Bummer's Art Attempts and Ramblings

Back to the drawing board....

2011-08-22T11:11:00.001-07:00

I have GOT to start hitting this art thing hard again. WHAT is WRONG with me? I am incredibly unhappy when I'm not creating things...or less happy, anyway. I'm also unhappy with my current work. So you would think a sane, reasonably intelligent person would understand that practice is in order. I get it, I do... but it's distressing when you remember how great and talented you were (or thought you were) in high school, compared to where you are now. It's discouraging and just crazy-insurmountable to overcome that fear of failure. It's been pretty much paralyzing.

So, I know I need to practice. I need to make crap in order to make masterpieces eventually. Soooo, what to draw? That is always the stickler when I decided I'm going to do something. I get all my supplies together, pencil in hand, and can't think of a damn thing to draw. After looking around for inspiration for a while, I just give up, put the supplies up, and veg out. Very impressive, eh?

My next plan of action: I'm going to start copying works by artists I admire. I need to learn to control my colors. I can draw with reasonable accuracy, but colors are difficult. You wouldn't think so, but controlling colors are a bitch. This is yet another of my stumbling blocks. Anytime I use color, I end up with a gaudy mess, or at least something that doesn't live up to my lofty expectations. My grand idea is to try to mix colors to mimic other artist's work, in the hopes of improving my own control of color, composition and space...

My first attempt is a rendering in pastel, based on Aaron Bushnell's oil painting, "Carbon Monoxide Icicles," which was published in Southwest Art Magazine's 9/2011 issue. Just to clarify, this is not to sell, not to undercut the original artist in any way, this is practice. If you want to see a good rendering of this, Google "Aaron Bushnell." I love his paintings of urban landscapes and his "Reckless Impressionism," as he calls it.

It's not finished, it's at the "stepping back and looking at it before I eff it up" stage. BUT, it served it's purpose, it had me drawing SOMETHING, ANYTHING for a moment in time and hopefully put the squeaky machine in motion again.

2011-02-21T07:46:00.000-08:00

With this painting, I wanted to experiment with gold pigment and black ink. I used a metallic gold fluid acrylic paint, layered with a heavier body acrylic. I first applied a blue acrylic wash, allowed/pushed the paint to flow in certain areas and allowed it to dry. This was repeated in multiple layers with the different colored paints and splattered with black calligraphy ink. Interestingly, the gold paint tends to blend with other wet colors differently than other colors. The metallic pigment does not mix with other colors, therefore, it stays more prominent when it flows into other wet colors.

Verdict: I need MORE metallic pigments!

Playing with orange, blue, and iridescence

2010-05-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

With these paintings, I took my experimentation further. You can't really tell from the scans, but I used an iridescent acrylic medium to add a clear shimmer in some areas. This gives it one more layer of depth.

I'm trying to develop more ways to make my abstract paintings as deep as a landscape, I suppose.

A few more small pieces, acrylic on YUPO

2010-05-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

These are more of my smaller, 8x10" acrylic
paintings on YUPO paper. Creating these pieces involves some direct painting with brushes, spraying clear water on applied paint, stamping with various objects, pouring thinned paint, blowing with straws, etc.

Experimental painting, at it's finest...or at least with the most fun involved!

I mean, if you're not having fun, what's the point?

Smaller pieces, acrylic on YUPO

2010-05-11T18:18:00.001-07:00

So, I'm occupying myself with smaller abstract pieces. These are 8x10", acrylic on YUPO. They involve pouring thinned paint, stamping, direct painting with spraying, and other experimental techniques.

I'm thinking of listing some of them on eBay or Etsy, but I haven't decided yet.

I'm having fun with them, though. The next set I'm working on has stamped circles...anything in my studio that has a circular bottom is fair game.... everything has a ring of dried paint on the bottom now

Stay tuned for that!

Empty Easel

2010-04-26T17:24:00.001-07:00

I've just discovered a new favorite website via Twitter: Empty Easel. What a wealth of inspiration and helpful articles! I've got a lot of reading to do!

My current favorite I can really relate to. So many times when I tell somebody I'm an artist, I hear the "I can't draw a stick figure" line.... I try to convince them that they just have to try, learn, and practice, but they've already got it fixed in their heads that they CAN'T, so they don't even try. Now I can use the sports analogy! Woohoo!!

http://bit.ly/I6sEO

More playing with Yupo paper and acrylic paint

2010-04-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm having a blast! I'm stamping, pouring, spraying and just playing in general with paint and Yupo paper. I love this stuff!

More doodling at work

2010-04-20T16:28:00.001-07:00

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

2010-04-16T16:45:00.001-07:00

The printed t-shirt looks great!

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Digital design

2010-04-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

So, in case you didn't know it, I also play with digital design in Adobe Illustrator. I was asked to recreate the Arkansas Capitol building in a stylized/illustrated manner for the back of a t-shirt. I saw people wearing the shirts at the office today, it was fun!

Experimental painting

2010-03-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

New post! Can you believe it?!!

I just need to do something creative in the afternoons to keep the artistic side thinking and just unwind while I'm creating something-anything.

So, recently I've decided to just have fun with painting. I don't have time to paint representational things right now, so I'm just doing abstract paintings in the afternoon after work. I've found a new paper that is synthetic, so water-based paint doesn't soak into it. I can water down paint and blow it through a straw, splatter it, tilt the paper to let it run, splatter it and then blow it, etc. Then I let it dry overnight and go after it again the next day. I'm having a blast!

This is my first foray into experimental painting, acrylic paint on YUPO paper.

Playing with watercolors.... my first attempts.

2009-08-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

I'm having a lot of fun with watercolor right now. I'm working at a place that stresses me out, so I wind down by doodling in watercolors while I'm vegging on the couch with the hubby. I'm not using professional grade watercolors in these, just the palettes left over from the kids' Prang sets every year and Aquastroke brush--perfect for doodling and just messin' around.

Regret...and new drawings...

2009-04-09T07:46:00.001-07:00

OK, so I didn't enter anything in the competitive...it came down to the wire and I just decided to wait until next year. Of course, a classmate entered...and had TWO figure drawings accepted. Soooo, if I had entered some myself, I may very well have had one picked.

Anyway, this is one of my latest drawings. I stalled for a bit as my instructor was doing demonstrations for a couple of weeks, but I'm moving again.

To enter...or not to enter...

2009-03-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

So, there is an annual student competitive at UALR. Each student can submit 4 pieces to be judged for entry. I've actually had a photo exhibited in one of the shows a couple of years ago... Anyway, I'm trying to decide if I should bite the bullet and try to get something together to submit or not.

I don't feel as capable in drawing or painting as I did in photography, so I'm not sure that I'm up to the challenge this time. Plus, the deadline for entry is 3/19, I think... That would give me about 5 class periods with a model to actually work on something interesting, considering composition, etc, etc... Before now, I was just concerned with making the drawing look like a human, without much thought to what I drew or where I put it on the paper...

UGH. Decisions, decisions....

The power of plumb lines!!

2009-02-26T06:56:00.000-08:00

OK, for those of you who aren't art majors, I have to apologize in advance. From time to time I may post little thoughts or epiphanies that occur to me, just so I can read through them later and remind myself.

My current "light bulb" moment is the importance of using plumb lines in drawing. Just drawing a light guiding line on your paper to show the relationship in placement between a model's nose at the top of your page and her knee further down can make the difference between the figure on your paper either leaning slightly forward or toppling off her chair completely :D.

By the same token, although I'm told horizontal lines aren't called plumb lines, these apparently anonymous lines are just as important. In any direction, vertical, horizontal...and probably diagonally (although I haven't tried that yet..hmmmm), these lines are crucial to proper placement of whatever you're trying to reproduce correctly on your paper.

Not only are they important in figure drawing, but I can see they'd be just as important in drawing any complex still life composition.

So, if you guys notice my model falling off her chair, remind me to use plumb lines!! :D

Figure Studies 2-25-09

2009-02-25T18:36:00.000-08:00

Today, we did two longer poses. In the first one, I got to see the model's back again... oh joy! In the second, my friend had a talk with the model and asked her to turn around and give us another view to look at! :D

The second pose was drawn on grayish-blue tinted paper, and has highlights added with white pencil.

2-23-09 Figure Study

2009-02-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

Another study I was somewhat happy with.... drawing this model from the back is a bit difficult, too many tonal variations ... but I was happy. I'm still not competent enough to try to do facial features, though! :D

2-09 Figure study

2009-02-25T18:14:00.000-08:00

One of my first long pose drawings in my first figure drawing class. I was proud that you could tell she was a human and had a bit of a form to her...