scribblings !
The online journal of a passionate artist, writer and educator.
UNCLE!
There is an old saying: "Some days you eat the dragon and some days the dragon eats you."
Well, I give. I'm yelling "Uncle!" We are abandoning the blog idea. It is not all I hoped it would be. My hosting service won't allow my own on this hosting program, an imported blog in an IFrame is just visually icky, and I'm too much of a perfectionist to settle. Sigh. At least we got the newsletter sign-up going and you'll have to keep emailing me if you want to respond. I can live with that!
One quick note: My workshop- Fur, Feathers and Animal Features - is this Sunday, Feb 3 at the Bellevue Daniel Smith store. Call them to see if there is an available space. I'm rotating this workshop out for a while since I've given it there about 4 times, so it is the last opportunity for quite some time.
Hope your day finds you happy and healthy and painting with all your heart!
January 31, 2008
Art Projects in Acrylic, Pastel, Watercolor and the Internet
I know. I know. I promised a reference photo for the pastel/watercolor demos at Daniel Smith tomorrow. Life happens. I'm going to bring a variety of things with me... a floral, a landscape and maybe a bird...or.... You will have to be surprised on this one. :)
 To the left is the pastel/watercolor on Wallis paper currently hanging in Daniel Smith Bellingham. (Excuse the incandescent lighting I used for the photo. It made everything more yellow.) Below is Pastel/Watercolor hanging in Daniel Smith Seattle.
 In spite of all of the deadlines and pressures this week, I took one day and painted a project just for me. Remember that box I bought for my pastels after dumping them last month? Well, it got a fun acrylic paint job and is waiting for a coat or two of polyurethane to finish.
The internet project is coming along. The look will be similar to what you see here with a little less width for the blog and a search function. We are moving toward a dialog!
January 25, 2008
Another Wolf Painting Report
 I worked on the wolf painting another two hours yesterday, much of it adding more color washes and texture on the fallen log in the foreground.
The closer wolf is taking shape as I round out the form and work on the fur.
Total time thus far: 14 hours.
January 22, 2008
Watercolor/Pastel and This Week in Art
"I feel very sorry for the person who can't get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile." Walter Chrysler
Thinking... thinking. I've got watercolor/pastel classes this coming weekend and I'm looking for reference photos again today. I'll post my decision in the next couple of days.
The plan is to get the wolf completed over the next couple of weeks so I will have it to take along to the Bellevue workshop on February 3rd. I don't know if there is space left, but you want to attend, you can contact the Daniel Smith store in Bellevue to find out.
Also, today, there are some paintings to deliver for a private showing, which is why I'm up at 4:30 in the morning!
And, for the record: I love my work!
January 21, 2008
Wolf Painting Progress
 Two more hours of painting and I've gotten here.
Another couple of saturated washes on the background have brought more color and a deeper value.
I've continued to work on the fur on both wolves, establishing more of the form of the forward wolf.
Finally, I placed the first wash on the foreground.
New today:
I've added a cross-post I had also placed on an art forum called "Fantastic Palette Tip" on the artist stuff! page and updated the page with clickable navigation to make finding your way around the page easier.
January 17, 2008
"I Will"
"'I will' is more important that IQ" Marva Collins
Determination is king in life. Whether in my own work as an artist and writer, or in the lives of others I've observed, determination plays the most prominent roll in achievement.
Taking a page from the the great educator, Marva Collins, I tell my students: "Change 'I can't' to 'I can and I will!'"
New today:
On artist stuff! is a list of suggestions for colorblind artists. Note that the suggestions are also helpful for any artist.
January 17, 2008
More Wolf Progress
 Another 2 hours of work and here is how the painting looks.
I've intensified the background in some areas to establish the neck of the wolf on the right and have begun knocking out the background light by glazing with more saturated color.
More work has also gone into the ears and fur. Total time into this painting so far: 10 hours.
January15, 2008
Wolf Progress
The demos this weekend were such fun! It was fabulous seeing so many old friends among the sea of new faces. For those of you who were at the demos, you can see I’ve done a bit more on the wolves since you were there.
I plan to post the progress as I go along so you can watch. One note: Nothing in the painting as you see it below is finished yet.
 Progress to date:
4 hours of drawing before the demo.
2 hours of painting during the demos: Initial underpainting, intensified some of the background along the neck of the left wolf to show how to get the soft fur/background transition, beginning of the fur with a discussion of random strokes, beginning the eyes.
2 hours since: More work on the fur, eyes, and background under throat edge of left wolf, and beginning the noses.
Total time so far: 8 hours
January 14, 2008
Wolf Drawing
 Here is the progress I've made today on the drawing for the wolf painting. As you can see, it's not finished, but coming along.
The paper is a full sheet of Arches 300 lb cold press, one of my favorites. It is heavy enough that it doesn't need stretching and provides the perfect surface for a grisaille drawing like this.
January 9, 2008
What to Paint
It’s one of those days where the “big blank white” stares back at me daring me to begin. Are you ever there? Have you had times when it seems like there are either no ideas or too many?
I seldom lack ideas. In fact, to find myself there, I have to be totally stressed or completely exhausted. Most of the time, I experience the opposite extreme: The jumble of ideas competes for my attention and I can’t settle on just one.
Today, that jumble had me sorting through countless files of reference photographs. I want to paint that oil of the Don Cesar that has been swimming around my mind since the visit last summer. And the thought of another pastel of roses has my fingers itching. Then there is that painting of horses along a fence from our trip to Wyoming I simply *must* get to… and… and…
 The wolves won out today as I have a private lesson and a couple of demos on Fur, Feathers and Animal Features in watercolor this weekend. Tomorrow, I begin the drawing!
January 8, 2008
The Giclee Process
At the risk of “arousing the wrath of the great and powerful Oz” and branding myself a heretic within the art community, I want to make an observation:
Care should be taken in the use of the term “giclee”. The mystique surrounding this derivation of the French word “gicler”, meaning “to spray”, allows some to attach ridiculous claims about long-term value to fine art prints. In other words, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." Students in my art workshops as well as the general public are confused about this word and the process it represents.
All inkjet printers use a “to spray” process. Some use archival inks and are capable of printing on fine art papers, yielding a fine art print. Others do not and cannot. I happen to own a large “giclee” printer that cost me more than my first new car. Its archival inks are staggeringly expensive.
The quality of giclee prints can be fantastic when the process is overseen by a capable artist and can far exceed the older printing processes for many fine art prints. While the prints are far more time consuming and expensive to produce than offset prints, it bothers me that art buyers are led to believe a giclee print is more valuable and unique than a similar reproduction using the same materials and expertise but not bearing the name. A rose by any other name...
Rant over and back to work!
January 7, 2008
The Indispensable Trio
 My idea notebook is indispensable and has gotten mention both here and on a writer’s group to which I belong.
This is a photo of it and its companions. These three small moleskins go with me everywhere. Their titles are: Ideas and Inspiration; Plans, Goals and Actions; and Sketchbook.
I’ve written the title and my name on each in calligraphy using acrylic ink and a dip pen.
New today:
Absolutely nothing except gravity is turned up around my house. We've managed to break a lamp, tip over a shelf holding a potted plant--dirt everywhere (!), and pour ham all over the kitchen floor.
Maybe tomorrow will be better.
January 4, 2008
My Favorite Palette
To the right is my favorite watercolor palette... as clean as it ever gets. It was so awful this morning, I ran it under the kitchen faucet.
Some of you may be wondering what kind of palette this is. It is an authentic butcher's tray, the kind you can't find any more except in antique shops. This one is perfectly flat and provides a fabulous mixing surface. It has never been without some paint on it since I squeezed that first smooshy, wonderful color onto its enameled surface almost 24 years ago.
New today:
Something you can't see: We are getting some outside help with this website. Yippeeeee! Hurrah! Dancing about and waving of hands!
Soon you will be able to respond on what will be a blog instead of an online journal, taking this from a one-way conversation to a dialog about art, writing, and other creative pursuits.
And the sweet gal who is helping assures me she can make the newsletter sign-up work. Wow. Now that impresses me.
January 3, 2008
The Artist's Work
"The work of a man is the explanation of the man." Paul Gauguin
 I can be seen in my work and so can you. Our values, passions and character reveal themselves in what we produce.
Someone recently remarked about leaving footprints wherever we walk. My work represents some of mine.
New today:
See artist stuff! for a short list of professional associations for artists. I'll keep adding to these over time...
January 2, 2008
A New Year
Each new day holds unknown possibilities. As I peer into a whole fresh year, I delight in the new friends to be found and old friends to be enjoyed, the opportunities to be explored, and whisperings of things to come.
My goals for this year include:
...keeping on top of Quick Books (my least favorite business task),
...keeping my workspace better organized (hahahahaha),
and getting those videos into production.
I would love to hear about your plans, resolutions and aspirations for this year. Share them by emailing me.
 A small quick charcoal and pastel sketch graces my workspace today. It’s nothing special, an image from my head placed on paper as a quick exercise.
New today:
December's journal has become the most recent member of the blog archive. See the column to the right.
January 1, 2008
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