Pencil Shavings

365 Days of Art - Day 15 - Bound Bamboo

Today is Day 15 of my 365 Day Art Challenge.

I am kind of surprised at how fast the days have gone by, but happy that the challenge hasn't proved to be overwhelming to me.

I was up early again this morning and the hour of drawing flew by.  I can see how much more confident I am getting with everyday that I am working on this.  I doubt that I would have willingly picked a complicated subject like this 15 days ago.

I can also see the places where I went wrong a lot easier, and I know what areas I need to work on to get better.

I could have worked on this drawing all morning I think   I was so content just putting the marks on the paper.  Of course two hungry little girls reminded me of my obligations!

So now it's breakfast time and time to get the day underway, and the art work I do for the rest of the day is going to be a wonderful bonus.

365 Days of Art - Day 14 - Use What You've Got

I was up early this morning just after my husband left for work and before the kids got up.  Fresh coffee and a determination to get my hour in.

I did some loose sketches before looking around for something to draw.  There was a bag of sweet onions on the counter, so a grabbed a couple and sat down for a "long pose" and worked on them for 50 minutes.  My oldest daughter came down in the middle of my work.  I told her that I was working on my hour of drawing and asked her to set up her own art project and work quietly with me. 

She asked me why I was drawing onions.  I told her that you have to work with what you have.  We talked a bit about art history and how the old masters created art about what was around them.  There are so many still life paintings with everyday household objects in them, because that's what they had.  Art is quite often about artists telling us about their lives, and the times they live in.  And we know a lot about the lives of the artists that have gone before us because of the images they have captured and left behind.

It was a really nice morning with my daughter, just the two of us making art.

for more about the 365 day project click here

365 Days of Art - Day 13 Playing

I did some playing on Day 13.  I did a lot of loose sketches of the kids while they played on the computer, and then tried doing some more work with the masquepen using it to highlight my loose sketches.  The fun part about this one was that when I was taking the picture the camera's face detection came on and framed the face.  So I guess as an experiment my camera at least approved!

I'm slowing introducing the idea of daily art practice to my kids.  I'm going to see if they will do the hour with me during the day.  I think  that this would be a nice thing for all of us.  It will invovlve them more  in my work, and give them more art time everyday too (not that they need it, I suspect my kids do a lot more art than most, but it would be nice to focus it and get them to realize that you can still create even when you aren't totally inspired)

Summer holidays have started, it could be really challenging for me to get my art time in, or it could go smoothly... I'm hoping for the latter

365 Days of Art - Day 12 (catching up on blogging)

I'm way behind on the blog updating you on what I have accomplished in my 365 Day Art Challenge.  (for more information about the challenge click here) 

I haven't had the time to update the blog (and the one time I did have the time FireFox crashed g before I saved it in TypePad... which reminds me why I like to write my blog in Open Office first.)  Summer weekends seem to be so full of things to do and fun to be had.  I did get my hour in every day.  One day on the hike we went on, one evening when we had just been so busy, and one early morning.

I have lots to tell you and update you on.  But first things first – we will get to the art.

Day 12 was lots of tiny watercolour sketches in the mountains with the Daniel Smith watercolor sticks  I tried a full blown landscape but I found the vistas to be too overwhelming.  I will have to figure out how to narrow my focus if I want to sit down and do a full landscape.  Instead I did lots of little drawings of the people who had hiked the same trail, the rocks and water by the ponds, the bridges, the birds and the trees.

I was pretty frustrated with my outdoor painting.  It could be because I wasn't used to using the waterbrush, or having people standing behind my shoulder watching me.  I'm not sure.  But I'm hoping to be more comfortable with it by the end of summer.

The Best Part of the Day

I was quite annoyed when the cat stuck her paw in my open mouth to wake me up this morning at 5 am!  But it was light out, and I figured I would steal a little quiet time before the chaos of awake children started.

There is something really beautiful about early morning light.  I hope that someday soon I can venture out and try to capture it.  everything is cool blue.  except for flashes of warm pink and yellow where the sun is just starting to touch the sides of houses and the tops of trees.

The birds are singing, and after days of fierce winds, are taking turns stuffing themselves at the bird feeders.

The coffee is fresh and hot.  And the radio is tuned to my favourite station, playing a very eclectic mix of music favoured by early risers.

Right now, at this moment, it feels like the best part of the day.  Cool, quiet, calm.  But soon I know, I'll get restless waiting for my girls to wake up and some down the stairs, hair all messy, rubbing their eyes, wondering what we are going to do today.  And then we will start to talk.  And there will be early morning snuggles as one hugs me and the other wiggles into my lap.

And that will be the start of the best part of the day.

365 Days of Art - Day 11 - How Much Fun Was That?

I had so much fun with my art time today.  The first thing did was do some "sketching" with the new Masquepen I got yesterday (it delivers a fine line of masking fluid through a small tip, and should save me a small fortune on ruined brushes)

I "drew" in my compositional elements on a few small sketchbook sheets and set them aside to dry while I did some drawing.

The drawing was good, but I was impatient to get back to the sheets with the masking fluid on them! 

Then I sprayed the pages with water and went in with my watercolor sticks directly on the page and with a brush.  It was so much fun.  then of course the waiting for the paint to dry so I could reveal the results.

I may go in and soften the bright white lines a bit, or not.  It was a ton of fun to splash around and watch the colours run out of control!  The hour was gone before I knew it, and I worked even longer setting up some other work for next time.

365 Days of Art - Day 10

Ten days, and things are going well. 

I think there is something to setting a goal and then making it public.  When I was training for the marathon I set a public goal and blogged about it.  There were lots of times I thought about giving up, but I knew that I had promised myself I would do it, and I was making a public record and couldn't let myself down that way.

I think it's the same thing with my 365 day challenge.  I have made it very public, and I'm posting about it as close to daily as I can, so I can't just let something small pull me off track.  I need to keep my promise to myself.

Day 10 was a challenge, because I was really tired from helping at the school and couldn't find inspiration.  So I popped onto the internet and did a google search of still life ... up popped lot's of museum links.  which reminded me of all the sunflower (a'la VanGogh) that I have.  so I did some really loose, wet, watercolour sketches in a sketch book with the Daniel Smith watercolor sticks.

I'm really pleased with the work I did.  I also put the finishing touches on the commission I have and I'll look at it later in the day in daylight and see what I need to add (if anything) before sending off a picture to my client.

Today it's playing with a new masquepen I got yesterday.  That should be fun... I love playing with resists!

365 Days of Art - Day 9

I was working last night, my headphones on, listening to my iPod, so I didn't have to listen to my husbands documentary on the economic meltdown.  When I suddenly realized someone was standing RIGHT BESIDE ME!  I shrieked and scared my daughter who scared my husband, who blamed me! 

After we got over our shock and laughed, we took care of the little girl's needs and sent her back to bed and I got back to work.  I did some gesture drawing tonight, a very unfortunate portrait attempt, and a wet in wet watercolor sketch.  Then I got cranking on my commission for an hour or so.  It's coming along nicely, but it is the small intensive work of ink stippling which I can only do for short stretches of time.  When I finished and stood up to stretch I was rewarded with that wierd rippling popping of my shoulders, neck and upper back.

Today is my last volunteer day for probably 3 months at the school. Then I will be able to capture a routine of getting my drawing done during the day (I hope) and saving my evenings for watching videos with my cranky hubby.

Wednesday

I miss my Wednesday night art nights with my friend.  Life has been so frenetic lately and I haven't seen her in a month.

Of course it's not just about the art.  We do sit and paint and draw with each other, but it's also about talking, connecting, saying stuff while we are each immersed in our own work.  Funny, I bet we have drastically different memories about those evenings, based on the visuals we have to go with them!

Next week I am hoping to get my art night in with my friend again.  With school out there wo't be the crush of trying to get everything done so I can go out, and there won't be the guilt of staying out late when I can sleep in with the girls in the morning.  I don't know if any of that art was my best art, the art that I make when I'm with my friend, but it's good art, made better in the light of friendship.

365 Days of Art - Day 8

It was wet-in-wet sketching day at the studio (aka kitchen table).

I'm still working with the Daniel Smith Watercolor Sticks to try and get a few techniques into my "toolbox" before I attempt some En Plein Air paintings in the mountains on our hiking days this summer (starting this weekend!)

This sketch was done on a wet sheet in my sketch book, with the shapes drawn directly with the sticks then taking pigment from the stick with a brush to do the wet-in-wet work.

After the drawing and paint experiments I went to work for over an hour on my commission.  I made some good progress and can now see what I intended coming out on the page.

Tomorrow is another busy day at school so my sketching time will be at night, followed by what will likely be a late night on the commission.  I will probably not be able to update you until Thursday - but you never know.

The daily practice is good, and I'm really pleased with my new focus.