Still practicing

Hi Everyone - end of bike ride!

Trip is getting a little long and I begin to feel un-creative.  While in Pacific City there were lots of berries coming to ripen.  I decided to try some natural dyeing with the Huckleberries and Slala Berries.  Took several days, of boiling fabric in salt and then the berries. I got 3 nice pieces of fabric from the testing - all various shades of purple.   I tried to draw the berries, but think I worked too small - keep trying different things with my sketching and painting. Getting the water and paint to work, is not working well for me.  Never quite sure this is a medium  for me.  Have been playing with just some pencil sketching too.

Today we did a bike ride in Seaside where we are this week.  Nice ride down the City Boardwalk along the ocean and around town.  There are many wonderful little cottage homes all around this beach area and I have been snapping many photos.  One house had a
yard railings with all kinds of weathered bird houses and cat silhouettes.  I tried another sketch and paints. 

This is for Christa - Porch with bird houses and cats.

Huckleberry fabric from natural dying

Biding my time

I posted this picture on my blog with the story but I wanted to post something different for our group. It is so easy to take one of your sketches and make a stamp out of it by using either erasers or a lino block and some carving tools. I am going to be making more old key stamps but what about a stamp for you, something you can use over and over again to stamp onto papers, envelopes, postcards etc. Maybe a special momento from a trip or anything. What you need to do is choose a more simple sketch, since you will be carving this you don't want to have it be so complex you can not do it. Then take your sketch and trace it onto either a piece of paper or tracing paper with a nice soft pencil. Next turn your drawing over onto your surface and burnish. You now should have a pencil drawing on your stamp material. Remember that what you carve away will be white and what you leave behind can be textures or black. Have fun!


- Desiree

Our toasty August Sketch Class

Saturday was our monthly sketch class and with the weather intolerable we met inside! I had some photos and went over the benefits and draw backs of painting from photos. I divulged some of my watercolor and pastel painting secrets to the group and we tackled painting a small painting of peppers from a photo. After transferring the drawing to paper I did a demo on how to approach and tackle their paintings. Everyone did such a great job that I don't think you will be able to tell the teachers painting from the students painting! I have had an interest in doing more watercolor painting type classes so we can discuss that for maybe our next year! Here are some of their amazing paintings! Thanks to all the students that ventured out in the heat to come to class and a big thanks to Randy who ran over and got us burritos for lunch which we also enjoyed as the time seemed to fly by as we busily painted!

Gurutej

Karen's

Penny's

Christa's

My demo 

Everyone's painting together, see you next month!!

cards

                                         
                                           After our July 2012 class at Desiree's,  I got busy
                                            using the method to design cards.  Using tissue
                                           paper upon which to trace designs  and then colored
                                           pencil to add color our method was simplified.  My
                                           daughter (home from college) joined me to create
                                           greeting cards and trading cards.  It was so fun to
                                           be able to share this technique with Paige and to work
                                           together on something creative.

Paris

                                       This is a sketch and painting from my time in Paris.
                                        I did appreciate doing this journal in this format.  Thank
                                        you, Desiree.

Getting back to basics-value

Hi everyone, I wanted to suggest that you try some graphite or pencil sketches. You don't have to do what I did, you can just draw anything, realistic or not but work on values. I grabbed a bunch of objects in drawers, desks etc and just added elements. Can you see the different textures I have, the fabric ribbon, the smooth pills, the bumpy part of the pen? I even pinned the note using a thumbtack although it would be impossible to thumbtack anything into my counter. I should make the counter darker but I ran out of time. Its all in the pressure you apply with your pencil. Remember that nothing is actually white unless its a highlight or sunlit so save your white whites for that special area. Everything is a value from light to dark. Play with the range you can achieve using your pencils. If you need too, take a picture and change it to greyscale on your computer. You will then see the values of the color and shadows that sometimes hide the true value of things. Mastering value helps you to master other things. It makes things look 3D, dimensional and can bring things forward or drop them back on your paper.  If my drawing just intimidates you start off with just shapes, circles, squares. Give them a light source and draw the shadows, the bright sunlight side etc. See if you can make your objects come to life without color, just with value! Learning value will help in every artistic thing you do!