wayfaringwordhack | What's up in my art world at the moment

To say I am struggling to get into a routine here would not be true because I have yet to try, but I do know that when I get around to figuring out what our days should look like, I want to include art. Leaving behind our farm and the responsibilities that go with it, coupled with the kids being older and more independent, means that I once again have some time to pursue my creative endeavors. A goal I mentally made for myself before coming to Lebanon was to finally illustrate my children's book (yeah, I know; you've heard that one before). If I do want to attain this goal, I am going to have to get more serious about carving out art time.

The first thing to carve: a squash:

I wanted to paint from life, but before starting with that, I took a few photos of my subject to work on later because a) life in general and life with kids in particular is not always conducive to one-shot art sessions; b) I don't have a still-life set-up and have to deal with changing light conditions in front of a south-facing window until I can work out another solution; c) I wanted to make soup and pumpkin bread and needed my subject. :P

My painting set-up had already shifted several feet down the table between the photo above and my first attempt. I wanted to paint with creamy, straight-out-of-the-tube gouache, but--see reason A above--that did not happen. I had to spend a great deal of time helping kiddos prep their art, clean up their messes, etc. which distracted me from taking the right steps before I got all gung-ho and started squeezing paint onto my palette. A great first step is to, um, make a sketch or at least have an idea of where to place objects on the paper.

So, this attempt was made over the course of a couple of hours with reactivated paint. I also added a bit of detail here and there with Prismacolor pencils.

gouache - squash.jpg

The next day (yes, my cut cucurbit awaited my leisure) I tried for a more graphic, flat look with fresh paint. Looking at the photo, I see my novice mistake in both of the gouache paintings: I did not push my values enough. Once again, I was dealing with changing light (and people who really wanted to eat lunch) and an imagined backdrop, but that doesn't mean I couldn't have exaggerated things a bit to make the subject pop. I will soon make a painting from my photo and try to get a more stark contrast in my values.

I have also resumed working my way through Peter Han's Dynamic Bible. Have I shared this sketch before? I did it in France and it is one of my most successful attempts.

I bought a sketchbook with tinted (gray) pages to use in order to better use highlights, as suggested by the author, but I am not happy about the quality of the paper. It really absorbs my black ink, making me have to go over and over my lines to make them dark enough. The blackest black outlines on the cicada and the darkest bits in the Goliath Beetle sketch are done with a marker, but it is not that intense on the actual sketch. :-/

Do you have a regular creative practice and if so, how do you maintain it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

asakiyume

You're a fountain of creativity as far as I'm concerned! You are *always* creating things!

I love the photo of the squash as a photo, incidentally--it's very pretty. Both your paintings have details I love--like the scores on the cutting board in the first one.

The ink drawings impress me too!