ARTING AROUND and Art club week 2

Week 2 of my art club endeavor has come and gone.  After meeting the one student who signed up for this 8 week session and accessing her skills, having a conversation with the parents to learn their expectations,  I decided that we needed to scrap all those cute Pinterest art projects I have saved and instead cover basics and techniques.

 I pulled out the drawing pencils (from Darrel Tanks 5 pencil method of drawing) and watched the hour long video twice where he demonstrates his amazing pencil technique in shading a simple sphere.  Actually, there is nothing simple about shading a sphere and I was challenged by the exercise. The patience and control of stroke that it takes to smoothly blend the graphite to give the appearance of roundness and dimension.  Not using blender sticks or tortillons; not even a little smudge with a finger tip allowed.  Just layers of small tapered strokes working around the circle.  Transition from the 4H to the 2H and then back to the 4H. Repeating the whole process with the HB, 2B and finally adding just the smallest area of 4B pencil to the darkest part of the crescent shape that is furthest from the light source.

That's right I spent several hours shading spheres, cones and cylinders so that I could then demonstrate with more confidence and draw along with my students.  It takes patience and discipline to slow down and not jump into the dark areas too soon.

I was told by a very accomplished artist friend of mine that I would learn so much more about my art by teaching others than I would every learn on my own.  That is so very true.  What a joy it is for me to be in a place in my life that I can now start to give and hopefully inspire others to create art.

So this morning as I sit here, drinking my 2nd cup of coffee and contemplating my week almost ended, I realize just how much art has become a major focus of my time.  I had the Boulder City event last weekend that was  so exciting and equally exhausting.  First Friday event last night that I put so much energy into.  A week of sketching as I worked on some Christmas designs and then preparing and teaching this young lady some techniques that hopefully will help her achieve her goal of acceptance into the art academy.

Yes, I'm feeling tired from my First Friday late night arting (Did I just create a new word? As tired as I feel today it surely has to be a verb!) but oh so blessed!

My Artistic Sabbatical Just Got A Bit Nutty

Today's sketching efforts turned out to be a little bit nutty.  Or should I say that my focus subject today was a couple of nut loving rodents.  As I mentioned in my previous blog post,  we have spent the past week camping high on a mountain in the Humboldt National Forest camping just about 5 miles outside of Ely, Nevada to escape the hecticness of Las Vegas and more importantly the extreme heat.  While it was warm, 90+ for a few hours in the afternoon each day it is nothing compared to the 115 degrees that is often the norm back home.  It is hard to be stay inspired when you're sweating buckets of bullets.  

It has been a glorious week of peace and solitude.  I'm calling it my artistic sabbatical.  My list of creative goals is pretty hefty, and even if I don't get them all accomplished, I feel that this time is going to be well spent.  

Practicing Feathers

Today I decided to practice drawing fur.  I have for my inspiration a very cute book I purchased a year or so ago by Jane Seabrook called "Furry Logic".  It's the cutest little book and her illustrations are amazing.  I love her treatment of fur and feathers.  So I'm trying to improve my own drawing techniques while looking at her lovely pictures.  I worked on feathers the other day so today it was fur.

I especially wanted to draw a grey squirrel because I was treated to a visit yesterday by a particularly large guy that decided to run through our camp.  One thing missing from this past week has been wildlife.  Oh there have been plenty of bugs in the week.  I have had my fill of that type of wildlife.  There was one little hummingbird that would whiz by occasionally but not much else.  I had really hoped to see an elk or at least a deer but that wasn't to be.  Yesterday morning, while drinking my coffee I was treated to a sighting of a grey squirrel.  I was thrilled because it has been actually several years since I have seen a squirrel. 

So here are my two sketches. I'm pretty happy at how they turned out.  I of course need a lot more practice before I'm in the league with Ms. Seabrook.   One sketch done in honor of our camp visitor is treated in a realistic style and the other is closer to the style in the "Furry Logic" and is more animated and fun.  Both started out to be just little studies but I feel that when I get home they may wind up being matted and make an appearance on my Etsy store. Of course I will use my scanner and not these blurry cell phone photos.

You can checkout more of my work on my Website or my Etsy Store.

IF YOU WANT TO LEARN TO PAINT BETTER...THEN TEACH!

I'm finding a great deal of satisfaction in sharing my art with a younger generation in the form of weekly lessons.  I'm always a little nervous before they come but once we get painting that hour just flies by.  Here is a little glimpse at my home studio and the space I have designated for students. I took this photo just last week of the brother and sister students that I have intently working on painting the details on their pink zinnias.  

I was once told by a veteran artist that you really learn a great deal about your own art work, style and technique when you take that step and begin teaching.  So not only are these kids learning from me, but they are teaching me and improving my skills at the same time.   A BONUS- Weekly lessons also keeps me motivated to keep my studio space clean and organized!  

My students painting chickadees and zinnias.

To check out more of my artwork, please visit my website at:  JulieTownsendStudio.com

Let Gravity Be Your Painting Friend

Last week I went to my painting lesson as usual.  I'm currently working on a winter scene that contains a number of bare trees.  I am actually painting from a reference photograph that taken by a fellow artists and Facebook friend, Clive Hughes.  I fell in love with the reflection and the bright sun rays and graciously he granted me permission to use his photo.

Reference Photo taken by Irish artist, Clive Hughes

I am in the place in my painting where I need to add the small fine branches for the background, so I grabbed the small script brush and started to paint away.  I had only made a few lines when I heard my painting instructor, Lily Adamczyk give a loud statement about the way I was holding my brush the wrong way.  My painting lessons are often a humbling learning process because it seems almost every lesson brings to light something that I am not doing correctly.

I was holding my brush more as you would a pen.  Far down on the handle near the bristles.  According to Lily, I need to hold my brushes more to the end of the handle so that I can allow for a more freedom of movement, letting the paint actually do the work.  The result will be a more natural looking branch because small branch detail should not be rigid or uniform.  Another helpful technique is to actually paint the small branches with the canvas turned upside down.  This allows gravity to actually assist you with the loose, free movement that you need to make realistic branches.

Current state of my WIP painting that I am doing from the above reference photo at my painting lesson

To reinforce what I have learned I had the perfect picture to come home and work on because there was actually painting a woodland snow scene full of bare trees that is a WIP on my easel.

A portion of my WIP painting that shows the lack of fine branch detail

Holding my brush the WRONG way!

Example of the correct way to hold the brush to get the loose fluid movement needed for the fine branch detail.  The canvas flipped upside down can also be a helpful technique.  This allows gravity to help your brush movement.

Additional small branches add to fill in the tree using the technique that Lily taught me