30 DAY ART CHALLENGE–I DID IT!

03 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in Art, Creative, December

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30 Day Art Challenge, acrylic, Art, color pencil, Drawing, mixed media, painting, watercolor, works of art

FROM OCTOBER 17TH TO NOVEMBER 19TH I created 30 works of art, roughly one (or more) a day. It was a challenge and a blast! Tomorrow night as part of the Pioneer First Thursday ArtWalk, is the unveiling of the works of 110 artists and 3300 pieces of art! Check out some of the work here on their Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/30dayartchallenge. All of the work will be for sale tomorrow night through Saturday afternoon.

Here is a gallery of the work that I submitted. All work is on 8″ x 10″ canvas board. The work includes acrylic, watercolor (using watercolor ground for the first time), color pencil, mixed media, and oil pastel.

REVISITING AN UNFINISHED WORK OF ART

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Art, Inspriation

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Art, color pencil, complimentary colors, Drawing, french curves, style, Unfinished art

Part way; August 2013

I HAVE UNFINISHED ART PROJECTS. Sometimes the initial enthusiasm wears off quickly for any number of reasons. But some are worth revisiting, like this one. I originally laid out this tracing of overlapping french curves on a 2 inch square grid in 2009. It is 18″ x 24″, Canson Classic Cream Drawing paper. I liked the geometric and abstract idea and decided to use color pencils, a complimentary color scheme limited to just a few blues/oranges; reds/greens; and yellows/violet. I placed color in a few spots, closed the cover on the drawing tablet, put in a drawer and there it sat until July of this year when I “rediscovered” it. Renewed interest!

I am glad I came back to it now. I needed a summer project that I could spend a few hours with, walk away and then return to again, and again, and again…

The botanical drawing class I took last year taught me a new way of laying down color with a pencil, layer by layer (Katie Lee method) and it seemed the right technique for this color pencil project.

Current state.

At this stage placing color has become more challenging. It is now a labor of either love or obsession.

Section view

ARTFUL PRUNING–MAKE YOUR OWN CHARCOAL STICKS

14 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Art, Handmade

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Art, charcoal sticks, Drawing, pears and apples, pruning, surprise discovery, vine charcoal

Apple & pear charcoal twigs

HAPPENSTANCE.

WHEN I SAVED THE PRUNED TWIGS from my pear and apple trees for smoking material for barbequeing, I had no idea that charcoal sticks suitable for drawing would result. The twigs were from last year’s prunings; soaked in water and then placed in a cast iron smoke box and placed over a gas burner in the bbq to flavor whatever it was we barbequed. When the smoking was done, these hard little charcoal sticks were left. They sure resembled vine charcoal, so what the heck-I tried one and saved the lot! I love this kind of surprise discovery. Maybe I’ll use it to sketch some pears and apples!

JOY IN LEARNING

18 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by backyardnotes in Art, Drawing, Learning

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art class, artichoke drawing, Botanical drawing, dahlia, Drawing, hb pencils, illustration, learning, rumex crispus

Step one: the line drawing

IN AUGUST I ENROLLED in a botanical drawing class at Gage Academy with Kathleen McKeehen for five three hour sessions. Since I have an abiding interest in things botanical, it seemed the right time to give this art form a try. I have spent quite a bit of time drawing the last month.

Step two: giving the line drawing dimension

Scientific drawing. A whole new concept for me, requiring a lot of patience and intense observation, slow and exacting. All of these drawings are actual size.

The completed drawing.

I never thought I would have the patience to accomplish something like this. Just a few HB pencils and tools for measuring are all I need to produce some beautiful drawings. After the completion of the August classes I enrolled in Kathleen’s class for fall quarter (10 weeks!). With each successive drawing the task becomes a little easier and faster. The artichoke took one class session to complete the line drawing (amazing!) but many, many hours to finish the drawing and bring it to life.

Dahlia

Learning is about challenging and shaping ideas, discipline and patience, creating new references to inform our views of daily life and just maybe, the world around us.

Rumex crispus, also known as a weed called dock.

Who knew roots had such beauty? This is the third drawing I have completed (and at least three more to finish) and it took the least amount of time; line drawing in class last Friday and finished yesterday. Several hours since then, but not as many as the dahlia or artichoke.

Joy in the sense of accomplishment, learning a new skill, creating something beautiful.