Sketchbook Project

The end of the year is fast approaching as is the deadline for the Sketchbook Project! For those not familiar with the Sketchbook Project you can find out about it here or click on the Sketchbook Project logo further on down the page. I have set my own personal deadline to be finished by the end of December. Before I get going about that and what is coming next here is one of my sketchbook pages.

This is a small oil sketch from a photo I took on one of my beach walks. Actually I guess one could say I used the photo for reference as much is not included and I changed a few things. When I first signed up for the project a couple of months ago I was very keen on moving onto color in oils as I hadn't got that far when I was in school. I took a bit of time upon receiving my sketchbook to experiment with what medium I was going to use and decided to fill my sketchbook with small oil sketches. I mean, why not combine my oil painting attempts with my sketchbook project?
Having little to no experience with oil painting at the time, I didn't realize how long even a small (about 5x8) painting would take. Some days I can only get one done and others about 3 (rarely). That is on the days I work on the project. Other days I work on my art studies.
It has been a good learning experience and, a heck of a lot of fun! I decided that I am going to combine the oil sketches (hope to have about 20 total) with some photography, quotes, and information.
We were allowed to pick a theme for our sketchbook, out of many. I decided to go with "Down Your Street." I interpreted that as down my street. Down my street (and everyone's really) lies the sea. The ocean is about 4 blocks down my street and a big presence in my life at this time. I walk on the beach daily, no matter what the weather. OK, sometimes I only walk about 50 feet but sand and rain being blown in my face at 50 mph hurts! The ocean is different every day. There is always something new to see. I often stand watching the shapes of the waves, the play of light and shadow, and try to describe the color of the ocean at that moment. The color fascinates me as it changes from moment to moment. Mornings on the beach when the sun comes out are breathtakingly beautiful.
There is a lot that breaks the heart too. I always encounter dead sea birds and other marine life. There is also a lot of plastic pollution. The garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean is now the size of Canada. Yes, that is what I said, Canada. I have that info from a Fabien Cousteau presentation given at TED.
I love the ocean as it is in my blood going several generations back. I was born by the sea and spent part of my childhood there. I have come full circle with our move to our current place. I do plan to use my future work to promote the cleanup and protection of our oceans. Our "one and only life support system."
I am learning how to paint seascapes or marine paintings. Since I prefer to draw and paint from life, I am also learning plein air painting. And, as promised, here is a picture of my first attempt completely unedited!

First, I have to add that I only had about 2 hours of daylight as this was in the afternoon and the tides were low enough. This was painted at the north end of Short Sands beach, which is just a very short drive up the road. Did I mention that this is my very first attempt, ever? That means I am working with new equipment and conditions as well. The painting is of one of the waterfalls that cascade onto the beach. I put this up here unedited for a couple of reasons. The first being that it shows my starting place. I know without a doubt that I am going to be improving quite a bit. Secondly, I want to show that we don't always start out as genius artists. It takes a lot of hard work. I figure that I will have the skills I want after about 4 more years of hard, consistent, daily, work. The work to build skill and growth will last the rest of my life.
I have a lot of work to do yet. I am still building my figure drawing skills so that I can paint the portraits of women I want to paint. I am not much into painting still life. I do love to look at still life paintings. However, it has its place in skill building so, I will be painting still life for study purposes.
That brings me to my final mention. I wrote a mention about a personal challenge in my last post. I will be posting on that in a few days, at the winter solstice, in a special post.
This is long enough. Sometimes it seems that I can't get everything in I want to say!
Look for my special post on Tuesday or Wednesday.
-Renee

Winding Up the Year

Ah, Blogger is working again so I can get this post going!
I finished my first color study, at least as far as I plan to take it at this point. Here it is:

Again, I am having challenges getting a good digital picture with the correct color balance. I am not surprised when I realized that my camera is now 8 plus years old. My poor camera only has 3.2 mp and is literally falling apart bit by bit ( I have had to resort to glue a couple of times). It has been a good camera but I think I will need to replace it soon. I did do a little playing around with the lights and darks in Photoshop to get the photo to read more like the actual set up but I didn't tinker with any color correction although I probably should have. You get the general idea of the painting from here and, at this point, that is all that is needed. I would like to add that the paint that has white mixed into it reflects weirdly, and not true to color.
While I am saving up for a decent camera, I will use my husband's. He says it is "ours" but I found that only one person at a time can take pictures during those wonderful photo moments! We also have different photography needs, not to mention that we look at the world in different ways...
I have a couple of more oil sketches and my first plein air attempt which I will be sharing next week as well as a fun little side project.
As we are coming to the end of the year I, like many of you, will be taking a bit of time to reflect on the past year and think about what I want to accomplish in the next. I am putting together a personal challenge. I will be posting the details soon in a special post but here is a bit of the background for the challenge:  In 2012 I will have my 50th birthday (if the world does decide to end that year it will be extremely ironic!). I decided that I wanted to create a personal challenge for my 50th and have it benefit one or more of my favorite causes as well. I did the math and realized that starting this January, I will only have 15 months to complete said challenge! I will have to get busy!
That is all I am going to say on that now as I want to carefully think over the details before I put them out there publicly. I am hoping to get input and encouragement from all my friends as I think I am going to need it. Sometimes your friends have a way of taking things to a wonderful new level.
I had a wonderful morning at my local life drawing session. It is always a pleasure to spend time drawing with other artists. I want to finish up by mentioning a couple of new links in the "artists who inspire" section of my blog. First is Karen Martin Sampson who is from Vancouver Island, B.C. Her work is beautiful and inspiring. If you click on the Links on her web site you can find her blog. She is generous with her knowledge as well. Thank you Karen! A second link I would like to mention is for another artist I admire, Terry Strickland. Her blog posts often include video clips of her process. I hope to do that one day myself. I also have two other links that are important to me, Women Drawing Women, and Women Painting Women. I probably don't have to tell you that women artists are very much under-represented in our galleries and museums, not to mention history. I love to see how women interpret the female body and person. I find it is very different from the male perspective (anyone surprised?). I will be sharing more artists on my blog now and then in future posts.
Finally, a couple more changes I made to my blog. I have been on FaceBook for a while now and have just joined Twitter. If you use these social media platforms, please do look me up. Mention Art=Life in the message line of FaceBook to let me know who you are and I will be happy to add you as a friend.There are links to both FaceBook and Twitter in the side bar.
I would love to read your comments if you wish to use the comment link at the bottom of this post and you can also share the post on FaceBook and Twitter using the links below.
We have been having very wet and stormy weather here lately which will continue for the week. Perfect for working in the studio.
-Renee

December? What happend to June?

As always, December sneaks up on me. I know it is coming. I realize it will be here right after November but then BAM! Not only is it here, it flies by too. Well, December plays havoc with my schedule and I know I am not the only one it happens to. I am still working in the studio, it just gets weird in the hours around that time.
I did get to work one day on my color study. I still have a tiny bit left to do before I am ready to move on to another one. One of the variables that has made the time go wonky is the weather. The weather has been beautiful these past few days. Add that to minus tides and the fact that I now have my plein air setup all ready to go and I find my schedule getting kind of spontaneous. To catch the low tides which expose cliffs, caves, and beaches, and the lovely afternoon light, I found myself grabbing my easel and paints and heading out about 2 o'clock Friday afternoon to paint at a beach about 5 minutes up the road. I am not going to post the results of my very first plein air painting just yet. I think I will leave it for the next one. Hopefully I will have a bit more to show on that topic by then.
The bulk of my painting this week was working on oil sketches for the Sketchbook Project.
Here is a shot of one part of it.

These are sketches in oil. I am still basically a rank beginner but I must admit, I love it even more than I thought I would. Here is a close-up of one sketch which is roughly 5 X 8".

All of these were done from digital photos I took and then display on my computer screen. Not my favorite way of working which is why I am starting to go out to paint plein air. I really like working from life. The atmospheric effect of the light in this area is a bit tricky to catch. I am learning and studying so I will be improving.
I also attended the life drawing session this week. I really liked the model we had. He was tall and thin which made for rather graceful poses at times. This was my favorite one. This was a 30 minute pose and I wanted to get it as much info as possible because I liked the pose so much. Normally I hold myself back to work on gesture and proportions, angles and shapes before getting so much into tone and details.

Life drawing is a joy and one of the things I really miss from school is being able to do so much of it.
Finally, for my next color study I wanted to simplify the still life. I know my fellow students started out painting colored blocks. I finally was able to score a huge bag of cardboard blocks from the thrift store for $5. I am going to paint a few of them solid colors and use them in the next set up. Not terribly exciting but a a good exercise.

It will continue to be crazy busy for most of us in the next couple of weeks I am sure and my holidays tend to be more mellower than many folks. I will have more on the Sketchbook Project and my first plein air attempts next week.
-Renee

Stopping for Thanks

Now here is a picture that will make you run indoors to snuggle by the fire with your favorite hot beverage! This is a picture I took last week of a pile snowy kelp on the beach. The weather is finally warming up a bit but it was a bit exciting to get a little snow here so early.
Not as many days in the studio this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U. S. Our Thanksgiving was nice and quiet. I made a lovely intimate vegan feast for two. Not too much food but hearty and rich, as holiday food often is. We also spent the day yesterday in Portland visiting family and doing a couple of errands. Had a bit of a nerve-wracking time getting through the Coastal Mountain range due to snow and ice on the way home but we made it back safe and sound.
Due to the holiday this week, I decided to concentrate on the shorter studies. I did a couple of quick oil paint sketches for the Sketchbook project I am working on and a bit of drawing and sketching. That Sketchbook project will be ramping up quite a bit in December as I need to be pretty much finished with the sketches by the end of the month. I will have a picture to post on what I have so far next week.
Since I don't have a lot to share this week, I thought I would call attention to some of the new links I added to my lists. In the Art/Creativity list I have added Dr. Robyn McKay. I met her on Facebook. We share the same favorite quote! She has a fascinating background in creativity and intelligence and gives several workshops on those subjects. I study and read a lot about creativity on my own. I can never get enough on this topic and encourage everyone to study what they can. Her website is worth checking out.
I also study the business of art, as well as art making, as that is where I am heading and I know it isn't easy. There are many wonderful books and websites on this topic but the one I have recently added is The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris Guillebeau had created an interesting life style and approach to marketing that I find fascinating. Check out his blog and unconventional guides (click on the "more about this site" link for a comprehensive look at what he does). He also has a few PDF downloads that are interesting and informative to read too.
The third new link in this category is White Hot Truth by Danielle Laporte. She is a very inspirational woman with a lot of thought-provoking reading on her website. A note to the delicate, she is straightforward and blunt and her language sometimes reflects that.
All of the above links deal with creativity in one way or another and are of interest to artists and other creatives alike.
I have also added a couple of links to the "artists who inspire". I will get into more detail on these on another post but, in the meantime, please check them out.
I will be getting back to work now!
-Renee

One Day I Will Laugh!

You have to let yourself giggle at your first attempts at just about anything. There are exceptions of course but when creating or learning anything new, a sense of humor is necessary. So, what am I chortling about lately? My very first attempt to paint with color. Here it is, still in progress:

Is it going well? Well, it isn't a total disaster. Am I learning a lot? You better believe it! The colors are close but not spot on. I took this picture in a totally different light situation than what I am using to paint with so it would be very hard to tell from this picture exactly what is going on but the general idea is there. I am enjoying myself tremendously, even when I get tangled up in frustration. I know I will get to where I want to go. I will be keeping this study. I want to pull it out one day a few years from now so I can see just how far I have gone. What I want to paint is so very complex compared to this but the simplification is necessary at this point. In fact, this needs to be simplified even more as I am still learning how to put the paint on the canvas let alone the color and all the other complex stuff. I am so very glad I have spent the past year drawing intensively.
I am still drawing, both figure drawing and cast drawing. I have set up a cast to work on in fact, and here it is along with a view of a cramped studio. It is cramped but it works just fine. I can move around almost as much as I need to and I can leave things set up.

 

I am working on the mouth of David. I have been alternating between a day of painting and a day of drawing. So far it seems to be working just fine. 

Yesterday we had a break between storms and the day was wonderfully sunny but chilly. We decided to drive 5 minutes up the road to the state park on the north end of our town and hiked a short path in to Short Sands Beach. It is a local surfing spot and breathtakingly beautiful. My husband took a picture of me, with our faithful dog Twill, sketching waves. 

Twill is actually lying on a blanket over flat rocks. We were there at high tide so there wasn't much sand but the beach got bigger as the tide went out. The sun felt wonderful and I was eventually able to take my coat off. 

This week we will be taking a day off to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. I have a lot to be thankful for and will be enjoying a modest meal with my loved ones in quiet celebration. 

So what am I thankful for? I am thankful for good health, the abundance in my life, family, friends, and the freedom to choose. 

Wishing everyone the same, 

-Renee

Another Small Step

It is a misty wet day today on the Pacific Northwest Coast. A perfect day for life drawing, cleaning, and other general indoor pursuits. There have been a few walks too. I need to get outside a few times a day. Thankfully my dog feels the same way.
I have been busy in the studio this week. Still not in the studio as much as I would like to be but getting there. I finished the grisaille for my color study, at least, as far as I want to go since it is a color study. I have set it aside to dry a bit and will be starting in on the color part this week. Can't wait! Here it is so far:

The angle of the view in the picture is different from my painting point of view because I wanted to be able to get both painting and still life set up in the same frame. Speaking of frames and photography, I really am going to have to do something different. I have just been essentially taking what amounts to snapshots of my work, usually hand held. Using the flash does not work with oil paint, at least, not my flash. I get a glare as you will see in the next set of pictures. I do have a tripod and will get it out for next week's post. Eventually I would like to get a simple photography set up.
Hopefully I can get that photography set up  sooner than later as I have another place to post pictures. I finally set up my own website! It is still in the process of being built. At the moment, it is a very simple website. My computer programming skills are extremely rusty but I hope to be able to work on it myself for now. Perhaps sometime in the future I can get a bit of professional help there. I will have the website address for you on the next post as there have been a few kinks to iron out with the web hosting service.
Several weeks ago I joined the Sketchbook Project. There is a link to that project on my sidebar or you can check it out here. In one of those funny synchronistic moments that somehow happen in life, I met Susan at a local writer's event here in town and she happened to be participating in the project as well. In fact, there are four of us from this little tiny town participating!
I have been trying out a few different ideas and mediums but decided to fill my sketchbook with oil sketches. This will be in keeping with my studies and give me a bit of structured play with oil painting. Here is one of the sketches toward the end of completion (it is a sketch after all):

Again, had a challenge with the photography. Here is the same picture with a flash:

So, I will be using a tripod next week and also would appreciate any other suggestions for taking photographs of oil paintings. In case you are wondering, the sketch is of some of the bull kelp that washes ashore quite often. I love the translucence of the kelp. I will get a better picture up next week.
I have also been continuing my color studies in between the other work. I need to get one of my casts out to do a bit of cast drawing too. I certainly have enough to study.
If all goes well, I will be getting my full week in the studio in next week. We shall see what I can get done.
Stay warm!
-Renee

The Struggles

Oh yeah, I've been here before. The Struggles. It is part of the cycle is it not? I finished the charcoal drawing of my husband. As soon as I sprayed the fixative my darling dearest said to me, " I didn't want to mention this before but..." Now, in no way do I feel it is his responsibility to bring up any issues he sees in my drawing, even though I asked him to. Sometimes it is easier for someone other than yourself to spot things that can be off. I would have loved it if he had said that before I sprayed the fixative! None of this changes the fact that my proportions were just a teeny bit off. Not much, but that is all it takes. It isn't a bad drawing but the proportions being a line width off reminds me what our teacher always was saying. "Ask questions!"
I have committed myself to being honest in this blog, sharing not only the triumphs but the trials too. I will be honest here now, there was a point in the drawing process that something was nagging at me that it didn't quite look right. Now I know, without a teacher to point that out to me, that is my cue to stop, ask questions, look at the whole and the relationships,  and figure out what is wrong before preceding. Lesson learned (I hope!).
On to the next task. I set up a simple still life for a color study. It is my first one and I am doing it on my own. Not exactly sure what I am doing but I am taking a deep breath, relaxing, and having fun with it. After all, it isn't like I am having to perform surgery on someone! Here is the set up and about two hours into the grisaille.

Kind of hard to see the top of the bowl in the painting so it looks squished in the photo. I also learned I shouldn't start a grisaille when I don't have a good chunk of time to work on it. This is an open grisaille. It dried surprisingly fast so I will have to move to a closed grisaille before I start in with color. The lighting washes out the nice bright colors in the set up but the picture gives the general idea.
I also continue to squeeze in a straight color study when I can. This allows me to play with the paint and see how the colors interact. Here is shot of another color study, mixing with burnt umber on the top two and raw sienna on the bottom row.

I am starting out with quite a large palette of colors. I know there are different views on how to do this, some prefer to start out with a limited palette. Personally, I love color and while I admire many  paintings made with a limited palette, I am usually not completely satisfied with them. Eventually, with time and experience,  I will settle on a palette that works for me.
Today I went to the life drawing session at the art center in town. I am learning how to utilize the session to meet my own learning needs, which is a good thing as I was getting frustrated with the way the session was working.
This week I will be turning some of my attention to working on The Sketchbook Project. I have a bit of an outline but I need to get going on that. I will have more on that in a later post. I should have started laying in the color by the next post and will hopefully have some progress to show on that.
The learning continues!
I will leave you with a final picture of my studio assistant with her nose on one of the books I was reading during my break.
-Renee