where you have to do 50 drawings in a short period of time. I couldn't deal with that stress! The idea of working off of your previous work should produce some interesting results. I started with a very detailed drawing, thinking I would drag out the distortions slowwwwwwwwly. Ha! Looks like I am moving too fast but I can't worry about what I will have left to work with towards the end. I only need to think about the next drawing, Think this is a fun idea? Join me in the madness.
The New Year is fast approaching. I have been giving much consideration to my art goals for 2010. First, a quick overview of what constitutes a true goal:
1. Must be written down!
2. Must be specific (words like more, some, better etc. are not specific enough)
3. Must be attainable (example...I will paint on the moon is not an attainable goal)
Once I have established my goals, a plan must be created to make things happen. I came across my written goals for 2009 today while cleaning up my desk. It was satisfying to see that most of them were accomplished. The two disappointments were beyond my direct control but I did do everything in my power to make them happen. Most years I write out the goals, contemplate what actions I need to take, and then set the sheet aside. There is something in this process that sets it internally for me. When I check the list at the end of the year, much has come to pass.
One goal I wanted to carry over from last year was to draw every day. I did a lot of drawing this past year but I missed the "every day" part. It started me thinking. What might I do to encourage this practice. It occurred to me that drawing on a calendar would keep me on track. Especially one of those 365 day calendars with a separate page for each day. I headed out for the bookstore today to find one. Calendars are 50% off now with many wonderful themes to choose from. Maybe I should improve my pathetic French with a word a day, or attempt Italian or Spanish. In the end, I settled on a perfect match for me. I am focusing on grids (especially quilt patterns at the moment), self portraits, collage, quick sketching. It will all come together with this neat daily calendar of quilt blocks. I am going to use them as a collage element after drawing on them. To reinforce the "daily" element, I have started a blog just for this activity. There is nothing like public declarations to embarrass ourselves into following through. Starting January 1 you can follow my progress on www.drawntothemirror.blogspot.com
This is my planned setup. I want to draw from life and there is a program in my MacBook called Photobooth which turns on the internal camera. I could just prop up a mirror but I like the Photobooth program for now. I can use all manner of pen and ink materials, icluding white ink. The calendar fits in front of the computer and has a built in easel so it is propped up at a nice angle to draw. Here is my trial sample using a bamboo pen and India ink.
If you want to improve your drawing, why not give this idea a try. You can draw any subject you like. At the very least, you need to get busy with your art goals for 2010. It's going to be a wonderful year!
I recently purchased a Japanese Brush Pen (synthetic nylon bristles) that has permanent ink in the cartridges. I decided to spend some time today practicing drawing with this pen. It takes a little while to learn how to manipulate the brush to get a variety of line. I did 11 drawings today and have posted 4 here. The first is actually the last. I think it came out the best. The first ones left something to be desired.
Taking a workshop for a week throws off my schedule. Consequently, the following week seems to be filled with mundane but necessary tasks that were neglected the week before. It seems I'm not getting much art work done this week but my dreams are filled with ideas I am anxious to get to. In the meantime, I try to do some drawing each day. Here is one I did last night. I made about 5 or 6 drawings in my sketchbook and this is the best of the lot.
I did start a large charcoal drawing on YUPO today. I hope to finish it tomorrow. My idea is to do a detailed charcoal sketch then start glazing color over it with Dr. Martin's liquid watercolor mixed with acrylic glazing medium. We'll see how this idea turns out. I am wanting to experiment with charcoal combined with other media.
Gerry talked about the architect that created the phrase "less is more" then he quoted another architect who stated "Less is boooooooring" Mr. Brommer sides with the latter! Today's assignment was to have a "theme" and place your focal point in the top third of the vertically oriented page, then fill the bottom 2/3rds with lots of small drawings and words, much like a journal page. He likes to fill up all the space. This is a great idea for travel, especially. We started out with collage images, covered with washi paper then diluted gesso. After this dries, go back into it with drawing and painting.
I decided this was a good chance to see how my new photo transfer process would work. I ruined two sheets by printing on the wrong side. The ink just slides off and doesn't stick. What a mess! It was very difficult to see the coating on the side meant for printing, but I finally got it right and printed one page of drawings and one of colored paintings of my Frenchman. I made a contact sheet with nine on the sheet. It was lots of fun working with this idea. After I transferred the images, I used mostly tissue paper to collage over as I wanted a lot of the stuff to show through. Gerry suggests adding a border to unify the composition and contain all the small fragments. I still want to add some stronger ink lines and perhaps more words. Over all, I am pleased. It is very different from anything I have ever done before. I also want to try more of the transfer process on this surface. It has interesting possibilities.
I was too tired to unpack the car. Tomorrow I have to finish packing for my workshop in Ransom Canyon, Texas. I will need to switch hats and be the instructor instead of the student. I love both roles. Looking forward to renewing some friendships from my last Texas workshop and meeting some new friends.
Today we collaged the paper first, let it dry, covered it with diluted gesso...let that dry...then drew our image in and added paint. The entire week, line was to be the dominant element. I used lots of printed material from magazines and books underneath the Japanese rice papers. The gesso helps to obscure the collaged materials and creates an interesting surface to draw and paint on.
In the middle of the night I had this idea to do a collage starting with black gesso and then working towards lighter values. Here is my first go at this idea. I drew the image on the dry black gessoed surface with diluted white gesso in a needle nose bottle. It would be fun to try this idea with other gesso colors. I have red and gold. It comes in many other colors,
The ideas we have been working with this week are not in any of Gerald Brommer's published books but he has a new DVD through Cheap Joe's with this workshop material on it. Naturally, I bought a copy. It turns out the Gerald has seven different workshops he presents to groups around the country and is working on another. It is inspirational to see someone that is 82 so active, energetic, creative and dedicated as he is. I want to be like him when I grow up.
Each day just gets better and better. I am very much attracted to this way of working. I hope to do a lot more in the future and have some greater insight into additional methods and ways of combining materials that I never thought of before. I have all the books but somehow they never sunk in. Probably sensory overload. There is only so much we can absorb at a time. I need to revisit lots of my books.
Today we built up the surface with collage paper, using brown bag or brown craft paper for the dark value. Covering the entire surface with layers of paper, then drawing and painting into the wet collage, especially adding white gouache which does amazing things on this surface. Then let it dry and then adding more line, paint, etc. Here are my two efforts for the day. I think this is the first workshop I have ever taken where I wanted to mat and sign anything I did. Amazing!
I am soaking up all of Gerald's wonderful stories and wisdom as well as his great techniques. He has traveled and taught for so many years that he has great little interesting adventures and experiences that he shares.
Tomorrow we will put gesso over the textural surface and paint on that. Gesso? I think I have died and gone to heaven!
Today we worked with collage papers instead of painted shapes. The idea is that the shapes do not relate to the line. More like a double exposure thing where two separate things are merged into one painting. We did two different paintings, one where you start with the line and one where you start with the shapes of collage paper. It was more difficult that I thought. Once you have the line down, it is challenging to ignore the line and put the papers down. If you look carefully, you can see the line under the collage papers in the second image. I decided to photograph the process so there is a before and after. I did two different versions of the Frenchman so I could use them for the LINE chapter.
It was a very fun day and I like the slow progression of adding ideas to the mix one change at a time. Very easy to really absorb the information and put it into use. Gerry liked my first effort so much he said he would like to have it. I said I would trade and he agreed!!!!! Wow, I am very jazzed about that! Honored that he wanted one of my paintings and excited that I get to own one of his.
Tomorrow we work with brown paper, white textured collage papers and layers and layers. Yum!
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This is going to be a FABULOUS week! Gerald Brommer is a masterful artist, an experienced teacher of teachers and students alike, and a humble and charming gentleman. His manner is low key, his discussions full of humor and I like his critiques. He always finds the good in the work but they are honest and instructive. Of course, I would expect as much. I have been in classes where the critiques were useless.
Today's lesson was about light colored shape washes unrelated and subordinate to the line. We worked with starting with line first and then starting with shape first. When you are done, you can't tell which came first. I can't wait to pre-paint my sketch book pages with this idea. The last half hour we painted washi papers for tomorrow's session.
Here are my efforts for the day. They are quarter sheets. I usually don't work this small but it is a good size for a workshop where there is limited space. I wish I had brought my Frenchman photo to work with. I plan to work with him for the rest of the workshop, along with some other faces.
I think this is about as low as I can go and still have the image read "Frenchman" I may play with it further, but for now I am satisfied. I have ten versions of simplification, each one with a little less extraneous information. I think it comes naturally to Peggy Stermer Cox. She's absolutely brilliant at designing, not so with me. But, I am getting the hang of it and having fun with the process. I am finding tracing paper a great tool. As I try different ideas, I can easily erase the lines that don't work and trace some of the lines and shapes from previous versions that I particularly liked, as I work out new drawings. It makes the process go fairly quickly.
I was doing these additional drawings for the book I am working on. It is slowly taking shape and I am getting excited about it.
I have nine pages completed. Trying to fit what I want to do on each page into the templates they provide is a little more difficult that I thought. I am learning a lot....especially patience!
The SF Bay area is very spread out and the last few days found me driving all over the place. Today I sat again at the Gallery Concord. That is a 100 mile round trip drive for me. I really don't mind the distance as I listen to books on tape while I drive. Sitting for 5 hours at the Gallery can get pretty boring unless I take some work with me. It is a wonderful space and a terrific old building. Unfortunately, there is no incidental foot traffic in this neighborhood, so we don't get a lot of visitors.
Today I decided to take my computer and draw from the 1500 photos I took in Spain. I started a new sketchbook and I am going to devote the entire book to images from Spain. I don't know why I didn't think of this idea before. Most of the photos never get used. This is a way to get lots of drawing mileage and see which images can work their way into a painting or two. Here is today's efforts. They were all done with a mechanical pencil, probably 2B lead on white paper. I have no idea where the colors are coming from in the photos.
This is how I start a painting....lots of drawings. I have this idea for a painting which involves Georgia O'Keefe. I am working with very small images. I think I have decided to use a profile. She has such a fascinating one and I love the aged, weathered images. I don't quite have the likeness down but I am getting close to the essence. Another evening of drawing and I will be ready. 
