Red-Yellow-Blue Challenge

In my effort to get back to the basics, I decided it would be interesting to do this project. I have learned in my almost six years of being a self-taught artist, that too many self-taught artists have not taught themselves the basics. Maybe because the basics are boring and we want to hurry up and get to the good stuff. I know that was my excuse. I have also found many students in art programs in colleges who are not being taught the basics. They are told to just paint what you feel, to express yourself! The problem is, if we don't learn the basics our art will suffer for it. So, for the past couple of months I've been trying to teach myself the basics again, and this time, really spend some time and effort on it.

This is done on a 5" x 7" piece of Stonehenge. I wanted to try out some Dick Blick Artist Grade Studio Colored Pencils, so I used DB pencils: Pthalo Blue, Yellow, Carmine Red, and white for highlights. I ran out of Pthalo Blue and had to replace it with a Prisma Copenhagen Blue, which was about the same shade as the Pthalo, but the red, yellow and white remained DB. I only used the Prisma copenhagen for the snow, that's it. So, not much.

I left a lot of the white paper showing and some of the paper has very light layers of blue and red on it. In addition, I blended the colors with a bristle brush. Yes, it actually worked, although not nearly as well as on sanded paper or Pastelbord, but it worked okay.

The ref pic is by DaisyRee Bakker at WC (and at Flicker). The colors of this pic are a bit off, unfortunately. There's not as much red in real life. I think I'll try to scan it and see what happens. The background is not as red as this pic appears to be.

I learned a real lot doing the project and I'm glad I did it! I've even decided that I'm going to have my own students do this as well. I enjoyed it very much, especially having to really think about my color palette and how I was going to mix these three colors to get the colors I needed. I would change a few things in the composition were I to do it over again, but overall, I'm pretty satisfied with it.

I will try to post a better photo of this later.

Cowboy Sketch WIP

Here is an update on my cowboy sketch. It's a work-up for a huge cp painting. Getting a lot of details and values figured out before putting it on the board.

Lots more to do still. Got to work out a major flaw in the saddle as well fix the values in the flag. I hope to have another update at the end of this week.

Drawing From Life I

In keeping with my theme for back to the basics, I have been trying to draw from life as well as from ref pics. The gallery director asked me the other day if I wanted to start a drawing class or workshop at the gallery. I told her I would think about it and let her know. So, along with back to the basics I've been doing lately, I've decided it's time to get back to drawing from life and make sure my drawing skills (from life) are up to snuff! If I'm going to do this class, I want to do a lot of life drawing, so I'd better have my skills up to par.

In addition, I've been asked to do a colored pencil workshop by both people interested in taking the class as well as the gallery director. So, I'm thinking up a lesson plan for that as well.

Here is a quick little drawing today from life. It's a small pitcher I bought for still life set-ups. This pitcher has some strange ornamentation near the handle. It's a very small pitcher, and the ornamentation was hard to make out, especially in this lighting.

It's only a quick sketch to practice drawing. I apologize for the bad photo. The weather here is bad today and the sun has not even come out all day. Snow and rain. Love the snow, hate the rain! Yuck!

Lessons Learned This Week

This week I have been in the gallery everyday doing demos of my artwork. I started a new horse piece before going in on Monday and have been working on it all week. It's just like when I've done "Artist In Action" in the past at art stores. I just sit there and paint all day. When people come by, I greet them and explain my work. I explain my medium, my techniques, and have several completed pieces on display for them to see. The piece I have been working on all week is very close to being completed! During the course of the past five days, I have learned some important lessons:

1. Shutting yourself into your studio to work is a good idea .... initially, but........ it takes getting out into contact with other people, especially other artists, that will really motivate and inspire you. I have accomplished more this week, even while teaching others how I work and talking to many interested people (and potential clients) about my art. I had become lazy, unmotivated, and uninspired by staying at home working in my studio day after day. By getting out into the middle of the local art world, I was rejuvenated and my confidence was boosted. I had many inquiries about commissions, about selling the art pieces I had on display, and many, many compliments and a great deal of encouragement. Everyone needs encouragement and support. That is exactly what I have received this week. Not that I don't get that at home. This is different. It's by people I don't know and who have no reason to say something simply to please me. That is important and makes the compliment more effective.

2. Don't blow dust and pencil particles off your painting while chewing gum ........... you might get unexpected ...... and undesired ....... results.

3. Be prepared to market yourself at all times ..... even at the most unexpected or unplanned times. Unwittingly, I have been marketing myself all week ....... and I hope to be feeling the effects of that for some time to come. You just never know who you will run into while you are out there in the world working on your art - potential clients or people who know potential clients and will recommend you to them. I also ran out of business cards and desperately need to get more made ASAP!! Never run out of business cards!

4. Exposing your art to the public will give you name recognition in the future....... people will talk about that animal artist that was demoing her art at the gallery, you know Nancy Pingree Hoover ...... ! And if they forget my name, they now know where to go to get it, and my contact information.

None of this means you need to paint in public all the time. It simply means not to be afraid of getting out there and exposing yourself, and your art, to the world! I feel that I have completely changed many of the public's previous (and prejudiced) view of colored pencil artwork now that they have been able to see it done and had it explained to them by a colored pencil artist. I feel more confident in displaying my art locally. Chances are, it will be better understood than it has been in the past, and if someone makes a disparaging remark, I bet there will be someone nearby who can correct them now that they themselves are better educated about colored pencils.

By the way, goals one and two are now completed for this year! I am now established in an art gallery AND I have, as of tomorrow, completed one week of being the featured artist at the gallery! I am psyched and ready and rearing to go with completing a lot more artwork!!

What Are Your Goals for Your Art This Year?

No, I do not call them resolutions. They are goals. Goals that are thoughtfully pondered over and realistically set for both the short-term AND the long-term.

A short-term goal is one that should see completion within a relatively short period of time, such as six-months, one year all the way up to five years. Long term goals obviously then would be five years and beyond. Haven't you ever gone for a job interview and been asked, "Where do you see yourself in five years? ..... in ten years?" I always hated those questions, and usually the interviewers did not like my response (but that's a story for another day). The point is, if one is to succeed, one must first set realistic goals, otherwise one tends to succeed at nothing more than wandering aimlessly.

I find goals easier to manage when they are broken down into small chunks, much like a painting. In case you hadn't noticed, I like to work my paintings one section at a time rather than all over at once. I have to feel like I'm making progress or I get discouraged. When I work one section at a time I am constantly seeing progress. So it is with goals. I break them into smaller, more manageable pieces that can be completed in a short enough period of time that I can see and feel the progress I'm making.

Furthermore, it is important to write how you intend to accomplish your goals. Simply listing your goals is not enough. You need to have a plan of action other wise it becomes too easy to fall by the wayside and never achieve your goal.

Although it is putting yourself on the spot by making others privy to this information, it helps to let others know what your goals are. In this way friends and fellow artists can help you, and I, achieve our goals by occasionally nudging us in the right direction, or reminding us of a goal we may have forgotten about.

So I am taking my own advice and writing my goals for 2010 here. I will not be including what my plan of action is here. That is for you, and me, to do for ourselves, because a goal without a plan of action is probably a goal that will never be achieved.


Here is my list of goals for this next year, and included is the date when I would like to have that goal accomplished:

1. Get established in at least one gallery within the next eight weeks.
Goal = Feb. 28, 2010

2. Do store demos, an "Artist in Action" sort of thing.
Goal = March 2010.

3. Enter at least two national art competitions this year.
Goal for first entry = May 2010.

4. Enter at least two local and/or regional art competitions.
Goal = May 2010.

5. Write at least one tutorial for my website.
Goal = July 2010

6. Finish my Christian paintings!!!
Cowboys for Christ: Goal = September 2010.
Is Your Name In The Book: Goal = December 2010
The Great Compromiser/Deceiver: Goal = June 2011

7. Work on my art basics. Turn what I learn and what I work on into lessons that can perhaps help other artists as well.
Goal: Ongoing throughout the year.



Now what about all of you? What are your short-term goals for this next year? What would you like to accomplish in your artistic life?

I challenge you to think carefully about what you would like to accomplish this year and write out your goals, then write your plan of action to accomplish each and every goal. Make your goals known to others and take their reminders and inquiries throughout the year as encouragement rather than as nagging. You may just find yourself accomplishing more than you thought you would, and hopefully more than you have in other years.