February 27, 2019 February 28, 2019

Last fall I took a workshop from a wonderful artist named Sandy Maudlin. She is a painter that uses Yupo as her surface and she typically uses watercolor and acrylic paints in various ways and combinations. Her techniques are what you would call experimental. For her “tape batik” paintings she uses tape to mask her paper as she builds up several layers of color. Her focus is on value (range of light to dark) and she asks her students to start with no more than four values. The color builds up throughout the process and she may finish an acrylic painting with a final layer of watercolor (on Yupo you could not do the opposite!) to achieve the darkest values. The end result has a batik-like appearance.

She starts with a black and white enlargement of the photo you have taken and uses gray scale markers to adjust the image to make a good composition. Then the painting and masking begins…in this image you can see my painting before I applied the darkest values and removed the tape. Looks pretty shocking doesn’t it?

I chose to work with scenes that I had photographed at Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park. A de-commissioned Army base, the park is now a peaceful place and I walk there as often as possible. I painted a bridge that runs over a small creek and was not unhappy with the results. As I get older I am more tolerant with myself and value the learning as much as the result. Here is my final painting:

Bridge at Ft. Ben State Park

For more about Sandy look here.

For more about Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park look here.

For more about Yupo look here.

Advertisement

February 24, 2019 February 24, 2019

As I mentioned in my last post, this summer I visited the fascinating city of Oxford, England. It is full of ancient colleges, robed students, interesting architecture and one of the greatest university museums in England. I was able to spend almost an entire day in the Ashmolean Museum and was impressed with its wonderful collections. The focus is art and archeology. I even made time to do a little sketching. Off the main entrance is a wonderful sculpture court and I happily spent about 30 minutes sketching Clio, the muse of history. She was quite beautiful – even without her head! Here is the statue:

And here is the sketch:

For more information about the Ashmolean Museum look here. For more information about Clio look here.

February 17, 2019 February 17, 2019

I did a little sketching as I travelled around Great Britain last summer. I visited Oxford University twice. My first visit was with a guided tour out of London. We only had a couple of hours in Oxford as we also visited Windsor and Stonehenge. (It was a long day!) Luckily I had scheduled three nights in Oxford later in my trip. The architecture is quite wonderful and I particularly appreciated the Sheldonian  Theater. The Sheldonian Theatre was built from 1664 to 1669 after a design by Christopher Wren. The building is named after Gilbert Sheldon, chancellor of the University at the time and the project’s main financial backer. It is used for music concerts, lectures and University ceremonies.  Since 2015 it has also been used for drama until 2015. It is very important to the culture and history of Oxford. I did a sketch of part of the building. Below I have also included a photo I took during my first visit.

 

 

 

I think I should have erased the smudges before I took my photo!

February 14, 2019 February 14, 2019

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I sincerely hope that your life is as blessed with love as mine. Know that I send love to all my blogging friends.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day I want to post a notecard that I created yesterday. For the last few months I have been creating collaged bookmarks and I am very proud of them and think you will be surprised by them when I begin to post them in the next few days. But for now I am really pleased with this my first notecard. It is quite lovely and was inspired by the love and tenderness I felt when I saw the image. The color is actually richer and deeper than you see in the image. When I create my collages (I’ve done ATC collages for family members in the past. They are posted on this blog in the ATC category.) I use images from magazines, catalogs, advertising mailings, or calendars. When I assemble my collages I try to create something essentially different from the original.

I look at composition, color, texture and content. I chose a background that captures a feeling of starlight and moon glow and added the flowers to create softness and to add a little color. I wish you were with me. In person it looks lovely.  When I create my collages I think of them as original works of art and sign and date them. Enjoy on this special day!

February 11, 2019 February 11, 2019

Well we had two inches of snow yesterday but the temperature is rising and rain is due today. What erratic winter weather we are having. Keeps me inside drinking hot tea, reading and planning my next art project.

When I was in Europe this summer I bought a set of watercolor pencils in Edinburgh but I only did one small painting. I was in Paris at the end of my trip and was wandering around my neighborhood (close to the Sorbonne) taking photos. I stumbled on a small church named Eglise – St Medard. I went back to the apartment and painted this small painting in the sketchbook I bought at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. I didn’t have a brush so I had to paint with a Q-tip and my finger. The day was bright and sunny but the door was in a partially shaded nook where the sun was dancing through the leaves. It gave me a feeling of comfortable old age and nostalgia. I “cleaned the painting up” by using an ink pen to outline. All in all I enjoyed the challenge even if my door is a little crooked!

 

February 4, 2019 February 4, 2019

I love to draw. Every time I spend several months painting and then begin to sketch I remember how much I enjoy it. When I was in Europe I did not have time to do much drawing but while in Great Britain everything I did do was sketching or drawing. I did not take any materials to Europe but shortly after I arrived I bought 3 small (3″ X 4″) notebooks and two pencils at the British Library, two weeks later I bought a set of watercolor pencils when I was in Scotland (there was a lovely art supply store right across from my hotel!) and a month later I bought a larger sketchbook at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. That was it…easy to pack and light to carry.

This sketch was the first thing I completed. It is of the Medusa Head gracing the ceiling in the Sir John Soane House Museum. (to learn more click here ) He was an important architecture and collected ancient and modern architectural elements for display in his home. This Medusa uncharacteristically looks like a placid, young man with flowing locks rather than the fiery, angry women with snakes for hair. Why? No one knew! Do you have any idea?

 

 

February 1, 2019 February 1, 2019

How time flies! I cannot believe that it has been over a year since I posted. I am very unhappy with myself but have a good excuse for part of the time. I spent three months attending classes and traveling in Great Britain and France during 2018. And it took months to prepare for my trip so that’s my story. This was a special once-in-a-lifetime trip that was inspired by the six months my husband and I lived in Germany while I worked at Roche Diagnostics. It was also inspired by the loan of a book titled Without Reservations which is worth a read if you like unplanned adventures.

During my time in England I took two class at Cambridge University. Shakespeare in the Gardens was in full swing. Here are two small drawings I did of two of Shakespeare’s most fascinating characters – Shylock from the Merchant of Venice and Cymbelline from…drumroll…Cymbelline.

Cymbelline

Shylock

 

During my trip I carried my own luggage and made my own arrangements. I didn’t have much room for art materials so these were drawn in a small moleskin notebook that I bought at the British Library and with a No 2 pencil. I am glad to be sharing again and will post more from my trip later.