Ballinglen Fast Sketches

Each morning, we would start with a timed warming up exercises on small substrates.  I taped arches oil paper with masking tape. I did these in about 40 minutes per group. Some were later tweaked the next day. I did the square set on paper that I brought from home. All done with oils and cold wax.

My intentions in this series was to explore larger shapes and line work with various techniques and materials: scratching, crayons, pencils, etc.

Day 1

6x9" each

Day 2

5.5x8"

Day 3

9.5x9.5"

Day 4

4x9" 8x9"

Day 5

6x9"

Real Estate & Sleep

 A new gadget 

Always looking

How many steps

How much sleep

Heart beat

Obsession! 

"In healthy adults, about 13 to 23 percent of your sleep is deep sleep. So if you sleep for 8 hours a night, that’s roughly 62 to 110 minutesTrusted Source of your sleep is deep sleep. So if you sleep for 8 hours a night, that’s roughly 62 to 110 minutes." Healthline.

What has that got to do with real estate? Nothing! Just been on my mind lately!

Also been thinking about real estate. Not the kind you buy, but the space you create on. Your substrate size. I would call myself a medium size painter. 5"x7" would probably be the smallest I would go. If I want smaller, say for cards, I have my trusty cutter. 

Last fall did an exercise on a full sheet of paper, roughly 27"x39" of a repetitive pattern with various pencils, graphite, charcoal, crayons, etc on newsprint. I chose the circle as my motif, loosely! Had it on my wall, mainly for inspiration, loved various sections. Masking tape isn't a good adhesive, and it kept falling off. Didn't want to chop it off, but I needed smaller real estate.

Then I viewed Helen Wells' video on one page sketchbook! 

Voila! 8 pages of smaller real estate, around 6.5"x10", that I can experiment with, fold in squares up, etc. In the photos you can see extra creases.

Full Sheet

Front

2-3

4-5

6-7

Back

Paper has tape stains, tears, etc, but I love it. Hope to start a new series of circle motifs . Click to enlarge files!

Trusted Source

 

Stream of Consciousness

  Creativity means thinking on your feet, making adjustments and sorties as you go along, advancing commitment as well as erasure. Unless you express your wishes, however modestly or timidly, you may never know your power. Your general overall theme may be audacious, even simply audacious, but it is the final, well-planned flourishes that will help your work to fly.  Robert Genn

 Sometimes I feel as if I am on some roller-coaster ride! Sometimes high and then very low, nothing in between. Although I made some starts, really haven't been able to push myself to move some further. I have even placed most face to the wall. Now really, Carol, what's the point! I wake up with lots of good intentions, but then find one and million things to do instead. 

I bought a new book to help me get over myself. The Artist's Journey: Bold Strokes To Spark Creativity. By Nancy Hillis. Her process is intuitive, much like John Fullerton. She talks a lot about "The stream of Consciousness, "  creating art in a state where you try to remove all traces of deliberate steering of the creative process.

Stage I

Stage II

Acrylic paint

Stage III

Added tone

At this stage I have removed the papers and see if there are some I want to move forward with.

 

Just Some more Intuitive Sketches

 

Have really lost track of what I have shown here. I have been publishing mostly on Instagram.  So here are a few since my last post " A Bit Fishy" 

I still have a lot to learn with these exercises. One, best to work on light paper. Tried a few with a brown paper and found it difficult to get what I wanted. Lots to learn about simplicity of shapes and colors. What to leave and what to take away. That's all part of the process. I love process! 

These are not in any special order!

Hey! Haven't you heard about Social Distancing! 

Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

 Watercolor + gouache

Chagall animal dreams!(I wish)

 Intuitive sketch 4"x 5" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

 Watercolor + gouache

Fall Melody 

Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

 Pen +Watercolor + gouache

Lots of Goodies

 Intuitive sketch 8"x 8" FSC Organic paper 350gm

 Pen, Watercolor, gouache, charcoal pencil, ink intense pencils

On Dark Paper

Hidden Cities WIP 

Intuitive sketch 8"x 8" FSC Organic paper 350gm 

Pen +Watercolor + gouache

Dark paper with clear gesso

Oranges and Lemons Abstract Still-life
Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

 Pen + Watercolor + Gouache

Silly Pooh! Christopher isn't under there!

 Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad

Pen + Watercolor + gouache

Watching Over You

 Intuitive sketch 5"x 7" Small Spiral Watercolor Pad 

Pen, Watercolor + gouache

Not going to bother you with all the thoughts running through my head. Difficult to get that awful critic out of my studio!

Six Word Stories

 Just read an interesting newsletter by Susan Flanagan describing this process. Can't find anything on her site/blog so can't show a link. She decided to use this formula to describe some of her recent paintings. What a fabulous idea... wonder how that will work on my abstracts? Shouldn' be hard to find 6 words!

Two Figures Standing. The open field.

7" x 5"  in watercolor pad

Intuitive Sketch 

Watercolor and Gouache

Getting Used to Small

 The day you stop doing the small things is the day you think you're above everybody else. Kevin Hart

 

I found this small sketch pad hidden on one of my shelves. Think it's A5 size with real heavy watercolor paper perfect for my small intuitive sketches. 10 more pages YAY! 

The Oracle

8" x 5"

Watercolor Pad

Abstract Landscape

8" x 5"

Watercolor Pad

Green Abyss

8" x 5"

Watercolor Pad

Lot's of Fruit

8" x 5"

Watercolor Pad

Some More Intuitive Sketches

 Learning is different. Learning is something we get to do, it’s a dance, an embrace, a chance to turn on some lights.

You don’t take a workshop. You are part of one. Seth Godin

 

From the one day online workshop with Stan Kurth

A bit late, but who's counting!

 

Hey! Have you seen Alice?

8" x 8"

FSC Organic paper 350gm

Let's Visit the Aquarium

8" x 8" FSC Organic paper 350gm

 

Learning to Cover Up

 

My goal is to surprise myself. (Peter William Brown)

I just love starts. They are the 3 Fs! Free Fast Fresh! But they are mostly NOT done. What to add and mostly what to hide, cover-up!

This was one of the sketches I did for Stan's Intuitive Sketch workshop. What a mess, but I liked it. Sometimes I just freeze with fear, not the best word! Today I took myself in hand. This one took 3 layers!

Love Having Tea with Friends

Final Cover-up

Intuitive sketch 8" x 8" FSC Organic paper 350gm

Ink Watercolor Gouache

Start

I liked the figures that started to show.

A Little Cover-Up

A Little More

Saturday

Posted Instagram
Now to blog
Feed cats
Pool
Bourakitos
Brunch at Yael's

My last post  Days Follow Days posted the WIP which I have maybe resolved or not! I feel it may need more simplification.  I have two new starts!

I wandered through this Hidden City

20" x 20"

Heavy FSC Organic Paper 350 gm

Start WIP

added some graphite lines

Start WIP

Palette Mono-print

Have since added buff titanium shapes

( new favorite color) 

from another palette

My starts sit on my table and sometimes I just turn them around, and add marks sort of on the go!

Days Follow Days

Days follow days
today is Thrusday how
do I know..
appointment for Lily 
at the eye vet clinic

My last post, Early Tuesday Morning, was actually on Monday. Who noticed, who cared? Days melt into days.... tomorrow is Friday.... Saturday Brunch at Yael. Special occasions, like weekly shopping, vet appointment, an occasional family gathering, break up the routine of chores, meals, Lily, the pool, and time for creativity and blogging. Lily's appointment has given me the time to do some blogging. Decided not to try to break up my morning into too many small bits.
Lately, when I finish a session of painting I use the leftover paint for a new start! Sometimes using the brayer and sometimes just mono-printing the paper palette or sometimes both.

New start

20" x 20"

Heavy Organic Paper

WIP  from start

20" x 20"

Heavy Organic Paper

New Start 

Finally got it up

Have done some editing but not just there yet.

Well 2 out of 3.. can't upload another image. Hope Blogger will get there site working! The new format has much to be worked on, so back to Legacy which today is also not so well. Maybe my connection.... will give them the benefit of the doubt!

Early Tuesday Morning

The blinding sun from my window
The cool air without AC
The sound of building site across the street
Boker boker tov!

This has been on my table since the middle of July.  Sometimes I would add a mark or two, turn it around but never really got to me. I seem to be great at making messes. Too much going on. I need to focus, clean up, simplify. I really love minimalistic art but it seems to avoid me.

I was really in a bad spot, my angry, frustrating really bad personality was taking hold. Sometimes she just overcomes me where I freeze.  But I also felt some compulsion to resolve the issue. That was my problem solver coming to the surface. Maybe this is a good mix.

New Vistas

20" x 20"

Acrylic and Mixed Media

350 gm organic paper

Note: Bought some new paper through the printer's where my daughter works. Light cream and dark brown. Seems this paper is made from organic material and is FSC ecological certified. It is quite strong 350 gm and has a slight texture. Haven't yet tried it with oils

See Saw Margery Daw

The work becomes important when the meanings contained are greater than what the artist had in mind when he or she created the work. Ambuity helps the work transcend itself. Audrey Flack Art  & Soul

That's the general feeling nowadays! Up and down. Media makes it more confusing! Trying to keep busy and not let my thoughts run away. This week flew!

One of the most difficult parts of creating for me is after the first starts is how to continue! Especially now with my new journey into more intuitive painting love just picking up the paint and following the prompts... and then I just freeze... total blackout!

Well took myself in hand! Added paint, oil pastels, even some white charcoal! Not the best of photos!

Dreaming of New Lands

Acrylic and Mixed Media

19.5" x 19.5"

Cartridge Paper

Brayed color start on cartridge paper

Acrylic 19.5" x 19.5"

After the prompts

The Underpants

Should I have just left well enough alone?

Art-itude

What's on my desk and easel. My bedside table is one great mess. pamphlets, Lily's medications, random writing tools, toilet paper (for tissues), tablet, remotes, clock, even my pot of cold wax medium. Everything and the kitchen sink.  Took a photo but ashamed to even post it. My desk is almost the same.... small table easel, wipes, real tissues palette, stapler, pens, earphones, mouse, you get the picture. On the small easel my latest work.

Joan gave us a new set of prompts she called Art-itude.  A way of maybe expressing what we all are going through. She first told us to write down words that describe our days, which of course I didn't do.... my ongoing battle for words that don't seem to come. Then a new list of prompts. In the end, she asks us to photograph our work and try to write about our work. Another word problem! But, today I decided to sit myself down and tackle this "word thing" obstacle.

I Will Follow My Dreams

Acrylics on cartridge paper 14" x 19.5" 

Some of the words Joan wrote helped me describe my work.... connection, expansiveness, pathways, strength, and new dreams.

The main yellow figure like shape is almost in the middle, dividing the work into two main sections, one lighter and one darker. The figure has a light echo in the lighter area and seems to be coming out of a circle with many circles of bubble-like shapes. These could be thoughts and feelings. She is rising to new heights strengthened by the black and white verticals. I feel there is a sense of survival to this figure that maybe a new strength! 

The composition has two main sections, dark and light, monochromatic, and with color. In the dark section is also divided into squarish sections opposite the lighter area that has a thin vertical rectangle and a rising subtle balloon shape  The balloon may symbolize rising hope!

A Syrian artist, Khaled Hussein, uses this symbol in his wonderful work describing the horrors his homeland is suffering. 

Finished my Man

Have finally finished my "man" portrait. Week nine with Muriel Stegers at PYHAS 2019. It sat at my table for a while waiting for the final part, facing the fear and going a bit abstract. I had some leftover acrylic paint from the portrait study I had started and took a wide 3" brush and just did whish wash over sections. Hey had to start somewhere! Then I added more scribbles and marks with my  Neocolor I crayons. Now that wasn't so hard!

This is one lesson I will do again! Maybe try with a reference!

Let's Go Out for a Beer!

11.6 x 16.5

Acrylic Paper 300 gm

Acrylics

WIP Here

It's So Sad to be Alone

Decided to post first thing and not to procrastinate. So far the sun is shining but it's cold and forecasts are for a stormy one day storm. That's all they talk about in the news, so today I will not be making my weekly visit to Neve Shalom. The grandkids will be staying with friends in Jerusalem in hopes that there will be snow.

These are the last of the group of figure studies. I will be continuing this series, prepared two formats.
Am busy with PYHAS with a new lesson every week, a few paintings for my family that I am struggling with, and other projects.

Sometimes a reference really catches you. You feel drawn into the story. That is what the reference did for me. I made 3 different versions. An elderly woman sitting alone in what seems a bare and cold room. A table and a radiator and not much more.

Feeling Lonely and Cold Like a Penny Waiting for Change

19.5 x 13.5 "

Gessoed paper with Acrylic Background

Charcoal and Wax Crayons

You come into the world alone and you go out of the world alone, yet it seems to me you are more alone while living than even going and coming. (Emily Carr)

13,5 x 19.5 "

Gessoed paper with Acrylic Background

Charcoal and Wax Crayons

Having a Hard Time

Portrait of a Lonely Woman

13,5 x 19.5 "

Gessoed paper with Acrylic Background

Charcoal and Wax Crayons

Sunning by the Window

Love doing figures trying to mesh them in the background to make them less of a "study" and more interesting. I find the process difficult mainly because although I tend to work spontaneously and fast when I stop the "block" sets in and it's hard to continue as it's usually a thought process rather than intuition. Something I will have to work on more.

Taking a Sunbath by the Window

20 x 13.75 "

Gessoed Paper with acrylic background

Charcoal and Crayons