Today I decided to sit in the studio. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I was getting sick of the den and I needed to be back in the studio, with all my creative “stuff”. I thought I’d just clear my desk and sit and draw, but then I talked with Angie and she was talking about her painting from the weekend workshop with DJ Pettitt and Deryn Mentock. I decided I’d paint today! I set up my table easel (which is really a folding editor’s desk that I got back when I was editing!) and pulled out my paints and paintbrushes.
I had come across an image in a magazine. The woman’s face showed that she had lived a difficult life. She was very sad and her face has stuck with me for a few weeks now. So, I knew that I wanted to use that image as a jumping off point.
And a jumping off point, it was. It’s not at all like the photo, with the exception of the facial expression and shape of the features. And that’s fine. I’m not a painter who paints things realistically. That’s what photos are for! I like to get a sense of them, so I’m happy with this. The completed painting is to the left. though there may be some fine tuning tomorrow morning after it’s set for the night. And there is a close-up of the face is to the right.
Have a great day!
June 23rd, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
Creative Every Day, acrylic, art, painting |
3 comments
There is really not much to report here. No art to share…
The good news is that I’m feeling well. I’m exercising regularly, making sure I’m ready for all the walking we’ll do in France. And, happily, I’m also finally shedding some of the pounds and inches that have been bugging me for a while. I’m also sleeping better, which has always been a by-product of regular exercise for me. Though, to be honest, I’m happiest when I try on a top or pair of shorts that are loose, where they either were a bit tight or are fit perfectly. I bought two new pairs of shorts in April and both are a bit loose. I couldn’t be more pleased!
I’ve been practicing my French, though I am sure I will not be near fluent in it. I can translate the jist of the written word, but hearing the words and understanding them is a challenge. Even with the Baha, it’s still an issue with my hearing. It’s one thing to listen to English and to understand because I can make a few good guesses to figure out the words by the context and with the clues of the sounds. With French, it’s going to be a challenge. I suppose it will just add to the excitement of the visit. At least, that’s what I hope!
I’ve been doing some art, but I have not been inspired to do anything in particular. It’s too hot out and the ozone warnings are too high for me to just go and sit and draw. I am working on a painting that I started a year ago that I finally had the courage to start working on again… You know how it is: You get to a point in it and you’re afraid you’ll ruin it. Well, I’m done with worrying. I just dove in. I don’t have a clear vision of where it’s going, but I’m letting it flow. It’s how I prefer to work, anyway. I’ll try to post a photo of it in-process later this week. It’s different for me.
In addition, I do have my CreativeTherapy catalysts to work on and I’ve been doing that. Tonight there will be a catalyst posted along with the artwork from the team, so that’s something for you to check out later today. I’m trying to get the next month’s done in the next two weeks, since I’ll be gone for three of them and then I am sure I’ll have the usual post-travel fatigue.
I’ve also been doing a lot of reading. I just finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl
which was quite intriguing. I studied English and American Literature in college and along with it learned a lot about British history. This series by Philippa Gregory has me hooked! I’m now reading the book that came before it, The Constant Princess, which is the story of Katherine of Aragon. I’ve always liked historical fiction, so it makes me happy to read a series like this that attempts to get into the minds of the women who were a part of the history. I know how women were used to build alliances, improve a family’s station in life, etc. It’s quite interesting to read these from the woman’s perspective and to see how the author really makes them heroes for what they did, rather than as subservient pawns in the game. The author shows them as women with ambition, as well.
Dave has been on call this week, so it’s been a hectic week for him. It used to be that June and July were quieter in Phoenix because the Winter Visitors (snowbirds) would head north. Not so this summer. It seems as busy as it was in the winter. But we’re doing fine with it. Unfortunately, Friday evening, my MIL called that my FIL was having some tachycardia again. His pulse was at 150. This is the second time in a month that this has happened. When she called, she had already called 911 and the ambulance was on the way. Dave went and met them at the hospital. Luckily, his heart reverted to its normal rhythm and Dave drove them home. He got in at around 2 am on Saturday morning. Poor guy was tired all day.
So now Dave is rounding at the hospital and will call when he’s headed home. I’m going to have a protein shake and then exercise. When Dave calls, I’ll be ready to go. We’ll go to visit his parents and have lunch with them and see how they’re faring. I hope you all have an awesome Sunday!
June 8th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
Creative Every Day, Creative Therapy, books, family, living with chronic illness, painting |
3 comments
It’s May 5th - 
Day 5 of the Every Day in May challenge. For the first time in a while, I was feeling up to spending time in the studio today. I walked in and immediately decided I needed to paint. I had an urge to get messy! So, I drew the outline of a woman on a piece of Strathmore 400 linen canvas 246lb paper and started to paint with my Golden Fluid Acrylics. I was completely in “the zone” for several hours as I layered paint upon paint.
I finished the 6″ x 6″ piece and then decided it needed a stretched canvas behind it to make it easy to hang. So, I went to my stockpile of mixed-media acrylic canvases. I had one that was a perfect match to the dress of the woman I had painted.
Considering that I hadn’t painted in acrylic in a while, I’m pretty pleased with it. The gel medium holding the acrylic image to the background is still drying (notice the white around the central image!) but it’s done! Now maybe I can do some drawing…
May 5th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
Creative Every Day, acrylic, art, collage, painting |
2 comments
Today has been a great day! I woke up feeling great and excited for the day. For weeks, Angie and I have been planning to join in the International Sketchcrawl and we did it! We finally got to spend some time together and I was able to get out of the house!
Today was the 18th International Sketchcrawl. We met other sketchcrawlers at the Desert Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix. I think two of us had been there before, so it was a first time for many of us. It was such a beautiful day - bright and sunny and nice and cool with a slight breeze in the morning. Of course, it being the desert and the end of March, it quickly got up to the low 80s and we were all pretty tired. This is probably the last outside sketchcrawl we’ll do until October or November!
There was so much to draw! We all walked off into our own groups and sat and drew and painted. What amazed us all the most was that there were so many people out and about sketching, painting, and photographing. It is like an artist’s heaven there! Angie and I went on our own and 
found some shady spots. I used my walker, knowing that the terrain might be tricky for me. I was glad I had it. It gave me a seat no matter where we were and it did help me keep from falling several times as we moved along. It was nice to bring the walker with the purpose being “just in case” rather than “must use”.
The first subject Angie and I chose was a Dr. Seuss-like tree. There was no marker to tell us the name where we found it, but we knew we’d find it later. Sure enough, we did. It’s a member of the Aloe family. It’s aloe dichotoma, and it’s from South Africa. The bark is very light and at the bottom has bark peeling off of it. It has quite a bit of yellow in it. The leaves looked similar to those of an aloe vera plant, but they wer much more 
wavy and curly. I tried to capture it, but I think I captured the essence of it, not the reality. And that was fine with me!:) The drawing is to the left. Angie did a lot more of a realistic version, so she took a bit longer with her drawing.
So, while Angie finished her drawing, I found I had time in that spot to do one more drawing. I decided to draw a saguaro cactus that was also in my line of vision. I like how this turned out. I used different Pigma Graphic and Micron pens to get the detail. The shape and color really intrigued me. It’s to the right. It seems right that it should be one of the drawings from the Desert Botanical Gardens, don’t you think?
When we finished there, we found we still had time for at least one more drawing. We found a nicely shaded spot with benches and a lovely fountain. The sound of the water was so relaxing that we knew we’d found our second spot. We each chose our subjects. Angie was delighted by a yellow wildflower and chose that. I was staring at some bark that just seemed to scream to be drawn! I didn’t think I was going to add color to it with all the detail in the bark, but I decided it needed some color to show off how much diversity of color there was in the bark and to highlight the peeling bark and what was underneath. I’m really quite happy with this drawing!
We met up at the cafe there and talked about future locations. Since it’s so incredibly hot here in the summer, we all decided the next few sketchcrawl locations would have to be indoors. We’ll be looking at the Phoenix Art Museum, the Heard Museum, and even some malls. There’s always something to sketch, no matter where you go! 
And nothing beats indoors on those 100+-degree days!
Angie and I saw as much as we could, but there is so much more to see. We are planning to go again this week, while the cactus are blooming. We got several photos, too, but I haven’t had time to get those cleaned up. We’re both convinced we’ll have to become frequent visitors of the Desert Botanical Gardens!
March 29th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
Creative Every Day, EDM, art, drawing, friends, fun day, journaling, painting, sketch, watercolor |
3 comments
As usually happens after my treatment, last night and today have been worse for me than yesterday was. 
I’m not surprised. It’s my usual flow. This morning I felt awful and sat in the den and stared at shows that I had saved on TiVo for just this reason. Dave left for work and I sat there until around 11:30. I then went into the studio, once the nausea lifted a bit. I decided I was going to draw something, even for just a short while.
To the right you see a drawing I did today from a photo in a Ford ad. I was immediately taken in by the photo of this boy sleeping with his plastic dinosaur. I’m happy with the shirt, the shape of his head and his hair. I am, however, not pleased with the pillow background in turquoise. I’m fairly pleased with the boy’s face, his hand, and his dinosaur. I even sort of like the blanket. Drawing, I know, is something that takes lots of practice and I’m so glad I’m able to take the time to focus on it.
There is something about drawing that forces me to be still and silent. It sort of makes me find the moment again. I am just enjoying my time with this class and I’m fairly sad that it will end in a little over a week’s time.
Now, however, it is time for me to take a nap and some anti-nausea medication.
March 14th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
Creative Every Day, drawing, living with chronic illness, painting, watercolor |
3 comments
This morning I am waiting for the visiting nurse to come and start my IV of my monthly treatments. I’m happy to be doing it in the privacy of my own home. I really feel better when I know I don’t have to drive or be driven both ways. We’re also expecting my sister-in-law this morning. She’s in town for a genetics conference and will be staying here.
This week has been pretty good so far. I spent Monday with Angie. I watched as she repainted the hands on her fabulous painting for her church’s prayer week. She’s one of several artists who were asked to work an a 3′ x 3′ canvas. It’s her largest ever and it’s been quite a challenge for her. She hopes to finish it tomorrow, since it’s due on Friday! It was good to catch up and to have a play day together. It has been far too long since we had that much uninterrupted time!
I have been doing more watercolor pencil drawing this week. As you see from the scans of my journal, we’re working on birds and animals this week. I’m using reference photos so I can get an idea of the shapes and colors of the birds. I hope to catch glimpses of some live, but for now, I’m finding the shaping and shading a fun challenge. To the left, I’ve started to move on to owls (I’ve collected owls for most of my life!), ducks and a bonobo (from an image in Smithsonian Magazine). I’m going to continue to draw today, I hope, while I’m having my treatment. That, of course, depends upon which hand will have te IV!
I’ll post more later in the week!
March 12th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
art, drawing, friends, fun day, living with chronic illness, painting, sketch, watercolor |
2 comments
This is today’s watercolor pencil exercise. I started it last evening and finished this morning. I had trouble with the white caps of the waves, but at least there’s a hint of it! More will be done today, I’m sure.
I’ve spent some time this morning choosing which pencils and watercolor crayons to bring along while Dave and I head to Santa Barbara, CA for some R & R and some nice, quiet time together.
I’m also doing some reorganization in the studio (I always seem to be doing that!) and I will post photos when I’m done. I’m really not sure if I’ll be done in time for our trip, but if not, I’ll be sure to finish when I return!
February 25th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
art, drawing, painting, watercolor |
no comments
As I mentioned last week, I plan to use a photo I did of a farmhouse/shack in Sedona as a learning piece each week. After I go through the exercises in the class, I’m going to see how my work has changed by going back to this reference photo I took. I’ve done that for this week and the results are to the right. I can see a distinct difference. I am feeling more sure of my brushstrokes, I’m getting a better sense of how the pencils work, and I’m more comfortable with using my Pigma Micron for final details, rather than as the bones of the drawing. I hope to continue to improve upon this picture as the weeks go on!
February 15th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
art, classes, drawing, goals, painting, sketch, watercolor |
3 comments
I’m so blown away by the One World One Heart project. We had over 200 blogs participating. I signed up for several of the drawings, getting to know some other bloggers. I’ve been honored to win several goodies. I will post them here when I get them, but I wanted to publicly thank the bloggers who have notified me personally:
It’s an embarrassment of riches! So many people gave more than one thing away, and I clearly benefited from that! Thank you all for your generosity. I will be sending something to each of my lovely hostesses to thank them personally!
And I have spent the last two days working on my watercolor pencil class. I’m really enjoying this class and the way Kate has of giving us good feedback that we can use. 
I uploaded both of these paintings yesterday and Kate gave me feedback. I followed her advice and I’m much happier with them now. To the left is a desert landscape loosely based on some photos I’ve taken and a photo I found in the Image Library at Wet Paint. To the right is a painting based on another image from Wet Paint (nope, no snow here in AZ!)
If you’d like to see the original paintings before they were “fixed” with Kate’s suggestions, you can take a look in my Watercolor Pencil Class flickr set.
I’m working on another painting today. I’m hopeful that I can complete the second week’s lessons today so I’m ready for next week’s new lesson!
February 15th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
Creative Every Day, art, classes, drawing, giveaway, goals, painting, watercolor |
2 comments
I have spent a few hours each day this week doing at least a little bit of work with my watercolor pencils. I’m enjoying the class with Kate. She’s a very giving teacher and even across the miles, I feel supported and that I am learning. We’re four days into the class and my classmates have shared so much of their work and their talents. We’ve been sharing our work in our Flickr pool that is just for the class, and it’s always nice to have others who are going through this working with you. One of the most important things I’ve learned is the importance of creating color charts and blending charts and seeing how the papers work on different papers. It’s been an interesting week filled with discovery!
Here is the landscape I alluded to in the last posting. I have three or four others going, but I liked the way my new Derwent Graphitints worked to create this Sedona landscape. The perspective is a bit off on the farmhouse, but this was an exercise more in the coloring than the drawing, so I just went with it. I have decided that the picture I used as the source photo will be one that I will rework as I go through this class and learn more.
I’m so excited that many of you are still taking a look at the One World One Heart giveaway! Since this has become so popular, I do hope to do more giveaways.
On another subject - my health - we’re trying something new this month. We’re going to have the treatment done here at the house with a home infusion agency. They can’t spare a nurse on Monday for five hours, but they can on Tuesday, so I’ll be infused here in the comfort of my own home, Tuesday afternoon. They’ve already delivered the medication and the IV pump to regulate the flow. I’m hopeful that this will go well and that I can have the treatment while relaxing at home going forward. I will report back!
February 8th, 2008
Posted by
Fran |
art, classes, drawing, living with chronic illness, painting, watercolor |
4 comments
