ODE TO SUMMER'S END

Summer's End

I know that summer's heat will eventually end and autumn, my favorite time of the year, will come. This charcoal sketch is my metaphoric ode to that probability!  The dried out skeleton of a cow skull signifies summer, and the pumpkin is, of course, the autumn's arrival.  Just thinking ahead...

SITTING ON THE DOCKS

Sitting on the Docks

As you can see, I have a definite theme going this month.  I am hibernating indoors due to the heat and humidity, and wishing for chilly walks along the beach.  I am also missing my daughter, who is living by the ocean thousands of miles away.  Drawing a bit of that ocean helps tremendously.  What a good, therapeutic session!  Water....cool....

KAYAKING

KAYAKING MORRO BAY

I decided to once again try my hand at drawing water.  Just a little sketch, but it brought back memories of kayaking in Morro Bay, in California.  We went in tiny kayaks,a big ocean, and humongous sea lions!  I nearly capsized mine when one seal came up beside me to investigate.  I was sure I was going to be Great White Shark food!

HUMMEL VASE

HUMMEL VASE


I don't know if this is a real Hummel figurine or not, but I was bored, bored, bored today and grabbed this off my shelf to draw.  I liked all of the curved edges on it and wanted to do something with depth today to keep up my skills with light and shadow.  It is a charcoal drawing that I did on tinted paper.  I put in my darkest values first to get my contrast going and identified my lightest areas, then chose the values from there.  It was a good exercise and I felt a bit virtuous because I had accomplished SOMETHING on this icky, sticky, hot, muggy summer day. 



A Walk at Bear Lake

I am always in the mood to use watercolor when I am around lakes and oceans.  I suppose it is because I have never quite figured out how to draw liquid in a believable way.  As you can see, I am definitely NOT a watercolor artist, but I do love the way the color swirls into each other and dries into details of grass, sky and  water.  I took a photo of Bear Lake in Utah when we lived there.  The water in this particular lake is incredibly blue and Carribean in feeling!  I was amazed at it, and of course there is a Bear Lake monster that has been sighted over the years.  They have rigged up a tourist boat as a Monster Ship, and take interested groups out to catch a glimpse.  The beaches were wonderfully sandy.  Hubby and I did a bit of beach combing and metal detecting occassionally.  It was a great place to weekend, and my little watercolor does not do it justice, but it reminds me when I look at it of the serenity of the place, and the Huckleberry milk shakes at the concession stands!

Detail

SEPIA ROSES



Roses from Michael

Detail of Roses...

My hubby is always sending me flowers, not just for anniversaries and birthdays, but to surprise me.  These roses came while he was TDY (Temporary Duty) for several weeks to somewhere (classified or something) for his job.  Such a sweet and thoughtful hubby!  I wanted to keep them forever, so I did a sketch.  I especially love this rendering, as it is full of movement and emotion.  THAT is what drawing is all about!  Getting the essence of your subject, not so much the photographic details.  I drew this with sepia felt tip pen on colored paper.  I wonder if I can get an interesting, scratchboard effect if I use white gel pen on dark paper?  Hmm........





SCRATCHBOARD

Kitty in the Boot

I tried something new.  Scratchboard is just ink layered over a base such as paper, clayboard, etc.  I discovered very quickly that it is just the reverse of pen and ink drawing.  You are just drawing the lights instead of the darks.  It really messes with your mind at first!  After a few false starts, and a lot of mistakes, I really got to liking it.  Note:  Mistakes can NOT be inked over!  They show up REALLY WELL.  I did this "Kitty in the Boot"  from a photo of one of my earliest kittens who loved to put her toys in hubby's boot to surprise him.  She would then dive into the boot to retrieve the toy, and play with the shoelaces just to look cute and get away with it!

COLOR CHOICES



Cool-color photo

I always like to browse the slick art magazines when I go to the book store, and the Southwestern Art mag caught my eye this  week.  Have you noticed that the new western artists are using wild bright colors in their wildlife art? I saw a buffalo done in thick primary colors, and a blue horse!  They had impact!  They were slightly abstract and just amazing!  Enough exclamation points, though. I realize every time I pick up a new art mag that it is important to keep up with the young artists, the contemporary choices.  It reminds me not to get stale, and to look at the world with new eyes.  A children's art teacher that I know is always coming up with innovative lessons for her students.  One of those lesson plans was to take a basic landscape and switch the cool colors to warm colors.  The children came up with exciting results.  Red skies and orange grass.  Purple suns.  Interesting idea, hmm?  Keeping it fresh.

Oh, some of my favorite picks for contemporary art magazines:  'Blue Canvas',  'High Fructose', and American Artist 'Drawing' Magazine.

SHELL SERIES



New England Whelk



New Zealand Ostrich Foot
CLICK TO SEE IMAGE LARGER

Mediterranean Prickly Helmet
CLICK TO SEE IMAGE LARGER

I spent a few days at the casinos this week doing a bit of that gambling and losing thing.  My, oh my!  The frustration level was HIGH!  I had a few small wins (I only play the penny slots, as I am a low risk person), but on the whole came out in the red.  Gambling is risking.  In casinos you are risking money.  If I would put as much of a risk into my art, I might fail often, but I might occasionally come up with a win.  These days, getting your art out there into the world is a big gamble.  Heart and money are on a plate for people to break and take.  Selling your 'heart and art' in this economy isn't easy.  Probably why I am on two depression medications.  But occasionally I win a little, and that encourages me to continue to create my own view of the world.  I sold an art print of my 'Chickadee in Autumn' this week.  Hurray! This encourages me to start working harder on a website to sell my originals and prints (again, scared to risk!) You've got to take encouragement where you can get it and hang in there!  By the way, a big thanks to hubby for saying "Wow!" to my shell sketch series!  My ultimate vacation choice would be to the beaches, and I was inspired to draw these intricate works of nature's art.

BUTTERFLY SUMMER

Photo by Michael Altom


My butterfly bush is attracting the most beautiful butterflies! 

CREATIVE BLOCKS



LAUGH OUT LOUD!

One of my blocks to finishing a painting is 'atychiphobia', or fear of failure.  (I also have decidophobia, the fear of making decisions, where I can't make up my mind what to paint at ALL!!)  The fear of failing is in all of us, but a high self-esteem can be a big help in knocking down that particular block.  If you are confident that you will do a perfect job, or that you can do everything well - you are probably fairly abnormal and need psychological help.  For the rest of us, there is going to be self-doubt, nerves, and general worry that our mommies won't like our work.  For me, confidence can be found through loads and loads of practice, deep breathing, and keeping the eye on the prize---expressing yourself!  I would LOVE to hear what works for you! 

HUMMINGBIRD

The hummingbirds have been especially aggressive this year.  They dive bomb me when I go outside if the feeders are low in sugar water.  Funniest...they tease my 2 cats mercilessly!  They hover in front of them on the other side of the window glass, and I swear they are laughing at them.  It drives the kitties nuts, and I learned a valuable lesson from those hummers....if you really want to get back at your adversaries, just laugh.  Be happy.  It drives them wacko!

FROG THERAPY

We all grow up needing a bit of therapy due to family issues...My daughter became a vegetarian when her grandfather let her play with the pretty rabbit before he killed it for dinner.  My friend cannot drive without a GPS because as a child she got lost and has a fear of being disoriented.  With me, it was frogs.  As a 4 year old I discovered the tiniest frogs, and was fascinated.  I loved them.  I adored them.  I played with them.  Until Gram Rosie took them away from me to use as catfish bait.  Devastating!!!! I have been obsessed ever since, and continue to go back and draw studies, paint them, and leave water and overturned pots in the yard for them to shelter in.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE

I got brave and submitted an article and photos of an art doll I made to the magazine, 'ClothPaperScissors'!  They needed essays on the subject of 'Follow your Art'.  I will find out in 12 weeks whether it will be accepted, but either way, it felt good to do something productive, and I am very proud of that article!  I love the textile magazine, and support it by subscribing.  I am inspired by all of the collage artists that they feature. 

MAGNOLIA BLOSSOM

The magnolias have been so beautiful this year that I wanted to share with you one of my photos.  Isn't nature just incredible?!!

DRAWING DAILY

As I spent most of the day with dealing with medical professionals (i.e.lab tech vampires!) I didn't get in much creativity.  I drew a young woman sitting across from me waiting to see if she was pregnant (she was), and when I got home, I found a few antique chinese tiles and a funny brass bird, also from China, that I think is a game piece.  I arranged them and drew for a bit.  The rest of the day was spent artistically rearranging the furniture and creatively vacuuming!  I also did some still life arrangements with newly cut Canna Lillies from my garden and chased a wasp all over the house in an effort to evict the unwanted insect.  That was my exercise for the day.  Absolutely the most dull of days, and I sincerely hope that tomorrow is more exciting, unique, entertaining and different! However, it is my intention to draw every day, even a little bit, to continue to get better, and to look at everything in a new light.  Even the dull and every day things can be exciting if looking upon in a creative way. 

TANGLED



Tangled Up Inside

I was sketching a variety of things yesterday, and while trying to figure out what to work on next, I mindlessly doodled.  What came up was this mass of threads tangled up and completely psychological, I swear!  My mind is all over the place right now, so I guess I communicated it with this.  Whatever, I liked it and embellished on it, added shadows and light, and enjoyed where it was going.  The creative process is never predictable, and certainly never boring!

CHARCOAL PORTRAIT

Charcoal rendering has to be one of the most exciting ways to do portraits!  I find it very satisfying to draw BEHIND the subject and then hit the highlights with white chalk.  This portrait was especially interesting.  I was taking a life drawing class, and the model wasn't able to get there.  We bribed the first person we could find loitering outside the building and he sat for us.  He was scruffy, interesting, and had a wonderful sense of humor.  We loved trying to draw his inner interesting self!

MAROGER STILL LIFE



Still Life with a Tea Ball

I worked with Maroger medium in this oil painting.  It is beeswax based, and was amazing and different to work with.  The paint went on silky smooth in thin, transparent glazes.  Each color that I worked with has about 14 glazes.  A very time consuming painting, but well worth the effort.  A word of warning...maroger medium is very toxic!  I only did a few paintings with it and chose to switch mediums.  Many artists use just beeswax and linseed oil mixed.  I found a little art supply store in Brigham City, Utah that sells that by the quart.

ABSTRACT CAT

Eye See You

I chose an abstract design for this kitty.  It was so much fun layering the color on the eyes and burnishing to blend the colored pencil together.  I used the back of a spoon to finish the blending so as not to tear the paper.  This piece won an honorable mention in an art show in San Bernardino, CA.  Not my best work, just a fun one.

PUZZLES

As life is a bit of a puzzle right now, I created my own.  Now that I have made them, I am wondering how they open up...deep, huh?

BORED!

BORED!  I have been so bored, cloistered indoors while the outdoors swelters with humidity, allergens, and the smell of the paper mill 40 miles away!  I have been sketching a lot lately, but you can tell that I have run out of inspiration and am in a deep creative block with my latest pen and ink....a drawing of nail clippers!  It shows my lack of enthusiasm for doing much of anything right now.  The most creative thing I have done this week is bake brownies for hubby and thaw out some soup made back in November (ahhhh, the good old cool days...)  I have a desperate need for more color.  I really am excited about getting a new painting on the easel.  So why and where did my creativity go?  It left for a bit and I am trying to wheedle it back, lure it in with tiny sketches and promises of joy abundant.  Lordy, lordy, I'd give anything for a cool, dry day!

GREEN SLIME!

This is so much fun!  I made this green slime just to play with and see if it was workable for my grandson.  It's a blast, and super easy to make!  Best of all, if you have a lot of frustrations to get out, the slime was fun to squish and throw and be a kid again.

1 cup of cornstarch

1/2 cup of water

food coloring (liquid kind of any color)

Pour one cup of cornstarch into a medium size mixing bowl.  Slowly pour 1/2 cup of water into the bowl.  Add a few drops of food coloring.  Use your hands to mix the water and cornstarch together.

Enjoy!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Happy Father's Day to my husband, the best Dad in the world!  He changed diapers, sang lullabyes, taught all the lessons he could to our children. When they grew up, he became their friend and strongest supporter.  I wish all Dads could be as great as he has been.  The world would be much happier and more peaceful.  I know that our children love and appreciate you.  So do I.

EMOTIONALLY CHARGED

A STUDY IN CHOCOLATE

When there is so much happening in your life that you can't think---

When changes are flying at you like bats fleeing a cave--

When you are making life choices that will relocate you, reposition you, and rearrange you into another time zone, family zone and even art zone...

              Well, you seek stability in the small stuff.  I have been seeking the calm in the eye of the storm by sketching in my smallest sketchbook.  It is only 4"x4", so I can narrow my focus to a tiny area.  I have been drawing singular things...a peanut, a marble, a wedge of lemon.  I draw it tight, detailed and concentrated.  I used to abandon all of my creative endeavors when life became overwhelming, so this is a vast improvement to my artistic expression.  Don't get me wrong - I still curl up in a corner with my cup of herbal tea and a cookie and snarl at any invasions to my personal space.  But I am handling it all so much BETTER these days!

SUMMERTIME BLUES

HENS AND CHICKS AND CHICK


I am not fond of summer...it is my time for hibernation and introspection.  And pouting.  I seem to lose my inspiration and enthusiasm, just to hide away from the heat and humidity of the season.  My health falters this time of year, so I am sure that is a large part of it.  I am allergic to anything growing and dust.  DUST!  So as you can imagine, my creativity is suffering heavily right now.  I am trying to get the old juices flowing with some creative writing.  I have an article coming due for a magazine in July, that I hope will be picked up.  It is a 500 word piece on living your art, and I am enjoying the process of it.  I am also trying to improve my art vocabulary by learning new terms.  If you will notice off to the right, next to the blog lists and other gadgets going on, I have started up an 'Artipedia'.  I will be changing out the words and definitions frequently, as I try to memorize different art terms and increase my knowledge of my chosen career.  Meanwhile, I am taking a few days off to deal with family issues, and will be back with something new and exciting hopefully in about 4 days.  If you have anything inspirational to impart about nasty old hot summer, I would welcome your trying to change my mind about the season.   Otherwise, I will continue to dream of cooler places and times!

DOODLE PSYCHOLOGY

EXOTIC BIRD DOODLE

I just read the most unusual article about doodling and the psychological benefits to it.  Seems that doodling, like meditation or music, can open your mind up enough to let more information in.  Duke University and California State University have found that doodling enhances your information retention up to 29% more than if you were not doodling...I am assuming that is during business meetings or lectures.  They have done brain scans that show which type of doodling activates which area of the brain and what effects the whole thing has on your mood, etc.  These people have more time on their hands than they need!  However, I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and give it a try.

Draw circles:  get calmer

Draw happy faces: have more willpower

Draw with your non-dominant hand: boost your memory and creativity

Draw randomly: solve a problem

Hmmm....

According to some writer in the Woman's World magazine (I couldn't find the authors' name)  doodles tell about your personality, too.

Draw Circles:  you are searching for meaning

Draw  Zigzags: you are about to change your life

Draw Flowers: you are imaginative

Draw Geometric shapes: you are assertive

Draw Faces: you are a problem solver

Draw Abstract shapes: you are a free thinker

Ah, well,  in my opinion doodling is just plain fun and helps me to get new ideas for some of my paintings.  Some work, some don't.  Doodling also gives me something to do when I am bored...like at a lecture or business meeting!  When I am really bored, I draw eyes.  Do you think that there is a psychological significance to that?

LESSON LEARNED

INTENSITY

INTENSITY (DETAIL)

If you look closely at this colored pencil drawing, you will see one of my biggest mistakes....using poor quality paper.  I was going through my portfolio this morning and ran across this study that I did many years ago.  The paper has yellowed, and is slowly disintigrating.  The years have warped the pages with humidity and drying, and the colors are slowly leaching out of it.  Lesson learned?  Use high quality, acid free paper, stay away from thin, flimsy paper if you want to keep the drawing forever.  Newsprint drawing paper is for practice only.  Lastly, keep your drawings away from the sun.  The UV rays will damage the paper and fade your drawing into nothing!

INTENSITY (DETAIL)

GOOGLE ART PROJECT

I discovered the most exciting site!  If you go to Google Art Project, you can navigate masterpieces in several art museums, and they are adding more all the time.  Google is using gigapixel technology.  The average resolution for each of the paintings you will see is 7 billion pixels - 1000 times that of the average digital camera.  That means that you can zoom in and inspect each and every brushstroke that Rembrandt made!  You can check out paintings that we can only dream of seeing in person.  I am having a wonderful time checking out this site.  I hope you will too.  Just click on the link below and go right there.  Have fun!

                                                       google art project

KOI



KOI


This small drawing is a bit of a combination.  I used a lot of colored pencil, and a tiny bit of watercolor.  After the fact, I should have been more bold with the watercolor and less with the pencil.  That will be another project, I suppose! I drew this with my daughter in mind.  When she was 17, she had a goldfish that was most unusual.  It would rearrange it's tank daily.  By that I mean that it would spend hours moving the little plastic gems in the tank back and forth on the sandy floor.  First it would move them to the front, then push them all the way to the back.  I don't know if that is normal for a fish, but it kept my daughter highly amused, and will eventually be the subject of a children's book for me.

KOI (DETAIL)