Bought the wrong window cling last week...

I'm not ready

At 9:00 p.m. tonight it's supposed to begin snowing, and the weatherman says over the next two days we'll get nine inches of snow.

Suckitude.

Portrait Process

Cele once asked me to describe for her my art process, and I figured this graphite portrait of my niece would be a good place to do so. I had to remember to take photos as I went, so that I could successfully show what I do to get a finished portrait from a blank piece of paper.

First, I have to either be inspired by an image or create an image I imagine in my head. I've only once created art from my imagination that I didn't use a reference photo for. If I want a portrait to turn out well, the reference photo has to be good and inspire excitement in me. I prefer to take my own reference photos, and so that's what I did when my brother-in-law called to commission me. He got the girls ready and I went over with my camera and we had a little photo shoot out in the back yard. :) Then we headed indoors to upload the photos and choose which one(s) were best, which we narrowed down to one favorite from each girl. Here is the one we chose for T:


We printed the chosen photos, then I took them home and got my drawing paper out and taped it to my drawing board. I measured my drawing to fit the frame and mat that we had chosen. Using the lightest (hardest) pencil I have (2H), I lightly drew in the outline of her face, measuring for proportion constantly as I went. Sometimes I have a direct size match from the photo to my drawing, as happened with this portrait. I freehand the drawing either way. I do draw one line through the center of the drawing horizontally and one vertically, so that I can verify that my proportions and dimensions are accurate. Some artists use a full grid system, but I don't have the patience for that much work, and they risk being unable to successfully erase the grid once they're done.


Since I'm right-handed, I tend to draw left to right to avoid smudging and smearing, which is a real risk when drawing on a board in my lap. Once I'm confident that my drawing is sound and is proportioned right, I begin shading in the background and face. I use a 2B pencil almost primarily for this stage of the drawing, unless the background or hair or clothes are black, then I'll use a softer, darker lead size like 4B or 6B.

I continue until I have finished, which I clean up using my kneadable eraser, and I sign it, then spray using a fixative varnish spray to prevent smudging. After it dries for a night, I frame it in the cheap frames I can afford. Sometimes the person who commissioned me has it professionally framed.



My beautiful niece, T.

Q&A - Art Questions

My friend Mark asks a ton of questions: "I am so jealous of your artistic talents. Was this something that you learned? Or were you born with this gift? Did you take art classes? Who influenced you? Were you the best at drawing in kindergarden? Have you ever finished an art project and then said "This turned out like crap?" What is your favorite art piece?
Does art require perfection? Do you have a favorite color? What is your favorite medium? Have you ever sketched a nude? Have you ever sketched in the nude? Have you ever done a self portrait? Have you ever done a nude self portrait? lol"

I loved art classes and drawing and creating things in elementary school and junior high, but it wasn't until I was in 9th grade that I took chorus and found that my discomfort at singing solos for my grade in class was bringing my grade down. So I switched to Art 1 and discovered that I could draw and paint quite well compared with the others in my class. It was something I never knew about myself, not really. It really gives me a sense of self-worth and joy that I thrive on.

I don't recall being the best at art in elementary school, but I do recall sitting in my fourth grade class with a classmate named Blossom who could draw these cartoon-like, stylish women in high heels and I longed to draw like that. So I'd doodle pages and pages of women: hands, feet in high heels, noses, eyes, lips. All from different angles until they looked right. Then I'd draw pages and pages of women. To this day, figurative art is my favorite and what draws my passion the most. In all my art from childhood that my mom saved for me, I drew women.

Anyhow, the only formal instruction I've had is in high school from one teacher, Mr. Cottrell. He was a western-type artist who loved doing nature and wildlife art. He taught me all I know and the rest I'm learning as I go. :) I'd say he influenced me the most of anyone in my art, because he taught me skills that help refine the talent I was born with.

Recently my brother-in-law commissioned me to draw his three daughters for my sister for their anniversary. While art does NOT require perfection, and sometimes mistakes are made that actually make the art better than I had planned first, with portraiture there is a bit of perfection required or else it won't look like the person I'm trying to draw. This happened with my second of the three. Halfway through, I realized this drawing is not looking like her, and I felt the need to give up and start fresh with one of my other nieces before I totally ruined it. I may go back and try to salvage what I started...but for now, that was one piece that just isn't turning out like I had hoped. That hasn't happened to me in awhile. Sometimes art that I'm creating just for myself turns out like crap, and I don't end up hanging it. I have a few canvases in my bedroom now that will end up in the garbage soon, once I get around to sorting through it all. :) (I'll post another blog post right after this one, to showcase my portrait process for Cele (since she asked so nicely) and show you what's kept me so busy lately that I haven't blogged very regularly).

I don't have a favorite art piece of my own (I tend to like them all), but the three portraits I'm working on are looking to be some of my best portraits so far. I don't have any one favorite art piece that I can point to, but I do have some I'm more proud of than others. I hope to take photos of some of them to share here on my blog. You can see some I'm proud of in my blogroll under "My Art" if you've never seen any of my stuff.

My favorite color is green, but I'm really a fan of all colors. My favorite medium for portraiture is graphite pencil (so I can erase when needed!). My favorite medium varies from project to project, depending on what style or look I'm going for. Some pieces of art scream "pastels" or "charcoal" or "oil paints" or "acrylics" and I listen to that or else it simply doesn't turn out well.

I have never "sketched" a nude, but have drawn one nude using a painting by Jeremy Lipking (God, he's so good) as my reference. I used a black pastel pencil and drew her and then gifted it to my sister Kate. Don't have a good photo of that drawing. I would love to take a drawing class with nude live models someday. I actually need to take that to grow as a figurative artist. I have never drawn in the nude. I probably never will, because I tend to get cold too easily, which makes me less likely to draw well. I can't recall drawing or painting a self-portrait of my face. I have tried a few times and let me tell you, it's very difficult to do.

Thanks for all the questions about my art, Mark. Someday I'd love to do more art. I have portraits from now til Christmas, then I hope to work on some ideas I've had rolling around in my subconcious for awhile.

laughing

~We interrupt the regularly scheduled Q&A session to share something funny I just did.~

I was emailing someone about work, and I caught my typo just in time:

I have a big pile of male to process here as well.

I WISH.
*fanning myself*

Q & A - MyTop 10 Best Moments in Life, and Why

Wry asked, “What's your top 10 Best Moments in Life, and why?”

I’ve been mulling this over ever since you asked it, and I’m not sure if I can limit myself to just ten best moments, but I’ll give it a go here. So, in no particular order, here are some of the Best Moments in my Life, and why.

~The birth of my son. He was my first child in my life, and I felt an immediate bond with him from the time I knew I was pregnant, even though the discovery itself was traumatic ~ because I was a single, Mormon girl at BYU, and unwed pregnancy is grounds for being kicked out. But he is one of the top blessings in my life, and always has been.

~Getting a beautiful step-daughter upon marrying her father. She is such a beautiful person, inside and out, and I will always consider her my daughter. She was seven when we married, and she has been such a joy to have in my life. She is one of those people who makes others feel good to be near her, and I love her dearly. She is someone I hope finds the greatest happiness in her life, because she deserves it.

~The birth of my youngest daughter. She is a sweet and special girl to me. She has a tender heart and is sensitive and creative in many ways that amaze me at times. She has hidden talents that I hope she discovers and develops as she grows older. I hope she always dances to her own tune, like she does now.

~The time I was in high school and heard the announcement over the intercom that anyone interested in being a foreign exchange student should attend the parents meeting at 7:00 pm that night. My heart started beating hard, and I knew immediately I never wanted anything more than I wanted to be an exchange student. I hadn’t even thought of it before that moment. That day after school, I approached my mom, and although I could tell she felt somewhat hopeless about the possibility of me ever being able to do something like that due to how poor we were, she attended that meeting with me. Her willingness to come with me showed me so many things about my mom that day: 1. she loved me enough to take time out of her busy life to look into something she knew was important to me; 2. she believed in me when I said I’d work hard and do everything in my power to pay for the trip myself; 3. she backed me up in my dream when the easiest thing would have been to simply say there’s no way in hell it would work. That day changed my life, because I was determined and got accepted into the program, and I got a scholarship to go, and worked full time for over a year to save up to spend a year in Austria…which brings me to…

~The year I was an exchange student in Austria at age 18. It was my first flight on a plane, and my first view of the world beyond the Western United States. I could write for a full week and still not be able to list all the reasons that trip was great for me in my life. I had a wonderful host family who love me like their own, and the trip was a huge and unexpected gift in my life. I think it helped shape me into who I am, and helped me be more open-minded about other cultures and helped me to embrace the differences that can be found in others and celebrate the beauty found in true friendship with others.

~My trip to Paris last November, which was daring and huge for me to do at that particular time in my life. I loved Paris, and meeting my blog friends there was a priceless gift to myself. I still totally need to blog about Paris more, and will soon, I promise. I have made friends for life from that trip, and will always consider it one of the best moments in my life for that reason alone. The food, scenery, and art were great too.

~Getting a B in chorus class in 9th grade (due to my loathing of singing solos in class for a grade). This threw my grade point average down (a tiny bit, but enough to bother me at the time) enough to make me switch to Art 1 class to fulfill my visual/performing arts elective requirement. There, I discovered my true love of art, and the fact I’m good at it. This really helped shape my sense of self-worth, something that had been sadly lacking in my life before then.

~Winning the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Summer Seminar art scholarship the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school. I got to take a 22 hour Greyhound bus ride to Colorado College in Colorado Springs and study art in a college setting with 23 other kids from a 6-state region for two weeks. It was wonderful, and also did wonders for my confidence and sense of self. It made me love doing art even more. I learned there about how mistakes in art can sometimes be a surprise that works for the finished product. My brother has the purple chair painting with drips I’m talking about.

~Googling my way out of the Mormon religion. The religion played such a huge role in shaping me into the woman I had become for so many years. Allowing myself to finally look with open and clear eyes at what I had become and what my life was like AND WHY was absolutely key in shedding those things in my life that were harming me on a very basic level. It caused me to start blogging, something that also has been huge in my finding myself and discovering a support group of friends that are priceless to me. I also value the creativity that I’ve tapped within myself as I’ve broadened my mind and discovered that I have a voice and something valid to say.

~Finding my very best friend in this world. I had never before then felt so accepted for who I am. I am completely changed because of it. I feel like I can do anything I set my mind on with the priceless support and encouragement I get from this person. I am valued and loved and appreciated. I feel safe to love myself now, and this frees me to love others fully. What a rare and precious gift. Mein Schatz.

~Standing on the beach in Hawaii. The ocean speaks to my soul. It moves me powerfully. I could watch the ocean forever.

I have many other Best Moments in Life, but I’ll save them for another blog post, as this one is pretty long already. Thanks for the great question, Wry. I’m going to try to use this lighter week or two to answer more of the questions I've been given. Wish me luck!