Roz Wound Up

Don't Worry if You Don't Get a Likeness—That's What I'm Telling Myself

Right: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen Sketch on the blue paper in that journal from England. Cropped in scanning, height about 11.75 inches. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Don't even bother to guess which actor this is. Dick knows all the TV shows I watch and he just stared and stared at it until I got impatient and told him.

It's like a bad game. I draw someone, he ponders and doesn't guess, I tell him. After this sketch from a couple weeks ago I've stopped showing him.

On the other hand when I draw a bird or dog or a puffin in the zoo, he knows exactly which one I'm drawing—so what's up with that?

It doesn't matter. The point I'm trying to make is don't over think it. Some people are going to immediately recognize who it is you're drawing and you'll have a successful life as a portrait painter. Other people are going to simply smile and hold their breath until you tell them who it is you drew.

Sometimes people pay me to draw people and then I take much more care, study a lot of photos, study the person (if they are alive), make lots of sketches, and then make a drawing that looks like the person. Everyone is happy.

But what I enjoy more is simply looking at someone (or in this case the TV) and just trying to capture something very, very quickly. That's more fun for me. I can look at the finished sketch and say, "that bit is right there; I really like that bit over here; oh, that bit didn't work at all."

What has happened is I've created a dialog with myself about looking at that person's face. The sketch is that dialog and it contains some details about that person, but it contains even more details about what I think about the process. So when I look at that sketch I see where I want to go in my process.

That to me is more important than someone recognizing the person I drew. I bring this up to suggest you consider how you view your "failed" sketches. There's a lot of good stuff in them that you can enjoy, and the enjoyment of that good stuff will push you along to make more sketches, containing even more good stuff. And isn't the search for more good stuff ultimately more rewarding than pronouncing something "failed"?

If you shift the way you think about your sketches you're going to make more of them and as a consequence you're going to find more good in them.

And one day you might be at a show of your work and someone will come up to you, point to one of your paintings and say, "Hey, when did you meet my dog? That's him over there on the wall."

Sketching at the Bell Museum (I Even Use a New Red Pen)

Left: Sketch of a hawk at the Bell Museum, on pre-painted Nideggen paper. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Sunday was supposed to be a lot of things—then it wasn't any of those things—and then it was a whole other set of things that were quite enjoyable.

I was signed up to take a bookbinding class—accordion book; a structure I don't use, but I am game to learn new things. Sadly the class didn't fill so it was cancelled. I did a bunch of errands and then ran over to the Bell because I knew I wouldn't get there this week (which was going to be crazy) and wanted to go, and even better—MetroSketchers' location had been canceled (the parade, not the location) and so they went to plan B, which is the Bell, or was on this day, and that's a short walk from my home so it made perfect sense to go, even if I was 2 hours late. 

Left: My Meadowlark turned out pretty well, despite putting it right on the gutter! But you can see I didn't try much with the feet because I really wanted to get to the meeting! Click on the image to view an enlargement. (Nideggen paper with a Staedtler Pigment Liner and gouache washes.)

I arrived at 2 p.m. and quickly said Hi to a couple friends and got to work. I did the first two sketches and then went to the lobby at 2:45 to be there for the "wrap up meeting" when you get to see what people do.

Despite the bad weather (which actually faded away in Minneapolis) and the change of venue 7 sketchers still made it to the Bell and did some fantastic work, which you can see at the MetroSketcher's Facebook page.

The group chatted for about 45 minutes and then LisaMarie Greenly and I carried on sketching until 5 p.m. at which time the museum closes and we had another wrap up meeting. I'd just met LisaMarie. She's very funny, she also laughs at my jokes, and she makes the most amazing tiny stipple drawings. She focused on small animals and also a rattlesnake skull. (Besides the link to her blog above, you can see a portfolio of her stuff on BlueCanvas, and you can also find LisaMarie on Facebook.)

Above: Sketch of a ring-tailed Pheasant at the Bell Museum, using a Montana Marker pen (fine point) which is filled with acrylic paint. The dark splotchy areas at the bottom left are where I pushed up too much paint from the pen tip and I thought I'd just smear it away, but this stuff dries quickly so it didn't smear far! Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Liz Carlson (who runs MetroSketchers and works at Wet Paint) pretty much insisted that I get one of these pens. (No I'm just kidding. She told me she was working with one and she knows I love acrylic ink so it's a no-brainer leap to these pens—and she didn't have to insist at all.)

I have been doing some sketching with it lately, but not much painting over the sketching. I just fall in love with the lines—I only put in the orange eye.

I've got some more experiments to show you with this pen and should have some others soon because my life is going to get a little less scheduled now that my Atelier classes are over! Let's just say I bought a bunch of these pens in different sizes with different acrylic paint colors. I think I could probably go and do some graffiti with these pens?? But I'll just journal with them.

The acrylic paint they contain doesn't smell funny, flows nicely and has an airtight cap. The nibs come in various widths, including large flat ones that would be fantastic for large works. And the ink dries almost immediately and can be painted over with your watercolor or gouache washes.

Because the "ink" refill bottles come in a variety of colors you can mix your own custom color. How great is that??? 

Left: Shorebird sketch, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Calligraphy Pen and washes of gouache. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

After using the red pen I had time for one more sketch, but this got a little fussy, it went from loose to fussy, but I'm glad I kept pushing it because I like the way it finally ended up. (I restated some of the ink lines which I don't typically do.)

LisaMarie and I got together after this. A former bookbinding student actually had already run into me and we saw her and her grandchild outside looking for bugs with the child's new bug-finding kit which included a magnifying glass and capture jar. I don't think the child knew what to make of so many adults talking about keeping journals at the same time! But I think she got the idea it was a good goal toward which to grow.

By now it was a lovely, sunny, crisp May day and I had a lovely walk home and stopped to sketch, but I'll show that sketch to you another day because I have something to say about it and now is not the time.

Besides which I don't know when my internet service will kick out again as it has been doing for the last week. If you read this but don't find a Project Friday on Friday, don't worry I'll get it up as soon as I can. Fingers crossed internet service will be "normal" by the end of Thursday.

And please forgive any typos of which I am sure this post will contain more than normal as I'm running on empty as I rush to get this posted for Thursday, before my internet service kicks out again. I'll try to fix egregious errors found when I'm not typing on adrenaline.

More Fantasy People and a Test for a New Journal—Goal Greater Productivity

Left: Another fantasy person, yes that's the start of a bird body. Pencil and gouache sketch on a 6 x 9 inch (approx.) sheet of Nideggen. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Since I had just finised a journal with TH Saunders Waterford watercolor paper and the in-studio journal is a 9 x 12 inch Fabriano Venezia which also is white paper, I thought I would like to use some toned papers. 

I really wanted to use one of my Nideggen journals (which are a lovely 6.5 x 9 inch size or so but I also was enjoying the idea of doing more of the fantasy sketches. I didn't know if the paper would take to all that wetting and blotting. 

I love Nideggen and use it for my watercolor and gouache with ink journals all the time, but I work differently with those washes—lay them in and move on. The paper does buckle even with light washes, but it is so much fun to work on that I put up with the minimum of buckling.

Since April is going to be a densely packed month for journaling, real and fake, I decided a test was in order. I had a sheet of Nideggen I'd cut out of a previous journal (to make room for collage material). I used it for a test. I really overworked this piece just to make a point to myself that the paper could handle it. It did.

So all systems go. I'll be working in a Nideggen journal as my regular visual journal for the next few weeks. (I pasted this sheet down on the first page of the new journal.)

Here's my point for today. Pick a journal that is going to support the work you want to do for the immediate future. Yes, we all have paper cravings (I want to get back into a Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal so badly…) but for the best productivity and help to our creativity (which leads to greater productivity; things in life are like that) we all need to stop and consider what will aid us the most. 

For some people using the same journal (size, paper, etc.) time after time fuels their thought process and their creative engine. For others (and I fall into this group) constantly switching up the page size and the paper type fuels me. It keeps me on my toes when selecting and using media in the journal. It allows me more options for play.

Even so, the selection of a journal is not random. Give it great thought. To work a journal should support your life, not cause stress and frustration.

Enjoy your journal today—soon it will be filled and you'll be on to another one. 

Honey I'm Home…

Watch live streaming video from cornellhawks at livestream.com

 

In the above embedded video you'll see a male red-tailed hawk bringing a carcass to the nest. You will also find live streaming video of the nest and links to other "segments" of interest. Debra Silver wrote to me about this. I've seen other live cams. This has proven very fun to watch. Spend sometime hawk watching today even if it is rainy where you are. As I am writing this (Friday) the female is sitting in the nest and a lovely breeze is lifting her feathers lightly now and then. A true predator, when distance song birds squeek she turns her head in interest to zero in on them.

Gouache and the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Calligraphy Pen

Left: Pigeon sketch made with a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Calligraphy Pen (black) and painted over with gouache (using a soft squirrel mop and a paper towel to wipe color around). On a 9 x 12 inch page in my in-studio Fabriano Venezia Journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

You can't draw enough pigeons. 

WIthin the last week I have posted about the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Calligraphy Pen and using gouache. So here I'm just letting you know I really mean it.

Paper towels are great fun as tools for swiping and smudging color around after you have put down a brush stroke.

Why are you still reading? Why aren't you painting? Why don't you plan on making a painting a day for the week using this pen and some gouache? That would be a great way to begin to aclimatize yourself to what is surely going to be your favorite medium.

My 2011 Minnesota State Fair: A Video Flip Through

If the above embedded video flip-through of my 2011 Minnesota State Fair doesn't work please view it here on YouTube.

The other day I met a woman who loves animals and loves painting animals, but when I asked if she sketched her cats she replied, "You can't sketch animals from life."

She was adamant.

Well, I'm equally adamant that you can. I do it a couple times a month at Como Zoo (sometimes I even get down to the Minnesota Zoo). I do it when I visit friends who have dogs. And I do it every year when I go to the Minnesota State Fair.

I don't think I'll be able to convince this woman to sketch animals from life, but I hope over time, if you read my blog, I can convince you.

To that end I finally had an opportunity to make a video flip through of my 2011 Minnesota State Fair. In the video I discuss the types of pens and paints I'm using. I worked in a handmade journal that was 7 x 8.5 inches. I filled 84 pages this year, which is down from last year's total of 121 pages; but I'm pleased with the results.

You'll see that there is a color image insert on the front cover of this book. That was made by creating a depression on my cover board before the board was covered with fabric. At the Fair I made two pieces of spin art. I scanned both pieces, selected a portion of one of the spin art pieces, and printed it out as a full color, archival print. It was sized to fit the label depression I'd earlier created in my front cover. Before attaching the color image to the front cover depression I laminated it to protect it. I scruffed up the back of the photo paper so it would adhere better and glued the image in place with PVA. 

Tip: I put wax paper over the image and then put a thin piece of foam or a towel over the cover before adding weight for the drying process. The soft material helps push the label into place better.

In the video you'll see some tabs in the gutter where pages have been cut out of the book. These pages were cut out at the start of the Fair, before I had worked in the book. This process allows me to add collage material without bursting my spine. If a tab occurs on a page where I want to work across the gutter I simply paint over it.

Before I started this blog in the fall of 2008 I would post journal selections on my website RozWorks.com. If you look down the list at this link you will find Minnesota State Fair Journals from as early as 2003. 

If you would like to look at Minnesota State Fair Journals from 2008 to the present please use this blog's search engine to search for key words, or click on "Minnesota State Fair" in the category list in the left column of this blog. (As you scroll down the posts in that category you'll also come across video of some of our sketch outs at the Fair.)

I have kept a variety of journals for my Minnesota State Fair Journal over the years. In 2007 and 2005 I made portfolios to contain journal cards like these used in 2007. Sometimes I even create a box that is painted to match my pre-painted cards (as I did for my 2003 Minnesota State Fair Journal.)

Whatever form your State Fair Journal takes, make sure to take part!

And note that my posts on the State Fair include a variety of informational posts on how to dress for sketching success for the Fair, manage your sketching time, sketch from life. If you haven't been sketching at the Fair before be sure to read my packing light recommendations. (Use the blog's search engine to look for posts on "Minnesota State Fair Prep."

Please check back during the summer when the date for the Fourth Annual Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out will be announced—it will be at the end of August 2012. There will be buttons again, for sketchers who shows up at the sketch out to sketch from life at the Fair. You don't want to miss out on the fun.

Why Not Put a Bird In It?

Above: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch in a sample book made of Stonehenge's new icy-blue colored paper. The bird was sketched on coquille paper and collaged on top. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Look I don't know why I divided the almost square page into two vertical panels with my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. Or why I did two sketches of a crazy woman. All I know is that when I decided to put in my bird sketch (done on coquille paper, cut out, and glued down) the page came alive for me.

Remember I said that I was testing another new paper that I liked? Well this is NOT that paper. This paper is Stonehenge's new icy blue paper—which is a lovely light, light blue. I love the paper's color; I love working on the paper's surface with pen, PPBP, and gouache. Sadly, however, this paper, like the kraft brown, cracks when it is folded with the grain. I'm one signature into this 10 x 10 inch slim volume that I am using for a studio journal (it's the tall, square book on the left, with light icy-blue green fabric and very ornate stenciled decorative paper in the link provided). So far the pages are rebelling at the signature fold. It isn't going to be pretty. 

Use this paper for FLAT artworks, not for binding into your art journals. I'll have more to say about it as I work my way through the journal.

Use Color Fearlessly: A Color Theory Workshop—August 9-12, 2012

Above: Variety of paintings demonstrating my approach to color in my own paintings. If you've been reading the blog you're used to this by now. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The Midwest Art and Lettering Retreat is a four day event held at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. This year they have asked me to teach a color theory workshop.

While the retreat is put on by the Colleagues of Calligraphy and three of the five workshops are calligraphy based (one is a book arts workshop), you do not have to be a member of the Colleagues or even a calligrapher to attend.

My class, Use Color Fearlessly, will explore color theory concepts through the use of watercolor blending and mixing. This type of approach will have immediate benefit to calligraphers wishing to enhance their use of color in their calligraphic work, but it is also applicable to artists working in all media. The exercises can be performed by artists at any skill level. We are concerned about blending and learning concepts.  

Students will build a looseleaf workbook of their own exercises and explorations that will serve as an on-going reference for their color theory work. They will leave class with strategies for continuing their color journey regardless of whether they work with letterforms, or create figurative or abstract paintings. The emphasis of the workshop is to lay a foundation of understanding upon which the student can build a personal palette of colors. 

Class will be a mixture of lecture and demonstration from me, and a lot of blending, mixing, and thinking on your part. Color is an integral part of any artist's work. With color we create emotion, set tone, and define our focus. Don't let your worries about color choices tie your artistic hands up in knots. We'll move forward fast, furiously, and fearlessly.

The workshop will be an intense and fun time. Each day there will be a morning and afternoon session of 3 hours each. A complete brochure and schedule for the workshop can been seen here. You will also see the other great class offerings in that brochure. (Sadly you can only take one workshop for the entire 4-day period.)

The workshop cost is $595: for three nights in a single room, meals Thursday lunch through Sunday lunch, and tuition. (The organizers have also provided a small optional charge for Wednesday and/or  Sunday night lodging should you wish to arrive early to settle in, and also leave on Monday morning. This is explained in the brochure. I recommend that you plan to arrive on Wednesday so that you're up and ready to jump into color on Thursday morning.)

Registration began on January 21. To register, please follow the brochure link and send the completed the registration page to the Colleagues of Calligraphy (all information is in the brochure).

A list of supplies will be sent to registered students. Supplies include a few specific watercolors, paper, brushes, and a three ring binder. Students may elect to work in gouache instead of watercolor and will have a slightly different supplies. Colored inks are not be recommended for the main exercises, but students who already have colored inks are encouraged to bring them for additional experimentation. 

I haven't been to Carleton College before, but I am told that the facilities are delightful (with air conditioning), the residence hall bedrooms pleasant (with air conditioning), and the food tasty. I'm looking forward to it. I hope that you'll consider joining me for an exploration of color theory in Minnesota in the summertime!

BIrd Artist Karl Martens

I didn't have a post set up for today but I just received an email from reader Kelly who recommended the website of Karl Martens. His bird paintings are exquisite and you need to check them out. I thought about saving this note for a weekend for visual eye-candy, but you really need to start checking them out now. There are some wonderful magpie-ish birds and a raven and some wonderful ducks and, and, and…It is truly amazing what someone who understands both bird form and watercolor can do. Martens also knows just when to focus on detail and fade away into a splatter of paint.

His duck, which is image 11 of 95, is a perfect example of this, with detailed eye and bill, but body softened by using the rough texture of his watercolor paper. Go look now.

There is an artist statement from Martens that captures his intent very clearly here.

Great Paper News: Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Paper Is Available in Sheets

Above: Sketch of a pet store Budgie from a photo (if you know of a pet store open that late in the Twin Cities let me know; I'll go over there and sketch instead). Pentel Pocket brush pen with gouache washes, in an 8 x 9-3/8 inch handbound book I made with sheets of today's paper. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

On January 14, 2012 I posted about my New Year's Day trip to Como Zoo and the new sketchbook in which I was working. The paper I used for this journal has now been released so I can write about it: Strathmore 500 series Mixed Media Paper.

(Please note the 500 series in the name. In a previous post about Strathmore papers a reader wrote in that she didn't understand Strathmore's use of 300 and 400 and 500 in their names. Each denotes a different product line. All 500 series papers from Strathmore are their top of the line, artist quality papers. You've read about my love affair with their 500 series Bristol. Well their 500 Series Mixed Media Paper is a new favorite paper of mine. But I do not care at all for their 300 and 400 Series Mixed Media Paper, so do not get confused. Do not think you are using the same paper I'm writing about unless you are using the 500 series Mixed Media Paper.)

Many of you may have already been using the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Paper. It is the paper they use in their Mixed Media journal in their visual journal series. I used it for my many of my class samples when I did an online class for Strathmore in 2011.

I first wrote about the Strathmore Visual Journals and the Mixed Media paper they contained on June 24, 2011. You can read my initial thoughts there. Basically my thoughts have remained unchanged (with a few updates I'll get to in a moment).

I was already in contact with Strathmore at that time for other reasons and I began to relentlessly pester my contact to bring this paper out in full sheets (something in the 22 x 30 inch range or larger) so that I could make my own books with it. While I think their journal with this paper is wonderful, it is a wire-bound journal and we all know I'd rather have a casebound book to more easily work across the spread.

If, like me, you have enjoyed this paper in the journals and would like to make your own books out of it be aware that now you can. Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Paper is available in sheets and boards. 

It is 100 percent cotton, acid free, lignin free, and archival.

I received sheets of this paper last summer. Because of other committments I was only able to tear it down into signatures before life took me in another direction. But I knew the moment that I tore the paper down and folded it that it was going to become a favorite. Bookbinders will find it easy to fold and tear. The folds will be clean and crisp. There is no cracking when folded with the grain so you can go boldly forth with your binding plans. Also as a 90 lb. paper you'll be able to fit more pages in a slimmer spine. Making a casebound book with this paper is a delight—it holds glue joins between the signatures even with intense usage. (I have been using my test volume since January 1 and have more to say about this below.)

As I wrote in my earlier post about the qualities of this paper, it takes mixed media well and has a good opacity for a 90 lb. sheet. I love using my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen in my visual journal. On this paper not only does it move in an enjoyable manner, the brush pen's heavy ink line is not as visible as it is on some other thin sheets, when you turn the page.

As a 90 lb. sheet I should also point out it is hefty enough to take collage and not feel wimpy in any respect. I just finished collaging all sorts of birthday photos and cards onto pages and the paper totally holds its own.

I should note, in the "revised" opinions portion of this post that what I have found in using this paper more extensively is that sometimes the inks of my PPBP and even my Staedtler Pigment Liner do not dry as quickly as they do on some of the papers I use. So while I can say there is typically no bleeding of my waterproof inks on this paper, upon ocassion I work so quickly with my brush pen (or other pen) and jump so eagerly to applying washes of watercolor or gouache, that I have experienced some minimal bleeding in areas of high ink coverage. This is taken care of with just a little more patience. If you are concerned at all about this I suggest that you pause for a moment after you sketch, wet your watercolors then, not earlier, and then test first in an area where you'll be painting a darker color. I don't do any of that, perferring to just have at it. I'm willing to live with the little bit of ink bleeding I might encouter in my impatience—note that it is greater when brushing over large PPBP strokes where lots of ink was laid down, which is to be expected.

If my seemingly cavalier discussion of bleeding inks confuses you please read my post: "It's Not Waterproof until It's Waterproof."

In the above budgie sketch the background looks a bit streaky. I need, in deference to the paper, to point out that the visible strokes were intentional. I have found that if I want to lay in a nice "watercolor" type wash on this paper I can do so, I'm just not doing much of that these days, preferring to smash around the page with my too big filbert leaving tell-tale strokes. So while this is not the same paper as a traditional watercolor paper you will find that it will enable you to work with watercolor well. (And, since many watercolor papers have so much sizing that ink on them floats "forever" [to the impatient artist] you may find this paper more suited to your working style.)

There are additional characteristics of this paper which make me very fond of it as a visual journaling paper. Foremost is the strength of the sheet. I have not experienced any bleeding through the sheet to the other side. I've used this paper feverishly with tons of water, inks, paints, scrubbing and reapplication and I've yet to break through. I've also not had any pilling of the paper as I apply multiple washes, wet into wet, and rub about more than a "watercolorist" would.

Here's the bad news: While these sheets have been officially available since January 16 it will take a little bit of time for them to arrive in stores. Stores have to decide to carry it, order it, and of course it has to be shipped. (Which reminds me, now that I have successfully pestered Strathmore for this paper in sheet form I need to pester my favorite local independent art supply store, Wet Paint, to stock it!)

I suggest that you get one of the Mixed Media Journals that contains this 500 Series Mixed Media paper and test it for yourself so that you know whether or not you're going to like the paper. Then starting in February you can begin asking your paper supplier when they will carry this paper in sheets. Be sure to always call it Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Paper to avoid confusion with the other grades of mixed media paper Strathmore produces (neither of which I like at all).  

If I am reading the pricing sheet I received from Strathmore correctly it looks like the paper will be $3.99 per sheet, which is in the same price range as some watercolor sheets of the same size. (22 x 30 inches)

I know that I will be using it in future bookbinding and journaling classes because I know its versatility will suit a variety of students and a range of media and application methods.

I bound this paper finally into a book in December of 2011. (It's the orange decorative paper with blue splotches.) I thought the paper had been released in sheets during the fall (because once I had learned it was going to be and had some test sheets I stopped pestering Strathmore), so I couldn't wait to start the new year with a journal of my own binding and this paper. I will have several more posts over the next couple of weeks that will show you other page spreads and experiments from this journal, on this paper. As of the writing of this post I have 10 spreads left in the journal so it won't last much longer. I'll go off into another journal with a different paper, because I like to switch things up. I already know, however, that I'm going to be coming back to this paper frequently for my visual journal binding needs.

Grain Direction: The grain of this paper goes parallel with the 22 inch side of the paper, so plan accordingly. (22 x 30 inches)

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review, nor any review of any Strathmore papers, nor was one requested of me. This summer I did receive my original 17 sheets for binding experiments after incessant pestering for the sheet to be made available. That paper was not purchased. But I paid for it many times over by not being able to talk about it right away (OK, I'm just kidding about that, I did want to talk about it right away, but it wasn't a hardship not to because I knew the paper was coming out soon.) Strathmore also knew, based on my past comments about the 300 and 400 series Mixed Media Samples that they sent me, that I was not pleased with those papers and would say so. At any rate, the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Paper is available in sheets now. Try the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Paper if you enjoy binding your own journals with paper that can take a variety of media really, really well and hold up to the creative chances you like to take. Or don't try it and continue to enjoy the pilling, bleed through, buckling, and other poor performance characteristics you get from so many other papers.

Update 3.2.12 for Twin Cities People: Wet Paint has the paper and it's on sale through April 30, 2012 for 35 percent off.