Red Sky

Having fun with these small color studies in watercolor... They are painted on Strathmore "mixed media" paper, which is very smooth and absorbent. It's forcing me to put the paint down and let it be. It's a good exercise for a over-worker like me.

subject jumps.... hop hop hop

I've been skipping from non-representational (abstract) to representational,and back again. Keeps me on my toes.

 I'm downstate (Michigan) and sort of enjoying the limitations I have here. For example...I'm using the table as a studio space and only have watercolor, gouache and colored pencils. Wonder how long I can resist the art supply store that is a hop skip and jump from here. 

hop hop hop       hop hop hop        hippity hop. :)

What to do with your lame paintings....


Make cards or gift tags out of your lame paintings...

Robert Genn suggests burning your paintings that miss the mark... but I have another idea.

You can vent your frustrations by taking scissors or a craft knife to the paintings and then re-purposing them....

Gift tags

Make up some gift tags by cutting out some simple shapes and glue or tape them together. (I used double stick tape) The "To: and From:" can be written on the flip side with a sharpie marker.

christmas card

...or make some cards by cutting out ornament shapes and hanging them on a tree branch drawn with colored pencils. (The "bad painting" ornaments can be cut out of canvas as well as paper.)

You can make the card by quarter folding a piece of printer paper. The envelopes are "invitation" size and can be purchased at any office supply store.

So instead of a bonfire...(though that sounds sort of good on this snowy, chilly day)

...snip snip snip... glue glue glue and spread some holiday cheer.

No Peeking While Drawing

Blind Contour Drawing.... What it is... and how it can help you!

Blind contour drawing is drawing the outside edges of something, without looking at the paper.  Let your eyes travel the edges of your subject, and let your pencil match the speed of your eyes. It's almost a trust exercise with yourself. The hardest part about it is NOT LOOKING!

blind contour coffee cup
Put on your non-judgmental hat... seriously, you'll need it. :)

And why would anyone want to do this exercise?

Because it trains your eyes to really look at the edges of something, and you'll probably end up with some very interesting drawings that you can then develop into some very interesting paintings!
blind contour piggy 
Click here for more detailed instruction.

My friend and fantastic artist, Margaret Stermer-Cox, introduced me to "Blind Contour Friday's."  She's very dedicated to maintaining and improving her drawing skills with daily practice. If you want to improve quickly, daily drawing is the very best way to go about it. Check out what she does here.
Thanks for letting me share your terrific blog here, Peggy!

Honoring Honor...a fundraiser

“Once upon a time, there was an artist living in Honor, Michigan. (ummmm that would be ME) She read about the Honor Area Restoration project (HARP), a group of citizens that were dedicated to making things better where they lived. “How can I help?” she asked herself. Her skill was art making, so she decided to do a series of paintings depicting local scenes and the “Honoring Honor” series was born. $5 from every print;$3 from each note card set; and 50 cents from each individual card sold,will be donated directly to HARP.”
Click HERE if you are interested in buying a print or note-card of the images pictured. Or maybe forward the link to anyone you know that vacations here! THANK YOU!

Look Ma, No Palette! Painting directly with the tube



I came across this idea in a book called "Watercolor Wisdom" by Jo Taylor. (See the book here.) It's a really fun way to start off a painting.
First, you might want to have some idea of where your light, medium and dark values will go... then squeeze and drag the pure gooey pigment along some of the edges... (or you could use a palette knife)
Gooey pigment right on top of watercolor paper


Next, load a big brush with just water, and stroke the drippy brush over the wet paint, mixing the colors on the paper. Keep adding clean water (rinse your brush) to the moist paint on the paper, pushing and mixing the colors in the direction you want them to go.

 I added some scraping too, in the example below. It's not quite finished... but is a good start to finish up later!



Next time you are scratching your head trying to decide what to paint... grab a couple of tubes of paint and draw with them directly onto the paper... Then all you need add is water!

5 things to try when a painting isn't working

When something is bothering you with a painting and you just can't put your finger on what it is......
What do you do?
Well, these are some of the things I do...

1.  Look at the painting in a mirror. It's amazing how all of a sudden the 'errors of your ways' becomes apparent.

2.  Look at your painting upside down... and if you are working with a reference image, turn that upside down too. BINGO!  Your inaccuracy's are somehow easier to spot in the "inverted position". (nod to Top Gun)

3.  Take a digital photo and look at it on the computer... I don't know why this works... but I can't tell you the number of times I go to post an image, and whoa... I can spot an error or area of a painting that needs a bit more work before posting.

4.  Once you have the image on the computer... If you have any photo editing software... play around with your wacky ideas on the virtual painting... This method is especially helpful for me if I have a lot of hours into a piece...You can be very bold and try all those "what if's" without actually touching the painting. Some very creative solutions can happen this way.

5.  Start a critique group.... This is a group of artists (not necessarily all painters) that schedule meetings to do a sort of "show and tell." If you're stuck... Your critique group friends will help you sort out what's wrong. They also cheer you on, and motivate you with their efforts.  I really miss my critique buddies since we've moved.  sniff sniff. But this is such a valuable group (both personally and professionally) that I'll be sure to find like minded peeps here in northern MI.  It's a goal.
This photo has nothing to do with the article I just posted... but the berries this year are glorious and I wanted to share. :)

Midnight Bouquet

I had started this one as a demo for my Acrylic 101 class at Crystal Lake Art Center... and finished it last week. Kind of a fun color combo. The painting started on a purple and magenta background, and I think that's why the colors seem to glow. I just put this one up for sale on Etsy if you're interested.

Gouache Ink Resist... Peterson Road Beach


And here's the newest gouache ink resist painting..."Peterson Beach." 
This beach is a nice 40 minute walk from our house over to Lake Michigan...My plan for these gouache ink resist pieces, is to offer prints and cards, giving a portion of the money to HARP. (Honor Area Restoration Project) I'll be sure to let you know all about it as the series unfolds. :)

Color Inspiration...

Lichen

On Friday's I'm going to publish some of the "idea sparklers" from my weekly newsletter. These are painting ideas for you to use in your own work. Happy Friday!
From August 2010 newsletter....

"Today's Idea spark-ler is from a blog post I wrote last summer...I'm inspired by my surroundings, and think that this is a fun way to decide your palette for a painting session....Here's an excerpt from the post:"On my walk yesterday morning, I found this gorgeous lichen (see photo below) growing on a branch that fell into the driveway. I just loved the colors of it and decided that I wanted to use those colors for this painting... So my palette was chosen by nature.... so far.I try not to box myself in with these early  decisions....It's a starting point. If the painting works within this palette, great! But if I decide to go in a different color direction, that's OK too....The main thing is to just start somewhere! Put that brush to paper and GO!"

keep climbing in progress

Fast Forward almost a year... I really loved that 'start' from last year (pictured above)... and arguably could have stopped there...But it wasn't meant to be... Here's where I ended up with it. And since it won an honorable mention in the ArtCenter of Traverse City's "It's not just material" show last month...It was meant to be re-worked. :) hehehe"

Keep Climbing

Friday Fun... groceries are not just for eating

I'm starting a new thing... On Friday's I'm going to publish some of the "idea sparklers" from my weekly newsletter. These are painting ideas for you to use in your own work. Happy Friday! 


Groceries are not just for eating.... (published November 2010)
There is a terrific small seasonal market about 15 minutes from the house called The Market Basket. (Right next door to the Cherry Hut) There's always bushels of seasonal fruit and veggies outside the store to entice you to stop. (They also happen to have the best shortcake biscuits)
I stopped yesterday to check out their selection of gourds and pumpkins and I wasn't disappointed. I also got a couple branches of bittersweet! Beautiful stuff.



So last night, in my sketchbook... I decided to lay out some compositions using my purchased bounty.

This first one, I began with a red pencil and did a blind contour drawing, then corrected the wonky lines and filled in with my small watercolor kit and more colored pencil work. Kind of fun... just a warm up, and the yellow gourd looks like a pear. oops.
blind contour sketch

In sketch #2 I've adjusted the arrangement and added a crow. I've never painted a crow, and will have to look at some reference images to make it more crow-like, but this is just a sketch. I'm just trying play around with placement and composition and brain storming.


I like this idea a bit better... Not the colors... but the idea.  Note that I've grown the yellow "pear" gourd a little larger. I think I'll run with this idea in an acrylic painting or acrylic collage. It just might be the painting for next week!

So, have a good look at your groceries when you bring them home. Even if you didn't purchase just for painting, like I did... You might find some interesting still life subjects.

Now, I'm off to look for crows....

Moondance

"Moondance" 28x22" Acrylic on Canvas (c)2011 LEF

I started this one a couple of years ago and then it just sat there. I liked the idea, but needed the moon to be actually round... which it wasn't...(and that isn't as easy to paint as it sounds.) So, I started back at it last week and finished it up. I'm patting myself on the back for persevering.

The milkweed leaves look like they have "jazz hands"...which makes me laugh but support the title.
"Moondance" will be part of Glen Arbor Art Association's show next weekend (October 7 through the 9th) They are participating in Leelanau's "Fall for Art" event. Moondance is very excited to show itself after such a long wait in the wings.