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?