Comfortable Shoes Studio

The First Day of Real Work

Today starts my self-employment. I’m forcing  myself to take a week to relax before I dive head long into the work of the site and writing. I know that by the end of the week I’ll be working hence the forced relaxation period. This weekend C and I watched some crap TV shows and cooked. It was great.

I started some random art journaling last night by culling through my pile of personal ephemera. I picked stuff out and glued it to the page. No rhyme or reason, but where it called to be glued. Where it looked good to me. A simple concept but one where I had to let myself be random and not plan out the page.

After that I wanted to clean off one of my watercolor palettes so I wet the colors and used a big brush to slather colors onto my pages. Again I wasn’t calculated or planned about where and what colors I used. I simply looked at what colors I had and what looked good on a page, then slathered the colors onto the page. I mixed colors on the page, worked wet-into-wet, and layered the color on top of the ephemera. Some of the ephemera resisted the watercolor, some absorbed it like a sponge.

I’ll write on these pages and then add more color and collage over my words. It’s all process.

A few Weeks

Man, I’ve had a few weeks. Even without an adjective in that sentence you know what I mean. Part 3 of the big thing is coming to a close, I’ve got 14 days (10 shifts) until I’m no longer employed by the large multi-national corporation where I’ve been working of the last 10 years. As the day approaches I’m getting nervous, but in that excited kind of way. As with any amount of change things are weird at work, and  I’ve used my journal to think things out and well, I’ll leave it in the journal.

I’ve got over 10,000 words written in “My Headlines and Stories,” and I’m super excited in how it’s shaping up. I’ve started to flesh out areas that need more explanation and I’ve even started some of the demonstration images in my Stillman & Birn beta spiral bound sketchbook. The paper in it is just right for some of the techniques. I can’t wait to really get into shooting pictures and videos for each of the techniques. It's going to be kinda awesome.

I’ve started the required reading for my first class, and I’ve got 7 books I have to read between now and August 19th. Holy wow. The great thing about this required reading? It’s completely validating and backing up everything I’ve ever thought about art journaling and my personal art journaling practice. I can’t wait to share all the stuff I’m learning here on the blog.

Exciting times ahead, that’s for sure.

How I Cope

I get a pen or pencil and a sketchbook then draw.

It only helps me to cope, it doesn't do anything for anyone else.

I'm okay with that.

If you need to deal with these events, work in your art journal.

It helps.

Sheep, Sheeples, Herd Brain

Sheep.

I have used them symbolically in my art dating back to 1999. Somewhere in the nether reaches of my studio I have a set of small hand carved stamps, one is a small fluffy sheep the other is a small carver BAA that fits perfectly inside the sheep. They measure less than one inch in any direction. I need to find them.

The sheep symbolize a couple of things in my art. First and foremost they symbolize my own herd-like tendencies, the go with the flow laziness. A tendency toward not asking questions which leads to the eventual slaughter. Secondly they symbolize herd like people. Yes I know the whole “sheeple” thing is a tired cliche that’s been overdone, but damn it, I’ve been over doing it since 1999!

Generally, when you see the sheep directed at myself it’s generally a directive for me to go against the grain and think about what is going on around me. When it’s directed towards others it’s with disgust at deeds or inaction.

Lately I’ve been dealing with some herd like thinking, that includes some flack and stupidity. It’s caused me some stress and the inevitability of some distance. I’d go into it more but you know, I can’t not yet. So in my art journal it stays, eventually you’ll see more of these pages. Lots more.

Phase 3 of the Big Thing

I can finally reveal part 3 of the “big thing.” Part 3 of the big thing is that I’m leaving my job the second week of May. I’m going to spend the summer making art, working on my online art classes as well as retooling my class site, art journaling ning. It’s not an optimal time for me to leave my job but I figured if I don’t make the leap now I’d never take a summer off, and well, I wanted to try and see if I can make books, paint and write classes. I’ve got plans for a funky thing that I’m going to call an artist’s zine/book. Super limited edition type of thing, hand made, thick with my writing and lots of art journaling goodies packed in. I’ve got a couple of class planned out. I’m at the fleshing them out stage and outlining for videos stage. Lots of good things going on.

I’m sure many of you have heard rumors about ning’s decision to restructure and increase prices. Ning has moved from ning 2 to Ning 3.0 status. I have a year and a half to change to Ning 3.0. The problem is that Ning 3.0 does not have all the features that we currently use on ArtJournaling ning. Though they may add them at some point. The second problem is that it’s increasing the price from a moderate $250/yr to about $600/yr. This is pretty drastic. A big part of what I’ve been doing these last few weeks (when I haven’t been blogging) is exploring other options for AJ ning. I’ve made no secret that I’ve been less than pleased with ning’s formats and options for classes. It’s a pain for the presenters to set up classes, and when I have guest teachers most cannot figure out how to update the class. This makes a lot of work for me on the back end of things, and while I’ve been working it’s been a total pita.

the replacement is designed for education and I’ve had a few people check out the site and they’ve told me it’s easy to navigate, easy to interact, and easy to look at. It’s not ready for new people yet, as I’m still tweaking the formating and working on the site. Not to worry, AJ ning is staying online.

Oh yeah, the new site is going to have an art journaling wiki. Super easy to search, loads of info, the ability to ask questions, and loads of links to videos and blogs.

Holy crapola, I’m excited!

Open to Challenge

A few days ago I wrote a little post called “What is it?” Basically asking what is art journaling. I’ve been asking this question on my FB as well. I wrote it because I like the fact that my idea of art journaling is constantly being challenged. I’m open to the challenges and thinking about the different ideas others have about art journaling.

I know that what I do is a little different from what many of the people on my ning site do as their art journaling, and I’m okay with that. In fact, I think it’s what makes the site so great. We’ve got people just jumping off the scrapping ship and into the messy creative world of art journaling. I like to see them have their creative muscles awakened and their brains made active with art.

Part of the reason I’m so open to the challenges and ideas of so many different types of art journaling is that I think that the more people who are creative and enjoy creativity the more likely we’ll see an opening for creativity to become more valued in our society. Because, let’s face it, outside of a few isolated pockets of art communities, most people will tell you they don’t get art. Or worse yet, that they see no value in art. Which makes me sad. What gives me hope is to see so many people (over 4600 as of this writing) engaged in a practice that is about pure creativity.

Sure, I’d like to see more people doing the hard work of journaling in their journal, asking themselves tough questions and then striving to answer them no matter the answer, but for now I’ll take the win of more people being creative with art.

Ask Questions of Yourself

The first half of this is about how when you know stuff you don't question thing. The whole thing is about asking questions and exploring ideas. Something to think about.

How can you get yourself asking more questions about your art process?

 

Vibrant Watercolors

PJ made a comment about the luminous/vibrant color of my watercolors. I thought I’d address that and consider a watercolor class in the future.

Watercolors are my go to tool for color in my art journal. I use them in a few specific manners to get bright vibrant shades.

First let’s talk about the brands I use. I adore holbein, windsor and newton, cotman, and Dr PH Martins. I also enjoy using Sargent’s Watercolor Magic liquid colors. As long as I’m working in my art journal I’m not concerned with the colors being lightfast.

Secondly, let’s talk about clean brushes. It’s important that you clear out any color from your brush to get clean colors. Any spot of an opposite color to the color you want will dull and muddy the color you are using. I wash my brushes on a regular basis using plenty of soap. I like to use generic shampoo as it generates a nice lather and works its way deep into the bristles. I keep a couple of containers of rinse water on my desk while I work, one generally is the dirty water container and does the bulk of my rinse while a second is used to rinse the brush further.

Then I prepare my colors. If I’m using dried or block colors I moisten them in advance of use. I use either a spray bottle or a squeeze bottle to add drops of water to the cake of color and I let it sit to soften the color. As I work I add more water to lighten the color. If i’m using tubed color I squeeze out a small amount and add water to it to create a liquid. With liquid color I add a few drops to a palette and add water as needed. Often times with tubed colors I’ll add the watercolor to a cup with a lid and add plenty of water. This gives me a large amount of liquid color that I can work with. Touching a wet brush to a dry cake of color will only give a weak shade.

In all cases I make sure my brush is clean before I pick up any paint or dip into a cup. A small amount of blue or purple in the yellow will turn it green or brownish, and take away from it’s bright color. If I’m attempting to mix a bright secondary color I try small amounts of the colors to create it. So if I’m looking for purple I add small amounts of blue and red together away from their cups and being sure to clean my brush.

One of the hardest things for me to learn with watercolor is to USE the paint and to not skimp. So if I’m covering a large amount of paper with a single color I need to use more paint than I think I need. Also watercolors ALWAYS dry lighter than when applied. When the paper is wet my colors need to be darker than I want the end result to be. If the color is just right when wet it won’t be when dry, I try and work a shade or two darker than what I would like the color when dry. the great thing about watercolor is that I can alway add another layer if I want to darken the color.

So here are my tips for vibrant watercolors in a nutshell:

• Properly wet and prepare your colors before you need them.
• Clean brushes.
• Use more paint than you think you need, remember that watercolors dry lighter.

Figuring Stuff Out

It’s almost 1am and we’re in the midst of a blizzard, or so the weather reports tell me. Well, that’s being a tad dismissive, we’ve got another 12 hours of snow to go, but so far I’m not seeing mountains and mountains of snow. The wind is howling, snow is drifting and even my dogs don’t want to go outside. Right now I’m regretting that 6pm cup of coffee.

I’ve spent the day sipping hot hot tea in an effort to unclog my sinuses which finally appear to be on the mend. i’m not sure if it’s the hot tea or the buffalo chicken fingers I ordered from the local pizza place that I should credit. Maybe it’s time, who knows. I’m starting to feel physically better. My sleep cycle is all kinds of messed up. I’m awake when I should be asleep and sleeping when I should be awake. Of course, that 6pm cup of coffee that tasted oh so good as the snow

I spent some time reflecting on my art journals today while listening to some good music. I flipped through the last year’s worth of my art journals. I’ve got some good stuff recorded. I’m missing some notes I took on business cards that held a lot of good class ideas. But overall, I liked what I saw. I made a lot of progress artistically. My ability to capture a lifelike and emotional portrait increased 10 fold. i’m proud of the work I’ve done. I’m excited for the art show I’ll have in August. This year holds a lot of potential for me.

The thing is, it’s all up in the air right now. I’m not sure how things are going to land but I’m sure it’ll be in the way it should be for me.

The last few days have been interesting in that it’s revealed some artistic and art journaling truths to me that I had previously not know or had ignored. These will be shared here over time.

It's a Process

I’ve been sick, in more ways than one. I’ve had a sinus infection. It’s knocked me on my ass. I’ve also been dealing with disappointment. Abject utter disappointment. Disappointment so deep it hurts. I let myself wallow in it and be consumed with the feeling. The feeling making my sinus infection seem a hundred times worse than perhaps it was. Or maybe it was just that bad* that it could make me feel so helpless.

The cause of the disappointment is not important other than to me. I’ve spent the last few days in a fever induced haze of misery, scribbling in my art journal and watching TV on my laptop and sleeping.

My scrawling and scribbling in my art journal don’t reveal much to me. It chronicles my self-centered misery, my sadness and my sneezes.**

Except one page, a meditative page I did in a sort of mandala style. It’s also self centered, in that there is an image of me in the middle of the page. Radiating out from the center of the image (at the sinuses interestingly enough) are layers of circles filled with various patterns, alternating colors, lines, rays, circles, sheep, and gears. All of this done on a hot colored background in cool colors.

Though I had not planned the imagery it matches the evolution of my thoughts over the last few days, from useless rage and helplessness to being able to think clearly on the problem at hand and coming up with a plan that may work. It’s not done yet, but I like where it’s going

Practice

I've been practicing my calligraphy. I think I've told you the story of how when I was a kid I learned how to write by taking calligraphy class from my 2nd grade teacher. I had a really hard time learning cursive and was forced to spend lots and lots of time working on my penmanship, to little avail. My new, young, 2nd grade teacher, had read an article and some research on teaching kids to write via calligraphy and I became her personal experiment.

So, once a week I stayed after school and was taught some basic calligraphy. I ended up being pretty decent at it but my penmanship never got too great. In fact my handwriting is still referred to as chicken scratch and less kindly as roach droppings.

Sadly I gave up calligraphy in 8th or 8th grade since most of my peers saw it as dorky. Since I was already a geek I couldn't risk delving too far into dork territory. I regret that I gave up my enjoyment of calligraphy and worst yet that I've not had an additional 20 years of practice. I can only imagine what my black letter and gothic would look like if I'd only kept at it.

This post is less about that than the fact I took a dive in the parking lot of my DayJob and landed rather stiffly on my hand and elbow. The right side, of course, and now my wrist is slightly swollen, stiff and sore. Ice and an ace bandage are helping a lot. But writing is not comfortable and calligraphy is out of the question for awhile anyway. This is pretty frustrating for me since I've been making decent progress on my gothic writing.

The one good thing about this is that I'm forced to use less pressure when writing. The only good thing.

Flack

I've gotten flack for being more of an arty art journaler than a writing or cute art journaler. I don't do pretty faces with cutesy quotes. Instead I write my heart out and cover it with paint. I let my writing become part of my finished pieces, even these faces that I've been painting, they have been born out of my art journaling process. Not all of these pieces have deep writing behind the paint, but I learned this process through my art journal.

My art journal is my greatest tool in my art making arsenal. Without it, I'm not sure where my art would be today.

In the images below you can see the words peaking through the layers of paint. Sometimes my journal contains simple lists- like the lists of things I ate during a road trip, a list of purchases made one weekend, beers I tried. Other times it's long paragraphs about influences, things I've read, people I've interacted with, gripes with life. I hang my paint on top of these words, not needing to add a quote or make it pretty. My art journal is a place of no fear. I don't always show it, sometimes it's too raw.

My art journal influences my art and is influenced by my art, it's a never ending circle.

Review: Faber Castell Gelato

I’d heard  a lot about Faber Castell’s Gelatos. I’d heard they were like a tube of smooshy rich watercolor. So I had to try them out. I went small and bought a 2 pack. The only packs the local Michael’s had were either 8 packs or 2 packs. The 8 packs are all matching tones in one shade or another, the 2 packs were the blending shades to mix with the colors. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the 8 packs and the 2 pack was only $3.50 and I had a coupon.

The tubes are hard plastic and hold a water soluble substance that feels a lot like chapstick, which makes sense that it’s in a chapstick-like tube. No holds barred, I went straight into my art journal and slopped some white onto a spot that I wanted to bring the neighboring area into prominence while blending the color back.

Once on the page I found the white was nicely opaque, thought it took a decent amount of product to get that result. I really liked the look of the product straight out of the tube, but found that without adding water it smudged with ease. Adding some water kept a lot of the opaqueness of the product but cut it’s greasy slick texture.

For those of you who like to stick your fingers into paint, these are nontoxic. I have not had a chance to test them for lightfastness, but will do so soon.

They lay down in a greasy thick and smooth feeling, not unlike writing on a wall with high quality lipstick... I’ll be honest after so many rave reviews I was expecting... MORE. Instead I was left feeling underwhelmed. The plastic tube is brilliant marketing for adults who don’t want to get their fingers dirty with Portfolio Water Soluble Oil Pastels. They also have a more adult appearance than Portfolios, a certain je ne sais quoi, if you will. They are also packaged in a way that will appeal to adults.

Underwhelmed is a good way to express how I feel about these. I’m not a fan of Portfolios. They are close enough to watersoluble crayons that I don’t see a reason to add them to my art arsenal. Instead I’ll stock up on more watersoluble crayons. I do like the white though for it’s opaqueness.

Dark Days

I notice that a lot of art journals only seem to cover the happy parts of life, as if only the pretty parts are deserving of a page.

Ignoring the crappy hard parts of life isn't the best way to deal with the garbage. Disappointment, sadness, death, and our distress all deserve to be explored and figured out in the pages of our art journals.

My art journal is a place for me to work out my thoughts and ideas, exorcise the demons if I need them gone. It's a place to explore and even fail.

I've got some dark not so happy stuff in my journals, and that's just the place to shut it away.

Waiting Area Sketches

Yesterday, I was doing my usual routine when sitting in a waiting room, I sketched. Usually, when I go to the orthodontist I'm in and out in 20 minutes, yesterday, I waited for 20. No big deal, I whipped out my sketchbook and sketched the people waiting. Adults were sparse and accompanied by 2 or more kids, one lady had 6!

I sketched away when a woman sat next me with her daughter. I could here some whispers and the mother finally said, "Just ask, what could it hurt?" Shortly after the girl, around 13 or so touched me on the shoulder and asked about my sketching. She was really sweet and I could have been more talkative. She was shocked to find out I was not able to make a living drawing. She watched me draw the rest of the time I was in the waiting room and we were called in at the same time.

It was neat to talk to some one who still finds art a magical thing and lacked the jaded feelings of adults.

 

Perfection vs Process

Last night I sat down with my Americano at the regular Fiddle Jam session and everything I tried to draw was horrible. Faces were off, I couldn't get the perspective on the fiddle, the lights were low. It was frustrating. I kept drawing. I felt myself getting more and more aggravated. Usually the week's aggravation melts away as I sketch on Friday nights.

For whatever reason I just couldn’t hit my stride.

A customer moved and I had a great view of someone. Instead of focusing on perfection I just tried to capture him, fast. Suddenly I had it.

Process smacked me in the face last night. In my quest and frustration attempting to capture one particular face well, I forgot process and labored toward perfection. When I moved back toward process I found my stride.

Since I spent nearly the 2 full hours of Fiddle Jam frustrating myself, I came home and found a photo to sketch. I was pretty happy with the results of my final sketch of the night. This is a reminder to embrace process not product. (Find the original photo here.)

Friday Night

A few months back a friend of mine messaged me on FaceBook asking me to go to a gathering of artists at his place. I couldn’t go because of the DayJob. I got another message that the group was getting together again on Friday. This time I was able to go. I was able to meet a bunch of local artists and talk about some ideas for showing our art and things we’d like to be able to do.

I wasn’t shy about drawing my fellow artists. I stared as they spoke. We passed around examples of our art. We talked. We passed around sketchbooks. We all drew.

Here are some drawings from Friday night.

It’s the first art group meeting I’ve been to since I left college way back in 1998. I  had trepidations about going but all in all it was a great time. I met a guy who keeps what he calls “his books” and I would call art journals. They blew my mind. I could have sat there all night and looked through his books. He worked really simply in large sized Moleskine sketchbooks and regular sharpies. Thick bold lines. Simple. Mind blowing. I met scott who makes art chairs and sculptures. Bruce who makes comics and puppets.  A potter. A portrait painter, 4x8 foot portraits. A guy who makes soft sculptures and fun audio devices. We were all so diverse and yet all had art in common.

Finished Project

I started the thank you ATC project as a way to thank the people who contributed to the AJ ning funding drive. I thought it would be an easy way to say thanks... I was wrong. ATC are a lot of work and bangning out 34 of them took a lot longer than I’d expected. When I first started I wasn’t sure what I was going to do on them. It dawned on me that I should do something people would recognize as mine and something I enjoyed, obviously that had to be portraits.

When you think ATC size, you might think it’s a simple and easy size, fast to fill. After all it’s a small size, so it should be less effort to fill them up. I wrote about my process with these cards before but what I’m most surprised about is how much better I got with concentrated effort. 34 cards done over a 2 week spread of time. In this time I learn how my tools work on the paper I’ve chosen and how to control them for maximum effect. Dry lines, angles, broken line, speed of the pen, rough paper, cross hatching all of that were things that I learned to effectively use over the course of this experiment.You can see the difference in how I used the pens from card 1 to card 34.


You can also see the difference in how I saw the people I was drawing. Some of these images I drew from direct observation and others from photos from flickr’s commons. You can see the change in my direct observation skills from card number 4 to card 25.


It’s amazing what you learn in 34 small drawings that you expected to be easy. This was way more work than I imagined. I probably won’t do another set of ATC for a good long time. These will for sure be collector’s items and rare.

Rivalry

I started out on art early. I started drawing when I was young and kept on drawing until, well, I guess I never stopped. When I went off to High School I was one of the art kids. I spent an unusually large amount of time in the art room and drawing in study hall. I also played sports and was involved in a lot of other activities. Art was my main squeeze.

Being top dog in the art department meant I was asked to submit and participate in a lot of contests. I held a lot of disdain toward art contests, still do, and yet entered them, I still do that too. I may have been one of the top artists at my high school but I went up against this girl from our rival high school during every competition. We’ll call her Mary*. Mary was from a rich family in the town next to mine, her dad was a professor or something like that, and she went to art camp, got to take classes at the local college and played sports. No matter what I did I always came in second place to Mary, except when we played softball. Defeating her on the softball field was nothing compared to losing to her in every art contest I entered.

After 2 years of competing against her I gave up. I stopped entering contests, declaring them rigged politically in her favor. I actually told my art teacher this on multiple occasions. She always asked how I was jaded so young. The truth though was that Mary was a pretty good artist. She used color well and had been able to spend a lot of time working on her craft with some really great instructors. Mary was a hard person to have as a nemesis because she was also really nice.**

Our Senior year we had a group art show and our two schools were scheduled to be at the gallery at the same time. My friends and I were somewhat ambivalent and yet excited to have our work hanging in the local college’s gallery. It was a big deal. Somehow, Mary and I ended up working in the same room together and I got to see her work ethic up close. She was deliberate and careful, measuring her art carefully, hanging it perfectly. My friends and I used two tacks, cord and a level to give us a baseline for our art. Our teacher letting us run the show. Ours looked good, Mary’s and her classmates looked better.***

What set Mary apart from teenage me was her work ethic toward art. While I worked moderately hard at art, I focused most of my attention on my other studies. Which assured me a scholarship to school but, I think, was detrimental to me as an artist.

Now that it’s been nearly 20 years since I got out of high school I realize I was jealous of all of the opportunities Mary had because her family was well off. I also see now that my hard work has paid off for me as an artist and as a person. I’m still making art, what is Mary doing? According to the town paper I read on one of my visits to my parent’s place, Mary is now a successful graphic designer.**** Now that we’re all grown up we both win, we’re both doing something we enjoy. Honestly, I'm really happy for her.

Days of Art

The last few days have been days of art. I’ve been soaking them up and putting them into the reserve to carry me through the next few months. I’m headed back to the DayJob on Monday so I can continue to fund my art activities. The last few days have been nothing short of glorious. It doesn’t get much better than spending days off of the DayJob making art.

I’ve been banging out the thank you ATCs for the ArtJournaling.ning.com sponsors,  I’m 24 into the total of 34. Only 10 left. I’m pretty excited about getting them done so timely. I think I can get another 5 or so done today.

I spent Saturday doing my usual art visit with Jane in Salem.We talked about Put it on Paper, our reviews we’ll be doing, updates on the articles for the next issue and things we’ll be doing on the blog. Pretty exciting stuff. Then we spent the rest of the AM drawing around Salem. I also stopped to snap a lot of pics along the way.

In the afternoon, I switched lenses and C and I wandered up to Atomic for some iced caffeinated goodness and then went to sit in the Common. We stumbled upon [space] having an interactive still life. They invited us to sit down and participate, so I did. Now that I’m 10+ years out of college it was a blast listening to the art school kids talk art. I haven’t heard so much art speak in one place since 1998. It was particularly enjoyable to sit down and sketch an everything and the kitchen sink still life, since I haven’t done that since drawing 1. I should have moved around the still life more and tried a few different angles, I really wanted to draw this parrot sculpture again, but instead stuck to my spot and continued on making muddy sketches. It was fun.

The vintage 28-50mm Magnum lens performed really well today when I was in Salem. I picked up a lcd viewfinder  so I could focus the manual lenses in harsh light and it made all the difference in using my vintage manual lenses. Where I was unable to get a sharp focus before I did this time. Perfectly sharp. The Star-d 28mm lens(rebranded vivitar) gives me fits in harsh light. I need to get a lens hood. It completely flairs out and I end up with washed out image. I don’t even get good flair with it, just washed out images. So aggravating. But when it was good it was really good.

magnum lens

magnum lens

star-d lens

star-d lens

Antithesis of Athletic

For the last few weeks I’ve been walking a lot. In the summer I walk around town as a matter of habit, it’s nice out and pleasant to walk to the cafe for an iced coffee. Naturally, my walking increases. My doctor said to me during my last visit, “Have you considered walking?” Which I think is a funny way to say to me, “Hey tubby, you need to lose a few pounds and get your blood pressure down, so you know you should walk.” So I’ve increased my usual walks from short pleasant walks to longer less pleasant walks, especially with the heat we’ve been having.

One of the side effects of these walks is that my feet have been hurting because I’ve been walking in my usual shoes; chuck taylors, doc martins and the like. I haven’t had true athletic shoes in a very very long time. So last night I ventured into a big box shoe store and looked for womens’ sneakers that were black with no neon colors or pink, pale purple, or baby blue. Pretty much an impossible task. I found 4 out of 500 pairs of sneakers that were not garish in color.

I am tempted to go on a long tirade about how some women would like plain black sneakers or even black and white without the addition of neon colors, but I think that’s a tirade for another day.

As I tie these sneakers to my feet I feel like a big fat fraud. I used to be pretty athletic. I used to run, mountain bike and a lot of those athletic things. At some point I ran out of time. When I lace these shoes up it doesn’t feel right, like I'm a fraud. I know I’m not going to do the things these sneakers are suggested for like running or whatever course work is. Instead I’m going to be walking around my city with a camera around my neck, a sketchbook in my bag, and an eye out for interesting things. Pretty much the antithesis of athletic. I took them for a short spin last night and found them to be perfectly comfortable and lovely to wear.
I ended up with navy blue sneakers with a small hint of bright neon blue. I opted for these knowing that in a few short walks I’ll have them dirtied up to being unrecognizably colored.

Reflect on 2 years of Drawing Practice

 

I’ve been doing a lot of research for my pen and ink booklet/class that I intend to release into the world at some point in 2012. One of the books I’ve been reading as part of the research is  “The Naked Art: Why We Draw” by Peter Steinhart. It’s not recommended reading for everyone. His writing while good, might bore anyone not interested deeply in art and why we draw.

I picked it up because it came up in a keyword search of my local library’s books on drawing. I’ve continued to read it because it’s written from the perspective of a person who does not consider himself to be an artist. He writes about how drawing the figure is meditative and trains his brain. There is an entire section devoted to the idea and process of training your brain. If you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time you know that this is a concept that I hold dear and affects me deeply.

This book reminds me of when I decided I wanted to draw better. That was 2 years ago and I knew that what I had ahead of me was work and practice. I gathered my tools and I started to work. I had an understanding of art. After all I had taken drawing and painting in college, but only one included real practical advice for drawing. That one class rocked my world. In one month my drawings went from... not very good to better. Had I stuck with it I can only imagine the draughtsman I would be today. Instead, I saw and felt that drawing was a lot of work and took time I did not have.

So my drawing went by the wayside.

For 10 years I ignored drawing as a skill and a tool that I needed to work on. Instead, I drew when I felt like it and not enough to exercise my brain.

from 2 years ago

When I started to draw again, everything felt stiff, and as if it didn’t work. I produced a lot of terrible drawings, things that I simply flipped the page to the next and moved on from. Each terrible drawing was a learning experience. I had to be sure to NOT let them get me down. Each one was a step forward. Eventually as time went on, my drawings became better and better. At some point, I felt I was getting a realistic enough representation that I could move toward giving my drawings my own style- a tweak, if you will, of me.

from 2 years ago

One of the many things Steinhart probes in his book is the idea that through drawing, we better ourselves. Although I can’t say I’ve bettered myself, I know that through observing the world more closely that I’ve definitely stretched my mind. While sketching, I’ve been able to make some difficult decisions that I’d otherwise not have been able to come to as easily. A rough day at work melts away when I pick up my pens and brush, even if the sketch doesn’t look quite right. The important bit is that I pick up my pens and brushes that day and draw.

recent image

There are many sites that promise success in drawing in 5 to 10 minutes a day, but I don’t think that’s enough time. It’s a great start to get you fully addicted to drawing and it will exercise your mind to increase your ability to look and observe the world around you. 5 or 10 minutes is simply enough to get your drawing to a point where it will rock your world. I draw for the same reasons some of my friends do yoga. I draw because it is as essential to my happiness as eating, drinking and exercise. My friends who do yoga say the same. Yoga is a core part of their day. Without it they would not find themselves centered and rooted in reality.  None of my friends do yoga for only 5 to 10 minutes a day, but rather 20 or 30 minutes. Why are people willing to devote 20 or 30 minutes to exercise their body, yet they avoid spending 20 to 30 minutes to exercise their mind?

recent cafe sketch

Like my friends who do yoga, I was so inspired by my brief time practicing drawing for 15 or so minutes that I found a way to give myself 20 or 30 minutes to draw. I gave up TV. I draw on my lunch breaks. I moved a TV tray table into the office to draw on while my partner studied. I found a way to make 20 or 30 minutes of drawing per day. Now I bring a sketchbook with me everywhere I go and draw every free moment. The time  I spend drawing is never time wasted.

I’m happier, possibly a better person, and definitely more relaxed and centered- all for the cost of a few sketchbook, pens and time.

 

For me it’s very much worth the time that I spend drawing. I’m happier, possibly a better person and definitely more relaxed and centered, all for the cost of a few sketchbook and pens.

State of the Weekend: radiant

In stark contrast to last week this week has been pretty darn amazing. I’m shocked that so much positivity can be jam packed into one short week, but it can. At the start of the week I went to the Beverly Farmer’s Market and bought some great fresh produce from local  growers and it was amazing. I took a moment to sketch a tomato, see it on PioP. It seemed to set my week off on the right foot. Then in the middle of the week I received a package of Stillman and Birn sketchbooks, if you’ve read here, you know I am already a huge fan. I immediately cracked open a 4x6 hard bound Gamma and wow, just, wow. I’ll have a full review up on Thursday. I’ve been walking more consistently and my ankle is starting to feel better and I find that I have to wear my brace less and less. Which is a giant positive in this heat, since the brace causes much uncomfortableness.

At some point during the week I talked to one of my friends about recent happenings and it caused a shift in my thought processes and a deep realization. I’ll share more in the upcoming weeks. Just know that this realization will involve some major life changes for me and I expect it will make some major differences in the blog, art journaling ning, and life in general.

After the shift in my thinking things only went up from there. I got spectacular news on Friday. Friday night we walked up to Atomic expecting fiddle music only to find that the fiddle music is on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. We sat in the relatively quiet shop and chatted and ran into an old friend. The temperature and humidity were simply perfect for the night and walking.  We also got word that C got the extension on her fellowship.

It’s not so much that I was super positive about things, it’s that I decided that a major and realistic change NEEDED to happen sooner than I had planned and expected. It seems that things are falling into place just as we need them to. This week I’m going to hold that in my thoughts, I’m going to look for one amazing thing and take time for it tomorrow and set my week off on the right foot.

A Week of Instagram and Twitter

I've been realizing that I post a lot of my images to Instagram and twitter but never here... I think I'm going to start doing a once a week post that combines a bunch of my instagram and twitter pics all in one.

Starting off the Grand Experiment

I picked up a selection of needle point and ultra fine point pens from Uniball to use as part of the experiment Jane and I are conducting for the next issue of Put it on Paper as well as a regular blog feature. I can’t wait to tell you more about it. I had planned on using them ONLY for the experiment, but, well, I’ve gotten addicted. Damn these things are crazy fun. I could use my rapidocraft pens but these are so much smoother and I can use them at an angle, which means I can sketch more comfortably. The ink is gel style so it doesn’t feather, spread or bleed. I get a perfect smooth line. Better yet, it’s pigmented, fade resistant and waterproof when dry. Which means I can slosh watercolors on it ASAP.

I think I’ve died and gone to ink heaven.

I’m pretty stoked.

Within this post are a selection of drawings done with the Uniball Signo bit 0.18 and Signo DX in 0.28 and 0.38. (With a smattering of brush pen and watercolor added, because I can’t restrain myself.)