Cay Denise

 ...at the Carnival of Venice.  She is posed for a quick capture--whatever quick means in her era.  With Victorian and Baroque influences, this piece was done with a combination of Japanese watercolors and acrylic paints with pen work to add details.   The story of this piece goes...after her sitting, The Lady Letticianza stood to regain some flexibility from her atrophied muscles.  She then had her powder, hair and feathers checked, and her Carnival mask reattached.  This year's theme had been Sagittarius the Archer: More than a Constellation. The Lady Letticianza was a beauty and intellectual.  Preparing for the Carnival had been as much a research and thinking exercise as it had been the skill and dexterity of the artisans who made her gown all the way to those who created her stunning mask--based on her direction and under her watchful and appreciative eyes.  Carnival was the icing on the cake, providing the rare opportunity to prance inv...

It has been a pretty busy roll-out of Ardith Goodwin's new Push Past Ordinary Society for Creative Dreamers (PPOS).  The first two weeks are now awesome history.  There was a flurry of activity during the first few days with people signing on to the private group, introducing themselves, and being welcoming to others. So far, we've had an art swap, movie club review/discussion, professional tips zoom, etc. and will have more events and activities between now and the end of the month based on the monthly theme. What a group of creatives have gathered together from all over the world...so exciting!!  It is also amazing what people do creatively with whatever they have accessible (including found objects) regardless of whether they call themselves an artist or not! I feel privileged to be connected with the group and to be traveling with them on what promises to be a very interesting sojourn of 'finding our different' and adventuring into new or expanded ways to express it...

Ardith Goodwin has opened her new community called the Push Past Ordinary Society for Creative Dreamers!  It is a gathering site for creatives of all type to support each person's journey to becoming their different--creatively.  I feel privileged to be a member of Ardith's Leadership Group and seeing her vision that I heard about early in 2021--come to such beautiful fruition and that will continue to blossom and grow.  If your interest is peaked and you want more information, visit https://www.ardithgoodwin.com/push-past-ordinary-society Note:  You may have to copy the link, removing the period, in order to get to the website.  There you can also send Ardith Goodwin and email, if you want to explore the community further.

 ...Ardith Goodwin's Journal of Interesting course is closing, after six weeks of intense art journal work. That work has included research, testing, exploring ideas, trying out new tools/techniques, looking for trends and patterns in our work, etc.  It has been a very good class, and it doesn't seem like it could be time for it to end.  That said, I'm close to having a full 44-page Visual Journal completed with useful and interesting efforts from the class! Photos of some of my latest pieces -- finished in the sense I'm no longer working on them -- are below. The first one...an owl...I really like how there is depth to the feather work especially from the middle to bottom of the page.  The figure was done with activated watercolor pencils (yes, the face too).  Amazing that this could be pencil work, isn't it?   These little darlings are experiments created from playing with circles, curves and spirals to make bird-like shapes and then playing with sho...

Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is having its annual benefit auction Sep 10-Oct 3! The art quilts that will be available are all made by organization members and are sized 12" by 12".  Below is a screenshot of my Dream Collection--8 of my favorites from the array of images that range from realistic to abstract, and color to black and white.   Visit this link to learn more:   https://www.saqa.com/auction/  

The class (focusing on a working journal and birds) continues, and I've done a lot of research, play and productivity.  That productivity has been through finished work and work intentionally left undone.  If I've left it incomplete, that in itself is a remarkable feat of letting go because I normally like to do finished work.  Working with watercolors (a personal choice) during this class has provided a bit of release from the rule of 'coloring between the lines' because they don't always work the way you want. That has been a relief so that I could have more fun in the doing of the work...and to focus on exploration.  Beyond that, focusing on birds has involved a great deal of learning too--since we do a deep dive into this subject focus. Some of the work done most recently includes these.  Descriptive words I'd use for them in order are: structural, surreal and sensitive.   In your creative work, have you ever done a deep dive into your subject area...

The underlying pen sketch for this owl (that outlined a skinnier bird) has been altered some with the crayon work, and I'm liking the overall sense of intensity of the creature in this practice piece.  It came together pretty easily, and I learned some things about using the crayons too.  What was interesting was using the crayon to add squiggly lines across the chest area to imitate the alternating dark and light feather design of it from a reference photo.  It works in suggesting it!

For my 'Journal of Interesting' course with instructor and artist, Ardith Goodwin, I'm using a Strathmore Visual Journal.  It now has a unique cover of painted Australian Galahs (though I didn't know the species before painting them).  It also has some beaded bird terms along the spine.   Some images in it already are included in the photos below.  It's amazing how varied the avian kingdom is, and what a marvel bird wings are.  The journal will be serving as my research and play tool to learn more about birds, their lives, how they fly, working to capture their essence in a drawing, and other things... throughout the course.  Can you tell I'm excited? 

Using a new Gansai Tambi Japanese watercolor set, I painted a sketch that has been in storage for years.  First, the paints were absolutely a delight to work with! Second, as only my second watercolor, I'm happy with it--and it yells funky besides!!

  This art journal piece is unfinished, but I'm liking it as is -- even with the different skin tones in it.  So, based on advice from an artist peer -- I'm taking a break from working on it.  I'm satisfied right now that it has movement, and it conveys the twist of the body, and has a believable expression emerging on the face.  This is not realism.  Rather, it is more like an expressionist painting approach.  It is much freer than I usually work and is a painting over a study (on a different subject).

I've been having fun sketching shapes of faces/body poses with a black Stabilo pencil that is activated (with water) after the sketch is complete--for a darker outline.  By doing this practice, I've learned a lot about subtle shape changes in arms and legs with various poses, and foot positioning in different stances or when sitting.   As a challenge down-the-road, I'm thinking about reducing the number of lines I allow myself to use to capture the essence of the figures drawn.  Here are some examples: If you're a visual artist, have you done this type of activity as part of your regular practice?  If so, what was your experience?

The Narrative course with Ardith Goodwin is coming to an end, and I've learned a great deal--once I got to work and started doing the work. Part of that has been sketching, and I will say my sketching practice has improved markedly! I did a few sketches today thinking I'd try new Tempera Paint Sticks on watercolor paper.  But after testing one, I didn't like how it looked after activating the paint on the paper. So, I painted one of the sketches and this is the result.  I'm really pleased with it, especially the classical sense that comes across, and I learned you don't have to have a busy background for a painting to be delicious.  

I'm looking into art business models and have some questions for those of you who are already in the business of making a living with your art.  To answer, please reply to this post.  Comments are moderated, so if you'd like your reply to remain private--please note that. What social media methods are you using to share and/or sell your art?  Do social media platform algorithms support or hinder your efforts?  What are you favorite platforms for art sharing?  Do these favorites differ from your favorite apps to keep in touch with family and friends? In this day and age of such an array of technology platforms for social media uses, information sharing has become complicated.  It used to be a website or blog.  Now it seems you may need Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Vimeo, and others in addition to a website and blog to work at reaching your art audience.  Is social media important to your art sharing?  If not, how do you share your work? On t...

This piece was created from a written prompt.  Before reading further, look at the image, then answer this question: What kind of story would you create about this image?   My answer is that this is an introduction to the Sherbet sisters, Hyacinth Orange  and Bella Lime.  They've always thought their middle names were corny, so they worked out a deal with their parents.  That deal was they get to go by their first names only--as long as they wear the color of their middle name in their clothing.  They haven't minded at all...and in fact, are much happier for having done so.  #narrativeishere

This is a piece created by working from a prompt developed by Artist and Class Instructor, Ardith Goodwin.  Selected elements from that prompt were used as jumping off points (e.g. big hat with flowers).  It evolved in its own way and is nothing like one would imagine from a literal interpretation of the prompt.  There is a big difference.  The translucent veil was done by adding light layers of white acrylic paint glaze, and the ornamentation was done by a white pen.    Based on my experience with this effort, I'm interested in what triggers your idea of creating something.  Is that trigger an inspiration image (photograph, sculpture), a saying (quote, poem), an emotion you're trying to release, or are you intuitive and let an image 'arise' from the page as you paint?  If you have a different way, I'd love to hear about what that is. #narrativeishere

What fun our group had in meeting after 14 months to reconnect and do an artsy project.  The goal...to cover a terracotta pot with fabric, decoupage and bling. The outcomes were so fun and varied among the four of us who gathered, and the weather couldn't have been better.   So glad that all of us have been vaccinated and could gather safely to lift one another's spirits through art!

I've completed part of a pre-assignment to Ardith Goodwin's upcoming Narrative class that starts next week.  This includes choosing a painting I love, and writing a story about it. I love the work of Rob Gonsalves having first seen it in a children's book titled "Imagine a Night".  He considers his painting genre as 'Magic Realism' -- a mix of reality with magic.  His work really does spark one's imagination by way of optical illusion. This is my short story about one of his pieces titled 'Ladies of the Lake'. Story:  We always camp on full moon eves -- along a nearby lake under the cover of a great circle of elder pines.  They stand so straight and tall as if sentries guarding a great gate.  On overcast eves, we know the ladies come, but we can't see them.  They make no sound, and there is no other light than that which comes from behind the cloud-cover above.  Soundly we sleep, while the silent footfalls of parading dreamers awaken. #narr...

I recently finished adding the beaded dangles to this piece and love the colors!  It will make a great statement necklace because of the way it catches the light with its sheen.

Again inspired by Paul Klee's 'The Lamb" painted in 1920...here is a second version of my take on it using a face as subject and incorporating glazing (face, and background base layer) and gradients (background).  The gradients have been made by applying brushstroke rectangles in colors ranging from dark (nearest face in a similar color to the face) to light in that value range. Based on comments from a separate critique group, some shading of the face was suggested and is now a next step.  I'll use glazing for it to show shadow on the face and neck. The first version is the smaller one below---for comparison purposes.

  This is a superb article about the woman who was a driving force in introducing Van Gogh's work to the world and developing appreciation and a market for his works.   New York Times - Article Link

I just finished watching this interesting 2018 documentary about a remarkable female artist from the 18th century, Elisabeth Vigee Labrun.   She was the portrait artist for Marie Antoinette, completed over 660 portraits of nobility and others during her lifetime, and is lauded as France's last great portrait artist. Amazingly self-taught, this is one of her multiple paintings of Marie Antoinette.  Beautiful, isn't it?  (The fabric draping and shading are so exquisite!)

Using a palette knife, I've made a quick face painting from leftover paint after working on another piece.  It looks like a face, even though it's a bit messy.  (Using a palette knife to paint with is an adventure in itself.) Then, using the app called Prisma, it has been transformed into an interesting digital art piece.   What do you think?

As part of Ardith Goodwin's Land of Ardithian Color - Color Class, one of our assignments was to paint a quick piece that conveys the emotion of disturbed.   I took a bit more time with my effort starting with a substrate that had random paint marks on it, then sketched an outline over it (see second photo).   The finished effort is the man in blue below.  The whites of his eyes are the actual background pattern/color of the paper I started with and left the way it was--because the eyes appear intense and striking that way. The blues in the piece were achieved with the use of Phthalo Turquoise (as in the nose) and dark violet (mixed with the turquoise for the skin color + grey).   The buzz cut for the hair was challenging to do with a paint brush, but works.  Another problem was my paint dried (developed a skin) far too quickly.  So, color mixing had to be done over and over again as this was coming together.  Aside from that--overall, I...

One of the painters highlighted as a master of color and range of styles in my color class--is Paul Klee.  When I first saw his work, I was mesmerized.  He worked very experimentally and imitated other artists.  The way he used color in many of his pieces was not an easy thing to do--but he made it look easy.  This is a painting of his titled "The Lamb" done in 1920. Since my class focus is on faces (that's what all my paintings include), I've attempted to imitate Klee's horizontal lines across the page -- while including a face (like the lamb in this one).  In the piece below to make the face 'pop', I glazed the background colors with white to reduce the intensity.  The face looks a bit like a Ninja Turtle.  Or as someone in my class suggested it could be a "super-hero".  What do you think? It was fascinating to try this imitation because of the interruption of the horizontal lines (by color, line, direction, etc.) that you have to plan in order...

This piece is an effort to incorporate raised surfaces like freehand braille (with an actual 3-line haiku translated to braille that should be read by rotating the image counter-clockwise). I learned so much from painting a profile.  Some of that learning was in achieving some sense of depth, dealing with bags under the eye and lines (from cheek to chin) that occur when the mouth is open as intensely as it is.  The ear may be a bit small, but it looks much more realistic than many I've done before--so I'm really happy with that. There is also a lot of acrylic glazing in this -- used for the background and hair.     

A recent day's internal conversation:  I wonder, could I sketch that image with my non-dominant hand?  What if I tried?  Would there be something to learn by doing it that way?  Could I accept disappointment if it turned out to be a 'hot mess'? After trying successfully to sketch it, there was more internal dialogue:  What if I continue by painting it with my non-dominant hand?  This was followed by all the other questions again.   I'm so delighted with this piece.  I've learned I can draw and paint with my non-dominant hand!  Of course the brushstrokes are different in that hand...dabbing the paint on the page bit by bit.  My non-dominant hand also did the fine lines with some support from my dominant hand in the process.  It has been humbling to learn how well that side of my mind-body connection is capable of artistically rendering the vision I had for this piece! 

In early March, Ardith's Land of Ardithian Color course started and continues into late April. I've done a great deal of work in the course including detailed color studies (elective) and painting experimentation.   A selection from the color studies completed: Getting to my preferred grey: Working Dark to Light (subject area of faces): Reworked painting I like from one I didn't: The course has been even more challenging because of self-directed work.  You can't believe how much there is to know about color!  An interesting tidbit is that my Senior Thesis in college was on the Psychological Aspects of Color.  It also included results from an experiment on color meanings.  That project involved significant research and learning, although it was focused on a technical versus artistic knowledge of color.  The latter is what I'm learning through Ardith's class.

 

Just playing with a face sketch today that was initially painted in white, black and grays--that didn't look so hot. So I over-painted it with purple and used other tools to 'wild' it up. It's amazing to see that the face shading still comes through pretty accurately.