ANOTHER CHALLENGE

In my last blog, I was talking about some of the challenges I've given myself in the past.  The idea behind these are to explore, to play, to stimulate my creativity, and mostly to get myself painting more, sometimes every day.  The interesting thing about my 30 day challenges is that even though I am depicting the same scene, or item each day, they always turn out differently.  I should confess that this idea isn't my own; I read about it one of my journaling books.  The idea is that where we are internally, emotionally, or even what's happening in our surroundings affects how we render a subject.

I promised some pictures of my last challenge, to depict the scene out my studio window, which faces north, towards NE 55th St.  The above two were among the first few in the series.  Hazen, my Siamese cat, would often sit next to the window, forcing me to share my small work table with him!  During the time I was doing this series, just about a year ago, we had that great snowstorm!! - And I love to paint snow scenes!!

Towards the end of the series, I had to get a little more creative, or playful, and one time I simply painted the awesome sky!!  Also,  I experimented with different techniques.

SO!  The reason I was talking about challenges is because I have decided to accept another challenge.  And I've finally decided what the subject will be:  a different view out the bedroom window, looking northwest this time.  In fact, I just finished No. 1 ( shown above.)  In this sketch, I used a Lamy Safari pen with a mix of two water-soluble inks.  Thus when I added WATERcolor, I had to work with the color I was picking up from the ink as well.  It was fun, and I want to play with this method some more.  

I hope you will follow along with me as I work on my challenge.  Perhaps you can judge as to whether I am achieving my goals of "loosening up", so that more spontaneity is evident, as well as becoming a faster sketcher.  Often when I am with the Seattle Urban Sketchers, and we have a little over 2 hours to sketch before we rejoin our group, I am barely finishing one scene, while many sketchers have done 2 or more!!  AS is often the case, I have a vision and an idea of how I want something to turn out, but that doesn't often come true!!

Oh, I am now one of the "official correspondents" for Seattle.UrbanSketchers.blogspot.com, so do go there and check out what I've posted, as well as the excellent work of my fellow Urban Sketchers.  And, stay tuned!!

WINTERTIME ART CHALLENGE

When I was perusing some of my handmade watercolor journals in order to photograph some of them for my Flickr account, I was reminded of a winter challenge I've given myself in the past.  Seems I get a little "stuck" in the winter, so several years ago while I was on staff at Holden Village <www.holdenvillage.org> I remembered something I read about setting a challenge of say 30 days of painting (or sketching) the same scene each morning.  The idea was that no page of artwork would be the same, because as artists, we bring our thoughts and emotions with us as we work, that wherever we happen "to be" (inside) does affect what we "see."

I was fortunate at the time to be living at 3000' el. in the remote North Cascades of Washington.  And I was doubly fortunate to have a front window view on the 2nd floor that looked south to the stunning Copper Basin, flanked on both sides by perfectly peaked mountains.  My view overlooked the lodges and "hotel" of the village, and the tall pine trees nearby added to the perfection of the framed scene.

So each morning for the next 30 days, I sat at my desk and painted what I saw.  Since I was also interested in the concept of where I was emotionally, I wrote a few journal notes with each sketch.  Sometimes I was up before daylight, and I could see the stars, and there was enough moonlight that I could see everything.

Well I really enjoyed the exercise, so I gave myself another challenge. When I went out of the village for a weekend, I found one of those winter cabbages at a nursery in Seattle and I brought it with me, on the 30 mile boat ride up Lake Chelan, to Lucerne, and on up the 11 mile mountain road in an old schoolbus, to Holden Village, and into my chalet apartment.  And for the next 30 days, I painted my cabbage!  What fun!  I kept the cabbage  outside, bringing it in each morning to draw.  A few times it snowed! and so I had to work fast to  get a sketch before the mound of snow on the cabbage melted!

Jump forward to October of 2011 when I created a small "studio" area in our den, so I could return to my art.  I decided to give myself a challenge again: 30 days of sketching the view out my back window, where I sit at my art desk.  Once again, it was so interesting to see how different every sketch turned out.  During those 30 days, we got a 6" snowfall!! - and I LOVE to paint snow scenes!!  Come around for my next posting, and I will share a few of the sketches from that challenge as well as a couple small paintings I did while we had snow.  Thanks for visiting my blog.

Who am I? what is my blog about?

Greetings,  Who am I to blog?  Throughout the years, many friends and acquaintances have enjoyed my artwork and urged me to sell it, or make cards, or hey! "Publish a book!"  That may never happen, but with this blog, perhaps I can share my art and what all goes into "making art."

First though, there are just a few things you need to know about me.  I grew up in the world of nature, classical music, and art.  I was deeply influenced by my grandfather, Charles Burchfield, who is one of America's foremost watercolor artists.  (Read about him at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo, N.Y. or the Kennedy Gallery in NYC)  My mother was also influenced by his art, since she also painted landscape watercolors plein air.  It was a very natural thing for me to sketch from real life, on-the-spot.  The only training I ever received was during my high school years.  Ed Swanekamp knew my family background, and taught me how to handle watercolors.  His advice: "Develop what is within you; don't ever let anyone tell you how to paint."

And so it evolved over the years, sometimes with great fervor, sometimes because I don't know why; it was what I did.  Often I went about painting and sketching with enthusiasm, imagining how a scene would turn out, only to see something entirely different, and not as good emerge.  It was a love-hate thing at times.  I was aware enough to realize early on that I did not want to try to make a living from my art; I wanted to be free to paint when I wanted, not because I needed a paycheck.

There were long periods when I set my art aside, as I worked on a career, and on raising 3 children.  But what's within you does not die...Many years later, when I became free to travel around the US in an RV, I started filling blank sketchbooks with my version of a botanical drawing.  These detailed renderings of unique weeds and wildflowers from all over the US also served as my journal - my memory -  of where I was, what was happening, and how I felt.  They were "decorated" with calligraphy, and borders, and each one was infinitely fascinating.



OKay, time out!  Let's take a break, and I will scan in some of those drawings so you can see what I'm talking about.  And we can continue the bio next time.  And,  thanks for your interest in my work.

PS.  I just uploaded some of the 500 botanical drawings I've done to this site  Stay tuned for more!