V

Being creative today was frustrating. I tried this and that. Tried to put anything to the letter V - violet came to mind but no idea came to back it up.

I poked around in some of my sketch books and came across a little line drawn floral. I used markers to color - but it was nothing special. I did another - still meh.

Finally, I  brought the image into my computer and messed around with different filters and tools. Now this I like. So - V is for very glad I'm done for today.

T is for Turkey

What does an art teacher teach on the week before Thanksgiving? Turkeys of course. They are a perennial favorite, and appropriate for all ages because there are endless ways to render the shape and the feathers. This is one I did as an example -one of several. I used markers to get the texture and lines.

I enjoy playing with patterns in the feathers, and wings, and creating personality in the faces.

Turkeys were a hit with my seniors yesterday, and I anticipate equal success with the kids today.

I is for Irreverant

Or maybe irrelevant - after all, my mother always  told me that it is not polite to make faces. Yet here I am on a dreary Saturday, experimenting with special effects in a new digital editing program.






It is TOO much fun - so much fun that I could not stop at just one face.

 So, here they are … Three Faces of I -  
all based off a one-line face drawing I created last year - using Caran D'ache water-soluble crayons to achieve the vibrant color I love.

H is for Handicraft

I am aware that I find drawing these faces very pleasant. Today I figured out one reason why.

Drawing the lines and patterns within the shapes of the face and head feels like embroidery- one of my first and favorite handicrafts.  

I have always loved the process - sort through my rainbow collection of embroidery floss, tighten the hoop around a piece of cloth (any kind will do), and free form flowers or patterns with my needle. No cross stitch for me.

I like to fill shapes with thick threads of color, groups of dense knots, and long curving lines. Long ago my hippy friends liked to sew my embroidered patches onto their jeans and vests and hats and jackets. Drawing these faces feels like that. 

Stitch by stitch, line by line, angle by angle by curve.

G is for Grimace

One of the things I tend to struggle with, especially when drawing faces, is trying to make sure the faces are "pretty." I have a long history of drawing "fashion girls" and trying to look like  one myself.

Of course I well know that not all faces are symmetrical or perfect ovals, or  what is traditionally defined as visually pleasing.  And, I can easily see that  some of the most interesting faces are off-kilter or odd in some way.

So, I am pleased with the distortion of this face, which I find pleasing. She may look a little gloomy, but in my eyes, she looks great.

F is for Face

And F is for following my impulse to create these faces, and for FUN.

I feel like I am fully in the Art Every Day spirit as I experiment with this approach. It doesn't take long to do one of these (they are small), but each one remains a surprise and a challenge to discover who is waiting to appear.

I think Ms. F is fashionable and very professional.

E is for Expression

As I mentioned yesterday, one of the intriguing aspects of drawing these one line faces is discovering the expressions that appear. I see that all of my "ladies" are looking directly at the viewer, and none are smiling. And all are wearing serious, engaged expressions.

What does this mean? Is it a reflection of my style or of my inner life? Ms. E here looks quite pensive. I wonder what she is thinking about.

D is for Doubtful

This process of creating a one line face drawing is still holding my attention. Today's face seemed to flow onto the page and invited the use of lots of colors and also lots of white space.

One of the most interesting aspects of creating these faces is seeing how the expressions appear - its not as if I start out to draw a happy or sad or even, as she looks, doubtful face. I take what appears and go with it.

There is something intriguing about allowing the art to appear, without a plan beyond the rules I set for myself. I am enjoying this - no doubt about it.

C is for Calm

Working quietly with color pens on warm toned paper.

Sitting in a sunny window, listening to music. Warm and cozy, and making art ...

I am lucky to have the time to simply enjoy the process and the pleasure of making art for no other reason than that is what I feel like doing.

So - another face in my little notebook.

As I draw I am planning and thinking ahead to the classes I will teach this week, and the list of things I need to do - but the rhythm of drawing the lines, the focus on details, puts me into a state of  calm - and creativity - so the ideas flow for the other things that need doing.

Onward to next week and tomorrow.

B is for Blocked

Its been a strange year for me in several ways - one of which included a strong case of artist's block. I was unmotivated, lacked the energy or focus to work. My attempts at painting in acrylic all felt like fails. So, on following some good advice, I decided to PLAY, not work at my art.

I love pens - thick, thin, double sided. I have a great collection. So - to keep everything as simple and unpressured as possible, I found a small notebook and my thin colored sharpie box, took myself outdoors into the sunshine and began a series of continuous line faces. This was my only rule - draw a face without lifting my black pen. Then, use color markers in ANY way I liked. I've done many. This is the latest.

The process is relaxing, needs very little equipment, requires no clean-up, can be done anywhere, and has been instrumental in easing me back into other, more complex, projects.

One thing that became immediately apparent is the influence of my fashion art training and the classes I teach, on the faces I am drawing.

E is for Exploration

Today's image is a drawing - typical of my style with drawing flowers - that I then worked on in Photoshop - exploring each of the available filters and combining some to create the eventual result - which I love.

Over the years, one of my favorite aspects of the everyday challenge is giving myself time to play with images to create something new. I have always loved my digital tools - and the freedom they allow me to create wild and beautiful new images from something I have created by hand.

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.

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?

V for Vermillion

And very little time. I am teaching Art of Fashion today - with a focus on using to express feelings and style. I drew this lovely dress colored in a lively green. Her accessories are complementary colors - including vermillion - a warm deep red.

Happy Thanksgiving one and all. I need to go cook before I teach.

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.

N is for New (and Unexpected)

Caran D'ache Neocolor Watersoluble Crayons (or French crayons as they are known by my kid students) are some of my favorite and most used teaching materials.

They are as easy to use as crayons, vibrant enough to be seen by even some of my vision challenged seniors, and when water is added, create beautiful deep colors that enhance any image..

I have written about them often because they are so versatile and so lovely.

The other day, developing an idea for a project, the only thing at hand

to draw on was a piece of construction paper, and my French crayons. I planned to rough out a butterfly sketch - but when I put the crayon to the rough texture of the school grade paper, magic happened. Depth of color, texture, almost painterly in its richness. No water, just layers of color. Easy, unexpected and a whole new way to use an old favorite.

I is for In for the Night

This landscape is in chalk pastel on dark blue Canson MiTiente paper.  

Somehow as I worked, the image turned icy cold. Even the moon became wintry and reflected its chill onto the water.

No one is outside in this dreary wintry scene - except the moon. I am no fan of winter - and this image reflects my feelings.

However, it was fun to let the colors turn cool and the houses grow dark so that everyone is asleep in their cozy beds. I hope ...

Aa is for Amusing (Animation) App

I always discover something new and inspiring in this challenge. I saw the Motion Portrait app mentioned and used a few times this month. I had to try it. It is great fun to animate faces.

First I tried a selfie - made myself talk and turned my hair back to long and dark. Fun. Then, wanting to continue playing I found this Picasso style abstract face drawing in my photo library where I record all my project samples. I was amazed that I could adjust the eyes and mouth to fit this stylized face -

I discovered that it does not always play in the blog - but it works on Facebook - . The image on this page is the base for the animation. Fun but tricky.

D is for Design

Curvilinear

Long before I considered myself an artist, I knew I was a designer. Even as a small child I enjoyed putting colors and shapes together to create something to please my eye. This had a tendency to get me in trouble because I drew, doodled and colored  all over everything - including my notebooks and compositions.

My long list of career titles has included design words such as graphic, photographic, book, website, instructional, jewelry and fashion. I have designed everything from earrings to Rose Festival floats. And so much more.

So, though try as I might to be "painterly", my design training and work continue to influence my art. I can never get enough of line. Drawing them, adding them, overpainting them to create texture. One look at the images I have posted over the years make it clear that I love the way lines define an image, add interest and texture, or in this case, create the total image.

One of the many benefits of my design training is a nice collection of tools to play with. My french curves were the inspiration for this simple drawing which came about because I often set rules for myself before I begin to draw. In this case I decided on only curves, only lines, no fill, no other pattern, and soft colors.

 I love the energetic result, and it suggests different ideas whichever way I turn it. This is also a lesson idea for my classes which always include a discussion of the elements of design - line is, of course, one of these.

C is for Creativity

 “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” ― Albert Einstein

Once again, Einstein has just the right words to express what I am thinking, and what I am doing in this challenge, in my studio and most of all, in my classes.

One of the biggest issues I confront in my senior classes (ages 73 - 102) is the oft repeated comment, "I'm no artist." Somewhere in their lives, so many (older) adults I meet have been convinced that they "can't even draw a straight line." As if that matters.

So I remind them, that art is not about straight lines (though they can be nice.) Art is not even about curved lines (though they definitely help.) It is not definitely not about getting everything right. So I bring them great art to look at. For the lesson I am writing about here, it was a slide show of images of Georgia O'Keeffe flowers.

I draw for them so that they see how it it done. I bring color and ideas, and I remind them every week that art is about fun and pleasure and experimentation. Art is NOT about perfection, or coloring neatly, or impressing anybody but yourself.


And then we make art -

The two flowers at left are my practice for a simplified lesson on Georgia O'Keeffe flowers - the idea was to fill the page and work large. We used Caran D'ache crayons on canvas board, and outlined with sharpie to make it easier for some of my older students to see clearly. After we colored, we used water to create a painted effect.

But creativity IS contagious. When I got home, I had the urge to continue playing with these large flowers, but to add lines with my well loved set of Prismacolor markers. The flowers at the top are just one of the pieces that resulted. This was so much fun, I did it again the next day, but this time, with my Young Artists. More about them later.