Perspective (revisited)

First Touch

5 x 7 watercolor

Most of you who follow my blog know that I write as well as paint, and yesterday I finally did something that I've been dreaming about doing my whole life. I finished my novel. I've started about twenty and I have one other novel that's nearly finished, but this one is the first fully completed book that I've ever written.

I was ecstatic. I felt completely triumphant that I set a goal and then saw it through to the end. It was a good feeling.

And then, about an hour later, I received a phone call telling me that a friend of mine had been killed in a car accident.

Suddenly, things like novel writing and art making seemed of such little importance.

I looked around my house, still in shock that she was actually gone, and saw my family all safe and healthy in my home within arms reach of a hug, or kiss, or a whispered 'I love you.'

And I gained some perspective. A new realization that life is precious and we have no guarantees that the people we love will be around for us to tell them, or show them how we feel one more time.

It's so easy to go through life thinking it will never change, that the people we love will always be around. 

But that isn't true, things always change.

Since last night, I've been hugging my family closer to me, trying to imprint in my brain everything I never want to forget about them, trying to live without regrets. Letting them know that they are my life, showing them that I am so thankful that they are mine, and that they are still here.

Timeless Remedy

10 x 14 watercolor

"We often take for granted the very people who most deserve our gratitude. Let us not wait until it is too late for us to express that gratitude. . . The loss of loved ones almost inevitably brings some regrets to our hearts. Let's minimize such feelings as much as humanly possible by frequently expressing our love and gratitude to them. We never know how soon it will be too late."

Thomas S. Monson



Sketchbook Friday

tiger study

graphite on bristol 8 x 10

I know, it's not a landscape. But I needed to sketch something and this guy taking a swim looked like the perfect subject to me. I've got some thinking and planning to do with my landscape still.

I kept things looser with this drawing. I wanted to be quick and expressive with my pencil marks. Overall I'm pleased with it, although getting those stripes placed correctly was a bit tricky.

Here's something I've learned about drawing that I wished I'd done more of when I first started. Make your marks boldly and confidently. It doesn't matter if you're a little bit off with the placement, chances are that it will 'read' with more power and impact if you don't go lightly.

Happy weekend everyone. :)

WIP Wednesday and Small Things To Be Thankful for

watercolor work in progress

15 x 20

Remember a few posts ago when I told the story of my two year old who ate my still life set up? Well this is what I've decided to paint instead of plain old apples. There's a story here which hopefully will be more apparent when this painting's finished. You'll have to wait and see. :)

And my 'what to paint next' poll is over and do you see what I have to paint now? A landscape. This should be interesting. I've never felt particularly drawn to landscapes and since I'm a bit of a detail type person this will be a challenge for me. I'm trying to think of what kind of landscape it should be. Probably something with snow, because it's winter here in Utah.

Now, on to Small Things To Be Thankful For:

1. My kids are out of school for Thanksgiving break and thus today I will not be a taxi driver all day long. This makes me happy as I have recently discovered that a very large portion of my day is spent in my car ferrying kids to and fro all their different activities. I love my car and all, but we need a little bit of a break.

2. My husband is not making his famous creme brulee for Thanksgiving this year. This of course was initially on my list of Things To Cry About (remember how I'm a bit of a list junkie?), but I've decided to look on the bright side. So, no sinfully, seductive, delicious creme brulee but also no 5,000+ calorie desert. My skinny jeans say thank you.

3. There are people out there (ahem. . . that would be you reading this :) who like what I paint and are kind enough to take the time to tell me so. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. :)

4. We had a severe snow storm (so the weather people say) last night and now my kids are out building The World's Best Snow Fort. Complete with stairs, a second floor, and turrets I believe. At least that's what the blueprint they made said.

5. My husband telling me I'm beautiful. I never get tired of hearing that. All you husband's out there, consider this information I've just given you your secret weapon.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Your turn. What are you thankful for?

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.

Sketchbook Tuesday

Yellow Lab sketch

graphite on bristol

I'm starting to feel a little restless with my artwork again. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I have too many halfway finished projects. Maybe I just need a change of pace, some new subject matter, different color combos, different medium.


So, I'm asking for your help. On the side of my blog there is a poll asking which subject you'd like to see me paint or draw next. Go ahead and vote and tell me what you'd like to see, it's all up to you. Or at least, those four or five choices are.

Of course, if you'd like to see something different, feel free to leave your suggestion in the comments. I'd love to hear it! Thanks guys. :)

And here's a great little quote that lifts me up on those days when I'm just feeling blah.

"To grow as an artist, to go past your present limits, you have to take chances that aren't always productive. But with every chance you take, you learn something whether you succeed or fail. If you play it safe you learn nothing but fear of the unknown."

Arne Westerman (Grand master awesome in the awesome artist club. And yes, I did just invent that club. Pretty sweet huh?)

Left Behind

"Left Behind"

5 x 7 watercolor

click here to bid

I'm the youngest in my family and I seriously hero worshipped my older sister. Wherever she went, I wanted to go too. I felt like I deserved to go, I mean why wouldn't she want her cute and never annoying little sister around her ALL. THE. TIME?

I still don't get it.

She was pretty good about letting me come with her almost all the time. Except for those times when she had dates or dances. Then I had to stay home. :( Come on, you didn't want your little sister to go on your dates with you either?  That's just shocking.

I imagine I looked a little like this horse when I had to stay home. Except for a fence, it would have been my face pressed to the window.

I watched this horse get left behind for some reason (maybe she was sick, or not strong enough to go on long mountain treks with the others) all summer long. And every time she would wait at the fence, leaning into it and craning her neck to try and get a glimpse of her friends.

It was really touching to see her devotion and it reaffirmed to me that in some ways we're not all that different from animals. We all just want to be with the people (or in this case, horses) we love.

On a little bit lighter note, a few days ago I heard from a blog reader, Jake, who thought he had a better idea for the title of a recent piece I posted.

I'm always open to suggestions and honestly, I kind of titled this painting in a moment of desperation. I was in an EXTREME hurry and called it the first thing that came to mind.

But I think I like Jake's title better. So, I'm rechristening "Radiance" to. . .

"A Rather Blustery Day"

Thanks for the great title Jake!

I'll see you guys later, have a great next couple of days!

Of horses, haircuts, penguins and lemurs

"Stormy"

8 x 10 watercolor

A very early equine portrait, I think this was actually one of my first. But I still really like parts of this painting, especially the colors. They're very clean and true and I remember really striving for that. Isn't it fun (usually) to look back at your early works and see that it wasn't as bad as you thought it was?

Which brings me to Motivational Monday: 

I caved. *

Finally.

I put it off long enough.

One too many kind-hearted, good-intentioned, but-rather-misguided grandmotherly types told me how darling my little girl is.

That's right, LITTLE GIRL.

So, you see that clearly I had no other choice. *hangs head*

And so. . . I present to you. . . Samson's almost demise

There may have been some dissension in the ranks. A haircut was seriously going to cramp his style.

However, I don't think it's entirely because of the haircut. It may have something to do with those creepy little penguins on that smock.

See? No more penguins, no more tears.

Apparently the loss of his hair has not completely affected his charm (unlike poor Samson). He was still able to score that awesome sucker.  

Motivational Monday Tip Of The Day: It won't be as bad as you think it will be. Send in that prospectus for that major art competition, talk to the gallery owner about hosting your show, be brave, go forth and conquer! Huzzah!

And if you fail this time, try again. A few tears never hurt anybody.

Penguins on the other hand. . .  Well, I have no guarantees with penguins.

 

Cute and cuddly boys, cute and cuddly.

Lemurs, however, are entirely trustworthy.

 But that's a post for another day. 

*The post in which I finally cut my two year olds hair, to my utter dismay.

Radiance

'Radiance'

pastel on toned paper 11 x 14

I did this piece today just for you. So I hope you like it. :)

I had nothing to post since I'm working on two large paintings that have a lot of detail and they are taking me FOR-E-VER. And I'm still trying to get the colored pencil piece from this post finished and it's slow going too.

But it's good. I don't mean to say that slow is bad. It's therapeutic and meditative and all that. Except for impatient people like me. I have to tell myself every time I put brush to paper "DON'T rush this!" 

That has been one of the most important things for me to learn with the way I like to paint. I don't have to paint fast. There's no hurry. I like to have glowing color and accurate facial features. And for me to do that I have to take my time. It's fine. I've come to grips with this reality. Mostly. :)

I had a few questions from the previous post that I did not get to answer (life is hectic! But what else is new?) I read all of your comments and they really mean a lot to me. Thanks for taking the time to tell me what you think! You guys rock in an all out glorious way.

These are the questions that I can remember. If I forgot yours ask me again okay? I'm having a blonde day.

Where've you been? Here! I promise. Just busy. I'm glad you guys missed me though. And I mean that in a good way. Also in addition to my painting, mommy, wife, and church jobs I've decided to do NaNoWriMo.

What the heck is NaNoWriMo you ask? It's National Novel Writing Month. The idea is you write an entire novel, start to finish, 50,000 words (which ends up being a book about the size of 'The Great Gatsby') in 30 days.

Yes, I agree with you.

I am crazy.

But, it's a lot of fun and I'm totally in love with my story so far. There's a little widget on the side of my blog that shows my progress to the 50,000 word deadline. You can cheer me on if you want! I love cheerleaders!

Do you prefer bristol to regular cartridge paper? Yes, I do. Most of the time. Bristol is very smooth and is great for drawings with lots of detail. I really love it for colored pencil pieces. But it's not so great for work where you want texture and lots of nice line work. At least in my opinion. So when I use charcoal or pastel I don't use bristol. I like a paper that has some tooth or a really great sanded surface.

And, last but not least, tonight is the opening reception for the Carriage House Gallery Holiday Invitational Exhibit. It runs from tonight until December 30. And there are two artist receptions. One is tonight from 6 - 9 and the other one is December 3 from 6 - 9.

If you feel like taking in some art in Ogden stop by and see me! It'll be fun.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sketchbook Wednesday

graphite on bristol

     My sketchbook posts are mostly just for practice and my own enjoyment. The photo references I use sometimes come from magazines and books for no other reason than I was drawn to that particular image. This sketch comes from the cover of a horse magazine I got when I was about twelve. Yes I have kept it for seventeen years.  At least the cover, I ripped it off and stuck it in a folder to use as a reference one day. And today is that day.

     The appeal for me here is the horse's face. It's beautiful and I like beautiful things. :) I love the delicate curves in her jaw and her big dark eyes. And maybe part of the appeal comes from the fact that horses were a huge part of my life when I was twelve and I'm feeling a little bit nostalgic about this photo, and the memories it triggers for me of all the hours I spent pouring over every single bit of horse related knowledge I could find.

     *sigh* Life was a lot more simple back then.

     But now I'm curious about the rest of you. What was your childhood passion? And do you use that in any of your art today?

     Books and horses. Those were mine. Put them together and I was in heaven. For real. :)

     See you guys later. I hope you're all having a fantastic day and staying out of your kids Halloween candy stash. I am proud to say that this year I have. But only because I bought my own stash the day before Halloween. Mwahaha!!

Wonder

"Wonder"

10 x 14 watercolor

A few months ago I watched my youngest son (above, at about eighteen months old) playing with his stuffed Elmo and Winnie the Pooh in a gorgeous shaft of sunlight streaming in through his bedroom window. 

So, of course I ran to grab my camera. As soon as he spotted me watching him he stopped playing and came to sit by me, bringing Elmo for me to play with (there's no way he was letting anyone, not even Mom, play with his Pooh bear).

I tried to get him to play by himself again, just for a minute, so I could get some pictures to paint from. And he did, but most of the photos came out looking forced. Like some mother was obviously trying to pose her cute kid. :)

Strange huh?

But there was one moment when I caught him sitting in the shadows watching me when I was adjusting my camera. His eyes full of curiosity, innocence and wonder. And I just happened to be quick enough to catch him with this expression.

I'm very happy with how this painting turned out. :)

Some days as a stay at home mom seem to be filled with nothing but endless chores and routine tasks. Some days are hard. But there are also days that are filled with incredible sweetness and beauty.

That's when I remember that far too soon there will be a day when I'm not asked to play Elmo and Winnie the Pooh. There will be a day when I'm not the center of one little boy's world. That's when I try to remember that today is not that day, so I can savor it while I can.

More work in progress and Motivational Monday

watercolor work in progress 15 x 20

The other day I was telling my husband that I didn't think this painting was going where I wanted it to and that I was thinking of starting over. Watercolor's tough in that if you want it to look really spectacular you need to get it right the first time, and I wasn't feeling it was 'right' in some areas.

Anyway, being the amazing and supportive husband that he is, he said, "You always do that (meaning, I don't feel satisfied with a painting and so I start over. . . It's true, I do that. It makes for a lot of paper wasting). Why don't you just work on a different area and then see what you think?"

So I did. And I like it more now. It's coming together. Sometimes I think I just forget that most paintings go through an awkward adolescent phase. They're just not that cute anymore and really, sometimes kind of annoying.

No offense adolescents, I was awkward and annoying once too. Okay. . . so I still am. :) But, I digress.

Moving on to my Motivational Tip Of The Day: Just keep working, it will get better. It might hurt a little (or a lot) and it might not always be fun, but it will get better.

For example:

Yep.

P 90 X!

Last week I started doing this P90X workout. My husband has been doing it for a while and he challenged me to try it. I think he was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it. Or maybe he just thought it would be funny to see me limp around the house for the next five days. (And yes, he did indeed get to see that)

 I said of course I can do one measly hour of exercise. I mean pu-leaze, I ran a half marathon this year don't you know?! I can do this. No sweat. Bring it on.

Yeah. . . 

So, I did it. And the full hour too, but it was HARD! Like crazy hard. And just so you know, I'm not a wimp when it comes to working out, the more challenging the better for me. I love it. I know, that probably makes me a little neurotic. But, that's me.

My point is, that this workout was not like what I'd previously been doing (which was just running) at all. Not even close. And I'll admit that I was seriously feeling very wimpy when it came time to do about fifty different varieties of pushups, and I could barely make it through 10. Nevermind that the girl on the DVD is a little, tiny thing and whips out 30 (!!!) millitary style push ups right next to the men! Holy cow she was awesome.

It was painful (in a good way:) and it was kind of discouraging at times, but I know that I'll never be able to do 30 millitary style pushups unless I start out doing 10 girly ones now. I have to go through the pain and discouragement now to get to the good part later.

Endure. Persevere. Nevah, nevah, nevah give up.

It all pays off in the end.

So, you tell me. When was the last time you did something that was really hard, but paid big rewards in the end? Art related or not. :)

Resplendent

"Resplendent"

5 x 7 watercolor

click here to bid

      Yesterday I wanted to paint something that I could start and finish in one day, something that would have lots of color and light, and something that would be fun. A no stress painting.

      I think that a rose fit that description perfectly. I really enjoyed painting this, it was FUN. I liked that I was able to concentrate more on the abstract shapes of the flower, that I could let the paint flow and mingle a little more than I usually do and that I got to use all that pink! My favorite! :)

     And I'm really having fun with this smaller size. I'm thinking of giving this painting a day thing a try, at least a few times a week. You'll probably be seeing more of them from me. :) 

     I used this beautiful, warm pink color on this rose, but it had been on my palette for so long that I've forgotten what color it is! I now have to go through my tubes of paint and try and match it. D-oh! It's not one of the more common pink hues like permanent rose or rose madder, I think it was a Quinacridone color. At least I've narrowed it down a little right? And, I seriously LOVE those quinacridone colors. SO pretty.

      Have a great weekend everyone!

WIP Wednesday

work in progress 15 x 20 watercolor (detail)

     This is one of the first spiritual pieces of art that I've ever done. Some of my favorite artists paint Christian scenes and I've always wanted to do that. I never have because I always felt like I needed to hone my skills a little more. I wanted it to be the best that I could make it. So I guess you could say I was a little intimidated.

     This painting has been a really cool experience for me. I won't tell you the story behind it yet because it's not finished and this is just a small piece of it, and it would be spoilery if I told you right now. But maybe you have an idea of what it's about anyway, if you do I'd love to hear it. :) 

     I still need to deepen the color and adjust the values. I'm enjoying painting this, but it is taking me forever because I'm being very careful not to mess it up! Hopefully I won't. :) Until tomorrow friends!

Sketchbook Monday

wolf pup sketch

     This sketch was kind of an experiment to see what kind of variety I could get with my marks. All that I used here was a 6B pencil (which used to be my favorite, but now I find a bit too soft) and a kneaded eraser, no finger smudging or tortillons or anything like that.

     While I was working on it I kept thinking that it wasn't turning out, I didn't think I liked it, and maybe I should just trash the whole thing. But I really hate to abandon a project so I just kept pushing through. When I was finished I put the sketch aside and didn't look at it for a while. So when I finally turned it over and saw it I was pleasantly surprised. I kinda liked it now.

     Isn't it funny how that works? Just a little time away from our work and we're able to see it in a different light. I always love to put a painting away at night and then look at it again in the morning, there's almost always something there that I didn't see the night before. Some part of the painting that I really like that I don't even remember doing. Does that happen to you too?

     And thanks for all the encouragement and tips about my oil painting question. :) You guys are awesome. But,I have decided not to try oils right now. I just really don't have the time to devote to learning a whole new medium. But, one day I will. Maybe when all my kids are in school.

     And, for those of you who suggested I do a painting of my half eaten apple still life, you will want to keep an eye on my upcoming works in progress because I have a piece I think you will love. :)