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.

MORE SKETCHES FROM TRIP

These are the other Lonesome Dove drawings I did while traveling. Also, a drawing of my friend, Linda. She has one of those faces that look like it will be easy to get a likeness but in reality is very difficult to capture. I will keep at it because I think she is so elegant and has great features.

We landed at the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. They have a HUGE bronze statue of the "Duke" with an oversized American Flag behind him. I was able to take some exciting photographs shooting upwards with wonderful distortion of perspective. I am working on designing a painting for the challenge in November. I will post the challenge tomorrow night. I am still considering aspects of the challenge to include. October's challenge was a bust for me but I did learn some things. Hopefully, I will have more success with November.

MY TRAVEL SKETCHBOOK

Every time I go on a trip, I load my carryon tote with all this art material and then I use only a little of it. In the meantime, I am dragging around carry too much weight in my bag. I have finally found a nice system I like with a few supplies and I am much happier. I went to a smaller sketch book, one that I can get in my everyday bag as well. It is 5.5" x 8.5" and spiral bound so it stays flat when open. It is very inexpensive but I think I will upgrade to a better quality paper when I have filled this one up. I am enjoying working with the "Elegant Pen" and better paper will give a nicer result. I experimented this weekend with using two colors - brown and black. The brown is more sanguine so has a flesh tone quality. Very fun. Along with these pens, I carry one of those Japanese brushes with the water in the handle. A packet of tissue and a watercolor set the size of a mint tin. It all fits into a plastic bag in case something leaks. I have been thinking how I can get the effect of the Elegant Writer on watercolor paper. I doubt that these pens are light fast. I am going to try liquid watercolor full strength on tygerag and see what happens. I will try that tomorrow.

Flew Southwest Airlines this weekend. Their inflight magazine had an article on the movie "Lonesome Dove" and some great photos which I played around with. These two images were from the magazine. I did some others which I will post another time.

I have made a slide show of my "people hanging out in the airport bored to death" sketches. Some are from this trip and some are from my 11 hour layover in the Toronto airport in September. In Toronto, I used a Copic wide pen with an extra broad nib (about 1 inch!) in a taupe color, to quickly block in the shape and then went back with a sanguine pen to put the detail in. I used a mechanical pencil for the ones I did this weekend. Never have to sharpen them. I found I could very quickly scribble in the shape, then if they hadn't moved significantly, I could go back and do a fast contour drawing. If I still had time, I could go back again and focus on some details - features, hands, feet, etc.

I have been receiving some very nice e-mails from some of you who I have never met. I almost deleted a few thinking they were spam. Be sure and put something in the subject line so I know what it is about.

FRIDAY CHALLENGE #5 FAST SKETCHING

One of the challenges I have in sketching is that I like to do people... and people MOVE! It is so frustrating. Just when you are starting to get the gesture, everything changes. So the goal is to learn how to sketch really, really quickly. Also I keep promising myself I am going to train myself to hold an image in my mind so I can remember the "pose". This is a skill I have not spent any time on. It definitely requires practice, practice, practice. I did come across this technique I am showing today, in a book this summer and shared it with Mike Bailey's group that went to France this year. Using a pencil, very quickly block in the general shape moving from top to bottom in a back and forth motion. Then go back and do a fast contour drawing over this beginning, making corrections as you go. Depending on how much time you have before the person moves, you can refine the details. The more you try this technique, the easier and faster you get. So, your challenge this week, if you accept it, is to go out and find some people in a coffee shop, park, shopping center, etc. ...just somewhere to work from life...and do some fast sketching. Everyone will be waiting to see your results, so be sure and send them to me. Below is the slide show from this weeks efforts. I am getting wonderful feedback that everyone is enjoying having the challenges to spur them on. We all need some kick-start. I am seeing that your creativity is kicking in as well and you are going beyond the initial idea.

Nancy had asked me to post the size of my painting that is in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society show. It is a little smaller that 1/2 sheet. Each segment is 5 x 7.

I am off to another wedding this weekend, this time in Southern California. I will be doing my sketching in the airport waiting areas. See you back here on Tuesday.

HOW DID SHE DO THAT?

Finally, a painting!!! I coated this paper with diluted acrylic matt medium. It is a very liftable surface and I think I like it better for regular watercolors than the clear gesso. The clear gesso only seems to give me good results with liquid watercolors by Dr. Ph Martin. I used a dip pen with the red ink. It dissolved in a funny way. I'm sure the coating on the paper affects this. I was expecting more like the Elegant Writer ink dissolve, but that didn't happen. Next time I will try untreated watercolor paper and see what happens. I decided to use this little travel watercolor set I put together using 6 waterbottle caps glued into an empty breathmint tin. A clever idea I read in an art magazine. I used a warm and cool of red yellow and blue. Don't like the cool yellow I put in there. I will use it up and then switch to Hansa. The yellow I used is Cad yellow light. The metal lid worked very well for mixing. I overworked part of the painting but over all it is the best effort I have done lately. I decided to do the ink drawing and then just paint and not think about how anyone else paints and just enjoy myself. It gets stressful trying to be someone else! I do want to explore the idea of ink lines incorporated into the image a little more. This is from one of the self portrait photos I took described below.



I had an inquiry from Nancy Standlee regarding my self portraits - was I looking in a mirror or using a photograph? I thought I would share my methodology with everyone. I do use a mirror sometimes, but I have been working from some photographs I took myself. Most cameras have a self timer setting which allows you to set up the camera and then get in position before the shutter releases. I found this fabulous tri-pod called a "Gorilla Pod". I have posted pictures of it taken from their website. As you can see, it is flexible, bendable, amazingly stable and sooooooo much fun. It weighs almost nothing so easy to carry around. Comes in 3 sizes depending on the size and weight of your camera for support. Using this tripod allowed me to get some more unusual angles. I just set it on the table and kept taking pictures until I had it angled the way I wanted. I bought this item in a camera store. I practically bought the store out as I gave one to all my children and my husband last December.

"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.

1st Place Award!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the exciting message from Nava regarding the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Annual! I had to miss the opening reception and awards ceremony because I was out of town for a family wedding. I was amazed to win over some very very amazing paintings. This watercolor society has many world-class talented artists, so I feel so very honored. I decided to post the painting in it's developmental stage. You can see the finished painting on my website at www.myrnawacknov.com I hope many of you take the time to photograph your paintings as they progress. It makes a helpful record and you never know when it will come in handy.

While I was traveling, inbetween celebrating, I had some time to work a few drawings for those of you who are helping me build the blog base. Remember, share the blog with 5 friends who subscribe and I will send you a drawing. I will post them tomorrow.

I never used to carry a sketch book around with me even though every art instructor tells you to do so. Even on the busiest of days, it is helping to get at least a little drawing in. I am seeing a difference with constant practice. Hope you are, too.