Art and Illumination

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It took me a bit to finally get this up but here she is all painted. I used my new technique and am pretty pleased with it. A few more paintings to go before I can really say. It’s clear to me I need to push away and experiment some more, but it’s hard to resist tried and true habits. Though I know it is best that I do experiment for the sake of growth, even if I largely come back those work habits and styles I’ve always used.

If didn’t get to see the concept drawing you can take a peek here: Korrigan

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“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” ~ Sir Winston Churchill

I‘ve begun experimenting with a new process. It was quite a feat of will to get it to an assemblage of order which would allow me to produce very predictable results. It was like slaying a demon. Fail, fail, fail, fail, over and over had me wanting to give up for the night; but if I put it off that night who knows when, or if,  I would have sat back down to finish it. I have since then been experimenting with various mediums and how they will interact with the initial process method. It has been fun and frustrating.

Several months back I read The War of Art by Steve Pressfield

*. I wont say agree with all the spiritual concepts; but it was a big wake up to persevere and keep pushing. It was remembering things I read in this book that bolstered me. It pushed me to not give in and call it a day; but to be persistent. It was a little late, and I was tired. Mostly though I felt defeated and wanted to give up. That’s when your suppose to resist the most. If I had just felt tired and my thought was to give it a rest and do more tomorrow that would have been fine.

However, that is totally different from feeling defeated; and then deciding your tired while thinking about quitting. If you are choosing to stop after feeling negative emotions that is when you MUST persevere. I kept going but I was numb and cynical but still dutiful. It paid off, it felt amazing!

I was extremely excited because in the first few rough drafts of the process I could see it led to this vision of mine. I have had this vision for years of where I want my painting and drawing to meet up in an illustrative fashion. Now is the crucial moment where I realize how much working out I have to do. This means I’m growing. I see where I have to develop and what kind of exercise and study that will require to get to the “level-up” phase. In some specks of passing thought it seems daunting; but that is totally eclipsed with how very excited I am. I know it is only a matter  of work.

Along with this, I realize I have to recharge and develop my skills; in creating understated backgrounds, painting faces,  muscle anatomy, and back-lit foregrounds. I expect I will have a strong enough study of my new process to share a painting next week!

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This past Tuesday I participated in my first Drink and Draw event hosted by The Art Supply Depot. It was ever so tempting to bow out, but I drug myself out anyway. I knew I was quite rusty. I gave myself all kinds of excuses like… you don’t have any newsprint pads, your measuring stick is missing, you need a light-weight easel, and you should practice first. I went anyway. Packed a Magner’s Cider, a sketch book, an assortment of pencils, and my field seat.

There were over two dozen of us- which I was surprised by. The models were well managed but had trouble holding some of the longer poses. The long neck on one of the models threw me off a lot. If I were not so rusty, that would not have been much of a problem.

I did pretty well given how long it has been but am excited to push more. I want to practice getting my proportions and contrapposto down better in one minute.

Holly, is one of the easiest plants to keep in the garden. I have a special fondness for variegated evergreens that share their color and beauty through every season. Variegated Holly is one of my most favorite plants in the winter months, along side Japanese Boxwood. Holly easily wins the show, however, with its lovely red berries. I get especially giddy when a few branches develop solid white splays of leaves. Squee!

I did however learn that it is especially challenging to paint variegated Holly. I’m not sure I’d want to take it up again soon. One thing for certain, I would not chose to use negative painting techniques to showcase the veining. I would, instead, apply an opaque layer on top as an end detail. Would have saved so much time if I had predicted this and probably satisfied my OCD (Overly Conscious of Details) Brain.

The berries were a challenge, in as much as I didn’t want to use traditional approaches to chromatic or achromatic shading or tinting at all. Holly berries are so very vibrant and just gleam of bright beautiful energy. I chose instead to step aside of my double primary palette and utilized 4 primary pigments to get their round bold color defined:3 shades of red and one yellow pigment. At the very end I did use neutral tint to shade and tiny lines of black to punctuate, but barely.

The painting has been delivered to its new home; and I have archived it and prepped it to be part of a winter foliage collection for my art licensing portfolio. This means I need 3-4 more key subjects, and then need to make some borders, repeat patterns and such. One of those will be Mistletoe, from there I think a conifer and some Hellebore the Christmas/Lenten Rose.

Technique: Chromatic Layering

• Allow for bold intense color and depth by using Quiller’s principal of color temperatures to pull and push depth.
• Allow for very smooth surface for extra fine details to be applied.
• Technique comes out best if the majority of your pigments have transparent qualites.
• Be careful to layer and not mix for smoother more intense effect.(This means letting layers dry thoroughly between each other.)

Supplies

• Paper: Strathmore 400 series 140lb coldpress
• Paint: Winsor and Newton Artists’ Water Colour: Naples Yellow, Winsor Yellow, Alizarin Crimpson, Winsor Red (deep), Vermillion Hue (now discontinued), Pthalo Blue, Winsor Green (yellow shade), Permanent Sap Green, Neutral Tint, Lamp Black, Chinese White.
• Brushes: Round 000, 00, 2;
• Other: Q-Tips, H2 pencil, toothpicks, masking fluid, flour sack cloth.

I even made a quick slide show to show the process of layering: Holly-Days

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Through the month of November I will be a featured artist in the Bowling Green Arts Councils sponsored group exhibit at Myles Baker Street Gallery.  The advantage of a sponsored exhibit is that it allows artists to take 100% of the commission they make from the sales of any of their work. Though, the work I have featured is actually intended for Art Licensing ventures, not particularly for sale as individual pieces of art work.

Autumn has come in full force with all her amazing beauty and color, so in the spirit of all that I selected a small sampling of paintings of fall foliage. While waiting for everyone to arrive for the set up of the show I got into a conversation with fellow artists over bane and blessing of commissioned work. It’s always nice to accept a commission, though best done with lots of communication followed by a written agreement.

The opening reception was festive and well attended. The catering was absolutely delicious, especially the pecan bars! The BGSU Brass Quartet did a wonderful job in their musical selection and performance. I feel the arts truly complement each other, and what better than live music to go with original art!

I got to enjoy a very artful weekend! Not because I did anything at all in my studio; but because I had an opportunity a couple of days to go out with friends and immerse myself in the arts culture. It’s a very refreshing and inspiring investment of time. Aside, for the fact that it  honestly lights a fire in me.
On Friday I went out to the premiere opening of LeSo Gallery on the east side of town with my artist friend Amanda and an art lover friend Lynn. LeSo hosted a gambit of artists, medium, and subject matter for their opening show. It was a nice sampling. It was an amazingly well attended opening and I ran into many other arts scene peeps from town as well as other artist friends. The energy of the event was great and it is is just amazing how well the arts are thriving here in NW Ohio with all the the recession and fall out of cities close by (like Detroit).

Then Sunday I went out with some girlfriends to see the exhibit “Out Of Rubble” , curated by Susanne Slavick, before it was gone. It was an assemblage of 18 international artists showcasing their response to war and its aftermath. It was a very sobering exhibit of the costs of war. Outside of this exhibit were student and faculty exhibits. My favorite were the corsets below.

Recently I took advantage of a pretty regular online promotion for some business cards- courtesy of  Vistaprint. I finished my design, which of course started out too busy. (me and crazy details- imagine that) I upgraded to do color on both sides and a super nice glossy over the art image. I paid for shipping so that I would get in time for an exhibit, and never thought twice about it. One day past the latest date possible, per my shipping method of choice, I called to inquire on where they were.

They seemed to have gotten lost in transit, no doubt the small box got stuck in some crevice of a large UPS truck. The nice lady gave me only a 10.00 credit toward a future order, plus sent me a replacement order that while a courtesy two day delivery was added- would not make the exhibit on time. It really should have been a refund.

I got shipment notification late on the second day after placing the new order; but somehow they arrived a day earlier than anticipated. They were still too late for the exhibit. Then the lost order found its way home. I suppose I could be happy about the free box, except the color on the glossy side I paid extra for was way way off. The blue on the opposite side was also off; but it wasn’t as much as a problem. Here is the image as it appeared after upload in my file on Vistaprint for comparison and to confirm they had a good image file.

Very disappointing, the other matte side was perfect though. Needless to say I will not do that again! A friend of mine has parents that work for Zerox. They advised me to use a local printer who could give me specs on how it was printed off the machine, aside from the obvious benefit of getting a proof first. Well we shall see how that works out. In the meantime, most people probably wont be able to tell the purplish rose was suppose to be a warm pale pink.

 

 

“I believe the BSAF has the highest ranking in Northwest Ohio for two reasons. One being the amazing support the festival receives both from the patrons of our festival and the volunteers. The second being the legacy and spirit of service by those that run the festival towards the community and all the artists (both musical and visual). … The solid history of success and good rankings show our strength as a community and the economic vitality of our city.” -Brenda D. Baker

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I‘ve been to many fine arts festivals over the years. I love seeing the variety of work that comes all together, getting to chat with the artists, and all the inspiration that follows. In 2007 I attended my first Black Swamp Arts Festival as a patron. I took all my children and we really loved every aspect of it.

It was a combination of venues I have never seen done anywhere else. There was a Youth Arts section that was full of free activities for kids that they loved doing. Several Sound stages with amazingly talented artists, last year they had Trombone Shorty- unbelievable! Then there is the juried show and a local invitational show.

All three of these venues make for an amazing atmosphere that has something to offer everyone! It is truly unique and very beloved by those who return year after year! I started volunteering on the visual arts committee over a year, and have really learned a lot about art fairs and festivals from both sides.

What I really get a kick out of is how strong a community we have to be able to put on such an amazing festival. There are free top music acts, free kids activities, and so many fine artists; provided with no corporate sponsorship for 3 years in a row and remains open to the public admission free! It only can happen because Bowling Green is such a vibrant and diverse community that invests in itself over and over.

This year the festival climbed slightly in is ranking according to Sunshine Artists Magazine

, while other area festivals with a history of being ahead of the Black Swamp Festival have slipped down. I think the ratings show my committees focus on serving artists and the innovations we have been putting to work the last couple years. You can read more in the Sen “Black Swamp Arts Fest advances in ranking” article written by David Dupont Sentinal Arts & Entertainment Editor

Here I am working on my monarch butterfly painting during the first ever Art After Hours event following the NOWOH

show. It was a wonderful afternoon! I got to hang out with some of my artist friends Randy Bennett and Craig Blair while we listened to some soulful acoustic music performed live.

Many of the downtown businesses hosted an array of art and local musicians for the Art After Hours event. I volunteered to be one of a few artists working live. We set up at tables at Grounds For Thought

. Grounds is my favorite coffee shop to date. If you can’t tell by the background, it is also a used book store, plus comics, plus vinyl records, and the best gourmet coffee ever– which comes from their own roasting company. The people here, owners and patrons, are wonderful.

One of the initiatives of the BG Arts Council is to integrate the arts community. It was a really great day for that. The feedback from the people passing through was very heart-warming. It was great to hear so many inquiries on the availability of my work for purchase. (Oh do I ever need to get more prints made.)

It can sound intimidating at first to paint in front of an audience, but really once you get started you forget about everything that’s not a brush with paint. I actually enjoy working around other people. It’s a great icebreaker really. More than anything though–it’s really fun to hang out and work with other artists!