Raven

Right before the beginning of the new year, I was watching a Blessed is She talk that recommended that you pick a word to reflect on for the new year. The word that was whispered to my heart was “ordinary.”

Shortly after, I was brainstorming ideas for a collective body of artwork to produce. I wanted to build up a new portfolio and though I had a couple ideas of directions I was interested in, I wasn’t sure what I would ultimately create. I do a lot of portrait work which means I need lots of human references. I thought it might be fun to use friends and family for portrait practice or references for future paintings.

I sent out a “model call” on Facebook asking if anyone would be willing to let me use their photos for practice. I was only expecting maybe 5 people would volunteer. I ended up getting over 30 (and counting) interested friends and family members. Inspiration struck and that word “ordinary” went through my mind. I wanted to create a series of portraits of ordinary women using mixed media processes.

The first of these portraits is Raven, a talented photographer I met through a mom’s group at church. When I saw this self portrait of her, I knew this was the image I would use for the piece I wanted to create. She had some beautiful photographs of her children that had a really lovely purple and blue lighting that I wanted to draw into this piece as an underpainting.

The majority of the painting was created with watercolors. I used pens for the linework in the hair, varnished the piece, and added thin layers of acrylics on top.

In progress shots of my portrait of Raven.
The finished portrait of Raven. Watercolor and mixed media 8×10”

From the sketchbook…

Last week, I got the chance to meet up with two of my art friends from college. We met for coffee and sketching, but ended up just talking. My friend Liz, recently started a 30 day sketchbook challenge for herself. The purpose is to challenge herself to create artwork on a daily basis. She has an hourglass that she flips and when the last grain of sand filters out of the top, she stops. The point isn’t to create something amazing, the point is to develop a habit and put aside time to do something for fun on a daily basis.

The three of us all work as artists (an art teacher, a graphic designer, and a SAHM/paint and sip instructor), and when you do art for other people as a job, it’s hard to want to go home and work on more art no matter how fulfilling it is. I really was inspired by Liz’s dedication and wanted to do something similar to develop a habit. I recently started a routine of cleaning the house on a daily basis, and 15 minutes here and there make a big difference. I decided the same would be true if I set time aside nightly to work on personal art projects.

I’ve been spending time every night working on art. The husband and I put the girls to bed, we watch some iZombie on Netflix, and then I go upstairs and work on art. I usually turn on a podcast and start drawing or painting. I’ve been working on some commission and work projects, but while one project is drying, I’ll work on another piece that’s just mine.

After doing this for almost two weeks, I can feel the positive effects. I no longer dread going up to the studio. Everything is set up and ready to go at my desk. It’s scheduled, so I’m almost programmed to just do it. It’s enjoyable because I accomplish a lot (even if it’s just a little at a time), and I can see an improvement in my technical drawing skills.

When I don’t know what to draw, I do an exercise from my eBooks by Cuong Nguyen. They’re a great resource and a little bit of instruction, even when you enjoy art, goes a long way.

Here’s some sketches from the last few weeks:

Sunday Sketches

I had been struggling to find time to put time aside for art. Being a full-time mom as well as a painting instructor for Pinot’s Palette, it was a struggle finding time and motivation to work on art.

In the spring, I read a book called Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly. I read a chapter a day during Lent and it inspired me to make the time to create. One of the things Kelly suggested in the book was to keep something called a Mass Journal. The idea is that you bring a journal to mass every Sunday and write down one thing that connects to you during the service. This could be a line from a reading, a song, or something the priest says during the homily.

I liked the idea, but instead of using a journal I chose to do sketches. A friend had gifted me a set of artist tiles, like the kind used for zentangles, so I decided to use these to write and draw my mass reflections. Because the artist tile cards are small, they fit nicely in a small pouch with a couple of pens and pencils I bring along. I listen during mass, write down my connection, and illustrate my reflection.

I like doing these Sunday sketches because it not only because it makes me dedicate time every week to sketching, but it also has helped me connect during church and learn more about myself as well.

  

When you’re too busy to do art…

The last couple of months have been very busy months for me. November and December were filled with lots of holiday commissions for Christmas presents and weddings. Even though I didn’t have the time to work on getting my Etsy shop ready for the holidays and working on some holiday marketing and prep, I ended up having my busiest holiday sales season anyway. The popular items of the season were Colorado themed jewelry.

My favorite commission of the season, would have to be this pencil portrait I drew for a friend of the family. It was a present for his mother in-law depicting her dancing with her daughter, his bride.

alexandmomBecause of being busy with lots of commissions as well as my regular job working at Pinot’s and raising a toddler, I haven’t had time to work on my own artwork. I was able to do a fun watercolor and gouache painting at the very beginning of the year of my interpretation of Kim from the movie Edward Scissorhands. Tim Burton’s art and movies always connected with me growing up (though honestly, what middle/high schooler didn’t connect to his characters). I remember watching Edward Scissorhands at a friend’s house at a sleepover and feeling completely wrecked emotionally at the end of the film. It spoke to feelings I was experiencing being somewhat of a misfit high school student. This movie, as well as his other films, inspired a lot of the kinds of emotionally driven art I was creating during that stage of my life and I wanted to create a piece that honored that.

scissorhandsSince then, all of my artwork has been work related. It’s good to be busy and earning money, but it’s been a little bit creatively draining. However, yesterday I was able to create some art for fun. My friend Conni, has been hosting “Inspiration” art gatherings. These gatherings are opportunities to be surrounded by other artists and art lovers and exercise our creativity. One of the things I miss most about college studio art is being surrounded by people who are constantly creating. These Inspiration get togethers are a way to put aside time to be creative, but in a fun and relaxed environment. It also provides people an opportunity to try new things and get to know new people.

At our get together in February, we had a “Wine Women and Watercolors” night where we had a flower still life and all played with different watercolors and water media while drinking wine. Yesterday, we drove to a natural area and hiked. We took pictures and sketched and then drove back to Conni’s house and created artwork based off of our sketches and photos using the media of our choice.

naturehike
Conni took this photo showing the view of the natural area we hiked around for our March “Inspiration” get together.

I had no clue what I was going to create, especially since I don’t normally create art that’s nature inspired, so I walked around with my camera phone looking for inspiration. I took a couple photos of some dried up plants by a lake and sketched them in my multimedia sketchbook. I masked off my drawing with a new masking fluid pen I got and filled in each negative space with a variety of bright colors instead of the gloomy grays and blues of the actual sky. After I finished with watercolors, I removed the masking fluid, used pencil to re-draw the plants, and added some light gel pen branches to add more layers.

naturehikeabstract It was a lot of fun just to be sitting down and creating a project “just because” and reinforced the importance of creating my own art. Sometimes I don’t work in my studio because I don’t have an idea for a project of importance. I forget that the little sketches and doodles are just as important to do because art is just as much about the process as it is the final product.

A Peek in the New Sketchbook

When I was in middle and high school, I used to draw in my sketchbook daily. My sketchbook went with me everywhere I went. It was a good icebreaker for meeting new friends, a good way to pass the time during class (don’t worry, I was a good student 98% of the time), and a good way to practice and create. I was constantly making up my own characters and stories. My sketchbook was almost like a diary or creative journal.

Sometime during college, I stopped keeping sketchbooks. Yes, we often had to have a designated sketchbook for each individual art course we took, but I didn’t really use them in the same way that I had before.

For my birthday, I asked my husband to get me a sketchbook for my birthday. He got me two different mixed media sketchbooks. The one I started to use is a Strathmore multimedia sketchbook that has a cover similar to a Moleskin sketchbook. I love it and have been trying to get back into the habit of working on art in the studio every night. Having a nice sketchbook definitely helps!

A couple months ago, and before I got my new sketchbook, I started trying to branch out and try new things with watercolor. For some reason, having a wash of color helps me figure out what I want to draw. Doing art this way kind of reminds me of doing a charcoal or conte drawing on toned paper.

I recently have been trying to get more portrait practice in. I do a lot of portraits in my personal work as well as commissions, so I wanted to make sure that I was staying in practice. I decided to get back into gouache and add it on top of watercolor washes to see what would happen. This was my first practice:

rachaelI remember finishing it and thinking, “This was a ‘practice’ piece? It’s better than some of the finished pieces I’ve done lately.” But maybe that’s the thing… When you work in a sketchbook, you take more chances and you allow yourself to experiment more. I think sometimes the pressure gets to you when you’re trying to do a finished “final” piece of art.

So right now, I’m going to continue sketching and practicing. Hopefully more of my sketches will turn out as nice as this piece. I’m hoping that over time, my new theme and style will start to show itself in my sketchbook pages.

hannah

You know you’re an artist when…

You know you’re an artist when you’re hard on yourself… when you’re often in the frame of mind that your work isn’t “good enough”… when you talk yourself out of starting or finishing projects because you’re afraid to make mistakes or that it won’t live up to your expectations.

I think that all people go through phases of self doubt, but I feel like I notice it the most when I’m making art. As an artist, I go through periods of time where I feel like I’m on a roll… creativity seems to flow from my watercolor brushes… every pencil stroke feels meaningful… I can create lots of work in a short amount of time. However, I can’t always feel inspired or always make meaningful work. When I have the time to work on projects, there are times when it feels like I can’t draw a single thing. I think this is when the doubt starts to sink in. That doubt starts making you compare your artwork to the work of others, it tells you that you’ll never “make it” no matter how hard you work, and that art is a waste of time and is only meant for the elite few.

So what do you do when you begin to feel this way?

The first thing I do is cry. I’m mostly joking. I personally think that if you’re feeling strong emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, etc), it’s healthy to allow yourself to experience those emotions rather than bottling them up. If I’m feeling like a failure, I need to take a moment to acknowledge those feelings of sadness, even though it may hurt. I talk to my husband about my insecurities and he does his best to listen, offers tender words and gives back rubs. If I’m still feeling sad, I treat myself to something (coffee, a quick shopping trip, Netflix binge, etc). This “pity present” tells me that it’s okay to feel down, but ultimately, it’s time to move on and stop being a baby.

Next, I remind myself that I’m a good artist. I can’t always be an exceptional artist, but most of the time I’m definitely a good artist. I have to remind myself that people have bought my artwork (“People don’t pay for things they don’t want”) and that, more importantly, art is something that I love (“Being an artist is a lifestyle”).

Finally, I make an action plan. Do I need to take a complete break from art for a couple of days/weeks? Do I need to continue to be in the habit of creating and accept the fact that what I finish might not be good? Do I need to change my subject matter? Medium?

While we’re on the topic, I’ll share my current action plan: If I want to continue to grow my skills as an artist, I need to put aside the time to practice. If I have time to work on some art, but don’t feel inspired to create something meaningful, I will set a timer for 15 minutes and sketch. When the timer goes off, I need to stop and pat myself on the back for the effort regardless of whether or not it looks good.