Colored Pencil Portrait on Black Paper I’ve been experimenting with black paper – using colored pencils, pastels (here is a landscape in pastel), and gouache. This little portrait sketch was inspired by a 1907 photo of my great-grandmother, just after she emigrated from Italy to Yonkers, New York. She died from “consumption” (tuberculosis) not long …
Drawing and Sketching
Watercolors, Sketching, Printmaking, and Stitching – an Art Studio Update As I mentioned in the last post, I have mountains of unfinished art in my studio, and tucked into my meandering artist’s tote bag. I’m working on watercolors, sketching, printmaking, and stitching, all at once. (Insert big-eyed scaredy face here.) I’d like to share a …
Watercolors, Sketching, Printmaking and Stitching – an Art Studio Update Read More »
Pencil Sketching Practice Pencil Sketching Practice has been rhapsodized for eons. But that doesn’t mean we all commit to a regular habit of sketching (right?) When I practice sketching, I can count on several things happening at once; active skill building, a renewed appreciation for the importance of values, simplicity of tools (pencil & paper), …
Where Do Good Art Ideas Come From? Steven Johnson illustrates the sequence leading to the birth of a Good Idea in the video below. He focuses – perhaps not surprisingly – on creating spaces conducive to creativity. But the evolution of your good idea might start with a chain of little hunches over a long …
Powdered Graphite and Water Soluble Graphite for Drawing and Painting Here are some experiments with Powdered Graphite and Water Soluble Graphite used in painting and drawing. I played with dry and wet applications of graphite on figurative, portrait, still life and bird images (see below). I also used different supports to test illustration board, watercolor …
Powdered Graphite and Water Soluble Graphite for Drawing and Painting Read More »
Ideas for Easy Creative Collage Art Let’s layer some creative collage ideas with no drawing skills required. Easy peasey, fun art, you can create alone or in a group, with kids, or adults, or both. That’s our goal today. Art Supplies + Fun. In the last post, plain, white, acid free tissue paper was made …
Portrait Collage Ideas Eldest Son was created from hand-printed, archival tissue papers, torn and assembled as a portrait collage of two figures. The faces of each figure were painted loose and expressive on top of torn, layered papers, with watercolor and gouache. You can do this too, so let’s take a look at the steps …
Graphite Portrait Drawing – Little Girl I’m back from Sierra Madre Artwalk, where crowds were friendly, art was collected, and it was mostly lovely weather (it started to rain after I loaded my gear into the car to leave last night). Drawing on Drafting Film I’ve used matte finish drafting film (also known as mylar) …
Experimenting with Pastels In previous posts, I’ve used stick pastels on top of monotypes – inspired by Edgar Degas’ beautiful treatments of dry media over printmaking inks. But until this piece, I’ve never worked with seemingly delicate little pastel pencils. The drawing above was an experiment to use cross hatching with sharpened pastel pencils over …
For the Love of Words Have you ever staged a painting based on a series of images? I have a collection of inspiring art saved in a few categories on Pinterest, and one of them features readers. I love books (I’m listening to this one right now), and the escape to other places, with imagined …
Graphite, Watercolor and Colored Pencil Portrait: Once Upon a Time Read More »
Small Drawing and Painting Studies After last week’s post, you sent some lovely emails questioning the definition of a small drawing or painting study, and how exactly does it serve an artist? Some of us like to just Dive Right In, so lets unfold this one now… Think of sketching and painting small studies as …
It’s a New Month Happy January! Hopefully, in between holiday clean up, and taking stock of the year from the rear view mirror, you’re also swinging a telescope forward to anticipate the future heft of art supplies in your hands, right? There are work surfaces to clear, and pigments to sort, and sketch pads to …
Using a Grid to Sketch Small Watercolor Studies and Improve Drawing Skills Read More »
Figurative Watercolor Sketching – 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 …
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 …
Pen and Ink Drawing for Inktober – Secret Sanctuary (Flowing) Read More »
Watercolor Sketches I rented a crooked-but-cozy Connecticut lake cabin on a trip to my home town a few years ago, and this sun porch was my favorite room. My grandparent’s house had a sun porch the length of the house, and my brothers and I spent many hours sprawled on the braided rag rugs, playing …
Simplify Before Committing Back in the day, when I quizzed established artists about best practices towards making art full time, the sculptor Ron Pekar gave me a great tip. He suggested limbering up by painting small studies in watercolor as though they would be cut into simplified wooden puzzles. Ron said beginner painters want to paint …
Tips for Simplified Watercolor Landscape Sketching Read More »
Art Workshops and Comparing Your Work to Others A few weeks ago, I worked as crew with WorkshopsinFrance.com, during a fantastic Carol Marine workshop at a chateau in Provence, France. I used ink and watercolor on the cypress trees and hedges sketchbook study above. There was a lot of appreciation and breathing in the French …
Get in the Habit of Sketching More Often I want to sketch and draw more this year. I’ve commanded my art-making brain to sketch more often in years past, but as weeks ticked by on the calendar, other priorities elbowed the notion into a dark cupboard. Very frustrating – and self-inflicted. I follow Canadian artist Marc …
Field Sketching in Watercolor I keep a notebook to scribble To-Do’s, painting ideas, and tidbits gleaned from books and the web. It’s old-fashioned to keep a paper To-Do list, I know, but I love the feel of paper, and I enjoy writing lists. It’s as important as keeping a Moleskine for field sketching in watercolor – both …
I found a nice list of tips for using graphite in drawing this morning – check out the article here. And from the same studio, here are some fantastic drawing videos. Share the love.. 🙂 Happy July 4th! Art Quote Start the drawing in the middle of the face. Find an anchor; a tear duct …
Graphite Drawing: Jaimie (& tips on drawing with pencil) Read More »
Do you anticipate entire days in the studio with wide-eyed, fluttery fingered excitement? I have a full day of drawing & printmaking planned, and I fell asleep last night plotting the sequence of projects, bargaining what I might reasonably finish with no interruptions. Like a ravenous dog at a buffet table, I scheme my super-hero productivity with …
Meet me in the Garden 7.5×6 Graphite drawing sold This drawing is available in my Etsy Shop. My son gave me Ranier Metzger’s book on Gustav Klimt’s drawings and watercolors a few years ago, and I still get so inspired every time I pull it off the shelf. The format of the book is small …
Jaimie 2.5×2.5 graphite on paper In two weeks, I’ll be showing my work at the San Diego Artwalk, and the weekend after that, I’ll be at the Sierra Madre Art Fair. The details for both shows are in a newsletter I sent to my mailing list last week. If you’re not on my mailing list, …
Recital 15×6 Mixed Media collage and paint on Illustration Board SoldIn the same manner as this post and this post, I’ve layered hand-printed and painted papers in a collage on illustration board, under printed & painted figures from my archives. The woman’s face was a petite little head study. The dress on the figure above …
Dream Guardian 7×7.25 Mixed Media on Illustration Board A couple decades ago, I made a whole box of hand-carved rubber stamps from erasers. Recently, a good friend of mine invited me over for an afternoon of art-making, and to kick off the day, we looked at art by the late, great Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), and contemporary …
Daniel Sprick Painting Portrait Workshop I attended Weekend with the Masters in Monterey, California. This is an art workshop and conference hosted by American Artist Magazine, with a handful of art supply vendors selling their wares. See the Daniel Sprick workshop details below. Finding Your Art Tribe Hundreds of artists from all over the U.S. were …
Daniel Sprick Painting Portrait Workshop – What I Learned Read More »
Big Horn Sheep ~ Graphite on paper I’m working on a couple of watercolor commissions of Big Horn Sheep from the area near Anza Borrego – part of the Sonoran Desert between the Salton Sea and Calsbad, California. (Borrego is Spanish for Sheep.) I’ve never seen one in person, but I’m totally intrigued. My client …
Onyx 12 x 12 Charcoal on Gun Metal Canford PaperLast Monday, I went to the McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga to attend Julie Snyder’s Model Painting Workshop, which is Monday’s from 9:30-12:30. If you’re local and you like painting or drawing from life, I highly recommend checking it out. It’s $15/session, the models/set ups are …
Charcoal: Onyx (Drawing w/Julie Snyder at McGroarty Arts Center) Read More »
While fresh from a David Kassan drawing workshop, I thought I’d try to sketch a small 6×6 inch portrait of my maternal grandmother using charcoal and the methods David demonstrated. After a David Kassan Drawing Workshop I’m spinning around my studio this week – on fire – after a three day drawing workshop with New …
David Kassan Workshop – Thoughts and Appreciation Read More »