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17
Nov

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Watercolor -Wine at Mandola Rosa – and Gift Ideas for Artists

Comments: 1 | Posted on November 17, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Best Gifts for Artists If you are adamantly *not* an artist, but you have a creative friend or family member that would love an art-related gift, I’m here to help!  My own family is sprinkled with engineers, mechanical wizards, construction titans, internet security bosses, firefighters and nutrition and fitness gurus. If I set them loose in a Dick Blick art supply store, and said “Please buy me an art-flavored gift?”, they’d be utterly perplexed. They all love art, and they’re totally supportive of my artistic endeavors, but that would be akin to sending a art historian out to buy buy circuit board assembly parts.  …[Continue reading]

14
Nov

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Watercolor – Italian Door – and encouragement to photograph your life

Comments: 11 | Posted on November 14, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

The Power of Photos in Art & Life I’ve been fortunate to travel in Europe with my watercolors and a camera. I worked as crew for Workshops in France  during an amazing lavender field plein air excursion taught by Carol Marine in Provence. A decade before, our family went to Rome, and wore out the shutter buttons on our cameras trying to capture the atmosphere so we could take it all home in photographs.  I don’t think you have to travel far and wide to collect subjects for art, but any rendering of great fun in life done with pigments is bound to be good. At the …[Continue reading]

11
Nov

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Watercolor Sketch – Morning Musing

Comments: 34 | Posted on November 11, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Lasso Your Mind, and Redirect your Focus I live 15 miles from the Hill and Woolsey Fires burning now in southern California. After our experience with high wind a year ago during the Thomas Fire, I’m not comforted by the miles. I’m scanning Fire Department tweets, social media posts from friends forced to evacuate, and two more days of Red Flag Wind warnings. And I’m looking out the window over and over again. Should the wind shift, we know what to do. We can be out of here in 10 minutes, disgruntled cat and all. And since there is nothing we can do …[Continue reading]

9
Nov

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Woodcut: Carnelian (& gift ideas for the beginner printmaker)

Comments: 8 | Posted on November 9, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Gift Ideas for the for Beginner Printmaker When I started posting printmaking tutorials on my youtube channel, I got a flood of emails asking where one could buy a comprehensive starter set to try printmaking without breaking the bank. I’ve searched, and there isn’t a complete set in a box that includes all of the parts I’d recommend to try making a linocut or a woodcut for the first time. But a kit can be assembled a la carte to get you, or your beginner printmaker started on the right foot! Printmaking is a wonderful art-making method that allows the artist to print in multiples. More than …[Continue reading]

1
Nov

SecretSanctuary

Pen and Ink Drawing for Inktober – Secret Sanctuary (Flowing)

Comments: 10 | Posted on November 1, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Finding Time for Inktober The challenge of sketching an ink drawing in a sketchbook every day for 30 days can be overwhelming when you already have a busy month. This year’s Inktober was no exception, but I’m glad I squeezed a few of the sketches in between other obligations. When drawing is at the front of your mind – when you’ve decided to prioritize it – reaching for your moleskine sketchbook is easier. Your sketchpad calls your name and reminds you to grab it in snippets of time when you’re sitting still; in between patrons at an art festival, on the couch with …[Continue reading]

29
Oct

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Mat Board Collagraphs – and finding your Art Cheerleaders

Comments: 12 | Posted on October 29, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Who’s Cheering in Your Corner? Did you catch this blog post about how you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with? Do you have a squad of encouragers around you? Who do you call when creative block crushes your art-making mojo, or a wave of uncertainty washes over your painting or printmaking adventures? Beginning artists are more susceptible to self-doubt than seasoned, professional, gallery represented artists. The Terrible Troll of Self Doubt Self doubt is a universal cycle, so professionals struggle with it too. The difference, perhaps, is that the journeymen artist has plowed a steady, determined …[Continue reading]

24
Oct

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Silk Aquatint Printmaking: Library Cat

Comments: 5 | Posted on October 24, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Silk Aquatint Portrait Here is another silk aquatint , with colored pencil, based on a quick cell phone snapshot of my trusty studio assistant, Scout.  He’s all about being helpful, especially if you need things like fur in the paint, shoe laces untied while carving details on a block, paint brushes scattered to the floor, or a lap warmer. He’s house-renowned as an expert in his field of Bothersome-but-Cute. Do you have a studio assistant? How do you Make a Silk Aquatint? If you’re unfamiliar with silk aquatint, visit this post to read an explanation of the process and the concept. After you read …[Continue reading]

19
Oct

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Collagraph: Garden Watch – and inking tutorials for collagraph plates and printing

Comments: 6 | Posted on October 19, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Mat Board Collagraph Versatility Have you ever made a mat board collagraph? If not, and you want to try it, visit this post for a detailed overview on making your first collagraph plate. If you’ve already created mat board collagraphs, do you print them just one way? Intaglio (with the uppermost surface cleared and wiped, and the recessed areas loaded with ink, to print from the “basement” of the plate)? Or Relief prints – applying and printing ink only from the uppermost part of the plate – or the “roof”, leaving the recessed areas blank? [NOTE: If you have trouble distinguishing between printmaking …[Continue reading]

15
Oct

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Collagraph: Sunday Morning – and helpful resources for entering art shows

Comments: 6 | Posted on October 15, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

How Do You Get Your Art Out into the Public? Are you juggling family and jobs while squeezing slivers of art-making into your busy world? How often do you apply to art shows? Do you ponder the opportunities of artistic exposure and camaraderie on social media? In the melee of the artist’s mind, it can be challenging to mount the technology of digital sharing.  “But it’s free exposure!”, we all say!  “Free” after you learn to title and scan your work. Free after you plan repeated missives to fill the What-Should-I-Say part of your posts on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.  There is also …[Continue reading]

11
Oct

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Figurative Watercolor Painting – Recharge – and Building Your Own Art Photo Reference Library

Comments: 10 | Posted on October 11, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Building Your Own Art Reference Photo Library In the last post, I described scheduling your own photo sessions to create a still life painting art reference library.  Your inspiration meter might spin past 100 while considering painting and drawing materials designed and snapped in your own space, with your favorite things, or your most loved people. The painting above – Recharge – is from a photo session done over a decade ago, and I still paint and draw from images I took in that photo session. A little planning with a camera, good light and a few costume changes on your favorite persons …[Continue reading]

3
Oct

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Linocut print – Viognier and Apples – and Linocut Ideas

Comments: 13 | Posted on October 3, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

About the Linocut This little still life linocut above is freshly framed and ready for exhibit in the POD Gallery I’ll be occupying this weekend at the Ventura Artwalk (see the map below). If you’re near Ventura, California, come and say hello! Really – it would be swell to meet you in person! Linocut Ideas If you’re looking for ideas to make a linocut print, I have an approach to share that’ll result in a whole series – especially if you like still life. The arrangement above was the result of a scoop through the kitchen to collect items with bright colors. A …[Continue reading]

29
Sep

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Beginning Watercolor painting – El Conductor – and the Ventura Artwalk

Comments: 4 | Posted on September 29, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Be an Art Boss In Santa Barbara, California on Thanksgiving, a few decades ago, I took a photo of our feast. A turkey centerpiece, with a bowl of rice and a platter of green beans. A Mexican paper maché man under a sombrero with the words El Cuatrero (the rustler) scribed across the brim watched over our culinary adventures. You can see a black and white copy of the reference photo taped above my work in progress below, with the aforementioned turkey and green beans. Since I’m the boss of me, a few changes meandering into this watercolor. Mister turkey became a pot …[Continue reading]

27
Sep

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Pencil Drawing: Charmed – and How to Get Good Ideas for Art

Comments: 4 | Posted on September 27, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Finishing Artwork After a Long Pause I started this pencil drawing on a plane while crossing the country. Have you ever sketched to pass the time on a plane with music or an audio book? Highly recommended. Time passes very quickly while you’re immersed in your own little flying art studio. 🙂  The unfinished drawing sat propped against a wall in my studio, until piles of projects inched it backwards, and the drawing fell down behind the table. Months later, I dropped a paintbrush that rolled under the table.  While crawling underneath to retrieve it, there she was, suspended in power cords, looking …[Continue reading]

24
Sep

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Mat Board Collagraph: Stackable Naps

Comments: 10 | Posted on September 24, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

Making a Mat Board Collagraph Plate Let’s make a collagraph printmaking plate from a scrap piece of mat board! I’ve got some process photos, blog posts and video tutorials for you. To source the mat board, you can order it on amazon here, or visit your local art-framer and ask if you can pilfer the scraps of mat board they recycle after cutting mats for clients (Note: this material is also called mount board in other parts of the world.) Cutting Pieces of a Puzzle Using a sharp blade, cut very shallow outlines of relevant shapes as though you’re making a puzzle, and …[Continue reading]

21
Sep

silk aquatint portrait

Silk Aquatint: Bandana

Comments: 4 | Posted on September 21, 2018 by Belinda DelPesco

What is a Silk Aquatint? Silk aquatint is a variation of a printmaking method – Aquatint.  The traditional version uses an acid bath, a metal plate, a blow torch and some pretty caustic materials.  This “silk” version is a home-studio, no-acid, Do-it-Yourself aquatint using plexiglass as a plate, synthetic silk and acrylic paint. By most accounts, this alternative was invented by Massachusetts maritime painter and printmaker Donald Stoltenberg (1927-2016) Silk Aquatint Print – Wait, What?? The premise of a silk aquatint – on a larger scale – is this: pretend you took an 8×10 sheet of plexiglass, and you painted one side black, …[Continue reading]

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