On Top of the World

Thorong Phedi, Nepal, part of the Annapurna Circuit. My grandson Uri at the pass! 

Flying High On Top of the World

27 x 19.5"

Dark Blue Matte Board

Oils and Cold Wax

Collage

Finished piece.First draft. Added collage pieces and lots of scratch marks!  Enlarged the photo of Uri in black and white and sort of blended him in. Had to add a bits of the flags with collage pieces as well. 

Reference

Gift Buddha New Start

What a surprise was waiting for me on my table at workshop. One a big 7 x 11.5" handmade sketchbook from heavy watercolor paper, filled with owls and owls and more owls. The background for this was that last week I made a small one-page sketchbook that I learned from Kiala Givehand as part of the Sketchbook revival that I took part in. Sadly they have taken it down already. She also has a great number of youtube videos, but couldn't find the specific one she had on the revival session. I did find one similar but she doesn't show the hidden pages. Anywho I showed Traudi how to make it and she taught her granddaughter while making me the OWL book. Traudi also gave me another sketchbook like the one she previously gave me, she decided she wasn't going to use it and since mine is almost filled, it should be mine! Thank YOU Traudi, I so wish I could share some of her work but alas she hasn't a blog or Instagram etc. Maybe someday! And now you ask, why OWLS.
Well, we were discussing our project and I mentioned that I took an online quiz and OWL is my soul animal.

Cover

 1-2

3-4

5-6

Hidden Pages

lifting pages 1 -2

Full Spread

Back Cover

We all have some down days where our mind takes over with thoughts and we can't seem to get rid of them. With me, I take a nap which is like an escape sleep. After a shower decided to get it out on paper. In the sketchbook revival, I learned that scribbling and writing on the page has great power.

It really helped and this Buddha was the result! I also remembered the HUGE Buddha at the RISD Museum that I often visited. It was so calming and peaceful!

15 x 13"

Pencil HB on Light Sketchbook Page

 Well, hope you've come this far. This week at Workshop we had our guest mentor Ariel Asseo.

Since his specialty is in realistic figure painting I decided to do two figures. Not happy at all with this WIP. But in the spirit that I show what going on on my easel.  Have to fix the drawing mistakes particularly the left arm and decide on a color palette. It was the end of the session so I used oil sticks instead of getting out my paints. 

WIP

Charcoal  Oil Sticks 

Colored Matte Board

21.5 x 27.5

Hidden Blocks and Dolls II

Remember Hidden Blocks and Dolls?  Brought it to class today to tweak. Decided to listen to Reuven and not touch it.

Hiding Among the Blocks

19.5 x 16.5"

Cut Canvas taped to cardboard

Oils  Cold Wax

Collage

One of the best parts of our workshop is toward the end when Reuven walks us through the various works in progress. So much is learned during these sessions. One such lesson was to listen to him when he says to stop. He explained that sometimes we reach a point that we don't recognize or understand, we still feel is not complete. That is when we want to satisfy what WE feel and usually not in the interest of the painting. I am so glad that I didn't tweak my painting and started something new!

Recently I saw Jen Walls new cover image on FB at reminded me of the Annapurna Circuit that my daughter and family did last month. She said she worked from photos "inspired by photos from my brother-in-law's trips there". Decided to use one of my grandson at the same spot as my trigger. The Thorong La Pass, Thanks Jen for the inspiration. 

WIP

27 x 19.5"

Dark Blue Matte Board

Oils and Cold Wax

PS Have already scratched into this and pasted a collage piece!

I Am a Happy Camper

Time was well spent on the computer running my painting through some of the abstraction filters in Studio to help me "see" the whole image. Reuven gave me permission that every tool is Kosher so using a digital tool is just as legitimate as using a ruler of camera etc. That said I used the image I made but when I felt that I was using it more as a reference rather than a new direction I closed the tablet.

I felt I had a good day and I am a Happy Camper.

It Finally Came Out of the Wash

20 x 28 " cut canvas mounted on cardboard

oils  cold wax collage

Palette Knife

Workshop Hidden Blocks and Dolls

This was also one of what I called "my ruined paintings". Brought it to class and Reuven said I should make more of these "ruined paintings" Got an excellent critique, but I think I will add more tweaks, nothing drastic, just a little more oomph!

Start

19.5 x 16.5"

Cut Canvas taped to cardboard

Oils  Cold Wax

Collage

Veiled and Scraped back

19.5 x 16.5"

Cut Canvas taped to cardboard

Oils  Cold Wax

Collage

Put it through some filters in Studio to get some ideas. Funny how the camera sees more blues than there are!
I hope to occasionally post some sketchbook journal pages!

Brimming With Excitement

Have you heard about Sketchbook Revival? I got the link from artist Chris Lally Thanks so much, Chris! Well, I got hooked even though I am quite overwhelmed. Each day there are 2 artists with loads of tips and gifts, it's very hard to keep up and digest all the material. I signed up rather late so I have finished watching just day 5. Today was with Irish artist Amanda Grace and I instantly connected with her philosophy and technique, in short scribbles and chaos! I worked along with her as she demonstrated 3 journal pages. Never felt so FREE! Didn't care what came out! I just had to share!
They aren't really finished, who cares, I see now as I edited the photos that I can go back and tweak, Its just a sketchbook and only for me and you! No titles here.

Art Journal Page 1

8.75 x 12"

Canson Sketch Book 65lb

Mixed Media

About 3 layers of what Amanda calls "stream of consciousness" writing. Each with different drawing tools of various widths and strength. Veiled with either gesso or white paint, I used paint. Scribbles with watercolor crayons and puddled with water to drip. Added collage papers, figures, and just plain book pages. Scribbles around the figures. When pasting the figure collage it was face down on the wet so the face of the boy got a little paint. Those are what Amanda calls art making itself.

Art Journal Page 2

8.75 x 12"

Canson Sketch Book 65lb

Mixed Media

 This started out with heavy scribbling various colors and crayons. Veiled and then scratched writing!
I AM HERE! More watercolor crayons with water. Started some ballpoint marks which I do not like.
I will probably tweak this because I feel it lacks contrast,

Art Journal Page3

8.75 x 12"

Canson Sketch Book 65lb

Mixed Media

This one is my favorite. Amanda started hers on a page that already had scribbles so I made some light scribbles and then started with transparent collage pieces, cut up a print of one of my works. Book pages traced figure, which you can hardly make out. More watercolor crayon scribbles.  Have to take another photo because I veiled some of that heavy blue. 

Really had a ball today!

Trying to Get Good Thoughts

This past month has been a sort of whirlpool. My daughter Yael and family are off on what I call The Grand Trip. They decided to take a half year "time off"! So my thoughts are with them, and thanks to good WiFi we get daily updates.

Also taking care of their 2 house cats! Quite a balancing act with Lily my dog!

Not to talk about what's happening on our Southern border and Northern border. I really need just good thoughts!

Nepal Annapurna Circuit

Reminder about how small we are

Sunset in the Philippines

As for my artwork, well it's been dragging. Haven't really been able to give myself that big PUSH.

I had started a few canvases a few weeks ago and wanted to work on them at home but just didn't get to them except to veil them with a light color. Wanted to make a new start on them and then felt that I completely ruined them. On one I did make a few marks which made it worse. I could give lessons on how to ruin paintings.

WIP

Start 

After this start, I veiled with a very light yellow and white. Made some marks, mainly dark. Forgeot  to take a photo before work yesterday!

WIP

20 x 28 " cut canvas mounted on cardboard

oils  cold wax collage

How I got here I have no idea. Covered it with black, not really black but a mix. Scraping and adding. Collage pieces. Think I will run some filters in Topaz Studio to see a new direction. I like their abstraction filter to simplify shapes. Their conceptual filter sometimes adds a punch of some color outside the range. Have to find a better solution for the righthand side. That was thin nylon with some blue scribbles. and it's peeling off. Critique and suggestions welcome!