Back to an Artwork a Day

Last weekend I talked about how I wanted to get back into making a small, 6" x 6" artwork/collage a day.  Well, I forgot all about that claim until Tuesday!  I was at school when I remembered, so I grabbed a couple of old National Geographic magazines and started cutting out a few images that simply struck me as interesting.  When I got home that afternoon, I put together this collage, "Play With Me".  It shows my strong inclination towards circular objects.

I managed to make 4 more collages during this past week, just missing one more day in there.  This one I made on the 27th.  It is titled "It's a Balancing Act".  All of these images came from those older National Geographic magazines.

On Friday I made this collage, "Playful Times".  I tore up some magazine pieces and attached the strips of written words to the board first.  Next came the images and the punched out flower pieces at the bottom.

Yesterday I started with a recycled acrylic painting that I had previously cut into 6" squares.  I looked through my boxes of stuff and put together this collage, "Broken Hearts".  I like to include old music sheets and old stamps whenever possible; they both worked here.  My sister, Janis, said she liked this one, it was her birthday month.

Today I put together "Who's Watching".  It consists of mostly paper on board with 2 small brads attached near the bottom.  I enjoyed working with non-related images that could be pulled in and forced to work together.

As for the rest of my artwork, I did put another coat of gesso on the front and the back of my plywood that I am prepping for a painting.  I also collaged papers into my collage book so that I could do the next page.  I might try to include mom and dad on this page, I just need to decide if it will work for me.  This is something that I should be able to accomplish during the week.  I haven't worked on the portrait of Jetta in weeks, maybe next weekend....

Yesterday I spent the afternoon taking a life drawing class at a gallery on Central & Dunlap, which isn't too far from where I live.  There were only 5 of us there drawing.  The model was great but I don't know how she stayed warm; I was freezing.  I wore a short sleeve shirt and the heater in the building wasn't working.  Between poses, I would step outside to try and warm up.  I didn't create anything that I was particularly thrilled with, I will blame that on the cold!  It was just nice to be drawing from a live model again.  The image to the right shows a series of poses, the first was 5 minute pose, then a 10 minute pose, then a 15 minute pose.  The proportions were off, until the final pose I got it to click a little better.  These were all done in graphite pencil on Bristol board.
The weekend is coming to an end.  My Aunt Dolores is coming over for dinner (brats & salad) and to watch the Suns play on TV.  I did weigh in at Weight Watchers this morning and managed to lose 3.6 pounds this past week.  I will continue tracking what I eat and try to include more exercise this week.
Until next time, take care.

Sunday Afternoon; Finally Studio Time

I weighed in at weight watchers this morning; I lost 1.8 pounds.  I will work hard again this week at staying on program and getting in the needed exercise!  It is already 1:30 pm, the day seems to be flying by.  I have been to Home Depot and to the grocery store.  Now I am ready to settle in with some artwork.

This morning I did create an artwork for the day!  I had actually started it last night and completed it this morning as I drank my coffee.  The title is "El Principal".  It is 6" x 6" and made from paper, graphite pencil, and found objects on board.  I started with the cowboy hat and worked out from there.  The clock shows how I was influenced by the Joseph Cornell collages that I saw on Friday at The Phoenix Art Museum.  This was a fun collage to make.
I have numerous new ideas just starting to take form in my mind.  I need to do some planning in my sketchbook to try and work out the details.  I did buy a piece of 24" x 24" 3/8" thick plywood while I was at Home Depot.  I will gesso the board today but the rest will have to wait for the plan to solidify.  I have the painting of Jetta to work on today as well as another page in my collage book.  Off to work I go!

I am back, the day is coming to a close and I thought I would write about my accomplishments.  For most of the afternoon I worked on page 14 of my collage book, this image is of Harold Peters, Mike's dad.  This finished artwork really does look like Harold, I managed to capture his features remarkably well.  Using oil pastels, I began with his mouth and worked out from there.  Once I had the basic jest of his face, hair, and undershirt, I moved to the dark blue background.  With the negative space completed I was able to come back and and refine his facial features and his hair.  I duplicated the droop in his eyes and the slight upturn of his mouth.  Of course I was very excited when I decided that Harold's features were complete, I just needed to decide what to do for his shirt.  I knew that I wanted to do more collage work for his shirt.  I looked through my stash of blue papers and didn't really find anything that wowed me.  Next I looked in my box with tissue papers and found that I had the perfect turquoise blue paper that I could work with.  Using matte medium, I roughly collaged the tissue paper in place, crunching it up at times to increase the intensity of the blue.  Once the collaged work was dry, I touched up a few areas of pastel and called it complete.
I did manage to gesso my sheet of plywood as I was waiting for the collaged tissue to dry.  Now I need to start planning that project.  I think it will be based on a self portrait with collaged papers from my past and photos as well.

A Free Weekend to do Artwork

The title says it is a free weekend, but there really isn't any such thing for a working girl!  I still have laundry to do and groceries to buy and all of those basic things required for living a normal life.  At least I don't have engagements or appointments this weekend!  I have really been trying to follow Weight Watchers, count my points more closely, but last night we had mexican food at De Los Reyes Tortas, a place that serves non-traditional food.  I had the chicken tacos that were served in grilled flour tortilla shells.  Very yummy!  I saved one and had it for lunch today.  Unfortunately, last night I baked some cookies and proceeded to eat about 8 of them (not so wise).  So today I did a 55 minute, 3 mile, hike/run around Lookout Mountain.  It did feel really good.  Now I am in my studio, doing a bit of research and working in my sketchbook.  I am trying to get back to my artwork a day series.  For a few months, I did really well, but it has been a while now, at least until today.

This is a 6" x 6" oil pastel on collaged papers that I just completed.  It is a self-portrait, simply titled "Julie".  I had the papers already collaged and it only took me about 20 minutes working with the pastels.  The idea behind an artwork a day is that I use a small format so that the artwork can be made quickly.  It feels good just to create something.  I will try to stay with it all this week, for starters.
I will get back to my sketchbook and research now but will try to post again this weekend.

Enjoying a 3-Day Weekend!

I always love have just one extra day off on a weekend; and this weekend is no different!  It has been a busy weekend without a lot of studio time.  Yesterday we had an Off to Bootcamp party for my step-son Bryant.  (He leaves a week from today).  We had the party at my parent's house as it is more suited to a large gathering of people than my house is.  There were about 25 people there, drinking beer and wine and eating burgers and brats.  A good time was had by all.  I thought I might have more time for myself today, but I have a dentist appointment and then a massage scheduled for later today.  I guess that is personal time, but I was actually thinking more along the lines of studio time.  I will work on art in between appointments and such.

Last weekend I did create a collage/oil pastel drawing of Adam in my book.  I worked from a picture taken 5 years ago when Mike and I got married.  Unfortunately the drawing looks like a much younger Adam.  I also made his hair a bit blonder than it actually is.
I need to revisit the pages in my collage book, back from the beginning as I have gotten away from adding papers along with the oil pastel part of the drawing.  I am currently working on a page with Tyler in it.  After that, I will start back to the collage way of working.  I also need to do something so that I am not getting the lips on the crease of the book as it really makes capturing the smile difficult if not impossible.  I am learning as I go, guess that is a good thing.

I just finished the collage of Tyler.  While Adam looks younger, Tyler looks older!  I couldn't quite get his dimples to show up, plus I made his face too long and thin.  I am not sure why I don't notice these things while the work is in progress; I realize when the work is completed and I have already sprayed it with clear acrylic.  I will have to work harder on my observational skills.
Now I am trying to decide who comes next in my book.  Since I have been working with the Peters side of the family lately, I think I will try a collage of Harold, Mike's dad.  Lucky for me, we took pictures of him yesterday at Bryant's party.

Another Weekend with Time in the Studio

It is early Sunday morning.  Too early to do anything but drink some coffee and try to wake up.  It is still dark outside.  I have a lot on my agenda today, starting with a weight watchers meeting at 9:30 and then a hike around Lookout Mountain.  I need to go grocery shopping at Trader Joe's after lunch and then make some soup for my lunches this week.  I will also cook up 4 days worth of oatmeal with apples in it.  Then, I should have studio time later in the afternoon.

I did do a little work in my studio yesterday.  I research squirrel sculptures to get some help on the clay sculpture that I am making in my IB art class.  That was interesting.  There were lots of plaster squirrels for the garden, quite a few carved from wood, but I only found one example of a squirrel done in clay.  It was interesting to look and I did get some ideas on how to treat the back legs (I had been struggling with this.)  My research should prove to be helpful.

I laid in a background base for my painting of Jetta.  This is another painting where I started by collaging pieces of torn magazines onto the canvas support.  This time, I estimated where her sweater would be and used blue papers in that area.  I guessed pretty good.  Once the papers were dry, I lightly sanded them and applied a thin layer of gesso.  Next comes the oil paint.  Because I will be painting Jetta wearing her turquoise blue sweater, I wanted a background that would contrast with the blue.  I also needed a color that would allow her silver hair to show up.  I selected yellow for this.  The yellow also brings in a sense of happiness which reminds me of Jetta and her tendency to sing her words when we were visiting her this past summer.  Though she is in a care facility, she always seems happy.

I finally finished my painting titled "Rainy & Raven".  It is 24" x 36", made from collage torn magazine pages and oil paint on canvas.  I worked from a picture I took of Rainy & Raven this summer while we were visiting Raven in New York City.  We were drinking wine in a small wine bar, I can't remember the name of the place or the part of the city we were in.  Raven would need to help me out with that one.  I love this picture of my two girls!  The only thing I changed from the photograph was the color of Rainy's shirt.  She was actually wearing a pink/magenta colored shirt but I chose to paint it green for two reasons.  First, it creates a nice contrast against the dark red background.  Second, green is one of Rainy's favorite colors.  I originally had strong black outlines everywhere as this is how I drew in the image.  I decided that the lines were too strong, especially in places like their lips.  I toned down the black lines in their facial features, but did keep some of them.  I struggled capturing Raven's skin tone, but after many variations, I felt as if I finally got it right.  This is a large painting, I am not sure where I will hang it.

Happy New Year

It doesn't look like I will have much if any time in my studio today.  I spent the morning preparing Herb Dip, cutting vegetables, making Spicy Roasted Chickpeas, and Twice Baked Potatoes.  Today is my sister, Janis' birthday and we will have a dinner celebration at my parent's house starting at 3pm this afternoon.  I also had a stack of ironing that needed my attention.  Now I have 45 minutes before I need to get ready for the party, not enough time to work on my oil painting of Rainy & Raven.

I might collage a canvas to begin an oil pastel painting of Jetta or continue working on organizing photos from my summer road trip.  I was organizing photos when I came upon this one of Jetta and decided that I wanted to base a painting on it.  I will crop it to a square format.