SketchCrawl is almost here!!

Hi everyone- just a quick reminder that the crawl begins Saturday morning at Pioneer Park at 9AM (Main Street and Douglas in downtown Dunedin).

Did you check out the article that ran in the St. Pete Times this AM? (Thursday, June 19, page 2B in the Tampa Bay Section)

There is a full post about the crawl here.

See you Saturday!!!!

One last version of the portrait- embellished!

Added a few things to the previous drawing- ribbon, metallic foil flakes, Fount India ink (drawn with the dropper) and some acrylic (eyes and ear).

Another version of the portrait

Here is anther version I did of the portrait reference from this weekend's Weekend Drawing Event (WDE) on Wetcanvas.

This one is a modified blind contour drawing (didn't look at my drawing; only the reference, but did look down a few times to put my pen down in a specific spot on the paper). It's Zig Millenium pen , 08 width, on watercolor paper, painted with watercolors.

In case you'd like to see the reference photo, I'll post it here. The poor woman is not going to like what I did to her nose or ear, but hey- it's a blind contour!

It was a heck of a lot more fun to do this one than fight with the Inktense pencil!

Some new work -experiments from the last two weeks

After a long hiatus from Wetcanvas!, I decided to participate this weekend and last in the Weekly Drawing Event (or WDE as it is fondly referred to ) in the All Media Art Events forum there.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this weekly event, every weekend, a member of Wetcanvas! who frequents the All Media Art Events forum hosts, by posting up to 16 reference pictures usually around a theme, and folks from all over the world, who have all different skill levels, tackle these subjects in whatever medium they choose. The idea is to work on their piece for up to two hours and then post a picture at the two-hour point. Of course, additional time can be spent with updates to the post, but by requiring a picture at two hours, everyone gets an idea of what each of the participants can do in a limited time frame.



Last week, a challenge was offered up to make one of the reference pictures into an abstract. I posted a step-by-step work-in-progress about how I like to abstract things, and will post it again here since I am not sure that I can link to that thread and have non-members still be able to view it. The finished painting (acrylic on paper) is shown at the top of this post.

The original reference photo can be seen here, if you'd like to check it out. Basically, here is what I did in each of the steps:
1. A quick gesture drawing, getting the placement of the components to line up in better places.
2. A value drawing in pencil. I referred to the value drawing as much as I did to the reference photo as I painted.
3. A gesture/value underpainting
4. Color added in basic blocky shapes (a color underpainting)
5. The finished painting, with other colors layered and worked in over the base painting.

PORTRAIT- June 6 WDE:


This week, I tackled a new medium- Inktense pencils- and tried a portrait. I will cut and paste my post so you can hear about my struggles trying to get that medium to work with a portrait. I plan to do a few more takes on the portrait this weekend and will post here again if I do. In case you can get to the link without being a Wetcanvas member, here is my post there. In case it takes you nowhere, here is the copy and past of the post:

"Ay yi yi- did I have soooooo much trouble with this one!

First, a 3/4 view is always challenging, Second- she is a beautiful woman, and at some points in my drawing she was NOT beautiful, Third- I was battling the medium the whole way, which was the new Inktense pencil in black.

About the medium.... I think these Inktense pencils could be very cool for certain things, but IMO were not well suited for portraiture, and I will tell you why. When you add water to the drawing, the black that was created was very intense (duh- like the name I guess!!) and it dried quickly and was very hard to soften. I haven't read much about these, but I think that you can only dissolve them one time- after that, they are waterproof.

Perhaps when I have done 20 portraits in this medium (which will probably not happen!), I could get a better handle on that, but there was too much lack of control in the lights and darks to tackle a portrait, in my opinion.

What I found myself doing was drawing a lot of dry Inktense, as well as another black colored pencil (Polychromos) over the original Inktense (which had been wetted and then dried) to help even out tones and blend. I do like a looser style, but I think the good old WC pencils will still be my choice for a dry-to-wet drawing of a person. More options and control...

After, I also bumped up some of the highlights with a white pastel stick.

I think that is about it.

i like certain things about the drawing, but know that I didn't capture her likeness exactly. I elongated her face in my drawing by accident, made her eyes a little too large, and didn't get the nose and mouth quite right BUT, I do still like the spirit of the work, and was happy to give a new toy- the Intense pencil- a test drive. My attitude with portraits is- If you can't get the exact likeness, try not to overwork it and make the drawing "sing" with linework and values. On that note, I did my best, and that is all I can expect, so I am happy.

I will be using Inktense again, but think it is better suited for landscapes and still life subjects, personally.

Enough banter- Here is the portrait! I will mark this a s MI, because I would like to try something else and add it to the thread. The weekend is still young. Hurrah!!"

To see the reference photo for this portrait, click here.

If you haven't tried out the WDE's, join Wetcanvas! and get your feet wet this weekend. it is really fun!

Dunedin Sketchcrawl Event, Saturday, June 21st, 2008

We will be enjoying our first organized Sketchcrawl for the Pinellas County area on Saturday, June 21st in charming downtown Dunedin.

I'll give you the basics here, and if you'd like to explore the whole world of sketchcrawling, be sure to visit Sketchcrawl.com to learn more about the concept and the 19th Worldwide Sketchcrawl, which our event ties into.

What is a sketchcrawl?
It is a gathering of people who like to sketch, who get together for the day in a particular locale. Artists work however they like, either alone or in small groups, drawing whatever interests them. For the Dunedin Sketchcrawl, we will meet at 9:00 AM at the bandshell in Pioneer Park to get a map of the area with highlights of good sketching spots, and then we will have two opportunities to meet-up again for whoever would like to join us (Lunch at noon, afternoon snack/drink at 2:30 PM). Of course, everyone will pay for their own food and drinks.

Artists are welcome to come earlier or stay longer and can come and go as they please- there are really no rules. Whoever would like to meet-up for lunch or a drink can do so. It gives everyone an opportunity to meet each other and share drawings.

There are places both indoors and out to sketch, so you will not need to be out in the heat the whole time.



Here are some of the places of interest: (Click on the links for more photos of the area)
Our Meeting Place: Pioneer Park

Pictures of the Marina Area
First, there is a beautiful little park on the water, complete with a gazebo and view of the marina and its boats in the harbor. The park is a shady spot to sketch, and even in the hot months, a lovely breeze blows in from the Gulf. You can walk to the end of the pier and sketch there as well, where you will often see pelicans, egret and dolphins. If you are hankering for A/C, you can get something to drink inside Bon Appetit restaurant, adjacent to the pier.

People-watch along the Pinellas Trail

Here are some of the cute buildings and shops to sketch.

What should you bring?
Bring a sketchbook and any drawing or painting supplies you would like. Note: If you are planning to sketch indoors, please be respectful of the shop and restaurant owners, as they may not wish for you to have paints out in stores (even watercolors)- just ask first to be sure. Common sense prevails....


Other items to you may wish to bring:
A water bottle, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, a folding stool (ie. fishing/camp stool), and camera.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to call me (Lori 727- 365-5575) or contact me (via comment feature on this blog) about the event.

If you arrive after 9:00 AM the day of the event and would still like to meet up with the group for lunch or afternoon get-together, we will be having lunch at Casa Tina Restaurant at noon and meeting up again at 2:30 for a wrap-up drink at Kelly's.

I know this will be a fun and art-filled day, so bring your creativity and c'mon and join us!

Exciting News! My Studio is Ready for "Prime Time!"

Over the past several years, I have been lucky enough to utilize a room in my house for studio space, but until recently it was shared with a lot of other things (storage, filing for taxes, home files, etc.). I never truly had a full room devoted to creating art- UNTIL NOW!

This has not come all at once for sure. It has been a process that has been coming for almost a decade, and contains supplies that I have accumulated over the past twenty years or more, but about two or three months ago, my family and I decided to move the behemoth piece of furniture which housed my computer and all of our home files out of our eat-in kitchen area and add it to my studio.

It makes so much sense, because much of my graphic art and photography is tied to my computer use, and I also run a website about dogs and do all the graphics for that site as well. I need a quiet place to write for my site, and since I already had a space I was using (albeit badly) for my studio, combining all my "stuff" in one place was a good plan.

I used to have a smaller room on our first floor, but my husband convinced me to swap rooms with the one he was using for an office/guest bedroom.

We decided to sell the bed that was in the room, since I could use the space more efficiently on a daily basis, and we could figure out an air bed for the few times a year when we might have guests. I really pushed for getting rid of the bed, and fortunately, my husband agreed.

He wanted the first floor room I had been using for a studio, because he can see when UPS is coming to deliver packages for his business, and he can bring business associates more easily to that room if need be (a very rare necessity, but still valid), rather than traipse them through the house to the 2nd floor, where he previously had his office. Also, my studio is not always the neatest room in the house, so if I am in the middle of craziness, it doesn't have to be on view for the whole world to see.

I ended up with a larger, sunnier space AND a walk-in closet for storage! I lost a built in bookshelf, but with the computer armoire being added to the room, that helped me have book storage. I also converted two shelves in my closet for book and sketchpad storage. We moved the home files out of my studio and into his office, which made more sense all the way around, and now we are BOTH happy. YAY!

For additional storage, I keep paper stacked in sheets on the top of the armoire, which is a large, flat space, and have purchased eight flat plastic bins to store other necessities.

My husband built me my work table, an L-shaped wooden counter, with seating for three. It is a multi-purpose work area. I use it for watercolor painting, scrapbooking with my daughter, and even for making glass beads with a hothead torch setup, and other jewelry items.

My drawing/drafting table is on wheels, and my favorite place to draw.

For painting on boards and canvases, I utilize a very heavy-duty folding easel for my studio- the Mabef M-32. It is great, because I can fold it up and get it out of the way. I can also utilize it outdoors for sketching and painting on location. I really enjoy products that have multi-functionality.

Since I teach several classes every week, I have all my resources at my fingertips for lesson plan preparation- my computer, books, and art supplies. The only thing I don't have is a color copier, but Staples is just a few miles away, and so I usually stop in and and make the necessary handouts for my classes on my way to teach. I print out the originals from my printer, but find it is more economical to run copies elsewhere.

Here are some additional pictures of my studio. I hope you like looking at them. I always enjoy seeing other people's work spaces, and I feel very fortunate to have such a lovely, useful one myself now. I just finished it over the Memorial Day weekend, and got a new chair to replace my folding chair. Much better for the long hours at the computer when I am writing away!

Besides having some of my own artwork on the walls, I also have some of my daughter's art and sculpture from many different ages and stages (she is now eleven). There are a few important mementos of my childhood (a little Owl and Pussycat figurine set), as well as some things that were my mom's. Her name was Madonna, and she just passed away two years ago. It makes me feel good to have her monogram jewelry box, and a bronze tree that used to be in her room on display in my studio. The tree used to hold ceramic birds, none of which survived intact, but I have a seashell propped in its branches because she used to collect shells, and I also have the passkey hanging there that I used to use to enter the assisted living facility where she lived. Mom lost her memory, which slowly declined over the final ten years of her life, and I feel better having some things near me that keep my memories of her alive on a daily basis.

SDIM- Otis, our Pug

I just did a spread for my Gratitude sketch journal about the newest member of our family, adopted two days before Christmas 2007.

Otis, our pug, belonged to neighbors two doors down, but he walked into our garage just before my daughter's big Nutcracker ballet performance, and when we tried to return him we found out that his owners were moving and were looking for a home for him.

He is great in all ways except that he wasn't totally housebroken. He is 3-1/2, and set in his ways, so this has caused us much consternation, but we are getting there. He is used to having three long walks a day, and more if he doesn't go to the bathroom right away. This is nearly impossible for us, so trying to get him to jibe with the routines of our other two dogs has been the big goal.

Anyway, here is a sketch of Otis along with some of my journaling.... It is Conte' pencil (3B) and three shades of Conte' crayon from my portrait set in my hand.print sketch journal.