Monday, Day #30

 

Knife painting  in one sitting.  Nothing better than feeling good about a painting.  Especially after all the wipers I've made later.  There is actually a failed painting under it which provided some nice texture.  I think I might paint with the knife some more.  I also think I'm going to move to flowers.  My family doesn't eat flowers.

Sunday of interuptions!

  

After cooking 2 pounds of bacon, I thought it would be the perfect subject to paint as we enter this season of love.  We all know that everything is better with bacon and love, itself, can be measured in bacon.  However, all the bacon painting led to on Sunday was frustration.  So, after the painting was turning into poo...I decided to just sort of fill it in as an abstract bacon landscape.  And we have another wiper.  I am feeling aggravated at the lack of time and space that I have been able to devote to my painting and I hope to find a routine that allows me more quality painting time.

Daily Painters of NW Ohio

This week we had the first meeting of the daily painters of NW Ohio. It was a wonderful time meeting some new friends and talking about our art!

Our challenge was to paint a piece that is inspired by another artist's style. After a couple struggles, and a failed Matisse attempt... I started to wipe this with my brush and what do you know, it kind of reminded me of Gerhard Richter. It made me think I'd that is how he came up with his blurred pieces--frustration leading to inspiration?

Success!

Finally...success at the one stroke per color technique!

Up from the grave he arose...

For some reason this hymn popped in my head when posting this picture. It could be because because this poor painting was a victim to the wind and fell into a mud puddle so it has had 3 sessions to completion. It has seriously been resurrected from its challenged life into its current and hopefully permanent glory!

Or maybe it was because I saw paczkis in the grocery store today.

Oy vey!

 

Ok, so.  I attempted to do the one stroke per color challenge to slow myself down and also to paint thicker.  It seems if I'm not working in this matter I just go back to my thin painting ways. I started off okay, but then I knew that I was running out of time so I tried to fudge it a little bit, then I got frustrated and angry and now the apple looks like poo.  A big, messy, blocky, poopy, poo. But otherwise I think the painting is okay.

New Art and DESIGN-Day 21

Well, I am not the best with the Graphic Design stuff, but I am working on it.  Saturday, Day 21, my artistic adventure for the day was creating a banner for my etsy shop and a watermark for my pieces.  I sure am glad I didn't set myself up for failure by comitting to painting everyday, because it just isn't happening!  I'm hoping maybe at the end of the semeseter I can try to do 30 paintings in 30 days!  AHHH...So, you can check out my etsy shop and view my art in action!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ErikaClarkART
or use the link to the right

 you can also purchase this card on the etsy site as well!

Thanks for following!  Tell your friends!

Friday, Friday ooooohhhh- day 20

Thursday and Friday I am finding are really hard to squeeze on a painting. Here is day 20s quick value study that I hope to paint in color today!

Everything is better with BACON

Success! Makin' the bacon to show some love on valentines day! Will have cards up on etsy soon!

Another one wipes the dust

I painted this today with my class. They are doing monochromatic paintings and I figured I would do the same with yellow ochre giving me the option to paint color later. Well, all of the students took the better angles and I was left with some really bleak range of values an a pretty boring composition. So, I'm going to wipe it.

Days 16 and 17

Been a couple of busy days.  Looking forward to a trip to the  Mazza Museum at the University of Findlay with my students and oil painting in the afternoon!  Whoohoo!  For your viewing pleasure, a black and white of the Seattle series.

Next, There is a lot of discussion in my world about the finer qualities of bacon and I'm working on a Valentine's day card design.  I think this drawing is one instance where less bacon might be a better thing.  I'm sure you will see a new version in the next couple of days.

Day 15--Sometimes you just have to wipe it

 

I finally got to start painting before 11pm last night.  Matt put Jack to bed and the teenagers were off with their significant others.  The house was moderately clean and I was dying to paint. Above is my attempt for the day.  Below is my workspace...my dining room table.  I am currently painting with water mixable oils because it is what I am teaching with.  It is nice being able paint in the house and at the table, but I miss the turpentine and the way it thins the paint.  When using water to thin, the paint gets gritty.  This could be also because I am using primarily student grade paints.  Not being able to thin the paint messes with some of the principles of painting fat over lean and I find that is partially when I get frustrated. 

I started with this composition and did two 10 minute studies

Although I think I improved on the ellipse the second time, I was getting frustrated with the paint and the set up, so I decided to abandon it and focus just on a close up of an orange.

I probably should have kept with my original set up, because I got very frustrated with painting the orange.  I think I knew the time it would take to render the orange like I wanted and I knew that I didn't really have that much time last night. I became impatient and let the painting suffer rather than getting it to a good point and picking it up again today. As a result, I wiped the board.  Sometimes it's better just to wipe it and start anew.

Day 14

Weekends are hard. Today's drawing finished just after midnight.

Days 12 & 13

The first week if the spring semester is complete! On Thursday, Day 12, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep sitting up before 10pm and didn't create any paintings or drawings. I did however make some red potatoes and BBQ pork in the crockpots all day. I guess my food is going to have to be considered my creation for the day!

Yesterday, Friday the 13th, I drew the faucet while at work knowing that we were going to be running all over with the kids and are conducting a studio cat experiment. Although I know the drawing to be accurate, I still feel like its maybe a little off.

I really want to paint today and hope I get some time!

Trust your instincts

Today was the first day my oil painting students got to paint! We painted from a still life of white objects, focusing on capturing value.

Using some tricks I learned from Kristen, I did my first the paintings from the graphed photo on my iPhone (and used valued finder too). I did this mainly because I was in the back of the class. Finally at the end of the day, not felling happy with my first 3 attempts-I put away the phone and tools and really concentrated on painting from life. The first painting is the best and final (and longest time invested).

The next painting is all of the attempts from today. (20,10,10,35 minutes)

Studio Visit

Not Crazy about the painting, but I'm crazy about the experience!

Today was an exciting day for me.  I went to visit another local painter, who has been doing the daily painting practice and is starting in her second year. It is inspiring to see other artist's studios and how they work and approach their subject.  Even when the subject is something as seemingly simple as a piece of fruit.  

One of the things I miss most about being a student is the environment where you can get feedback and talk about processes and have dialogue about ways of everything from business practices to testing the value when color mixing.  So, thank you Kristen Ducat (http://www.atimeforart2.blogspot.com/) for sharing with me and challenging me to become a better figurative painter. Also, thanks for sending your followers this way too!  Hello new readers!

Here is a custom made panel holder (by Kristen) with my attempt for the morning and a small 10 minute sketch.  Underneath the sketch are my "ticks" to keep me accountable for mixing each color before placing it on the canvas.

I shared with Kristen some of the reasons I quit painting (like fear and intimidation, not having a studio space, pregnancy) and some of my hopes for this process.  One of the first big tasks I want to work on: I want to paint with the paint a little thicker and not  blend on the canvas so much. 

I am so excited to keep going in this practice and it is great to know that I have a friend so close by who is working in the same manner to keep me on task and ask on advice! Onward to ART WORLD DOMINATION...or maybe I can at least dominate a pear.

the color and values are closer in the sketch than the 6 x6 painting

Orange you glad it's Monday?

Today was the first day of spring semester. While it makes life busier overall, it's kind of nice because I am teaching studio courses. This means that I am in the studio 4 out of 5 workdays. It is my hope that his makes completing an artwork a day be a little easier to accomplish. I also hope this helps me to be able to devote more time to the works as well.

I began this painting 3 times before moving forward. It was a little rushed, but I think I'm satisfied with the results.

Glazes

Well, back to school tomorrow, so I painted over one of my earlier pear 10-minute black-and-white sketches so I could try to figure out how this water-mixable paint works as a glaze.  I think I might still want to do one or two more glazes over the entire pear to really make the red pop and give it more luminosity. 

The sketch wasn't strong to begin with, so I'm not sure how I feel about the "improved" version. 

Where the wild things are

Sometimes it would probably be better to just go to bed, but I remain dedicated.

Since I'm painting in my dining room and today was full of more family fun and activity, I decided just to do a drawing.

This chimp looks like something from where the wild things are! I guess thy cant all be masterpieces.

Almost a week-getting frustrating

 

Started painting the pear int he bowl...couldn't get the ellipse right and I had too many distractions from the family...so, I "wiped" the bowl, moved the pear out and finished to painting from there.  I like the pear itself, but I'm not crazy about the painting overall.

Today, I tried to just follow my instincts and try not to think too much.  My greatest frustration is my kids keep eating my props!  I'm excited to see where this goes and I'm going to plan a studio visit to another daily painter's studio next week.  The journey continues.

Day 5

Well, yesterday was nutty so here is the new 10 minute red pear study...all I had time to squeeze in, but I am determined!

Painting vs. Drawing

It is funny how differently I approach drawing and painting and my hang ups with each. I find that I am WAY more critical of myself and my paintings than drawing. With drawing I allow myself to make mistakes and be experimental. It seems like with paintings the small town girl sitting in a studio with world class painters (yes, they were THAT good even then) comes out and I start to doubt my talent and think maybe the admissions people mistakenly said yes to me. Even after only 3 days of painting, I find certain expectations and limitations already placed upon myself.

Tonight I decided to draw and immerse myself in the relaxation that comes from methodically tracing the different variations in color.

Here is tonight's artwork:

The Flu has hit the household

My stepdaughter has been sick since last night with the flu, so not much time has been devoted to painting today. However, I do want to give daily painting a good effort, so, here is my 20 minutes for the day.

What was accomplished in 10 and 20 minutes:

Being realistic, but not photorealistic

As artists we tend to be our own worst critics, as I'm sure we are all fully aware. In sharing this new adventure on Facebook, one of my former students commented how inspiring I am and how she wishes she could do the same.

We put such great pressure on ourselves to be perfect,or be the next great thing, or to infuse our work with great meaning and messages that will change the world! While these pursuits are worthy, they aren't necessarily achievable (at least not on a daily basis). Striving for such lofty goals leaves artists frustrated and often so fearful that they are unable to even being creating.

So, I offer full disclosure. Here is my panel divided into 4. The bottom left was my first attempt. Then the top left and finally the top right. Sometimes it takes me sometime to stop drawing and start painting with the brush. The last one, it was getting late and after entertaining a 3 year old all day, I wasn't feeling it, so I wiped it because it was crap. I'll start there tonight.

Copy Cat

I've been watching a fellow artist develop over the past couple of months through the act of daily painting.  There is a small, but developing art movement in my small corner of Ohio and beyond of artist comitting to the practice of daily painting. 

This is an exercise that is done on DailyPainting.com and developed by Carol Marine.  The timer is set for 10 minutes and the artist is to attempt to master their subject.  It is a great warm up and practice especially if you haven't painted in awhile.  I will be teaching oil painting this spring and my class can expect to complete a lot of these. 

So, this the beginning.  Day 1 of the next 365 days of creating art.

Here is the best of the 10 minute studies I made today: