Happiness Project- Making A Change

I've been feeling a little rudderless lately. After 16 years of teaching art I cant help but have frequently wondered what direction my art would take if I explored some other avenue to  supplement my income. My Unfinished Wednesday posts have been all about finishing old paintings started as art class demonstrations. A couple of weeks ago I decided most of them weren't works I was interested in actually putting the effort into.  For  a few years I've been wanting to make a change, but haven't been able to let go. Too easy to just keep doing the same routine over and over again.
This week I didn't write my usual blog posts, a habit I was determined to keep up with this year. I was distracted by a few events that made me contemplate life in a new way, and let me tell you I've come to the realization it is just too short for lame excuses. As part of my Happiness project this year I will be moving forward in my plan to pull back from art instruction and try something else. I'll teach the classes I've booked for the Spring, and I'm sure I'll enjoy them as I usually do. I may return for one class in the fall, my regular group does not require demonstration,only feedback on their own projects, I can probably still do that.... but it is time to let go to of three or four classes a week and explore other opportunities.
So I wont be regularly posting for awhile, I am signing up for some classes in Graphic and Web Design. I want to increase my computer skills so I can do more, both for employment and for my own art promotion. We'll see where that takes me.

Friday's Drawing-Cats

In an effort to draw in a more imaginative style I decided to do some of the exercises in Carla Sonheim"s Drawing Lab book, (you can find it through my Amazon link to the left.) I bought the book after a friend introduced it to me, this are my favorites from the first exercise "cats in bed."  The idea was to draw forty or so cats, while laying in bed, (I love that part.)

I really liked her simplified approach to teaching beginners, and thought it might especially help me with my ten year old son, who loves to draw but is going through that "I suck at art" phase. It was definitely good to shake off the "art school" or more serious approach to drawing for him. It has to be fun or he won't persevere when he gets frustrated.


So for this Friday's drawing post I give you a page of Cats, which I tried to render in a much different style than I usually do, and Zackery's drawing of our cat. I think he did a great job!

"Meera" By Zackery

Unfinished Wednesday-January Recap

Unfinished Acrylic on 20 by 24 canvas

 A new painting to show you this week, another acrylic on canvas, this one an ocean scene which shows promise. I flowed, dripped and spattered some fluid acrylic washes across the surface to add some interest. At this point I cant decide whether I want to stay a little more abstract or go a more realistic route. The seascape themed paintings I've done so far have been well received and as a born and raised Vancouver Islander the ocean is one of my favorite subjects and one of my stronger creative themes. Expect to see more of this series in the future.
I've been giving a lot of thought to my plan this year and the type of work I desire to make. It's been counter productive dwelling on paintings that have been started for no other reason but to show other people how to paint. The subject matter, choice of pigments, techniques have been so strongly influenced by someone elses preferences and a desire to please everyone I dont know how I would work if I didnt have that distraction. With that in mind I've decided to stop trying to finish so many of the paintings that have begun as demonstration peices. There are a still a few that I would still like to complete, but the rest are getting the Gesso treatment or are going to the classroom and being donated to my students. 
Instead of seeing a new painting every week I'll linger a little and show you more of the work-in progress. I'll be focusing on my own work from now on and vow to stop being diverted by the old ways.
Here is an update on January's posts, Click on the numbers to view the original posts


#1- I finished it! (before starting teaching again)


#2- Still working on this cityscape. Inspired by the recent snowfall and the subtle colour palette of greys and whites; the colour palette has changed quite a bit. I hope to have something to show you soon.


#3- Should have left this one alone, it was much better before I overdid it, it's going into the discard bin. The good thing about this painting was that I got a really good idea for something new while I was working on it, something that would be better approached on a different scale or medium.


 #4 I've had some fun with this piece but it isnt really in line with my plan, I've added a bunch more texture and modelling paste as well as a few glazes. Lets keep it around to see if inspiration strikes. If it doesn't in a couple of months we'll pass it along or toss it.


#5  After posting this I've come to the conclusion it is finished, Ive learned my lesson and I am moving on.  I've signed it and will be posting it for sale on my website shortly.

Drawing With Children

These are some drawings from a 8-12 year old kids art class I taught today. I told them to paint loose and abstractly on a few sheets of wet paper. I know sometimes kids get carried away with paint layers so I prepared a bunch of "starts" with two or three colours so they would have lots to work with. This came in handy later as I could clean up the watercolours a little early and there was still painted paper on hand. They also had the option of painting whatever they wanted, I like to always give them room to explore even if there is a set project or assignment. We looked at various examples of how artists looked at real animals and created new fantastical versions out of their imaginations. The most popular example was the binder of Pokemon cards, and I had artist trading card paper on hand for anyone who wanted to make thier own as well as pre-cut 5 by 7 watercolour paper. They were instructed to look at their loose watercolour starts and look for creatures or pictures in the marks. Just in case, I had brought lots of photos of animals along if photo reference was needed but this group had no trouble activating thier imaginations and produced several fabulous paintings each using watercolour,  inktense watercolour pencils, and sharpie markers.


I have to say this was the kick in the butt I needed to loosen up my drawing style, I came home from class, picked up my pen and paper and found myself much more inspired and enthused about drawing than I have been.  Its a good lesson for all of us, if you want to be a better artist spend some time making art with a child.

365 Drawings-Week One

In a post from last week I spoke of trying to recapture my love of drawing and to try and infuse my work with new life by spending less time with a paintbrush and more time with a sketchbook. I have since become inspired by the group of artists on  twitter that aim for 365 drawings completed before the year is out, (look for hashtag #draw365) I decided not to tweet my own drawings figuring many of them I wouldn't want to share. I want to push myself out of my comfort zone by experimenting with new styles and subject matter and if I know I have to show them to people that wont happen.

Instead I figured I would post one drawing on Fridays here on the old blog.

God its hard to change old habits, Ive been drawing every day except yesterday. I painted in a demo for my art class but was too tired to do my daily sketch yesterday so I figured I would double up another day. Mostly this new practice has been executed with a fine tipped pigma pen of common household objects and of course the Cat.

Today I took my son to the pool and did what I thought was a nice drawing while he swam with a friend. At some point I realized it was a familiar subject matter, composition, technique, and that I was not exploring anything new with it. In my attempt to be a little braver I managed to completely ruin it. One of the drawbacks of being brave, it sometimes doesn't work out. I spent the evening trying to fix it with paint and hocus pocus but eventually gave it up as hopeless, I numbered it and filed it away and there is no way I am posting it here. In it's place I am putting up a pencil crayon drawing I started last year based on an old photo. The pose and head scarf was similar to the women in the picture but the face and colour palette  are completely out of my head, (which is probably why she kind of looks like me.) I cheated a bit...by adding some more colour I'll call it a new drawing and post it but I wont count it as one of my 365. Next week I think I'll do less of the little sketches and work on fitting multiple drawings on one page. And I will try to keep the paint out of the drawings this time!

Unfinished Wednesday-Tornado

Unfinished Acrylic 16 by 20

I am soooo close to finishing two of my previous weeks Unfinished Wednesday Paintings and I have completely ruined another, (it happens sometimes unfortunately.) I have a new start on the failure though so maybe I can successfully bring it back from awful eventually. Not my best week for this project I'm sad to say, but I'm optimistic next week will be better.

This one is close too, maybe I'll even sign it and leave it alone, I quite like the way the Tornado turned out and it goes well with some of my other storm paintings.

I  started on a canvas primed with Absorbent Ground Medium which I flowed acrylic washes over, wiping colour off periodically with a rag to create some of the interesting cloud effects . At some point I got tired of the absorbent surface and sealed it with a couple of coats of gloss acrylic medium which gave it a completely different smooth surface that I was able to blend the paint on.

Do you think its finished? My daughter thinks the painting needs a flying cow.....

My Happiness Project-Drawing

The picture above is a self-portrait I did with ink in 1987. An old friend came across it packed away and sent it back to me recently. I kind of like the fold marks and wear and tear on the paper, it's kind of symbolic of how time has affected the subject of this portrait.
I used to like to draw and I wasn't bad at it. Sometimes I would get discouraged with my skills but from an early age I wanted to be an artist and happily spent many an hour with my pens and pencils. When I got to high school I had a sketchbook but I really preferred to paint.  Art school demanded we keep sketchbooks and hand them in, and that is where I first encountered the concept that a sketchbook could be more than just a book of drawings, but also a journal or diary. I liked that idea but never kept one after school despite various attempts to create the habit. My house is full of half full and quarter full books, most of them now full of children's drawings thanks to my daughter and son. 
I think drawing and painting are kind of the same thing though, particularily when you work in watermedia as I do. Most of the time I start the drawing right on the watercolour paper then draw again later on the paper with coloured pencils. Drawing is part of the process and I think I've been exercising that particular creative muscle despite not keeping a regular sketchbook. 
But....lately I've been working on canvas with acrylic and a lot of my work in that media tends to be process-based and more abstract. Ive always enjoyed painting that way, especially the way the meaning unfolds un-consciously and the painting guides me along. Its almost like I am channelling some kind of guide, my own kind of spiritual quest. Unfortunately I sometimes am not in a good place for that, and spend hours painting only to find I've painted over the best parts of the piece and basically ruined it. The whole day feels wasted and I find myself frustrated and feeling like I should have cleaned the house instead.
Lately have feeling like I want to work in a different way, with more intent. The planning and research of the work used to be one of my favorite parts of the process, somehow with the arrival of children and the increase of teaching jobs, that part has been tossed aside. It seemed more important to just get to the painting part and there were too many pieces started for demonstrations, always in the traditional subjects that my students were interested in.
It seems to me that making drawing part of my regular routine again is the answer to the problem. Before I hit a fully formed slump I need to take the time to draw in my sketchbook, purely for joy of it and take the time to reevaluate the creative themes that drive my work. If I can do that and keep my emotional connection to the work I'll be quite happy.
I considered joining the Sketchbook Project, with the thought that a deadline and project might keep me on track but that would be  still be doing for someone else, (the books go on display) and that isn't my purpose. I have an almost empty beautiful Moleskine watercolour sketchbook and a few others Ive accumulated over the years, not to mention loose scraps of art paper of every description, texture and colour.  Spending $30 to have a blank sketchbook mailed to me right now only to mail it away a few months later, isn't a good idea right now, (but I think I would like to participate next year.) 
So as part of my Happiness project Ive decided to DRAW MORE. Ideally every day, even if it is just a little thumbnail sketch or doodle I will change the way I work in 2012. Look for a drawing every Friday on the blog, I wont post them all because some of them will not be great I'm sure but every week you will see a drawing from me.