Fall

I look out the window.  It's a beautiful fall day.  It's the start of holidays.  Three months of saturated fun and feelings.  It's color and commercialism.  It's family and stress.  I always try to slow my pace a bit at the beginning because it all goes so quickly.  Soon it'll just be a hangover of good food and parties. 

But not now.  Now it's the beginning.  The first step.

And it's beautiful.

Family Time

Time is so valuable right now in our family.  With Nathan in school and working full time he barely sees his kids.  We do what we can.  We've established a once a week lunch with Dad and are starting to do more things as a family on the weekends.  

This was our first trip downtown on Trax.  Logan loved the train ride down.  If I didn't have a fussy baby-in-arms I would've taken more pictures of the train ride.  His face was glued to the window.

The entire trip was perfect.  I've realized how important these little trips are. 

 

 

 

Painting #2

Black bird

23" x 23"

acrylic on panel

Senior Pictures

This is our newest HS graduate, my niece Nicole. I love when the new graduates ask if I'd take their senor pictures.  It's so fun for me.

Here are some of my favorites.

Painting #1: Yellow Bird

Yellow Bird

23" x 23"

Acrylic on panel

(Detail)

Whoa, what?

Today I wanted to play around with a new header for this blog so I wandered into my photo files trying to find a current picture of Logan.  I was slightly shocked to find I have not taken one picture of Logan since the new year.  What?  No pictures of Logan?  My own little Muse?  The face that never loses my interest has been put on the back-burner.  I am ashamed!  A photo shoot is definitely in order.

I think the tumult of this fall and readjusting to our new normal has really caused me to back off from things that I love.  Stress can really put me in a funk.  But I feel so much hope in our situation.  Nathan is incredibly resilient and I'm trying hard to follow his stride.  Now is the time to fall in love with life again and not worry so much.  There is so much to be grateful for.

Even though the gestation of little Cecily has taken most of my brain power lately I have a lot of exciting work in front of me.  I'm currently working on a series of paintings for a client.  Her family has bought a beautiful cabin up in Sundance and I'm the luckiest girl in the world to work on adorning her walls with my own artwork.  As soon as I stepped foot inside her cabin home I was inspired.  She has incredible taste and has worked her magic for the last year shaping this cabin into a home.  Her color palette is rich in neutrals which makes my job a playground of color to choose from.  She has left the reigns completely in my hands which excites me more than anything.

I've done one painting so far.  It took me a little over a day and a half.  Photos to come.  I want to finish the sides before calling it complete.  I love it.  I secretly want to keep it!

Nesting

There is a general buzzing around my house lately.  Things are shifting.  I'm pretty sure it's some sort of emotional and subconscious preparation for Cecily to arrive.  I think I'm nesting.

Some changes are very much physical.  I've arranged and rearranged the kid's room (I love to say "kid's") to best suit the new arrival to our family.  I'm pretty sure Logan thinks by now his room is magic the way he'll leave for school only to find his room is completely different when he returns. 

Nathan wants to build Logan a bunk bed but with a play area underneath in lieu of a second bed.  A few months ago our neighbors built their boys a bunk bed and I think Nathan is aching for a creative project.  I don't know where he gets his energy since he works full time and goes to school full time.  His energy seems endless.

We've also brought my art supplies down from the confined corner of the bedroom to the living room.  Actually, we have no living room which is surprisingly nice.  The couch fits perfectly in our vast bedroom and I get lots of room to work and teach.  Which is the plan starting once Cecily gets settled.  But right now our front room looks like a storage unit which contributes to this general feeling of...well...being unsettled.

I've never done well with anticipation.  I like to get things moving.  I'm not stellar at follow-through but I'm great at starting.  Being 6-9 months pregnant is probably the most annoying time for me.  I'm happy that the nausea is gone and the energy is back but I just get anxious to get going.  Since I can't do a thing about the length of gestation I start to hone in on projects.

I've got loads of ideas for Primary visuals.  I've got an art studio/classroom to set up.  I want to patch up the walls and repaint in the kid's room.  Logan's birthday party to plan. And an upcoming commission this spring. 

And I'm even taking time to blog. :)

Isn't nesting fun?

Finished and Sent

This is very much done and gone.  With the craziness of the holidays and my tendency towards inconsistent blogging, I forgot to return and report the final product.

Here is Ellie.

Coming Along

 

 Sorry, a bit out of focus.  This is four hours work today.  Hopefully I'll get a couple more in tonight after Logan goes to bed.

Gettin' Messy

 I started the charcoal today.  I have to get this done next week so I'm putting in a lot of time this week.  I had a good 6 hour session with only the occasional interruption from Logan.  I've set up a drawing/coloring station for him next to me.  This has been great for those moments when he just wants to be near me.  He wanders in, checks out what I'm doing then follows my lead and draws.  It's been really quite fun for us.

Anyway, I'm trying to contain all the charcoal as best I can since my studio is in my bedroom.  That's why I've laid down the piece instead of standing it up.  Applying charcoal is messy business!

I first block in my dark areas with a stick of compressed charcoal.  This board creates a super distinct pattern so I'll only use the stick on the areas where there is foliage.

 I then create my "pool" of charcoal.  Compressed charcoal is harsh and very unforgiving.  I only use it on areas I know are dark-dark.  I like to keep all the charcoal dust and marks contained to the darkest of parts.  I use this pool throughout the drawing, dipping my finger or a soft leather cloth and spreading where I need it.

I block in all general areas.  I carefully block in all the paper; reserving my "lights."  I don't like to use white charcoal.  I'd rather use the white of the paper to create a full-range of value.

I stopped here at hour 6.  I just knew I needed a break.  I have a good chunk of time tomorrow while Logan is at school to continue.  Once I capture her face again the rest will come smoothly as I tighten everything up.

I'm feeling good about having this done in time.  I always feel great after a working on something that is 2 inches away from my face then stepping back and seeing it come together. 

Dear Logan,

I promise to be better tomorrow.
I promise to be more patient.
When you jump on me I'll try to remember a day when you weren't around.
When you ask me over and over for candy I'll remember a time when you couldn't speak to me.
When you ignore me I'll try not to take it personally.
You are 3 years old.
And I am 32.
How easily I forget that.
Please forgive me when I yell louder than I mean to.
I pray you forget every mean face I give.
I am so far from perfect; I almost feel bad that you have me as a mom.
But nobody could love you as I do.
Nobody knows how to make you laugh like I can.
Nobody knows your face better than me.
For the good days and bad we're in this together.
You and me, kid.
I love you.
Oh, how I love you.

A Little Reminder

The assignment I gave my primary kids: Write down your favorite primary song.

This was found among the pile:

I may keep it forever.

Wait For It, Wait For It...

I was tempted to start the charcoal today.  I'm close.  I just really want to give it another day.  Even when I do jump into charcoal I'll start with areas other than the face.  Charcoal isn't impossible to adjust but it can be a very unforgiving medium.  You have to reserve your whites.  But even when I completely goof I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

When I was in high school I did a charcoal of my grandpa embracing my little brother.  It was finished and sitting on my easel downstairs.  Well, one of my nieces grabbed one of my charcoal sticks and drew several lines across his shirt and hands.  I couldn't completely get them out but luckily I could work with them.  If you look closely at the piece you could see random marks in his plaid shirt.  And I turned the marks on the hand into scars.

When I worked in a frame shop we learned all sorts of tricks to get marks and imperfections out of mat board.  I'm convinced framers are the trickiest bunch you could run into.  If something is damaged there are always options. 

Well, here is Ellie today.  She's looking good!  She's about ready.  Looking at the photo I took I'm thinking I need to thin her out just a touch.  She's got such chubby cheeks.  I almost get lost in them when I block in the values.  I'll tackle them tomorrow.  I hope to get into my studio early tomorrow but with this little one in my tummy I get so tired and nauseous.

And speaking of the beloved parasite, we get to hear the heartbeat on Monday!  Nathan and Logan will be with me which I'm excited about.  I'm looking forward to seeing how Logan reacts to hearing the heartbeat.  He understands not to jump or hit Mommy's tummy but I'm not sure he gets there is a baby in there.  When I was trying to explain it to him one day he thought he had a baby in his tummy too.  It was very sweet.

Getting There

Much better drawing session today.  I'm actually getting somewhere.  I ended up flipping the piece and reference upside down and drawing while squinting my eyes.  Then I just block in the shapes I see.  Tricking the brain this way really pulls me into the drawing.  Instead of drawing what my brain thinks I'm seeing I'm actually using my eyes to draw this individual person with her own individual features.  That's when I start to achieve the likeness of the person.

Now I'll let this drawing sit for the rest of the day.  This is actually so important for me to do.  When I rush this part I always have disappointed clients and will have to go back or start over.  I have to look at the drawing with fresh eyes.  I also find looking from different perspectives helps me with likeness.  As I go in and out of the room I'll check to see if something is off.  I'll turn the photo and reference sideways and upside down and let it sit; again, tricking the brain into seeing unique shapes instead of nose, eyes, lips, etc.  It's all about breaking the features down into shapes.  Another helpful trick is to look at the drawing in the mirror and check it against the reference.  This always reveals something.



Even now, looking at the photo with the two side by side I see all sorts of things I can tweak to make Ellie look more like Ellie.  After I give my eyes and brain a rest I'll be able to do tons of tweaking.  By the time I'm done I want the drawing to feel like her.

After a few days of observing/tweaking the drawing I'll start laying in charcoal.  Other than the eyes I don't do a lot of detail in pencil because the charcoal covers it right up.  I'm pretty good at manipulating charcoal and I can get pretty detailed but the eyes are just too important and detailed to leave to a hunk of charcoal.  So I pull out my charcoal pencils and get a brand new pencil eraser to help me fine tune the eyes.

Day Two

Establishing likeness.  This could take one day or several weeks.  It is so vital that I be in my right brain while I do this.  And while I was definitely more into it today I wasn't quite drawing from my right side.  I was often distracted.  I won't be able to draw again until Monday while Logan is at school.  

I look forward to 4 uninterrupted hours of drawing.