Expressive Portrait Maquette

Expressive Portrait Maquette 

clay

 ~4 inches tall

 My first project for Sculpture 1.  We are to do an expressive portrait or a morph.  I am choosing the expressive portrait.  This is a quick tiny model to get an idea down for what my bigger one is going to look like. My inspiration is Edvard Munch's The Scream.

 

I tired adding the hands and arms but it didnt look right.  I think I would need to include more then just the head and shoulders for it to work with the arms. 

Brooklyn Bridge WIP- Day 3

Brooklyn Bridge WIP

oil on canvas 

 36 x 48

Did the sky.  Pretty happy with the results.  I may go back in and add a bit more white to the clouds.  

I am not as far along with it as I would have hoped but it will work.  I think I went a bit too dark on areas of the bridge but I can fix that.  I hope to finish it on Sunday. 

It took me awhile to get into working on this piece but once I did I was totally in the zone and loving it... and then I had to get ready for work. No fun.  Hopefully I can just get right bavk into that zone quickly on Sunday and bang this piece out.   

Previous step.

This is a commission for one of my husbands co-workers.  His wife is from Brooklyn.  He wants to give this to her for Valentine's day.  I am giving my self until Monday to finish it so that it can be dry in time.  Reference. 

Brooklyn Bridge WIP- Day 2

Brooklyn Bridge WIP

oil on canvas 

 36 x 48

 Working on the sky.  I need to add clouds.  I also have an idea for how I am going to do the bricks on the bridge.  I want to get the sky done first though.  I am funny when I paint.  I like to think and plot out my next move.  Last night I did the under-painting and then thought about how I was going to do the sky.  Now I have done the sky and so need to plot how I am going to do the clouds.  I hope to have this 80-90% done tomorrow. 

Previous step.

This is a commission for one of my husbands co-workers.  His wife is from Brooklyn.  He wants to give this to her for Valentine's day.  I am giving my self until Monday to finish it so that it can be dry in time.  Reference. 

Brooklyn Bridge WIP

Brooklyn Bridge

oil on canvas 

 36 x 48

 A commission for one of my husbands co-workers.  His wife is from Brooklyn.  He wants to give this to her for Valentine's day.  I am giving my self until Monday to finish it so that it can be dry in time.  Reference. 

More Sketches

Butterfly for Rachel

pen on paper

 8 x 5.5

Pandas for Megan

pen on paper

 8 x6

This past week I went on vacation to NorCal and besides having an awesome (yet painful) time learning to snowboard I met up with a bunch of my family.  My second cousin has 3 beautiful kids and once they heard I was an artist they asked if I could draw them something.  The 5 year old asked for a butterfly and the 8 year old asked for pandas.  Reference found online on a Driod phone.

 Sleepy Husband 

pen on paper

5 x 7 

More from my daily sketch journal (the rest of the sketches I post for today will be from my daily sketch journal).  My husband was in Japan for 3 weeks.  This was done the night he got home.  He had traveled for 36 hours that day and was exhausted.  It made him a great model :) 

 Leaf

pen on paper

5 x 7 

I swept a lot of leaves at work on this day and so decided I should sketch one of these many leaves.  I think I may one day use this as reference for a watercolor painting. 

 I Forgot

pen on paper

5 x 7 

Two my girlfriends and I went to San Diego for the VH1 Divas concert back in December and when we arrived at our destination I realized I forgot to pack a few things.  Namely a toothbrush, toothpaste, and pajamas.  Desperate times call for desperate measures so the above sketched socks became my toothbrush for that evening until I could get one the next day.  The sock is a continuous line semi blind contour drawing. 

So this is the last of my sketches I will be sharing for a bit because.... I am back to school!! And I am actually super super excited for this semester.  I am taking Sculpture 1, Mixed Media Painting and Drawing, and Surrealism, Stylization and Expression.  It is going to be a fun and expressive.  An awesome amazing quote from this first week "We are only using the model as an excuse to paint."  SAY WHAT?!?! You mean I dont need to get every proportion and value and line perfect? You mean I may actually enjoy drawing the figure?  I predict this is going to be a very very good semester.   

Mountain Peak v2

Mountain Peak  

oil on canvas board

9 x 12

I worked on this a bit more today in Lynn Gertenbach's art class. Sorry for the poor photo.  With Lynn's guidance I worked on making the mountain peak the focal point and and more dimension to the trees. It needs a bit more work to be completed.  I am certainly learning a lot from this painting :)   

Mountain Peak

  Mountain Peak  

oil on canvas board

9 x 12

I went out painting with Lynn Gertenbach and a group of other artists.  This is my second plein air painting.  1st plein air painting. The day started out nicely and then the wind picked up and we got cold. I am liking the over all look but it could use some work.  Tomorrow is art class with Lynn so I think I will work on it more then. 

p.s. Naming paintings is difficult.  I do not know what to call this one.   

Sketches- Week 2

 Mouse Poop... Eww

pen on paper

5 x 7 

More from my daily sketch journal (the rest of the sketches I post will be from my daily sketch journal).  This was done on a day when I was cleaning out a shed and dealt with a significant amount of mouse droppings.  For some reason I really like this drawing.  I think it is the composition and the simplicity of it.

  My Icky Feeling Tummy 

pen on paper

5 x 7 

My first sort of foray into illustration/ character design.  I usually dont create this sort of art so this was fun and different for me.  My stomach was not feeling very well this day and I wanted to illustrate what my tummy would look like.  I think it is a pretty successful rendition of an upset tummy.    

  Tide Pools 

pen on paper

5 x 7 

On this day one of my best friends and I went to the tide pools something I havent really done since I was a kid.  I was awesome.  We saw crabs, and starfish, and sea urchins, and little weird wormy things.  It was for sure a fun day.  If you have not been to tide pools in a awhile I highly recommend you go. Seeing sea life is super awesome. 

You may have noticed all of my sketches are in pen.  I like to use pen for these daily sketches because it challenges me.  It forces me to commit to my marks before I make them.  No erasing.  It also helps me to be more confident in my sketching abilities. 

More sketches to come next week and then it is back to school :)

Azores Seascape

  Azores Seascape

oil on canvas board

8 x 10

Done in Lynn Gertenbach's art class.  I didnt know what I wanted to paint today so I brought 2 reference photos.  A moonrise and waves crashing on rocks.  Lynn liked the colors in the water in the waves so that is what I went with.  We changed it a bunch from the reference but I think it still reads as the Azores.  Painting this was a nice departure for me. 1) I think this is the smallest I have ever worked.  I think I like it though.  There is something sweet about the smaller size. 2) I did the second half of this using a palette knife.  I havent used a palette knife for painting since high school, approx 7 years.  I will try and take a better picture tomorrow.

Sketches

Since I am not in class right now and so not creating art as regularly I thought I would share some of my favorite sketchbook sketches.  

  Dwarf Bunnies

pen and white colored pencil on paper

5 x 7 

Done when I first decided to draw daily by following #DrawDaily's prompts.  The prompt for this day was "dwarf"

Hand Study

pen on paper

5 x 7 

Also done during my first attempt to draw daily.  They were a little slow on the prompts this week so I made up my own :) 

Birthday Cake 

pen on paper

5 x 7 

My attempt at following #DrawDaily's prompts failed after just 2 weeks.  Mid August I decided that I would try again.  

 My friend was in the hospital and I was watching her 5 year old daughter.  To entertain her I brought my sketchbook, we played tic-tac-toe, and took turns drawing.  Her being the naturally curious child she was wanted to see what else I had in my sketchbook.  As she was going through it she asked me why I had so many blank pages.  I didnt have a good answer.  I thought about this question for a few weeks and decided I would try to fill my sketchbook. 

One of my fears is forgetting my memories so I decided on one page I would write a simple schedule of what I did that day and on the facing page a sketch of something that happened during that day. 

This sketch was done during the first few weeks on my birthday.  My sisters made me a cake and filled the cake with no blow out candles.  We thought it was going to catch fire.  It had us all laughing uncontrollably.  It was a good birthday. 

So at this point you maybe thinking "Hey August was 5 months ago, and we are just hearing about this now!"  Yes it is true.  I have not posted about my daily sketch journal on my blog.  It took me a couple of months just to tell any of my friends.  I was afraid if I told people what I was doing I would stop doing it.  I wanted to make my sketching a habit before I shared it with the world.  

Recently I updated the look of my blog and was thinking about the name: "Drawings, Paintings, Thoughts".  I realized I have a lot of paintings and not so may thoughts and drawings.  The best way for me to remedy this is for me to open up my daily sketch journal and share my drawings with you. 

For the rest of January on Mondays I will be posting sketches from my sketch journal so stay tuned. 

If you have read this whole thing then I am impressed and you deserve a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup:

Enjoy! 

Christmas Birds

Here we are!  Finally! I was working on these up until Christmas Eve.  I would have posted them last week but alas I was struck down by the flu.  I spent 40+ hours straight in bed trying to recover. All is almost better though, I just have a lingering cough. 

Enjoy the Christmas Birds below.  I wish you all a happy prosperous and healthy New Year!

These are all Christmas presents for my friends and family.  I like to make my Christmas presents (candles, ornaments, etc)  so this year I wanted to give small paintings.  I wanted to do something Christmas related but that could still be hung up all year round.  I also wanted to enjoy doing the paintings.  I love these fat little winter birds.  I hope you love them too.  

Tree Tweet

 watercolor on paper

 6 x 9 

Blue Tit

 watercolor on paper

 9 x 6

Reference 

 

Snow Robin 

 watercolor on paper

 6 x 9 

Reference

Blue Jay

 watercolor on paper

 9 x 6

Reference

Red Robin

 watercolor on paper

 6 x 9 

Chickadee

 watercolor on paper

 9 x 6 

Reference

O Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree 2010

Pine tree

 approx 6ft x 3ft 

Merry Christmas!! A different kind of art.  The art of Christmas tree decorating.  I love the way our tree looks. I love that my house smell like pine. I love that there is a story behind each ornament. I love the presents under the tree.  I feel like I am finally getting into the Christmas spirit :) Now back to painting the Christmas birds.  I barely have 1/3 of them done and Christmas is in 3 days!!!!

Christmas Birds

I started working on my Christmas presents today. I will post images of them after Christmas when I have given them to them.  They are looking pretty awesome :) 

On another note the rain we are having right now is pretty crazy.  2 days of non stop rain and it is supposed to continue into Wednesday. Really unusual for this area but we sure do need it.  Im just hoping we dont have too many mud slides.   

Finals- Skatepark, Draped Reclining Nude

Skatepark 

oil on canvas

 16 x 20

For Clothed Figure Painting. Finished. Im happy with the final product. Different then my usual work but I like it.  Previous step.

 

 

 Draped Reclining Nude 

oil on canvas

 18 x 24

For Clothed Figure Painting. Finished.  Tiny faces will be the death of me.   Previous step.

So so happy to be done with finals.  6 weeks of a break and then back to school. 

 

Finals- Popo & Poppy, Storytime

 

Popo & Poppy

oil on canvas

 20 x 16

For Head Painting. My husband's grandparents. Finished.  I brought this to class with Lynn Gertenbach again.  Her input was invaluable. I am very happy with the finish of this.  It is going to be Popo's Christmas present.  I hope she loves it. Previous step.

 

Storytime

oil on canvas

 20 x 16

Final for Composition and Painting. Using multiple references.  Just a few changes to this.  My teacher commented that I needed to lighten the bookshelf in the background and to add more definition to the toys in the foreground.  Previous step.

 

 

2 more paintings to do.  Due tomorrow.  I am very ready to be done. 

 

 

 

Storytime

Storytime

oil on canvas

 20 x 16

Final for Composition and Painting. Using multiple references. Finished.  I will take a better picture in the daylight and post it tomorrow.  I like the finish of this.  A sweet moment between two best friends.  From the previous step I finished the girls, darkened the floor and the wall, refined things, and added toys!

One final down 2 to go, 3 paintings due Friday.  So ready to be done.  Ive got a few commissions to do that I am pretty excited about! I will post more about them as I do them.    

Bubbles, WIP- Storytime, Skatepark

 

Bubbles

oil on canvas

 18 x14

For Head Painting. Probably my favorite painting of the semester.  I love the colors. I love the bubbles. I love everything about this piece.  Reference. 

Previous step.

Storytime (wip)

oil on canvas

 20 x 16

For Composition and Painting. Using multiple references. I fixed some areas in the background and worked a bit one the girls.  I am really afraid of messing up the left girls face... The next step is to refine the girls and the background, and add some toys! Previous step.

Skatepark (wip)

oil on canvas

 16 x 20

For Clothed Figure Painting. I didnt do too much to this. I just worked on refining the figure and the foreground a bit.  My instructor remarked that she liked the loose background and that all I need to do was refine in foreground.  We will see if I like it when I put more time into it.  Previous step.

 

 

 This week is Finals week.  I have 1 painting (Storytime) due Wednesday and 3 paintings due Friday (Poppy& Popo, Skatepark, and Draped Reclining Nude).  So much to do.  So little time. I am excited to be done with this semester.  It will be one less thing on my plate, at least for a few months. 

I have found the 6 bird refs I am going to use for my Christmas present paintings.  I am excited to get these started as I have like 25 to do and Christmas is next week.  Yeah, I'm going to be painting like mad.  So lots more work to come from me in the next few weeks.  Stay posted.

WIP- Popo& Poppy

Popo & Poppy (wip)

oil on canvas

 20 x 16

For Head Painting. My husband's grandparents.  I worked more on creating 3D forms.  I brought this to class with Lynn Gertenbach and she helped me to work out the shapes of the figures.  Im doing nice thin layers with this one too start.  Much different then I usually do.  Im liking the results though. Previous step.

WIP- Storytime

Storytime (wip)

oil on canvas

 20 x 16

For Composition and Painting. Using multiple references. Basic lay in, just putting paint on canvas.  I like to way the girls look but I need to fix the perspective in the background. 

WIP- Bubbles, Draped Reclining Nude, Popo & Poppy, Skatepark

 

Bubbles (wip)

oil on canvas

 18 x14

For Head Painting. Im having fun with this one.  I love all of the colors. Reference. 

Draped Reclining Nude (wip)

oil on canvas

 18 x 24

For Clothed Figure Painting.  From my personal reference files.  Softened out the skin tone and adjusted the background.  Im having issues with the face though.  I tried putting it in, hated it, and wiped it out.

Any tips?  That is still the biggest struggle for me. Tiny faces.  I think I get too caught up in the details.  Previous step.

Popo & Poppy (wip)

oil on canvas

 20 x 16

For Head Painting. My husband's grandparents.  Basic lay in, lights and darks.  The colors choices have to do with their races.  She is Chinese, he is Japanese.  I dressed her in red because that is a color of luck in Chinese culture.  I did the background green because it has positive meaning in both cultures.  I may do a glaze of a darker brown over the background to give it a bit more depth.

Skatepark (wip)

oil on canvas

 16 x 20

For Clothed Figure Painting. 

Super loose with this.  I enjoyed doing it :)
Not sure I like the background.  I think it needs more. Reference from my personal stash.

2 weeks left of school!! Im so ready to be done.
Im excited for the projects I am going to do during winter break since I will have time.  I want to get my creative juices flowing again.  For my brother in law I am going to do a giant (like 3ft x 5ft) painting of a wild fire because he is a wild land fire fighter.  It is his Christmas/ birthday present.  For Christmas gifts for our friends and family I think I am going to do little 8 x 10 watercolor paintings.  Something simple like winter birds.  We will see if I have time to get all of this done.  I hope so.

On a totally unrelated note, I have discovered Pandora and I love it.  It is great to have on while I am up to my ears in paintings.  Today I have been listening to Colbie Caillat Radio.  Great songs :)