Let the Countdown Begin!

 

This is how many days I have until I can work at my art full time. Both my kids will be getting on the bus around 8:15 and getting home around 4:30. If I work about 9:00-4:00 five days a week that's 35 hours a week to create and work at my business. I decided to start a countdown to give me a goal; A focus.

Things have been a bit crazy the past couple of weeks. We've had snow and ice with school closings. I had lots of little things to get done before I went into the hospital for surgery. Then I've been recovering from surgery. Things are finally leveling out and getting back to normal. While I was recovering I spent time thinking about my art and my frustrations. I get really annoyed at not having time. I'm talking 4 or 5 hours in a row of uninterrupted time. It just doesn't happen often. So, what can I do about it? How can I get what I want? I think I need to let go of the desire of having hours of uninterrupted time and just steal minutes where I can. Focusing on "time" has become a roadblock so I'm changing my thinking.

I'm taking "Year of the Fairy Tale" from Carla Sonheim and this month's assignment has been about "quantity" over "quality". We have to make lots of quick sketches and paintings instead of intensely working on a few paintings/sketches. I love this concept. It puts all the focus on the process of making art instead of the final product. So, I'm going to make as much art as possible and not care if it's "good enough" to sell or if it will "work" for licensing. I'm just going to make the art and have faith beauty will emerge. Some of the best things I've made have been when I just got lost in the moment of making art.

My art buddy Juliette Crane has been painting on paper and she has piles of paintings now that were quick to make and are lovely. And my friend Mindy Lacefield had a post of all her work from last year. Over 100 paintings. I can't even imagine accomplishing that! If I let go and just think of any minute spent on making art as valuable I know I will have a wonderful body of work. I'm just going to sketch, doodle, paint and create. Whatever time I get will be time well spent because I'm not going to worry about the "quality". I'm going to enjoy the process!

Here are fun charcoal sketches I've been making on book paper. They take a few minutes to create and they are so dang cute!

I love these little drawings. The charcoal has a nice bold line and you can easily smudge and shade for depth. I can see some of these pieces being used in something else down the road. Every mark has value because it leads to another and another and another.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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Bitten by the Comparison Bug

It happens to all artists. We look at other artists' work. We love what we see and then we start to compare our work to theirs. I try very very hard not to do this. I know comparison is the death of creativity. So, if I find myself comparing, I try and take a more analytical approach. I don't want to paint like the artists I admire but I do wonder "what do they have that I am missing in my art?".

So I looked at the Etsy shops of some of my favorite artists to see if I could figure out the quality or qualities these artists have that. I checked out Juliette Crane's, Mindy Lacefield's and Danita's. Each of these women have a very distinctive style and a consistent style. It doesn't matter what the subject matter is, you can look at any of these artists' work and know who the painter is. This was an "aha" moment and a "well duh" moment too. I can tell a Renoir from a Degas no matter what they painted. So, I looked at the work I have created over the past year. I can see some consistency in my work but I think my style changes when the subject matter changes.

These girl paintings have a similar look.

And so do these but, I'm not sure the style is similar to the ones above.

These animal paintings are similar in style but, do they go with the girl paintings?

And then I've been making this style of animal. I used collage and watercolor on these atcs. Do they go with my other paintings?

I'm still learning I suppose. Developing my style and finding out how I like to paint. I admit I'm still all over the place. Exploring art supplies and what I enjoy drawing. I love color and whimsy. I also love my serene girls. Ugh! I don't know. The only thing I can keep doing is paint, draw and paint and draw some more. The other thing that the artists I admire have in common is years of experience. They've been painting a long time and it likely took more than a year for them to find their style. Comparison isn't always a bad thing. It can help you be objective. You just can't get stuck in the "comparison mode". You have to move on and just paint.

 

I Can't "Art" Without.... E-Courses

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I'm a huge fan of E-courses. I discovered them last year and am addicted (they say the first step is to admit you have a problem). For those who don't know what an e-course is, it's basically an online class. The artist creates a platform to teach you her painting style as if you were there in person with her. The ones I like have HD video instruction, extended access (usually 6 to 12 months) and sometimes the instructors let you download the videos for you to keep or give you PDF's to keep. They all have a place to post your work and exchange feedback with your fellow students. I've taken a lot of courses. Some were awesome and some didn't really do it for me. All of them gave me a place to start. I was a decorative painter years ago but stopped painting when we moved and had two babies back to back. I knew I wanted to create again. I knew I loved mixed media. But I didn't know where to begin...until I found e-courses.

Below I'm going to share with you my all-time favorites from my e-course explorations. These classes gave me so much information and so many tools. They opened my creative mind and got my mojo going.

Jane Davenport's Supplies Me

Jane Davenport is an admitted art supply addict. In this course she reviews dozens of art supplies. In addition to her wonderful reviews she shows you how to draw a pretty face and the basic body. I almost didn't sign up for this course because I had little interest in drawing people. (I didn't think I could). But I had a plethora of art supplies so, I went for it. I fell in love with drawing faces! It takes practice and I'm still not great on the body but Jane makes drawing so much fun. This is an incredibly informative course. You need to take notes because you won't remember everything she tells you. The only downside is you'll want to buy more supplies.

I made the face below with the skills I learned in Jane's course.

Juliette Crane's How to Paint a Girl and How to Create Whimsical Animals

I am a huge fan of Juliette Crane's e-courses. These are my two favorites. I like How to Paint a Girl because Juliette shows you three different whimsical girl styles. She starts with backgrounds then focuses a week on each of the three girls. How to Create Whimsical Animals is the only 6 week course I've found just on creating different animals. Juliette takes you from sketchbook to canvas. I love her sketchbook exercises. They really help you get in touch with your inner child and just have fun.

Below are the favorite paintings I made from Juliette's courses.

Mindy Lacefield's Paint Your Story

I admit this is probably my number one favorite course. I was on the fence about taking this one because Mindy Lacefield's style was so different from how I painted. It was really taking me outside my comfort zone. I loved her use of color though. I loved the layers. Something inside me was saying "you must take this course". So, I signed up and it was amazing! Mindy broke down her process into simple steps that built on each other but my own style came through. It really freed me as an artist.

These are a couple of my favorite creations from this course.

 

If you have never taken a course it can be difficult to figure out what to take. There are a lot out there. I suggest checking out the artists you admire first and see if they offer an e-course. Another resource is Creative Clearinghouse.com. They have a large selection of courses for you to peruse and some have reviews. I found the above courses through blog hopping. One artist supporting another would talk about this new e-course on their blog and I would "hop" on over to get the details. Creative Clearinghouse.com didn't exist when I started taking them.


In the new year I'm going to be changing my focus a bit and diving into the world of sketchbooks and art journals. I have loved taking e-courses. They have given me so much information and really helped me improve my skills. Now I need to put all I've learned to work and create/find my own style. The ladies above offer other courses as well. Just go to their websites to check them out.

One last e-course I'd like to mention is Life Book 2013. There will be 16 instructors all with different styles and techniques. I took Life Book 2012 and enjoyed it but I found a lot of the artists had similar styles. Not so for next year's installment. The line up is amazing! Life Book 2013 is an excellent choice if you've never taken a course or have taken a ton of courses. The format is year long with new things to learn every month! I will likely be taking it. (No surprise there!)

 

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Creating Whimsical Animals

How To Create Whimsical Animals by Juliette Crane just finished up its live run. It's her latest e-course and it's available for self study. Juliette takes you from sketchbook to canvas and helps you create your own whimsical animals. Here is how a favorite painting I did for the course came to be.

This elephant I created in my sketchbook.

 

Then I traced him onto deli paper. Deli paper is thicker than tissue paper but still thin enough to see the pattern underneath.

 

 

Next came the painting. I used all kinds of materials to paint my elephant. Mostly water soluble materials like Inktense Pencils, Pan Pastels and Gesso.

 

Then I decided he needed a friend.

 

 

Aren't they just the cutest!

I highly recommend this course, especially if you want to paint animals. You also don't need to have any painting or drawing experience since Juliette shows you how to take simple shapes and make cute animals from them.

I'm also very excited for Juliette's new mini course Backgrounds & Layers coming Nov. 16th. Juliette did a bonus video in Whimsical Animals of her art journalling. This new course is an expansion of that. The art journalling Juliette does is so inspiring to me. Here's a little video she did previewing the new class and below is a page I did inspired by Juliette's methods. I set my timer and used whatever materials I had in front of me. It was totally fun!

 

 

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Another Painting.....Into the Woods

This one started with the background.

I dripped acrylic inks onto wet Strathmore 400 Mixed Media Paper that I had cut down to 8x8.

 

Next I added a girl. I used mostly my Caran D'ache Neocolor II Crayons and some gesso. I also used acrylic inks. She seemed to be a goddess of the woods with her serene expression and flowing hair.

I knew I wanted leaves on her. She is a goddess of the forest after all. So I cut some out, made a crown of sorts and took a picture on my iPhone. Then I looked at the screen to see if I liked it. Sometimes seeing the picture on my phone helps me look at a painting with fresh eyes. I did not like it.

This is the final version. I gave her a necklace instead. I tried to keep her somewhat transparent because she is a mystical being. I haven't successfully painted this way until now. I have Juliette Crane's How to Paint a Girl to thank for this painting. It's a very good ecourse where Juliette shows three different styles of girls to paint. The organic girl spoke to me. There will be a self study version of this course soon. I provided a link above to see the course description and you can sign up for Juliette's newsletter to get the latest scoop!

 

 

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How to Paint an Owl E-Course

Another course I have been taking recently is How to Paint an Owl by Juliette Crane. Juliette does wonderful mixed media paintings most of which are owls. She truly paints what she loves and developed an e-course about her passion. I love the depth of her paintings and she really breaks things down into easy steps you can follow but, you don't end up making a painting that looks exactly like Juliette's painting. At least mine don't seem to look a lot like hers.

Here are some work in progress paintings. I admit the owl on the far right looks more like "How to Paint a Penguin".

And this one is almost finished. For the moment I am calling it "Music of the Night".

I really enjoyed this course. There are lots of videos and a PDF at the end of the course for you to keep forever. Juliette's paintings all tell a story and this method fits right into my painting goals. She is also taking "Paint Your Story" and the work she is producing is amazing! Visit Juliette's blog to see her wonderful work. You can also take either of her e-courses. How to Paint an Owl is returning this July and How to Paint a Girl is coming up in a couple of weeks. And yes, I will likely be taking that one too.

 

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