Half a Year Later

The last half year has been challenging, with only a few stabs at trying to create art here and there. Thinking a workshop would jump start my motivation, I signed up for the Art League's recent one-day class with Joseph Stoddard on ink and watercolor. He suggested we try to replicate one of his works in order to learn his methods, and since I think that's a very worthwhile learning experience, I did so. And it WAS -- I re-learned that I'm not good at or inspired by paintings of buildings. But I also learned I enjoyed working with ink lines. It was such a good learning experience, I decided to try to copy another artist's work. 

Linda Kemp works 100% with "negative painting," and she creates gorgeous organic paintings. There's a demo of her working in acrylic (http://www.northlightshop.com/linda-kemps-negative-painting-techniques-light-in-acrylic) and watching it inspired me. Trying to copy one of her works is a fun and difficult puzzle, since I have to study certain parts for quite a while in order to figure out how she did it with only negative painting. It really works the spatial relations part of the brain! Anyway, it was a great deal of fun, and the end result was quite satisfying. Doing this also gave me several ideas for future paintings of my own. 

Here are the two lessons:

Vignette by Joseph Stoddard

My replica of the vignette

Acrylic demo painting by Linda Kemp

My Kemp Copy in Watercolor

Aunts at the Beach

A semi-impressionistic oil painting, almost finished today:

I have done several watercolors based on a photograph of my five aunts at a picnic in Indiana in 1945, and in this water mixable oil painting, I experimented with outlining and brush and color techniques, while focusing on three aunts and putting them at the beach. 

Managing to Make Three Artworks in Three Months

Three artworks were created since the last post, two oils and an iPad work, and I learned some valuable lessons. 

It is fun and fast to make an iPad "painting" (P. A. Woman below), and the inspiration can be something like a photo of my Chinese dipping sauce. I learned that with my iPad art, the result is not necessarily what I had imagined, and it seems like they are all starting to look alike.

It is fun and fast to do a small impressionistic oil painting (Out of Darkness). This painting was inspired by my choreographer daughter's brave struggles, and it looks like what I feel when I think about those. I think other people don't like this painting much.

It is NOT fun and it is NOT fast to do a semi-realistic 18 x 24 oil painting! The main thing I learned from painting Joy is to never do anything like it again. It began to feel like WORK, and I dreaded working on it. At this stage in my learning about oil painting, going smaller and more impressionistic is better.

My friend Jessica's niece was christened, and she took a beautiful photo in the church. I saw her photo and said to myself, "That would make a great painting," and it would -- just not by me. I think the problem is what my friend Carrol said gave her difficulties -- I knew the people I was painting. Instead of going impressionistic, I ended up fussing about whether it looked like them. And with details and defining edges, my essential tremor just fouled me up! I learned valuable lessons, so this painting was a worthwhile experience. Now my problem is what to do with the darn thing -- it's really big and I don't think anyone wants it.

Joy

Out of Darkness

P. A. Woman

New iPad Pro

For my 72nd birthday in April,  I finally bought myself the new, large, FAST iPad Pro, with the latest Procreate program, and Dan bought me the iPencil, all fabulously fun and inventive art tools. Besides making a couple of story books for the grandkids, I tried a couple of collages from old watercolors, since there are parts of those old works that now look very beautiful to me. This one has potential:

Leaving Eden

I liked this one enough to risk posting it to the Procreate FB page today.
We'll see.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Also in honor of my sister, I decided to try something completely new -- mono-printing!
I took photographs of my sister's pottery and used them to make stencils. With the Gelli printing plate Carrol Wolf gave me, I used a Speedball 2 inch rubber brayer to roll red, yellow, and blue Speedball water soluble printing ink onto the plate with the stencils present in some layers. The stencils worked in some layers and not in others. I did six prints and here they are in order:

The last one is my favorite. I'm thinking I could use some of the textures in my iPad art. And I think I'll give all these printing supplies back to Carrol Wolf for her to try. 

Taking Another Stab at Water Mixable Oils

As often happens, life got away from me, and I have not done any artwork since the last post. Yesterday I told myself I had to paint SOMETHING, to counter my sadness at the second anniversary of my sister's unexpected death. So I decided to copy a work by one of my favorite artists, Wolf Kahn, to try to figure out how he does it. I got out my WN Artisan and Holbein Duo paints, an old cheap canvas board, and made myself paint. It finally got to be fun.

What did I learn? First, it's harder than it looks. Second, I can copy pretty well, but can I take the things I learned and create something of my own? 

Here are the paintings:

My copy

New Hybrid Works

Just got back from a wonderful 5-day studio workshop with Katherine Chang Liu and learned that what I have been doing on the iPad can be called "hybrid works." And there ARE artists who are doing something slightly similar, which I found exciting. Before I went to the workshop, I created the work on the left, and during the workshop I did the one on the right. And I actually like both of them. I thought about both for many days before I made them, and it took a while to collect, photograph, and edit all the elements. Great fun!

P A Belle

Ashes/Blue Planet

An Obsessive's Dream/Nightmare

Creating artwork with the iPad apps means that one can easily change small parts and then change it back to see the effect. For someone with obsessive tendencies, it can mean hours of fiddling. At times I have taken an old painting that had some parts I didn't like, put it into the iPad app, worked on it for hours, and then when I compare the two versions, I can hardly tell them apart. Finally, I'm left with the problem of having to decide which one is "the one." Here is an example.

Right now I'm thinking neither version is very good, or at least that my first one (on the left) is better. Apparently, I have discovered another way to increase self doubt. Oh well, at least I had fun!

My Sister's Things

This work was created with ProCreate on the iPad using photographs (most taken by Dan) of my sister's things -- our mother's oil paintings that she had, drawings she did when she was young, the ceramics she made in retirement, and the small porcelain figurines we collected as children.  Lord, I miss her.

There Used to Be Birds

A series of artworks about the continuing decline in bird numbers resulted in the following:

The two above are versions of the same idea, digital collages created new on my iPad with the Procreate app. The next one was DRAWN on the iPad with a bit of digital collage some time back and revised recently:

This last one was was based on an oil painting I did last year. A photograph of the painting was entered into the art app, and the falling feathers, each photographed individually, were digitally collaged on top. 

A Successful Creation

Yesterday and today I had the fortitude to try to create something new on my iPad. An image had come into my mind and hung on. After a few hours, I had something I actually liked. And even more amazing, it looked pretty much like the image in my mind! It's titled "Into That Good Night."

New Methods with the iPad

At a workshop with Katherine Chang Liu in Claremont in January (a wonderful experience), I experimented with using my iPad in a different manner. First I painted a watercolor and then took a photo of it with my iPad and put it into ProCreate, where I made several alterations. I had walked around Claremont taking photos with my iPad of the brick driveway near the hotel, of the Millard Sheets mosaic on the bank nearby, and of other things, and I used pieces of these photos in the work. Next I painted some of those alterations onto the watercolor painting, took another photo with it, worked on it some more in ProCreate, and painted some of those changes on the painting. I went back and forth that way and ended up with "The Birds," which won second place in digital art in the Huntington Beach Art League Open Show in May 2015.

The Birds

With the large collage in the last post, I wasn't happy with how the woman kissing the horse looked, so I took a photo of it with my iPad, put it in ProCreate, erased most of the woman, and made it look better, to me at least:

Good-by to a Sad Year

My creative output plummeted this year, though I did try new things. First, I tried to develop some meaningful content regarding the imminent extinction of many bird species and then regarding grief. I think the two subjects are related in that many of us feel sad about the destruction we are inflicting on our only planet. We who have lived long enough can remember how things used to be and we grieve for that loss. I can remember when southern California had 1/3 as many people as it has now, and empty lots, lizards, frogs, and many types of birds and insects were plentiful. 

In addition to exploring new content, I tried new methods, such as learning to create various artworks on my iPad (click here to see them). Last week I took a class from Jacki Long on large canvas collage (30" x 40").  It was tremendous fun, but as usual with anything involving acrylic, I came home a complete mess. How DOES that stuff get in my hair?? Anyway, I made the collage for my daughter, based on a photo my husband took of her and her horse, and she said she loves it. Here it is:

Finally, it always seems to help to set some artistic goals for the new year. Overall I would like to develop a focus of meaningful content, and technically I would like to increase dominance of certain elements in my works. And my usual revolution: Paint more!

Movie of a Digital Painting

Just discovered a fun new thing with ProCreate, my painting app on my iPad -- a little movie of the painting process. Sort of reveals my thinking and decision process, and actually, it reveals a lot about my personality, such as how obsessive-compulsive I can get. Anyway, here it is:

To see another one, click here.

Woo hool!!!

Just learned that my painting was accepted for the 2014 International Watercolor West Juried Exhibition, and since this is the third time, I qualify as a signature member! If only my sister were here for me to share the news with -- she was always my best viewer and greatest supporter, and she'd have taken pleasure in this success. Anyway, here is the painting that will be in the show:

Picnic Anyway 1945

It is based on an old photograph of my five aunts at a family picnic after their parents had been killed in a car-train accident and before the war ended.

Digital Collage

With my iPad app ProCreate, I knew it was possible to take parts of images and put them into a new work, and I recently figured out how to do it. I went through JPGs of my old watercolors and found parts of them that I liked, even if I didn't like the actual painting, and put them into the app as resources. Then I started playing. It's possible to make collages out of old images I created without tearing up the paintings!

The following piece has parts of seven different watercolors in it, and the shadow figure was drawn in freehand. Does that make it a mixed media piece?

Bird Walk 1995

Here is another one, with even more pieces of old paintings and an old photograph in it:

Lost Girl

Experimenting with Digital Art

After my husband gave me a new iPad, I bought a program called "ProCreate" for creating digital artworks. I have been experimenting with "painting" over photographs and over old watercolor paintings, with creating photo collages, and with "drawing" layered "paintings." So far, I have become obsessed and greatly enjoy this last process. I can give "ProCreate" a highly positive review. Here are my recent efforts.

Grandma Love 8

Sisters 2

Sibling Rivalry

More Grief

This series of artwork all began with a selfie photo I took, while I was crying and holding a sick, sleeping baby in a dark room. I put it together in a Warhol-like picture, shown in my last post. After that, I did an ink and watercolor painting based on that photo. And next, I made a digital "painting" on my iPad, using ProCreate. My husband, who gave me the iPad for my birthday, took a picture of me working on it. Pictures of all this are below.

Sad Selfie

Watercolor Grief

Digital Grief

Comparing the ink/watercolor with the digital work, I begin to wonder which more effectively conveys my intent, do both convey grief, are they both "art"? Both absorbed me while I was working on them, and the digital one was actually fun, since I was learning something new. I had fun with grief??  Art IS transformative! (At least for the artist.)

Grief 1 and 2

After the sudden, unexpected death of my dear sister in March, I stopped painting. She was my best viewer and best friend, and it's hard to go on without her. On Friday I held my poor, sick little grandson for two hours in a dark room, so he could sleep, and in those two hours I thought about my sister and cried. Finally, I thought, "Well, this is my life right now. I might as well paint it, too." So here are two works about grief.

2014: Starting to Paint Again

Last month I attended a workshop with Katherine Chang Liu, and I felt inspired to explore an emotionally charged issue for me. This month I attended a workshop with Christopher Schink, and I felt like taking an intellectual approach to painting and simply enjoying the challenge of trying some new techniques. Here are the paintings, two from Katherine's workshop and two from Toph's; can you guess which is which?

Here's some helpful hints: The titles of the paintings, from top to bottom, are "Silent Spring 1," "Silent Spring 2," "Red Boot," "The Young Guitarist 2."