January sketches

Hello dear people!

Happy January!

Happy 2014!

 In the last 30 days I barely stepped into my studio. When I did, it was to use it as a storage space, to throw in things that I didn't know where else to put. No surprise then that it looks like a total mess. I have big plans for transforming it into a place where I will, once again, love to come in and paint. I want to let go of supplies that don't serve me anymore, but am afraid to start...

The only art I have to show are these sketches... and they were not done in my studio, but in my lap in the living room :-)

I feel rusty.... not sure where to start, what to paint... Did anyone else have a long pause from art? How are you dealing with it?

In other news - paintings in my etsy shop are 50% off right now. They will stay that way till the end of January, and then I will make some changes there. If you wanted to own one of my pieces, this is probably the best time for it.

Also, my class for Soul Food started today and I am delighted to see that ladies are already inspired to create and show what they made. Here is a snippet of colors we are using in my class.

Celebrating

Celebrating my day today (49!!!!!!!!), so only art I can showa re flowers I drew on the glass top of my table. Easy to draw, easier to clean and remove completely. Have a happy weekend!

How to make a quick sketch/collage combo (real-time video)

Did anyone try to do the 3 minute sketch? As I said, I doesn't have to be good... the looser the lines are, the more interesting the result. I think this is the longest video I posted (13 min). Probably because I did not speed it up. I wanted you to see how quick this is. (OK, I did speed it at the end, but only because I had to thread the needle and it took me forever and because looking at someone sew random patterns on paper really is not interesting.)

 Here is the YouTube link, in case your reader does not show the video (I use Feedly and sometimes I see videos, sometimes I don't).

I hope you'll like it!

2-3 minute sketches (2 videos)

Thank you for the lovely comments on my sketches/collage pieces. Randy Roelen van der Vlugt (can I say how much I love your name?) asked if I really did the sketches in 3 minutes. I didn't know the answer, because I didn't really measure the time. It just felt like 3 minutes. So I was curious to see how long it really is. 

You will see the first sketch in the following video:

- Better quality, bigger video when you click HERE -

Please keep in mind - these are really quick, rough sketches. Even I can do it somewhat better if I take my time.  I wish I had a picture of me drawing the second one - my camera and tripod were in front of me, the ipad on the left side (which means I was holding my hand in a completely unnatural position)... Doesn't matter. What I wanted to show is that in 2-3 minutes you can have a (probably better) sketch to play with. 

I will show you another example tomorrow - from the beginning sketch to finished collage.;

- Better quality, bigger video when you click HERE -

I am not sure how the videos will look, since I didn't upload them to YouTube first. They look horribly pixelated in my preview screen... If it turns out to be really bad, please let me know and I'll use Vimeo or something like that.

Collage and Sketching Mix

Sometimes simple things bring simple, good joy. I sketched several faces, spending maybe 3 minutes on each, then I layered them with paper that was on my table, making a simple collage. 

Crayons, color pencils and casein paint were a fun way to add random patches of color.

Then I just "had to" pull out my sewing machine, dust it off and add more red to my collages. That was the part I didn't have the energy to do yesterday, and they somehow seemed unfinished without it.

I'm so happy when I spend time creating something :-)
The only question now is - what to do with them?  My studio is exploding with stuff I made...

When birds grow up

Way back in 2005 when I started this blog, our daughter just turned 11,and I posted this photo collage of her:

At that time college was something so far away that I didn't think about it. But now I find myself in the "club" of so many Moms that waved good bye to their kids these days. While we are on the West Coast, the little bird bravely entered a plane and flew all the way to the East Coast, to the heart of the biggest city, to pursue her dreams. There are so many thoughts and emotions that I would like to express right now, but can't. They will probably show up in my art somehow. For now, I'll leave you with some of her art. Her wish is to study computer science, but I can't help and wonder if art be a part of her future too...

Our "baby boy" (I don't think I'll ever stop calling him that in my mind, even though he is all grown up and behaved as a grown up even when he was little) drove 400 miles just to wish his little sister a safe trip and happy college days, then 400 miles back to his home and work. 

We love them and miss them and are extremely proud of them both. Good luck birdies, happy flights! We'll keep the nest safe and inviting for whenever you wish to come back :-)

Off to a new phase in life...

Giveaway winner

Thank you for participating in the giveaway! I didn't want to use the random.org this time to pick the winner, so I made individual cards and quickly sketched different illustrations on them. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it! I put a time limit to it - 60 min, so there was no way to over-think anything. When I finished, I saw that something wasn't quite right with the numbers... I guess I can sketch, but I can't count :-) That didn't worry me, because my plan was to pull a card from a bowl, so numbers were not even needed.

  I placed the cards in the lovely fabric pouch Sharon made for me, mixed them well and pulled out one, as you will see in the video (the video doesn't show in Google Reader, but you can see it on the blog).

Congratulations Linda! I hope that you will enjoy the book as much as I do :-)

Thank you, once again, to all the participated!

A fun technique to try

I usually don't have too much time for art on weekends, but try to sneak something in when I can. This is something I did on Sunday in less than an hour. I used my very inexpensive sumi ink and a brush, and on regular office paper very quickly made many sketches of birds. 

Working this fast and with a brush that I can't really control allows wonderful, imperfect characters to show up. And it is deeply relaxing, which for me is always a plus.

Now I have many drawings to play with. I chose a random one to add to my journal. Since the paper is thin, I simply glued it on - not worrying about the edges showing, and then painted over it and around.

As silly as it is, I really love this face. I don't think I would have ever done it if I tried a more careful approach with my brush. 

I wanted to see if the ink will transfer - and it did! You can still see some paper fuzzies on the image bellow, but I was happy how quickly and how well it transfered to an already textured and painted background. 

So there it is... something quick and fast to try in your art journal.

I hope you'll give it a try.

November News and a Free Collage Sheet

I spent some time rearranging things on my blog. I added new pages on the top, labeled tons of posts and did a little clean up. 

Starting today, I am testing a new way of offering digital collage sheets. Instead of waiting for me to send the files, this should enable anyone to download the file instantly. If it works...

And to test if it works I am offering a free collage sheet. If you go to the tab that says "Printables" on top of my page, you should be able to get a link to download a full resolution file of these images:

It will say - Add to Cart - but the amount will be zero, so no need to worry.

I said that I will try to create and post every day in November. Using collage sheets helps accomplish that goal even when there is not enough time to do too much. 

Journal page with details that tell me a story

I found myself sitting in the car for a long time today. For some reason I stopped carrying a little journal with me, so the only piece of paper I could find was a parking slip. Interestingly, that small piece of paper brought me peace. I fished out my favorite pen from the bag and made a quick sketch. Then, instead of throwing it away, as I planned, I took it home and built a journal page around it.

Since this day was all about my daughter, I put on the page some things that tell me a story about it.

 The little snippets really don't mean anything to anyone, except me. And although the journal page isn't a masterpiece, it is exactly what I want from it - a visual and written memory of the day and my feelings about her.

BTW - she is starting her senior year in high school, and I'm trying very hard not to see her as the little nugget she was when she wasn't all grown up and serious. Sigh.....

Happy weekend!

She

So, where do you start after such a long time? I found myself in the studio looking at my supplies, wishing to use them all at once, yet somehow not ready for them. So I opted for the simplest thing - paper and graphite... and she showed up.
Happy June!

Weekend snippets

The weather was warm, sunny, perfect and we spent a lot of time outside enjoying it. Now we are back to gray, windy and chilly but the happy colors are still dancing in my eyes. 

I tried

As much as I try to draw realistically, I really can't. I don't have the skills for it and I don't have the "eye" to really SEE what is in front of me. And I admit it - I don't use anything to measure relations and things (which I read in books is what you are supposed to do). Nevertheless, from time to time there is nothing that I like better than to hold a pencil in my hand, and since I can never tire of looking at my daughter's face, I guess more attempts will follow.

xo