Art Abandonment

I've also joined a group on FB called Art Abandonment!  We make art, put it with a note and leave it for someone to find!  I've done this before but not in an organized way!  So on Veterans Day, Ron and I went to Red Lobster and I abandoned this piece of art at the table!  Hope someone enjoys it!

Throw Back Thursday for Artists

On FB I've been doing Throw Back Thursday for Artists!  It's where we post some work we did long ago!  Here's a couple of illustrations I did for art school in 1992, and a sketch for a painting!

44th World Wide Sketch Crawl

Well, today's the day!  It's the next WW SketchCrawl!  I know I haven't posted here in a long time, but I need to post this in order to get it on the WWSC site.  And I'm just SO great at computers!  NOT!  Anyway, today I chose to do Ron working in our yard.  I took a LOT of artistic license & eliminated all the houses between us and the mountains!  But I like how it turned out even if it's only in my imagination!  And I'm trying to hone my ink and wash skills, so this is about where I'm at for now.  And now that I've done this, maybe I'll post more soon!  LOL!

2014 WW Sketchcrawl 43

OK...still haven't updated my blog.  I've been busy in the studio painting.  But today was the first 2014 WW Sketchcrawl 43 and it's the first time I've ever been part of it.  It was cloudy and cold here in New Mexico, so I stayed in with a warm cup of tea & sketched that!  I used pen and watercolor.  Here's the sketch:

I "pushed" the colors to try out some new ideas.  Hopefully soon I can post some of the sketches and paintings I've been working on!  Until then, wishing you all a Happy Easter, Happy Passover & Blessed Ostara!

This was strapped to the leg of a carrier pigeon and landed in my blog for Pat!!!

I've been taking some online classes.  In one of them there was a wonderful piece of art done by a woman called Pat.  I really liked it & commented, "Holey Crapoley!  This is great!"  Or something to that effect.  Anyway, she asked me how I would illustrate "holey crapoley"!  So, being the crazy person I am, I immediately got on the job!  I looked up Thomas Crapper and found out all sorts of info, like he did not invent the flush toilet, but developed related inventions such as the ballcock.  He heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom.  Prince Edward asked him and his company to supply the plumbing for his country seat of Sandringham House in Norfolk, thus giving Crapper his first Royal Warrant.  The firm further received warrants from Edward as king, and George V as Prince of Wales and king.  Crapper held 9 patents for water closet improvements, but none for the flush toilets themselves, even though his advertisements implied the siphonic flush was HIS invention!
But was this enough information for me?  Nope.  Further investigation showed that the word crap is actually of Middle English origin; and predates its application to bodily waste.  Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch Krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter.  In English, it was used to refer to chaff, and also to weeds, or other rubbish.  Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to acrapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.
OK...now I had enough information to do a couple of small illustrations for Pat that would explain how I would illustrate "holey crapoley".  And here you have them!

I'm sure this is WAY more information than anyone needed to know, but it just goes to show what it takes to create a fun illustration or two for a pal!  Hope you like it, Pat!

Strathmore online classes

Strathmore has a site where they offer free classes.  They promote their products this way and get to see new art work.  I took a class on greeting cards with two instructors.  One was Jane LaFazio.  You can see her work at janeville.blogspot.com and the other was the fun Joanne Sharpe.  (Remember her Whimspirations site at Joannezsharpe.blogspot.com?)  Anyway, they were both wonderful instructors with very different styles.  Jane teaches you how to really SEE what you are drawing and is more realistic.  Joanne teaches you how to interpret what you see in a loose, doodly, fun way.  They were both inspiring!  Here are some lessons from their classes:

Card and postcard backgrounds ready for lettering

 One with lettering...the inside says "Smile!"

The Wizard

There are a lot more, but this is a sampling!

Now for the fun stuff!

I was able to take a few online art classes, and continue to do so.  If you look under my Labels on the left to "Old Work" and scroll down, you will see the kind of art I did a long time ago.  I knew I wanted to loosen up my art as I am looking to get back to my roots & create some whimsical greeting cards.  And to dig out those old children's books I started way back when, and get them finished up & ready to get published!  Hopefully this will help with recovering some of my medical expenses in a really fun way!

The first class I took (and am still involved in) is called "Doodle Arts and Lettering".  It's offered by Joanne Sharpe and you can find her at Whimspirations here:  joannezsharpe.blogspot.com   She has been a teacher forever (sorry Joanne!), and is wonderful and inspiring!  Just what I need to loosen up!

So here are some of my homework pieces from her class:

First, in a little ring book of 100 pages, she gave us prompts for making our own doodles.  It was hard for me to doodle!  I wanted to make things look real!  So it was good to get out of my comfort zone!  These are just a few pages:

Leaves

 Hearts

 Stars

 Flowers

And here are some of the lessons:

The one below wasn't from the class.  

I just did it when I had a headache & needed some relief!

Doodling is very zen!

 Before

After 

Before

After

 This was a birthday card for my mom.

The inside reads:  You can wear purple!

Earth Goddess Diva

I'm still finishing up on the lessons in the class!  Her next class, "Draw Your Awesome Life" starts at the end of October!  Luckily her classes are "forever classes", so like buying a book, you have access to them forever!  Whoot!

Support

This is a mixed media piece I made 

to thank people for the support they've given to me.

I got some Inktense watercolor pencils,

but they weren't acting as I was lead to believe.

So hence, mixed media.

Used some colored pencils, other watercolor pencils,

ink, gouache, etc.

So thanks to all of you who have supported me!

Business Card Practice

I had a dream a long time ago about some unique business cards. 

They would be watercolor with an eyelet in one corner. 

I would run fabric strips through the eyelet,

sign my name on the front

 & save the back for whatever info I wanted to

 give out to a particular person.

I've got the first 2 steps done. 

Step one:

"Drop In" watercolor on wet paper and add spatters.

Step two:

Cut the dry watercolor into 6 pieces.

Now I just need to find eyelets big enough

to run fibers and fabrics through!

Plus I really wanted to tear the edges, but this is just a practice sample.

I hope these cards will explain a little more about

mixed media art.

1st Blogoversary Tutorial - Sunflower Study

This is a quick tutorial on how I did a study of a sunflower.

1.  First I sketched a sunflower from a reference photo & then I inked it.  The most important thing to remember is to really SEE what you are drawing!  Not what you think it looks like, but what it really looks like.  Take time to really look at your reference, even before you start sketching.

2.  Next I used watercolor pencils to add the local colors of the flower & background.

3.  Next I wet down the water color pencil with my water brushes.  Let dry.



4.  Then I used the watercolor pencils to add shadows and darken the background.

5.  Last I wet down the added colors, & here you have the finished study.  Let dry.

Here is a pic of the only tools I used.

If I were to go from the finished study to a full size painting, there may be some changes I'd make, but it gives me a great start.