Thursday, December 30, 2010
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Bartlett Pears. Watercolor, apx 2.5 x 3.5 inches.
Last year I set myself some very basic goals (to make it easy to meet them). I wanted to put in more hours in the studio and declutter and get rid of stuff. I am happy to report that I have been successful on both counts.
I did spend a lot more time on my artwork than I did last year, and I also feel that my skills have improved quite a bit which is a real plus. November was definitely my most productive month (because of Art Every Day Month). I still seem to fluctuate between periods of working many hours in a stretch and other times where I will go a few days without picking up a pencil. I would like to develop more disciplined daily habits so I am doing something every day as a matter of practice.
In terms of decluttering, I moved into a new studio and spent a lot of time getting rid of stuff in the process. I gave away a lot of supplies that I would never realistically use. I also chose to hold onto some supplies that are more along the lines of odds and ends (mostly free samples from art supply stores). I am going to have to find some kind of creative use for these things in this coming year, or I will make myself get rid of them as well. I am thinking of maybe working these scaps into some kind of series. Most importantly, I have been really disciplined about cleaning up my studio at the end of the day and before I start working. This makes me feel a lot more relaxed when I sit down to start something.
Some other highlights from 2010 are some site updates that I have made. My blog is set as the homepage, but I have a number of static pages and I could theoretically call this a “website with a blog.” Earlier this year, I changed my wordpress theme to Atahualpa (very good for a free theme) and put all my links onto a static page. I also created a portfolio and contact page. Just the other day someone actually used my contact form and that was a great feeling.
I also set up a facebook page for my artwork, and have become more active on Twitter. This lead to the great opportunity to participate in the Twitter Art Exhibit and I ended up connecting with a lot of other artists as a result.
Stay tuned for my 2011 goals which I will post tomorrow.
Monday, December 27, 2010
I hope everybody had a great holiday weekend. I had a really nice time myself and now I’m busy cleaning up the house and getting full use from some of my Christmas presents (Bejeweled 3 comes highly recommended). Below are some photos that I copied and pasted together of a desk calendar that I ordered from Snapfish. I gave them away to some friends and family for Christmas. I am really pleased with how my artwork looks reproduced and now I’m getting excited about some other things that I can get printed up. I will definitely make my own calendars from now on and maybe I will make some to sell in the future as well.
Friday, December 24, 2010
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Small Stitches. Watercolor and colored pencil, 2.5 x 4.5 inches.
I hope everyone has a peaceful and relaxing Christmas with your families. I am planning on having a nice one myself. I will be back next week with my review of 2010 and my 2011 Art Goals.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The other day I saw a charming documentary called All In This Tea. It follows David Lee Hoffman, a tea connoisseur and importer, who travels China in search of organic, heirloom teas. It is a thoughtful and relaxing movie to watch, showcasing some beautiful views of the Chinese countryside. It is also educational in a non-boring way. As someone who already knows a lot of “tea trivia,” I learned quite a bit about how different kinds of tea are processed. I recommend making yourself a pot of tea to drink while you watch, because you will start craving it for sure.
Friday, December 17, 2010
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, County Clare, Ireland. Ink and watercolor, 6 x 9 inches.
This is what I finally settled on for my Virtual Paintout submission for December. It wasn’t a sunny scene like I had originally imagined, but it feels cold and windy more like it really is outside right now. Below is the pencil sketch that I completed before I did the pen and ink drawing. I ended up painting the sky in just watercolor, but if I had decided to draw the clouds in ink, I would have used lines similar to my sketch.
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Sketch for County Clare, Ireland. Graphite in sketchbook, 6 x 9 inches.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Here is a photo of some Moo MiniCards that I ordered recently. I have never purchased anything from them before, but I have seen examples (Roz wrote a nice review). I wanted something to hand out with my web address and artwork on it, and I thought these were more fun than full size business cards. I am really happy with how they came out. They show the crisp details of my work and the printing is high quality. The only problem that arose was when I chose a crop using the edge of the image. In this case, there was a small white border on that side, so I will be sure to avoid this situation next time. Their website is very easy to use, but it doesn’t have an option to save your work midway through. I would advise selecting your images beforehand if you are uploading a lot of images. All said, I am happy with my cards and I’m thinking about getting my Christmas cards printed by them next year.
On another note, I also recently updated my Portfolio page. I think it looks a lot more professional that what I had before. I would have liked to incorporate a slide show feature, but I couldn’t get it display to my liking. For 2011, expanding my portfolio will be a major goal, so stay tuned.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, 12-7-10 sketchbook page (Ireland). Watercolor in 8 x 5.5 inch sketchbook.
Yesterday I was playing around with some watercolors while looking for a scene to paint for my Virtual Paintout submisison. Afterwards I finally settled on what I was going to paint and I spent most of today working on it. I think I will hold off on posting it for a few days though, in case I paint something better in the meantime. I am really indecisive these days!
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, VPO Sketch (Ireland). Colored pencil in 8.5 x 11 inch sketchbook.
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.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, 45 of 50. Ink, apx 3 x 1.25 inches.
Today is the last day of my month long projects of Art Every Day Month and NaNoDrawMo. I am happy to report that I have completed fifty drawings/paintings and have made artwork on the vast majority of days this month. I almost didn’t finish because I have caught my mother’s cold and was sick in bed yesterday and most of today. But I managed to make ten small ink drawings today to finish it off.
I am so thankful for all the kind and encouraging comments I’ve gotten throughout the month. It has been so incredibly successful for me that I am a little sad to see it end. I hope that my momentum will allow me to have a successful December and start of 2011.
My plans for December are to slow down with my posting (probably twice a week) but to maintain my same productivity. This will allow me to work on a few projects that I want to keep secret until after Christmas and also to build up a reserve of work for future posting. Michael Nobbs wrote an interesting post on this recently where he outlined his “catch-up” goals and how he plans to accomplish them. I’m not sure if I have the discipline to make this work, because I find that I make more when I put pressure on myself to post often. So this is a bit of an experiment for me as well.
Monday, November 29, 2010
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, 11-28-10 sketchbook page (Pink Roses). Graphite and watercolor in 8 x 5.5 inch sketchbook.
There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so, he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted. -Henri Matisse
While I’m thinking about Matisse, I thought I’d post some links: