Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Still drawing...

I have been trying to draw at least one face each day. I think that I improve just a little bit.. but a set back was last night as I went to my portrait drawing gathering.. It is a bunch of artists that get together each week and draw eachother. Some are wonderful artists, some work in paint, some in charcoal, some in markers, some, like me.. just try hard! I have found that I am not good at drawing real people. When im done.. they sort of look like the person. but they are akward and stiff. I can't seem to get any feeling behind them. I will keep returning and keep on plotting forward.. eventurally I will get there.. but I can't help get a bit frustrated with myself when I see how terrible they are turning out. meanwhile.. I'll keep on making my pen drawings during the day. I attempted to losen it up a bit this week and do some more scribbly ones.. I like the effect. I just wish I could get the same feel out of my portrait class. Well, there is always next week!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Back to Drawing

As I emerge from my artist block, I have had the opportunity to sit and do some fast sketches. They take from 5 minutes to 15 minutes to complete and are done in pen. I am really enjoying the process of drawing, I feel much more in control then I do when I paint. I have been focusing on faces. I should move on to other parts, but i really enjoy faces. I don't feel like I have complete control over them yet.. so until i do, I will continue working on them. Some of my fast 5 minute face pieces are my favorites. I can usually find a few minutes here and there to scribble down a few lines and I am just so excited that they can come together so quickly. Then there are the times where i can work for 15 minutes or so on one drawing. I am really looking forward to being able to add more expression, detail and views. Right now the full face on is my comfort zone. But I think next week I will try to breakout of it and try some other views. wish me luck!

Painting Again

How did it get to be April? It has been a very long time since I have posted anything. I have been suffering from a major case of artist block. I am way behind on several projects that I just abandoned in January and haven 't had the energy to return to. I haven't touch my sewing machine since December. But I am finally coming out of my artist coma. It started a month or so ago when I decided to paint my front door. There is a little house elf on the bottom panel of the door.. I rather like him. So I decided to paint another door.. This time i went for the back door. I find painting to be very difficult for me, I have a very hard time operating a paint brush, and tend to get a bit frustrated , but at the same time, I really have been enjoying the challenge. My husband, than decided to put a wet washcloth on the table at the top of my stairs, this , of course, ruined the finish. So.. I was FORCED to paint it. I find that I need at least two days to do a painting. the first day, I put down the base, and "sketch" out the image in paint. The second day is for me to totally paint over what I did the first day and redo it! And of course, we all know my daughter is watching and waiting for her time to strike. As soon as she sees that this is amusing to me, she has asked if i would paint a fairy on her door to her room. Looks like that will be the next painting project.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Happy New Year! 2010! Its been a while since I have posted anything, I will try to be better this year! I just took down my first solo show, it went well.

A look at the first wall displaying several of my more religious pieces along with my blue eyes and trees quilt.

Moving around the room, there is the wolf quilt, which was one of my first quilt made back in 1997 next to one of my more recent pieces a face made with newsprint. Followed by the x-ray series.

Finally a few older pieces from the Journal Project and my newest piece that is a mounted wholecloth with a painted face.
Now that the show is done, I have to figure out where to go next. Im hoping to have a very productive year, I have a few ideas floating around and hopefully they will find there way out! Happy New Year!