Filigree - Self Portrait

'Filigree' 

5 x 7 inches, oil on panel

I'm part of a small group of artists that have banded together as a sort of peer mentoring group. We talk about our goals, our vision for our work, share business ideas, and challenge each other. It's full of awesomeness. These women are incredible and I'm so honored to be part of their group. :) 

So we had a painting challenge. It was to paint a self portrait that was a true reflection of you. I kind of suck at that. I've painted myself before, and every time it has been a very uncomfortable experience for me. I don't like looking at myself. I hate drawing attention to myself. In a crowd or group of people I prefer to hide, unseen and unnoticed. 

And a self portrait is basically the opposite of all of those things. It's all about ME. I mean, there's really nowhere else to look. Unless you like grey backgrounds, and if you do then. . . awesome.You've come to the right place. But, I digress.

My way around this is to typically hide part of my face in some way. Like the filigree mask above, or like this: 

Or like this:

So how then, was I to paint a self portrait that was a true representation of myself? I did what I felt most comfortable with. A partially hidden version of me. Again. Because I do think this is really how I am. I could go on and try to think of something really meaningful to say about why I paint myself this way. But I won't.

Because there is no real deep meaning to it. I just prefer to be in the background, instead of the spotlight and that alone says SO much about who I really am that there really isn't anything else to say.

Grapelight - G is for Grape

'Grapelight' 

5 x 7 inches 

colored pencil on Ampersand Pastelbord

$100 plus $7 US shipping/$15 International

Every time I do a colored pencil piece I have a series of conflicting feelings: 

1. (Infatuated beginning) "This is SO much fun! Why don't I do these more often? I can't wait to do more. I want to do a pony, and a puppy, and some glass bottles, and some orange slices, and some shiny ribbon, etc. etc. etc." *manic grin*

2. (Midway through) *sigh* "This is taking forever. I want to be done. Maybe I'll just call it done. No wait, I can't because I've already spent like forever working on this." *sigh* "And I'm all out of cookies." *heavy sigh* 

3. (Almost done) "Almost done! Huzzah!!!" *lackluster fist pump*

4. (All done) "I am never doing one of these again. Never." *takes bite out of cookie* *thoughtful gazing at finished piece which I'm very proud of even though my fingers are totally sore now from pressing so hard* "Well. . . maybe not for a few days at least."

In other words, it's something like this: 

This is G for grape in my alphabet series.

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends!! :D

Sun Seeker - Gypsy Vanner horse SOLD

'Sun Seeker'  - gypsy vanner SOLD

5 x 7 inch oil on masonite

“Yours is the light by which my spirit's born: - you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.”
― E.E. Cummings

Backlighting on a white horse is pretty much an ideal painting waiting to happen for me. The sunlight shining through that thick white mane created some truly beautiful colors that I could not wait to paint. I also really, really love that beautiful black head contrasted against the rest of his white body. I may do a full body painting of this boy in the future so you'll see that he does have more black spots than just this one. :)

I always worry that maybe I use color a little too. . . liberally, but that's just how I see things and I love color, so there you go. I think I should probably just embrace this fact of my painting style instead of stress over it. 

In any case I like how this turned out. And I am finding that the more I paint with oils the easier it is for me to mix colors vibrantly in a way that is very similar to my watercolor palette. I feel like with each oil painting I am discovering more about how I paint, and how I want to paint. I think that's why I'm using them so much right now. Lots to discover and learn and that keeps me motivated. It's when things start to feel routine that I start to get blocked I think. Found that out the hard way. ;) 

Reference photo, with thanks, by Notorious Stock on deviantART.

Tales From The Sketchbook

'Ever Watchful' 

9 x 12 inches graphite and white colored pencil

$45 plus $7 US shipping, or $15 International 

 

A few weeks ago I somehow ended up looking through a bunch of my old sketchbooks. I found one from 2004 that was my first sketchbook that I worked in nearly every single day. Most of my other ones were very hit and miss. I was absolutely amazed at the difference between the sketch on the first page of the book, and the one on the last page. Here they are: 

 First page sketch 2004

Last page sketch 2004 

Kind of a big difference don't you think? I almost couldn't believe it. 

As I looked through this book I could remember almost exactly how I felt with each sketch. The first pages were filled with insecurity and doubt, and a lot of not knowing what I was doing. But there was also such a desire to improve, to learn as much as I could, and most of all a passion for drawing. By the end of the book I remember feeling so much more confident, and also I remember it being more of an intuitive process, where my mind wasn't actively thinking about how to draw, I was just drawing. Where as in the beginning my mind was filled with 'rules' and what not to do.

After I closed that book I wanted to get back to sketching a lot. So when I saw that Strathmore had come out with these new sketchbooks with tan paper you can bet I snapped that baby up faster than Uncle Si could say 'Hey Jack!' 

But then when it actually came time to sketch in my new, pretty book I kind of froze. The first two sketches were horrible. And I mean Horrible. Un-redeemable. I ripped them out and threw them away, which was very liberating. 

I am pretty superstitious about my art creating rituals. I don't like to skip pages in my sketchbook because then I think I won't be able to make great sketches after that. I have a paint brush that is totally beat up and basically unusable but I always keep it next to me while I'm painting because I secretly think that it's the key to a successful painting. If I'm struggling with a certain area of a painting I have to put 'Hysteria' by Muse on my iPod and that will instantly make everything better. Yes I am a weirdo, I openly acknowledge this.;)

Then finally I did a sketch that I was happy with. The deer sketch is the first successful sketch in my new book. :) And I'm so excited to do the next one. Huzzah and onward to the next!

Make the time to do what you love

Detail from new 5 x 7 colored pencil piece

on Ampersand Pastelbord

Worked on this the other day while waiting for my son at his guitar lesson. In the car. :) 

Some of you seem surprised that I draw in the car. I guess it is a little strange. I'm just weird like that. ;) And something that I can NOT stand is waiting with nothing to do. I hate it. I feel like that's such a time waster. And I feel like time is such a limited resource you know? Of course you do. We live in a busy world with hectic lives.

So I'm going to tell you guys how I do it. And why. First with the how:

I work small. I prefer working small. I don't know why I just do. I'm sure one day I'll get tired of working small, but right now I'm happy where I'm at. Working small, and with just pencils, makes it very easy to take on the go. Above is what I always take when I know I'm going to be sitting in the car for at least ten minutes. An envelope of photos I want to draw, a small box of colored pencils in the colors I think I'll use, a small sketchbook (mine's 6 x 6), and my 5 x 7 work in progress (protected in a clear bag). 

 

And here it is all stacked up. Not too big right? Since I'm usually bringing my four year old's bag of things to do too I stick it in there and we are good to go. And then while littlest Cook is busy playing his Leapster, I get to draw for a few minutes. Works like a charm. 

Now to the why? Because. . . well, see the pic below. :) 

Because I, we, need to make the time to do what we love.  And if that means drawing for ten minutes at a time in the car then so be it. :) Photo courtesy of namaste cafe.

So, how do you make time to do what you love?

Sweet Baby Girl - sold

'Sweet Baby Girl' sold, private commission

8 x 10 inches watercolor on paper

And here's the finished painting. :) I fell in love with this little girl, she is so happy and smiley. There was such a variety of colors in her skin tones, reflecting from the little pool she's sitting in, which was very fun. And I've already heard from my client who is very happy with the painting. Which makes for a very happy artist. :))) 

I used three colors to paint her skin tones, permanent rose, cobalt blue, and hansa yellow light. That's all. You can do a lot with primary colors when painting skin. And my own personal opinion is that when you avoid using brown (like burnt umber) in skin tones the subject seems more alive. Even when I paint dark skin tones I never use brown. Although I do use burnt sienna, which is more of a rich orange and beautifully transparent, perfect for skin. I just didn't use it here.

Anyways. . . Babbled on enough I suppose. Thanks for taking a peek at my work and following along on the progress. :)

Huzzah for Monday being nearly over!!

Best Pals - SOLD

'Best Pals'  sold 

5" x 7" 

colored pencil on Ampersand Pastelbord

Finally finished. :) Usually when I have a painting that takes me a long time to complete I end up feeling frustrated, and I lose interest. But not this time. This drawing was a joy from beginning to end. A few bumps in the road that caused me a bit of a headache, but overall a complete joy. I really love how it turned out. 

I have a bunch of photos of my son playing with his toys that I think I'll start working on too. All in this beautiful light. I'm excited. 

Technique note: This drawing ate up a LOT of my colored pencils. The sanded surface of the pastelbord is very abrasive and hard on the pencils, I wore probably five of them down to little nubs by the time this was finished. 

But on the positive side, this surface doesn't require much layering. It is a very direct process, which was a sanity saver for me. I have come to realize that I am getting bored with layering paint, I'm an impatient person. ;) I will have to see if I can adapt my watercolor process to get the results I want but avoid all the layering (glazing of color) I typically do.

Have a great weekend everyone. :) See you Monday!

So Serious - SOLD

'So Serious'

6" x 6" watercolor SOLD

click here to buy now

$100 plus $7 US shipping or $15 International

I love this little girl's face. Her dark, sparkling eyes and her pouty lips. I love the subtle colors in her warm skin tones, and of course that pink helmet. She is a sweetheart. I just want to cuddle her.

But, man, was she hard to paint! This was my second attempt (the first one was on aquabord, which is dead difficult to work with, so I don't think that one should count) and it took me a long time, mostly because of the subtle value changes in her skin tones. That took a lot of careful observation, and planning, and then speedy execution. 

With a painting like this, there is absolutely no chance to go back in and move the paint around once you've laid in a wash. In order to get smooth, soft skin tones, you have to get in and get out. No overworking! Easier said than done right? Yeeeep. :)

I love that soft, diffused lighting, and I plan to use more of it in my portraits, because I love the sparkle it gives to the eyes, but it is tricky to paint. There's not a lot of clearly defined shapes so you have to really, really, reeeeealy look for them. 

She was quite a challenge but a good one. :) I really like this painting. 

Have a great rest of the week everyone! Huzzah!

Photo reference by Steve Evans. Thank you!

Five Reasons Why I LOVE Watercolors

Bella SOLD private commission

8" x 10" watercolor

 This girl had such a sweet face, she was a lot of fun to paint. I love her big brown eyes. She reminds me of a cocker spaniel my family had when I was growing up. The sweetest dogs ever. :) 

I hurt my back while I was at the gym the other day (the price I paid for doing 60 round house kicks in 30 seconds without warming up before. D-oh!) and my amazing husband and sweet kids have been taking such good care of me. So, for the first time in a long time, I've had time to just sit and think. And of course my mind turned to art. 

I realized that I've never really talked about why I love watercolors so much. So, here's my list. Let's hope it's coherent. :) 

1. They are beautiful. Watercolors have a free spirited kind of beauty that is unlike any other art medium. They have a mind of their own, and you gotta respect an inanimate object with free will.

2. They're challenging. What can I say? I like a little bit of a challenge. I love that every time I sit down to paint there's a physical challenge (the race to paint that section of paper before it dries and turns into a complete disaster instead of a thing of beauty is a bit exhilarating, and addictive.) and a mental challenge (I wonder what would happen if I layer this color on top of that color??).

3.  They're diverse. There is NOT only one, traditional, correct way to paint with them. Contrary to what is sometimes believed there is not only one, correct way to paint with watercolors. They don't always have to be loose and splashy. If that's your style and that's how YOU want to paint, then great. Awesome. I'm happy for you. But, that does NOT mean that it is the only way a watercolor can, or should be painted. 

One of the things I love about watercolor is it's versatility. There's no limit to what an artist can do with it. You want to paint a photorealistic still life of a mug of orange juice? Great. Do it. You want to paint a landscape plein air in five minutes flat with colorful, juicy washes running down your paper? Fabulous. Can't wait to see it. 

You want to combine a little of both for a portrait of your kitten?? AWESOME. Let the games begin. Keep your mind open to all the possibilities that are in front of you. There's nothing that says you have to paint a certain way in order to be a successful, or a happy watercolorist.

4. They are easy to clean up. I'm a mom. I clean up messes a lot. I think this one explains itself. 

And the number one reason why I love watercolors is. . . 

5. They call to my soul. Sometimes I get a new issue of a watercolor magazine and look at the great art in its pages and I'm surprised to feel tears building in my eyes when I see all the magnificent work there.  

I can't explain it. I don't really know why I'm drawn to watercolors the way that I am. But I am. I love them. I love the bright colors and the white paper. I love the feel of my wet brush gliding across the paper. I love the smell of my paints when I take the lid off of my palette.  I love watching my paintings transform right before my eyes as the paint and water dries. It's just magic.

I just love watercolors. And I always will. :)

Your turn. Why do you love your chosen medium?  

The Golden Age SOLD

The Golden Age SOLD

16" x 20" watercolor

Here's the Christmas commission I talked about in an earlier post but couldn't show you until now. I hope you all had a great holiday! We did. :) Although, I'm still trying to figure out how many miles I need to run in order to work off all the Christmas candy I ate. Probably more than I want to know. 

Every time I worked on this painting, I couldn't help but think of those few, brief times in my own boys life where they seemed to be getting along perfectly. No arguments, no teasing, or fighting. That was truly a golden age. And one that was over far too quickly.

Because now, this is what I hear, all too often:

Kid A, Kid B, or sometimes even my littlest, three year old Kid C: "Mo-ooom (see how the syllables of my name have been drawn out in a supremely offended tone, this adds emphasis to the victim's case) he's looking at me."

Me: "Oh really? That's nice babe." (Sometimes if I'm very lucky, this indifferent response is enough to subdue the situation)

Kid A, B, or C: "But, Mo-ooom, he's LOOKING at me!" (clearly this is not one of those times)

Me: *sigh* "Well, have you asked him if he needs anything?" (After my first failed attempt at indifference I have now resorted to peaceful problem solving. Because surely he wouldn't be LOOKING at his brother without just cause now would he?)

Kid A, B, or C: "No!" (this is said with little arms folded over little boy chests with a huff. Hmph!!)

Me: *double sigh* "Well, maybe you could give that a try." 

Kid A, B, or C: *shakes head emphatically* "Nope, Mom, I won't."

Me: "And why not?" (this is where my patience is starting to grow rather thin. I count to ten)

Kid A, B, or C: "Because he's still LOOKING at me!"

Me: *brief pause so I can count to 100* I press my fingers to the bridge of my nose and close my eyes, then I say, "Darling, unless he's looking at you with laser beams shooting out of his eyes I really don't see the problem."

Kid A, B, or C: Gives me a look that says a deep injustice has been wrought upon him and all his mother can say is that there's not a problem unless laser beams are involved! Then with blue eyes glinting, he asks me, "Mom, when does Dad get home?"

Because apparently Moms just don't understand the problems of brothers LOOKING at each other. Go figure.  

*This painting helped me work on one of my unspoken goals I've had for this year: work on expressing emotion in my paintings without relying on facial expressions.

Since we couldn't see the faces of these two darlings I had to focus on other things in order to get a message across. Mainly, gesture, and movement. I personally, find paintings of people where we can't see the faces to be deeply moving, if the gesture of the figures is convincing. (Karin Jurick for instance is a MASTER of this. I could stare at her paintings of people studying paintings for hours. Literally.)

I'm hoping I was able to pull that off here. My new collector seemed very happy with it. :) I'm hoping his wife was too, since it was a gift for her.

See you next week everyone and Happy New Year!! :))) Huzzah!!

"Perplexed" A Step By Step Watercolor Portrait

'Perplexed' 10" x 10"

watercolor by Crystal Cook

Sometimes I just get an itch to paint a simple portrait. I am endlessly fascinated with expression, especially the eyes. I took this photo on a cloudy day, when me and my three boys were at the park a few years ago.  While the two oldest boys ran around the playground, my youngest and I sat under a pavillion where that soft, diffused light bounced off the cement on the ground and back onto his face. 

He was about six months old, and by this point was pretty used to me taking pictures of him a million times a day. But still, he gave me this confused sort of look. Like, why in the world are we sitting in this pavillion taking yet more pictures when we could be out sliding and swinging? Hmmmm?

Suzanne Berry asked me what moves me to paint a specific subject and I guess it's almost always those two things: lighting and expression. Lighting is something I absolutely will not compromise, it has to be inspiring to me or else I will hate the painting process and then the painting will be. . . eh, *shrug*, so-so. Which is really not what I'm going for. ;)

Suzanne also asked me what my feelings are prior to the first instant I put brush to paper. I would say, excited. Because that's when I still have a perfect image in my head of what I want this painting to be, I'm still having all those giddy feelings that prompted me to start the painting in the first place. I can't wait to get started and put all those images, thoughts, and feelings into this piece.

Step One: This is the most important step. I start out by painting the lightest values in the darkest areas. In other words, I start by painting the shadows that give the face shape and contour, but I use a very light value to do it. Here I've used burnt sienna because it has a long range of values that's easy to adjust to just about any skin tone. This is where I flesh out my line drawing and start to develop a likeness.

I go over the burnt sienna with a neutral grey color that I mix out of either burnt sienna, cobalt blue, and permanent red, or brown madder, raw sienna, and french ultramarine. So basically all I'm using to make this grey are three primary colors in varying strengths and intensities. I want this to be a neutral grey, neither warm nor cool, so that later, near the end, I can push the shadows one way or the other.

Then I block in the basic shapes of the lips, eyes, and hair, paying attention to color temperature shifts.

The two main things I'm thinking about right now are: color temperature and facial structure shapes. If I get those two things right then I've already got a head start on the two most difficult aspects of painting a portrait (at least for me).

Step Two: Once I have step one done I tend to relax and play a little bit more. This is probably my favorite part, strengthening the color and picking out areas that I want to exagerate, like the blue on the sides of his nose and between his eyes. Every color that I lay down now will show through in the end (at least to some degree) so this process is a little bit like chess, thinking ahead to my next move and how that will affect the next move and on, and on to the end.

The colors I've used for the skin tones are permanent rose, raw sienna, rose madder, pthalo red, and cobalt blue.

I like to get the eyes finished right away so that I know I've got them right. It motivates me to finish it and to pay attention so I don't mess it up!

Step Three: This is pretty much the same as step two, just taken even further. I'm darkening the values and refining the shapes. I'm being extra careful to just get in and get out when I lay my brush down. So far this has been painted wet on dry paper, softening the edges with clear water just slightly after I lay the color down.

Step Four: The finish! This part takes the most time because there are all those little things that need finishing. And because I set the painting up and step back and look at it about a hundred times to see what else it needs.

I finished the hair with some lifting (I use a stiff oil painting brush that I've cut the ends off of so that it's kind of a little stub) and then some pastel for a few highlights. The colors in the hair are brown madder, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, raw sienna, and sepia.

Something that I'm thinking is important lately is to paint quickly, confidently, and then to not go back in and fuss around. Ok, ok this is something that I've always thought is important, but working with acrylics has helped me understand this even better, and has given me the practice I need to really be able to do it.

So, while there are some things I would have liked to have turned out better I restrained myself from going back in and touching it up because I knew it would lose that sparkle and freshness and I knew that I wouldn't make it any better, possibly worse.

And I like it like this anyway. That's my baby, looking perplexed at something his strange mother is doing. :) I hope you guys aren't getting tired of seeing his portrait, because I'm not going to be stopping anytime soon.

That's my portrait painting process in a nutshell. Hope you liked it. :) 

Huzzah!! 

Still Life Interruptus

Still Life Interruptus

10" x 14" watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper

The second painting in the 'Still Life Interruptus' series

A couple of weeks ago I thought it would be fun to try and paint some vegetables. By themself. In a still life. My son (the two year old above), however, had other ideas.

I had them all set up on the table right in the perfect spot of sunshine. Then my other son, who was getting ready to go to kindergarten and couldn't find his backpack, called for me. So, I left those poor defenseless tomatoes all alone on the table and went to track down a Spiderman backpack.

Now I guess I miscalculated the appeal of tomatoes left unattended because when I came back I found them with little bites taken out of them, one still in the culprit's hands, with tomato juice dripping down his chin.

I stood there with my hands on my hips, surveying the carnage and trying not to laugh when he looked up at me and said, "Not an apple."

Then went back to eating the tomato.

Final score: The two year old still life interruptus, fruit and vegetable snacker-2 

Mom-0

I don't think I'm meant to be a still life artist. But I can't complain, this painting was a lot more fun and interesting than what I had planned. :)

June 8 edit: I love the spontaneous feel of this painting so I'm going to have a new series of paintings called, yup, you guessed it, 'Still Life Interruptus' of which this painting is the second. Here is the post for the first painting 'Please?'

A note about the painting process for 'Still Life Interruptus': When Alvaro Castagnet came to the Utah Watercolor Society demo last month he said something that really stuck with me. He talked about how watercolorists have one chance to gain the attention of the big galleries. One chance against the 'king' of media, oils. Paint with passion, be bold, take risks, strive for mood, ambience, grit. The unexpected.

I pushed myself further with this painting than I usually do, although I don't think it was intentional. I wasn't thinking of Alvaro's words at the time I painted it, but remembered them when I was finished.

This painting came from my own intuition, rather than a set of rules to follow, or any acedemic knowledge of 'how one should paint'.  

I exaggerated colors and lighting. Pushing them further with each glaze. A couple of times I set the painting across the room, stepped back and looked at it, and felt sure that I ruined it. Then decided to try one more thing, which worked (Huzzah!), and made it into the painting I'd been envisioning the whole time.

Sometimes we need to just go with our gut. Trust our intuition. Paint what we feel, with passion and boldness. Rules be danged. :)

Daily Bread

'Daily Bread'

15 x 20 watercolor - finished!

"Our task is to become our best selves. One of God's greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final."  - Thomas S. Monson

This painting was a combination of joy and frustration. Joy because it was a portrait of a good friend, and there was some STUNNING light at work here. Frustration because it was a portrait of a good friend and I wanted it to be the best I could paint. I tend to stress myself out about that, needlessly I guess, but so be it. And really are we ever satisfied with the current painting on our easel? Probably not. But that's what makes us strive right?

I can say that I'm happy with where this painting is now, although I think I may be revisiting this theme again. Only because I have learned so much from this painting that next time I'll know what I would like to do differently.

I thought I'd talk a little bit about my process for anyone who was interested. If you have any questions you'd like to ask feel free.

work in progress - stage two

work in progress stage one 

 Stage one: The beginning washes are used to establish facial proportions and lay the foundation for the rest of the painting. I like to start my paintings by using the lightest value of a color in the darkest areas. I paint the darkest areas first, but with the lightest possible value. This makes what I like to call a road map. It makes for a much more enjoyable painting experience if you know right at the beginning that you have an accurate 'road map' to follow. At this point I'm painting more by feel than anything else, color selection is largely based on warm and cool areas, not too much consideration is given to the actual shade. 

Stage two: Now the fun begins. Once I know the painting is accurate I start to use more vibrant colors, focusing mostly on yellows and pinks. I'm careful with each layer of color, only laying it down and letting it blend. I don't go back in and guide it anywhere, I lay it down and then I leave it alone. This lets me build up color and form gradually and gives me a fresh look without as much of a risk of overworking it.

Stage three: Finish work. From here on out I'm much more conscious of how this painting looks as a whole. Does it flow? Is there an obvious center of interest? Where do I need stronger values or softer edges? This stage usually takes the longest amount of time because I step back so frequently to look at it and see what needs to be improved. More time looking, less time painting.

And I see that in my poll for what I should paint next the landscape and the faery girl are neck and neck! I just knew you guys would make me do a landscape. Jeez, why'd I have to put that up there? ;)

And, Kim I believe I will do an architectural something or other, you have intrigued me. :) Great suggestion.