Balance

Trying to maintain myself as an artist when I am teaching full time is stressing me out. How do you do it???

Smaller works? Very few shows?? This weekend I looked into applying to some shows and the logistics of finishing work, getting it framed, photoed and off to submission -- with just a few hours available every weekend boggled me. Maybe I must just focus on doing artwork and showing etc later when I am freer??? any ideas anyone?

Sennelier Experiment

Yes!!! just as delicious as the Shiva Oil Sticks -- smooth, blendable -- I love them.

Thought

From a beautiful book I just received:
"'After 9/11, artists were doing dark and depressing works, I just wanted to do a 180'. In doing so Beane made an affirmative statement about life. These photographs reflect the deeply felt human need not merely to survive but to make something worthwhile out of life, even under the bleakest circumstances." A. Janson about photographer Christopher Beane.

It reminded me of when I was at Berkeley during the Vietnam War protests -- and feeling that we must also (in addition to protesting) continue to paint -- to create beauty -- that beauty in the world must prevail.

Sennelier

oh man -- just tried Sennelier oil pastels -- I am stoked!! soft smooth yummy. Will switch to these for main work and just use the Holbeins for fine line detail.

Finished Cyclamen

Many hours later (anywhere from 9 to 14+ hours = sore fingers!) the drawing is finished. I carefully check all shapes making sure that they "work" -- that they read as form -- that they are not flat. Often the hardest part of a drawing is choosing the background color -- in this drawing it works perfectly -- but I am not always so lucky!!

I love the dynamic out there energetic composition of this drawing. It stretches you.

More Shapes

I continue working completing a shape before I move onto another shape. As shapes are finished I often will go back to a shape to fine tune it -- to adjust a value to strengthen that illusion of form.

Blending

Then with a soft cloth wrapped around a finger I blend the colors together to create a smooth transition between each color. I add more layers of color and blend -- creating a transition that begins to create the illusion of three dimensions, of form.

First Layer

I choose a shape in the drawing where I want to begin. Then I begin by rubbing color from the oil pastels or the oil paint sticks onto my finger -- then rub this color from my finger into the paper.

Success

begins with getting started.

(I love this quote -- and so with my next posts, I will get started with the Cyclamen drawing)

Next

I lightly grid my paper to quarters and draw from my photograph. Even though I slightly abstract and simplify my photographs for my art work-- I want the shapes of my subject matter to be accurately drawn to size. Then I do color experiments -- testing several different color schemes to choose a light to dark value range for the drawing. For this Cyclamen drawing I chose peach (lightest value), napthol red (middle value), dioxazine purple and olive green (darkest value).
Color is so yummy!!!

I Begin a Drawing

by looking through my photos of natural forms: bones, flowers, shells... I take all of my own photographs. Some days you just cannot draw/paint for whatever reason (honor your rhythms), those are great days to wander the desert, gardens and photograph -- to renourish your spirit, your inspiratation. After choosing a few photos that inspire me that day, I use a viewfinders to create interesting compositions. I keep the viewfinders in proportion to my paper sizes. I could create various sized compositions and just cut my paper, but then I would need many sizes of mats and frames -- this year I am experimenting with limiting my paper and frame sizes to three sizes to save framing costs. When I have decided on a composition, I tape a small sheet of plastic over the photo and grid it to quarters.

My Drawing Supplies

My next posts will take you with me through a drawing.
I use Holbein Oil Pastels and Shiva Oil/Paint Sticks on a very smooth heavy weight Bristol paper. I experimented with many papers, but I prefer this very smooth surface because I can more easily blend colors that flow one into the other. The xacto knife is used to cut off the waxy film that drys on the Shiva sticks. The cloth is used to help rub the pastels and oil stick color into the paper and to blend layers of colors together.

My Studio

I shall start my process with a "tour" of my current studio. I have had large airy studios in my life. But now I work in a very small room -- around 11'x11'. But as you can see from the large canvas on my table, I do not let this small size stop me. "Where there's a will, there's a way." The most important thing in my studio is my 4'x8' table. I have had this table and its supporting shelves since the early 1980's. I love it!!! It has worked flexibly in every studio I have had. And it works for all my projects: 3 yard lengths of fabric when I hand paint silk yardage, for designing clothing patterns-cutting fabric-and sewing my clothing, for painting and for drawing. Speaking of flexible, I like "furniture" that is made from components that can be mixed, moved around -- shelving units, hollow core doors and sheets of plywood for table tops -- this works best for me. I always have a large bulletin board in my studio to pin up work in progress and a place for inspiration -- photos of masks, southwest colors, magic, nature, ideas for future projects, and photos of my soul's home: Big Sur California. As you can see I am very inspired! I love looking up to this cacophony of color when I am doing my art work.

The Beginning

I have decided to do a blog to share my creative process: what inspires me, why it does so, how I work, step-by-step art work creation. I am looking forward to this more personal sharing.