#unexpectedvalentines
Daily sketch No. 3
Sneak peek
Here’s a glimpse of a project I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. These are a bunch of drafts of the color wash layer. Once I was happy with the color layer, I laid a sheet of translucent paper over the top and quickly made a graphite line drawing that roughly correlated to the wash below. After about a million drafts of both layers, I scanned and combined the color wash with the line art in Photoshop.
Done now — I’ll post final art when I get the go-ahead!
My new mantra
I plan to tattoo this on the back of my right hand, where I will see it every time I sit down at the computer to do something other than paint/draw/write. Hope to make it available soon as a print and a tote bag, because I have a feeling there are quite a few creative types out there who need the same reminder!
Spring rain
IF_Voice
I like using Illustration Friday prompts as warm ups. Pretty happy with this pissed off little dude.
Thinking about a character…
Painting Progression
I made a little slideshow of a painting start to finish (this is one I made last fall). Let’s see if it works here:
A M’s Slidely by Slidely Slideshow
Filling the well
I’m in my studio, anxiously awaiting feedback on a current project. Anxiety makes it difficult to focus productively on the various things I could be working on, so I decided to shift out of anxiety mode by getting lost in some studio play.
I’ve had a yen to try my hand at sculpture for months now. I’ve never done much of anything 3-dimensional, but I guess the time has come to explore a bit. I think I want to try carving small sculptures at some point, but I had some air-dry clay on hand, and started playing with that before the holidays, making ornaments with my son. When I met with my critique group for our January retreat, we made some little figures from clay as a way to loosen up.
Today I made the pleasing abstract shapes below. When they dry I will paint them and string them together into a giant bangle, or maybe wind chimes if they make a pleasant sound. I made a little bowl, too, but I’m not so happy with that. I am still getting to know this material.
After that satisfying little exercise I moved on to painting. This is how I work when I am not making illustrations: big and messy. The painting below is a work in progress, started about 4 hours ago. I’d guess I’m half done. But I’m at that scary moment where I like my start and I am getting attached. Danger, danger! Don’t get attached. It’s bound to get uglier before it is complete and it takes courage to make a pretty start ugly. Courage and faith that I’ll be able to transcend the ugly and find a resolution that is deeper, more layered, more interesting than just pretty.
For the record, this painting is acrylic on 27″x27″heavy, handmade Khadi watercolor paper.