Tiffany

Here is my third sculpture. Somehow they always look too stiff and angular, especially compared to such beautiful examples from others in the workshop.

The rib cage is not tilting and twisting the way I had intended. Try, try again. I'm becoming addicted to sculpting.

Quick Sketches

I have been really busy at work these past few weeks working late nights and weekends with little time for drawing or painting for myself. But I remembered some sketches from the Riley Street Art Store drawing workshop that I never posted. The model was the beautiful Kat Love. She has really long legs, as you can see by the sketches.

It's Showering Paper Flowers and Chinese Take Out

This week I don't have any paintings. I was busy preparing for a bridal shower in honor of my step sister, Kate, who is engaged to be married later this summer. The bridal shower brunch was at the Zuni Cafe.

The inspiration for the theme came from all of the Chinese take out I've been eating on Friday afternoons after late night dinners on Thursday after sculpting class. I found these cute patterns for Chinese take out boxes at the Paper Source. I filled each of them with chocolate snaps cut cut into hearts with a small cookie cutter. I also put two pink chocolate hearts in each box as a special treat.

The centerpieces were crafted from child sized collanders found at Sur La Table which were filled with paper flowers I made from kits purchased at the Paper Source. My good friend Elaine deserves at least half the credit for the shower. She helped me craft many of the flowers and put together the take out boxes! A HUGE help.

We all had such a wonderful time at the Zuni Cafe for Katie's bridal shower. Love is a reason to celebrate. How wonderful.

February Satsumas with Chestnut Branches

I deliberately arranged the objects in this painting at 90 degree angles, thinking it would emphasize the more fluid organic elements; the protea, the satsumas, writing on the vase, and the branches.

I enjoyed painting this. Being home sick from work the past few days, I set up this still life, listened to the soundtrack to "Coraline", and spent some quality time with my kitty, Maggie. Although my mood the past few days has been pretty blue, the solitude combined with intense concentration really balanced everything out.

The latest sculpture from the Thursday night workshop. The first thing I think when I look at this is that he doesn't seem like he is in motion. The model, Isaac, was posed with a rope in his left hand, pulling it from the base of the model stand. My sculpture doesn't really have a sense of that dynamic within the body. I also made him too lean in some areas which is why his legs appear a bit too long.

I think I will try to concentrate on a more gestural sense of the body rather than the anatomy next time. Whatever the result, I still totally enjoy sculpting. I just adore it. :)

In this quick little study, I was experimenting with soft edges, especially around the vase.

Once, long ago at the Palette and Chisel in Chicago, the historic art league where I used to paint, I heard Richard Schmid talk about how he likes to handle edges (contours around objects) in painting. He felt that both the eye and the camera see the picture plane and edges the same way - as only being able to focus on one spot at a time. Therefore to manipulate the viewer into resting on a center of interest, the artist should make that area the most detailed, most vibrant, with the hardest edges, and juxtapose it against softer areas within the image.

Lately I have been experimenting with this idea in my still lifes. The question for me lies rather in how much or how little. I think my natural painting style leans in the direction of the overall sharpness of the French naturalists, but I would like to pull away from that a bit. Or do I? I'm just not sure yet.

it is commonly possible to purchase gerbera daisies from a florist's shop while there are still fall leaves on the ground. Doesn't anyone remember the Winter Solstice anymore?

21st sketchcrawl Event

I had always heard about this world wide event that happens every three months called sketch crawl, but hadn't tried it. So, when my friend Jackson mentioned that he was going, I thought I'd check it out.

We tried to meet up in Golden Gate Park initially, but the parking was just too difficult. We ended up by the Palace of Fine Arts and then Chrissy Field. Earlier in the day, Jackson mentioned that Eric Tiemens uses a limited palette for his outdoor sketches, so I thought I'd give that a try. This was ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, paynes gray and white (pro white).

At the end, everyone sketching around the city met up at the DeYoung Museum Cafe and swapped sketchbooks. I met this really great artist who just started in vis dev at PDI four months ago, moving from Hamburg, Germany. Goro Fujita - check out his site! Nice work and nice guy!

Happy New Year!

I raced through this one because the light was changing very fast.

and here are some resolutions, at least the ones I'm willing to make public!

1. plein air painting every other weekend, more if possible
2. at least two "studio" paintings (still life) a month, more if possible
3. continue sculpting, just because :)))
4. continue sketchbook project with Cherylyn
5. take some classes at the Castle in the Air in Berkeley
6. jog lake merced at least four times a week
7. more yoga, meditation
8. more volunteer work

That schedule doesn't leave much time for a social life. But I feel happier now than I have in years because I am doing what I love. There is the buddhist saying "be what you practice". Maybe someone will love me for it someday, who knows. At the moment I am truly happy, and that's the best I can ask of the universe. It's a pretty fabulous way to start out the new year.

Sketchbook

a few recent pages from my sketchbook. I was hoping to either put a little gouache on top of these or paint them in photoshop, but the holidays are here and I think I might be too busy to go any further. I know from experience that I will most likely lose interest in about a day from now, so I will just call these done and move on to the next few entries!

Owl Sketches

20 minutes sketches

a few sundays ago from the bay area drawing marathon.

New Zen: Sculpting

Over the past few years, a friend's sculptures have really inspired me to try sculpting for myself. So when a spot opened up recently in his sculpting group, I jumped! Honestly, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

I am completely new to sculpting. So far I've found it to be challenging, but in a different way than I expected, which might be obvious to others, but came as a revelation to me. In painting, I have trained my mind to see the world in flat planes so I can then paint those onto a two dimensional surface. A lot of painting involves seeing shapes, values, and hue very, very literally. It seems that in sculpting, having a knowledge of anatomy and physics is pretty much required in order to create a proportional, accurate and yet graceful interpretation of the three dimensional form.

Overall, I think the study of each craft can definitely strengthen the other. I will always be a painter in my heart, but I also love sculpting - at least so far! :)

With all of that said, here is my first sculpture! This is as much as I was able to accomplish in six sessions. Funny, too - the models' name is Mabel, which is also the name of my grandmother Koop. It's not a name you hear very much anymore.

a day at the park with my friends, painting. this sketch was about an hour and half.

i'm working on a still life painting at home in my livingroom/studio. hopefully by the end of next weekend i'll be finished.

Oh, Those Puritans

Last week I illustrated several Puritan costumes for the Thanksgiving release of Pogo "Mini's" avatars on the website I work for, Pogo.com (a division of EA). So, like always, I dove into research. It is widely held that the Puritan clothing of the 17th century was nondescript, but I find it anything but. Would the clothing of Roger Conant, depicted in the statue below, be more powerful if it were something else? I seriously doubt it.

Can you imagine meeting this guy on a dark Salem street?

(from wikipedia)
Roger Conant (c. 1592 – 1679) was the leader of the company of fishermen who founded Salem, Massachusetts (then called Naumkeag) in 1626. He was later supplanted by the governor sent by the Massachusetts Bay Company, John Endicott. He nevertheless remained in high standing with the community, giving long service as a juror and member of the Board of Selectmen, with duties including the establishment of boundaries for new communities.

i did another variation on the hair theme last night. i was surprised that using green on the face seems to work, oddly enough. so today when i went out with my friend Elaine to get a manicure i thought i'd try green on my nails. green is the new transparent oxide red! :)

Here are a couple of small plein aire studies from recent weeks. I wish I had more, but I'm working a lot. It seems I only have time to sneak in personal work a few times a week, which is very distressing:

More sketchbook stuff

I love working on this collaborative sketchbook project with my friend Cheryln. My train of thought always takes me to unexpected places. The blue mushroom drawing led me to the bavarian hair portrait after I saw a photo of a "coral head" in my friend Rhode's incredible studio:

http://www.pablosinferno.com/blog/?p=256

sketchbook experiments

(left side: gouache on buff colored gesso. right side: paper, glue and glitter and a little gouache)

i am working on a sketchbook collaborative project with my friend Cheryln. She does four pages, then I do four, each sending the book back and forth. Here are two pages of the four I contributed a few weeks ago. I am finishing up the remaining two pages tonight.

Weedy Girl

i'm back on weedy sea dragons.

20 minute life sketches

The Bay Area Models Guild holds a marathon drawing session every quarter. I prefer the 20 minute sketch area. I like to block in the shadows and then draw lines on top to show the form. Overall, it's a great exercise in proportion and tonal study.