Christmas in July

We have been traveling quite a bit this summer.  For the last three months we have gone to Texas three times.  I am from Texas so these were all family trips.  After the third time, I told my family we were done for awhile.  Now I can sit and enjoy summer here in Kansas with my family.  Now that it is July, the weather outside can be described as close to the temperature of hell.  So, spending summer time with family has been restricted to indoor activities until that wonderful Kansas Fall arrives.

Since most places like to have a sale for Christmas in July, I thought I would partake as well.  I need to make room in my house and in my Etsy shop for new artwork so time to slash prices and move some product.  Please visit my shop HERE to see the discounted items**.  If you know me personally, you can always contact me and I can wave the shipping fee and just hand deliver the artwork.  I hope everyone is staying cool this summer!

**Please note, all items have been discounted 25% except photograph prints.  Some items have been discounted before and the original price before any discounts have been made can be found in the description below the item.

Art or Science

I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July!



My husband likes to share new and different YouTube videos with me.  Whether I like them or not, I watch them, especially when it's a silly song that will be stuck in my head forever. Last week he showed me Ant Hill casting with molten Aluminum.  This video is fascinating but brings up the debate whether this is actually art or science.



My personal opinion is that this is science.  Just because you use an expensive material and mount the finished work and find it in a museum, does not make it art.  Art to me is something that you created with your hands and with your imagination.  This is taking something that is already made and using it for your own enjoyment.  I am not saying that these Ant Hill casts are not cool, because they are.  But, this practice is a great way to study and learn about Ants and their home.  I find this so interesting and hope they use this method in scientific studies of Ants and their way of living.



So, what do you think?  Is this art or science?

Middle Ground

I hope everyone is having a great summer.  Sadly, it is almost halfway over.  School will start and the pools will close.  At least the benefits to it all is cooler weather.  

I started working on the second layer to my painting, the middle ground.  Most paintings consist of three layers; background, middle ground, and finally, the foreground.  Luckily, I did not need to go back into my background to fix my middle ground work.  

I am not too happy with what I painted but, luckily, paintings are made of paint and paint can be layered and covered up.  Being able to edit yourself is a wonderful thing in painting.  Here is what I have done so far and will keep you updated as often as I have a moment to write my blog.  

I hope everyone is having a good summer and have been finding some time to create art.  So remember, to be the best artist you can be!

Layering

Hello readers!  I know I have been away for quite some time but summer really does keep this girl busy.  In our house, summer is the busiest time of the year.  We have graduations, travel, classes, and fun that keep us busy.  I hope you are having a great summer and staying busy in all the good kind of ways.

As I talked about previously, I have been planning on working on some new paintings.  My goal is to walk you through that process to help you understand how I work and maybe help you organize your thoughts as well.  I talked to you about sketching and researching and planning.  Well, once that all is done and ready to start, how do you start your painting?  With this particular painting, I plan on layering.

What I mean by layering is working on one part of the painting at a time.  For example, I will do the background first, next the middle ground, and finally the foreground.  I layer my painting from bottom to top.  What is great about painting that drawing can not always provide is correction.  If I mess up on my middle ground and ruin my already done background, I can take my paint and fix it.  Paint is a very forgiving medium to work with.  If you have watched any of my painting videos you will know this process of layering is not one I used while creating my "Orange" painting.  I painted as if the painting was all one layer because I was using texture that I did not want throughout my whole painting.  Working as if you are on one layer is what most water-colorist do as well.  Watercolor is not as forgiving as acrylic or oil paint is.  Once you make a mistake, their is no going back, you can not cover it up.  That is a lot of the reason I do not like watercolor.  I like having that option of correction.  I hope you are enjoying creating some artwork and finding more time then I have been this summer to create.  Here is the background of my painting and hopefully, I can get the next layer done soon.

As always, I am here to help you be the best artist you can be!!

(My prayers are going out to the families of those lost in Orlando this past weekend)

Recycling an Old Post

I wanted to share an old blog post I wrote nearly a year ago that you might enjoy again.  Go ahead and check it out!

CLICK HERE


I hope everyone is having a good day and week!!! Take care!

Sketch a Little, Think a Little

What a time this has been!  When the weather is this nice, good times are to be had!  We enjoyed a festival this weekend and a bunch of outside time.  Just before I put my son down for a nap we played in the water outside.  He has a little squirt bottle he enjoyed chasing me around with while he squirted water at me.  I hope you are enjoying your time with family and friends!  Also, happy belated Mother's Day!  It rained here so we didn't get to do what my husband wanted but I still didn't have to cook or clean all day!  Now that was nice!  I can not wait to see what he has in store for me now that it is nice out.

To continue on from last week's post about research, I hope you are sketching away on your ideas.  I worked a little today before my son starting chasing me around.  Here is an example of how I work:

This sketch isn't complete but a good start to what I am working on.  I think I want to do a mini series of butterflies but monochromatic in theme.  When I was talking about research I meant learn about the subject you plan to draw or paint.  I spent some time learning about butterflies and now I am sketching them.  The hard part about butterflies is that they are symmetrical which makes painting them with their wings open hard.  I might throw in a few closed wings to make that process simpler.  Notice the notes I take along with the sketch.  It helps remind myself of the thinking process I have as I sketch and brainstorm my finished product.  Problem solving through a painting starts at the very beginning and goes all the way to the very end.  Just watch some of my painting videos and you will see....I still kept working through problems.  

I hope you are enjoying working through your projects and having fun with this weather.  Remember to be the best artist you can be!

Research

I love this weather but the down side to it is having my car windows open.  It doesn't make sense does it?  Let me explain.  Right about lunch time I found myself driving around town with my windows open.  I passed a restaurant and BAM!  I smelled the delicious food cooking inside.  That is the downfall to this weather, I can smell all the wonderful cooking going on.  We have a rule in our house.  We can only watch cooking shows while we are eating.  If we are watching a food show about burgers and have not had dinner yet....we want burgers.  It has happened so many times that this rule we made went into effect.  I hope you have better self-control then we do when it comes to food.

Have you ever thought about what an artist does before they sit down and paint?  Or do you think they can just pop something out like it is nothing because they are an artist?  Many times people just write off my art like I can just create something at the drop of a hat.  It really is not that simple.  One of my favorite paintings I have created took months to do.  That does not just include the painting process.  I have to do studies.  Studies being pictures of the subject I want to paint, sketching over and over again to get the subject done just right, and thumbnail sketches to prepare the whole image before I put it on canvas.  A thumbnail sketch is pretty much what it sounds like, a small sketch of the intended finished product.  A lot of the time I will scale down the image's intended size so I can create the proper ratios in the image.  So, when I scale the image back up to the intended size, the dimensions and ratios look correct.  (Who would have thought an artist can sound all technical?).  Artists are problem solvers.  That is why art is so important for children to experience.  I find myself trying to solve problems in my art all the time.  How can I make this look right?  Why is that color not looking bright enough?  I need more space in this image, how can I achieve that?  This is why researching your painting before you paint it is so important.  I find myself thinking and working through an idea for months sometimes before I even sketch it out.  That is what I have been doing lately.  I find myself thinking of exactly what I want to do and how I am going to do it.  No artist starts a painting without some sort of planning and research first.  Do you have an idea?  Plan it out.  Research the subject.  Sketch.  Sketch some more.  When you think you sketched enough, sketch some more.  Then, start you painting.

I wish you luck in your research, and remember to be the best artist you can be!