No Peeking While Drawing

Blind Contour Drawing.... What it is... and how it can help you!

Blind contour drawing is drawing the outside edges of something, without looking at the paper.  Let your eyes travel the edges of your subject, and let your pencil match the speed of your eyes. It's almost a trust exercise with yourself. The hardest part about it is NOT LOOKING!


Put on your non-judgmental hat... seriously, you'll need it. :)

And why would anyone want to do this exercise?

Because it trains your eyes to really look at the edges of something, and you'll probably end up with some very interesting drawings that you can then develop into some very interesting paintings!
 
Click here for more detailed instruction.

My friend and fantastic artist, Margaret Stermer-Cox, introduced me to "Blind Contour Friday's."  She's very dedicated to maintaining and improving her drawing skills with daily practice. If you want to improve quickly, daily drawing is the very best way to go about it. Check out what she does here.
Thanks for letting me share your terrific blog here, Peggy!

Honoring Honor...a fundraiser

“Once upon a time, there was an artist living in Honor, Michigan. (ummmm that would be ME) She read about the Honor Area Restoration project (HARP), a group of citizens that were dedicated to making things better where they lived. “How can I help?” she asked herself. Her skill was art making, so she decided to do a series of paintings depicting local scenes and the “Honoring Honor” series was born. $5 from every print;$3 from each note card set; and 50 cents from each individual card sold,will be donated directly to HARP.”
Click HERE if you are interested in buying a print or note-card of the images pictured. Or maybe forward the link to anyone you know that vacations here! THANK YOU!

Look Ma, No Palette! Painting directly with the tube

I came across this idea in a book called "Watercolor Wisdom" by Jo Taylor. (See the book here.) It's a really fun way to start off a painting.
First, you might want to have some idea of where your light, medium and dark values will go... then squeeze and drag the pure gooey pigment along some of the edges... (or you could use a palette knife)



Next, load a big brush with just water, and stroke the drippy brush over the wet paint, mixing the colors on the paper. Keep adding clean water (rinse your brush) to the moist paint on the paper, pushing and mixing the colors in the direction you want them to go.

 I added some scraping too, in the example below. It's not quite finished... but is a good start to finish up later!



Next time you are scratching your head trying to decide what to paint... grab a couple of tubes of paint and draw with them directly onto the paper... Then all you need add is water!

5 things to try when a painting isn't working

When something is bothering you with a painting and you just can't put your finger on what it is......
What do you do?
Well, these are some of the things I do...

1.  Look at the painting in a mirror. It's amazing how all of a sudden the 'errors of your ways' becomes apparent.

2.  Look at your painting upside down... and if you are working with a reference image, turn that upside down too. BINGO!  Your inaccuracy's are somehow easier to spot in the "inverted position". (nod to Top Gun)

3.  Take a digital photo and look at it on the computer... I don't know why this works... but I can't tell you the number of times I go to post an image, and whoa... I can spot an error or area of a painting that needs a bit more work before posting.

4.  Once you have the image on the computer... If you have any photo editing software... play around with your wacky ideas on the virtual painting... This method is especially helpful for me if I have a lot of hours into a piece...You can be very bold and try all those "what if's" without actually touching the painting. Some very creative solutions can happen this way.

5.  Start a critique group.... This is a group of artists (not necessarily all painters) that schedule meetings to do a sort of "show and tell." If you're stuck... Your critique group friends will help you sort out what's wrong. They also cheer you on, and motivate you with their efforts.  I really miss my critique buddies since we've moved.  sniff sniff. But this is such a valuable group (both personally and professionally) that I'll be sure to find like minded peeps here in northern MI.  It's a goal.

This photo has nothing to do with the article I just posted... but the berries this year are glorious and I wanted to share. :)

Midnight Bouquet

I had started this one as a demo for my Acrylic 101 class at Crystal Lake Art Center... and finished it last week. Kind of a fun color combo. The painting started on a purple and magenta background, and I think that's why the colors seem to glow. I just put this one up for sale on Etsy if you're interested.

Gouache Ink Resist... Peterson Road Beach

And here's the newest gouache ink resist painting..."Peterson Beach." 

This beach is a nice 40 minute walk from our house over to Lake Michigan...My plan for these gouache ink resist pieces, is to offer prints and cards, giving a portion of the money to HARP. (Honor Area Restoration Project) I'll be sure to let you know all about it as the series unfolds. :)

Color Inspiration...

On Friday's I'm going to publish some of the "idea sparklers" from my weekly newsletter. These are painting ideas for you to use in your own work. Happy Friday!
From August 2010 newsletter....

"Today's Idea spark-ler is from a blog post I wrote last summer...I'm inspired by my surroundings, and think that this is a fun way to decide your palette for a painting session....Here's an excerpt from the post:"On my walk yesterday morning, I found this gorgeous lichen (see photo below) growing on a branch that fell into the driveway. I just loved the colors of it and decided that I wanted to use those colors for this painting... So my palette was chosen by nature.... so far.I try not to box myself in with these early  decisions....It's a starting point. If the painting works within this palette, great! But if I decide to go in a different color direction, that's OK too....The main thing is to just start somewhere! Put that brush to paper and GO!"

Fast Forward almost a year... I really loved that 'start' from last year (pictured above)... and arguably could have stopped there...But it wasn't meant to be... Here's where I ended up with it. And since it won an honorable mention in the ArtCenter of Traverse City's "It's not just material" show last month...It was meant to be re-worked. :) hehehe"

Keep Climbing
15 x 15
Mixed Media on Paper