A Kinda Likable Oops

In between pressing winterizing tasks around the house (it got into the 20's here last night...brrrrrrr.  I was all set to complain about it, but the poor folks in northern Indiana got several inches of snow, so I'll just shut up), I was determined to fit in just a bit of art.  So I did a quick giraffe sketch (gotta go with what you love), and then for a change of pace, quickly outlined the sketch in India ink. 

As I began to fill in the form with some acrylic ink, the India ink began to run into my nice, clean colors, giving the giraffe an undesirable muddy skin condition.  In my haste, I had grabbed the water soluble India ink, rather than the waterproof one.    Oh well.  I had already begun, so might as well go with the flow, so to speak.  After that, ink was just brushed on with abandon.

After all was said and done, I rather liked this girl, if for nothing else than for her spontaneity, looseness and complete lack of an over-calculated attempt at control.   She's fresh, if a tad mucky, and was a blessed half an hour of just devil-may-care painting.

Drawing the Line

Well, one of the assignments I gave myself was to start sketching on a regular basis.  Since I know myself to be a stern taskmistress, and I didn't want to get a detention from myself, a quick jaunt to the art store produced a small sketchbook that I could carry around and use frequently.  It's being put to good use around the house, and here are some of the results:

Cheyenne in her favorite "watch the world go by" spot:  the front picture window.

Maxxine sitting by the same window indulging in her favorite autumn passtime:  stalking the falling leaves.

A maniacally merry mouse sculpture.

There are certainly more than enough of these lying around the yard, I can take one or two in to be sketched.

Whaddaya know...this is quite a bit of fun, and a nifty way to get a quick art fix when sitting down and unpacking all the art supplies just isn't feasible.

Down on the Farm

Let's have a little fun and do a value experiment today.  I wanted to take a fairly simple subject, reduce it to four values, assign color to the values, and go from there.

Wading through the massive photo collection on my hard drive, I unearthed some photos that brought back fond memories.

 

When I fledged from the parental nest at 18, my first rented domicile was this farmhouse. The house, barns, other various buildings, and the surrounding 55 acres belonged to a friend's parents, who had retired from the farming life.  Although it appears to be in a bucolic rural setting, this farm was the last tract of open land in a busy, sprawling suburban setting.  It was bordered on the east by a six-lane expressway, on the south by an apartment complex, on the north by a strip mall, and on the west by neighborhoods of cookie-cutter suburban housing.  Not wanting to see their former home plowed under by development, my friends parents chose to rent the house and lease the land, while spending their golden years in a smaller, more comfortable, and less drafty abode that required much less upkeep and maintenance.

Although a bit run down, the house was gorgeous.  It boasted the large country kitchen of houses of the era, beautiful, hand-crafted wood trim and floors, and an incredible panel of stained glass that topped the living room window.  (It was also haunted by the benevolent spirit of Aunt Marge, but that is a story for a later post).  It was so large that I didn't need to make use of any of the five upstairs bedrooms, having more than enough room to comfortably live on the main floor.

I resided here for almost three years, loving the house and the space, exploring the remnants of farming life that were stored in the barns, and throwing spectacular Halloween parties.  I probably would have lived there much longer, but in those years both of my friend's parents passed away, and the family chose to sell the land.  The photo above was one of the last ones taken of the house before the bulldozers arrived.  The area now boasts 55 acres of townhomes.  Ain't progress grand?  To this day, I carry a soft spot in my heart for old farm houses.

I chose a photo of the south face of the house, taken on that last day.  (The photos are black and white because I was taking a photography class at the time, and we were learning to develop b&w film.)

Then I ran it through Photoshop, reducing it to four values.

Next, I resurrected my set of colored pencils, figuring it would be easier pick ready-made colors.  I matched four of my warm greys to the greys of the value photo, and laid a thick line of each down on the paper.  Then patches of selected colors were placed next to the lines to determine the value of each color.  Two versions of the house were tried, one more of a warm-dominant, the other a cool-dominant. 

Obviously modulating intensity wasn't a concern; just putting mostly pure color down based on it's value.  A fun and intriguing first experiment, but I think I need to find an even simpler subject that has less of an emotional connection.  Like maybe a tree.  In a field.  By itself. 'Nuff said.

Blog Rolling

I'm working hard on this blog reconstruction.  Really I am.

I think I like this template a bit better, but I lose some customization ability (and ah'm all about custom-I-zation, baby....ah should call this post 'Pimp My Blog').

There has to be a 12-step program for Blog ADD.  If not, I think I'll start one when I finally finish tweaking this one.  Ironically, it's the ADD that will prolong the time until the final tweak.

Along with another episode of Extreme Blog Makeover, there is actually some art to be seen here.  This is a quick study that will hopefully grow up to be a painting someday.

Tiger study

Acrylic ink on watercolor paper

I loved this photo reference for two reasons:

1. There's a great abstract quality to it.
2. It's a shining example of 'Cat-itude'.

Felines of all ilks have seemingly perfected this pose of 'nonchalant disdain'.  They feign indifference by turning their back on you, yet one ear is continually pointed in your direction like a furry radar dish, making sure you are still hovering in the area, ready to spring forth and grant their every whim.  

They've got it made.

A Pair O' Bison

Recently, we took some friends up on their offer to spend some time at their place in the Wisconsin heartland.  While perusing the local newspaper over breakfast one morning (all three pages of it), we came upon an ad for tours of the local bison farm, and decided "why not?"  We finished our eggs, and off we went.

The farm was beautiful, and the tour was quite interesting.  After being guided through the various barns and corrals, our little handful of tour-goers climbed onto a tractor-pulled wagon, and were driven out into one of the pastures to commune with one of the bison herds.  While other wagoneers fed ears of corn to interested herd members, I was busy snapping pictures of some of the more photogenic bison.  One that particularly caught my eye was one of the large bulls in the herd, stoically keeping an eye on the proceedings.  His head looked to be approximately the size of a Volkswagon Beetle, and his coat was starting to thicken up prior to the inevitable arrival of winter.  He was gorgeous, and patrolled the herd with the self assured air of the 'Big Man on Campus.

Big Man on Campus

Acrylic Ink on Bristol board

And just for some loosening-up fun, I did a wet-into-wet, high key version.

 

Big Man 2

Acrylic Ink on Bristol board

The dog portrait is temporarily on hold right now.  Did you ever have trouble 'seeing' where you're going with a painting, and aren't sure of the next step?  Now every time I go into the studio, it stares at me from the easel, seemingly mocking my Artistic Brain Freeze.  I am hoping doing some quick studies, like the bison, will thaw out my creative neuropathways.

Dog Daze

Critters, critters everywhere.  The next entrant in our creature parade is Payton, the beloved dog of a friend.

As photo references go, this one isn't going to be easy.  It's a head on shot of a black dog, with no discernible light source.  Another photo taken in late afternoon light was provided, so I'm going to try to recreate those colors on this reference

Here's the sketch on a black gessoed panel, complete with annoying glare.

The first layer of underpainting.

Additional underpainting....

There's going to have to be a lot of subtle coloration done in those darks, otherwise he's going to look as flat as a blackboard.  

More work will be done on him a bit later...Woe is me, I have to spend this absolutely gorgeous day outside catching up on gardening chores (picture me with the back of one hand pressed against my forehead, the other patting my heart)  It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.  :-D

Psychedelic Giraffe and Blog Repair

After a few days of frantically trying to catch up on everything I let lapse around here, it's time once again to sit down and catch up on what's going on in the blog world.

Here's the continuation and completion of the giraffe:

The first layer of the background was filled in, and the salient spots were chalked in on her face.

The first colors were blocked in.

 Several layers and glazes were added.

And here is the final result:

Jasiri

24" x 12", acrylic on hardboard

© 2010, Lisa Walsh

I submitted this to the Cincinnati Art Club's Viewpoint Show.  I have my fingers and paintbrushes crossed that it gets accepted into the show.  If it does, that'll be a big first in my fledgling art career.

There was a submission deadline for the show, and I didn't leave myself enough 'comfort time' to get her done.  You think I would have learned by now, but I cut my time too short, and wound up doing marathon painting sessions to finish her by deadline.  Now I see at least a dozen things that I would change, but it's too late.  I need some 'simmer' time to take a break from a piece and come back to look at it with fresh eyes.  Lesson learned.

And another lesson learned...I had the yen to clean up the Picasa account that Google so happily supplies when a Blogger account is created.  I went through what was there, sorting and organizing, and deleting the things that somehow seemed to multiply on their own, or no longer seemed useful or pertinent.

You know when you go to delete something, and a little dialogue box pops up and says "Are you sure you want to do that?", and you just mindlessly click "Yes, of course I want to do that, why do you keep asking me, you're really getting to be an annoying little dialogue box."  Well, I failed to completely read the annoying little dialogue box.  If I had, I would have realized that the annoying little dialogue box was telling me that whatever I deleted from Picasa was also simultaneously being deleted from this Blog. 

!@#$%&*?#%!!!!!!

I had wiped out about three quarters of the blog photos before I realized the swath of destruction I was creating, and there was no way to undo it.

Well, there were a lot of bloggy-type things I needed to catch up on.  Add 'replace photos' to the list.

Enough Lollygagging, Back to Work!

With the bears now in the rear view mirror, another creature calls out to be painted.  Only one of these is planned, the thought of one hundred of anything else right now makes me woozy. 

A 12" x 24" board was gessoed, and a thin layer of Fiber Paste was applied.

A favorite creature of choice, the enigmatic giraffe, was sketched on the board. This particular giraffe is of the Reticulated variety, and her name is Jasiri.

Another layer of Fiber Paste was applied with palette knives, sculpting the giraffe, and starting to 'raise' her from the background.  Parts of her anatomy, like the nose, are getting thicker paste layers to 'force' the perspective a bit.

Two more layers of paste trowled on.  I'm going to need a cement truck full of Fiber Paste at this rate.  I wonder if they sell it by the tanker full.

And since I like working on a black background to create a somewhat 'batik' look.....

Her raised outline is my guide now.  Tomorrow I'll chalk in some more guidelines.