Social Media and Indecisive Art

Ah, it's time for another weekly installment of the art blog that does not have a readership.  It's actually kind of nice to think about this being out there in the public space of the internet but nobody reads it because there's just so much floating out there that people don't care.  It's a bit like going to the grocery store in ones sweatpants.  You're out in public but nobody really cares.  It's not as if I say anything that's deeply life changing on this blog anyway. If you're not me and you are actually wasting your time reading this right now, that's also fine with me.

Now that I'm done saying that - on to this week's art topic.

Now that I am thinking about how I use social media I am thinking about how there is this pressure to have something really cool to post and to consistently have something really cool to post.  Lately, I feel like my art is floundering around a bit.
I got started in November thinking about getting back into painting.  It had been so long since I had been consistently creating art that I was just happy I could still paint half way decently.
Then I started thinking about what I wanted to paint and how I wanted to paint it.  I felt like I really hit something when I painted "Carver Street Pine" so I wrote down the steps I took when I painted it. The idea was that I could recreate those steps and that could be my painting style.  So I created my next painting that way.
 At first I was happy with it.  Then I decided that idea of applying the same steps to all paintings wasn't working.  Something was missing.  I thought maybe it was the composition.  At that time I just happened to be teaching the rule of thirds (a type of composition) to my students.  Then I found an old booklet at school that I think it meant for high school aged students that talked a little about composition.
I really started thinking about how I am using light and dark areas and where I am putting things in the picture.  I feel very unpracticed in this area.  I think it's setting me back.
I started creating composition sketches and I made a few imaginary desert landscapes.  That seemed to start going in a direction that I wanted to but now that doesn't seem good enough either because working out of the imagination doesn't give me enough to work with although it has something.
Now I'm trying to tweak what I already see with what I am learning about composition.  So it's a combination of real and unreal.  I'm not sure what to make of it.
Here are the current results:

And here's a completely different direction to - hands - in part inspired by the recent drawings of hands by Tayen Kim and one other sketch artist who posts on Instagram.

Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe: Desert Landscape

I'm going to start off this post in a seemingly off topic way here by saying that yesterday I went to an art reception in which I have one painting.  I got a chance to look around at a lot of art that had made it into the show; and there was a lot of it. There were some pieces of exceptionally well made art as well as some mediocre art.
Awards were given at the show; and when awards are given it leads me to think about why the art that won awards won them.

Then, today I was reading a booklet written originally in 1948 entitled " Secrets of Famous Artists: How you can make the most of your creative talent".  Despite a somewhat tacky sounding name it's actually quite insightful.  The wording sounds like it was written for high school aged students.  The booklet goes over a few basic ideas about composition within a work of art.  When I read it I thought , "Ah ha, that's what I've been ignoring when creating my paintings." I've been concerned with brush strokes and colors all the while leaving my composition to a matter of chance.  I realized that I need to think about and plan out my compositions more.

Recently I was creating a painting of the ocean and some part of the sandy cliffs reminded me of the desert.  Paintings of the desert in turn remind me of Georgia O'Keeffe.  Georgia O'Keeffe was one of the artists I really admired when I was in high school.  For myself, when I think of her paintings I think of her desert paintings in New Mexico where she lived when she was older.  I also think of the way the color values transition smoothly in her paintings.

This is my most recent painting of a desert inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe.  I like the idea but I think the composition needs work. 

So now I have a desire to compose mental deserts and create paintings of them.  Maybe I wish I was in New Mexico because of the way I think New Mexico feels.  Maybe I feel that there are mentally dry places in life.  Maybe I want to paint the way I think Georgia O'Keeffe paints (which is not the way she actually appears to paint when I look at her work).  Whatever the case may be imagined desert places is my next jumping off point.

Working as an Artist - Next Work in Progress

Dear unknown reader,
Now that I have been making paintings as well as having the opportunity to show some of my paintings I really feel like a working artist.

I have not sold any paintings recently so I'm still not currently able to make a living as an artist.  However, my other job is covering my expenses and allowing me to create.

Recently one of my students asked me if I was a real artist.  I think those were her words.  I told her that I am.  It's nice to know that I can honestly say I am an artist and that I am making art.

Here is what I am working on in my tiny studio right now:

This is the first couple of layers of my current painting.  I started with a few colors as an under layer.  Then I sketched out the parts of the painting using dark brown paint and a thin liner brush.

This is after I've added more colors with a medium sized round brush.

I'm painting in my small studio space at home. I keep my paints on the left because I'm left handed. This canvas is 20 x16.

Looking at Light - Impressionism

Roses and Succulent in a Vase

2016

Photographed outside with natural light using an ipad

Roses and Succulent in a Vase

2016

Photographed inside with indoor lighting using an ipad

Roses and Succulent in a Vase

2016

Photographed inside with shade and some indoor lighting using an ipad

For my most recent painting I set up a still life with two rose stems and a succulent in a vase.  The vase is a clear glass and a little water was added to the bottom.

When I began mixing the colors and applying them I noticed that the vase and flowers were in the light and my painting was in the shade.  So when I began applying the paint to my board it looked very different from what I was mixing. I decided not to correct the colors to look right in the shade. Instead I decided to make a point of mixing all the colors while viewing them in the sunlight and trusting that in the final painting all the colors would match up even though the painting itself was in the shade.

This is different from what I normally do.  I usually start by mixing one of my main colors and then mix the colors more relative to this color rather than matching them closely to the colors I actually see.  In this way I am looking at how they are working together on the canvas or board rather than matching them strictly with the colors I see.  I notice that because the canvas starts out white this tends to influence me to make my light and medium values lighter than what they actually are.  By matching with the colors I see and not matching the colors with each other I notice that many of the colors I mix have darkened a lot.

I made a comment on facebook about the painting I was working on and light. One of my former students commented on how light in painting relates to Impressionism.  This got me to thinking about how I was approaching my painting in a way that was like Impressionism. I had not previously considered making a painting from the point of view of an Impressionist. It has prompted to think more about how and why the Impressionists made paintings the way that they did.

Above I have posted three photos of the same painting in different light settings.  They show some of how I am seeing the colors change when the painting is in light and shade.  What first started me thinking about the colors and lighting was the two shades of green on the rose leaves.  In the sunlight they look different but in the shade they look very similar.

Looking for direction and self in painting

I've been thinking that I need to make another self portrait painting for awhile now.  I think I've been considering making one since last year.  It's now the end of 2015 so I've been thinking about this for a long time.
The reason I have been wanting to make a self portrait again is that I feel like if I make one it's like I'm looking at myself and taking inventory of where I am. So here's a look at where I was and where I am now.

This is a self portrait I made I believe in the winter of 2006/2007.  I think this one has a sense of depth of thought in the area of the eyes and around the eyes.  The bright red parts make me think of a sense of vitality and feeling.  

This is the self portrait I just made (2015).  This painting looks more technical and matter-of-fact to me.  I wanted to add my braid into this portrait because I feel like it's part of how people would identify me visually.  It's normally behind me so I don't see it but other people see it.

I was more interested in the layering of the skin this time. I spent time smoothing out the layers of colors as I added them for the skin.  I think part of the reason I was focused on the skin is that skin is often a way that we convey the age of a person.  I can see that the creases by my mouth have developed more and the furrow between my eyebrows has slightly more depth.

Painting Progression

I took pictures of my latest painting as it progressed.  I enjoyed seeing how it changed at different stages in time.  This painting was done over the course of about 10 days.

After the sketch I looked at the photo I worked from and decided to put down red as an under layer to the bark of the trees.  It was an experiment in color.

Here I started to add in the dark part of the pine needles.  

I initially wanted to paint this picture because I wanted to study the bark of the tree on the left side.  However, I started to become more interested in the way the branches of the tree on the right had spaces in between them.  I liked pushing the paint around between the pine needles and the sky.

I continued painting the tree on the right side.  I started to get into looking at the individual pine needles on the branches.  I really got into it.  Then I felt like I had to move back to the tree on the left because I was neglecting the bark of the tree on the left.  I worked at it a lot because when I began to add the texture I felt it looked too scribbled and the lines I added looked too straight.  It needed a rough more broken textured look.

Here is the finished painting.  I decided to add another layer of paint to the mountains in the background but leave them without much detail so that the pine trees in the foreground remain as the focal point.  

Looking into what I need to know about getting my art out there

Dear reader,
I have been thinking a lot more about the goal of selling my paintings lately.  I have been thinking about how I can learn more about selling my art.

I am beginning to realize that there are a lot of little bits of information out there on the internet about selling one's art or handmade creations.  Whenever I see another blog post or website talking about selling one's art I feel like I am chasing rabbits through their rabbit holes.  All the information starts to feel like a random assortment all scattered around me.

I am starting to find that reading books helps me a lot more than searching the internet.  The reason why is because a book contains so much more information than a single blog post.  A book organises the important points that it wants to say into chapters and it goes into much more depth in explaining it's points.

I am thinking about this as I am currently reading a book called "Art Inc." by Lisa Congdon.  I am finding it very informative for my current place in making art.  I want to find ways to put my art out there more either by finding places to show it or ways to sell it.  I was reading another blog post recently and it was talking about how someone often asks artists how they are selling their work.  The writer said that more often than not artists were not actually selling their art.

Lisa Congdon's Blog (photo above from Lisa's blog)

 Lisa's book can be purchased on Amazon.  I am viewing a free copy thanks to a library.

I think at a certain point I am going to have to move beyond reading books and begin talking to people face to face about my art goals.  I have never considered myself an expert in the art of conversing - particularly when it comes to asking questions.  However, I think I can eventually prepare myself with some questions that I want to ask others about how to continue to develop as an artist.

Must...paint....more

Tuolomne Meadows, Yosemite National Park

9" x 12", Oil on Board, 2015

Yesterday I finished a painting of Tuolomne Meadows for a photo that was taken by my husband in 2005.  In the photo you can see small ripples in the water that make the reflection of the mountains look slightly wavy.  I was working on another painting previously that dealt with ripples in water. People seemed to be interested in the ripples so I made a point of concentrating on the ripples in this painting too.  I don't feel that I've mastered ripples but I'm working in it.

Now that I've finished my latest painting I can see it looked better than some of my other recent work that I haven't spent as much time on. However, I can also see that my skill level has dropped considerably from six years ago.  For the last five years I made very few oil paintings. I can see that I will need to practice a lot to get back to that skill level or advance from that level.

And so, I must paint more.

My goal right now is to get my work into a show in February. My work has to pass a jury to get in. Based on the type of work that is in the gallery I want to show in I'm guessing my work will be able to pass the jury and get in.  However, what I would really like to do is not just have art that will pass the jury but knock their socks off! I don't think I'll be that good but I want to strive to be as good as I can be by that time.

Signed up for an Art Association - that must mean I'm serious

So, I became a member of an art association today.  That must mean I'm serious about being an artist. Here's my serious face.  Just kidding.  This photo of me was taken a few months ago as a joke.

I already consider myself serious about making art but this is a next step for me.   I joined because they give members opportunities to put their work into art shows.  However, before being able to enter my work in a show it has to pass a jury.  I admire that because if I get in it means it's not just me thinking my work is good enough to show there - somebody else would have to think it's good enough too.  I've had my art work in several art shows before but I've never joined an art association. I've also never had a jury decide whether my art was good enough to show in their gallery.  (I was turned down by several galleries when I was a freshman in college but that's another story.)

The association owns a gallery and the next upcoming show that I would have a chance to enter my work in is in February.  That gives me some time to create work, choose something I would want to show and have it framed.

Switching to less toxic oil painting products

Cambria, California

Oil on canvas      5 x 7     2015

This is a painting done based on a photograph that my husband took while in Cambria.  The ocean there has a lot of jutting rocks that look beautiful.  Much of the rocks and landscape look grayish but there are also some areas of bright green growth on the ground.  There are also some interestingly shaped trees.  The wind from the ocean has blown them into interesting shapes.

I just recently began painting with oil paints again.  I had not painted with oils in over three years until I started back up about two weeks ago.   If you paint with oils you are likely to have used turpentine, mineral spirits or something similar that gives off harmful vapors.  I usually use these types of products to clean my paint brushes and and to thin the paints while painting.  These products have warnings on them about harmful vapors.  After about one week of being back into oil painting and using turpenoid (the product I was using) I noticed a lot of acne on my face and neck.  I have very sensitive skin.
I decided to see if there are any alternatives to thin paint and/or clean brushes that don't involve products that are bad for my health.  One product I found that doesn't say "harmful vapors" on the label is Medium W by Schmincke.  It can be used both for thinning the oil paints and to aid in cleaning the brushes.
The painting above is my first attempt at creating an oil painting without using any turpentine or mineral spirit type of product.  The Medium W handles in an oily way more similar to thinning with linseed oil than turpentine, however, with not quite as oily a brush feel as linseed oil.  Overall, I find it to be an excellent substitute for the more harmful products.  I'm not sure if it contains anything that would be harmful to handle over time but it does not contain any warnings on the label.
In the future I may try other products if I find others that do not contain harmful vapors or other ingredients that would be harmful to health.

Landscape

Still Life