Welcoming Spring

I have been working in my studio on this 3-day weekend (Caesar Chavez Day), trying to finish up my drawings from last Tuesday night.  I have also made a few entries in my Figurative Sketch Book.  This is my introductory page for the month of April.  If I can remember, I thought I would draw a self-portrait at the start of each month.  Will my face start to look thinner as I loose my next 20 pounds?  I guess I will find out.  I also included a pressed flower that I had, though I can't remember where I picked this particular bloom.

This weekend, I still had one drawing to finish from the 22nd of March.  I reworked both the drawing and the background, completing the negative space in multiple layers of brown pastels until it was rich in appearance.  I had to readjust the proportions of her body just a bit, especially the left breast as it was up too high.  It wasn't until I was finished that I realized that her head was proportionately too small, hence the title, "Nude with Small Head".

Last Tuesday night I started 4 drawings.  Our model was Sita, an older woman, just slightly plump.  I hadn't drawn her before and really enjoyed her figure.  I began with this black, gray and white drawing on 18" x 24" white charcoal paper.  I had decided that I wanted the simplicity of the neutrals and didn't want to have to think about color choices in the beginning.  The one thing I managed to capture was the posture with head stuck out slightly to the side and to the front.  It looks a bit weird, but it shows the attitude of the pose.  I got Sita's figure in place and had just started the background during the 20 minute pose.  Once home, I didn't change the figure much, but I did layer in the black pastel, with workable fixative between the layers until it looked like a rich black velvet.  In fact, I titled this one "Black Velvet".

I like working with the soft pastels when the poses are just 20 minutes in length because I feel like I can get a lot of information down on the paper in a short time.  I was trying to work more abstractly with this drawing, similar to the way I worked the week before.  This was a more difficult pose for me and I am not sure if the proportions of her head are accurate.  The backwards tilt of her head was a challenge!  I chose to work in warm colors, mainly orange and yellow, because it was different than I had the week before.  I titled the drawing "Sunshine".  It is 22" x 26" soft pastel on pastel paper.  The colors are very intense and 70's feeling to me.  Definitely not my favorite color scheme, though I used it twice during the evening simply because I didn't want to clean up from the pastel dust to switch to a different color.  Call it laziness.

This drawing, "Sunset", was also completed in a warm color scheme. I prefer this drawing to the one above mostly because I liked the pose, the roundness of her bottom.  Again, I treated it in more of an abstract style as I completed the background.  The halo of darkness around the figure creates a striking contrast that is appealing.
The fourth drawing of the night was done in natural skin tones, but I am not sure if I like it well enough to come in and finish it.  This is a dilemma for me.  Are my drawings worth keeping?  I have a closet full of completed drawings that no one sees.  What do I do with a drawing that is not finished?  What is wrong with the drawing?  The dimensions/proportions are off a bit, but that hasn't stopped me before.  Am I just tired of working in soft pastels?  That might be the answer.  I think I will sleep on it.

It's Been a While

Wow!  I can't believe that a month has gone by since my last post.  I was trying to add to my blogs on the weekends, but I just kind of forgot.  In the past month I have gone to a few life drawing sessions, on Tuesdays, plus a Thursday and a Sunday thrown in there.  I spent spring break in Olympia with Rainy.  I made an artist submission to the Herberger Theater Gallery, but I won't hear anything until the end of April.  Two days ago Mike and I celebrated our fifth anniversary.  I guess that a lot has happened in the past 30 days.

I won't try to post all of my March artwork, but will pick and choose what I think is worth showing.  This oil pastel painting is titled "35 Weeks".  It was done in 4, 20 minute drawing sessions on a Thursday night at Stu's studio.  I was working on a piece of all media board that I had previously collaged with torn magazine pieces.  I used copal medium to blend the oil pastels.  This is probably my favorite artwork from this month.  I enjoyed creating it.

This next piece is titled "Black & White".  It is charcoal on charcoal paper and is 18" x 24".  I drew this image on the 1st of March.  The face is probably the weakest part of the drawing...I really do struggle with profiles.  I should practice drawing profiles until I am more comfortable with them.  I do like the extreme contrast, with a portion of the paper in black and the opposing side in white.

This drawing is titled "Colors From Behind".  It is oil pastel on watercolor paper and is 18" x 24".  I painted this one on a Sunday morning, another long pose session at Clarke's studio in Tempe.  Again, I used copal medium for blending the oil pastels. I enjoyed the subtle texture of the watercolor paper and decided that I prefer working on it than on smooth paper when using the copal medium and the oil pastels.  The colors are very vibrant, which makes the painting more exciting than some of my other pieces.

The next two drawings were made this past Tuesday night.  The first one is titled "Different Point of View", the other one is "Figure in Blue".  These were both made during 20 minute poses, I just had to add a few finishing touches on them when I got home.  I did the blue one first, another person at the studio commented that it looked very Georgia O'Keeffe-like.  I didn't see it until I stepped back away from the drawing and then I thought that he was right.  For both of these drawings, I just wanted to crop in on the figure and I wanted to work with non-skin tones.  I was relatively happy with the way they both turned out.

I did not keep up with a collage a day, it was rather hit and miss.  I am presenting a few of them here.
I will try to blog once a week!  See you then

Happy 80th Birthday to My Dad

Today is my dad's 80th birthday!  We celebrated with a big family dinner last night at Donovan's Steak and Chop House.  It was great fun though the wine bottles may have flowed a little bit too freely.  I think that dad liked the collage that I made for him, it is shown and described in my previous post.  Rainy had flown in for the celebration on Friday night and left today around 1pm.  I miss her already, but I will get to see her in 2 weeks as I am going to Olympia for my spring break.

I did managed to make a number of collages this week.  This one is titled "Deep in the Woods", it is 6" x 6", and is acrylic paint, paper, ink and ribbon on board.  I started with roughly coating the board with acrylic paint, when it was dry, I stamped a pattern on with white ink.  Once that was dry, I glued the various papers in place.  I find this one somewhat mysterious,  I like that about it.

"Wait for Me" has papers, buttons, stamps, and ink on board.  The 3 gold frames were cut from old playing cards, I am glad I found them in my stash and thought to use them in this manner.

"Calvert" has papers on board.  This collage was made strictly from magazine images.

I would like to find the time to work on a painting or two, but that won't happen this weekend as Sunday is rapidly fading away and I feel as if I need a nap.  Maybe this week....

Ending the Three Day Weekend

How I love having just one extra day added to my weekend.  This was a day for me to many things, some of which were outside of my studio.  I spent the morning make a cheesecake and mixed berry sauce for Mike's birthday which is tomorrow.  We were initially going to celebrate it today but decided to wait until tomorrow and have steaks and salad, plus cheesecake of course.

Yesterday I did put the finishing touches on another one of the drawings from Thursday night's life drawing session.  It is titled "Sara in Pink" and is 14" x 22".  I used soft pastels on charcoal paper.  The drawing was originally 22" x 25" with more negative space on the right side of the figure.  I had decided to collage some papers in this space and started with a thinner paper that was pink.  I was using matte medium as my glue, which made the paper start to wrinkle, so I pulled it off before it was dry.  Then I decided that I was going to let it dry, then iron it in place.  When I did this, the light weight paper turned orange!  Yuck.  By now it was permanently attached, the only solution was to cut it off, which is what I did.  Now my artwork is not a standard size, but having the figure just slightly off center certainly makes for a pleasing composition.

Most of the afternoon today I worked on a small, 8" x 8" collage for my dad for his 80th birthday; the celebration is next weekend.  I used old photographs, papers, stamps, an old key, and a plastic golf ball marker.  I am pleased with the finished results.  I also enjoyed going through the suitcase of old photos again.  There is a photo of the twins as babies.  I have two photos of dad with a bicycle, the larger one was taken in 1945.  Then there is the cut out of dad when he was in his 20's (I am guessing).  The picture at the bottom is another one of dad as a young man, I am not sure when it was taken.  The black and white photo in the upper left corner was taken from some pictures of a girl scout outing, I think it was in the early 1970's.  The picture of mom and dad was one I took this past Christmas of 2010.  In the background are papers from Creighton Elementary School, North High School, and the University of Arizona.  I am trying to decide if the white paper in the center is too bright....I might come in over the surface with a stamped image to lessen the brightness of the white.
I have a busy week ahead, so I am not sure what will happen to my mini collage a day project.  Wait and see I suppose.

President's Day Weekend

It has been an interesting week.  Again, I wasn't too successful with my artwork a day idea, as I only completed 2 mini collages.  This one is titled "Come With Me" and was made on 2-19-11.  It is 6" x6" and consists of papers, photos, ink, and a plastic golf ball marker on board.  I was being somewhat playful with the entire image.  Do you recognize Mike driving the bug and Rainy in the back seat?

This collage I made on 2-18-11 and it is titled "Speak to Me".  I am not so thrilled with it as the words make everything to obvious.  I used papers and ink on board.  Like all of my mini collages, it is 6" x 6".  I found the face in one of my "W" magazines, a favorite place for female images.  Perhaps it is time for me to return to my collages that have lots of different stuff all over them.

The highlight of my week was another life drawing session.  I went with Joan and Laura on Thursday night to Stu's studio again.  On Thursday nights, the idea is to work back to back poses so that you have 40 minutes on a drawing instead of the usual 20.  Sara was the model, I had drawn her once before.  I decided to work with soft pastels.  Interestingly, people have been commenting that I am a pastelists, but I am not.  I bought pastel papers at Arizona Art Supply earlier in the week and the clerk made that assumption.  Thursday night, Eric made the same statement.  I guess that I like to work with soft pastels when drawing figures, especially during short sessions because you can put the color and the image down rather quickly.  The truth is that I don't really know what I am doing when it comes to working in soft pastels.  Like most media, I am self taught and I haven't taken the time to read up on how a person should work with pastels.  Maybe this is something that I should do!  Anyways, this drawing is titled "Black Pillow with Flowers". It is soft pastel on pastel paper (Duh) and is 20" x 25".  I completed most of the drawing at the session.  This afternoon,  I reworked the background just a little bit but mostly I finished up the 2 pillows that Sara is laying on.  I am very pleased with the way this drawing turned out.  I enjoy focusing in on a part of the figure rather than portraying the entire body.  The detail of the pillows contrasts successfully with the softness of the female form.

Weekend Progress

This morning I went with my friends Joan and Laura to a life drawing session at Clarke Reidy's Studio.  It was a long pose session where we worked from the same pose all morning.  I was able to complete this oil pastel painting.  I wasn't positioned in a good place to step back and view my artwork from a distance or I might have realized where the proportions were off.  I think his hip juts out a bit too far plus his leg from the knee down should have been longer.  In spite of the problems, I had a fun morning working on art.

I also managed to finish this oil pastel painting of mom in my book.  I struggle with it.  I got her nose just right, but that was about it.  Painting older people is difficult for me.  I couldn't get the lips or the skin around them to look the way I thought it should.  The eyes are close, but not perfect. I did collage on tissue paper with strings of gold in it for mom's over shirt. It turned out perfect!  I also used metallic gold oil pastels for her necklace.  It added a nice touch.  I will do a page of dad next and am hoping that it doesn't prove as difficult.

For the rest of the afternoon, I will catch up on little things that I have to do in my studio, including my artwork/collage for the day.  Until next weekend, take care.

Mid-February

Wow!  It is hard for me to believe how quickly this month is flying by!  This past week was a busy one and I found very little time to work on my artwork a day collages.  I started off on Monday with "Thinking About It".  I copied an old photograph of my grandmother to incorporate in this one along with stamps and torn envelopes.  They were placed on a black board on which I had stamped designs.  It's not one of my favorites, but I guess that's par for the course.

On Tuesday night I went with my friend, Joan, and her friend, Laura to a life drawing session at Stu's studio.  It was at 35th Avenue and Clarendon, the drawing session was from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.  Kind of a late night for me, but I really did enjoy myself.  There were about 10 artists working.  The music being played was pretty good, so I didn't even have to pull out my i-pod and headphones.  The model was Craig; I had drawn him previously when I was taking a night class at Paradise Valley Community College.  We started with some quick gesture poses and then did a series of different 20 minute poses.  This example is a charcoal drawing on blue charcoal paper.

He did one pose in which he sat on a bicycle.  It was a very intimidating pose because of the complexity of the bicycle.  In spite of that, I felt as if I managed to capture both Craig and the bicycle fairly decently.  This one was also charcoal on blue charcoal paper.  There was another drawing I did, it was graphite pencil on Bristol board.  I didn't get it finished.  I actually plan to come back in and shatter the image into geometric shapes and the finish it with hatching and crosshatching.  It will take me a while to finish.

I did manage to complete a second 6" x 6" artwork a day collage.  For this one, I started with strips of a centennial newspaper I got from Aunt Dolores.  I then glued in a vase from an old Shell gasoline add that I got from one of my old magazines.  I added an assortment of round objects and stamped a few round circles to balance out the image.  This one, titled "Centennial", turned out quite well.

This morning, I spent about 20 minutes on another artwork a day; this one a self-portrait.  I had previously painted a 6" x 6" board with an orangish color of acrylic paint. This morning I worked with watercolor crayon to paint my self-portrait.  Stu was using this technique at the life drawing session, and I was wanting to try it out.  It was a bit more difficult to manipulate the watercolor than I thought it would be.  I enjoyed the process none the less.
Today in my studio I have prepped a couple of surfaces with collaged torn magazine pieces.  I think I am ready now to work on the page in my book featuring Mom and/or Dad.  Guess I will get to it now.

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.

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year's Eve!

I need to get in the habit of posting on my blog much more frequently than I have been.  Isn't that what it is all about?!

We are experiencing a blast of cold weather in Phoenix which makes me want to cuddle up and just stay indoors.  Because of this, I did finish another painting of Dusty.  This one is titled "Dusty, Again".  It is 11" x 14", oil pastel and collaged papers on canvas.  I used my brand new Sennelier oil pastels that Santa brought me for Christmas.  They go on like butter and just beg to be rubbed into the surface.  They are very nice to work with!  When I started the painting, I was having trouble getting the face to look right.  I stopped and practiced Dusty's face in my sketchbook, using an enlarged photo and graphite paper to transfer the image.  I then came in with the pastels.  I figured out that I had her nose too far to the left and that was throwing the proportions way off.  I got out some turpentine and simply erased her nose and eyes on the painting so that I could start over.  This worked very well and I am pleased with the finished painting.

As for the fact that it is New Year's Eve, I need to make a run to Trader Joe's to get the ingredients for cheese fondue.  Of course I will also pick up some champagne to enjoy with the fondue.  Once groceries are bought, I should have time to work in my studio this afternoon.  I need to do some research in my IB Art sketchbook (for school) plus I might be able to finish my painting of Rainy and Raven.  I also need to get back to my collage book.  There is always something that I want to do in my studio!

The Start of Winter Break

Last weekend my dad made the announcement that he would be retiring on June 1st.  He plans to go into the office once or twice a week, but other than that he and mom hope to do a little traveling, making many weekends 3 or 4 days long.  Mom has been collecting travel articles from the paper.  These articles are about road trips around Arizona and now they plan to take some of these trips.

Of course, I decided they would need a travel journal of sorts.  At Arizona Art Supply, I bought an 11" x 14" sketchbook.  I knew I wanted to include an image of an old car from a magazine on the cover.  I looked through some Newsweek magazines from 1970 and came up with a few options.  I selected the VW Beetle because it was a front on shot and I could include a photo of mom and dad like they were in the car.  Even though they never owned a Beetle, I selected it anyways!  I thought a lot about the title for the book, tossing around several ideas.  "Explore the Road" came to me just yesterday while I was waiting for Rainy's plane at the airport.  It was short and it had a good sound to it!  I used masking tape to block a border around the sketchbook and to outline where the road would be.  I used stick on letters as a reverse stencil, then worked in various shades of yellow, orange, and red oil pastels over the cover of the sketchbook.  I made the values a little lighter towards the bottom that at the top.  Once the pastels were in place I removed the tape and the letters.  I applied a layer of matte medium over the entire front cover to prevent the oil pastels from smudging.  When the medium was dry, I applied another layer, this time securing the VW Beetle in place.  I like the way the complementary colors (blue & orange) help the car show up even better!

I actually started the inside spread before I did the cover.  It seemed like a lot of white, so I used 2 different stamps, a checkered stamp in brown and a leafy pattern in green to break up the whiteness and plainness of the spread.  I collaged in place a variety of small images or stuff that I had on hand like the stamps and the December calendar.  I cut the cacti from an Arizona Highways magazine and the map of Arizona from a map of the states.  I used an old-style letter maker to write Bill and Nancy Haug and their address.  I also added low-relief objects like the St. Christopher's medal and the key.  It was a spread that seemed to come together as I worked on it.

Afternoon Studio Time

I have had a pretty busy Sunday.  I woke up around 4am, but forced myself to stay in bed until 6:00.  I got my birthday thank you notes written before I went to Weight Watchers.  Unfortunately, I gained a pound, but I am not too suprised given that it had been my "birthday week".  I will have to refocuse on making good food choices this week.  I went to Mom & Dad's after Weight Watchers to drop off a couple of the larger Christmas gifts that I had at my house.  While there, dad fixed me eichuka (German pancakes).  It had been quite a while since I had them.  I was careful to only have 2 and I had them with fruit.

Now that the afternoon is here, I decided that I really needed time in my studio.  I added some more paint to Rainy & Raven.  I worked on the girl's clothing and then I worked on Rainy's hair a bit.  Now the paint needs to dry begore I can do anymore.

I have a couple more projects that I want to get started, will blog about them when they happen!

Another Completed Artwork

I created "Buick" from a photograph that I took this summer while Rainy and I were on our road trip.  Our first night was spent at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona.  Outside of the wigwams, numerous old cars and trucks were parked to provide a retro effect.  The Buick was parked just outside of the wigwam we slept in. 
I actually finished "Buick" last weekend but didn't get around to photographing the painting until just now.  I made the mixed media piece along with my IB Art class.  They had to create an 18" x 24" collage piece, so I did too.  I began by attaching torn white/nuetral magazine pieces with matte medium to a canvas.  For the next step, I worked with oil pastels that were rubbed into the magazine pieces and then finished off or finally blended with Liquin, a painting medium.  The Liquin gave it a slick, polished surface while also serving as a final finish.  To complete the piece, I attached plastic letters that I spray painted grey and added a touch of oil pastel to.  I purchased some expanded metal which Mike cut to size for me.  I glued the metal in place with E6000.  I am very pleased with the final painting!

Sunday Afternoon in the Studio

I got Rainy to the airport around 11:30 this morning and have since been trying to focus on some artwork.  I have not been too successful yet as my mind is now wandering towards getting ready for Christmas!  I did finish Jack the Beagle yesterday.

There wasn't much lefy to be done.  I lightened Jack's eyes a bit and completed some detailing around the mouth.  Overall, I am very pleased with the the finished painting.  I enjoyed using the oil paint on top of the torn magazine pages.  The last few layers of paint were added with quite a bit of linseed oil mixed into the paint and this left a nice overall sheen to the painting.  I will be giving the painting to my sister Jenni and her husband, Jim for Christmas as it is a portrait of their beagle.

I also started and finished this cat portrait of Zoe in my collage book.  Her face started out pretty accurate, but I got off on her body proportions.  I chose orange for the background to accent her tabby coloration.  I am done now with the household pets.  Next on my schedule is a portrait of Adam, but I need to get a photo first.