Sketches

Monotype Madness!

Sometimes all it takes is a little motivation from a class.

I signed up to take a class in Monotype printmaking at the New Grounds Print Workshop and Gallery in Albuquerque, NM. If you have never been there, I highly recommend it. The workshop and gallery are in the same space, making it an interesting change from simply viewing finished and framed art in a normal gallery. Here you get to see the amazing process of printmaking by inky, cursing artists.

I was happy to have access to ink, brushes, brayers and press time, but the two hours allotted for the entire process just wasn't enough. Luckily, my instructor generously stayed an extra half-hour to help me finish.

The ship has several layers of ink. Some of these higher end inks have a translucent quality, so mixing inks on a pallet isn't necessary and often not recommended.

I created the palm tree in two runs on the press. I rolled on yellow ocre and subtracted and added ink with a brush. The second run was simply a bright yellow plate with a few fronds subtracted to get some of the highlights.

Now, off I go for a cherry blossom visit in Washington, D.C.!

Coming soon: How to make your own nifty-wifty travel art kit.

Change

A complete change of weather by a band of Yellow blowing through like a rain curtain made of frosted glass, blowing through an open weather door, letting in chilly air angering warm-blooded artists painting masterpiece after masterpiece. Disrupted papers flap their pages like an unrefined 'hello!' Distant mountains mellowed by frost, ruined by a lying barista for at least ten seconds until the next round of coffee is served. Boisterous name calling tempered by nervous new acquaintances: powered by the wind, propelled by the mind. Uniformly underutilized study-time; an active participation in the realm of Self-Help and the realization of the non-existence of the Dalai Lama. The clock continues to spin slowly out of control, counting numbers up to twelve until time is reset and I am wrong again. Saffron. Indiscriminate conversation: the giving and the taking in word-to-word combat. Listening then speaking until the hands spin and the time resets too many times to remember.

Painting water with water

Gouache and watercolor.

I seriously have a problem finishing with these two mediums. I always wonder, "is this unfinished? Is this my style?" I think back to some of my studio training where I was told over and over:

Never Outline. Ever.

So, for a very long time, I stopped outlining and my professors became happy at how much like them I had become. Now I am grateful for these lessons, I am able to render a drawing as well as the next artist.

However, somehow I never had lessons in watercolor, so my need to outline everything is unavoidable. Is this my style? Or is it just amateur? I will ponder this as I take my brush pen and outline some bricks.

Hiatus: Finding my way through writing

To Understand a Destination, Plot the
Point of Origin
In a Roadmap to a Specific Place
Triangulate
Using Specific Postitions with The Limited Compass
Within Specific Intervals of Time
Gridmarks Plotted, Timeline Measured-Proceed
Without Caution
An Objective, a distinguished Element
Counted, Rated, Measured
An Extension of Place, a Method of Knowing
Transmitted through Thought and Paper
Surveyed and Traced-Observed and Navigable
Deluded by Time

When the art doesn't happen: write

I am struggling with The Block these days. Specifically, the Money Block, which keeps me from pursuing any endeavor unless it is lucrative. Most people will say that things which keep us happy are not necessarily going to make money.
This is not true, according to Marsha Sinetar in her book To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love: The spiritual dimension of Entrepreneuring, a book that I am currently reading. I normally never go for the self-help type books, but somehow I was coerced into reading it. So far I am still on the chapter that waxes poetic about how awesome and helpful this book is. We shall see.
I am at a strange point in my career, do I become a teacher? Do I become an artist? Do I pick up my previous, vaguely art-related career where I left off? These are the questions I am asking myself as a stare into the corner of my life where beauty should be rearing it's lovely head in a frenzy of paint splatter. Hopefully I will call this period of my life a hiatus, and I will somehow pull through.

Closing in to the end

It is November 26th and my little challenge will be coming to a close. I haven't counted my images, but I'm afraid it may not be nearly as many as I have planned on. I will be posting the best-of here and probably set a slide show of everything to the side of the page.

Land Locked

Today I am feeling really rather land locked. Which stems from the fact that I am, indeed, trapped in the middle of the country. I have been photographing my art to post in my various web pages and I am finding that I hardly ever stray from my nautical theme.

So, my posting today is my little ship in a bottle, set in the dried-up desert landscape.

Day 3 - Already behind!

This little challenge is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated. Two drawings* per day just doesn't really fit in my tiny little skull. Yesterday I only managed to create one, so I am already behind. I will stick by it, though, and try to make three today. I will probably post them later this week in a group, posting them every day would be another setback.



*I use the term "drawing" very loosely. I plan to paint, collage, make prints - anything that is artwork, with the exception of sculpture and performance art (although the latter may change later this month).

National Novel Writing Month

I am not particularly loquacious. Unless I try very hard, my writing tends to be dry and often pretty green. However, I admire writers and am often jealous of their tools for inspiration. So, in the spirit of National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO), I am committing to two drawings/paintings per day, regardless of quality through November 30 for a total of 60 drawings.