10 min Sketches

I tried to draw the children at the preschool in 5 min. sketches but they turned into 10 min. sketches and missed up my schedule and plan. My son said "we didn't do much in art today" but then he was sketching me at the breakfast table this morning, so I believe the class was a success. Does anybody remember the children's show that used to come on t.v. with a man drawing a story as he told it? I loved that show, I learned to draw eyes quickly from him.

Digital Number 2

My son said she looked sad. I am glad he said that because the young lady and I were listening to a speaker talk about the state of Haiti and world hunger when I did the sketch. Sketching actually helps me listen.

art articles

I got this email and went to the link and thought it was interesting trends, I have heard of some of them but hadn't seen them all in one place. My name is Emma, and I write articles for Accreditedonlinecolleges.com I thought of you after publishing our recent post, “10 Emerging Art Genres You’ve Probably Never Heard Of” and wanted to see what you think about it. Your readers might be interested on weighing in on the topic too: if you’d like to share or mention the post on your blog, let us know how it turns out!


Thanks,
Emma Taylor

I got this email and went to the link and thought it presented interesting trends, I have heard of some of them but hadn't seen them all in one place. But what I was really excited to find was the list of books to read if you love art history. I love reading biographies of artists and knowing more about them and their circumstances.

Joseph Cornell boxes

I wanted my last art project with the preschoolers to be extra special and it was so much fun. The innate creative genius of children never ceases to amaze and delight me. I showed the children the work of Joseph Cornell, an American artist who brought assemblage to the forefront as an art form through his work done in the 1940s and 50s. We cut and tore magazine pictures the first week and then the second week the children brought in "treasures" from home to glue in their boxes. It is hard to not show a picture of all of them, I loved them all.











Joseph Cornell on the web: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cornell/

New Digital Art

We are in the process of moving and getting settled will probably take all summer. If we get the house that we are intending, the long term plan is to build my studio in the loft of the barn on the property. It will be paradise one day. But to work towards the goal, I am looking for a graphic design job. My baby is going to kindergarten next year, so it is a good time. I love the school we believe he will be going to, it is centered around the arts. He will love it and if I was homeschooling, it is just how I would want to teach. There is also an engineering club perfect for my older son.

So while the "studio" is in boxes, it is a good time to do some digital art. I am influenced by Jose Merello's work in this first digital painting. For my graduate thesis, I compared the process of painting to the process of working digitally, so in my mind I am writing my thesis all over again. For my next chapter, I would compare how using a nearly monochromatic photograph as a layer in Photoshop is similar to acrylic glazing for it's unifying effects. Blah, blah, blah ; )

New inspiration

http://www.merello.com/

Jose Manuel Merello, this artist is all of my favorites rolled into one: Odilon Redon, Chagall, Matisse, Picasso and Kandinsky. He is all of those at once. I can't read Spanish but I think he is deceased. Love him, the end. I can't wait to start fresh.

Cups in the Cupboard

One of my goals in painting has always been to achieve a messy, loose style of painting. This is a conscience counter to the tight illustrative work I did for textbooks. I think I am getting some messy meshing of the paint here by applying the colors mostly all in one sitting and letting them blend into each other. This is a way of painting that comes pretty naturally for oil painters but takes some foresight with fast drying acrylics.

I do miss the transparent layering I was doing in the large "water reflection" paintings. I am not sure how to achieve this in painting solid masses. I can easily see the layering in reflected water: there is below the water surface, the water surface and then the reflections floating on top but not quite sure how to translate that to an apple. Maybe think of the back and insides of the apple?

Layering on Wood

I like the way this painting has large areas of color with little bits of many colors showing around the edges. This is a departure from paintings I did last year with many patterned shapes of color covering the composition. They looked kind of like stained glass. I like the contrast of big areas of color to small areas of color in this painting. I wonder if I can do it again? I had given up on this painting and started scrubbing in areas of color and then it started to work.