Sketching

What is sketching?

Light quick drawings to capture a moment, a scene or even a felling. Sketches are not necessarily meant to be finished drawings, but often form the basis of larger artworks. Sketches and sketchbooks have been eh source of many great works of art, and give us inside into the thinking process of many great artists. They also have been a way for artist to take notes.

A sketchbook is personal. You can share it if you want, but you do not have to. It is ok to write in a sketchbook. You can note down the colors you see, notes on what you want to use in another work, anything that works for you.

Sketchbooks can be used to capture the overall look of something or record details that you see

Back to sketching

Start by simply drawing and lightly filling in the large blocks. Noticing the difference in value between things far away and close up, and in between. Even if all you do is place big blocky shapes, getting these correctly from your point of view is a tremendous accomplishment.

Mixed Media

Just what are art media? Well, anything that you use to create a work of art. Rather broad definition, isn’t it? But that is the point. Anything you use to create a work of art is a medium. And you can mix it up! While many of us in our day-to-day art are purest, using a single medium to create a work of art, you do not have to be. Either with your day-to-day artwork nor in special works.

Mixing media however, does take understanding of them. Some media mix readily, others do not. In order to know, you have to experiment with them. it is not enough to simply read about them and follow the rules. Acrylics under oils, don’t mix colored pencil and graphite. You need to understand why and what are the results. Sometimes these bad results are exactly what you want! So playing with art and art materials are an essential part of art education.

I have to admit, that I did not have a lot of respect for mixed media. I did not understand it. Mostly I thought of it as bad collage. It is not. What it boils down to is using what you need to get your vision across.

Play

Play has a bad reputation. It is seen as a waste of time. It is not. Play is a vital and necessary part of any intelligent creature’s life. The higher the intelligence the more important play is.

Pumpkin in Coffee

For most intelligent creatures play is an essential part of learning. It is a way of exploring both the limits of our environment and ourselves.

Play is an essential part of art. We need to explore both our media (materials) and our own creativity. Play is how we do it. We need to understand just what the art material can and cannot do, and how to combine them to get the results we want. Most people call this experimentation. And it is. But it does not have to be dull.

Bags of Candy

Take the color chart.



Red



Work, right? Well yes, but that does not mean it cannot be fun. And should be. Doing both color charts and value charts should engage us. They should not be simple chores assigned by an evil task-master (art teacher). These charts should be how we come to understand and love our material.



Yes they are serious learning exercises, but more than that. We need to come to an understanding of just what is color, hue, tone. We need to play with the paints/materials to learn this.

Home Made Color Wheel

Be Careful where you take photos!

New law in Utah might make taking those landscape reference shots difficulthttp://www.myzionpark.com/2012/03/trail-side-photos-including-livestock-and-farms-potentially-illegal-in-utah/#comment-759

Red Pears

Red Pears

Opps, I did it again.

No, not broke your heart, but bought fruit by how it looks, for its color. As subjects for a still life. It just captured my heart.

This week the produce was especially colorful. Maybe it is the fact that winter has finally broke here. The weather is cloudy and rainy but warming up. Things are starting to bloom. 

These absolutely gorgeous red pears, the red/green mangos, the acorn squash with it shiny dark green and a splash of yellow, how could I resist? And those red onions that are really a deep purple? How can you say no to them? And don’t get me started on peppers! More and more the regular grocery store is stocking more than just the green. Now we get the golden yellow and the bright orange.

 

The influence of the Spanish culture is really being felt in peppers. Where once you might only find a few jalapenos, we now have at least 6 different little hot peppers, each with their own fire, and color. It is enough to make an artist go broke! 

But at least once the painting is done you can eat them! 

And Now for Something Different

Not all landscape drawings and paintings need to be totally realistic. Many of the best are far from it. They give only the impression of the landscape. Or the idea or are simply inspired by and area. The idea takes on a life of its own.

In drawing, this is more than true. You are representing a landscape, but of necessity, editing and changing it. With pencils things are reduced to grayscale. With pen and ink, literally black and white, or simply tinted and stylized.

Greenbottom and Lotus Painting as of March 3

  

Painting the misty colors and feel of Greenbottom in mid summer haze it a challenge. I don’t want it to look foggy. It was hazy but hot and wet. So humid just walking through the air left you wet.

I am finally beginning to get some of the color and feel I want. The background was still too vivid and bright. I did paint a thin glaze of red over the background hills, which is beginning to take them down a bit.

 

Most efforts to “gray” them out left them looking rather rainy and cold not at all what is needed here.

The smaller canvas of the lotus is beginning to look like the flower and leaf, with the leaf half under the water.

For such shallow water it was remarkably dark. Totally shaded by the immense field of lotus.