Minnesota State Fair Sketch-OUT (part three)

I know, I know, I have already talked about this sketching trip to the state fair, but I still have a couple of great sketches to show. One of a chicken, a rooster really, that started at the fair as a pen sketch like the rest of my work from that day and got altered later that evening at home by some paint.

I have had a hard time balancing sketching and painting in the field. I want to add color, I add color often when I sketch at home, but for some reason when I am out, especially somewhere busy, it just seems more streamlined to only use pen. I did not particularly like this sketch, before the paint. Chickens are never still, they bob and wiggle, and are just generally in motion and I found it hard to sketch them with any detail. When I was going through my sketches from the fair at home and talking with my husband about our respective days, I grabbed my watercolors and Niji brush and decided to experiment with remembered color. I have to say the chicken is now a bright patch in the middle of my fair drawings and I resolve to try and add more paint while sketching in the future.

The last sketches I have from that day are of our leader, Roz Stendahl. She has a bit of a personal challenge going on right now to infiltrate as many journals as possible in the next year. It is a contest as well, with the possibility of winning a beautiful journal made by Roz herself (follow the link in Roz's name for full contest details).

While we met at the end of the day Roz was talking to Tom, a new sketcher joining us, I was chatting with other fellow sketchers and I decided I had the perfect view to sketch Roz and join in on infiltration project fun. Of course when you sketch someone, they move sometimes and you cannot finish the sketch, as is the case with my first drawing. Roz turned to profile and never twisted back to the three-quarter view that I had started, oh well.

I did add a small profile sketch at the bottom, but I like the larger three-quarter view better.

That is my last fair sketch, I promise. But it was fun and I highly recommend getting out to sketch. You can check out other sketcher's work from our fair trip at Urban Sketchers Twin Cities and Roz Wound Up.

Make the pigs fly!

Just was just checking my blog list and reading some new posts and I run into Rice Freeman-Zachary's post today on creating your life. Not just any life, but you know the life you want, the life you live in your dreams. And no I am not talking about the one where you have all the money in the world, but the one where you create, live creatively, and have an all art lifestyle and are really happy. The one where you never care what someone else thinks of you.
I have to say I am getting better at embracing that life and living it, it makes me a happier me. But it is always good to have it affirmed and spread the word.

Happiness is a decision we make not an emotion we feel. Choose to be happy.

Minnesota State Fair Sketch-OUT (part two)

On Saturday I went sketching with the MCBA Visual Journaling Collective at the Minnesota State Fair. I have to say I had a great time. It was hot (a drawback, but it is summer) and crowded (to be expected really), but it was interesting and fun. I found that I focused on the animals at the fair for my drawing subjects, not that there was a shortage of people or great things to look at. I figured can draw people nearly anywhere, as well as great scenes, but livestock is not as easy to come by especially up-close, and the cows never ask you why you have made them look fat, or think you suck if you get their face a bit lopsided. Animals just seemed like the less stressful choice for drawing.

This was also my first "big" location to draw in public at and I was unprepared for becoming a part of the fair exhibit as I drew.

My first stop was to the horse barn, and I found that as I stood in the aisle drawing this percheron named Dream, I attracted a crowd of around ten people watching me draw the horse. I had not experienced this before and it was a little unnerving. I was actually grateful that I am a teacher and used to people watching me draw and asking questions, so I was able to continue my sketch without thinking about the people looking over my shoulder.

These horses were beautiful, and the owners were excited by my work, so I went back again later in the afternoon to draw more of them but I did not have much luck.

The photo of my sketchbook shows my attempts at further horse drawings that day. The front on horse face had potential to be a great drawing. The horse was staring me down as I drew, we were face to face and he was not moving anytime soon, or so I thought. A man walked up with his young son to show him the horse, and the little boy had a bag of corn chips. One sniff and my perfect model was at the other side of his stall hoping for a chip. Drawing over.

The next sketch the problem was all me, I started drawing too big. I love the back section of this horse resting in the stall, the sense of shifted weight, but then we move toward the spiral binding and I run out of room and try to compensate for the gap in the page and it is out of whack and over.

I decided at this point (there is one more but trust me its worse than these) that I was out of "horse juice" for the day and needed a break and some water.

I went in search of fellow sketchers thinking to check in early (we were meeting as a group again at 4 and it was about 20 after 3), talk about drawing as we wandered toward our meeting place across the fair from the barns. I found no one and after having some water and watching people I decided I could wander to the cows and look for someone there, or maybe draw one more sketch, although I was certain I was done for the day.

While in the barn I came one a row of cows resting that happened to have a bench across the aisle to sit on, so with little hope of success I pulled out my book for one more quick one before our meeting.

I am so happy that I decided to go look at cows and was really happy I did not let the fact that I was getting tired get in the way of me trying one more drawing, because I got this sketch of Lola from the bench in before my meeting. I also took a photo of this cow and the two others laying next to her that I am hoping to create a watercolor from later.

Just shows that pushing for just one sketch more pays off, sometimes.

Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out

On Saturday I went to the Minnesota State Fair to sketch with the MCBA Visual Journal Collective run by Roz Stendahl. There were about fifteen or so sketchers who joined the group for two meetings at one and four in the afternoon. In the mean time we were all at the Fair with the purpose of sketching, and boy are there things to sketch at the Fair - people, animals, exhibits, rides, and food.

Needless to say, I had a great time, met some new sketchers, and will make a full report in a couple of days. For now I have posted a sheep drawn while at the fair, a handful more sketches to follow in the next couple days.

Virtual Paintout - Prince Edward Island

Every month I start a Virtual Paintout submission, and for the last three months I have either not finished or in the case of last month, not submitted my work. Sometimes this happens because I am not thrilled with the location (Hawaii); other times I just get busy with other things and start but never finish (San Francisco); or finish and forget to submit (Hong Kong). This month the location is Prince Edward Island, Canada and I have found a couple of great locations that I want to paint so, this morning I was determined.

I made myself sit at the desk, in front of a view I liked and paint, with my sketchbook, just like I was there, except I got to do laundry while I worked. Guess what? I finished.

And working directly from the computer really helped. I usually print a picture and bring it to my studio, cut some nice paper, draw, paint - whatever - begin, but it gets lost in the shuffle and not completed. Or an image gets tucked into my sketchbook to draw from while at an appointment or something and forgotten about. Working right from the screen was immediate. I could pretend I was on location and just work. Granted, I was able to take a bit longer than I would have if I was standing in this field, and I did take breaks for laundry and lunch, but still the process was the same as if I was there.

This means I will do another view from this month's location. I even have a view picked out that will be great as a double spread across the spiral in my sketchbook.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective and an owl

On Monday night I attended the MCBA Visual Journal Collective meeting, with Roz Stendahl and 18 other members. We met at the Textile Center for a hands-on demonstration of fabric screen printing using an image from our sketchbook or journal. Karen Wallach, a collective member, gave the demonstration as she belongs/works for the Textile Center. The process itself used a ThermoFax to produce the screens. It was quite interesting and loads of fun.

We were asked to bring in a sketch or drawing to use, along with any fabric, paper, or clothing we wanted to print onto. Quite a few people, myself included, needed to redraw our image using black pen and white paper, as we were supposed to have a simple black and white image like you would carve a block print from. I brought a photocopy of a watercolor and ink owl from a graffiti project example I did during the school year. The original image:

So, before the start of the printing process I had to redraw the owl as a simple line drawing in my journal, which would then be made into a toner based copy to be used in the machine. Karen was the checker of images to be used (she wanted us to have success) and she was unsure of whether or not mine would show all the tiny line detail as a print, but I forged ahead anyway willing to take the risk.

The process itself involved taking our copy, matching it to a screen frame size, and cutting the correct amount of silk screen to fit the frame. Our image was then placed into a plastic carrier sleeve and sent through the ThermoFax machine. The heat from the machine "burns out" the toner ink from a gel on the back of the screen, creating tiny holes for the ink to be pushed through. We then took our screen and mounted it to the plastic frame and encased the entire frame and the edge of the screen in duct tape (have to love that stuff).

After our screen was made, we took it into the next room and printed from it. I have to say there is something very magical about using your image to create prints, it just makes me smile to see multiples that are all original. My image turned out great despite the potential for some of the fine line detail to be lost. My only problem came from not quite pulling the ink all the way down into the tail in every print.

Karen had muslin available for us to practice on and a range of fabric inks and acrylic paints to try. I stuck with black acrylic printing ink made for fabric. I printed a couple of practices on the muslin and two prints on some batik fabric I brought from home.

At that point I switched to paper and printed on two bags, the type that come from a wine bottle, all tall and skinny. I also had a pre-painted sheet of heavy watercolor paper, and a sheet of red print making paper that I tried as well.

By the end of the night I had printed on a variety of surfaces both fabric and paper and was quite pleased with the results, and especially pleased to be able to take home my screen to continue to print from.

I highly recommend giving the screen printing process a try. There are several resources for having your own images made into screens available online, just search ThermoFax printing, and I am sure you can find a spot near you that will make screens for a reasonable price. The Textile Center here in Minneapolis will make them in three sizes: 8x10, 5x7, 3x4 (roughly), for $12, $8.50, and $5.50 respectively.

Well, I am off to print my owl onto my apron.

A Sunday trip to the museum

My daughter had three friends spend the night on Saturday and they requested a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art on Sunday. We had a great time spending a couple of hours admiring the art. The friends had only ever been once before and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. They even volunteered to submit themselves to art experiments and adventures under my guidance here at the house. Which we were going to start that very afternoon with a paper marbling session, but I got a call from a painter friend who wondered if I would be her plein air partner for the afternoon, so the girls took a raincheck so I could go try my hand at open air painting (more on that later).

Rather than lug my sketchbook or a bag in the museum, I grabbed two sheets of 6x8 paper and folded them into my pocket which also contained a Sakura micron pen. That way when I wanted to sketch I could just whip out my mini supply kit and go for it. That is one advantage of going to a museum with 15 year olds, they can wander well ahead and no one gets lost or scared. I managed only three drawings in the museum, and when I got home I ripped the folded paper into tiny sheets each with its own drawing, and then I glued them into my journal and added frames. I like the results and I will go to the museum that way again. Always amazing how one drawing ends up "the warmup" and is not as accurate (horse in this case).

After returning I packed up my gear, really my bag full of paints and clips and a drawing board along with some paper, and went out to Excelsior to paint with my friend Pat, who is an amazing painter and my coworker. I have been wanting to do some plein air painting, it just seems to go along with the on location sketching that I have been doing. Pat has been raving about Golden Open acrylics all spring and how great they are to paint with, even though she is usually a watercolor painter. So I figured I would go paint, nervously, with Pat and try my sample kit of Open while I was at it.

All that being said I made a couple of mistakes/tactical errors that afternoon.

First - I have been using watercolor or liquid acrylics (also by Golden, they are simply the best) in my sketchbook and in my art for the last couple of years. Which means I have experience in these mediums and should have tried the new plein air part in a medium I was comfortable with rather than switch to something I was new to using.

Second - I chose to use Arches watercolor paper, because I love it and it works well for me when I use it to paint the way I normally paint. Let's just say I was frustrated from the beginning. The paint is different than I am used to, I like washy color and using layers of translucent paint which is a very different feel and process than the Open acrylics. The paint and the paper did not get along - at all. Watercolor paper absorbs paint and water, that is what makes it fabulous to paint on with wet watery paint. With thick, slow to dry paint being applied with lots of water, it also absorbs paint and water, but in a new and frustrating way.

Third - I froze, I thought too much, and I let my mind overtake the process. Rather than enjoy my day and just let go and try something new, I got in the way of myself. Which artists can do quite regularly.

So my first try at open air painting was frustrating and I hate the painting, which I abandoned in favor of my sketchbook, a pen, and watercolor.

All that being said, Pat told me she did the same thing earlier this summer, with the paper. She also told me it took her about a year to get the hang of the plein air thing. So I am not going to give up, I just need to try again, next Sunday with Pat. She said she would call me with a location.