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.

Tuscany paintings: good and bad

I think this painting (last seen here) is done, and I'm quite happy with the way it came out. I need to take a better photo of it, and then I think it's ready to go up on my art website.



This one I'm less happy with. Back in December I was almost ready to declare it done, but then I decided it was all wrong. I liked it a lot in its early days, but that like faded as I added in more detail and more colors. I recently changed the sky from pink to black, which was an improvement, but it's still not right. I think it needs some radical re-working, which I'm almost ready to do. Sometimes it's hard to accept that a painting needs a lot of changing when I thought it was so close to done. Time usually helps me get over that.

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!

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!