Scream WIP

Scream WIP

clay

 ~12 inches tall

 My first project for Sculpture 1.  Refining the features.  I feel like there is something off with it. I am just not sure what exactly.  Sculpture is quite a difficult medium.  I very much prefer painting.  It is nice to try something different but it is not my favorite thing.   Previous step.

Blue Vase WIP

 

 Blue Vase WIP

oil on canvas

 9 x 12

Done in art class with Lynn Gertenbach. Today she told us that the great Richard Schmid once said that after being asked how he became such a great artist he replied that it was 20 years of working from life.  This inspired us to set up a still life and paint from life.  Lynn has so many amazing things to use for still lifes but for this we wanted to keep it simple. 
I love the background and the vase and the flowers.  I think the lemons are coming along nicely but could still use some work.  I am struggling with the grapes.  I think the key to those is to keep them simple and not try to paint every detail on every grape. 

Chrysanthemum, Flapper, Red, Bubble Gum

Chrysanthemum  

mixed media on watercolor paper 

 22 x 15

For Mixed Media Painting and Drawing. Adding water media to our drawings.  It looks a bit different from the reference but I think I got the overall feel of the piece.  Reference.

 

Flapper 

mixed media on paper

 18 x 24

Another one for Mixed Media.  My first attempt at playing with the water media.  I love the red against the green and the flappers hair.  This one was very fun to do. Reference.

 

Red 

mixed media on paper

 18 x 24

For Mixed Media. More playing with the media.  I love all of the red! Reference.

 

Bubble Gum 

mixed media on paper

 18 x 24

Another one for Mixed Media. This one was a struggle.  I so badly just wanted to paint the bubble that I rushed this and didnt check my proportions in the beginning.  So by the time I was getting toward the end and noticed the mess up it was already to late and I was done. Reference.

 

 

I am kinda bummed I missed the Figure Drawing Workshop tonight but I think I did something a bit more fun.  To celebrate Valentine's Day and 7 years of being together my husband and I went to Fabio from Top Chef's restaurant.  The food was super yummy and not outrageously expensive.  We will for sure be going back.    

Knifed, Scream WIP

Scream WIP

clay

 ~12 inches tall

 My first project for Sculpture 1. Adding the features.  The light and dark clay is because I ran out of gray so I switched to white.  Right now I feel like he is yawning instead of screaming.  Hopefully my instructor will have some tips for me.  Previous step.

Knifed

oil on canvas

 9 x 12

 For Surrealism, Stylization & Expression.  Done completely with a palette knife.  It wasnt my favorite techniques but I think with a bit more practice I may come to like it.  

Update on Brooklyn Bridge: I sold it today.  It was hard to see it go but in the end it was never really mine.  The buyer loved it as did his wife who cried when he surprised her with it as a gift for Valentine's Day.  

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

oil on canvas 

 36 x 48

Finished.  I love it.  This is the first large scale piece that I have actually finished.  I hope they like it :)
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.  Reference. 

Brooklyn Bridge WIP- Day 5

Brooklyn Bridge WIP

oil on canvas 

 36 x 48

I am out of my funk.  I havent worked on this the past few days because I wasnt really sure what I wanted to do next.  I woke up early this morning (6:30) determined to work through it and get this painting as close to finished as possible.  I love the way it is looking and it feels so good.  Much better then the ugly stage.  

I think I am pretty much done with the foreground.  I need to work out the background and make sure not to get too caught up in the details. It is the background and to keep the feeling of perspective I need to keep the city pushed back.  No sharp contrasts. No bright colors.  I need to show the atmosphere between the fore and backgrounds. 

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.   Reference. 

Drawings- Hair, KA-POW!, Pizazz, Figure Workshop

Hair

mixed media on paper 

 18 x 24

For Mixed Media Painting and Drawing.  Exploring different pencil-like media.  Trying to get us to get used to using different media within a piece. Super happy with this.  I love the face. I really really want to come in a do a cool background in watercolor.  Maybe another time. 

KA-POW!

mixed media on paper

 18 x 24

Another one for Mixed Media.  Like the above piece, playing with the different conte, charcoal, pastels, to get a feel for how they work together.  

 

 

Pizazz 

mixed media on paper

 18 x 24 

For Mixed Media.  Same as the two above, more exploring. 

 

 Today I also went to a Figure Drawing Workshop I found in my area and hand a chance to apply my new mixed media techniques to the drawing I did from the model.  Below are some of my better attempts. 

P.s. My second time ever working from a professional model.  Next week we are doing a long pose (3 hours) I think I may bring my paints and see what happens :)

 

Dreads & Scream WIP

Dreads 

oil on canvas 

 16 x 20  

For Surrealism, Stylization & Expression.  I soo enjoyed doing this.  After having class after class stressing perfect proportion and such it felt good to just enjoy putting the paint on the canvas.  It was very cathartic for me.  

In hindsight I probably should have cropped her mid skirt or made the figure smaller.  I love the red boots she is wearing.  Model from school.

Here are some blind contour skecthes I did to prep for this painting:

 

Scream WIP

clay

 ~12 inches tall

 My first project for Sculpture 1.  The initial block in- full scale. Not as far along as I would have liked because, of course, I ran out of clay.  I checked every Micheal's in the area and none of them have the clay I need.  And no local art stores carry the clay I need.  At least all of the newspaper is covered. I just was not able to really begin putting in the features.

Brooklyn Bridge WIP- Day 4

Brooklyn Bridge WIP

oil on canvas 

 36 x 48

Welcome to the ugly phase.  In my experience every painting goes through an ugly phase and as an artist it is my job to bring it out.  I began adding in the lights.  As I did this I realized I may have made the darks a bit too dark so I will need to fix them. I added the water and am happy with the way it looks.  I still need to work on the city in the background more.  Lets see if I get this 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. 

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