INKTOBER

INKTOBER

Every time this year comes around I see artists participating in Inktober. To me pen and ink is a bold medium no mercy on mistakes. I'm comfortable with to the subtle use of watercolors or the very forgiving medium of layers and layers of acrylic paint.

My husband loves ink and pen. He gets his inspiration from a lot of the artists who ink comic books. Over the years he developed his own rebellious style, making beautiful use of black and white. 

Working with ink I am like a deer in the headlights. The bold permanent marks ink and pen give leaves no room for mistake or hiding in small brushstrokes. So I decided it is time to get out of my comfort zone and make this medium my friend and in turn let it teach me what it wants to teach me.

Just Horsing Around

I have a goofy picture of my husband at work. With his goofy smile he is the king of his domain.

Except for a few little things, a giant piece of tape totally ruins the picture. With the help of Photoshop I removed it and while I was at it i gave dear hubby a little more hair on the top.

And while I was at it I messed with the background, toyed with a few effects, play and exploration basically. Every minute was fun and best of all no stress.

Getting Lost in the Flow

Getting the feel of New paint Brushes 

Lately I have been really diving into Corel Painter and experimenting with brushes. By trial and error I play around with this brush and that and see what they do. Which means making mistakes and really experimenting. Acrylic brushes have been my focus along with the blenders. I like how the wet acrylic paint mixes with the paint beneath. For me smoothness has been the name of the game. If that was a challenge than I would play with the opacity- only if I was in a pinch. My main focus was getting the blending into a good gradient.

My painting theme at the moments is vintage cars with character. Here is an old truck I am using for practice. The smooth shiny metal gives a great challenge. I played Gregg Allman's Low Country Blues album and Stevie Nicks to help me enter into the art realm and freed me to play and find the magic.

Happy Creating and many magical discoveries

Dena

Painting Then and Now

Painting Digitally Can Free up Your Painting Style

I have been painting since I was a teenager. Acrylic on canvas. I even took pride in stretching my own canvas. A real artist does right? Mrs Smith my high school art teacher really sparked an interest in painting with acrylics. She invited local Long Island artist Jacquline Penney to do a demonstration for the class which sparked the urge to paint in me.

So I took what I got from high school and painted on my own for a long time. In 2016 I finally took a college class in painting. This refined my style. My art was headed  directly toward a kind of  realism. Is that the way my art should go I wondered? I kept heading in that direction anyway.

An artist friend spoke enthusiastically about Corel Painter so I had to give it a try. Working with all the new brushes and the settings was a new beast I have yet to master. But while surfing this learning curve I have stepped away from picture perfect perfectionism. My work on the computer is freer.  A new freer world awaits me as I explore digital painting.

Happy experimenting!



http://www.jacquelinepenney.net/index.htm

Doing Art on My Phone

I have been experimenting with making art on my phone. Using Adobe Draw I have art on the go or I can make stuff while lounging on the couch. There is no clean up, or pencils lost in the cushions.

When using a new medium there is a kind of beginners experimental freedom.  A hmmm, what happens when I try this approach. Which can lead to very interesting and expansive creations- patterned backgrounds and unexpected cartoon characters.

Now in between creations I track my ups package. Wishing my stylus Godspeed.

Love Your Soul

"Love Your Soul" says the tag on my Yogi tea teabag. For the longest time I struggled with that. Then suddenly the other day while I was I was finishing up a project for one of my classes I felt a shift. To be quite honest I was really tired of my project  and was just phoning it in so to speak. It really wasn't my best piece of work.  As I was looking at my project a sense of awe came over me and I thought, "wow I actually made this!" A  genuine appreciation for myself filled my heart. Strange  huh?

 I have come a long way artistically. It has been a rough bleak at times but I prevailed and really appreciated myself for that.  This awakened a great sense of compassion and empathy for myself seemed out side of me-like I was another person.

I saw the importance of just sitting back every now and then and just observing ones self and just appreciating who you are and what you've done-especially when you are not quite there yet. It's a little extra gift of strength  from you to you for the journey ahead. Who else,s approval could be better?

A Good Artist is also a Geek: You've got to Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek Out!

One of my painting teachers would continually joke about how the best painters had no friends. This somehow made me feel better about not being Ms. Popularity. He would also follow up with how such a person needs to spend time alone reading, studying and experimenting with their medium, In other words you've gotta geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek out!

Artists are intuitive creatures but there is also a learning curve that takes time playing and seeing what your medium can do. I recently found this out while learning photography. Instinctively I know how to frame a great shot. Although when I worked  more on the technical aspects did my photos really begin to have deeper meaning and look awesome. Art does need effort and a strong work ethic too. It wasn't till I rolled up my sleeves locked myself away from distractions and got down to business did I really begin make progress.

Nerd, is what some people would call someone who would stay home on a Friday night and mix paint, work on their HTML or watch youtube videos on how to use After Effects. When you allow yourself to geek out, with all your heart and really stalk your passions by doing the footwork your art will really begin to bloom. You will also find yourself evolving too and soon  you will be creating the art you were always meant to create.

Much love and happy geeking!

You Always Have Your Art Practice

I was talking with an old friend who recently lost his job. He didn't know his next step in life and seemed a bit unsure of who he really was now. Sometimes life and work can swallow you up and spin you around. You may get to the point where you have to recalibrate in order to find out who you really are at different times in your life.


My friend said it was wonderful how I paint and draw and I could tell he longed for a constant like that. As insecure as art can be it was always a part of me I could never let go of. There were years when I pursued other things only getting in a few stolen moments with art as time permitted.


Recently I made the commitment to deepen my practice whether or not it turns out to be a career.
Art can be a constant in my life and  always a piece of who I am no matter how our crazy world decides to define me.

Ann Page Recent Sculptures & Drawings and Lecture "Blurring Boundries"

 

In her lecture before the show she started off by explaining what inspired her.  As an artist I loved this kind of thing. I love to hear the stories how pieces were made and how her past and present works evolved. Her work is very beautiful and intricate and looks like it may have been inspired by the ocean. Most of her pieces, especially her 3D printer made works kind of look a bit like coral. But that’s not the story behind them. She didn’t just set out just to make” beautiful” art.

This made me realize most of my own approach to making art is to find only beauty in things and showcasing that. After hearing Ann Pages lecture and seeking her work I am inspired to take an explorative and “let’s see what happens” leap of faith approach to art.  She not only finds the beauty in something simple and everyday things.  In the lecture she spoke about a piece inspired from as the small details in popcorn.  Page made it into an interesting pattern, a whole different creation!

Page’s small pieces dazzled me the most with their beauty.  I liked the multi cut out layered dimensions she created. When you look up close at these you see what looks like light amoeba like sketches that give the pieces more playful fun.  These appear at first to be something right out of a sketchbook, fun floaty lightly painted and very imaginative but from here lecture I learned there is more thought and depth to what she does. The multiple layers of her pieces really gave her work beautiful depth like a tiny microcosm you can look into. There is so much for the eye to see.  The foreground and background have wonderful  lattice  like cutouts that overlap and show deeper dimensions. It reminds me of something you might see while deep sea diving.

Ann Page had larger and similar pieces that showcased more prominently the cut out layered dimensions.  I really liked the multiple layers and the depth these showed.  They were less playful than the smaller ones. In a lot of ways the layers were in contrast of one another. I loved and hated this. In some pieces it seemed like they didn’t belong with another and it seemed jarring to the senses. Stepping back at the same time I could also see the meaning behind it and could enjoy the madness. She has water colored cutouts with what appeared to be photo shopped layers beneath that. There is an intense difference between the photo shopped layers and gentle watercolor cutouts.  All in all found the work interesting and indeed “Blurring Boundaries” of my own. 

Page also made tiny sculptures with a 3D printer! In her lecture she mentioned exploring this technology! How bold just to pick up a new technology and artistically see how far you could go with it! For myself I like to take a bunch of classes and explore alone for a long time with a new medium.  I feel freed as an artist by her  bold approach in this. Some of the coral like pieces were paired with small artworks with the ones mentioned above. This gave the work even more dimension and playfulness-a tiny world so intricate.

There were other interesting sculptures, ones made what appeared to be out of paper stacked on one another.  They looked something out of an old science fiction movie or like a light fixture of the 1960’s! I liked the delicacy the paper gave them.

The lecture “Blurring Boundaries” and the art show “Recent Sculptures & Drawings” opened my eyes to being more experimental in my own art. She also encouraged me to look deeper into my mundane life for ideas.  Ann Pages work is definitely an inspiration and a cue for me to go bold in my work.

Ann Page Recent Sculptures and Drawings

 

Drawing Lessons: The Blackboard

My grandparents had this old genuine slate chalkboard. When I was a kid Pop Pop would draw a picture on it for me whenever I visited.  I excitedly would run in to see my picture.  This made me feel really special.  Later on he would teach me how to draw the picture myself. I struggled but  learned to draw boats, houses, cars, dogs, cats etc.


Later on in life I fought the instinct to make art.  The pursuit of art making doesn't  guarantee reward. Shouldn't  I be doing something more practical with my time? But still this pull inside me calls me to do the work anyway. Now  I continue despite, connecting the past with the present and creating the future.

Reliving Childhood:A Return to the Source

Like a lot of girls I became obsessed with horses. I  devoured books about them and obsessively cut out pictures of every one I came across in magazines and newspapers. At I had the coolest trapper keeper notebook with one brilliantly displayed  on it. I must have drawn that gallant chestnut horse a thousand times until it was perfect.


I haven't thought about horses in a very long time. Now years later I am learning to draw animals. It was challenging at first but when we took a trip to the L.A. Equestrian Center things started to click.
The reuniting with my childhood passion was a doorway to  realizing my current artistic pursuits. My memory  of the shape of the legs and the muzzle came back like riding a bike.  It made my strokes bolder and I started to really enjoy the process.

Friendships and Inspiration

A good friend of my is an artist too. Our approach and work are complete opposite.
She approaches her work with quick bold strokes and confidence, me on the other hand sketch lightly timidly and second guess myself. Pastels and joy are the order of the day for her and me, I tend toward brooding shadows and black. In my work I lean toward realism and she paints in a delightfully dreamy way.
No ones work is better than the other just very different and we both  capture the essence of our subject matter.
When I see my friends work I am greatly inspired. Not only by the wonderfully crafted and dreamy  pieces but by her approach.  Seeing her dive in completely and boldly somehow frees me to do the same. Now when I look at my work I am less critical and welcome the unexpected.


Here a piece made by the brilliant Sara Cohen.

Drawing to the Beat Part 2:Surrender

After painting blindfolded this is what I ended up with.  It really does look like a dog. I entertained the possibility of something else but I just couldn't see past the dog. So surrendered to what  it was and ran with it.
It just so happens that I love dogs.  As an only child the family dogs were my best friend. In this piece I really focused on the eyes and capturing the soul the animal. The face of the dog monopolizes the canvas so I wanted to bring the viewer in deeper with the expression of the eyes.I created contrast by taking a so called tough dog breed, the rottweiler and gave it  a sensitive caring expression.

Here is the finished product!

I really love this chaotic technique. Like life, it's about making the most of the hand you are dealt with.
Much inspiration to you! Cheers

Drawing in the Light of the Moon

I didn't want to get out of my warm cozy bed.  It was one of those days when things seem overwhelming and I had a bit of a case of the blues. I just didn't feel like working on my art. Blame it on the moon.


Gently I enticed myself out of bed and got moving. I made a nurturing cup of tension tamer tea and put on my favorite internet radio show. Then I approached my drawing
.
Things seemed to get better as let myself flow with it. I made lines, dabbed pan pastel then erased and tweaked my work. The blood started pumping. As I strung the pieces together I felt more together.


This isn't a pull yourself up by your bootstraps approach but a gentle coaxing. One foot in front of the other instead overwhelming to do list. The actual doing of the work was healing. And when I looked up the sun was out and bright and I felt the same way too.




http://www.panpastel.com/


http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/herbal-teas/tension-tamer


http://www.ohotto.com/radio/soul_connexions/

Painting in the Dark to the Beat: A Journey to artistic freedom

Yesterday we ventured way out of our comfort zone.  Yep we painted blind folded.
Art supplies in hand, Anne Marie Karlsen (her work is excellent by the way check her out at
http://annemariekarlsen.com/Anne_Marie_Karlsen/projects.html) our shaman lead us on this journey




In the dark we were instructed to grab a handful of prismacolor pencils and to draw to the sounds of smooth  jazz. Then to work with pan pastel to some hip hop smudging to the beat. Lastly in painting whopping on globs of paint to some intense rap music! The process felt really good, cathartic even!




Blindfolds off I was greeted with what looked like a big black blob? Oh dear? What am I to make of this? I tried to dab some of the acrylic paint off. All control was gone. The piece had a life of its own?




We hung our work on the wall.  She pointed out flowers and faces in my cohorts swiggles and swirls and in my piece she pointed out a Rottweiler. Really? Where am I to take this? Is my work going to the dogs? (Sorry couldn't resist).


Our Shaman leader sheepishly confessed that this is the way she approaches most of her projects.


 Stay tuned to see the finished product...