O, H.....

If you know the response to O - H..., then you are a Buckeye; or may have faced one of our teams. We are playing for the national championship for college basketball (for those of you who might not be aware of that) tonight and tip off is any minute now, so this post will be short. Go Bucks!
(Obnoxious, isn't it?)

"Hall of Mirrors"

mixed media: watercolor pencils, colored pencil, pastel

10 x 14"

$75

E-mail if you are interested.

Out of Touch

I haven't posted until today due to something to do with a server. Being down. Did someone trip over a wire? Did a squirrel get into the works? Was an electric bill overlooked? Whatever the reason, ours was down for about 28 hours (horrors) and I felt isolated, cut off and unable to "get anything done"! However, here's what I did do:

- Began work on a new series of drawings I hope to show you soon.
- Watched a lot of basketball!
- Spent the afternoon with my oldest son and went to see a movie with him.
- Shopped at the book store (only place I like to shop anymore!)
- Read a book "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion. Great; I recommend it.

So, even though I was "down", I guess I wasn't "out". I could function quite well without my internet connection; I just couldn't tell you about it until now.

Today's work, "De Nova", is a done with colored pencil, acrylic, watercolor pencils and ink. This piece is a direct result of doing my abstract warm-ups; and is also quite inspired by the promise of spring. It measures 4 x 15" and is available; e-mail if you're interested.

Playing with My Pencils

My work using colored pencils is almost always very representational and realistic; it requires a great deal of control. Meticulous planning and preparation are necessary to achieve the results I hope to achieve: studies for composition, value and color studies. Making art for me is usually a step-by-step process to get to the goal.

Every once in a while, I need to work in a completely different way: looser, freer and with no goal in mind. Working this way is almost playful and relaxing; it's focus is on Process, not goal. If I happen to make something that pleases me, fine; if not, fine. It's just a way to push my pencils around in a very different way, to mix them with other media, and to "explore the edges" a bit.

I've also found that some of this looseness is crossing over into some of my other work. And that's a good thing. I, personally, want my art to be more expressive and emotional, and not always just a great rendering.

That being said, here's how I make my little abstract exercises:

1. I generally use, Arches 140 lb cold press watercolor paper, torn into random sizes. I have a drawer-full. This one measures 8 x 11". (Here's the only planning part): I decide on a limited pallete, sometimes using a color wheel; think about a mood or feeling I am trying to achieve and maybe a loose compositional idea (which can evolve later). I then lay down some color with watercolor pencils, Inktense pencils, or water soluble pastels.


2. I add the water and offer very little control. You can add drips, move the paper, allow things to really move around! This is the part I like best and what I can never do with my other work.


3. I then begin to add more color with Prismacolor pencils and ink with Micron pens. This is usually where the composition either begins to work or I realize I have something to tear up for a collage. But it doesn't matter, just keep playing.



4. Then I might (as I did this time) use odorless Turpenoid to "paint" the wax pencil into the piece.


I may keep working on this to just see where it leads me. Maybe I'll add liquid acrylic paint, guache, gesso, more colored pencil, metalic paint - who knows. I'll show you where it end up.

It's a lot of fun to use this technique as a warm-up in the morning. You can start several small abstracts at once, visit them as you wish, toss them in a drawer for later. These are also wonderful to do when you are "between projects" or stuck.

If you try this, remember to "take your hands off the wheel" a bit and push your boundaries. I took a wonderful workshop from Dyanne Locati last year where she told us "If you always do the same thing in the same way on the same paper, you will become very SKILLED. However, to become a CREATIVE artist, you have to put yourself into the work. Too much reliance on your skills alone can make a cold, formal piece of work". (Ouch. She was definitely talking to me.)

Have fun and let me know if you try this!

Tropical Daydream

After working so long and hard on "Teddy & Me" and "Aviators", which are both very realistic pieces, I needed to loosen up and "play" a bit.

I had one goal when I started: portray a warm, tropical feeling. No specific place or time; just the feeling. Today I was able to take a mental vacation from my larger drawings and from living in Ohio in March. Nice....

This was done with inktense pencils, watercolor pencils, ink and colored pencils on 140 lb., cold-pressed watercolor paper and measures 8 x 11".