I’m working on several things at once, but have to stop occasionally and get some drawing in. These were drawn (quickly, I might add) on a 3 X 5 sketch pad using a brown Sharpie. As you can see almost anything catches my attention when I’m in the mood. If you can’t identify the flowers, don’t worry. I took artist’s license to improvise as I went along. Hope you enjoy
Sorry the film is so faint. I should have stopped and made sure I had more light on the easel, but then there you are.
Tags: Animals, black & white, dog, Flowers, pen & ink, pets, Sketches
I’m in the middle of completely redoing my “studio” (2 small bedrooms) and have totally neglected my daily sketching! Can’t have that! So, here is this afternoon’s effort done on the usual 3 X 5 sketchpad in my lap.
I do have exciting news (for me, at least), and that is that on August 31st, I entered two digital submissions to a national competition being held by The Pastel Journal! Boy, did that take a lot of anxiety calories….I must have lost maybe a half pound…………..
Anyway, although I have entered three shows sponsored by my local Lakewood Artists Guild, this is the first national competition that I’ve entered (could you tell? Am I repeating myself?) However, since I had years of entering quilts back in the days when that was my artistic endeavor of choice, I know from experience that the next one will be so much easier. It’s always that first hurdle, right?
I don’t think they will be letting anyone know if they are even being considered until January. These national competitions attract thousands of entries and the staff has to first make sure that what you are submitting meets the technical criteria, and then there’s the first go-round to whittle the final judging down to a reasonable number.
So, I’m now preparing to enter some others that still have 2010 deadlines to take my mind off this one.
Oh, I think I didn’t say that I submitted the last pastel I finished “Coast Sentinels” and one done earlier titled “Birches”. Both are in the landscape category, so I’m competing against myself along with the hordes of others. Believe me, I’ll keep you posted when I hear anything!
Tags: black & white, Flowers, pen & ink, Sketches
Just a quick sketch in my 3X5 pad to keep things going. I think it’s going to be an busy year…..doesn’t that sound good?
Tags: black & white, Flowers, pen & ink, Sketches
Here’s another group of small drawings done on a 3X5 spiral pad of Canson with a Stylist ink pen. I keep dreaming about color pastel paintings, but I’m still having fun with these. I hope you enjoy them!
This is an oriental poppy called “Coral Sea”. Guess the color?
Boots of Flowers
I saw this done somewhere, turning old boots into vase holders. I love people with a sense of humor!
Poodle Doodle
I just thought he was cute. It’s probably a poodle mix since that’s the thing these days.
Tags: Animals, black & white, dogs, Flowers, pen & ink, pets, poppies, Sketches
It’s been a busy holiday season and I hope it was wonderful for you all. Presents and food and family ruled, but not necessarily in that order. It was out first Christmas with our new granddaughter, Zoe (7 months) and it was heavenly! BUT, I didn’t get much artwork done. Let’s see….turkey…..art…..turkey….art…..it was tough! The choice, not the turkey!
My New Year’s almost Resolution is to try to keep up the daily art, so I decided that if I couldn’t stop and paint, I could at least draw a little. I gave myself a Christmas present (well, one of them) of a 5 X 3 spiral sketch pad by Canson and a new Stylist Pen (one of my favorite drawing pens….like the flair). The pad and pen are below. The first 4 days of drawings follow.
By the way, I got this idea from my son, Thom Chiaramonte, who makes small sketches on post-its. I think they have helped him through many a conference call in S.F. His are all on the subject of robots (I think they are all that). You would enjoy his sketches and his sense of humor. His site for these drawings is: whatitoleyou.com. Have fun.
#1 Bouquet of strange flowers (1/1/10)
#2 Mountain Chickadee (1-2-10)
#3 I call him Pepe (1-3-10)
#4 Lillies
Tags: Animals, black & white, dogs, Flowers, pen & ink, pets, Sketches
This is a quick watercolor done this evening of a leaf collected while walking my dogs. Fall in L.A. is a strange affair. Hot temps and very few beautiful leaves. Most trees just go from green to brown and drop leaves when the wind blows. The image is 4 X 4 done with Winsor & Newton watercolors in my sketch book. Not really watercolor paper, but works ok.
And now for the challenge announcement:
I’ve decided to bite off probably more than I can chew, but I’m going to try. There is a movement going around in the art world about a comment that has been attributed to several people over the years, so who knows….that to really know a medium, one needs to complete 100 paintings in that medium. In last month’s issue of the Pastel Journal, artist, Maria Bagetta, wrote an article about her having achieved that goal. In order to make this workable, Maria confined her paper size to 10 X 10 and decided to restrict herself to 30 minutes on each painting.
The photo of the 100 paintings is amazing! Debrah Secor, a pastel artist and teacher in Albuquerque, N.M. challenged readers of the website, Wet Canvas, to do the same thing. She opened up the challenge to any medium, not just pastel, and each person could choose the size of painting and time limitation. She had a great response in October that has rolled over to November. There’s one member that has completed something like 70 so far and is expecting to complete the 100 this month.
So………….I decided to pick up the challange (there is no time limitation, of course and many may not finish, but so far they are having a great time of it. I will work in pastel, 5 X 7 size and 30 minute time limitation.
The following illustration is called a Notan. A Japanese word for simplified drawing of the values (dark, medium & light) of the proposed painting. Unfortunately, I skipped the medium value, but you’ll get the idea.
That’s as far as I got today. Let me know if anyone in Vegas makes book on my finishing!
Tags: black & white, Color, landscape, process study, Sketches, Watercolor
Well, it’s finally over, and worth every minute. We had an exceptional number of paintings and crafts entered and the quality just keeps getting better and better. I entered 2 pastels and 1 ink drawing. The ink drawing was chosen as an Honorable Mention in the “Other Media” category. I was so happy just win anything, but a drawing is really unusual. The biggest group, of course, is the large-size oil paintings, actually oil and acrylic are judged together…I don’t agree with that, but I didn’t have a say in the rules.. Interestingly, the judge is a very well-known watercolor artist and teacher and, strangely enough, we had fewer water colors than usual.
Below you will see me with my entries. I had one of our Guild members take the pictures and so I can’t take responsibility for the shots. It is a difficult room to get good pictures in, but I promise I didn’t have my eyes closed very long.
Aside from 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners (I won a blue ribbon at the spring show!!!), and the Honorable Mentions, we had a special Mayor’s award, a Best of Show Award and several awards from art materials companies. The mayor chose an oil self-portrait for his award and was there to present it. We all had a great time and are looking forward to the Spring Show for 2010!
Mendocino House – Ink Drawing – approx. 10 X 12 As you can see, this won an Honorable Mention.
Bad reflections in this room…maybe I was pretending they weren’t there. This is a pastel approx. 7 X 9. I used the mountains in this painting on my business card.
Even worse reflections here. The second pastel. 7 X 9. I especially liked the mats on this one. You can see the mountain better if you want to check out the older posts. I don’t think it’s too far back.
Thanks for looking. Jan
Tags: black & white, buildings, Color, landscape, pastel, pen & ink
Well, since this is a process blog, I decided to leave the last post with the weak picture of this house so you can compare it to a better photo. I also placed it in a wide maroon mat because I am going to frame and hang it here in the house. The proof is here. Outdoor light is the best.
Tags: black & white, buildings, landscape, pen & ink
This is an India Ink drawing done from a photo I took several years ago along the Central California coast. I was born in Iowa and raised outside of a small town in Oregon. There was something about this house that stirred childhood memories even though we didn’t live in any house that looked like this. I think it was just the aura that did it. Size is 8-1/2 X 11-1/2. I’m not sure why the photo faded out like that, the entire drawing should be as dark as the trees. Perhaps I can replace it with a properly lit photo.
Tags: black & white, buildings, landscape, pen & ink
This is my female Shih Tzu, Bishi. Earlier in this blog, I have a line drawing of Bishi and Pango (male). They are such gentle, loving dogs, I don’t know why I haven’t painted them more. They are gold and white, so the next painting will have to be in color. This is 4-1/2 X 6 in my sketchbook, using my usual flair with water wash.
This is the photo I used for the sketch. I see in the photo that her head was tilted more and I like that. I learn a lot from my rushing the drawings and making mistakes….or rather not making the best choices! Now, I’ll definitely mark the tilt before drawing next time.
Tags: Animals, black & white, dogs, pen & ink, pets, Sketches