UNLEASHING MY INNER PICASSO!

I bought another Daily Boxed Calendar.  I decided to pass on the quilt one and settled on DOODLE A DAY...unleash your inner Picasso!
I am not much of a doodler but I thought this would be fun way to practice some of my pattern designing.  If the prompt suggests a figure or face, I am going with that.  Otherwise, I am dividing the space up and filling it with various patterns.  I am trying to remember to photograph the initial squiggle.  You will have to guess where it is in the first doodle.  The hand came out a little lame,  but the rest came out satisfactory.  This should be a fun project.

SETTING GOALS NOT MAKING RESOLUTIONS!

I do think there is a difference between setting goals and making resolutions for the New Year.  Each day flows into the other in a seamless stream but there is something about a fresh start, a beginning point.  New Years is a good time for that.  Especially, after the crazy rushing around in December, it feels cathartic to be still and think about ideas and goals for the coming year.  Focusing in on a few things helps me to learn, grow and be more creative, and this is actually my true goal which doesn't change from year to year.  Working in a series, each successive painting growing out of an idea from the last helps me to delve deeper into an area of interest.  This year I have decided to work with the figure, explore pattern, and experiment with acrylic materials.  I have exhausted my interest in self portraiture ( I am so sick of my own face) but still am intrigued with collage and the potential of working with a grid.  Lastly, I want to explore color using Robert Burridge's color wheel based on Munsell's color system.  This gives me lots to work with.

I have had very little time to paint since I returned from Israel but I did find a fabulous new way to create
a stamp for my exploration of pattern.  This stamp was created on a sheet of colored foam.  This is a very inexpensive material found in craft stores.  It is usually in the children's craft section.  The beauty of this stuff is how easy it is to cut into shapes and can be incised with a ball point pen to create a pattern. Even better is this nifty tool I bought at Michael's Craft Store.  It is a wood burning set PLUS a soldering iron, all in one.  All you have to do is change the point.  This set has quite a few tips.    The one I have used has a good point on it so you can do precision work.  I not only used it on the foam sheet, but I used it as a stencil cutter on clear contact paper.  Fabulous!!!  I used my 40% off coupon, making it a good value!

Since I am not a doodler, or natural pattern designer, I have found Zentangle to be a wonderful resource for pattern ideas. http://tanglepatterns.com/  has lots of patterns organized alphabetically by name.  Each pattern is shown step by step.  I am keeping my eyes open for other pattern ideas.  They are everywhere when you pay attention.

I hope everyone is off to a good start on their 2011 goals!

LINE AS SHAPE & PATTERN

While packing a box to ship to Lubbock for the workshop I am giving next week and packing supplies for the Gerald Brommer workshop I am taking this coming week, I came across the start of a painting with the Frenchman. I had drawn this image onto the paper with red ink. I decided to see how the Permanent Masking fluid would work on this paper. Using a calligraphy pen point with a flat nib, I covered the red lines to preserve them. I followed with a pale yellow wash and went from there. I used a wider nib and a ruler to keep my lines straight, I patterned some of the sections with stripes. The resist is very subtle on this paper and in some areas doesn't show up at all. This is my printer paper which doesn't seem to have much sizing in it or on it. I have some other papers to try it on. Overall, I am pleased with this one. I kept to 4 colors and their mixtures. Gamboge, Thalo, Permanent Red and Hansa Yellow Deep (Yellow Orange). It was very helpful to have my value pattern all worked out. I stayed with it most of the way. I was able to remove the color to create a black and white image in the computer. Comparing it to my value sketch, I am happy to say it measures up quite nicely! By outlining the shapes with a line I effectively combined two elements. Using line as pattern is another combination of design elements. Pattern is a form of texture. In fact, each element can be combined with each of the other elements to create an amazing array of ideas.

I look forward to sharing with you the Gerald Brommer workshop this coming week. He will be focusing on Collage and Line!!!!!!! How perfect is that? I am looking forward to meeting him and learning from one of the true master teachers. In fact he has been a teacher's teacher for many years. I know it will make me a better teacher as well as learning some exciting new ways of working.