Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Friday, May 19, 2023
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Friday, May 5, 2023
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
My favorite thing about this painting is the simple colour palette. I have four tubes of paint out--and in retrospect, I think I could have skipped using the turquoise on the siding. So far, I've used only a smidge of white (to match shade while correcting errors), and no black at all. I'd like it to pop a little more, which I think means I need to do more opaque and semi-opaque layers to contrast with the underlying blue...What do you think?
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. "A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. "It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through." -Ira Glass
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
My current WIP. I'm working from an old photo print, so I dredged up memories from my single highschool art class 30-odd years ago and set up a transfer grid. I sketched the grid and outlines on cardstock paper in charcoal, sprayed it with a casein-based fixative, then went over it with a base layer of tinted gesso. I've done several paintings now on gessoed cardstock, and while I have no idea how well they'll hold up over time, I'm really appreciating the way this "canvas" is allowing me to play with acrylics while making use of the materials I already own. It also gives me a lot of control over the "tooth" of the surface and lends itself to easy framing.
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Cabin Fever Therapy
Flu is making its way through our household, disrupting our March Break plans and, after 6 days of being home with sick kids, inspiring heightened levels of when-will-spring-come cabin fever.
Yesterday was a sort of undifferentiated blur of chores, meals, and deep sighs from the most ill child, a sort of "groan[ing] too deep for words."
Today, I had to inform the kids that our planned trip to see dear friends was called off, which left everyone in the house out of sorts. Was sickness and sniping all we'd take away from our week off?
Fortunately, I have a three part formula for turning around blah, boring days. Screens are all turned off until every child has met three conditions:
1. Spend some time outdoors.
2. Do something helpful for the family.
3. Do something creative.
Since I also felt in need of reset, I dug through my arts and craft supplies and realized I still have a largeish canvas left over from a spate of family art projects several years ago. Why not get the kids involved helping me fill this one?
It took a little discussion to decide what to put in our painting, but fortunately, there is one topic we are all quite enamoured of--our puppy, Brynn.
While the kids painted smaller pictures of their own, I sketched out the proportions in a favourite photo of Brynn, then lightly blocked it out on canvas.
The kids helped me fill in the blocked out shapes with base colour. Then I added detail to the figure of Brynn while they added grass and dandelions to the background.
It needs a touchup here and there once it is dry, but I'm pretty happy with it. More importantly, this just became "the time we painted that picture of Brynn" instead of "that time we were all sick and didn't get to go on vacation."
Yesterday was a sort of undifferentiated blur of chores, meals, and deep sighs from the most ill child, a sort of "groan[ing] too deep for words."
Today, I had to inform the kids that our planned trip to see dear friends was called off, which left everyone in the house out of sorts. Was sickness and sniping all we'd take away from our week off?
Fortunately, I have a three part formula for turning around blah, boring days. Screens are all turned off until every child has met three conditions:
1. Spend some time outdoors.
2. Do something helpful for the family.
3. Do something creative.
Since I also felt in need of reset, I dug through my arts and craft supplies and realized I still have a largeish canvas left over from a spate of family art projects several years ago. Why not get the kids involved helping me fill this one?
It took a little discussion to decide what to put in our painting, but fortunately, there is one topic we are all quite enamoured of--our puppy, Brynn.
While the kids painted smaller pictures of their own, I sketched out the proportions in a favourite photo of Brynn, then lightly blocked it out on canvas.
The kids helped me fill in the blocked out shapes with base colour. Then I added detail to the figure of Brynn while they added grass and dandelions to the background.
It needs a touchup here and there once it is dry, but I'm pretty happy with it. More importantly, this just became "the time we painted that picture of Brynn" instead of "that time we were all sick and didn't get to go on vacation."
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