in the studio

This week was mostly spent on drawing, although I did manage to do one little #art365 landscape after a trip out to Wolf Lake in Chicago. Wolf Lake straddles the state line, and while I often drive by on the Indiana side, I'd never been over to the Illinois side. It was quite peaceful.

wolf lake from chicago, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7"
available for purchase here

I finished up four drawings: other people's kindnesses, maybe this, semantics, and silver lining. This is all the drawings I had started. I am loosely calling this series of drawings conversations in my head. Loosely meaning, it is subject to change slightly in wording but not in idea. I really feel like these pieces work in conjunction with my recent large scale paintings, stylistically. 

It would be great to be able to have several drawings up around a large studio where I could work on several in quicker succession. The drying time on washes does test my patience some days. I would like to do these drawings larger as well, but for now I am limited to materials on hand. Sewing paper together may be in order. I do believe there will be more of these drawings, but I have 3 medium-sized canvases which were given to me and they are going to make a new larger piece at 34" x 90". At least that is the plan for now. I want to go back to painting.

other people's kindnesses always catch me off guard. I never expect them.
other people's kindnesses, watercolor pencil, ink, conté on paper, 30" x 23"

maybe this was all in my head.
maybe this, watercolor pencil, ink on paper, 30" x 22"

finding the silver lining always makes me sound like a bitch.
silver lining, watercolor pencil, ink, conté on paper, 30" x 23"

semantics does not excuse your words.
semantics, watercolor pencil, ink, conté on paper, 30" x 22"

Just a reminder: the good karma giveaway deadline is Monday June 24th at 4pm and the postcard swap deadline is Friday July 5th. Be sure to sign up for these if you're interested!

post card swap!

Years and years and years ago, back when people still sent physical mail, I got this postcard. 

postcard labeled: photo from Portsmouth, NH

Fast forward to maybe 2 years ago, when I came across this again and I started thinking how awesome it was to get a handmade postcard and how nobody does this sort of thing. I thought about asking a few artists to swap with me, but I also thought I could easily get in over my head if I was personally swapping with each person. And I sorta just filed the idea away. Sometimes it would cross my mind, but I never really did anything with it.

So this is the plan: I'm looking for a group of artists willing to part with one of their creations in return for another artist's work. You will be randomly given another artist's name and address to send it to. 

This is not a partnership. You will get a piece from one artist and send yours to another. In this way you will connect with 2 different artists. By all means load your postcard up with all your contact info.

There is no cost, other than your supplies and the postage. I am in the US, but that doesn't mean everyone else is. You might have international postage. 

It's a postcard. It does not need an envelope. But: be thoughtful in your work. The USPS will surely handle it carefully, right? If you are using media that is not water safe or could smudge, maybe you put it in an envelope anyway. If you chance this, it will rain on the delivery day. Just because. The same with threads and wires. Will it get caught in the sorting machines? Use your discretion with this. Do I need to mention ink/paint should be dry? You want your work to show up in decent condition, and you want the piece you get to be in good shape. 

I am leaving the media open, but it must be handmade by you in someway. Photography/digital arts is okay as long as it's your original work. Prints/postcards that you've had made of your work are not acceptable. Don't send the postcard from your last show. You should be making something for this project.

Let me know that you want to be a part of this! If you can create a postcard you can be a part of the swap. Know some friends or other artists who might be interested? Pass this along and invite them! If you're in, send an email with your mailing address here. Sign up by July 5th. That's 2 weeks from when I posted this. I will get your artist address to you within a week (or two depending on the response) and your postcard needs to be postmarked by July 31st. Please be sure you follow through. It will suck to be the person who sent off a piece of artwork and didn't get one in return.

When your postcard is done, send a jpeg of it to the above email. I'll put together some follow up posts featuring your work. And if you post it online, tag me in it and I'll share it! Tag it with #postcardswap, and you'll be able to check out other artists' work as well!

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Ready? Sign up and start creating!

and now for some more good karma

Who doesn't need more good karma? I mean, seriously, if you feel like you could use some karmic interference, you need to earn it. You need to be grateful and thankful for good things in your life. I really believe appreciation is a key factor in this.

early summer prairie, acrylic on canvas, 4" x 4"

early summer prairie is the #art365 piece for 5.29.13. #art365 is my pledge/challenge to make art every day. I started January 1st and have made some art every day since then. Some days I do a lot and some days I do a little, but I haven't missed a day yet. I am posting #art365 on facebook, as well as  google+ twitter and pinterest. #art365 landscapes are also being posted to my website.

So here is the next good karma giveaway. This is for facebook because I already promised it for facebook. Sadly, there are too many hoops to jump through to have the giveaway on facebook. Happily, a large portion of the sales I've had this year have been through facebook! So, thanks, facebook likers! When I hit 200 likes, I will give away this painting to a random comment-er on this blog post.


Rules? 

1. You have to like my facebook page. You can do that here. 
2. You have to leave a comment on this blog post. Not on the link to wherever you may have seen it, but actually on this post.

That's it. The drawing will be one week after I hit 200. I will post an update edit when that happens, with a firm date for the deadline.

Deadline update: Today is 6.17.13 and I have just hit 200 likes, thanks to everyone who shared my page and invited friends. The deadline will be in one week: Monday 6.24.13 at 4pm Central time. Please be sure to comment on this post, not the link. Thanks!

in the studio

drawing! all drawing, all week!

I continued working on the drawings I started last week and started a few more. mediocrity and the difference between are finished, the rest are works in progress. Unfinished works all still have mask on them. This is particularly visible on semantics: the yellow drips are mask. I find that I can work on several drawings at the same time a lot easier than several paintings. Although my studio is now covered in drawings and I'm running out of room. :/

medicrity, watercolor pencil and ink on paper, 30" x 23"
let me tell you a fairy tale of mediocrity: this is as good as it's going to get.

the difference between, watercolor pencil, ink, conté on paper, 30" x 23"
how do you tell the difference between what you want and what you need?

maybe this, watercolor pencil and ink on paper, 30" x 22"
maybe this was all in my head

other people's kindnesses, watercolor pencil ink and conté on paper, 30" x 23"
other people's kindnesses always catch me off guard. I never expect them.

semantics, watercolor pencil, ink and conté on paper, 30" x 22"
semantics does not excuse your words.

silver lining, watercolor pencil, ink, conté on paper, 30" x 23"
finding the silver lining always makes me sound like a bitch.

in the studio

this week began with an #art365 landscape 

dappled, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7"

and then I started a whole new series of drawings. I started thinking about this while I was painting seneca. I just couldn't tackle it then because I had to finish work for the show. I imagined figurative abstracts, messy, with a lot of different media: ink, charcoal, conté, watercolor, pastel... I've started 3 pieces this week. All starting with watercolor pencil, then ink washes and some masked out text. silver lining also has additional conté and ink washes on it. And I feel like it is heading in the right direction.


let me tell you a fairy tale of mediocrity: this is as good as it's going to get. 

mediocrity, 30" x 23" work in progress

finding the silver lining always makes me sound like a bitch.

other people's kindnesses always catch me off guard. I never expect them.

other people's kindnesses, 30" x 23" work in progress

I'm still looking for a few more likes on my facebook page for the good karma giveaway. So if you're on facebook, I'd appreciate it if you clicked over and liked me!

On my to do list for next week is etsy. My work is for sale through my website, but I think the #art365 landscapes could use a wider audience. Have you shopped on etsy? Do you have a shop on etsy? If you have any feedback and/or suggestions about it, let me know!

get outdoors day!

No this isn't a plein aire post. I went today to see Melissa Washburn's IAC grant work show at the Dunes Learning Center. And while, I wasn't planning a blog post, I have been thinking I should start blogging about art events I go to, and other artists, and today I saw two and had a fun day. So here is the beginning of Other Artists Posts.

perch offset print by my kid

Melissa's show coincided with National Get Outdoors Day and there were all sorts of events planned. Melissa had a kids' art project featuring collaged birds. You can check out her website  here.

Melissa Washburn with some of the kids' bird collages.

Melissa Washburn orchard oriole, wip pic

Just outside was Bonnie Zimmer making art installations out of natural, recyclable, and found objects. I met Bonnie a few months ago at her show at IUN and quite liked her work, so when Melissa said she'd be there today, it was sort of a bonus. She had all sorts of materials available for the kids to use to create installations.

the beginning of my son's installation: tile, corks, rocks

his completed work, with Bonnie Zimmer

You can see more about Bonnie Zimmer's work in this clip from a previous show at SSC.

in the studio

Most of this week was spent on bad penny. A couple of days I only took detail shots. oops. I know it's a little bit like where's waldo trying to find the differences from one day to the next, but I assure you there was work done in between each of these shots. I think I am now done with this piece. I am going to leave it for now and live with it for a few days before I decide for sure, and then I'll sign it if it is staying like this.

I also got back to the #art365 landscapes. wetlands was inspired by a photo a friend posted to facebook and early summer prairie is the next good karma giveaway. You can find out how to win early summer prairie here.

early summer prairie, acrylic on canvas, 4" x 4"

waterways, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7"