Owls on a Snowy Night

From time to time I see something and think, "wow that's amazing, I should draw that quick", and all too often that thought is followed by the thought that I am busy and do not have time to grab my stuff and draw.
Well, the other night I did stop and draw when I saw the great horned owl in a tree at the edge of our yard at dusk, in the snow (even though I was cooking dinner). The scene was just too cool to pass up. A snowy night keeping all the light collected and under the clouds, the whole backyard had gone purple - really - and the perfectly silhouetted owl on a tree branch. I grabbed my stuff (really picked it up, it was on the coffee table where I have been leaving it) and did a couple of quick sketches that I filled in with some washes of color.
It only took me fifteen minutes and it felt really great to not pass up the amazing sight out my window for another more convenient time.
I think that making time, even if it's just a few minutes, can make all the difference.

Collage Page Stage Two

This is my collage at the week two stage from the Strathmore online visual journal workshop with Pam Carriker. The focus of the workshop is to reuse art work from previous journals and change and re-purpose it as a new journal page.
This week was a real challenge for me, and that was the whole point of the workshop - to try something new.
So this week's task was to add under journaling in pencil, depth with charcoal, then add new color with oil pastel, all of which got blended into the page with a gesso wash.
I have to say, when I began the page I was not really happy with the result, I wished I had journaled on the gridded paper instead of the open paper and the page was oddly gray, rather than shaded from blending charcoal into the matte medium used as glue, but I continued. After I added the color with the oil pastels, I was really not happy. I felt like I had made several bad color choices and the entire page was ruined, not to mention completely garish. I continued on with the next step, however, and added the gesso wash.
When I checked back after the gesso had dried I was pleasantly surprised with the page, it was not as bad as I though it was going to be. I added a little bit of ink with a brush pen to get back a few details and re colored a bit of the face. I still am not sure how I feel about the page and I know for sure I have more time invested in it than any other page in my journal.
The next step is to add a texture element in the negative space with found objects and acrylic paint, which I should get to in the next day or two, then we will see what it looks like again.

Birds at the Bell

Thursday night was sketch night at the Bell Museum. This month's theme was birds. There was a variety of stuffed birds, skeletons, eggs, and parts available to draw from. There were about 20 people there this month, which I think is the largest group I have seen so far. Yeah, sketch night is growing! I look forward to these nights every month, where I get to go and sketch with a group of other sketchers for two hours uninterrupted. It is also great to see what other people draw and the approach or medium that they use in their sketches. I strongly encourage anyone out there to find a group of people you can meet with and draw. It is great practice and it is always encouraging to meet with other artists and exchange ideas.

I have been working in the Strathmore sketchbook that I altered and prepainted on New Year's Eve (follow link for photos and information on the process). I choose to use a longer accordion style page for Thursday night, so I could group all my birds together as one spread (photo above, book standing).

The woodcock drawing closest to the spiral binding was the first drawing of the night and it took me the longest to do, about an hour and fifteen minutes. I got really caught up in all the tiny feather detail and by the end of the drawing I was sort of bored and frustrated with speckles and feathers and ready to draw a few things with less details. I did not intend for the drawing to extend through the wire binding but I gauged the beginning size for the base and bird feet incorrectly and through the binding the bird's beak went.

I moved on to a pile of parts and got three drawings done in the last forty-five minutes of the night. The head and the leg/claw combo are both from an American bittern. The egg is a crow's egg.
All of my drawings begin with a sketch using a Sharpie pen, followed by some watercolor, and finished up with additional details with a second round of Sharpie pen.



The journal page spread flat. When folded closed, only the woodcock shows as a page. Being the beak of the woodcock extends to the next page, I may try to continue with another bird or something bird related on the following page.
Looking forward to next month - plants and fungi.

Owl Collage Page

Here is the second collage I did in my sketchbook for the online Strathmore Visual Journal workshop series that began on January first. Our task for the first week has been to reuse and recycle imagery from previous sketchbooks and artwork as well as ephemera or scraps. For this page I began on a prepainted page spread in my altered journal. For collage elements, I used photocopies of journal pages, and a painting, as well as paste paper and a stamp image I found online. I am very sure that next weeks task will be to continue to work with the collage pages we create this week, so this is step number one in a process.
I wasn't sure how I would like reusing art and collage in my journal as I usually just draw, with only the occasional glue in element. I have kept an open mind and I have to say it has been fun to try something different. Creating a collage is also a great thing to do while doing something else, like watching a movie or TV. I gather my supplies, sit with a try table and quietly clip out elements, arrange, rearrange, and then glue. I have finshed a page by the time he film is done. Family time and art time all in one.

New Art in the New Year

Happy New Year!
For the first time in a year I will be working in two journals at once, one where I will primarily draw and paint and one where I will be experimenting and trying some new stuff. The image above is from the new journal (see previous post about altering a purchased journal). Not much of an experiment, a drawing with watercolor and some Chartpak marker transfers. I am still up in the air on whether or not I think this page is complete. I do not like the words I added, so I am contemplating adding some collage paper over the text. I am also not working in this journal in order, because of the alterations, I have different sized pages to choose from so I am going to be jumping around a bit to fit what I need onto the page that will work best.

As a part of the Strathmore Visual Journal workshop, I am exploring reusing and recycling art from previous journals and other personal art and ephemera as collaged journal pages. I have to say I struggled a little with the idea of reusing art to make a new page in my journal. I usually work to come up with new drawings in my sketchbook/journal, not copying and reusing work that I already have finished. After digging around in my studio, I decided this was the perfect use for some of the many examples I create in my classroom, that are finished but never really feel like "art" because they get made while I talk to students and explain the process.

Working on a page spread that was prepainted with liquid acrylics and that had a foldout on the right hand side, I added some graph paper and paste paper scraps that I ripped and glued down with matte medium. I then used the background from a photocopied drawing that was an example from my drawing class. The background from the drawing was a solid mass of doodles and line pattern, so I cut it up into small rectangles and squares to glue down. I glued a few elements on the closed page too, even though it will be the next page and I will probably draw something different there, I felt like it should flow when the flap was shut.

The face drawing on the inside of the foldout is the subject matter of the drawing I copied and cut apart for the background designs. It just happened to fit well on the page, so I went with it. The image below is my first completed recycled art collage for the visual journal workshop. I think we are going to continue to work with the collage we create this week, so I intend to make at least one, hopefully two, more to work with, especially since this feels done to me now.

So far so good on my personal challenge to draw or create art of my own every day this year.

Inbound New Year

This coming year I am signed up to be involved in two different sketchbook/visual journal classes. Well, one is a series of classes being offered online by Strathmore and the other is the Sketchbook Challenge. Both should encourage my daily art journal and sketch practice as well as stretch my comfort zone by exploring new things.
For the Strathmore classes, they are recommending the use of their new line of visual journals, which is great, the paper is wonderful, and I love a wirebound journal. But the three sizes they come in stink; two sizes are small (for page size) and one is too big (to carry around). I had been given one of the Strathmore journals (5.5 x 8 - mixed media variety) as a member of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective. The journal closed:

I hadn't used the journal yet, mostly because the pages seemed too small after using a 9 x 9 square journal for the last year. Needless to say I spent yesterday altering said journal to make at least some of the page spreads larger. The journal below, showing it open to the first page, left regular size.

The following page spread, showing an added on accordion page (left) and its original sized neighbor (right).
First, I cut out about 1/3 of the pages. I did this carefully at the spiral binding with a small scissors, clipping next to the wire hole. Then, I measured in 1.5 cm from the bound edge (with the holes) and made a fold. Next, I used this fold like a flap to glue the pages back into the book as fold outs. This has created a book that has some small pages, some single foldouts, some double spread foldouts, and one accordion style fold out, all in a convenient to carry about size.

Finally, I prepainted the pages with liquid acrylic washes in green/blue/yellow. I have to say I am quite happy with the book now and looking forward to using it.

In addition to journaling, I am hoping to take a watercolor class at MCAD and just be generally more involved in my own art making in the coming year. I made the same commitment last year and I feel as though I was successful, but I am continuing to challenge myself artistically in the coming year.

Sketch Night at the Bell

Tonight was sea creature night at the Bell Museum sketch night. I honor of the sea theme I drew a shell. They had a wide variety of shells, coral, couple of things in jars, and turtle shells available for drawing subjects. But, what I really wanted to draw was the owl I had seen on my way in last month in one of the dioramas. So after greeting the ten or so people there last night, I went back to draw the owl that I had been thinking about since last month.

After working on the owl for about 45 minutes or an hour, I lost track of the time, the best part about drawing. I returned to the touch and see room at the Bell and drew the shell.
We really do have a great time drawing together on the sketch nights. Conversation last night ranged from spies to unorthodox funeral services. It is also always great fun to explore everyone's drawings and see the many different approaches and mediums used.
Next month's theme is birds and feathers on January 6, 2011 from 6:30-8:30. If you live in the Twin Cities and like to draw it is well worth the admission to the museum. Bring a sketchbook and I'll see you there.