DISCOVERIES ON THE WEB plus PLANE ART RETURN TRIP

Something was not working well with the Slide.com web site. My slide show was not loading properly. After 5 tries, I decided to forget it for tonight and try again tomorrow. I am posting the little color sketch I did on the return flight from New York. I found a black and white photograph in the newspaper to work with. I usually travel with some of my photos to work with. I didn't think to do that this trip.

I wanted to share some discoveries I made on the web recently. First is a website of a wire sculpture artist who does very original work, many of the pieces look like drawings. This kind of work requires seeing the image in simplified terms....what to leave out?...what to leave in? It's a great way to think about capturing the essence of your subject. Here is the web site for Spencer Little:
http://www.dirtyclean.net/ SPENCER LITTLE WIRE SCULPTURE

Google has a free service called Google Alerts. Whenever my name or web site appears on the Internet, I receive an e-mail from Google with the website. I received one of these alerts the other day and found myself on a website that had quite a few of my images from my web page. It was in a foreign language that looked somewhat like Spanish but turned out to be Portuguese. I was more than curious to discover why my work was there. A friend who had lived in Spain for a few years told me there were web sites that can translate other websites. Who knew! I Googled "Translate Website" and sure enough the first entry did the trick. It turns out that all the text was poetry by different people. You just put in the website url and then choose the language you want translated into English. The website with all my work on it appeared on my screen in English. WOW! This is an amazing service. I thought this was so special, I have added this service to my blog. The company is called Babble Fish.

Tomorrow is a new month, so look for a May Painting Challenge. It will involve another very special web site which I will reveal on my next post.

SELF PORTRAIT SKETCH

Today was one of those days when you think you don't know how to paint anymore. I never feel like that with other media but watercolor feels foreign if I have been away for awhile. I decided to try and paint my popcorn kernels this afternoon. I found a wonderful artist, Nancy Christy-Moore at www.nchristy.com and she had these beautiful floating colors and then did a fabulous ink drawing on top. I thought that would be a great way to approach this image so I coated the paper and painted loosely using the forms and values in the charcoal drawing of the popcorn. When it was dry, I did a line drawing of what I thought I saw in the image. UGLY!!! So I took it to the sink and washed off as much as I could and tried it again. I think I have a candidate for a gesso coverup. Or tissue paper. Or collage. I am about ready to abandon this idea. I do not draw well from my imagination. I need to have SOME reference in front of me. I am going to set this whole idea aside for awhile and start on a serious painting. I need to get ready for the advanced portrait class, so I am going to do a sheet of 5" x 7" bozzettos with color for people of color. I hope some of you are having better luck with your popcorn images.

In the meantime, I am posting a page from my sketch book that I did in preparation for the self portrait series. This is one of the submissions for "Strokes of Genius 2"

SCVWS DEMONSTRATION

The internet is such an amazing invention. I continue to be in awe! I received a lovely e-mail from a gentleman, Sarkis Antikajian, who somehow discovered this blog and he sent me his website info. I fell in love with his figurative work - gorgeous, loose, colorful, expresive etc. I am putting his link on the side for you to discover him for yourself! He has self-published a book of his works and you can find out more information about that on his website, as well. Not an instructional book but just inspiration for your own work. I think he has already had an influence on me. I did my demonstration for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society this afternoon and the piece that you see above seems much looser than normal. I see some of Sarkis in it!

I was thinking how I might get some of the effects of the Elegant Writer into my painting on Tygrag paper and decided to try drawing with sticks and a sharpened wooden matchstick using full strength Hydrus liquid watercolor (stuck the drawing instrument right in the bottle) and then wetting it with a brush. I decided I love the results. It has some of the Shirley Travena effects I was trying to get before with little success. Now all we have to do is find a new supplier for this wonderful paper. There was a large crowd at the demo and I don't mind people taking photos, so Nava sent me some of her photos for the slide show. It was a lot of fun and a very supportive group of people. I did have some trauma getting there...first I thought it was in San Jose not Los Altos. My class yesterday happily gave me the correct location. I have it on my calendar but you have to actually read things to know things!! I just had it in my head that is was going to be where we usually have workshops. So, I Googled Los Altos Library and got a map, etc. I arrived exactly on time to discover only one car in the parking lot. When I asked the owner of that car about this library, she informed me this was a branch, not the main Los Altos library. I got new instructions and off I went. After parking 2 blocks away and dragging through the library looking for the meeting, everyone breathed a sigh of relief (especially me!) when I showed my face. Nava did a great job of conducting a complicated agenda and then I was "on". Years ago I did charcoal sketches at outdoor art shows which was good training for painting in front of people. The hardest part is continuing to talk while you paint as it is working both sides of your brain at the same time. The good part is that artists don't expect a masterpiece painted at breakneck speed in an hour, so they are very generous if you get anything half way acceptable under the circumstances. I think we all just find it fun to watch other people paint. I know I do. What a joyful existence we artists have!!!

The image is from the Toronto airport 11 hour layover in September. I was roaming around looking for unsuspecting victims. I decided to use this image today because someone (Nava) told me an instructor had said to never paint hands with the fingers laced because they look like sausages. Oh yeah? Just watch me. I love doing fingers laced and so I did. I will probably continue to work on this piece or maybe do it again because I am not totally satisfied with it as it stands.

I heard fabulous comments and rave reviews on Mike Bailey's Color Workshop. This looks like a winner that he can share with others around the country! Lucky SF Bay Area artists have the special opportunity to take the "Beyond the Obvious" 10 week killer class, but we want to share Mike with the rest of the world, so the color workshop may be the way to go. Check his website for more information.

I was checking on a web search that sent someone to my blog as I was curious as to the connection to me. It was a search related to the Van Gogh book. What I found was a very interesting article on the man who made the paintings for the movie "Lust for Life". He describes the inside "scoop" on the making of the movie. I found it fun and interesting and thought you might like to read it, too. Copy and paste the artnet.com web page in your browser. http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/parker/parker10-12-00.asp

Tomorrow I will post a slide show of all the work you have sent me. Come on and get in on the action. Send me your photos tomorrow and I will add them in.

NOVEMBER PAINTING CHALLENGE!!

I am excited about the challenge for the month and have already started my small trial painting. I hope you all get excited about it as well and give it a try.

The challenge has 3 parts. You may choose to include all 3 elements, 2 of the 3 or only one of the elements. Remember that this is something to get you started. There are no right or wrong solutions or ideas.

SELECT ANY SUBJECT YOU WANT. I like to work with figures and faces but the challenges can apply to any subject.

COMPONENT #1 INCORPORATE A GRID IN THE DESIGN OF YOUR PAINTING. Keep in mind a grid doesn't need to be even divisions or straight lines. I am using a grid based on a landscape painting by WOLF KAHN. I decided to turn it upside down for my painting. If you are not familiar with this modern master, check him out. He works mostly in pastel and the landscape is his subject matter. His use of color is beyond magical. His work has a strong abstract quality to it. Another interesting source for a grid is quilt patterns. I was at the library today and checked out the book "The Quilts of Gee's Bend". There are some very interesting divisions in these quilts and I think I will record them in my sketch book for future use. These quilts were a major exhibit recently at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. One of my portrait students did some great paintings of these wonderful women who created the quilts. But I digress! Of course, you can create your own grid in any way you see fit. The Kaupelis creative drawing book has some wonderful ideas for working with a grid. I have posted the grid I created and you will see a little of how I am working with it but I don't want you to copy how I am using the grid. You can use the divisions to change color...or value..or texture...or image...or shapes...orsize. You can have a drawn line, an implied line, an ivisible line ...the ideas are endless. You can do an entire series where the changes you make each painting is by changing what you do with the grid.

COMPONENT #2 USE A COLOR SCHEME BASED ON A FAVORITE PAINTING. Pick a color scheme that is atypical for your subject matter. Again, I chose a WOLF KAHN painting - the same one I took the grid from. I decide which watercolor pigments will recreate his colors and then stick to those. I do make mixtures from them that don't appear in the Kahn paintings but limiting the pigments sets up a harmony in the painting. I can create a more unusual portrait or figure by using colors from a landscape painting. His colors aren't typical landscapes anyway. This time I am using Ultramarine Violet, Ultramarine Blue, Transparent Orange, Quin Gold and Permanent Green Light.

COMPONENT #3 COAT THE PAPER WITH A DILUTED MIXTURE OF OX GALL. (read the side of the bottle for ratio of ox gall to water) I decided to use the mixture on alternating segments to see if I would notice a difference. I brushed it on and then waited for it to dry before proceeding.

I drew my grid on the watercolor paper with a red Elegant Writer pen. Then I painted the alternating grid pieces with the ox gall mixture and let it dry. Then I drew my figures with the red Elegant Writer pen. These figures are taken from the photos of the John Wayne sculpture I described in the last post. I then started to paint. I am experimenting with several ideas to see how it looks. I will then do a full sheet painting. Doing the little painting is so freeing. When you don't care what happens, you are willing to try unusual ideas. "I wonder what would happen if......?" puts the mystery and excitement back into painting.

I look forward to seeing what all of you come up with. Keep the drawings and paintings coming.

"ELEGANT PEN" DRAWINGS FOR NAVA AND NANCY

Here are the drawings I did in Phoenix for the two winners of the "build my blog" offer. I am ready to create more drawings, so if you want one, let me know who you have referred. These were done with the "Elegant Writer" Caligraphy felt tip pen. Only the black ink bleeds out blue and pink. Once you get comfortable with contour drawing, it is very fast and fun. A great way to pass the time. I keep a tissue in my hand for blotting so I can control the value a little better. I use one of those brushes that hold water in the handle to wet the ink. I redraw back into it where I need it darker if I have blotted away too much color. You can go back and forth this way any number of times. I bought the pen at Michael's Art Supply.

I have a painting in the San Diego Watercolor Society International show which is going on now. I received news that I received an award. Amazing! This has been such a wonderful year for me. I checked their website today and discovered that the award winning paintings have been posted. I have included the url for the page with my painting of Vern. You can copy and paste as I don't know how to make it a direct clickable link.
http://www.sdws.org/international/artwork.php?is=53&ap=a

Nava, who is the President of the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society, was telling me of an artist that came to see the show. She found her work at the following web address:
http://www.aviscafineart.com/Featured_Artists/Shan_Kelly/shan_kelly.htm
You can see more of her artwork here: http://www.aviscafineart.com/Featured_Artists/Shan_Kelly/Works_by_Shan_Kelly/works_by_shan_kelly.htm
You will be in awe of this fantastic artist. She was so unassuming and self affacing that Nava thought she was a beginner.

While you are at this website, check out some of the other featured artists. There is some incredible work here, much of it has interesting exaggeration. I am going to work on exaggeration some more and see where it leads. I am trying to stick with a few images and push them as far as I can. I finally found a set of colored inks that are lightfast but not waterproof, so they will bleed when wet. Now I can try Shirley Trevena's use of ink. It is so difficult to find colored ink these days. Remember when fountain pens were in common use and you could get all these fabulous colors of ink at the drug store? Peacock Blue rings a bell!

Since I fell in love with Van Gogh's reed pen drawings, I tried to make a reed pen out of a plastic drinking straw the other day but it didn't work too well. I think I will try one of those very thin coffee stirer straws. That might work.

From the comments I am getting along with your drawings, I see that you are taking these challenges and adding your own twists! That is exactly what I was hoping for. Hilda is drawing Jeopardy contestants right from the TV. Nava is using TiVo to slow things down a bit. The "What if ???????" factor is at work here and I look forward to seeing what you are doing.

If you have discovered some artists' websites that you find exciting, please share. I will post and we can all check them out.

DISCOVERY!

Lots of discoveries in the last few days. I am really rethinking my challenge for the month - I am struggling with it - and I thought it would be relatively easy to do. I did a practice painting last night trying to get into the style of Shirley Trevena. Lord, it was awful!! I must say, watercolor is the most frustrating medium!! I never get this feeling with other materials. That's because I can just cover over the mess and keep going until it works. On the other hand, when it works, nothing has the same sense of accomplishment. Like the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!" I think I discovered I can't think like anybody but me! You would suspect it wouldn't take this many years to figure that one out. So maybe trying to do something in someone else's style is not a good idea. But I think there is a kernel of something in the idea. I am going to try to pick one idea from an artist and try just incorporating one thing! I am also starting to see what most of my favorite artists have in common. That is probably the thing I should be focusing on first. For me, it is some form of simplification. I am going to go back to my sketchbook and work on simplifying my drawing.

Along those lines, I was in the bookstore today looking for colored ink. I decided that was the first thing I was going to take from Shirley Trevena - drawing the image with colored ink that will bleed when wet. Naturally, I drifted over to the art books. I discovered the most amazing young artist. I just thought his work was so exciting, original and it reminded me of a number of artists I love. I have captured a few images from his website http://www.justinbua.com/newSite for you to see. I see elements of Egon Scheile, Thomas Hart Benton, and David Levine to name a few! I love characatures because they are the essence of the person and then exaggerated. I am going to try and distill and exaggerate, probably in a more subtle way. If you have ever tried to create a characature you know it is much harder than getting an exact likeness. I have posted Justin's book in the reading suggestion list on the side. When you check out his website, look at the cool canvas shoes he has designed, also t-shirts. Quite a marketer. Good for him!

Speaking of great drawings, I have been receiving lots of great work from everybody this week. I am going to put it all in a slideshow to be posted Thursday night. If you want to get in on the fun, send me your efforts by Thursday afternoon.