Cay Denise

A New York Times Op-Art piece from October 16th announced a challenge for anyone to participate in. The purpose is about what you can learn from drawing a stranger.  Wendy MacNaughton is an artist  and graphic journalist.  She also is founder and lead of an art-making club (called 'DrawTogether') for kids as well as one for grown-ups.   In Wendy's challenge, she asks participants to draw the other person's image using 'blind contour'.  This is a technique when you put pen or pencil to paper, look straight at the subject's face, and draw the face without looking down at the paper or your pen.  What do you imagine happens?  Want to try it? Here is a link to the project toolkit that Wendy has put together if you'd like to participate. 'How to' Toolkit from Wendy Below is the article link announcing the challenge in the NYTimes.  Please note you may need a subscription in order to access it. Wendy McNaughton - NYTimes Art Challenge  

Stopping by a local bookshop, there---peering out from atop several display shelves was an inviting turquoise blue portal dancing to life as my eyes met the book cover from which it sprang. Thumbing through Lisa Aisato's "All the Colors of Life" is a journey through life's stages in her delightful visual imagery.  She creates art with a sensitive, fun-loving, thoughtful, and dreamy approach and you see that in her work.   This collection of her favorite art works, woven together as phases of life, have heart, tenderness,  curiosity, and are filled with reminders of the moments in life that make memories and are truly the most important.  Link to Bored Panda article on Lisa Aisato and her work

As part of keeping an art journal in Louise Fletcher's 2023 Find Your Joy (FYJ) course, one part is exploring works we like and writing about why we like them. Over the weekend, a post in a private Facebook group (of Louise's) was about one 'Portrait of the Year' competition.  In it, the posting party mentioned that writing what you see in a piece is more fruitful than just thinking about it, and doing this for your own work can help in seeing it less subjectively. That triggered a thought, because of the writing to do for FYJ. That Facebook post triggered a recollection of an art exhibit I saw years ago that I was awed by.  So, I decided to look for the exhibit publication (saved), and research the artist and his other works.  My plan was to write about what I thought I had liked in the artist's work when I first saw it, decide whether I still like it. and if so, whether for the same or different reasons.  I also wondered if I could articulate the 'why' bet...

These are small studies (3"x3") that were created using remnant paper from other art projects and a variety of art media. The paper included Bristol drawing paper, cardstock, and watercolor paper.  The art media was primarily watercolors (Kuretake and Jane Davenport) and Sharpie pens while the basic sketch was done with a Staedtler Pigment Liner.  Other materials used for decoration included different combinations of Stickles, Posca pens, Gelly Roll pens, Sakura Pen Touch markers and acrylic paint.   One thing I learned is that watercolor on Fluid 100 watercolor paper (300 lb.) is not easy to control when the paper is this small.  Pens and Stickles don't work well on it either.  (Photo of this experiment - not posted.) I also learned that Jane Davenport's watercolors (that come on paper strips) are highly saturated with a wonderful range of hues.  However, they stain and soak very quickly into watercolor paper such that the watercolor can't be moved or remo...

This piece has been in process for a couple of months and was finished today.   The sweeping/swooping colored shapes are intended to come across as translucent film over the areas they cover including the face, clothes, etc. and sometimes even other swirly shapes either above or below.   It takes time to do this kind of piece, especially since I wanted the subjects to have a recognizable form and some continuity of pose. It requires making color choices that involve gradations and that maintain some semblance of translucency. To do so is tiring because of the thinking through potential color choices and how they're likely to affect the piece. So, for me, work sessions were between two and three hours at a stretch.  More than that dulled my ability to do the kind of envisioning needed.   As I look at this effort, it amazes me that no matter where I start looking, my eye constantly moves around the piece because there is little area for the eye to rest. The entire piec...