A few fish

Throughout college, my goldfish tank provided an endless supply of inspiration for mindless sketching. I loved watching my fat little Oranda Peaches and her Ranchu buddy Max bumble about the tank in search of alge or a lost flake of food. I owe many of my 100-level art class assignments to their antics.

I no longer have the vast fish tank I once had, but I still love to paint fish when I can find them!

I hope everyone is having a nice start to the holiday season! I've got a few cards left to mail, some cookies that need baked and of course a ton of unwrapped presents to attend to - but I'll get there. More coffee!!

A Postcard for a Good Cause

I sent in my watercolor piece for the Fowler Art Collective; Year Two Postcard Exhibit on Friday.

My postcard will be up with others for sale at the event on December 7th - with 25% of the profits generated going to NYFA's emergency relief fund for Hurricane Sandy.

The show looks to be a great event, I just wish I could make it up to New York to see it. If anyone finds themselves in the vicinity, let me know how it was!

Paintings from magazines

I love my Tuesday night watercolor workshop.
Here are a few paintings from our last session, all painted fairly quickly from random magazine clippings.

It's been a very long while since I've painted people in a non-digital setting, so I was a bit unsure at the start of the exercise. But I'm happy with how they turned out and have been collecting images all day that I might be able to use to make a few more tonight :)

Swan Sketch

Had a free moment today after dinner (soy cabbage rolls - yay) and decided to sketch out a swan.

I did this particular quick painting on ancient, really cheap watercolor paper, and it shows. Sadly, the whole page is super warped which doesn't lend itself to being scanned too well. I haven't had much luck flattening it with any of my normal methods, perhaps I'll try ironing it? Running over it in my car? (I joke, I joke)

In other news, I'm about to get my first canvas print created! I was approached by an awesome guy who would like my Gotye and Kimbra painting printed on a giant, 20 x 25 canvas. After many days of research I settled on a local printer to produce the piece and I am finalizing everything with them tomorrow. I can't wait to see the final product!
Pictures will definitely follow :)

Little Blue Flowers

Last summer I remember hiking around the Flat Irons in Colorado and coming upon a man who was painting along the base of one of the trails. He had his work laid out on the ground around him, some for sale and some just to dry out. I watched him work for a while (as long as my friends were patient for!) and was entranced by his technique.

In one flick of his fat bamboo brush, he laid out an entire patch of trees, or one blade of grass. His whole arm moved in sweeping gestures, splattering water and paint in a way that made the clouds appear in one flash of the brush. It was dance and it was beautiful.

I've always been interested in learning more about this asian-influenced method of painting, (generally associated with bamboo and cherry blossom paintings). But it wasn't until I started taking classes at the ArtCenter here in Miami that I felt I might be starting to grasp the seriousness of that endeavor. Learning from those who had spent time in China and Japan working under the masters of that type of painting has been an eye-opener. Hearing about the rigidity of their instruction, the countless hours in repetition of key forms to learn to create in that style has been really, really interesting. I know I certainly wouldn't have the fortitude for that kind of strict education, so I'll try to gobble up any bits of knowledge I can while here.

I did this little painting last week attempting to work from my (admittedly very small) knowledge base of asian-styled brushwork.

So much learn, so few hours in a day!

Friday updates!

Fall is descending upon us quickly, which is awesome. I live in the wrong state to really enjoy the fullness of the autumn season, but thanks to the fall line of candles from Bath and Body Works I am able to at least smell some of it. I've burnt through two pumpkin candles already. And it's not even September yet....

I tend to feel more energized, more industrious and therefore more productive as fall draws closer. I have to believe it has something to do with the feeling of starting school. 16 years of looking forward to the fall (I loved school) seems to be rather ingrained in my head.
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I'm still kinda spread out between multiple projects, although each one is nearly wrapped up. I've finished a small english/macedonian number book for our friends who just had baby. It was a major departure from what I usually do, as it was super cartoony. Very fun project though.

And I've started attending another watercolor workshop on the beach. Small class, great instructor, very excited for the outcome. We had a model come in during the first session, which was a really great way to just dive right in.

I know what you are thinking.
"Wait, is that a picture on this blog NOT taken by a phone?"
Yep, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a scanner. (A real scanner, as opposed to the document scanner we have for office purposes.) I am still calibrating the color output and tweaking all the individual settings, but I love this machine. Will be eating ramen for another two weeks to make up for the cost but I think it will be worth it. And hopefully soon, I should be able to start creating quality prints of some of my recent work :)

Step-by-Step Bluebirds

I've been working pretty steadily on the new website recently, but took a short break today to do a painting of a few bluebirds. AND I actually remembered to take mid-process pictures too, the coffee must be working today.

Pen drawing over a light a pencil sketch.

Starting to fill in with watercolors. A lot of the drippy grayish tones are actually just the pen ink as it runs. It typically dries really nicely, usually separated into blues and reds. I love, love, love that randomness.

Finished!

On another note, the show here on Miami Beach has been confirmed! Sept 20th I'll have 2 or 3 pieces exhibiting at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens!*(jumps for joy)* There will be a bunch of us attending the opening reception and I can't wait, should be a great time.

And back to the website redesign :)

Pigeons and Busy-ness.

Summer is positively flying by.

I've been out and about for the majority of the season, making stops in San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Canada, and most recently France. With travel and my work, its safe to say I've had a bit of difficulty keeping this space updated.

I'd like to say we didn't have internet, or I forgot my computer... but the truth is I was completely consumed with my watercolor work. If not outside adventuring at one of our destinations, I've been hunched over papers of varying size painting into the night.

If I'm not playing with my watercolors, I've been redesigning my website to showcase more of my recent work. Which... as I am not at all a web-person is a very, very time consuming task. Thankfully, I've got a host of web-people I can turn to for help, but I'd like to get the bulk of it done myself. We'll see how well that actually works out.
Then its a blog redesign, store update... the whole shebang is up for a revamp.

As for news, I've got a few pieces in shows, and some other exciting things on the horizon keeping me fairly well occupied.

- August 16th; Brooklyn, Self-Portrait Project Stop by if you find yourself in Brooklyn, its free and should be a good time!

- Rumors of a possible Sept 20th show here in Miami Beach. More information to follow!

Other than that, I'm trying to put off downloading Dawnguard... I'm already busy, Skyrim DLC isn't going to help my schedule one iota. It's getting harder and harder to resist however :)

I'll leave this post with a fond reminder of our time in Paris these last few weeks... Pigeons. Everywhere. Big ones too, we had a few outside our window that sounded like bobcats.

Watercolor sketch cards

I've been taking part in a watercolor workshop at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens on Tuesday mornings. Apart from getting up at the crack of dawn to bike there it's been a fantastic session. Our professor is seriously top-notch, one of those instructors that really sees into the work you are creating.

Tomorrow is the last meeting, so we are all bringing little watercolors for the rest of the class to take home with them.

Here are a few of mine;









Still happily stuck on the fountain pen :) This particular brand of ink (super cheap, therefore incredibly non-waterproof) creates some really interesting results when mixed with the watercolor. Probably not archival in the least bit, but I'll be sure to scan them before taking them to class tomorrow.

Beetle watercolor sketch

This beetle was from my Fall 2011 sketchbook. It was originally intended as a study for a acrylic painting on wood to test a new epoxy-resin, but that painting never materialized. And I still haven't tested out the resin.

In other news, instagram was unveiled for android this week. It makes me very happy.

Whirlwind Summer...

What? It's mid-July?? I have no idea where spring even went and it's already halfway through summer?

We've been in Colorado for about 3 weeks and though we have been super busy, it has been a wonderful time. The vibe out is here is fantastic and I could see myself living here, no problem.

As our level of busy-ness with our current project is at about 11 (on a scale of 1 - 10) I have not gotten much chance to paint. I am knee-deep in a pretty emotional portrait, but being surrounded by the scenery here I am finding it hard to focus on the face. Good thing I packed my seldom used watercolors!

I've decided to step back from the portrait (even though I enjoy it) and focus on where my attention seems to be constantly drifting. To the Mountains! The Flatirons, to be exact. I've been carting my watercolors and a convenient pack of postcard sized paper to the park across our street and have been trying my best to practice landscapes. Landscape work has always been a stretch for me, but I am finding the super small format keeps me from getting frustrated and encourages me to move quickly.

I also want to start painting the more interesting beer bottles I have started collecting. There are tons of local, delicious (and cheap!) breweries in this area, which results in some pretty nifty beer bottle designs. I'm hoping to do one each weekend :) Drinking beer, for art!