastic (as does Nicole's and Katherine's) but Maggie's points she has learnt have really stuck with me as she sounds as though we have learnt similar lessons from studying JSS's work. While i didnt undertake the project in producing a work as the other ladies(i knew i just didnt have the time to do it in January) this doesnt mean i won't do so in the future.

So here is the link to Maggie's blog and final post JSS work.
http://greywarenart.blogspot.com/2007/01/horses-of-roan-after-john-singer.html

If Maggie doesnt mind i might print these out and stick them on a wall as a reminder of things to remember while working :)

DUH !

Last week i decided to get down a few of my books and read them again. :)
One of the books i re-read is this book Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil - by J.D Hillberry
Its a great book and covers alot of amazing pencil work. As i was reading it i had a few Duh!!! moments as there were a few things i was reminded of that i have been overlooking in my recent works.

One of them was choosing the right paper - i have been using colourfix paper which is quite rough, and i was really struggling in my lemon pot pic to get alot of layers down one of the points that Hillberry highlights is to choose the right paper, if you are drawing something smoooth choose smooth paper and vice versa if drawing something rough !! -duhhhhhh

Another interesting point in the book is thinking about the contours of the object you are drawing, and changing your stroke to fall along the same contours will give a better finish. Another Duh! moment for me, i had been doing this but not often enough.
Isn't it funny how sometimes we overlook in similest things in order to cram it all in !

Blue Swirl Pot

Following my lemon pot pic i wanted to do a few more studies before i do a larger piece with a similar theme. So i decided to do two pictures of the same subject and see the differences in time it takes to do, the finished result and the processes.

I have mainly been working on dark colourfix paper lately which is quite rough, so for these i have gone back to the smooth paper and white (its been a while) but i enjoyed it.

For some reason i have had a real hankering to do some watercolour lately, so for this first pic i have used White arches watercolour paper with a watercolour underpainting. I really really enjoyed this i could have just kept going and going with the watercolour if i wasnt on an agenda. (so i really must do some more watercolour soon).

The process went really fast and i am happy with the way it turned out. I found the light values much easier to put down as i was able to establish values quickly in the beginning. I really wasnt happy with the wood in the lemonpot picture and while its not at the level i was hoping for yet, i was much happier with the result of this one.

The next one will be using cpencil only and lots of blending and brushing. Stay tuned.

Artist Statement

I took some timeout this week to write my artist statement. Artist statements are pretty important as they tell people about who you are and what you do when your not there to say it.It also helps you to get your head around your direction and tell people where you have been. I am as you have probably guessed not the greatest writer in the world so i found this quite difficult. I read lots of other statements as well as articles telling me what i should and shouldnt have in it. Here is what i have come up with, i think it does the trick.

A bit about me: I have enjoyed art from a very young age and upon finishing school I completed an associate diploma of Graphic Design in 1995, which established my foundation for a successful career in graphic and web design. I continue to work within this industry but also have returned to my passion creating art.

Each work is a expression of something that i would like to capture, that can sometimes be colour, emotion or object but can also be a texture, feeling or an occasion that occurs to myself or those around me. Using a variety of subjects I have a fascination with realism pieces and will often switch between acrylics, watercolours and coloured pencil paintings.

My recent focus has been on observing the way light and shadows interact in my coloured pencil paintings and broadening my subject matter.

Here is a link which has great information on writing your artist statement.
http://www.artbusiness.com/artstate.html

John Singer Sargent

I was looking for something at this website on a totally different mission and i found this article on John Singer Sargent seems that i find him everywhere now.

Here is the link for all those interested.
http://www.myamericanartist.com/2007/01/drawing_out_sar.html

Lemon and pot

Its been a few days break as i had my son's birthday party to host but i am coming back to it with new eyes. This one i have been reluctant to post i am not sure why, but anyway here is my latest.

It was a reference i took the other morning when my son was eating breakfast its inspired by JSS's work. I was really focusing on the shadows and light in this one as well as carrying the cloth through background which is there but your eye isnt really focussed on it. Its only a small 6"X4" so the level of detail isnt that great but it was mainly done as a preliminary work to a larger one i will do with similar objects / lighting.

This one is done on colourfix i might do a few more smaller works of this theme on various supports just to experiment with the different results i get. So there is likely more of this to come.

Is there life after JSS?

I have just been going through all my reference photos to look for my next piece. I knew that i had quite a few photos i wanted to do something with and had previously been excited about getting stuck into those.


After looking at the various blogs on JSS Project and his works i now see all my reference photos "in a different light" and i have come to realise that they just don't have the "pop" i thought that they did.


So, i am now left wondering is there life after JSS? Am i now forever to be looking at things in values and wondering where the brightest light is and the darkest dark and whether they are close enough to each other to make it work ???

It sounds like i am forever bound for it to be so, but hey that's a good thing right ??

I went to bed thinking of things to paint and wondering what i was going to do next that was going to satisfy what i wanted to achieve. Then this morning, life presents it itself as it often does and i was watching my son who will be 3 this week eat his breakfast. He was sitting at the table, the sun was pouring in the window he had light curtains behind him a green bowl and something about it was very "recognisable" so i got the camera out took a few pics.

When he was done i got a few still life type pics of various items from around the house. I was very conscious about the light where the bright objects were and where the dark ones were plus colours. I would think what would he say about the position of this or that, and i could here myself saying "No thats not right it doesnt work".

I think its so amazing how things can be stuck in our minds and a person i will never met can have an such an impact in our minds and our art.

There's alot to be said for learning :) And i think i have found a few new reference photos to work on.

Art Spectrum Colour Fix MDF board

Last year i was really interested in reading Nicole Caulfield's works with various CP pieces on board which had been primed with Art Spectrum Colourfix Primer. She explains her process of making the boards here. The info on the primer is here on the art spectrum website.

I knew i wanted to give this whirl, and i have done mine on MDF board. I have done a couple of white ones and the rest in grey (i mixed it with black acrylic). The reasons for wanting to do CP work on these is that after completeing your piece you can use UV spray varnish and then essentially you dont need to frame your piece with a matt or glass. Just a frame, the colours are much brighter and you can just hang it on the wall. You can also apparently use watercolours or acrylics or pastels with the primers so i can use them for anything.

I am excited about these i did a couple of light layers first then sanded then the final layer the surface seems to be quite fine especially after the sanding. I can alway do a very light sand again if the tooth is too much.

stay tuned for some work on this board!

Horses

My recent horses pic has just been framed and it looks great (unfortunately this isnt a great pic but you get the idea - Go to November for a better look ). This artwork is currently featured for the month of May in the 2007 Scribble Talk calendar. You can take a look or buy the calendar here from Cafe Press website.

This artwork will be shown at Willowgate Hall from the 22nd January and will be for sale.

Max in a bucket take 2 - Finished

Yay! Calling this done. I had all sorts of issues trying to get the layers onto this one. After spraying i was hoping to get a few more on particularly in the skin tones and white of the bucket but it just didnt seem to work and i was fighting it so i called it a day.

Working on black definitely was a factor in the difficultly of trying to achieve a good colour vibrancy, i think i prefer working on darks colours but a brown or a grey as opposed to black for the future. For predominately dark areas which needed a few highlights (eg the hair) this support worked really well, but for the skintones which required lots of layers it was hard.

After placing the pic in the frame on the wall it just didn't looked good at all. So i played with a background in photoshop and then added the background in. It looked 100 times better.

So here is the final product, happy to call this one done for now.

Onto the next one :)

Here is another update, we are just about to the stage where the other piece was ripped. So far i have worked approximately 10-12hours.

Other things of note are:

- I recently purchased some polychromos pencils, so i have been using these for the first time. These are great i am really enjoying and no wax bloom is GREAT.

- Strokes - not only are my strokes looser i have also been "blurring the edges" with this one, its not the way i usually work and is also something i read about from JSS but i think its an invaluable lesson to learn been been part of my problem in the past in order to get things to look right.

- Standing up, i am also remembering to get some distance when working so i have been standing up. This i have found really helps traing my eye for "seeing" as i tend to get too close when working on cp.

This illustration board is not working as well as i had hoped it just cant take the layers other papers i have used can. So i at this point am going to spray a few coats of fixative in the hope to get some more particuallarly white / light layers in. Lets see how we go :)

Max in a bucket take 2

Here is the max in a bucket piece take 2 (see previous post where my 9month old ripped my other one), i have done a few things different with this one.

- its on black illustration board, previous one was colourfix brown

- i am trying to work looser with less layers, as part of my artplan for 2007

- i am really concentrating on the process and values (keeping in mind my recent readings from JSS and other books i have read on the matter).

As this is my second attempt i dont seem to be as emotionally connected to this piece as the first. My focus has been on the "process" and seeing values correctly rather than likeness or achieving a "smoothness" factor.
In my readings on JSS it talks about how sketches need to be "tried and tried again, turned about until it satisfies every requirement, and a perfect visualization is attained". He often redid canvas after canvas of the same painting in order to get it "right".

I guess what that means to me is it allows me to beleive that even the masters got it wrong sometimes, so i shouldnt be afraid to "spoil" something as even they did it. (which sounds silly but i guess we all dont want to "fail" at something)


I also am taking advice i have read many places which is to draw from real life often in order to keep up these "seeing" skills. So i the other morning did a few quick sketches of my 3yold eating breakfast. I won't post them as they are so embarrassing but this is something i realise even more now i need to continue with in order to improve my skill. So i will endeavour to do it more often now, someone please nag me to do it!!!

"Keep the thing as a whole in your mind "- John Singer Sargent

I reguarly visit the blogs of a few of the members of the Fine Line Artists group. As a group they have decided to undertake a new project this year in studying the american artist John Singer Sargent. It's been really interesting to read how the different artists are tackling the project and what each of them is planning to do "inspired" by his work.

Being a primarily self-taught artist i have never really studied many other masters in depth, not since highschool anyway. (At the time i remember i found it all a bit boring but to be honest i think everything is boring when your 14!) So, i have it surprisingly interesting and inspiring to read about his work, his life and in particular how he taught his students and the process he would go through for a piece. Here is an article which is of particular interest.

You can read more about the Fine line Artists project on their respective blogs:
Nicole Caulfied
Making A Mark
Maggie Stiefvater

Artplan for 2007

In 2006, I didnt really have much of an artplan, i was pregnant with my second child and my motivation during that pregnancy wasnt great. Once bubs was born in march my primary concern was enjoying him so needless to say all art took the backseat. I did manage to complete a few pieces tho, so in hindsight i would say that my plan was to MAKE time to do my art whenever possible to get back into the swing of things. This i did achieve so a big pat on the back for me!

In 2007, while raising two young boys my plan is much the same as 2006 in that i need to MAKE some time for art. While I do feel that they will be young for such a short period of time and i wish to enjoy them as much as possible, any parent will agree that there are times when you need to have your own space and some downtime from the kids as often a necessary. so again my goal for 2007 is to MAKE sure i get some art time in every 3-4 days.

In keeping with that my plan is to DO, first and foremost. I spend too much time reading forums, and emails and thinking about what i can do rather than doing it. I have heaps of reference photso to go from so i must just get in there and do it! And try not to worry about making mistakes or producing a "finished" work.

Developing my style is also an important factor i need to keep my eye on keeping my work simplier, trying not to keep everything so "smooth" all the time in the case of CP. Maybe to work larger where possible in order to not get so close.

I need to do a bit more selling. I have the perfect opportunity to display work for a busy horse week in Scone in April/ May. The beginning of this year i need to complete a few works for display. There is also a artshow/competition during this time so one of my goals is to enter something in that if at a minimum it is only my "horses" pic from 2006.

All in all i am hoping 2007 is the stepping stone for works for 2008. I am being realistic with my time this year i will have a 3yearold and a 1 year old. If i can set myself up for more work next year this is my underling plan. I am excited about it lets hope 2007 is a good one.

mmmmm electric eraser

Well christmas is over and we spent new years repainting our bathroom ...yay !! It looks much better tho .. so i am happy :)

Over the years I have heard many CP artists talk about using a electric eraser, and a little while ago i read about one on Katheryn Tyrell's - Making a Mark Blog in which she was raving about on she ordered online. I looked at all my local and sydney artshops to see if they stock them ... only to get funny looks (which i am getting used to now) as i often get them when they ask what sort of artwork that i do and i tell them CP. Anywho, so i bought one from Artifolk in the UK (here is the link for the eraser)

I was very impressed with the delivery time considering there has been holidays as well as the price and not to mention the exchange rate (including delivery - it only really cost me $13- AU which included 2 sets 30pc of spare erasers ) I would have paid this much if i had seen it in the shop so it all worked in well. I cant wait to use them !! :)