Pencil Shavings

Mr. J. Rabbit

I worked hard this morning and managed to the get the hand painting done on one of my artist proof prints of my hare.  It’s still drying, but I think it’s done to the point I can be happy with turning it in for marking. 

The way our class works is that we have so many prints we need to turn in for our mid-term portfolio, in this case it’s 7 editions of five prints each, plus we are allowed to turn in bonus work to get extra credit.  I have 3 proof prints I made as I was reworking the hare to the second stage to turn in, plus this watercoloured rabbit that is a “unique” print.

If you are interested in the palette I used for this, it was Daniel Smith Watercolor Sticks in New Gamboge, Quinacridone Burnt Scarlett, Burnt Sienna, Indathone Blue,  and the main colour in the body of the rabbit is Piemontite Genuine.

I like the Piemontite Genuine because of the way it organically settles out and gives that interesting texture that really gives the rabbit some life.
   
The next round of prints are going to be using aquatint with soap ground, sugar lift, marbling, line etching, soft ground or dry point (with the first three still to be discussed in class) We are supposed to do a nature study or a figure study for this one.  I’m still thinking about what I might do.  It's either going to be mushrooms or a portrait of my little super hero.

The Coffee Sure Tastes Good This Morning

"The coffee sure tastes good this morning."

My mom says that all the time.  Today I think I know what she means. Usually in the morning I'm so busy, getting lunches, packing backpacks, getting breakfasts, locating homework that has wandered away (both mine and my kids') that I just pour the coffee into my cup and either let it go cold while I'm running around, or toss it down my throat on my way to do something else.

Today is a designated morning off for me.  I decided this last night while I was working on making postcards.  I haven't had enough time to do things that make me peaceful.  I've been really happy doing school work and being busy, but that isn't the same as being peaceful. 

My new project for school is about the noise of society and technology.  It's about how we lose our inner peace, how we lose the divine that is inside us while we are busy being busy in this noisy modern world.  (the project is due on Thursday and I'm just a stamp or two away from being done).  While I have been busy creating these two paintings that are full of visual of noise, I have felt increasingly unsettled, cranky even.

So I have put them away for today.  As close as the end of term is, I still need a day to find that peaceful space inside of me.

I have listened to the kids laughing and playing, I sent my early riser husband back to bed to fight his cold, I can hear the grunty snores of my cat, as I sip this still hot cup of coffee.  You know, the coffee tastes really good this morning.

Bread and Circuses, and Charlie Sheen

Around 140 BC Roman politicians discovered that the best way to tame an unruly populous was to offer them cheap food and entertain them with bloody spectacles. The cheap food was bread or grains, the spectacle was violent chariot races called Circuses.

The people of Rome were easily distracted from the serious matters facing the Empire, by spectacular entertainment that often resulted in bloody painful deaths for the participants.

What does this have to do with Charlie Sheen?

It seems that we have not lost our taste for spectacular entertainment (and if there is a chance of the bloody death or at least metaphorical bloody death of the participant all the better) and we are still easily distracted from the serious nature of the times we are living in.

The world is in crisis. There are thousands of people dying right now as you read this. Some from natural disaster, some from illness, many from starvation, and some are being killed by their own governments because they dare to disagree.

And what are we doing?

We are busy being entertained.

The more serious the problems of our world become, the more we wish to eat our cheap food, and be entertained by the cheap spectacle. Why are we so determined to avoid facing the hard problems of our society? Why on earth would we care more about what Charlie Sheen is doing or saying, than about what we might do to help the people of Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Lybia, China, (and the list goes on)? I was shocked on the weekend to see that on Yahoo and Google Charlie Sheen was trending higher than the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster that is assaulting Japan.

We still, obviously, live in a time of Bread and Circuses. I wonder, how long this need to be entertained going outstrip our humanity? When will we pull our heads out of our TV's and see the world for what it is. Or are we going to entertain ourselves past the point of rescue, and into oblivion?

Back from the Wild.

There is getting away from it all, and really getting away.

We took the trailer and camped out, and chose to get away without the electronic clutter that we keep around us all the time.

As a result I got to think more, instead of reacting to things, and create more on paper instead of creating with electrons on the screen.

I took my travel easel with me and did some painting at the campground.  I didn't take it hiking (it's just too darn heavy to to drag for kilometers uphill).  I did do some painting on site when we hiked and lots of drawing too.  If you stay tuned in a while I'll catch up to those days for the 365 Days of Art and show you the things I made.

Meanwhile I still have to clean out the trailer, and wash all the smokey clothes and drink coffee out of a china cup with a nice cookie on the side.

I also have lots of work to catch up on and send out for The Postcard Project.  You might want to check that out this week and see what's up.

Wait, can you hear that... it's the coffee pot calling my name!

Back from the Wild.

There is getting away from it all, and really getting away.

We took the trailer and camped out, and chose to get away without the electronic clutter that we keep around us all the time.

As a result I got to think more, instead of reacting to things, and create more on paper instead of creating with electrons on the screen.

I took my travel easel with me and did some painting at the campground.  I didn't take it hiking (it's just too darn heavy to to drag for kilometers uphill).  I did do some painting on site when we hiked and lots of drawing too.  If you stay tuned in a while I'll catch up to those days for the 365 Days of Art and show you the things I made.

Meanwhile I still have to clean out the trailer, and wash all the smokey clothes and drink coffee out of a china cup with a nice cookie on the side.

I also have lots of work to catch up on and send out for The Postcard Project.  You might want to check that out this week and see what's up.

Wait, can you hear that... it's the coffee pot calling my name!

365 Days of Art - Day 306 - Some Days It Feels This Way

Day 306, and I was feeling so sad and beaten down.

This isn't really a self-portrait but it is a portrait of my emotional state on that day.  The news has been especially bleak recently.  I am more distressed and worried over the lack of news about the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster than I was when news was gushing out at us in the weeks before.  Why is there a media blackout on one of the worst environmental disasters in memory?

Of course there are personal worries too.  I always have them.  Much more so since becoming a parent.  I now have two other people to worry about constantly.

I am lucky in so many ways. One of my blessings is that I have an over capacity of optimism that never disappears for long.  So even though on the day that I drew this picture with pastels on toned paper I was feeling particularly awash with helpless, negative feelings,  today I am feeling sunnier.

It does help that after days of rain the clouds broke today and the house lost it's chilly damp feel, at least for a while.  When I got the kids up to go to camp the sun was low on the horizon and shining towards the mountains, where it created a dazzling rainbow.  The first time I've seen an early morning rainbow.  I hope it was a sign of good things to come.

365 Days of Art - Day 290 - Flower Power

Man, carnations are hard to draw.

So many little ruffly petals, it's enough to make you crazy!

But in the end it was fun to play with my dip pen and try to find a way to relate all those little ruffles into something that gave the idea of carnation.

I got two carnations from the school as a thank-you for volunteering in the classroom.  It was a nice celebration and it was fun to have the kids bring me fruit punch and hear the songs and poems.

I even got to see one of the art projects that I did with the grade ones on display. 

Tomorrow is my day off and I'm really interested in getting out and doing some plein air work.  I hope that the weather co-operates.  We've been having a lot of snow.  The really neat thing about the snow (in may for heaven's sake!) is that I got to see something really neat form on the windshield of my car.

Just goes to show that no matter how clever I think I am artistically, Mother Nature always holds the trump card!

365 Days of Art - Day 267 - Compliments

Day 267 was a bit more experimental (as if that's a shock for you!)

I have a big bowl of different pears and thought about drawing still more of them, but this time I thought about the colour wheel and chose to draw them in the compliment of yellow (purple) instead of the colour that you would normally associate with them.

I have to say that the results are really nice. the soft pastel is quite atmospheric,  and even though the colour isn't "right" it's still right.

It's always interesting to try something unexpected.

Today was a busy day but we made time to walk down to the pond and visit with the red-winged balckbirds and the frogs.  The ducks were off doing duck things, but I know they will be back.  It's amazing the variety of life that will insert itself into such a small little piece of nature. I plan on going back with a paint kit soon.

365 Days of Art - Day 232 - Bugs!

Day 232, it was a buggy day!

I don't really have a huge fascination with bugs, but I do think they are interesting.  Also I need to be up on bugs because I have two curious girls.  One who thinks all living things are cool, and one who is certain that anything that can fly might bite her!

I did the first page with lunar black watercolour paint.  The second sheet was washed with watercolour and then I drew over it with a PITT pen in sepia ink.

Day 232 was a day when I was again yearning so much for spring.

The warm weather in my northern part of the world is always so brief.  Usually I'm good with that, but this year I want more sun and (a lot) less snow.

I wonder if our bee hive under the back deck survived the winter?

Young Artists for Haiti

via www.cbc.ca

This is an amazing video, an anthem that can't be ignored, and a chance for all of us to give a little more.

100% (all of it) goes to Haiti aid. There is still so much devastation there, and we still need to help.

Go to the Facebook Page. Join me in supporting this initiative.  I think it's truly inspiring.