Learning to Paint: Again

Mostly I draw. But through the years I have

occasionally painted, each time learning a bit more.

 I recently studied someone's gallery painting

because I had to write a poem in response to it.

Oooh, the craving to paint without my ink lines was sparked.

This is Day #1 of a new 5.25 X 3.5 " WCbook. From a photo 

I took in Acadia National Park, 2024

Rules: 

1. No ink lines but pre-pencil design OK.

2. Subjects: WC interpretations of Anything

3. Work fast, with little judgement & deliberation

4. Make notes about what I learned

More Card Making Process

I have fiber artist friends

who experiment wildly with mark-making, 

 media & formats. 

I love their work 

& love learning from them, trying some of their techniques.

But in the end, I come back to drawing

&  "coloring" (Gasp!!) as my favorite mode.

These days I use watercolors & Prismacolors, 

but I'm still connected to the childhood pleasure 

I had with Crayola crayons.

I pulled an image from an older journal sketch for

December greeting cards.

In the end, what I love most is 

that I be authentically expressing myself

& finding pleasure in my process,

ignoring that old inner critic.

Recently I did a jigsaw puzzle of an illustration

by my favorite illustrator, the French Sempé.

 I found great joy in learning more about how he uses

ink line & paint & felt affirmed in my way of working.

I am fascinated by grids & boxes lately. 

In the end, my idea for Christmas cards, 

(in the above photo)

evolved to these trees without the boxes.

 

China Marker Resist: Autumn Flowers

Remember crayon resist in elementary school?

Such magic when the wax lines (Crayola crayons)

got revealed by painting over them with water paints!

Here I drew with white china marker on white paper.

I loved not being able to

see exactly what I was drawing. 

A bit like blind contour drawing.

You rely on feeling the movement of your subject 

instead of the exact outlines.

Late summer sun has been intensely illuminating neighborhood gardens and flowers.

Sometimes I think I've never in my whole life

seen such beauty.

 I 'll post here as long as I can...

Still not sure I want to be forced in the new platform...

Visit to a Sketcher's Garden

I hadn't gone sketching with the group in awhile.

We visited a member's country/woods garden.

The first image was a warm up, a rather chaotic response to 

a beautiful tangle of ferns and foresty plants

and an array of vivid colors in late afternoon sun.

Then, a more tame vignette, which is actually 

a sketch from a sketch using my photo as reference,

once back home.

The observer's eye, brain, & hand, 

like the body, gets out of shape without practice

and I felt it. 

Motto for the day:

Make sketching more of a priority because

I love the whole experience!

(To "Unknown" who asked permission to download 

some of my paintings for her studies: 

I appreciate that you asked.

I would ask that you not to do it. 

I feel vulnerable about my sketches being

on someone else's computer, & used, 

without me explaining my process & teaching.

Also, since I do sell paintings, it's awkward to 

have them be used, even though I know that's a risk

of posting them on the Internet.

And, I always encourage students to not get 

too tied in to some one else's work, but to experiment,

study techniques, watch demonstrations,

& let your own voice, experience, practice 

& responses develop.)

Sketching: A Pause From Stress

7AM crowded grocery shopping 

once again triggered anxiety. 

An unhealthy looking man, 

coughing & sneezing, no mask,

lingering in the aisles. 

Scared me. 

I talked to our pleasant manager, 

but once home, tension lingered.

So I gathered my art bag

and headed to a bench in City Park.

Highlights on lively small waves,
like 4th of July sparklers, 
sun & breeze. 

View of Penobscot Bay to Blue Hill  

and the distant mountains of Acadia.

It didn't completely take away my stress, 

but for some brief moments

I breathed in healthy air. 

And sketched.

Sticker and Dot Play

 

While listening to the news of the virus,

I was soothed by painting Dots. 

Dots, again? 
You're supposed to be sketching,

Sketchbook Wandering!

I went through a major Dot Phase 

not too long ago.

Recently a reader, "minimal shine", 

asked about the Dot Stickers

that were on my last daily journal cover . 

To see that post, click HERE.

The Dot Stickers are some of my favorite stickers.

(Yes, I'm also going through a Sticker Phase. 

And at my age!)

 

So pretty, and even the dots have little dots!

They are called Sticko Color Bubbles, 

found at Michael's.

The Postal Service is also going through a Dot Phase.

The latest Celebrate postage stamp!

All of a sudden, while doing this post, 

Dots were everywhere!

Even my measuring cups turned into Dots.

Even the soap suds were made up of tiny dots!

The recently organized fountain pen inks.

Yes! The lids were Dots!

Like a happy school girl,

 I'm still merrily pasting little stickers 

into my current daily journal.

In between the writing & the tracking,

I'm also inserting 

my own drawings & paintings & colors.

I may leave the Sticker Phase,

but I don't think I will EVER get over Dots,

 or Drawing & Painting.

(To minimal shine

 let me know that you got the info!)

A Gift of Sunflowers

My neighbor dropped off a gift

of a big bunch of sunflowers.

They cheer me,

especially on these grey, rainy days

in a world that is struggling,

and while I am in most of the time.

It's been awhile since I've drawn on a larger scale,

(about 11 by 12 ").

I did this as an electronic thank you note 

for my neighbor. 

Thanks to YOU for visiting me here.

Please do leave a note.

What I've Been Up To...

A little sketching with the Sketchers...

At a most magical shop in town, Brambles...

The owner always welcomes us! 

(I have previous posts/sketches from Brambles...)

Quick sketches when I'm out. 

Still carrying the book everywhere.

This was lunch at the Coop, a great Sketch-Op.

Enjoying my Prismacolors. Here,

they were basking in winter sunlight that streamed in

through the back door blinds.

 Prismacolors on my new "mini memory" daily calendar, 

inspired by the great sketch blog of Lin, View From the Oak
& her "Smallies". Do visit her blog! 

A great form of journaling!

Card calendars for my bulletin board.

Been playing with collage a bit.

Ongoing Daily Journal ritual. Every morning with coffee.

I'm adding more color, drawings & paste-ins

than before.

 

This was the bottom corner of a page. 

That's Washi tape as the base.

Envelope-pocket-journal-folio books, 

taught by local paper craft artist & teacher, Robinsunne. 

Current one in progress.

Elements taped with temporary cellophane tape.

 I mostly didn't send out holiday cards.
I gave a few of these to folks in my Zumba class. 
I hope you all had a fun holiday season.

 My new cork board on the mantle. 
A reminder that I want to paint more without ink line...
A challenge, & outside my comfort zone!

Above, some are mine, some are inspirations by others.

Great time of year for making art!

The Chaos of Unfinished Projects

I  attended a weeklong Book Arts Course at the University.

So many super workshops with accomplished artists: 

"Letters to the Page", a workshop on calligraphy as related

to the art book, began with mark making, 

loosening up on giant paper.

My cup of tea, spontaneous, direct.

 "Comics-Based Narrative Workshop":

Triggered lots of spontaneous story ideas 

& an awareness of the art of the graphic novel.

"Cross Structure Bindings" taught hand sewing!

Not spontaneous & direct, but: 

I loved the calm & orderly process. Not chaotic!

"Printed Patterns & Accordion Books"!! 

Making large sheets using childhood crayon resist, 

but this time it was

a white China Marker under Daniel Smith watercolors!

Above, I created small panels outside of class.

(But that accordion is unfinished.)

I had a makeshift studio in my home away from home

during the week on one simple card table.

It was easier to focus, no bills, paperwork, dishes or laundry.

 In my own home my dining area has become my workspace. (It's my favorite space in the house.) 

And now the work is spreading to the living area!  Arghhh!

 It may not look that chaotic (I spiffied it up for the photos

the way you clean for guests), 

but my unfinished final project for the class exhibition, 

& other projects, are everywhere! 

My unfinished wildflower book...so little left to do,

and yet I am stuck...

And there are so many other ideas

that haven't even begun to materialize on paper

but are swimming around in my brain.

Wouldn't the solution be to move the work
to a separate studio space?

Not sure, because a lot of the unfinished chaos 

seems to be in my head.

Sketching: One reason I love it: 

It's my direct, spontaneous response.

I don't deliberate & agonize over too many ideas & choices.  

Oh, Dear Readers, please give me some tips for

escaping this stuckness,

because I just want to finish my 3 handmade books!

Café With a Fellow Sketcher

I met one of The Sketchers at a café downtown...

She is our steadiest & most persistent member

& a total inspiration.

It's so nice to sketch with someone else...

We draw, we chat a little...it frees my process...

Takes the pressure off that my brain wants to impose.

That's my Kakuno fountain pen 

filled with Platinum Carbon waterproof ink. 

The pen is very inexpensive,

but draws super well on Moleskine sketch journal paper. 

It felt like the pen was drawing rather than me!

Snippets Not Sketches

 Back to playing with watercolor snippets & now, 

watercolor buttons. Buttons-bullets-chips-charms-dots...

Coincidentally I painted my dots at Dot's Café, 

unaware of the connection until later.  Fun!

                       

They were inspired by Robinsunne,

a local artist & teacher.

She makes "paper charms" in sandwiched pairs. 

Like beads, they embellish her journals.

To view one of her video tutorials

click here. For creating her paper pockets, another link.

A store bought envelope with 3 pockets,

inspired by Robinsunne's 

Tri-fold Pocket Journal Making Techniques

as seen in the linked videos.

The envelopes were intended for my color snippets,

(in the 1st photo), but there were too many, 

& I didn't want to hide them.

I think I'll put in some secret messages instead. 

I have some plans for my paper buttons.

Maybe you, Dear Readers, have some ideas...

Ideas or not, please do leave me a comment!

The Skeletal Views of Winter

Out the living room window on a cloudy, post-snowfall day. 

In summer hummingbirds frequented the azalea bush.

They & the blossoms are gone,

but skeletal scenes of winter are very much here!

Stage 1 of the sketch. The minimalism of winter!

Sketchbook Wandering, close to home...

In and Out of Lines

My tiny holiday Zumba Girls have changed to Winter Girls.

When I'm watercoloring their fashions, I'm reminded of

my hours of coloring in childhood. 

Later coloring books were shunned by everyone I knew

as being detrimental to creativity. 

Now they are tremendously popular with adults,

& are sold as meditative activities. 

Are coloring books good or bad or neither?

My Prismacolors have replaced Crayolas.

Making this chart also felt like childhood coloring days.

I've been thinking about staying in lines, or not,

sharp edges verses soft, tight verses loose. 

Punching out colored penciled stars from my swatches creates sharp, 

manufactured edges and shapes.

Is this good for creativity, or bad, or neither?

What are your thoughts?