portraiture -kes

A couple of weeks ago an art challenge was posed by an online affiliation of mine. Draw yourself. Complete it by a defined date. No idea why I agreed. I had no intention of looking at myself in a mirror or at a photo to complete the promised task. Rather than cop out, which would have been a disappointment to myself and just another excuse for not making my art that I care so much about a priority, I stepped up. Below is how the challenge ended up being fun and rewarding.

The inspiration began with a blog by Amy Maricle which included a TED talk link. To access Amy's site and read that posting go here.

The TED talk beautifully demonstrates how purpose can be enhanced, and not hindered by limitations. Below is a dissection of the portrait challenge excuses and the focused battle plan that was invented to complete the assignment.

1. Bronchitis--> This actually is a pretty good excuse but being too ill to be at work opens up some creative time. Don't overdo it. Spend 30' drawing, rest for 4 hours, spend 30' on completion, rest a day or two, spend 15-30' minutes more to wrap up details.
2. Too much work involved--> Use studio scraps. Play. 
3. No interest in studying my own exterior facial features.--> Create from imagination. No reference materials allowed, for anything, period. Take that Ego.

The results feel worthy of the effort. This is a detail photo of the central portion of the piece.

Human and bird imagery drawn on foam print block with screwdriver.

Printed with black ranger archival ink pad onto painted fabric scraps (mesh/silk paints/resist). 

White gel pen floral details (foreground).

Entire piece ~ 11" wide x 8 " high

Leaf Expressions(SKF)

Hello Friends,
 It was one rough winter, I must say. My usual survivor mode is denial, so I painted leaves through every snow storm,burying my head in drawing with luminous colors instead of the cold white woe of February. I wanted my style to feel more expressive instead of simply copying my Fall photos of
D. W.  Field in Brockton (my muse).
This work I call " Tender Spaces" in anticipation of Springs palette. I used inexpensive craft paints mixed with modeling paste as a base. Then I added Caran d'Ache's Neocolor  water soluble crayons to draw on top of the flat surface texture. Then I go back and forth between painting and drawing. I think I've achieved some lovely effects as a result.

 From this platform,
I became more abstract which
 yielded a treasure trove of bejeweled images.

 Of course, while I was experimenting failure is always an option. Well it was more of a miscalculation than a full fledged falling on my face deal.

 It all started with a trip to A.C. Moore's clearance aisle. Oh,cool! They have a small jar of texture paint. Awesome , two bucks. I know I'll add that to a base and work on top of that. Most of the time I don't notice my learning disability until I got back to the studio and started painting.




Yuk! Are you kidding me?! It has glitter in it.
 I HATE glitter. Silly crap smeared all over the page.
 The nerve, jazzing up my morose maroon.
 I spent most of my work time trying to cover over the sparkly bits.
 The bottom drawing is the result.
Yeah right, ha ha yourself  Miss Andrea.
                                                   
                                     I hope you like the red and green metallic Christmas cheer all over your work.

                                                             
                                                                Enjoy the jar it's all yours!

Stencils (az)

I initially thought of stencils to be used on your walls and while I had seen some incredible work done with these products, the thought of dragging out a ladder and using them on my walls was fleeting at best. It also seemed like you had to use special paints and brushes to do it.

 But when I met Karin, a print maker, she invited me to see her artwork at a local show. In her work, she used the most amazing shapes, colors, textures, and of course, stencils; but stencils of her own making and on paper (no ladder required). The thought of making my own stencils was very intriguing and stayed with me for many years.

When I was more engaged in artistic experimentation, I did start working with my own stencils. These stencils were made out of coated paper or thin notebook covers. I ended up using what brushes I had on hand, make-up sponges, stamp pads, and craft paint. I do also have to confess that I have bought some stencils, too. 

The below was a finished piece that was given as a gift. I used my stencil with a make up sponge for the horses' bodies and then  I used pen and pencils to draw in the details.

Here are some examples of reductive stenciling. A technique I got from L.K. Ludwig's book, 'Creative Wildfire'. The simple explanation of this process is apply paint, let dry, paint layer of another color, let it slightly dry, apply stencil, take a damp rag and scrub paint off within the stencil. 

Instead of using paint, I traced the stencil shape and added detailing where needed.

Now, it isn't scary to think about putting stencils on the wall.  Where did I put that ladder?

-az