OP is for Orange Poppies

Okay, yesterday was O day - and though I did not have time to post, I did have time to create a
salad of bright orange carrots, and one of orzo. Today, I teach a painting class - so I guess P is covered too. In honor of both my busy schedule and my commitment to being creative everyday (playing with letters and fudging a commitment is creative right?) I offer (or present) Orange Poppies. This is in preparation for next weeks classes - florals are always popular.

This is a drawing done in color pencil and then tweaked in my digital tools.

B is for Blending Beautiful Blues

One of the challenges of working in colored pencil, which is what I am currently doing (because I am enrolled in the only class that fits my schedule), is working in my abstract style.

The other artists in my class, some of whom are world class impressive, work realistically. They are rendering skin tones in lovely portraits, creating incredibly detailed landscapes, and duplicating photos to perfection. I don't want to do that. I know how to copy, but at this time my interest is in creating work that has MY own look and feel.

I find that it is fairly easy in pastel or caran d'ache to create my imaginary worlds and abstract flowers, but color pencil is slow and detailed. So, I am trying to figure out what I can get from them that speaks to my style.

Which brings me to color. I must say that I am enjoying the process of layering colors and blending them together to create depth and dimension. The image on this page is actually copied from a photo of a Pacific Island seen from above. I spent hours just building the colors and finally arriving at something that feels both abstract and familiar. A map perhaps? I used numerous blues and several blenders to create the effect.

A is for Another Year and an Assignment

I think this is either the eighth or ninth year in a row that I have taken part in this Challenge. I learn something every year, and always make a lot of art. I also enjoy looking at the other work that is produced.

Lately, to be honest, I've not been very creative, I have other things on my mind. So, I am hoping that the act of creating art every day will re-stimulate my art energy and get me back on track.

In an attempt to do this, I am currently taking a Color Pencil class at MAC. I took this class last year, and got a lot out of it. This year frankly, I am feeling bored and uninspired. As much a I love it, color pencil is slow and lacks the boldness I tend to like - nonetheless, I am finding little color pencil assignments for myself to build some skills that I hope will carry over to painting, when I finally get back to doing that.

One of the things I have been playing with is shading. So, this group of rocks seemed like a perfect way to practice creating the illusion of depth and light. And it was extremely relaxing to delicately layer the color pencil from dark to light. And, it reminds me of the beach.
 

Bb is Bigger and Better

But before we get to that, BB is also for back breaking. I have an excellent studio set up which allows me to sit or stand when I work, but this month of colored pencil is killing me. My back is still, I know I am bending my neck too far forward, but no matter how I position myself to start, as I begin to concentrate, I am soon in one or another achy position. How DO artists work in small detail without turning themselves into pretzels? I'd really like to know.


Meanwhile, the work is coming along. This is the completion of yesterday's colored pencil on sand paper abstract. The photo is not quite right, but in person, ...

8x10. Bigger, better? Beautiful?

Aa is for Abstract Art

Today's art was inspired by yesterday's Roller Coaster and a question on a Colored Pencil artists page I follow. "Does anyone do abstracts in colored pencil?" I do - and this proves yet again that I am far more comfortable working in abstract - playing with color and shapes - than I am trying to make something that looks exactly like something.

Anyway, this is part of a larger piece  - on black sand paper. The colors and rich texture make this a pleasure to work on.

U is for Unexpected

I found this city scene drawing among a pile of unfinished work. It called out for color pencil. I kept it light and layered color with sunset and atmospheric perspective in mind. Then, to experiment with possible background colors I opened it with Photoshop. Just a few contrast and brightness tweaks and some on screen paint touch-ups brought me to this totally unexpected result. I am amazed with the things that can happen with colored pencils.

T is for Tickle

Today's piece is a practice - trying to use color pencil with delicacy to create layers of color. As I worked I kept thinking I was tickling the paper to create transitions from one color to the next and get the results I wanted.

Though the photo does not capture this particularly well, I love the depth of colors that were achieved.  Easy and fun and very relaxing.

R for Rolling Surf

I had time today to get to the color pencil experiment I've been thinking about, I found some black Artigan paper. I wanted to explore the pencils on the smooth black surface.

I began with color sticks and was able to create some of the energy of the water. Layering white over yellow and pale cerulean blue created strong bright lights. In spite of the background color I had to lay down several blue layers to get the darks light enough to balance the darks

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Q is for Quibble

Conversation in Color Pencil class yesterday turned to the question of What is Art. Must it be done completely by hand. Where do photos and digital tools fit into the equation?

This image is part of a photo I took, I edited, I cropped and I worked with the create the feeling of the Color Pencil drawings I am currently working on. It is easier to do (for me) than drawing every stroke by hand, but the results are exactly what I envision - and it is a fine model of the work I will do today - with pencils in hand. so ...

M is for (What a) Mess

I started out with the intention of using color pencil to copy/draw a landscape - or in my case, a seascape. What I got was a trip through a mess to find ... something.

Utilizing a technique I learned in class, I printed the image to size and laid it atop my Strathmore Colored Pencil paper (which I think is a pleasure to draw on.)

Using a sharp pencil I "embossed" my main lines into the paper below. Then I began to layer color- I faced a large blank expanse and a tiny pencil tip. Sigh.

I collect art supplies at garage sales. Recently I acquired colored pencil sticks - with no box and no words on them. I also have some colored Conte crayon. They, and/or something else I can't recognize, all seemed to have ended up in the same little flat cigar tin during a mass studio clean up.  I selected a perfectly matched palette from the box, and started to color. 

Now - my problem is, that I cannot seem to make myself duplicate an image. I've done that - many times in the past, but now I want to be able to use this medium to make the images I want - and build my skills.

Yet, I start with the best intentions and quickly hate the image on my page. Then I discover that some of my sticks are pastels - they went on so nice, and some were hard crayon and a few were soft waxy crayons. But I used them as they came to hand to lay down the under colors. However, the color pencil effect was lost and another - something - was appearing.

This is the second time in two days that a carefully planned, copy from a photo project has turned into doing what I often seem to do when I make art of any kind, create a mysterious place. By now, I was so far away from where I started that I said, what the hell, and started messing around, adding little houses, changing the landscape - finding a place, but staying to the gorgeous color palette and feel of the original photo.

I feel like I've taken a step forward today ... 

K is for Keeping at It

I should not be surprised, but working in colored pencil is slow and painstaking. This week the focus is on landscapes. I started out by trying to copy a picture of a scene. I immediately failed because the image I chose, though beautiful, did not lend itself to color pencil or the paper I chose. However, there were shapes and colors that inspired me - so I took what I liked and left the rest.

I suppose this means that the drawing I created is an abstract image. Of course abstract landscapes are often what appears when I take a line for a walk - or otherwise draw freely - so this was like coming
in the backdoor to a familiar place with suddenly new rules and challenges.

This is still very much in progress - especially because I am trying to build color by blending layers and without adding lines for texture.  Its an interesting process and I will continue to work on this.

Keep on keeping on.

J is for Jasmine (and other beautiful colors)

When I learn something new I like to practice. As I work with colored pencils I am intrigued by the different textures that can be created. I love the way color can be blended together softly and subtly (in direct contrast to my usual brash and bold applications.)

Today's piece is just a line to create shapes on the page so that I could practice applying color with a light touch. I chose a warm, analogous palette, from red to Spanish orange to pink to jasmine to  purple and applied them gently - just rubbing them in. Misty and quiet - and very relaxing to do.

H is for Half and Half

Half drawing half digital that is.

I have spent the better part of this afternoon using color pencil to design these flowers - and there are still plenty more of them on the full drawing to go. Color pencil is slow ....too slow for me I think - but they are fun in their own way, and I am discovering interesting things as I build the colors and add in lines. I am especially interested in the transparency that allows one layer to show through another.

The other half of this project is digital - trying out different filters on my IPhone is my reward for patiently futzing around with these flowers when markers or Caran D'ache or anything would be faster. Still I persist.

I cropped these flowers from the bouquet and filtered around til I came to this.  I love the way the colors are working.

G is for Grape Leaf

I'm taking a Color Pencil class at Multnomah Arts Center with the delightful Jane Gallen Lipton.

This week's assignment focused on using color to draw leaves four ways. After class I headed across town to my daughter's home where I saw this leaf hanging from her grape vine.

I photographed it, and dried it flat in my notebook. Then I drew it - striving to build the colors with color pencil  - only a few - building from dark to light, showing the pattern, and keeping the contrast.

I think I succeeded in capturing this leaf.

K is for Kitchen

K is an easy letter for me. Some of my favorite artists have K names - Kandinsky, Klee and Kibel.

But K is also the letter for my favorite room. I frequently find inspiration in the kitchen. I love to cook and I love all the lovely objects that are part of cooking and presenting good things to eat.

My teapot series began as a project for my senior students - and just grew from there. I loved the idea of encouraging my "ladies" to create a party on a table. I demonstrated several ways to draw and paint the teapot and let them go on from there. Lots of wine bottles and glasses appeared ;-)

But, I started a teapot in the lesson and brought it home, where I found I could not stop working on it. The teapot and then all the other objects became a palette for designs and patterns, and my favorite cookies. This is done is color pencil - prismacolor - my favorites because they yield such rich color.

This is one of my favorite pieces from the series. The others are getting ready to go into a show.

G is for Grapes Leaves

As I mentioned earlier, I took a painting class this summer with the wonderful Elena Guttman. In her Dynamic Abstract classes we explore different artists and apply her teachings about their style to our own work.

In a recent class about Picasso, we not only fractured shapes, but colored each shape with lights and darks and selected color.

I needed a subject to practice this technique. What should I draw? I pondered this as I looked at the sky I could see through the curtain of grape leaves that were curling over our arbor. There they were - lovely curling shapes, tendrils, overlap, gorgeous shades of green and sky.

I spent days working this image using hard color pencils on soft paper. Each area is painted individually. An interesting and difficult assignment - but worth the work. Its very different from my usual work. I havent't yet really incorporated this into other images - but maybe soon.

A is for Another

Creativity is intelligence having fun  ― Albert Einstein.

A is for another year, and as always, I am looking forward to both the art and the words that will result.

A is also for Albert, Einstein that is, and the quote (above) that I recently  came across.  Somehow, in just these five words, Albert has managed to say what I have been trying to express through my art, my writing and most of all, through my teaching, throughout my career.

I believe that creative thinking is key to a satisfying life, that being creative frees us to use our brains in wonderful and often unexpected ways, no matter your age. And I know that when I teach and when I work on my art, and when I write about it in  this blog, I am not only learning, but having fun. I hope you will too as you follow this month's journey.

Student Age 10

So, this November I will my focus blog and my posts around this quote. As I have in the six (!) previous years that I have participated in this challenge, I will allow the letters of  the alphabet to direct the theme of each days post. And of course, I will  share images of art that I create, both for myself and as lesson preparation for the variety of classes and students I teach.

I will write about what I  learn as I as I paint and draw, and include tips, insights, recommendations and resources that work for me, and for my students, old and young.  I will also share some of the fabulous work that is created in my classes.

My drawing of apples in a bowl was created for an autumn themed lesson. I chose apples as the subject because they are easy to draw, the shapes are what they are and almost always look great. They remove some of the "oh I can't draw" energy from my senior artists, and let the young ones have fun with something they are familiar with.

I used color pencils (Prismacolor are my favorites) because they are easy for my senior students to handle, and can be layered to create wonderful depth of color for my skilled Young Artists. I chose a variety of reds, greens and yellows and played with curving lines to create the apple shapes. Then I added layer on layer of color until they looked good enough to eat. Fun!

Do you want to participate in the Art Everyday for a Month Challenge. To learn more about it, and sign up to participate, SIGN UP FOR ART EVERY DAY MONTH CHALLENGE

Dd is for Draw First then Digital

I found the basic sketch of these leaves in a drawing pad. Every so often, especially when assessing my paper stock, I come across something I started and never finished. This was a nice leaf design and suited my mood for fall colors. I used color pencils to create layers of color, and the sense of overlapping shapes. Then I added a background pattern more in my current style - and then some lines.

I liked the image. I photographed it and then opened it in Photoshop to play. Once again I am fascinated by the variety of effects I can create from one drawing. Autumn leaves blowing in the wind feels like a good way to finish off this creative month. This image has a feeling of open space and lots of room. I feel a little like that too.

 I have worked hard to create interesting images this month. I feel I have moved forward in my work because I gave myself permission to mess up, mess around, and return to an early love, digital image design. I am excited to continue on this path.

Thanks to all for your help, support, kind words and eyes. Especially thank you Leah Piken Kolidas for organizing this event. I loved seeing all your tired Mama pictures.

Until next year.

Playing Games

I am still fascinated by drawing lines to create shapes. I love the way I can build layer upon layer of color while defining some shapes and creating new ones at the same time. I never know what to expect ... but each drawing in this series has felt like a meditation - just doing it and waiting for the final work to reveal itself.

This one is based on a tic tac toe board (really) - and was actually drawn in blues and greens, marker pens and inktense pencil on watercolor paper.

However, the photo image that allows me to bring it into my computer and this blog simply fails to capture the delicate lines and colors. So, I started to play with it to see it I could make it work. Who knew that a reverse tweak in Photoshop could result in such vibrant colors, making this a really a mixed media work.

Playing Some More

Woven/Warm

I am on a roll, playing with shapes and lines and color, and continuing to explore abstraction. Each of the pictures I have done in this series is based on a different line shape.

Like the others, this drawing combines markers and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper. My eyes hurt from drawing all the lines, but this is fun ...