Footprints

 

Value Drawing-Martha Smith

As I  began my daily walks again I was challenged by snow.  I usually don't have much trouble walking in the snow, but the ice storm had crusted over the snow and made it hard to walk on.  Each step I made my weight broke through the ice crust.


On the sidewalks where others had walked, their footfall had made the walk uneven with snow and ice making it hard to walk without slipping or twisting my ankle!  When I finally made it to the path around the pond it was less traveled and not as hard to navigate.  I found that someone before me had left a nice set of footprints in the snow and that if I stepped in those I did not have to break the ice and do the work!  The stride was long, but doable.  So in someone else's tracks I found a safer, easier path to take.

Value painting-Nancy Lubis

 Do we do that with our creative path?  Do we find someone else's tracks an easier path to take?   Have we taken from a teacher we admire and tried to mimic their style instead of challenging ourselves to find our own?  Have we gotten into a "safe" way of doing our art?  Making art that "sells", or a way of doing things that is formulaic?  Are we looking for a short cut or easy way instead of doing the work of breaking through the ice ourselves?  Have we avoided the work it takes to learn the skill it takes to move our work forward? 



Value Sketch-Susan Smith



I asked this of myself as I walked around the pond.  The answer was yes and no.  I have done it the easy way and I have put in the work and forged my own path.  But the path of creativity never ends!  Which is the beauty and the joy of it.  There is no limit to creativity, no end to your journey.  So when you think you have found your place in it, move forward- don't stay there too long or you will quit growing.  While it is easier and more comfortable to stay where you are because life is good here and the unknown is a scary place, you will also never see what awaits around that curve in the path.  What's around that curve could be life changing! 



Value Sketch-
Myra Brenneman

This weeks sketchbook challenge I want you to see shapes by drawing big shapes first, medium shapes next and then small shapes.  Drawing the big shapes first helps us to place the large masses in the right places on the paper and gives us the big picture before spending time with smaller shapes and details.  Details are over rated anyway!

Happy creating!

Use It or Lose It




  
 I have not been for a walk in weeks since the arctic air moved down to Central Ohio and decided to stay!  It was either way too cold with single or very low double digit temps or it was icy and treacherous.  I will walk in the cold and the snow.  But you cant keep your footing on ice!  And I'd like to not break any bones!  So I figured I had a pass.  But my body didn't think so.  My dog's don't think so.  (they LIVE for their walks!)

The other day I took a walk.  That was not an easy walk.  It has snowed, melted, rained, iced, and snowed some more making it a little slick and hard to walk because I kept breaking through the ice under the snow.  I did get a work out!  And my body told me the next day it had been too long.  The muscles were sore and I was a little fatigued when I got home. 



drawing using observation from
the dot to line drawing!

 While I was out, I wondered how I could have gone so long without being outdoors.  I find peace when I'm out in the elements, what ever they may be.  Each season has a rhythm and beauty all its own and I find my balance when I am in touch with that.  It was lightly snowing and the dogs were running full tilt, slipping and falling and chasing each other and imaginary squirrels!  Not the first walk I've taken in the falling snow, but it was still magical.  The brambles that had obviously not seen the recent and brief sunshine were still encrusted with ice and sparkled like glass.  There were deer tracks and birds darting back and forth.  It was quiet and I thought of how removed I'd been from all of this beauty.

Which brings me to my thought for the week.  Walking is good for me.  I do it for my body and my soul.  Your art is good for you too!  We do it for many reasons, but it's good for your body and your soul!  Like my muscles the next day that reminded me I was out of shape in just a few short weeks, your art will suffer if you step away.  Am I saying you can never take a break?  No, I think we need breaks.  Sometimes to heal, or gain perspective.  Sometimes just to rest from a busy schedule.  But I am reminded that you do lose some of the ease of use you have built up using those skills repeatedly.  And you may lose some of the wonder at what you can do with a brush in your hand, or whatever your tools are. 



sketchbook work by
 Suzanne Camper

 Before I go on, I'd like to reflect a little on last weeks sketchbook challenge.  After image drawing.  What a pain!  I personally hate that exercise!  But I do it often to sharpen my observation skills.  While reading The Art Spirit by Robert Henri I ran across a quote that reaffirmed the concept.  "I have often thought of an art school where the model might hold the pose in one room and the work might be done in another.  The pupils would have their places in both rooms, one for observation and the other for work.  The pupil could return to the model for information. He could make any sketches he might desire to make-for information-but these drawings are not to be carried into the work room.  Into this room he carries only what he knows." !!! Exclamation mine! 


color study finding value in color-
Judy Richardson



In the spirit of use it or lose it, the sketching challenge is designed to keep you drawing in short bites for six weeks. This weeks focus is value drawing.  Four values.  Find the darkest value (cast shadow), and the lightest value (use the white of the paper), then find two values in the between the two.  Squint to remove color and too many values!  Remember value=form.  They don't need to take too much of your time.  Just try to do one daily.   I cant wait to see them!   

Whatever your creative outlet is, exercise those skills this week!  Now go create!

After Image Sketching

What a week.  If it's not the weather, it's the unexpected that squeezes in and takes over the time set aside for my art.  But keeping up with the sketchbook challenge, I have kept my sketchbook close by.  I don't need to pull out a bunch of supplies, I just need paper, a pencil and an eraser. 

No matter where I am or what I am doing there is five minutes, a napkin and a pen from my purse to draw a quick sketch!  One of my students is learning to draw because in retirement she will be able to draw with minimal supplies and maximum flexibility.  Basic supplies, basic skills!

This weeks sketchbook challenge is "after image" sketching.  Simply look at an object for 30 seconds, look away and sketch what you remember.  It's not as easy as it sounds!  This is a great exercise to teach you to look, really look, and remember details.  This teaches us how to decide and mentally record what details to include in a quick sketch.  When capturing a quick sketch I look for the main idea I want to convey.  It could be the way the person is leaning in to the other person at the table.  It could be the delicate nature of the spring blossoms.  I might love the lighting on the statue in the courtyard. I only have a few minutes to record the essence of what attracts me to scene before that light changes or that person moves.

It also shows you how much you really don't  normally record mentally.  The more you practice this exercise, the better your recall skills will become.  You will learn to decide quickly what is important to the sketch.  And since you can only sketch what you remember, your sketched will be brief and will include only what you can recall.  So for those of us for memory issues, lets hope this strengthens our recall skills!!  It couldn't hurt, eh?

Now, back to the sketchbook!

Oh, My, the Details

 student watercolor by Martha Smith



These are busy times for me. But it's good to be busy.  When I'm not, I do less.  I rationalize that I'm on vacation or hiatus.  But really, I get lazy and I take it easy when there are no deadlines or commitments. 

It's funny, because I didn't paint much at all for six weeks.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't idle. And it was always on my mind.  But it didn't use to be that way.  It almost haunts me now.  What's that about?

Now that there is less time, I seem to want to paint more.  Do I desire to do it because I have less time to devote to it?  I think my urge to create comes and goes.  But that doesn't mean my creativity comes and goes.  It needs the spark and sometimes all it takes is cleaning up the studio!  That simple act of being in the place where it all happens, reminds me of a painting I want to do.  Which leads me to just do a quick value sketch.  Which leads to a small color study.  And so it goes.  It's in me now.



student watercolor sketch by Lucy Kilbane



That's one reason I issued the sketch challenge.  I believe that your art and your creative energy gets into your soul.  Like any practiced skill, a sketch enables you to really look at something.  How often in the day do you really look at anything beyond a quick glance?  So by doing it daily, for weeks, I'm hoping to start a habit.  To make some addicts.  Yes, sketch addicts!  I want it to inhabit you and haunt you when you don't do it!

Recently I read something by Charles Reid that reminded me how much we miss and how childlike we become when we do our art.  It's because we are rediscovering the wonderment of a child in the world around us that we have seen so many times before but forget to look at closely anymore.  The colors and shapes.   The light and shadows.  The curve and line.  The details.  Oh my, the details.  To do your sketches, you must really look.  See what you've been missing?   

 If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.-- Dr. Seuss

Baby, it's COLD Outside! Stay Inside and Sketch!

Sitting here this morning the sun is brilliant as it reflects off the new snow!  My laptop weather bug reads 5 degrees!  That is cold.  I know that cloud cover is like a blanket that traps warm air to the earth.  So I guess the trade to see the sun in winter in the midwest is this arctic cold!? 
Life is like that.  There is always a trade, isn't there?  You give up one thing for something else.  So what will you give up for your art?
I ask that question because I think we all make decisions that take us places.  But do we do it with intention or trial and error?  With purpose or do we allow life to float us along on the tide? 
With the sketchbook challenge, I want to encourage you to make a decision to put art in your life daily.  It's a small step that does not require that great a sacrifice!  But you WILL see rewards.  And if you can learn to draw better, your art will improve as well.  I'm glad the importance of drawing was drilled into me in school.  It has served me well.  I believe it is foundational. 
As I said, the object is to learn to see better.  The sketch is secondary, really.  Seeing what is really there is what we miss so often.  This weeks suggestion is to do the "dot to line" drawing.  The above sketch is an example I did today in less than 5 minutes.  Basically making a small dot every time the object makes a direction change. It is really a form of countour drawing, where geometry is critical.  Draw a round apple with this method.  Lots of dots and small straight lines?  Make it fun and learn to see direction changes while you draw!
Today is worldwide Sketchcrawl day.  Visit the link: http://www.sketchcrawl.com/ to see the concept and the fun.  I will try to get a group together to do the next sketchcrawl-are you game??
Stay indoors and warm and SKETCH this week!