Summertime Sketchbook Tour

 Summertime and I can never get enough of sunlight shining through the various types of green leaves, whether it be flowers or trees, I'm always looking for those glorious, glowing moments. 

Here's a quick look at a few "stop me in my tracks" inspirations which have made it into my July sketchbook pages so far...

Early morning in a nearby park and the blossoming Russian sage is captivating, I took so many photos!! I love the soft purple surrounded by all that green.

 

 Photographing into the sun, hoping to get a balanced image of the brilliant sun rays and dappled shadow below pine and deciduous trees.

 

The formal arrangement of repeating sprinkler arches and strategically placed trees is satisfying to me. It feels balanced, serene.

One of my favorite trees to photograph, I always find it's twisty branches so interesting.

 

 A reminder that all of these little gems are truly small, only 2.50 by 3.50 inches, it takes me about an hour to paint each one. My goal is to choose my favorite ones, then paint them larger and try to capture that same fresh brushwork.

I haven't been successful yet, but I keep trying. I find it's often helpful to have an inspiration and goal to keep me focused and moving forward to improve my skills. 

 What type of creative journey calls to your heart? Decide on one small step you can take on that path and begin.

Happy Creating! 

>^-^< 

Tina

Seeing the World in Black and White.

 

In the 36 years that I have been making paintings, mixing color to exactly match the subject has been a big priority for me and over the years, I have become fairly confident at it. 

With that in mind, I was very intrigued when I saw a free YouTube class taught by artist Dianna Shyne called "Freedom with Color" where she was offering another way to paint besides just matching the colors of the subject, so of course I signed up!

In the class, Dianna gave a great condensed explanation about the qualities of color, encompassing Hue, Value, Color temperature and Intensity which was a great refresher for me and very helpful for people who are new to making art.

What I absolutely loved was watching her painting demonstration where she took those qualities of color and made three completely different paintings using only her black and white photo, posted above, for reference.

Honestly, I had thought of trying this myself before this class, but was feeling like a bit of a 'fraidy cat, not knowing exactly how to start. It was freeing to watch her do it, it seemed completely do-able, especially if you only chose one color family to practice.

Next Dianna gave us the assignment to:

1. Choose a black and white photo, either hers or our own.

2. Paint a study in one color, matching the values in the photo.

3. Paint another study and play with color. 

All my values in place.

I started with a value sketch based on Dianne's reference photo. This always helps me to simplify shapes and decide where to place the darkest dark and lightest lights.

I was excited to try this for myself, but I admit, it was such a different way for me to think about choosing colors and the options were so wide open, it was a little overwhelming!
 

Sunrise

Thankfully, all that work I did playing with complimentary colors in my sketchbook came to the rescue, I had some experience on how they could work together, so I chose purple and yellow to start, with a little orange to warm things up. I began with imagining an early morning sunrise.

Winter stillness

For my second practice attempt, I chose blue and orange which is another complimentary pairing that I've had success with, all I needed to do was add was a bit of white. I had more of a wintry vibe in mind and I ended up really liking this one a lot.

Summer Evening

 Last, I decided to try adding some green to what I had learned from the other two paintings, secretly hoping I might come close to the original color photo, I couldn't give up all my color matching habits that quickly. :D

Eventually Dianna did allow us to see her original color photo, the sky has more purple and the water reflections are more pink, but overall I think I did surprisingly well!  

 I found this exercise so incredibly fascinating and helpful, it really made it clear to me that getting the values correct, the dark, light and middle tones in the right places, is truly more important than matching the colors of the subject exactly!

Ever since this class, I've been inspired to drop all the color out of my reference photos and practice painting how light or dark the subject is, not the exact color.

Here's an example from one of my sketchbook pages, with all four studies painted from the same black and white photo of one red pear. 

 

One pear, so many colors!

If you are wanting to experiment with the way you use color, I can definitely recommend trying this strategy.

Happy creating!

>^-^<

Tina

Stuck? Think small

 

Some of my favorites.

I have a confession to make, it used to take me several years to fill up a sketchbook because frankly, I didn’t use it that often.  

Having a sketchbook was a requirement back in my art school-college days, so of course I had one, but after college, I might sketch out a few ideas, but I was more likely to draw something directly on the canvas or paper and get straight to painting.

 

Early in 2019, I bought my first Canson Mix Media sketchbook and that little change helped shift my whole approach. The paper is sturdy enough to handle wet media like acrylic paint and sketch-wash pencils, so figuring out a value drawing felt more like painting than using regular pencils and I liked that, a lot.

I didn't realize the type of sketchbook I had was part of what was holding me back from the valuable skill of practicing!
 

Learning that I can make several small paintings in the same time it would take me to do one large painting, with very little risk, means less stress and more practice, and more practice is the best way to ease anxiety and gain confidence in making art. Plus, I can see which of my painting ideas are successful before attempting to paint them larger.

"Indian Paintbrush" - for Fred

I have wanted to do a series of paintings based around the flowers that are blooming in my garden, but it always took too long to do a full size painting, keep up with the season and everything else in my life that I need to do too.   

My solution this year, think small and practice in my sketchbook and don’t worry about larger paintings right now.

The crocus and miniature yellow daffodils are always the first to arrive in my little garden and so far I am pleased with these little 2.50 x 3.50 inch paintings that I can get done in around an hour and a half total time each. I often sketch out the design one day and paint the next. Hopefully, this time I will be able to keep up with the blooms this year.

If you find yourself stuck on a creative project that isn’t moving forward, perhaps try changing one small part of your usual way of doing things and get those wheels rolling again.

Happy creating!

>^-^<

Tina

p.s. No, I'm not getting any perks or money for mentioning Canson brand, it's just the type of sketchbook that suits me best right now. I was genuinely surprised how that one small change made such a difference for me.