Wednesday, January 23, 2013
©2013 Carolyn A Pappas, Blue Abstracts. Watercolor on hotpress paper, apx 5 x 8 inches.
I’ve been doing a little watercoloring recently, for Mini View #2, which I’m working on now. I’m going to be photocopying it in black and white, so I’m interested to see how the values will reproduce. I know that I could use some practice on the topic of values. Here are some quotes I found on the topic:
“Those watercolourists who work from light to dark know that the darks do the damage.” -Bill Luff
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“I prefer to limit the number of colours on my palette and focus instead on value and temperature contrasts to enhance the rhythm and drama of my paintings.” -Sergei Forostovskii
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“Problems with color are almost never problems with color. They are almost always problems with value.” -Eric Wiegardt
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Casey Klahn has recently started up a facebook painting challenge based on a photo that he posts. I have followed Casey’s blog for a number of years and I really appreciate his insight. I happened across his blog yesterday where he posted his latest photo, and I was really drawn to the image so I decided to give it a try.
©2013 Carolyn A Pappas, Individual Tree (1-18-2013 evening sketching). Pen in 6.5 x 9 inch sketchbook.
Last year I stopped participating in the Virtual Paintout and I originally thought it was because I only wanted to work from my own material. I have thought about it further and I now believe that I didn’t get the sense of community that I was looking for. I think this group, being set up strictly on facebook and with Casey’s analysis, will be a different experience for me.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
I recently came across this musician online and I really love her work. I have never emailed a musician until now, when I contacted her to inquire where to find her music to download. She is still working on her ep at the moment, but she was so kind to mail me a cd of some older work all the way from Sweden. It is really mellow music–perfect for my collection of drawing music, which I’m always on the lookout for. It was so nice to have a positive interaction with a musician that I enjoy!
©2013 Carolyn A Pappas, Work in Progress (Sunset). Colored pencil on paper, 6 x 9 inches.
I have been debating the final size of this piece for a long time now, but I’ve decided that it will be 6 x 9 inches. I probably should have put in some more planning before I started on this one, but I will still continue to work on it.
I was recently browsing through a banker’s box of filled sketchbooks and I found a book that was never before used. It is an “art spiral” book by Maruman, landscape format, about 6.5 x 9 inches. I vaguely remember purchasing it a few years back, but I completely forgot about it and it was a nice surprise to find it tucked away with my other books.
©2013 Carolyn A Pappas, Free Sample Flowers (1-6-2013 sketchbook). Pen in 6.5 x 9 inch sketchbook.
Greek Woman by Pauline Demosthenous. Embroidery, 14 x 12 inches.
I come from a long line of expert designers and seamstresses and I’ve always felt sad that I haven’t taken on any of that knowledge myself. So, I have been doing some research and have started to do some of my own mending tasks.
In particular, I’ve wanted to learn to embroider for a long time, but I never got around to actually trying it until now. I have to say that my first attempt at embroidery was rather pitiful, but my mother has been giving me a lot of pointers and I am getting better. I have also found this website with tutorials on many different embroidery stitches. I can see it as being a relaxing evening activity for me.
My embroidery practice.
While doing some searching online research, I found these amazing embroidered portraits by Cayce Zavaglia and Daniel Kornrumpf. I prefer the ones by Zavaglia as they are more my style and more like traditional portraits. While these are amazing, I don’t think I could use any medium that was this slow going. I think colored pencil and pen and ink are the most time consuming media that I can handle.
Sedum. Photograph ©2013 Carolyn A Pappas.
Sedum, dead and dried, left out for the birds.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Welcome to 2013, my friends. Because of limited time and my chronic illness, I am going to be realistic about what I can do this coming year. Here are my goals:
- Work in a series as my main focus. I have already started this (my sunset paintings) and I’m looking forward to continuing with this subject. I will most likely be posting a lot of work in progress photos throughout this series.
- Publish a 2014 calendar centered around a unified theme (this should be easy if I continue with the series). This is always something I have wanted to do, and I seem to be on a roll with completing long dreamed of projects.
- Publish two editions of Mini View during 2013.
- Try to fit in studio time after Cate goes to bed on weeknights. Her bedtime is 7:30 and I think I should be able to spend one hour on most nights if I avoid browsing the internet. Doing my main artwork during her naps on weekends is not going to allow me the time I need to get things done. I am realistic that I am not going to be able to do this every day though. When I am in a bad flare, I take my medicine right away and go to bed (it makes me sleepy).
- I have a few sewing/crafty projects that I want to do for my daughter. These projects are not as special to me as my own work, but I will have to fit them into my general personal creative time so I am putting it on this list.
Here is another work in progress photo of my current sunset painting. I’m trying to think of a title, but I’m stumped so far. I’m not going to post a title until it’s finished anyway, so I still have some time.
©2013 Carolyn A Pappas, Work in Progress (Sunset). Colored pencil on paper, 9 x 12 inches (final size to be determined).
Monday, December 31, 2012
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that it is my tradition to post a year end recap post with all the highlights. This year I have been adjusting nicely to my role as a mom, which I love. I started a new job which has also been positive for me. Regarding my art, 2012 was a year of reevaluating my priorities.
These are some of the highlights of this past year:
- I published one hundred thirty-one blog posts here and ten posts at Sketching in Nature.
- I made only three paintings that I would consider good enough for framing. Increasing this number is a big goal of mine for 2013.
- I stopped participating in the Virtual Paintout. This was not because it wasn’t worthwhile, but because I wanted to work from my own material with my limited studio time.
- I took many photographs this year, posting one every Friday. I was originally inspired by Ann, who was inspired by SouleMama, who was probably inspired by someone else out there. It has been a good exercise for me, resulting in more reference photos (I never posted my favorite one, always reserving it for a future painting). As the year progressed, I strayed from the original intention of the project and it became more of an exercise in composition than capturing a candid moment in time. I’ve decided that I’m going to continue with my weekly photography posting, however I may add text from time to time.
- I completed a two part Botanical Illustration class at Mass Audubon. I also attended a four part Colored Pencil class at the Worcester Art Museum.
- In January, I started publishing my email newsletter, Delicate Paperwork, first monthly and then quarterly once I started working. My next issue is going out in January–you can sign up here and view all my past issues here.
- I published the first edition of Mini View, my one page zine. (Mini View #2 is on the drawing board right now, by the way.)
- I sent this piece in for the second Twitter Art Exhibit in Moss, Norway. I was also chosen to be a global ambassador for the organization, which has expanded beyond Norway.
- I painted a portrait in watercolor. I had agreed to paint this a number of years ago but I was terrified into a state of inaction. I am so happy that I have no outstanding issues like this on my plate any longer!
- I made a 2013 pen sketched calendar. This was a great sketching project for me!
- In 2012 I have started to work on some more complex colored pencil paintings, and I hope to do more of the same in 2013. This year I joined the Colored Pencil Society of America, the very first time I have joined any kind of art society or organization.
- I purchased a new computer in April, the Acer Ultrabook, and I have been very happy with it so far.
- I purchased a new desk from Crate & Barrel, and I use it daily. Having a dedicated workspace is very important to me.
- I started to offer my work for sale in 2012, and although I haven’t sold anything, it was a good experience. I have realized that I have a drive to create that surpasses my desire to make money, although I have started to value my work more. For example, I am no longer doing free work for friends and family. I have also created a page with my commission policies so that I have a place to point people if it comes up.
- I have begun to battle against chronic urticaria (hives) and angioedema (swelling). It started in the beginning of September and I won’t lie, it has taken a huge toll on my health. I am on a strict medication schedule, I am much less active than I was, and I have to be really careful about how much time I spend on my feet and which foods I can eat safely. I pray daily for a return to good health in 2013.
- I turned thirty this past year, and while I don’t feel any different because of it, I have started to think of how I have changed in the past few years. I will write about this in its own post sometime in the near future.
I wish all of my readers a very creative and productive new year ahead! My next post will summarize my Art Goals for 2013 (a much shorter list, to be sure).
©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, Orange Sunset. Colored pencil on toned paper, 7 x 7 inches.
Here is my first sunset painting, finished. I tried to keep it more on the “sketchy” side, and hopefully not too overdone. It was a joy to work on and I hope that the work in progress series was interesting to follow as well.
