DRAWING MARATHON PAINTING OF SHANNON

Today was another drawing marathon at the Palo Alto Art Center. I decided to stay on the "long pose" side and work with my new slow drying acrylics on canvas. At the last minute, I had the "brilliant" idea to collage some papers on one canvas and cover the other with red gesso. The freshly gessoed canvas was partially wet when I had to leave (that's the brilliant part) but my carpeting, car and clothing managed to come out unscathed.

I painted Shannon in the morning and was very pleased with the result. There are two layers of tissue. The first with several shades of blue paint on tissue, the second what was left of my stamping session a few days ago. I felt like I was getting the hang of these new paints. Then came the afternoon session.....a total waste of paint! (It's never a waste of effort) Like I always say, you can slap some gesso over a bad painting.

If you attend these sessions very often you start to see the same models over and over. Some you fall in love with and are excited to draw or paint them, and some annoy you for whatever reason. I was not happy with the afternoon model and somehow that seemed to show up in the final results. I am thinking about putting some collage over the image and a few other altering ideas and then working on it some more. The best part about having a painting you don't like is you have no fear of ruining it, so exploring other ideas is very liberating. There's a pony in there somewhere!

There was a gentleman at the Marathon who does beautiful charcoal figures and he had made a book through a website called "blurb.com" I checked it out when I came home and I am very excited. I think I will create a workbook to go along with my "Variations" workshop. I think there will be room in the book (40 pages) to include some of the work people have sent me of the Frenchman. I will get everyone's permission beforehand. If you have done something and never sent it to me, it's not too late. This little project may take some time.

Speaking of workshops, my website has been updated with the most current workshop dates along with descriptions of each of the three workshops I give along with slide shows and photos. Click on the title of this post and it will take you to my web page. I have 4 scheduled for this year and 4 for next year. I like to do 6 each year, so pass the word on if you would like me to come to your area.

ICONOCLASTIC ARTISTS...HOW TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

I have fallen into a pattern most days. I try to read for about a half hour in the morning before I get out of bed. Reading often acts like a sleeping pill at night, but I can focus better in the morning. Right now I am excited about this book "Iconoclast", which is someone who is an original thinker. I also check my e-mails on my computer while I eat breakfast. I signed up for this Artist A Day service. Each morning there is a new artist to check out. Many times I am not too taken with the art but today I was blown away. Talk about an iconic thinker! This guy does amazing things with a sheet of typing paper. Click on the blog title and it links to his website. He also works with bigger pieces of paper....much bigger. I always love when things link up unexpectantly, like the book and the Artist A day website.

In the afternoon I went to a terrific demo and hands on session sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society, with a representative of Atelier Interactive Acrylics by Chroma. I have been very curious about them and actualy bought a trial set but was waiting for this session to figure out how they work. They are in competition with Golden's Open Acrylics but I think these are more versatile. They are highly saturated and thick bodied but can be diluted with just water to a spray bottle consistency without loosing the acrylic bond! One set of paints can be used for the entire gamet of viscosity. You also can rewet the paint after it has dried and you can speed up the drying time as well as slow it down dramatically.

I have been wanting to try mono-printing for a long time but after reading the books on this process, I didn't want to invest in the various paints that it required. I thought slow drying acrylics might just do the job. So, that is what I played with this afternoon. I painted the image (guess who) on a piece of glass and then placed the paper on top. The first image was slightly marred because I used a brayer on the back of the paper and you can see the uneven marks. I repainted the glass and this time just rubbed the back of the paper with my hand. This print looks like a woodcut. The eyes are startling. I like the effect. There was still lots of paint on the glass, so I sprayed it with the unlocking solution (how you rewet dried paint) and got the last print. I think this one will look interesting with lines drawn on top. I am going to explore this technique further. Lots of fun and always a surprise when you pull of the paper. Isn't it nice that art is always full of surprises!