Lollipop sunflowers and another landscape

Last week marked my final acrylic painting class with a local artist. This Friday I start with a new instructor and a new approach. We'll see how that goes.  I'm not sure I'm really cut out to be a painter, but hey, I'll give it one more try.

For my last assignment, I tried to recreate some of the sunflowers I saw in a field by my home. Hmmm, looked a little bit like the lollipop flowers little children draw. I wish I'd made the stems bend and given it more of a sense of movement. The perspective is skewed in the foreground. I did like my sky and all the shades of green I managed to introduce in my foliage.

We spent about an hour in class doing a quick landscape. I liked this one, despite it's unfinished look.  The sunflowers were painted on canvas. This is just a piece of poster board and eventually I may cut it up and make cards from the bits and pieces. Sorry about the flash bloom in the center. When I turned off my flash, it was too blurry.

Chatting with my inner critic

I had a great time visiting a local art gallery with a friend on Friday. We spent two hours visiting the studios, discussing the art, and catching up on life. Visits to art galleries inspire and humble me in equal measure. I love seeing what other artists are doing, admiring their work, and trying to figure out their techniques.

Some pieces blow me away with their simplicity (I love the graphic impact of linocuts and block prints) and others with their complexity. Colors, subjects, media, execution, perspective, craftmanship, texture, vision, style--so much to consider and admire.

Then I come home to my studio, look at my current projects, and sigh. My colors are too pure, or they're overmixed and muddy. The composition falls flat or doesn't have energy or unity. The transition between the background and the foreground isn't smooth. The flowers look like they're sitting on the surface and not occupying the field I painted them into. Aaugh!

I get frustrated. Art does not come easily to me, and I have to push myself. Sometimes I think I need more instruction on techniques and materials, but I also know there is no substitute for hard work, experimentation, and practice, practice, practice. My bad art is the price I have to pay to get to good art.

I can let my inner critic pull me down, or I can let it push me to work harder and to keep trying. The good thing about painting is that I don't have to live with my mistakes. A jar of gesso and a big brush are all I need to make them disappear and to start over.

This week's projects:

What I like: the side of the road, the mailboxes, and parts of the sky. What I don't like: the "puddles" of flowers, the unnatural shade of green, the way the land rolls. I did a watercolor of this scene too and it was a mess. I cut it up into pieces and plan to use the good parts on cards.  Next one:

This one was an experiment in painting using only two pigments--unbleached titanium and burnt sienna. It's OK. Not a fan of the reddish brown colors, but I like the tree foliage. My light source at the end of the trail is a muddle, but I like the edges of my path, especially the shadows on the left side.

Now that they've been done and critiqued, I can gesso over them and try, try again. Stay tuned. 

Labor Day weekend in the studio

I reserved space at a fall market in the city park, and my friend Lisa and I are going to sell our creative wares. Lisa makes jewelry, and I'll be selling cards. The market is less than a month away, and I'v been busy with my professional writing (www.VeronicaDeschambault.com) and wrapping up the summer with my kids. When I can, I've been slipping into the studio to make cards, usually on the weekends when the Man is around to keep the Charming Offspring engaged in life.

When I escape into the studio, I never know what I'll produce. I've been focusing on making cards with my own hand-painted backgrounds, and much time is spent hunched over the maple work table either 1) trying to choose paint colors and techniques to use, or 2) staring at background papers trying to envision the cards they could become, or 3) Wondering which efforts should be abandoned to the recycling bin.

What media is best? What color cardstocks and paper to use? What mood to convey? What image to make the focal point? Portrait or landscape? And then once decisions are made, there's the crafting of the card itself with glues, pencils, pens, ink, stamps, heat guns, etc. The debate over whether adding one more element will perfect or ruin what I have, and finally, a setting aside of the finished product.

By now it should be clear that making cards is a labor of love because it takes me forever, and whatever I make from their sale will be scant compensation for my time. Still, it's a good process. Sometimes the finished products thrill me, often I'm ambivalent, and occasionally I think, "Oops, missed the mark on that one."

Arts and crafts continues to be a journey for me, a learning experience, a commitment to stepping outside of my comfort zone. I tell myself the more I flex my creative muscles, the stronger my work will become.

No matter what form it takes, there will be people who like it, those who are indifferent to it, and those who find it cringe-worthy. That's life.

Here are a few recent creations:

It's not visible on the scan, but the darker leaves on the background are done in metallic copper and the main leaf has gold highlights.This is one I like *most* of the time.  : )

  This one took some work to get the composition right. The colors are softer than they appear on the scan. There are things I would change, but I won't tell you what they are.  : ) 

This one is complete departure for me in terms of colors and style. Maybe it could be a Chinese New Year card?

Here is one I'm ambivalent about, but I like that it's a different style than many of my other cards.

This looks like it could be an art journal piece, or a card you send you a loved one after spending a weekend together. 

The colors in this one thrill me. They are softer than the scan indicates, and there's a sweetness here. I'm normally not about "sweet," but I love the tender feeling this combination gives me.

I've saved my favorite one for last. I'm not sure I can sell this one! So serene.

If you like looking at cards, check out my Gallery. There are more there.

Celebrate!

Another card made with hand-painted background paper. I love how this paper came out, but I can't remember the steps it took to create it. It's the perfect centerpiece for a fun and happy occasion card. "Celebrate" is embossed on white cardstock. I stippled some red ink on the stock and hand drew the swirls with a gold Gelly Rol pen. The stars are punched from cardstock.

Colorful flight

This card flew into my imagination as I was considering how I wanted to use the brightly colored background paper I'd painted in a series of sessions in my studio.  This bird stamp, part of the Carte Postale set from Stampin' Up, is one of my absolute favorites