Wow...time flies...N, O, P and Q

It's been crazy at work, staying late getting ready for auction and then home to walk the dog (the only breather right now), then homework.  My mother has been wonderful ...she's been making dinner for me the last couple of nights.  So needless to say I have not been posting here...I have a team project for one of my online classes which is a little difficult to keep up with.  So I've missed a few days of this.  Auction starts Saturday so I'll be working until after midnight 9 nights in a row, then some time off!  If I don't get to post during that time, I will after auction is over.

Yesterday a friend picked up some of my herbal pillows and prints to take to the New Day Daycare Auction that's happening on Saturday- I wish them all of the best and hope they raise Piles of money!  Also, I'll be working on my clothed figure assignment and doing some practice paintings of fabric, so look for those too.  I'll be here Off and On...so keep an eye out.  This blog is quintessential after all...  :)

"M" is for Marlboro

I think I have an obsession with photos or art that depict women smoking.  I loved smoking...I used to smoke, for quite sometime.  Anyway, for my next watercolor assignment, we're supposed to paint a clothed figure.  I can draw a figure or face...no problem, but the watercolor is a totally different animal.

Our first step was to create a line drawing, I wanted mine uber accurate, so I used a light box.  And just so you know...it's not "cheating" if you know how to draw...if you use it exclusively, as your only means of drawing, then it's a cheat.   After the line drawing, we were to shade the drawing and then we'll transfer it to watercolor paper.  Here it is so far....I love this photo...found it on Pinterest here.  I'm not sure if he took the photo, or just pinned it.

I can see now with a side by side that I need to go much darker with the left side of her face...

and down her neck.  Now I see why they have us do this.

My 2b pencil was a stump when I finished and I was too lazy to get up and sharpen it.  

This is what happens when you do something like this at 11pm.  At least for me ;)

"J"..."K"...."L"....stands for....

Alright, so I missed a couple of days, things have been wicked busy and I've been burning the candle at both ends lately.  Trying to get homework wrapped up before the weekend because we'll be out of town...and staying later at work, plus my other class.  I honestly forgot about the blog...oops.  So I wanted to post my finished Landscape...there is the "L" for today.....I'm not super happy with this but here it is, and I'm posting the rest of the work in progress shots as well...enjoy.

"I" is for Ideals

It's funny that this was supposed to be a blog helping me to create artwork everyday, but it's turning into something else I think.  At the end of a long day, vet appointment, dog walk, dinner and homework...there really isn't a ton of time left for starting a piece of artwork.  I know this situation is temporary so it doesn't bother me and the ideas that I have to put on canvas/paper are many.

So 'I' is for my ideals and what I want to accomplish.  I have a festival coming up in July and not a whole lot of original work, so the idea is to set a goal of creating 3-4 paintings a week until the festival.  Right now, work is crazy until the end of April, so I plan on being nice to myself in the meantime and concentrating on completing my homework to the best of my ability while auction is going on at work.  Once auction is over I'll be able to concentrate more fully on my "ideals".

"H" is for honesty

I've been going at warp speed all day today and it's been an interesting, awful kind of day for the people around me.  I hate to see people being treated unjustly and there seems to be a lot of it going around lately.  I chose honesty for today's "theme" because I've decided at this point in my life that being honest, blunt, to the point is the way to go.  This way, you eliminate any games or confusion ...throw everything right out on the table at the get go...be sincere and speak from the heart.

Dishonest people conceal their faults from themselves as well as others, honest people know and confess them.

Christian Nevell Bovee (1820-1904) 

"G" is for glaze.....

At least that is what I'm attempting to do with this watercolor painting.  I am not proficient with this medium yet, so figuring out the process has been a little bit of a challenge.  I know that I want to slowly build up my layers to preserve the luminosity, in other words, I'm using glazes of watercolor.  Hopefully, at the end it pays off.

Here is where I am today...my class only requires we submit our in progress landscape, the final painting is due next week.  I painted a graduated wash for the sky ...over the frisket, waited until it was dry and removed the frisket.  Then I laid in color with thin paint...I will be going over this, maybe 2 more passes and adding in detail like the branches of the trees, etc.

"F" is for feelin' good...

Another short post today....ran errands in town, okay I had my hair highlighted and went shopping, sort of the same thing.  Anyway...grocery shopping, buying beer for the new 21 yr. old son (his birthday is today), and dinner...the day is gone.  Homework didn't stand a chance....my assignment is due tomorrow so work on it..I must.  I will post more tomorrow as we're off to buy the boy a round at the bar :)

"E" is for eclectic elephants exercising extraneously....

I have no art today...didn't even work on homework.  Came home...bought pizza and sat down to play Apples to Apples with my sons Nick, Pat...Pat's girlfriend Kenzie and their half sister Celena.  We all had a really good time...and I thought this could wait.  I did want to get something up here just to keep in the spirit of the challenge...I will post some art tomorrow and continue on with my landscape work in progress...'nite.

"D" is for Demo & Doodling...and Damn this is hard

So this assignment for my watercolor class is in steps and we're supposed to take the painting about halfway...and then post our assignment. The completed painting is due next week....so I thought this might be a nice demo, even though I don't know what I'm doing. So the first step was to transfer the drawing onto a piece of watercolor paper. I use Saral transfer paper, you just have to be careful it doesn't get too dark or smear. Then I had to decide if I was going to paint the sky around my tree...or mask out the leaves and paint the sky first. I opted to mask out the leaves with frisket, which is what you see here. Note to self: do not tip board while frisket is wet...hence the long drippy drip. 

Orange frisket masking out leaves



You can't paint while frisket is wet so while I was waiting for it to dry...I thought I'd sketch out a possible piece for my bike...it's a quick sketch...just an idea really.  I want to add more and will later.  

"C" is for clouds...

My homework assignment for my watercolor class just so happens to coincide with today's blog post.  "C" is for clouds and we were to paint clouds with a soft edge and a hard edge....the second exercise was to paint clouds showing depth/distance.  These are only quick exercises to get us started with our bigger landscape assignment.  So here are my clouds for the day....

Here is my reference for our upcoming landscape assignment, a quick value sketch and my color palette....

A to Z Blog Challenge List

For some reason the code won't work on this "Dynamic" blog...so I've included a link back to their site so you can check out all of the other wonderful bloggers out there.  See that annoying black bar on the left that keeps popping out when you hover over it...that's where you'll find it under 'links'.  Or here.

"B" is for Bike...Motorcycle...Scoot

  School will be over for the summer by mid-May and I'd really like to paint my bike.  I may, however, just start with the helmet for now.  I'm finding that with a full day of work, walking the dog, dinner and studying...that it's already past 9pm most nights when I finish.  Not a lot of time to flesh out a piece of artwork.  So, instead I've decided that I'll start looking up reference and I'll post what intrigues me and some of the designs I'd like to incorporate into my bike/helmet.  I'm not a big fan of the air-brushed look, it reminds me of the t-shirts you get when you go the beach, if it's not done right it can look really cheeeezy.  So here are few ideas that inspire me and some that don't.

This is great, the abstract design is cool along with the palette

Okay...I got off the path a bit in my quest and stumbled upon this...."How to Select a Good Ol' Lady"....lol!  Funny stuff. You can find a lot of great, vintage photos here.

This has a vintage look to it which I really like.

I know it's just a cake...but it's sparking an idea.

I am in love this design, quite possibly my favorite...you have to check out his step by step, it's stunning.
You  can find it here.

No......just no.

I love the realism of these skulls with the color overlay.  Tattoo inspired is the direction I want to  go.

Another great realistic skull, the feminine paired with the macabre makes me happy.  This is beautiful.

Love the white tank and tattoo style paint job.

Very creative an original.  Looks like a woodcut.

"A" is for anatomy....

As part of my A to Z challenge..."A" is for anatomy. My brother suggested "A" is for asshole on Facebook, but I'm stickin' with anatomy for the first post!
 I go to a class on Monday nights through our local arts council, it's not really a taught class, more of a place for artists to get together and draw from live nude models.  Tonight, they were clothed, but all the same it's a chance work from life.  We're taking a 2 week break and won't start up again until the 22nd, so I'll have to find something/someone else to draw in the mean time.  So here is my loose interpretation of anatomy...these are only 30 min. drawings so my proportions could be better....but this is great practice!

Blogging from A to Z

No...this is not an April Fool's joke!  I am ready to do this challenge...because I don't have enough on my plate apparently.  Anyway, the idea behind this is to create a blog post following the alphabet theme, throughout the month of April.  I need to get back into creating artwork not just for my classes.  So here is the list, check out some of the other blogs an then head back here to view my "A" post, which will be anatomy from my live nude figure drawing class tonight.  Also, there will be adult content on this page in the form of nudity, so if you're offended...you might want to go somewhere else ;)