Tuscany in pigments and paints

A painting I have in progress: another Tuscan farmhouse scene, in a mix of acrylics and earth tone pigments. I'm struggling with where to go next. Maybe the sky will get some more color.

Happy holidays!

Gold leaf icon

 

For my last art class (experimental techniques in acrylic), the 'experimental technique' was gold leaf. Which immediately makes me think of Byzantine religious icons. At first I was trying to think up ways to incorporate the gold leaf into a cityscape like ones I've been working on recently, but in the end I decided to just play around and see what came out. After all, I took this class in order to try new things, and while I have tried new materials, my subject matter has remained pretty standard most weeks.

The result was two paintings: one abstract black and red square of which I didn't manage to get a good photo, and this icon painting. It came out looking much more religious than I intended. I do like some of the shapes I created in it, though. Not sure what I'm going to do with the painting now.

Overall I'm glad I took the art class. I had hoped for a class heavier on the critique and on the technique instruction, but I still managed to get something out of this class. At the very least it had me painting for three straight hours each week, usually finishing at least one if not two paintings in that time. Just imagine if I could impose such discipline on myself in my home studio... Also the teacher gave me some ideas for places in Munich I could contact about exhibiting my work, and a fellow student said she might know of a space, too. Good stuff.

5 things

I was tagged by the lovely and talented Leah for a meme which involves writing a post on "five things you do that help keep you mentally well". So here goes...

1. Creating things - writing, painting, drawing... it all works.
2. Moving my body - when my body's happy, my mind's happy.
3. Connecting with other people - as an introvert, I have a tendency to keep to myself, but fighting this tendency and reaching out to others on a daily basis does wonders for my well-being.
4. Experiencing new things - too much routine drives me crazy. I like to do at least a little something new every day.
5. Being - I mean this as opposed to 'doing'. Time for doing nothing is good every once in a while.

I'm supposed to end by tagging 5 others, but I'm not really sure that there are five people out there reading this blog, so I'll just say... if you're reading this and want to play along, consider yourself tagged. :)

photo: in-progress self portrait, pigment on canvas.

Signing up for a creative 2009

I enjoyed Art Every Day Month so much last month that I've decided to join in for Leah's Creative Every Day Challenge for 2009.

I'm looking forward to more interaction with the online community of creatives I've gotten to know over the past month.

Playing with pigments

Last night in my art class (Experimental Acrylic Techniques) we used pigments. The teacher brought in five or six natural pigments, which we mixed with water and medium to get a paint-like consistency. And then we painted. It took a little while to get used to the different qualities of the pigments, the varying coverage they offered, etc. The limited palette also took some getting used to, since most of my works involve the whole spectrum. I spent about two hours working on the above Tuscan farmhouse painting (20 x 24 inches, on canvas). I was frustrated with it because the piece looked really boring to me. The teacher disagreed and suggested it was done. I admit I like it much more today than I did last night. I was sure I was going to paint over it as of yesterday, but today I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

I came home with a substantial amount of leftover pigments (and a partially-completed self portrait I worked on for the last 30 minutes of class). I can't decide what I want to do with them. Another attempt at a Tuscan scene, perhaps? The colors do seem fitting. Or perhaps I'll use them in some sort of mixed-media experiment. Hmmm.

Tuscany painting: done?

acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 cm.

I think this one is done, or close. I'm going to set it aside for a week or so and see how I feel about it after that.

AEDM month is over; now what?

Art Every Day Month was a blast. On one hand it seems like it flew by; on the other I feel like art has been a daily habit forever. I am so grateful for Leah and all the other creative folks I have gotten to know through this challenge. I have been so inspired by your work and by the sense of community that AEDM created. The kind, encouraging words you have left as comments on my work have overwhelmed me and made me smile again and again. Thank you. I look forward to continuing to follow your blogs well beyond the end of AEDM.



Over the course of AEDM I have finished at least 7 paintings and have 4 or 5 more in progress. I've filled about half of a sketchbook, a sketchbook I've had since 2004, which is now 2 pages away from being completely full. I've played around with collage, pen & ink, pastels, charcoal, magic markers, and more. Plus I managed to post on this blog 32 times, which pretty much doubled the number of posts here.

So what now? I'm going to continue with this habit of creating every day. I'd like to finish up my works-in-progress by the end of the year, and start and finish a couple more. In addition, I'd like to keep experimenting with new subjects, materials, and techniques (for example, today I played around with image transfer for the first time - the partial result of which is pictured above). I won't necessarily post about my activities every day, but I'm going to aim to check in at least every other day to keep myself accountable.

I also think I'll spend December working through The Vein of Gold, the sequel to The Artist's Way which I started on quite a while ago, and then abandoned after the first chapter. Has anyone else completed this book?

AEDM day 30: more progress on Tuscany

Here we are, the last day of AEDM. I'll write some more thoughts about this month tomorrow, but wow has it been a fabulous experience. Many, many thanks to Leah for organizing and inspiring us all.

Today I made a little more progress on the Tuscany painting I started earlier this month. I made the mistake of loving this one early on, which makes progress hard - I'm so afraid to ruin it that sometimes I feel paralyzed. I'm trying to get over that and just move ahead. So far so good.

AEDM day 29: collage

I like the idea of collage, but I'm not very good (or experienced) at it. Anyway, in the spirit of trying new things for AEDM, I ripped apart a few magazines today and played around with it. At first I was looking for 'images that appealed to me' in the magazines, per instructions for a collage project I was following, but that didn't inspire me much. I found myself more drawn to pieces of images or colors, so I went for those instead. And then I just started gluing. I didn't produce anything particularly interesting, but I do feel like I learned from the process. I think I could do better next time.



If I were to name this one, I'd call it Purple Mountain Majesty.

I can't believe Art Every Day Month is almost over!

AEDM day 28: cold nights in the city

Yesterday evening's 'Experimental Acrylic Techniques' class was productive, if not quite in the intended way. The experimental material presented to us was white acrylic glaze, which we were to drizzle onto our paintings through a hole poked in the bottom of a plastic cup dangling from a string. The concept made me think of rain, so I set to work on two canvases, having no plan but vaguely intending to produce rainy day scenes. The drizzly glaze was more suited to abstract pictures, I would think, but I am practically incapable of producing abstract art.



At any rate, the resulting paintings came out better than I expected, and the teacher all but forbade me to use the drippy glaze on them. So I ended up with a couple plain old acrylic paintings.

The darkness of the paintings makes them particularly hard to photograph without glare, so I'm including two photos of each scene, taken in different lights. The first ones are more accurate. They are both acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm; I haven't named them yet.

AEDM day 27: strange

Today just feels strange. The Christmas markets opened all over the city today, and the mood is festive and fun. At the other end of the spectrum, good friends of mine remain holed up in their hotel room in Mumbai, waiting for the terrorist attacks to be over.

Oh, and it's Thanksgiving. I'll be celebrating with some American friends later tonight at the Hard Rock Cafe, of all places. How's that for strange?

AEDM day 26: in Tuscany

It feels somehow decadent, to work on a new painting when I have so many others in progress that need finishing up. But I'm enjoying myself. This is the beginning of a Tuscan scene that I've wanted to paint for a while now. I think there will end up being a whole series of them.

AEDM day 25: more Volksbad

A million thanks for all of the thoughtful, helpful input I received on yesterday's post. Your ideas have really helped invigorate me as I think about what to do next with those two paintings.

Today I did a little more work on this little painting, including inserting the tree. I like the way it's coming along, but I don't feel like it's finished yet.

I also filled three sketchbook pages with writing today. One contained Gratitude and the other contained Accomplishments. The idea for writing out my accomplishments came from fellow AEDM participant A Feminist Wife. The gratitude idea was inspired by the latest Art Biz Blog newsletter, which talks about, as you may have guessed by now, gratitude. It was easy to fill the page with things I am grateful for. The third page contains a mixture of goals and wishes for 2009 - things I would like to accomplish in the next year, mostly. It might become a jumping-off point for more concrete goal-setting.

AEDM day 24: stuck

I have been working on these two paintings on and off for the past couple weeks. With both of them I've reached the point where I don't know what to do next. I know they both probably need some big changes before they are done, but I just am not seeing what those changes are right now. So I'd like to ask you for some input. Any suggestions for how to proceed with either painting? Any parts you feel are particularly unresolved or that you particularly like? I'd really appreciate any feedback you'd like to offer. Think of it as a virtual critique. :)

AEDM day 23: homage to my houseguest

As of today we have a very handsome visitor in our apartment. He's so adorable I can't stop staring at him. He was kind enough to pose for me as I completed today's AEDM creation, which doesn't begin to encompass his charm.

Today was a very good art day. In addition to a couple cat sketches (with water-soluble pastels), I did a little work on my Volksbad painting. Plus I spent the afternoon at Typisch München! (Typical Munich), an exhibition encompassing much of the art, history, and folklore of this lovely city. I was particularly intrigued by the cityscape paintings, since I'm currently working on paintings of the very same subject matter. The level of detail and geometric precision on some of them was amazing. As much as I enjoy depicting places I love, I hate straight lines. In my own work, at least.

AEDM day 22: Eyeflowers

Our party yesterday evening went very well. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and it was a very fun crowd. It made me happy to realize how many wonderful people we have gotten to know in less than a year of living here.

I received many complements on my paintings, which are hanging all over the apartment. Some guests wanted to know who all the people in the portraits were, and why I had painted them (a friend in Amsterdam, a bartender in Tokyo, a friend and her child in South Africa...). Some wanted to know where the cityscapes came from, and shared with me what they were reminded of when they saw this painting or that. Still others wondered whether it was difficult to sell art, to part with it. It was so much fun to have these conversations, discussions sparked by my paintings hanging on the wall. I was quite touched by how much interest people showed. Maybe the theme of my next party should be "come talk to me about my art". :)

Today has been a day of post-party clean up and watching the snow fall outside the window. No painting today, just playing around in my sketchbook. My doodles almost always involve eyes. Today they wanted to become flowers. Eyeflowers.

AEDM day 21: Volksbad in progress

I had to get today's painting in early. Tonight I'm having a party, and the studio has to be cleaned this afternoon! I was hoping to have a few more paintings finished before today, but it is what it is.

The building in the painting is the Volksbad, the local indoor swimming pool in my neighborhood.

AEDM day 20: Tuscan rooftops

Tonight I had my second painting class (Experimental Acrylic Painting Techniques), and the theme was Corrugated Cardboard. The texture of the cardboard immediately brings to mind rooftops in Italy for me, so I looked back through my photos to find some inspiration to bring with me to class. I used a couple different sizes of corrugated cardboard, and spent so long cutting the pieces that I didn't have enough time to paint. Still, I'm pretty happy with the result. Maybe I'll work on it more later.

One strange thing from class tonight. I brought along an xacto knife to use to cut the cardboard. The teacher was fascinated, having never seen one before. And here I was thinking that xacto knives were pretty universal artists' tools. Guess not. I should have asked her what she would use to cut mat board and stuff like that.

AEDM day 19: blah

It had to happen sooner or later this month... I had a very blah art day today. I worked on two of my Munich paintings, and both of them look worse now than when I started the day. I didn't feel like sharing them here today, so I figured I should do something else. Borrowing a method from some other AEDMers, I made some random watercolor marks on a page of my sketchbook, and then stared at it, waiting for inspiration. Nothin'. Grumpy, I almost gave up, but then ended up piecing together a female figure, which I drew in in oil pastel and then emphasized with water color pencils and charcoal. A couple dabs of water, and this is the result:



Nothing too exciting, but a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. So good for me for persevering. If I really want to be an artist, I need to get in the habit of showing up.

Thanks to all those who have left such encouraging comments on my posts this week. Your supportive words mean a lot to me, especially on days like this when I am doubting my abilities. I really appreciate it!

AEDM day 18: more Munich

I think this first one is done. But maybe not. I'm going to put it aside for a couple days before I decide for sure.

My palette was needing a cleaning, so I used up the remaining paint on it to start another painting - yep, another Munich scene. I'm hoping to have enough of them by the end of the year to start looking for an exhibition space. How many should that be? Some of them (such as these two) are quite small. My last show had 22 paintings in it, about half portraits and half cityscapes.

AEDM day 17: the view out my window

I started this little painting months ago and then forgot about it. Today I picked it back up and decided to start playing with it again. Working on it reminds me how much I like the view from my studio window, and how lucky I am to have such a wonderful studio to paint in. :)

AEDM day 16: painting along

Nothing too exciting to share today - just more slow progress on my Munich paintings.

Halfway through Art Every Day Month, and I am wondering if I should keep this up for next month, too. It has been great to have an 'excuse' to work on my art projects each and every day, or to think up new ones. It has been so inspiring to visit the blogs of the other participants and see all of their fun creations, too. What I'm trying to say is that AEDM gets my ringing endorsement. :)

AEDM day 15: progress

I continue to put in a little time on my two new Munich paintings daily. I want to have them finished in a few days. I also have a couple other paintings in progress which would be nice to finish next week.

The excitement around here today is that we are finally hanging some of my paintings up in the living room. I hope I don't get tired of staring at them every single day.

AEDM day 14: painting with sand

So last night I went to my first experimental acrylic painting class. The teacher came in and announced today's material would be sand. Then she had us each introduce ourselves and tell her what our expectations were for the class. Half the students admitted to never having used acrylics before. Then the teacher showed us techniques for using sand in acrylics, and suggested we sketch something out on our canvases before beginning. I panicked a little. I'm used to working from life or photos, but I'm pretty useless when left to my own imagination. I cursed myself for not bringing photos to work from.

As I started my painting, I remembered the street scene I had been sketching that afternoon, and decided I would try to work with that, or at least my memory of it. I started absentmindedly dropping the buildings into my scene. The teacher came by, took one glance at my work, and immediately dubbed me a remedial student in her mind. She tried to explain a little linear perspective to me (I was purposely distorting the perspective on my buildings, but granted it looked awful when she saw it, and clearly she was just trying to help...). I considered telling her that I knew perfectly well what linear perspective was, that my 7th grade art teacher had asked to keep my perspective drawings to use as examples of greatness for all students who came after me, but then I decided that such an announcement would only embarrass us both.

As I murmured in agreement with her suggestions, the student next to me saved me by admitting she had no idea what linear perspective was, so the teacher busied herself explaining while I got to plod on with my horrible painting in peace. I considered my options for the class at that point... basically I could continue to play the idiot, and then I wouldn't feel any pressure to produce anything good. That would be nice, right? But still, my ego, the part of me that fancies myself a real artist, wasn't too happy with that solution.

And then a strange thing happened. About halfway through the 3-hour class, my painting started to come together. It started looking somewhat decent. The teacher was obviously surprised when she came by to see it, amazed that her idiot student had lucked into something... artistic. And then towards the end of class I was moving in status from lucky to perhaps-actually-knows-what-she's-doing. Other students started to take notice, and by the end of the evening I had a small semi-circle of people around me, gushing about how lovely my little painting was. I was a little proud but mostly embarrassed to be the impromptu center of attention. I just kept saying 'danke' and smiling sheepishly as they went on about my sandy little city scene. Which doesn't seem to photograph well, so you are probably as astonished as I was that this thing was getting the attention of the whole class.

Now I'm worried about next week - will they expect great things from me that I'm unable to deliver?

AEDM day 13: more Munich scenes

Back in the swing of things today. I applied some modeling paste to my two in-progress paintings to give them some texture. I also started playing around with the next image I want to turn into a painting: the view out a window on the second floor of the Hofbräuhaus.

And I still have three hours of art in front of me today. I'm starting an evening class at the Volkshochschule (like a community college) called 'experimental acrylic painting techniques'. I hope it's fun!

AEDM day 12: more painting

Made a little progress on the two paintings I started yesterday. Had a good, creative morning and then lost steam. Must be the crappy weather.

AEDM day 11: Two new paintings

A while ago I bought a group of four 45x45cm canvases, intending to make them into a series of Munich scenes. The first two are almost done (here's the first one and the second one); today I started on the last two canvases by sketching out the basics of the scenes:



I had originally picked out a different view for the last painting, but today I made a last-minute decision to go with this instead:



I'm excited to see where I can take these.

Munich scene #2

Another Munich painting I've been working on, not sure what to do with next. 45 x 45 cm.

AEDM day 10: Theatinerkirche

I've been working on this painting of the Theatinerkirche in Munich for a couple weeks now. I can't decide if it's done, or if I want to completely re-do the sky and a couple other parts. I guess I'll wait for a couple days and see what I think then.

A self portrait in stuff

This post over on Red Otter inspired me to play along with a self-portrait concept: "If you were to pull together five to ten of your favorite items in your home, what would be included, which items would you choose? What is indicative of you? What have you carried with you everywhere you've traveled or lived?" Here's what I came up with:



If anyone else decides to play along, let me know in the comments!

AEDM day 9: chugging along

I'm proud of myself today. Not that I am particularly impressed with the art I produced (several quick sketches with oil pastels), but that's OK. The exciting part is that I managed to keep up with AEDM even while traveling for 5 days! OK, that may not sound very exciting to you, but to me the whole point of AEDM is to do art that I normally wouldn't do, and 'normally' I wouldn't have brought a sketchbook along on a trip like this. But not only did I bring art supplies, I used them every single day!

Today's sketches were produced on the train from Zurich back to Munich. Now I'm home and so excited for the coming week of art and catching up on other AEDM blogs. Love this!

AEDM day 8: more figures

AEDM day 7: baby

Again, not much time for art since I'm in Zurich visiting friends, but I did take a couple seconds to sketch said friends' baby this morning. It's not much, but at least I'm still doing something every day. :)

AEDM day 6: so many leaves

I'm in Zurich visiting friends, so not much time for art! I did manage to squeeze in one little sketch - the view of my friend's ivy-covered balcony. Drawing all those leaves individually was time-consuming, so I didn't quite get a chance to finish. Maybe tomorrow.

AEDM day 5: curled-up figure

I’m in a sleepy, hungover haze today after staying up until 5am to watch Obama win the election. It felt like a good day to play around more with this figure, which has been recurring in my doodles.

AEDM day 4: distracted doodling

I can't seem to tear myself away from election coverage today. A few doodles was all I could manage.