Here is my finished colored pencil piece. I used Derwent Coloursofts and some Prismacolors. I did this for the Virtual Paintout (St Petersburg) so I’m glad I finished it before the end of the month! I ended up cropping some of the bottom off, which makes it an odd size, but I think it improves the overall impression.
I have always thought of Russia as a very beautiful country. When I had tendinitis, I listened to Anna Karenina on cd (unabridged, all 20 discs). There was a lot of wordy language describing the countryside, and I guess it had an impression on me.
I spent another few hours on my landscape, this time concentrating on the sky. The sky is the most dramatic part of this picture, and I want to finish it up before moving onto the rest of it.
I just finished up a two part class on botanical illustration at Mass Audobon. As always, I didn’t create anything particularly amazing while I was in the class, but I got a lot of value in the information that I took home with me.
The instructor was a well spoken woman who was very informed on many aspects of natural history and botanical illustration. She gave us a good understanding of the conventions of botanical illustration, and differentiated it from “botanical art.” (I’m definitely more interested in botanical art as opposed to classical botanical illustration.) She also rambled quite a bit about all kinds of other art topics, which I found pleasant and informative.
We were working in colored pencil, which is part of the reason why I’ve been inspired to get back into it lately. I was able to talk to the instructor about some things I’ve been curious about, like what she thought of sanded papers (I’ve never tried any).
I’m really glad that I went to this class because it was an opportunity to do something art related and get out of the house by myself for a few hours.
I made a color chart for my Derwent Coloursofts. I don’t have very many colors, but I definitely think I will add to these. I have never taken the time to make a color chart for anything before. I’m actually surprised because I am a very meticulous kind of person. I can really see this helping me out when choosing colors for a new painting. I am going to start a new colored pencil piece pretty soon and this is getting me excited.
I arranged the colors according to what pleased me, and it was interesting to compare my choice to the manufacturer’s numbering system.
This morning I took out some colored paper and did a little sketching with my Derwent Coloursofts. It’s kind of fun to work on the colored paper and I think I will try out more of this in the future. (This photo was taken in dim lighting, so the colors aren’t very accurate.)
Colored pencils have been more appealing to me lately because they are non-toxic and very portable. The negative is that I can only do a small amount at a time because it tends to irritate my wrist and arm. These days I have to work slowly anyway though, because I get interrupted with baby duties often. In the next few years, I can see myself doing more colored pencil than watercolor.
2011 was a big year for me, although not so much on the art front. I did have goals for this year, but other things took up my energy. Even though things weren’t as productive as I’d like in terms of my artwork, I did have quite the year personally. I had quite a few deaths in the family and a lot of personal upheavals as well, such as moving.
Of all my goals, I think the only one I was successful with was spending more time in my sketchbooks. Sometimes this was the only thing that I could bring myself to do because I felt so rotten. Now that I don’t have a lot of time on my hands, I expect that this trend will continue into 2012.
Interestingly, I feel that I have been more productive with my time since I had Cate. Perhaps this is because “free time” is so precious to me now that I barely have any.
Since I’ve become a mother I’ve begun to spend more time thinking seriously about my artwork and how I want to spend my time on it. I never really thought about it before, but now I am more serious about creating a legacy for my daughter. I want her to see me as someone who is can work toward a goal and isn’t afraid to take a risk.
This is also the first year that I’ve put my minimalist ideals into practice. I’ve been interested in the minimalist lifestyle for some time now, but moving into a much smaller home really forced me to take some action. Besides getting rid of a ton of personal and household items, I disposed of a large number of art supplies that I was no longer using regularly. I’ve learned that I can truly thrive with much fewer things to manage. In fact, I like the feeling of having a lighter load.
Next time, I’ll explain my goal setting philosophy for 2012.
I am just starting to feel semi-decent again after being sick (read: invalid) for the past week. I haven’t had a bad cold for a few years so I guess I was due for one!
I only had the desire to start drawing again yesterday. I started off only wanting to do a “quick sketch” of a scene I was thinking of for the Virtual Paintout, but then I ended up spending a lot longer on it than I had thought I would. I think it is too depressing with that ominous tree and all, so I will move onto something else that I will spend more time on. The hard thing about this month’s Virtual Paintout (set in County Clare, Ireland) is that the landscape is so beautiful that it is hard to decide what to paint.
I finished my submission for the Virtual Paintout (set in Rio de Janeiro) just in time. I skipped October and I didn’t want to miss this month as well. Instead of doing something really detailed and time consuming, this is more of a sketch made up of lots of lines. I really enjoy participating in the VPO, partly because I would never be able to actually visit some of these places in real life and this gives me a chance to get a taste of what it would be like. Rio de Janeiro, for example, is a beautiful city but a very dangerous place right now. It’s really a shame.
I also used this drawing to form a part of this handmade calendar. Although I already bought a 2011 desk calendar that I will use for my appointments and such, I wanted a “year at a glance” type of calendar as well. I also thought it would be perfect for my new (freecycled) bulletin board that I got last week. When I get sick of the picture, I figure I can just change it out for a new one.
I’ve only been to New York City a handful of times, and only once in the past ten years, despite living only a few hours away. I guess I’m just more of a country person. I’ve never been to Central Park as far as I remember, but I think I would like to visit if I had the chance. In this piece, I tried not to get too detailed and I wanted it to have a soft feeling. I also worked a little bit larger than I normally do. I meant it as more of a sketch, really. Because it wouldn’t fit on my scanner, I had to take a picture of it. I tried to correct the contrast a bit, but I wasn’t able to get it to match the original fully.
Unfortunately, I do not have reliable internet access at the moment and have to use wifi hotspots to do my blogging. Luckily I saved a screenshot of Google street view so I was able to work on this drawing offline. If you leave me a comment it may take me some time to approve it as I have comment moderation turned on.
