Studio, rearranged

I am lucky to have a wonderful room to use as a studio. In honor of the Creative Every Day August theme, MOVE, today I rearranged to give myself more working space for art. The large table in the photo used to be my computer table, and I was using a much smaller table for art stuff. I'm very excited about my big new work space. I can't wait to get going on some new projects.

Now if only I could figure out a good solution for storing all these canvases...

Sachiko sketches

This week I'm doing some preliminary sketches for a portrait of a friend.

Self (portrait)

Inspired by this month's Creative Every Day theme, self, I decided to start a new self portrait today. Can you tell what kind of mood I'm in?

I've done tons of self portraits, my whole life long. I like making portraits, and I'm always the most available subject. I'm doing this one (like most of my self portraits) by looking in a mirror. I like working from life when I get the chance.

I actually try to curtail the number of self portrait paintings I do, because they are pretty unsellable (and ungiftable). Not that I only do art to be able to sell it, but I have to sell things in order to have room to produce more. And who wants to live in an apartment full of self portraits? That'd be a little creepy. So would giving people portraits of myself as gifts... so yeah, I try to focus on other things. But I'm enjoying this chance to revisit my oldest subject.

Revisiting the Volksbad

I keep coming back to this tiny painting, trying to rework it into something I can be happy with. The colors have become brighter since the last time I posted it. Not quite where I want it to be yet, but moving in the right direction.

Catching up on the 100 in 100

I signed up for Warrior Girl's 100 in 100 challenge a few days late, so I've been behind from the start (which was supposedly June 1st). No problem, since I don't mind doing more than one drawing/painting/collage per day to catch up. Most of my 100 things will be small sketchbook pages, but I'm also counting the larger works I do when I happen to finish one.

As opposed to Art Every Day Month, when I posted daily, I've decided I don't have to post all 100 creations for this challenge. That leaves me freer to experiment and produce some totally crappy stuff. I like it that way. But I will post some of them. Here are a few of the drawings, paintings, and collages I have created over the past month. I'm proud to say that as of today, I'm all caught up on my 100 in 100.

New series: city collages

Dublin, Ireland, 24 x 18 cm, found paper and acrylic on panel.


Tampere, Finland, 24 x 18 cm, found paper and acrylic on panel.

I really enjoyed making these, and I'm pleased with the initial results (I'll do a little more work on the Tampere one, at least). The collage elements consist of paper (maps, fliers) from the cities themselves that I've collected on my travels. I need to buy more panels so I can continue the series.

I think this one is finally finished (although this photo of it is somewhat out of focus):

Piran, Slovenia, 40 x 30 cm, mixed media on panel.

Inspired by Kandinsky

Played around with gouache today.

Back from a travel break

My in-progress Slovenian collage, last seen here.

I've been on the road for most of the past month and a half, which is why this blog has become neglected once again. I've missed having time in my studio, but at least I have been staying creative. Every day while traveling I write and take copious photographs. I've also been keeping up with my other blog, posting travel reports and photos.

To jump start my return to drawing and painting, I've just signed up for Rowena's 100 in 100 challenge. I'm a few days behind, but I'll catch up. First I'm trying to work out exactly what these 100 things will be. Sketchbook pages, perhaps. I'd love to say paintings or collages, but that's not very realistic (most pieces take me a week to a month to complete). Or perhaps it can be anything visual, as long as I post here about it. That would be a whole lot of blogging... I'll sleep on it and let you know what I decide (and by "you" I mean the one person who still reads this blog).

A Slovenian mess

I love the beginning stages of a collage, when everything is so chaotic, various materials slapped together in disharmony. At least that's how mine usually start out.

This collage-in-progress is inspired by my recent trip to Slovenia. The background consists of pages from an old Slovenian book my friend and I bought for a euro (it's about flowers). The foreground is layers of charcoal, conte crayon, and gouache. The imagery is inspired by various photos from the trip, mainly those taken on the coast.

Like I said, I love beginning a collage. The process is infinitely enjoyable. It's making it into a finished work that I've yet to master.

I'll let you know if anything comes of this one.

Painting: Munich's Volksbad

30 x 30cm, acrylic on canvas

Last seen in this post, my Volksbad painting has been sitting stagnant for quite a while. I did a little more to it this week. I still think it's pretty... boring. It's not the kind of painting I want to produce. Can't decide if it's worth any more work or not. Back in the wait-and-see pile it goes...

Two more

I know these aren't the most brilliant things I've ever created, but they're a whole lot of fun. This second one is a re-working of the middle painting from my last post. It just didn't have enough personality before.



Now all ten little canvases are full, and I'm going to have to come up with something else to work on. I started a new cityscape today, plus I stretched another piece of watercolor paper so I can give gouache another go.

I'm also hoping to do something with this month's Creative Every Day theme, which is dreams. I had the most visually stunning dream the other night, but I don't think I could begin to do it justice if I tried to capture it. But maybe it's worth a try.

more little face paintings

I'm not sure all of them are done, but if I waited until I was 100% satisfied with things before posting them here, I'd never make any posts at all. These are all 15 x 15 cm canvases, acrylic paint.

Lessons in gouache

I've put off posting this, my first work with gouache, for what should be obvious reasons now that you've seen it. In an effort to make the edge of the buildings a little crisper, I decided to employ some masking tape. You know, as a mask. It seemed like a good idea at the time, until I went to remove the tape, taking big chunks of the paper with it.

So now what? Rather than just tossing the entire painting out, I'm trying to come up with a way of using it. Perhaps I'll collage over it, or rip it up and use the pieces in a different collage. There are elements of this painting I like, and I want to find a way to salvage them. I just haven't figured out how yet.

Little face paintings

I'm back at home in my studio for a few days between trips to Ireland*. I'm trying to make the most of this studio time, but I haven't decided on my next big project yet. I've lost steam on the two paintings series (Munich and Tuscany) I've been working on. Perhaps I just need a break, or perhaps I'm just not meant to paint in series. Or maybe I've just chosen the wrong subject matters. Whatever it is, I'm trying not to let it get in the way of my creative output, so I've shifted gears to a completely different subject: faces.

I bought ten little (15 cm square) canvases on my last trip to the art store, and I've decided to use them to play around with imaginary faces. While I've painted many portraits over the years, I rarely work without a model or photograph. With this new project I'm trying to challenge myself to create faces from only my imagination. It's freeing to not have to worry about whether the painting resembles the subject, since there is no subject. It's also fun to play around with more abstract facial features than I'm used to depicting.


* You can read about my adventures in Ireland on my other blog.

Creative retreat in Ireland

I find myself in Dublin with a little free time on my hands, and I'm using it for a couple of creative pursuits. I brought along my new gouache and some postcard-sized watercolor paper, as well as a sketchbook and various sketching utensils. But my main focus is on working through the book Perfect Digital Photography and trying to teach myself to use my new DSLR camera.



I am an impatient student, but hopefully I'll start to see my new knowledge come through in my photos soon. You can check up on my progress on my flickr stream.

Paris with the new camera

I didn't think it was possible for me to love traveling any more than I already did, but this new camera is making it even more fun. I just got home from a weekend in Paris, and I had a blast taking pictures there and getting creative with the camera. I got plenty of shots very, very wrong, but every once in a while one would come out amazingly right. Slowly but surely I'm learning my way around the settings, but clearly I still have a very long way to go.











More Paris photos on my Flickr.

I have always enjoyed taking pictures, even when I just had a point-and-shoot, but now with my DSLR I'm finally starting to see photography as a true creative outlet for myself.

Sorry for the long silence here since my last post... my computer died and is still undergoing the recovery process, making blogging (and visiting other blogs) more difficult than it should be. I'm still being creative, though. Thanks to those of you who are still around to read. :)

New toys: rhymes with squash

I had a lovely afternoon at the art store this week, stocking up on supplies and looking for something new to experiment with. Inspiration hit when I stumbled across this bargain-priced set of gouache. I've never painted with gouache before, so I couldn't resist this chance to try it out. I've heard it's sort of like watercolor, except more opaque and more pigmenty.

I also picked up some paper tape, which has been on my art supply wish list for a while now. It is perfect for stretching paper:



This way the paper doesn't buckle when it is painted on. Off to play with my new paints!

CED: sketchbook pages

I've been trying to make this post for days... unfortunately our internet access has been too spotty to handle photo uploads. Fingers crossed that this time it works...

I've been sketching, collaging, and painting up a storm in my sketchbook. In the spirit of this month's CED theme, Play, I've been trying new things and trying not to worry too much about the results.

I've also been playing around with my new camera, which has been a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll post some of my new creations here soon (in the meantime you can check out some photos in this post).

Happy Creative 2009!

I spent the past week having a blast in New York City, and now I'm home and ready for a very creative 2009. My Creative Every Day year is on its way. I got off to a slow, jetlaggy start, but today I'm feeling a little more energetic.

One of the big bits of excitement around here is our new SLR camera. This is the first camera I've had that isn't a point-and-shoot, and I'm very excited to learning what it can do. Posts of photos (and sketchbook pages) to come soon!