A Stroke of Joy

E: Easels, Envelopes, & Empowerment

2012-01-17T12:58:00.004-05:00

I don't feel particularly inspired or motivated today, which may be why I haven't convinced myself to include an image to this post. Although, it would probably be good of me to do so, considering this is an art blog. And yet, here I am, not feeling up to drawing or painting or designing. The ideas are there, but the act of bringing them out is being stifled by the little sleep I got last night and the full health that continues to elude me (Ooooo... There's an "E" word I love the sound of: elude. Elusive. Eluding. Hm... the reason for why I like this word eludes me at the moment.).

Easels... I love my table-top easel. It was a loyal friend that accompanied me on so many sleepless, college nights in the studio. And it continues to aid me with my small, painting projects. I also own a few standing easels. But, until my most recent commission, I had little use for one. Most of my paintings are small and do not require I standing easel. I am so glad I have both kinds on hand though. And easel is definitely an artist's ally.

Envelopes... I really cannot tell you what it is I love about stationary, but the more I design it for weddings, the more I am amazed at the plethora of options there are. The envelopes are my favorite part. Sizes, shapes, colors... all can be so different. You can have outer envelopes and inner envelopes, reply envelopes, envelopes with pockets, envelopes with belly bands and wax seals and stickers... the choices are limitless.

Anyway, as far as things happening right now in my life go, I'd have to say 2012 has been rather uneventful thus far. However, I have been excited for all the possibilities this year has to offer. So many things going on in the world already, like National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, which I have been announcing in the streets! And by "streets" I mean Facebook.

It is amazing to me how much your life can change when you simply know something that you didn't know before. In my case, it started out with food. I learned about the atrocities in the food industry and about the benefits of cooking at home and buying organic as much as possible. That knowledge paved the way for a new lifestyle for both me and my husband, and the family we may one day start.

Then followed the knowledge of how much of our life is touched by slavery. The food we eat, the clothes we buy (chocolate, sugar, shoes, pants, shirts, bananas, etc.). The knowledge of such things allows us to be informed when making purchases, but knowledge like this also empowers us to do something to help those who are being exploited in the first place.

Knowledge, as they say, is power. If we do not strive to be informed on the decisions we make, we will continue to live in the comfortable ignorance that allows those in control to decide the futures of those with a voice and those without a voice. You do not always need to use your voice to benefit yourself. Sometimes you just need to lend your voice to those who have none.

D: Double Indemnity and Design

2012-01-05T15:06:00.006-05:00

The last few months, as I've said, have included a lot of various things on my plate. Many of which have been art-related. The above image was a voluntary illustration I did for The Dark Pages, a bi-monthly newsletter put out by a group of film noir lovers. I was introduced to it by one of the customers at the grocery store where I work. He is one of the contributing writers of the newsletter. He said that it would be wonderful to have some good talent contributing to it in the area of artwork, and that although I wouldn't be paid, it might be a way for me to get some exposure. This illustration was the result: acrylic ink on illustration board. It was inspired by the film, Double Indemnity, which was the newsletter group's film of choice for the issue.

While I enjoyed the film and a chance to get my name out there, after seeing the printed issue in person, I'd have to say I was not thrilled. I just felt like the print quality of all the included images was lacking, and the overall design and layout out the newsletter itself was static and un-intriguing. My illustration, while neat to see in a magazine-like context, was washed-out looking. Overall, while fun to contribute to something like this, I feel it will not be truly conducive to showing the world what I'm made of as an artist. It just didn't do my artwork justice, nor did I get the feeling that people might actually see it. But, at least I got a nice little illustration out of all this.

Also... I've been designing wedding invitations for friends and family. I have been developing a deeper love for design throughout the process. The other night, I actually had some time to myself. When I didn't have the option of working on other commissions or priorities, I grabbed the laptop and started designing a sample wedding. I want to eventually do more of this so that I can have samples to show brides and grooms. I enjoyed picking out a theme of color and subject matter for this "playtime" of mine. Maybe, at some point, I'll even put together a live sample of these designs in action. Who doesn't like butterflies, anyway?

C: Celebrating...?

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

I had major plans for the letter C. But the last 3 months (I could even say the last year and a half) have been rather... how shall I put it... chaotic. In the midst of youth ministry, art ministry, work, wedding commissions, promotional illustrations, the holidays, and the like, I have found very little time for myself. Little time to enjoy my own creative passions. Little time to read. Little time to even socialize much with friends outside of business-like settings. Blogging, especially, has taken the farthest backseat possible to the rest of life's priorities.

You should know that I desperately wanted to create a charcoal piece for this post, as it is one of my favorite mediums. I may have even chosen clouds as my subject matter, for they are another favorite "C" of mine. However, with the New Year soon approaching (about 25 minutes to go), I felt it time to move ahead with this alphabet thing. So here are some New Year's goals, alongs with some favorite C's.

New Year's Goals:

1. Put less on my plate so that I can enjoy life once in a while, not just stress myself through it.
2. Try to make homemade paper (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).
3. Finish my still life (I started it in September... it's seriously gathering dust now).
4. Look into the professional benefits of having a Twitter account (I have been avoiding the idea all together, but am questioning lately if it would be a useful networking tool).
5. Start exploring more useful, homemade craft ideas.
6. Do the small, personal commission I was given earlier this year.
7. Read the whole Bible in a year (this is the hardest one ever...).
8. Work with paper mache again.
9. Create more wedding stationary samples to show future clients.
10. Read all the books that people have let me borrow!

Favorite C's:

- Clouds
- Charcoal
- Christmas
- Cheese
- Creativity
- Cooking
- Craft Stores
- Celebrations
- COLOR!!!

Back to B for a Bit

2011-10-18T13:53:00.002-04:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had made vegan chocolate cupcakes, but did not include the recipe. They were just as tasty as any cupcake with eggs or dairy would be. The only thing I did not make was the frosting, so they were not completely vegan in the end. But the cake recipe is completely vegan. My favorite part about this recipe is that it is simple and uses ingredients you probably have on hand all the time, so you really can make them whenever you feel like it.

To be honest, I forget which website I found this on. But they were all basically the same as far as ingredients go. I actually sort of combined two recipes in the end. This was originally for cake, so I had to refer to another recipe to determine the baking time and the like.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

1-1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil (the original calls for vegetable oil, but that stuff is no good for you so I used safflower oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
1 cup water

Pretty straight forward here. Preheat to 350 F. Mix together the dry ingredients first. Then add in the wet ingredients. Mix it all together. Line your muffin pan with baking cups, pour in the batter, and bake for 20-25 minutes.

As for the frosting, you can use anything really. You can make it from scratch, which is easy since it's usually just powdered sugar and milk or something simple like that. Or you can buy your favorite kind. Whether you are vegan or not, these cupcake are easy to make and even better to enjoy.

B: Blogging and Baking

2011-10-17T18:15:00.000-04:00

The Blog:

I'm one of those artists who gets bored easily with what I'm working on, or what I've already done. And, unless I am officially sold on something, whether it be the title of this blog or the overall look of my web presence in general, I will mull over it until it feels right. Sometimes I give it a week to decide if it stays or goes; sometimes it takes me longer (usually the simple issue of a busy schedule).

Anyway, it was time for a change. The overall look and layout of this blog had been driving me mad for quite a while. And, while I've been changing it off and on, nothing had quite satisfied me visually. So, today I finally got a chance to mess around with Blogger and to create new designs in Illustrator. Not only am I pleased the simple, clean, new header, but I'm glad I was able to use my own design. I hadn't had time before to work this out, and so I'd been using the pre-made templates. You can only customize those so much, and sometimes it's still not quite right. I have yet to learn the html tricks that will allow me to customize the side bars to my liking, but that will have to wait/

I also changed the title from "The Colors of Joy" to "A Stroke of Joy." Who knows... maybe it will change again, but for now, at least, I just like this better. Sort of the play on words I'd originally wanted when I started this blog, and it reflects my interest in fine art as well as design. I think I will be more likely to update this blog, now that I can tolerate the new layout.

The Baking:

I decided last night that it was time to start getting rid of my cocoa powder, so I made some chocolate cupcakes (they happened to be vegan and were delicious). I want to start buying ethically sourced ingredients, especially chocolate. But, rather than toss all of the possible, unethically sourced items I've already ignorantly purchased, I will just try to hurry through it, so as not to cause any child slave to have worked in vein all the more.

I love baking. Especially with chocolate. But since my recent discovery of slavery in the cocoa industry, I can no longer go through life and think of chocolate the way I used to. I cannot eat chocolate, bake with it, or buy it... unless I know that it has been ethically sourced. That means the cocoa farmers get paid what they deserve, and, therefore, can sustain themselves without the work of slaves.

If you are reading this, if you believe in freedom for all people, and if you truly desire to make the world a better place... let this knowledge change your life with the hope that it may benefit the lives of those being oppressed. The cocoa industry thrives at the expense of many innocent people. Namely, children. Children who are manipulated into slavery, who are kidnapped from other countries and brought to work the cocoa plantations until they die, or are killed because they are too weak to work. These kids are the same ages as the ones who go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween, filling their bags with chocolate goodies. The saddest difference, besides the obvious one, is that the kids working the cocoa fields have no idea what chocolate even is or what it tastes like. They have no idea where the cocoa goes, or that it's used to make the delicious treats we enjoy.

Do not buy Hershey's products... or Nestle or Mars/M&M or Cadbury products. In fact, you should look up every brand you know and love, and discover what's really in your chocolate. But chocolate lovers, fear not. There is chocolate out there that IS ethically sourced. It might be a little more expensive, but it's worth it to support this cause.

If you are at a loss for what company might be good, Green&Black can be found at most major grocery stores. It's a good place to start and they make good chocolate.

Other favorite B's:

- Books
- Birds
- Bed
- the color Blue
- Brushing my teeth
- Blankets
- the color Brown
- Brainstorming
- the color Black
- Bold lines
- Ball point pens
- Bumble Bees (the cute, fuzzy little guys)
- The Bible

An Alphabet Adventure: Anniversary

2011-10-03T12:51:00.004-04:00

Two years ago today, Adam and I began our new life together as husband and wife. While we don't have anything special planned for this day in particular (I'm sick, Adam is at work, and there are many errands to run later), I thought it would be the perfect day to start another new adventure as an artist. And so, today begins my first ever alphabet undertaking.

I have been picking away here and there at various things over these past two years, some art-related, some not. I am inspired to do so many things, and yet I hardly have the time to do them. So, I thought a simple alphabet series would not only inspire me with each letter, but that perhaps it would also help me feel like I'm accomplishing something, one step at a time.

The photos above are from our wedding and honeymoon. Being the artist that I am, I made sure we took a picture of the three distinctly different colored trees, located outside the Yankee Candle in MA. Mmmm... nature's palette!

Some favorite A's of mine:

Adam
Apples
Autumn
Acoustic Guitar
Art Ministry
Art Museums
Anatomy
Animals
Ampersands
Annual Celebrations
Asymmetry

I don't know what will come next in this alphabet, but I hope to have a fun time coming up with all the things that inspire me.

The Eye (Back in the Groove!)

2011-08-31T20:56:00.004-04:00

I'm leading the new student art ministry at my church. Last night was our first meeting. I was nervous at first, but everything went well. I issued the first assignment, answered art-related questions, and did a lesson on the different kinds of pencils and how they work. It was pretty laid back, and we did free draw for the last half hour.

One of the questions that came up was, "How do you draw an eye?" For me, it's one of those things that I just sort of learned how to do at some point, but have never had to explain it to someone else before. I was trying to recall the various lessons I was taught, trying to figure out how to put it into words, not just come across like one of those "this is how I do it so watch me" tutorials. I want my students to understand what I'm teaching. And I want to understand what I'm teaching.

So, I looked online for some kind of tutorial on the artistic anatomy of the eye and how to draw it. I was sadly disappointed to find many of the "this is how I do it so watch me" tutorial videos, which all kind of sucked anyway. Ugh. I found plenty of scientific diagrams, but they didn't explain how to draw the eye. Obviously... they're scientific.

The diagrams were not unhelpful, but I did eventually realize I would have to revisit the anatomy of the eye on my own, and figure out a way to explain it in terms of drawing. I sought the help of my best anatomy book, The Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck. Every artist should have a copy! Between the book, the online diagrams, and my own artistic knowledge, I was able to get a new grasp on this small -yet complex and important- facial feature. I still have more research to do for next week's meeting, but I can assure you I am having a blast drawing like this again. It has been much too long.

Stationary Gigs

2011-08-15T13:27:00.003-04:00

I've been designing for a lot of weddings this year. They've all been pretty nicely spaced out, and I'm having lots of fun designing the various pieces of stationary. I'm still trying to build up a portfolio, so I'm glad to have had the recent opportunities to do that. I have recently updated my website, and will add more soon. I also have been asked to do the invitations for a friend's 30th birthday party, and another wedding for next year. It will be my fifth wedding job. Can't wait!

I'm finding that I really enjoy designing stationary. Weddings in particular. They are always different. Different themes, colors, etc. Some people like their weddings big and bold, while others like them small and simple. I love sitting down with a bride and discovering what she wants her stationary to say, before there are words to say it. I love capturing the personality of each celebration before it happens. And, as much as there are some very nice, commercially done invitations available, I love the idea of custom invitations. They just seem to capture the uniqueness of each excited couple.

Each relationship is different, so why not express that special romance through the very first piece of the wedding that people see? The stationary. Save the dates and invitations are some of the first things that announce to family and friends that you are about to embark on a new adventure with the person you love most! Why not make it your own from start to finish?

Yep, I'm totally digging the wedding thing. Let me design your stationary! :)

"It's been a long time...

2011-06-22T00:09:00.003-04:00

...since I've seen your smiling face." - Cake

O art, how I miss thee! I've been doing a lot of wedding-related design these days, but have been so desiring to make my own art again soon. The first piece is a little project I did up for a woman from church. I actually took out some paint and washed a new color over the mat board I used. It felt SO GOOD to paint again, even if just for a quick wash of color.

The second piece is just a little environmentally-inspired design I was just messing around with. I was experimenting with some photographed elements: scraps from the mat board, on a black coffee table, with the flash on. This is pretty much the scraps and the reflected light manipulated in Photoshop. I think I want to experiment with the black background a little more though. It seems lacking... Fun fun though!

Digital experiment with quick sketch

2011-04-04T00:32:00.003-04:00

"Only he could ignite her soul, make her come to life."

Still here... busyness away!

2011-03-29T21:29:00.002-04:00

March is coming to an end. And what do I have to show for the past couple of months? I had promised myself that I would aim to meet the goals I set in place before the "new year" began. Let's look at them again and analyze what's been going on.

1. Blog more.
2. Make time to draw and paint every week.
3. Spend time with God everyday.
4. Read more. About anything that matters to me: ministry, art, food, marriage, etc.
5. Learn more about organic food and healthy cooking.
6. Build better relationships with my co-workers and customers.
7. Make more time for others.
8. Plan a meal schedule for each week. This will save time and money, I am certain.
9. Bake more.
10. Learn to budget, save money, and be a good steward of what God has given me.
11. Be more outward focused.

(1 and 2) The very first one on there, to blog more, has been completely neglected. Why? Because the following one has been severely neglected as well.

(3) My relationship with God has been up and down. Not the quality of my faith in Him, but the time I put into learning about Him. Reading the Bible and praying and the like. The time I do spend with Him has been awesome! He reveals to me things I hadn't thought of, or just shows me more of who He is and where I need to allow Him to work on me.

(4 and 5) LOTS of reading these days. Books, articles, recipes, magazines... I've been reading on pretty much all of the things I find an interest in. Theology, ministry, The Zeitgeist Movement, food, do-it-yourself articles, information on anything I don't understand, etc... It's been very engaging and challenging and wonderful! As for food, my favorite everyday thing I do homemade now is hummus.

(6) Always a progressive thing to build relationships. I haven't seen them much lately though because of all the oral surgery I've been getting. These freaking teeth issues! Which maybe I'll get into in the future. But I've been learning patience at work. I'm already fairly patient, I think, but it helps to be challenged and thrown out of one's comfort zone. Some days are harder than others, but ultimately I enjoy the people I work with. I think there is still room for much growth in how I build those relationships. It's more than just putting up with or listening to people. Effort must be put forth in engaging them and learning about them.

(7) I'm not sure how to gauge this exactly. I've been wishing I could be more like God, able to give my attention to anyone and everyone equally, to love everyone I know fully by being there for them and pouring time into them. But I am not God. It has been so hard to not just reach out to those I am friends with, but to give my time to them. Life has been ridiculously busy. The only people I have truly been able to engage with are the people I see every week, whether at work or in youth ministry. And I have to say that my most intentional and sought after time outside either of those is with the students I serve as a youth leader. I am able to meet with them every week in person and on Facebook. However, while I cannot be everywhere and be with everyone I'd like to, I'm finding that one way to be with people and support them is through the gift of prayer. To be able to pray for someone is something I often overlook. Being in a physical world makes it easy to think that the only way to reach out to others and help is by doing a physical act, whether giving money or moving furniture or driving somewhere. It's so easy to forget about the spiritual needs of people. That is something I have been learning.

(8,9,10) Adam and I have been taking a Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace course. We are now on a budget, planning meals, and doing all of our cooking at home. No more eating out unless we have gift cards that allow us to. I have not been baking much, but all the cooking definitely keeps me busy. Being on a budget is one of the best things we've ever done for our marriage and family. Knowing where your money is going is an amazing feeling!

(11) Yeah... gotta work on this. I think being outward focused is a lifelong goal, and a learning process at that.

I've been playing guitar more, too!

Life has been busy, and there are things I must adjust, but I'm feeling pretty good about this year so far! God is good, life is good. Some really crappy things have happened this year, and those times have been rather brutal, but I still have to say that I love my life. And it's time I start acting like it!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-31T22:12:00.004-05:00

Today marks the beginning of my self-decided new year. In a previous post, I explained that December and January had been so busy that they became one big, mushed-together month. And when January came, I was caught off guard, with no plans or goals for the new year. And so, in an attempt to be re-motivated, I'm starting afresh in February.

This little piece is, hopefully, only one of more to come. One of my goals for the year is to make more time for art making. The design stuff I've been doing is fun, but for me, it's not the same as doing a real hands-on piece of art. I want to draw and paint more, traditional art stuff. This little bird painting has actually been long overdue. I told my sister at least a year ago that I'd paint it for her. So here it is, Sis! I hope you like it.

Wedding Invitation Packet from my own 2009 Wedding

2011-01-25T16:02:00.003-05:00

I want to start keeping better track of my work within blogger, and better organize it to make it more accessible to my viewers. I am starting with all wedding related things, just to see how it goes. Eventually, I hope to have much of this blog organized into categories. I guess we'll see how this goes for someone like me, who is not naturally organized.

Bagels: Part of a complete breakfast

2011-01-25T10:44:00.002-05:00

To address some of the questions many of you have been asking me on Facebook and elsewhere, I've decided to dedicate a blog entry to bagel-making. Questions have consisted primarily of "How DO you make bagels?" and "Are they hard to make?"

Last summer, I decided I wanted to learn to make bagels. And, with the help of the internet, that desire became a reality. I simply typed into a Google search "How to make bagels" and was on my way. The very first link led me here, where I learned all about the bagel-making process. The recipe is very simple, and the directions are very straight foreword and helpful. This addresses the first question: how do you make bagels?

Now, are they hard to make? At first glance, that recipe page may seem long, tedious, and daunting. But to be honest, it's not that hard. The first time through it is a little time-consuming because you are still learning the process, but after the first or second time you've done it, the process is much easier and the time more manageable. At this point in time, I've broken the process down into stages. I've also figured out a couple little tricks to make things easier.

Homemade Bagels

4 cups bread flour
1 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 Tsp salt
1 Tbs oil (recipe calls for vegetable oil, but I use olive)
2 Tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups warm water (not too hot or cold, you'll know)

Stage 1

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and knead for about 10 minutes.
(Add water last. Use the first 1 1/4 cups, and only add the remaining 1/4 cup if you are having trouble integrating all the flour. Add only tiny bits more if that's still not enough. It might take a little while to get it going but give it a couple minutes to decide if you really need it.)

After you're done kneading the dough, separate it into 8 equal balls.

Leave the balls alone for 20 minutes to let them rise.

Stage 2

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.

Roll balls to form bagels.
(This part takes practice, and it gets easier the more you do it. Sometimes if I have trouble with the dough sliding around due to dryness, I moisten my hands with water. If they are too wet, though, they will also slide around. You can also moisten the ends of the rolled dough with your hands to make them stick together better.)

Leave again for 20 minutes to let rise.

Stage 3

Fill a large pot (or a frying pan with tall sides, which is what I use) with water and bring to a boil.

Place bagels in water and boil for about a minute on each side. Do not crowd the pot. Boil them in 2 or 3 batches if you have to. Remove bagels and set aside to dry for a minute or two.

While bagels are drying, grease a large baking tray with cooking spray or oil. Set bagels on tray.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Stage 4

Flip the bagels over.

Bake for another 10 minutes.

Remove bagels from oven and let cool for 20 minutes.

Stage 5

Cut, spread on the cream cheese, and enjoy your delicious homemade bagels!

The Wedding Whirlwind

2011-01-20T12:37:00.007-05:00

This is an overview of the design work I did for my brother-in-law's wedding. Remember that wave of busyness I mentioned last post? Well, this was only part of it. For the sake of privacy, I blocked out people's last names.

The Invitation: Inside( left); Back (top right); Front (bottom right)

Reply Card

Wedding Program: Front (left); Back (right)

Shower Invitation

It's kind of amazing that so much work goes into the preparation for one day. Invitations, showers, dress shopping, flowers, finding a venue... So much planning and coordinating! And then, when it's over, it almost feels like it didn't happen. Months of work gone in what seems like only a few hours. What a blur! I thought it would have been less of a blur since it was not my wedding, but perhaps when one is a part of something that wonderful and thought out, one ought to expect it to go by fast.

Anyway, congratulations to Ben and Meghan! May they have a long, happy and blessed marriage!

February: The New January?

2011-01-12T14:16:00.010-05:00

I doubt I need to mention how long it has been since my last post on this blog. Or any blog for that matter. I had hoped to post something before the new year, with all my new goals in mind. I even had a post all written out on paper, ready to be typed. Yet, because of how busy I have been, I have had minimal free time.

If you recall, I was asked to be in my brother-in-law's wedding. The wedding is this weekend. Since September, I have been able to just barely keep ahead of the wave of business. This has included wedding-related tasks mostly, but also a slew of youth ministry work, house work, a job, and the monster we call "the holidays." Keeping ahead of this wave has not been easy. And, while I have managed to stay on top of certain priorities, others have been waiting on the back burner a little longer than I'd like.

So, without further hesitation or excuse, I present my February New Year's goals. You may be thinking, "But, Alyssa, New Year's begins in January." Yes, very true. But for me, December and January seem to have been mushed into one continuous month that has yet to subside. Usually, I feel a little refreshed when the new year arrives, with goals mapped out and ready to implement. There's that sense of motivation, a spark in me that wants to take new ideas and run with them. But this year, that just hasn't happened yet. January is well underway, and I've had no time to think about anything other than that giant wave right behind me. So February, I have decided, is where my new year will start. And with the "new year" comes new hopes and goals.

Goals:

1. Blog more.
2. Make time to draw and paint every week.
3. Spend time with God everyday.
4. Read more. About anything that matters to me: ministry, art, food, marriage, etc.
5. Learn more about organic food and healthy cooking.
6. Build better relationships with my co-workers and customers.
7. Make more time for others.
8. Plan a meal schedule for each week. This will save time and money, I am certain.
9. Bake more.
10. Learn to budget, save money, and be a good steward of what God has given me.
11. Be more outward focused.

I'm sure there are other goals rolling around in my head that haven't surfaced yet, but I think this is a good start. See you in February!

Goal #9 is clearly underway already.

Back to Illustrator

2010-09-30T12:22:00.006-04:00

I was recently asked to be a bridesmaid in my brother-in-law's wedding. Being the artist in the family, I was asked to help design the invitations. I am having a lot of fun, as I get to use Adobe Illustrator for it. It has been a while since I've used Illustrator, and it feels good to get back into it. I think it's also the first time I've drawn something specifically to place into the program and turn it into a digital drawing.

I like designing. I wish I could have double-majored in Illustration and design. I probably would have died though. It's hard enough having one major at the Hartford Art School.

I am pretty frustrated at Illustrator right now though, because for some reason I can't open anything in it anymore. I've had issues with the program on Adam's laptop before, but that was before he reinstalled it. It has been working fine since and was working fine last night. Now it just wont open. This raises concerns because I will have to work on the design again before long. Hmmm...

Busy Busy!

2010-09-22T20:32:00.003-04:00

So much has been going on this month! Despite still not having a job, I have had plenty of art-related tasks to keep busy with. As you may or may not know, my husband and I volunteer at our church, serving in youth ministry. We help out with the high school students. In addition, I am now in charge of all the visual aspects of youth ministry: slideshow announcements, the bulletin board, posters, flyers, getting things printed, etc. These visuals are used for both the high school and middle school groups.

While I am not a designer by nature, I am certainly having fun reading up on the art of design and creating things in Photoshop. The process of creating anything, for me, is exciting and fun! These are but a few things I've done this month.

Slideshow announcement for a previously "upcoming event".

Another announcement slide, more current.

Junior high group name.

Senior high group name.

I clearly have no definitive style with this stuff. I'm still just working out the kinks. I am noticing, however, that my design work is very dark. I think I just really like the contrast of light against dark. Actually, now that I think about it, I think that's why I like charcoal so much. Put down a dark tone first, then work subtractively to get the white of the paper. Hmm... Something for me to think about. I will try to fight that urge on the next thing I design. Just to see.

Color Wheel Antics

2010-08-31T13:07:00.003-04:00

I have been wanting to paint a color wheel for some time now. Partially because I wanted to be practicing what I teaching my students, and partially because I have not used tube acrylics for quite some time. I wanted to be able to give myself this tedious task and perhaps re-learn the basics of color mixing. Yesterday, I finally went out to Jerry's Artarama to get some supplies for the adventure. I had everything set up and ready to go so that I could not ignore it any longer.

I was glad to finally get the color wheel project underway, but I ran into a couple problems along the way. My white acrylic is going to dry out soon because the cap is broken. I don't know how or when it happened, but I was using it just last week with my students and it was fine. This morning, I found that the top part is separated from the part that screws on, and so air can easily get in and dry the paint.

The second issue I had was with my black acrylic. It is a cheap brand that was given to me a long time ago. That should have been my first clue to avoid using it, but I didn't think anything of it because black is used in such tiny amounts at a time anyway. But, for some reason, this particular line of black paint (BASICS) is not a true black. It has green or blue in it, and every time I mixed it with another color it would not come out right. I got greenish variations. Yellow, for example, when mixed with black should be a kind of yellow ochre color (light yellowish brown). Instead, I got more of a green. Pretty annoying for an artist!

So... I'm trying to decide if I should even finish this one, or whether I should wait to get new black and white and just start the whole color wheel over. I think I need new tape, too. Sigh... I hate that I was just at the art store yesterday and now need to make another trip over there.

For the Love of the Lesson

2010-08-13T11:53:00.010-04:00

The Shape Project:
My demo pieces for the kids

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been giving art lessons to a couple children from church. Once a week, for one hour, I teach them various fundamentals. We started off with the elements of art, and have been working our way through each of them, one at a time. So far, we have discussed line, shape, space, value, and texture. The kids are still working on the big shape project we started several weeks ago, but they're almost done! Last lesson, I showed them what palette paper was, and how to mix paint with a palette knife. Big brother painted his background color, and little sister is soon to follow.

Next on the list is color, which will probably take at least two lessons to cover. Color, by far, is the most complicated of the elements. Not only are you dealing with hue (color), but tint, tone and shade as well. In addition, color mixing can be quite tricky if you do not understand the way colors relate or react to one another.

For example, if you mix yellow and blue together, you will end up with some kind of green. Yellow and violet mixed together, however, will give you a completely different result. Likely, you will end up with some kind of brown. A colorful brown, perhaps, but brown nonetheless. How do I know this? Years of practice and learning. I know much more now than I did when I was in high school, and I know I have much to learn still.

Art is like a science. There are certain rules or facts that apply, like perspective or light. They are things we know to be true in the real world, and so they remain true in art. If you were to do it any other way, it would not make much sense. But, just as there are times in science when experimenting in light of these known facts is okay, so it is with art. Knowing how the elements of art work and why they are important is key when testing the limits of such rules.

These are the lessons I have come to understand and love. Every time I learn something new, or recognize something I am familiar with, I fall in love with art all the more. For me, art is as much an intellectual experience as it is an emotional one. Expression through knowledge, I suppose. And, on a more spiritual note (because I love finding the parallels between art and faith), as a Christian I cannot be all mind and no heart, nor can I be all heart without knowledge. Both are important because they complement each other. So, if I draw by understanding, may I also draw with passion; and if I draw passionately, may I do so with understanding of the lessons I have learned.

I simply cannot wait to teach my students these concepts. But... one thing at a time. :)

"Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind ?" ---Job 38:36

Big Steps

2010-08-07T13:31:00.002-04:00

One of my personal goals lately has been to get more things done around the apartment, and, I suppose, in general. Among other goals, this one has been partially the reason for my not blogging much lately. Besides basic chores, like doing laundry and washing dishes, my husband and I have also had the task of disassembling the piles of belongings associated with the process of bedbug treatments. Going through our things and getting settled was a seemingly simple goal when we moved into our apartment. But this has proven to be difficult since we have now had to unpack and repack our things more than once in the short time we've been living here.

In the last couple weeks we have made a lot of progress. Well, for us anyway. My biggest feat last week was getting my art stuff organized. In our small living space, I kind of just had my stuff everywhere. Old art projects, school assignments, unused paper, various art boards, etc... All of it was disorganized, sitting behind my drawer of supplies. Some of it was in large plastic bags, some in the folders, some of it just loose in between other things. There was really no rhyme or reason to any of it. I wish I had thought to take a before picture, but trust me when I say it was an awful mess.

Anyway, I went through EVERYTHING. I emptied every folder, threw out all the plastic bags, separated the projects and papers and boards, organized things into piles, and went out and bought new folders to store everything. I really am NOT an organized person. So this, for me, was a huge accomplishment. I always desire to be more organized, but the ability to be so does not come naturally to me. It does for my husband. He is super picky when it comes to cleaning and organizing. When he saw that all of my stuff was put away neatly, and even labelled into categories, he was very impressed.

So, I'm pretty stoked about having all my art materials tidy and easily accessible now. Still have a ways to go though. The project on deck is getting my work spaced straightened out. The desk is a huge mess and there is nowhere to make artwork currently.

A Call to Seek Justice

2010-07-23T10:59:00.005-04:00

The last week of June I was on a plane headed for Columbus, Ohio. I was accompanied by about twenty teenagers and several other youth leaders. We were on our way to Challenge, a Christian youth conference. There were speakers, bands, seminars, and all kinds of things to help students engage with God. But the students weren't the only ones impacted.

Before I left for Challenge, I posted that sketch about sex slavery. It is an issue a care very deeply about, and have cared about for about four years now. For a long time though, I was merely saddened by this injustice and mourned any story having to do with sexual abuse, but I didn't do anything beyond feeling sad. I've always wanted to do something, but never really knew what or how. In this culture, it is a common attitude that there is nothing we can do to bring justice to the oppressed. It's too big! Or, one person can't make a difference. I'm an artist. What do I possibly have to offer to a cause like that? The other reaction we have, when we realized we can't do anything, is to shut out the cry of suffering all together so that we can live in our comfortable, little American bubbles without the inconvenience of sorrow.

Well, at Challenge, I was reminded of the sorrow, and moved to do something more than just sit around thinking about how awful it all is. And I thought, I'm an artist. What can I DO? For the first time, this question was not some impenetrable fortress to disappointedly turn away from, defeated. Rather, it was now a matter of brainstorming the possibilities, and asking God to show me how he wants me to use what he has given me. While we all have different gifts, we all have the same major calling to do God's will. It's how we use those gifts to fulfill that call that matters. Psalm 82:3-4 says, "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." How an artist does this will be different from how a lawyer does it, but the goal is the same. Neither is more or less important than the other.

So, since we got back from Challenge, I've been reading this book in the hopes of better understanding what injustice is all about, and what God thinks about it. Gary A Haugen is the founder of the human rights agency, International Justice Mission, which is completely dedicated to the cause of bringing relief to the oppressed and the oppressors to justice. I am a big supporter of the work they do.

As I'm learning more about this issue of injustice, I am realizing the potential of individual people to step up and do what's right in the face of uncertainty or opposition. I am also learning about God's hatred for injustice, and why he so urgently tells us to stand up for his children who cannot stand at all. He loves and weeps for his children, and despises the evils that hurt his children. This is where I want my heart to be.

And the question I have to ask myself, because I can't speak for anyone else, is "What am I going to do about it?" That is what I am processing recently. I've been reading Gary Haugen's book, been reading the Bible, and deeply considering the possibilities of what I can do to take part in God's cause of bringing justice to those who need it.

I will hopefully be blogging more in the midst of all this thinking, and all of life's happenings.

Freedom Friday

2010-06-25T13:56:00.002-04:00

Today's post is dedicated to all those suffering in the bondage of slavery. I'm working out an idea for a piece on sex trafficking. I long for the day when every person on this earth is freed from physical, mental, and spiritual affliction. Until then, I want to fight for the freedom of others through art and prayer.

I thank God for the blessings he has given me, and for being a just God. Although I feel deeply saddened, and even angry about the sex trade and other forms of slavery, I know that there will come a day when God will bring justice to the oppressed and the wicked alike. He will set the captives free and bring perfect judgement to the world. May the spirit of the Lord be on me, and may he save me from myself. Let the skills he has given me be used for the good of his people and his glory. This is my prayer.

Apartment Gallery?

2010-06-24T14:26:00.006-04:00

This is what the corner of our living room is starting to look like. It seems I've gotten addicted to this system of drawing: sit on the floor, bust out the pastels, and draw for hours at a time. After I'm done with one drawing, I rip it out and move on to the next one. It may seem like these don't take me long, and compared to my illustrations they don't. I am able to work quickly, but I am still spending a good chunk of time on each one. I am constantly thinking about composition and making decisions about each one.

I think of Jackson Pollock when I work like this. When he worked, he wasn't just throwing paint onto the canvas at random. He, too, was constantly making decisions, directing the paint where it should go. Controlled chaos. So many people were critical of his work because they saw only the final product of his process, not the process itself. To critical viewers, it was merely paint thrown onto a canvas with no real skill of the painter. But Pollock was very serious about his work. I imagine he got into "the zone" while working, just as many artists do.

New abstracts...

This drawing (below) is a copy after Henri Matisse's The Dinner Table (Harmony in Red). I've always liked the composition of that piece, so I sketched my own version after it. I just don't have any greens or blues in my palette right now, hence the very brown window scene.

More random drawings...

On A Roll!

2010-06-15T23:04:00.002-04:00

Two more drawings from today. Glad to be getting back in the zone. Once our apartment is back in order -which won't be for another month- I want to continue the various series I was working on. The Miniature portraits, for one. I wanted to have that done months ago.

Also, I really want to start doing serious illustrations again. I've been getting by just drawing and painting here and there. But seriously, it's time to get back to something beyond that. My senior portfolio, the bulk of what is on my website, was filled with meaningful and conceptual work. Each piece was worked out and followed through to completion. My work was driven by faith and conviction, things that mattered to me. I am restless in that aspect of my current work.

I have to get back in touch with my inner illustrator. And soon.

Sketches from the other day

2010-06-15T13:57:00.002-04:00

After all that drawing the other day, I was totally in the mood to just keep going. One thing led to another until finally I just needed to sit down and do a still life. Feels good to draw from life.

Lesson Two: Shape

2010-06-11T16:31:00.003-04:00

I currently have the kids working on a shape project. We discussed what a shape was, and the different kinds of shapes. There are two... families, you could say. There are geometric and organic shapes. For the project, they had to start with one big shape. They could pick either geometric or organic, but they then have to fill it with the opposite shape. For example, if you start with an organic shape, you must then fill in in with geometric shapes. I did a small version of both scenarios for them to see, but I will have to post them later since I left it at their house.

In the meantime, today I worked on my own composition of shapes. This is the kind of thing I do when I want to work on something beyond doodling. I love pushing and pulling objects forward or back. And I get really into it. I just kneel on the floor, whip out the conte, and get to it. It usually takes me a little while to get to a comp I like. This was the last of four. The first three weren't going anywhere, so I left them incomplete, and kept going until I got this.

Lesson One: Line

2010-06-11T15:46:00.004-04:00

Some weeks ago, I began giving private art lessons to a couple of kids that go to our church. They are seven and nine. They love to draw and make art, so it's been a lot of fun teaching them new things. We meet once a week. I started them off with the elements of art, and each week is dedicated to one of those elements.

There are seven, respectively:

Line
Shape
Space
Value
Texture
Color
Form

For line, we talked about different kinds of lines, why they are important, and how to make them. We also talked about the emotion of line. I had them try different exercises, and even showed them some different artworks to have them identify the kinds of lines they saw, like straight, wavy, thick, and thin. When I returned the following week, I was very impressed that one of them had fun drawing more lines, and that the other remembered the word "elements" when I asked what they were called.

Anyway, I recently decided that if I am going to be teaching these kids art, no matter how foundational, I must also be practicing it. So, in my own way, I will be practicing the lessons along with my students.

I played catch-up today. These are my experiments with line. The first couple are my warm ups. I'm a big fan of line and gesture.

Returning to Fridays

2010-06-11T15:28:00.004-04:00

I have a whole bunch of stuff for you today! While things have been a little hectic for me and my husband lately, I want to try to at least post on Fridays. I'll post on Tuesdays if I can. Anyway, so as not to have a long and tedious post, I am separating this into a few different ones.

Above, is a drawing I did during Maundy Thursday back in March or April. I never got around to posting it, so before a finally threw it out the other day, I made sure to take a picture. No, it is not inspired by that "Footprints" poem. I just started doodling and this is what occurred.

Back Burner

2010-06-06T02:58:00.004-04:00

No image today. I must appologize to my loyal readers for not updating lately. I still want to maintain the Tuesday/Friday posts, but life has been a little busier and a little less organized as of late, leaving most of my Internet "duties" on the back burner. But I hope to return soon, and hopefully a little more prepared. In the meantime, here is a question for you all:

What is your opinion of art education in the public school system? Do you think it's important to teach art to kids? Is it not that important? Just something for them to do, or is there a benefit beyond the creative outlit?

T-Shirt Design Experiment

2010-05-21T23:55:00.004-04:00

For fun, I've been messing around with some different T-shirt designs for youth ministry. Not sure if they will go any further than this, but I'm having fun. I think this one is missing something... texture maybe? I really have to get my hands on a tablet. Done in Illustrator.

PIP Poster

2010-05-16T23:23:00.003-04:00

Had to put together another poster for youth ministry. Done in Adobe Illustrator. By the way, since I've been doing more computer stuff lately, my desire for a tablet has severely increased. There have been so many cases that I think to myself, This would be so much easier with a tablet! We'll see...

I've also been bugging Adam about getting a cat. That's not happening anytime soon. So maybe when I get a tablet I'll just draw cats in Photoshop and Illustrator.

Half Bad Day

2010-05-13T23:35:00.002-04:00

I only say half bad because the day wasn't completely awful. I started this after a series of events that just sucked. Kind of just wanted to doodle how I was feeling, and then decided to do an Illustrator version of the doodle so I could put some of that negative energy to good use. I was playing around with the various strokes for the outline, and ended up with this instead of the standard, single thickness outline. This one is more fun and more doodle-like, I think.

Friday Night Doodle

2010-05-08T00:10:00.001-04:00

Another Batch of Bagels

2010-05-05T14:15:00.003-04:00

Today's bagel endeavors did not go as well as I had hoped. Instead of doing four bagels, like the first time, I braved a batch of twelve in hopes that I could share them with the ladies at bible study tomorrow. I even tried a couple cinnamon raisin, sesame, and poppy seed bagels. Well, I'm pretty sure I need a bigger kitchen before I do that many again. When I got to the baking part, there just wasn't enough room in the oven for two trays to fit on one rack. So, I figured I could just put them on different racks and that they'd be okay as long as I switched them after I flipped the bagels. Apparently, that was a bad idea. The bagels on the bottom rack got quite toasted. I still flipped them and switched racks, but I cut down the time a little for the second half of baking. So yeah, they seem to be a little crispier than desired, but we'll see. Maybe they still came out okay... I'll at least bring in the not-so-toasted ones tomorrow. Adam and I can feast on the rest. :)

Certification Tuesday!

2010-05-04T22:31:00.003-04:00

Started a new painting today. I'd had this drawn up a while ago and was glad to finally get some paint down. Didn't have a whole lot of time to advance on it, but that's because I was busy studying for my CPR class. Which I got certified for tonight! Certified in CPR (Adult, child, infant), First Aid, and AED. Sweet!

Sweet Friday!

2010-04-30T18:23:00.002-04:00

No idea what's gotten into me. Just been on a baking/cooking spree. Not even sure what this is officially, but I guess the closest thing would be "death by chocolate". Layers of chocolate cake and pudding, topped off with cool whip. Just kind of threw things together. Adam and I will be feasting on this shortly, adding heath bar bits to our bowls.

Bagel Tuesday

2010-04-28T01:25:00.003-04:00

I made bagels today, instead of actually drawing or painting. Maybe that shouldn't count as my Tuesday post, but it was my first time and I was thrilled that they came out so well. I cut the recipe in half to make four bagels. Of course, there are only three shown here. I am sure you can guess what happened to the fourth. :P

2nd Mini Done

2010-04-25T18:17:00.005-04:00

I think I may have overworked this a little. I just couldn't get it quite right. I felt more intentional with this one, a little bolder with my color. But still, I am not entirely happy with this one. I'll be moving on to the next one soon, though.

I'm finding it very difficult lately not to get distracted from this series. My limited attention span has me wishing I could just drop it and move on to something else. And, while spontaneity is not always a bad thing, I just can't let myself fall victim to unfinished projects anymore. I have come up with so many new ideas that I want to do that I haven't really accomplished any one thing.

I am determined to stick with this, even if it kills my ADHD self. Gah!

Friday Delay

2010-04-23T22:00:00.002-04:00

Worked on the False Idol poster today. Can't post it right now, though. I don't have anything else to post today, but tomorrow I have a "paint date" with a friend. So, hopefully, I will have something to post tomorrow, to make up for today.

Lip-sync Contest

2010-04-20T11:33:00.003-04:00

I've been working on several designs for the event we're holding for the youth at my church. It's a lip-sync contest that we need to promote soon because there is not much time left. A couple weeks, I think. So, the youth leaders got together to brainstorm how we could get the word out, and fast. I'm on poster duty, and whatever other images might be needed for the event. This is only one design. It was intended for the Facebook event, which my husband is in charge of putting together. Whether or not he'll use this one, I don't know. Anyways, I've been having fun working on the various images that go with the flyers. I think I have more fun with design work when I'm volunteering to do it.

Progress Report

2010-04-16T17:33:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates on the miniature series. I had started this one a a couple weeks ago. Yes, it's the same pose as the first one I did. I was trying to be a little more intentional this time. It's not finished, which is why it looks kind of blotchy right now. It wasn't going how I wanted it to, so I took a break to work on other things, like Illustrator and Photoshop. Anyway, I hope to start up on this again this coming week.

Bud

2010-04-14T17:34:00.004-04:00

Sketch for the April Challenge on Open Sketch Book Society.

Plus linear burn stuff.

tuesday night

2010-04-13T23:44:00.001-04:00

More Practice with Illustrator

2010-04-11T00:47:00.002-04:00

This time I put a photo into Illustrator and traced shapes over it. I think it looks like something you'd find on a diagram or something. Kind of neat. Still working out the pen tool stuff.

Playtime with Photoshop

2010-04-10T16:42:00.002-04:00

I don't remember when I drew this exactly, but it must have been sometime after last October when we moved in. I know I was sitting at our picture window. Anyway, I rediscovered this little sketch the other night, and today I thought decided use it to play around with the Photoshop burn options.

A little late this Friday

2010-04-09T23:17:00.003-04:00

My Aunt Bev used to call me Peanut when I was little. After she passed away, my Uncle Mike, her husband, started calling me Peanut. And even though I am an adult now, the endearing nickname has not been lost. I will always be their little Peanut. I remembered this nickname after putting this little guy together in Adobe Illustrator.

It's the first time I've used Illustrator since college, and to be honest, I don't remember anything I learned from that one class. I am much more acquainted with Photoshop, and making the switch to Illustrator was very strange since the tools and keyboard commands differ quite a bit. But in wanting to be a better illustrator, I was determined to at least get familiar with the pen tool again. So my goal tonight was just to make some kind of simple picture. I think I'm getting the hang of it again, but I know I have a long way to go. I mean, it took me about an hour just to do this! Uploading the image to Blogger even took some doing.

Eventually, I want to learn how to use Flash as well. It's strange... I used to never want to have anything to do with these programs. I much prefer drawing freehand and making art traditionally. I think that will always be true for me. Still, I'm finding more and more that I need to be able to use these programs if I want to be a good illustrator.

Turtleneck Terri

2010-04-06T20:36:00.003-04:00

I was doodling on post-it notes yesterday. After drawing this one, I decided to name her Turtleneck Terri. She is sad because turtleneck season seems to have come to an end. And as the name suggests, she is a big fan of wearing them. So, when warmer weather finally comes, she is reluctant to give them up.

I, on the other hand, am thrilled to have the sun shining, the birds chirping, and the windows open. Flip flops, capris, and a tee shirt for me please!

A "Post It" Note for All

2010-04-05T13:51:00.005-04:00

I recently became aware that there are several of you who do actually follow this little blog of mine. Perhaps not the kind of "following" that blogger suggests on the side panel there (I know a few of you do), but there are friends who have mentioned in passing that they keep an eye on it, waiting for me to update again.

So, to be fair to those of you who take the time to check back here, I am going to attempt a weekly schedule of sorts. This blog lacks consistency. Who wants to follow a blog that posts new material one day, goes a month without a single update, and posts again at random? I'm going to see how this schedule works out for the next couple weeks.

Tuesdays and Fridays I hope to have progress updates, finished pieces, and other art stuff. So check back Tuesdays and Fridays, and if I haven't posted, feel free to get on my case. Please.

Progress

2010-04-03T23:09:00.001-04:00

Started another mini tonight.

Sweet.

March Challenge Complete... Sort of

2010-03-31T14:21:00.005-04:00

Kylee, 2.5" diameter, acrylic

This was my post for the March Challenge on Open Sketch Book Society. Here's a little history on the miniature.

Miniatures derived from illuminated manuscripts, and in England they took off during the early Tudor period. The miniature was a unique art form because it was intimate. The viewer had to pick it up and hold it close to see it. It was either round or oval in shape, sometimes inscribed with text. Miniatures were displayed in cabinets, or worn around the neck or waist as an item of jewelry. This is where lockets come from. They could also be pinned near the heart. They were portable, and popular as gifts for lovers. They were also usually covered, a way to keep it a personal secret. Miniatures were especially used as a part of courtly love. They were given to show favor.

While, traditionally, miniatures were meant to be held close and worn as jewelry, I've decided to take a different approach to this art form. I will still be working small and applying colored backgrounds (like Holbein), and will try to keep to the standard poses. However, I will be displaying them as you see here, matted. This is only the first one I've done so far, my test piece, I guess. I plan on doing a series of these, and eventually will display them in grid formation next to each other. My purpose for this miniature style is not secretive, and so I will not be treating that way. Instead, I am sort of incorporating that pop cultural design element, bright colors in formation.

I am also glad to finally be using my circle cutter. I didn't have a reason to use it until now. And I finally figured out how to use it the right way! I still need to tape everything down because it's quite unruly, but my circles are cleaner now.

Photo Reference Session: one step closer

2010-03-23T22:24:00.003-04:00

I finally took the next step of making my project goal a reality. I had fleshed out basically what I wanted to do for the March challenge on Open Sketchbook Society. But sketches and thumbnails were all I had. Until today, that is. A friend of mine from church was kind enough to volunteer a chunk of her morning to my reference needs. So we had a little photo shoot, plus some tea and good conversation. I always like being able to hang out with my models and get to know them a little better. Of course, when I spend time drawing someone, I feel like there's a whole new level of connection. It's a very intimate thing, focusing so much attention on another person's face. It's like giving them your time in a very different way. I'm really not sure how to explain it.

Anyway, I'm glad I got to take pictures early in the week. The rest of the week is looking really busy so I'm trying to stay on top of it. Hopefully, I'll have my progress posted soon. The challenge piece is due by the end of March.

Spring Refreshment: Moving Forward

2010-03-08T13:40:00.007-05:00

I'm sure you've noticed by now that I haven't posted in a while. In fact, it's been over a month since my last post. That's because I haven't been drawing. Unless you count the doodling I do in church on Sundays... ^_^;

After a long, busy week (shadowing for a nanny job, preparing for and leading in youth ministry, cooking, cleaning, etc.), Adam and I were wiped out by Friday night. So, Saturday was our day. We decided to sleep in and just take it easy. We made pancakes for breakfast (at lunchtime), went for a walk on the old railroad tracks behind our apartment, went to the printmaking senior show, Under Pressure, at Hartford Art School, went out for sushi, and finally turned in for a movie and ice cream. It was a great day.

Where is the inspiration you ask?

Well, with warm weather steadily approaching, and with the sun shining more and more after so many gloomy winter days, I have had a new spark in my soul. An energy I only feel when fresh air is finally allowed in through the windows, and when a sweatshirt is sufficient enough for taking a walk. It's like the sky is a little bluer or something, or like the sun warms my soul enough to lift the cold state of depression from my ever-shivering body. It is such a relief! Just as the trees know when to start budding, so can I feel in my bones when my mental winter is over.

With the feeling of spring in me, I have a refreshed desire to draw and make art. The longer I am away from it, the more I want to do it. While we were at the printmaking show Saturday night, I ran into some old professors. They asked how I was doing and if I was still making art. After telling them I hadn't been, they gave me some very encouraging words. They encouraged me to keep working, not to be discouraged by life after school. Just keep doing what you're doing, they said. In combination with their advice, I got to see the artwork of the senior printmakers. It had been a while since I'd been to a show, so I was inspired by the beautiful pieces to continue making my own work again.

Right now, I am full of new ideas and a desire to draw again. I will be starting research on the March Challenge today, and hopefully do some sketches of today's walk with Adam.

Goals for this week:

- Research and brainstorm for the March Challenge
- Walks with Adam
- Draw
- Eat Healthy

Branches and Banners

2010-01-31T21:07:00.003-05:00

Sketches from today. The last one is my entry for the banner contest on Open Sketch Book Society. Today was the deadline so I threw this together. I wasn't really sure about it since it was so last minute, but for a last minute effort, it has grown on me... a little bit. We'll see how that goes. So far I'm still the only one who posted anything. If no one posts anything else, I might win by default. I was really hoping to see what ideas people could come up with though. So I will be kind of bummed if mine does end up being the only one.

I'm happy with how the branches came out. I rarely do tree drawings, usually because I don't like the way they come out. I never know how to approach them because... well, those branches are all over the place. Yet there's some kind of rhythm that I just can't figure out. So I have new hope after this sketch. When the weather gets warmer, I want to go outside and draw more trees.

A Week of Whatever: Moving On

2010-01-27T14:50:00.004-05:00

No, that was not my plan for this final week of January. I did not get any actual feet done last week. Just a couple skeletal studies. So rather than assign another topic of study, I'm just going to leave it open to continue work on feet. When I have time, that is. This month has gotten progressively busier, and I just haven't had as much time for these studies.

In some ways, this is a good thing. Not good that I haven't been drawing what I want to be drawing, but good that I've had other things to work on. For example, I'm currently being commissioned by my sister to design a few tattoos for her. I want to have the first two mostly fleshed out by February 1st. In addition to the tattoos, I took on the task of making favors for the women's retreat at my church. The woman in charge asked for help, and so I've been folding pretty paper into pretty boxes. I've also got another commission on my list. My other sister wants me to do one of birds for her. So at some point I'll be working on that.

While the January challenge has not been completely successful, I am still feeling inspired to keep moving forward. I recently put a couple ads on our church's market page. It's for general news and job posts and the like. So I have one offering commission work, and another offering private drawing lessons. I'm really hoping someone will be interested in lessons. I think I'd have fun teaching kids the elements and principles of art, and help them improve their technique. I always wonder what my skills would be like now if I'd learned more at an early age. For example, a core shadow is such an important thing to know about when you are rendering forms, but I didn't learn about it until high school, and even then I didn't understand it until college. I want to share my knowledge with kids who love to draw and who love to learn more about art. I guess we'll see what happens with that.

Drawing from Friday

Favor Boxes (I have about 70 done I think)

The Weeks of Hands, Ears, and Feet.

2010-01-20T10:01:00.003-05:00

So the January challenge is not going at all how I envisioned it would. I've been taking on some other projects this month ( for family and friends) and so my time spent drawing has been cut back tremendously. Still, I am determined to keep up with the various studies each week, even if it means I can't do it everyday, as I did with the week of hands.

Last week I focused on ears, and while I wish I could have spent more time studying them, I am glad I was able to revisit them for a short while. This week is A Week of Feet. In college, we studied anatomy. One of my illustration assignments was even focused on hands. But I feel like I never had much time to get familiar with the feet. They were always sort of an after thought in my figure drawing classes, as were the hands. The main purpose of this challenge is to become a better artist, which means revisiting the things I never had the time to practice.

I doubt I will have as much time this week to draw, but I am going to do my best. And in the future, I think I will do these monthly challenges a little differently, so that I can have more time to learn about each thing I'm studying.

Here's my sketches from the past couple weeks...

Feet

Ears

Hands

Hold Ups

2010-01-13T07:09:00.003-05:00

Well, for the most part, the first week of the January challenge went well. I do feel like I could have done more, but the experience was good all the same. I have not drawn anything for the past several days now due to a family weekend in Virginia, plus Adam and I have been running around getting other things done since yesterday. So, my drawing time has been cut to nothing for the start of this week.

I do plan to use the rest of the week for a new study, but I'm moving things around a bit to compensate for lost time. This week was supposed to be A Week of Feet. I will, instead, do A Week of Ears and save feet for another week. I am not sure doing the week-by-week studies are practical, but I will at least continue it that way for the rest of January.

A Week of Hands (continued)

2010-01-06T22:31:00.004-05:00

I've been lazy about posting this week, but I have been keeping up with the hand studies. Still drawing everyday so far, since January 1st. I hope I can keep it up. The weekend may prove difficult though, since I will be away visiting family. I plan on bringing stuff to work on though, so maybe I can draw in the car on the way there.

Also, I should mention the book I've been using for anatomical reference (i.e. bone structure, etc.). All the drawings so far, except for the latest one from today (fleshed out hands), I have referenced from Stephen Peck's Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist. I highly recommend this book to all artists. It is a great resource, and I use it all the time.

Here are my sketches from the last few days. This time I'll post the new stuff first and go backwards.

Today, Wednesday, January 6th

I am very excited about how these came out, especially the hand that's hanging down. The yellowed one is from photographing under yellow lamps, before editing. I usually edit to black and white (as seen below) but I liked the look of this, too. I thought it gave a nice, old traditional look.

January 5th - Tuesday

January 4th - Monday

January 3rd - Sunday

A Month of Anatomy Studies: A Week of Hands

2010-01-02T21:52:00.003-05:00

January 1st - Friday

Radius and Ulna from Front

Radius and Ulna from Behind

Radius and Ulna Movement

These are bones of the forearm. I started with the forearm structure because it plays an important role in the movement of the hand at the wrist. So in a sense, I am also studying the forearm in addition to the hand, to better understand the hand.

January 2nd - Saturday

Right Hand from Dorsal View

I was going to officially start this project on Sunday since it's the first day of a full week. But I wanted to get a head start on this because I've been excited to begin this undertaking. And so I'm using the "extra" days beforehand to get a handle on some bone structure. I'm starting to wonder if a week will be enough time to pick apart the hand and practice it. Or any of the other parts of anatomy I want to study for that matter. So much to learn!

Also, I think I may start new subjects on Mondays, since it's the beginning of a work week. It would allow me to focus on something fresh, on an un-distracting day. Then I could continue into the weekend, and simultaneously prepare for the next subject during that weekend.

3...2..1...

2009-12-31T19:13:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new year. It also marks the start of my January challenge to draw. Tonight I will be at a friend's house to celebrate New Year's. In preparation for the first week of the challenge, which will be the study of hands, I am bringing my camera to the festivities, in hopes of getting reference.

Desktop Image

2009-12-21T22:51:00.002-05:00

Adam had me make his bird into a background image for his desktop. What a supportive husband! He even picked out what color he wanted behind the bird.

Angry Bird?

2009-12-21T20:36:00.002-05:00

The other day when Adam came home from work, I showed him the birds I was working on. He got kind of excited and started searching for more bird pictures online. Then he said that if I was going to have bird paintings taped all over our wall, he got to pick the next one I did. So this is the one he "commissioned" me to do. He was pretty thrilled today when he came home and saw that I had done it after all.

Reshoot

2009-12-20T00:21:00.001-05:00

Reshot these in the morning. Much better I think.

Two Cardinals Today

2009-12-18T21:41:00.003-05:00

I got a little more particular today. And I've realized that I need to take pictures in the morning when the natural light is coming in. The pictures don't come out quite so yellow that way, like they do when I'm using lamps at night. I will probably reshoot the second cardinal, the "Merry Christmas..." one, tomorrow. I really want a nice scanner someday, though, so I don't have to keep taking photos. Color is so much harder to adjust than black & white. I did manage to update the last bluejay picture. The color is a little better now.

Also, the for the second cardinal I began with a yellow wash for a base. The first one, I noticed, wasn't popping as much as I wanted it to be, so for the second one I thought the yellow would help.

Another Day With Jay

2009-12-17T15:04:00.004-05:00

I am definitely having an off day today. I hope it's only a day anyway. Not terribly trilled with this one, but I am posting it nonetheless, as a record of progress.

I hate working when I'm cold!

Line & Color in December

2009-12-16T22:33:00.005-05:00

I've been trying to keep busy this month. With my commission finally finished and handed in, and the Night of Joy concert over, it's time to give myself some sort of goals for the rest of December. I know I'll be having monthly challenges lined up for every month of the new year, but I can't just sit around doodling until it comes. So, since I've been doing birds the last few days, I've decided to make a little project out of them.

I found my bristol board tonight and set out on the first stage of my little idea. I cut one big sheet into four smaller ones, which I will be working on for now. If all goes well with the first one, I'll stick with bristol. I want to stick to some kind of consistency, like surface and size, so that I can keep them all together in a series. The way I've been working is mostly experimental. Less about subject and more about line and color.

As far as line goes, I've been enjoying the results of using a brush. The thick and thin is more obvious, I think. As for color, I have been exploring the way I put it down. Loose, yet deliberate. And I am still trying to be aware of the colors within a single color, like the reds in the blue of a bluejay. For this aspect of my studies, I may have to revert back to watercolor. I do enjoy acrylics, but I could not get the warm blue I wanted for the bluejay today. Of course, I was working on a very absorbent piece of mat board. Not a good idea. Anyway, I like watercolor and acrylic about equally. I just use acrylic more. Wouldn't mind getting back to my other favorite though. I'll see how it goes.

Bluejay Sketch

2009-12-16T12:40:00.002-05:00

I'm sensing a theme here.

More Cardinal Sketches

2009-12-15T22:38:00.003-05:00

Experimenting a bit with line and color. The second sketch got really muddy when I tried to paint over an ink pen. I went over it with white to try and fix it. Now I know not to use the pen like that. And really I should be doing this stuff on bristol board or something. Anyway, I'm having fun with the birds. I'll probably do more. Oh, and I need to invest in a white light of some kind so I stop getting the yellowed pictures. Alas! The woes of the artist.

Poor Kitty

2009-12-15T09:21:00.003-05:00

This was totally random. It started out as a little doodle of birds and ended up like this. It's from the other day but I forgot about it. I know. The trunk is way too big for that tree.

A Month of...

2009-12-11T13:21:00.002-05:00

I came up with a set of goals last night, after all my doodling. It's something I've thought of before, but I'd never really fleshed it out until last night. This is what it looks like:

A Month of Studies
1. A Week of Hands
2. A Week of Ears
3. A Week of Faces
4. A Week of Feet

I came up with topics for another 3 months, but I will wait to reveal those until their assigned months draw closer. I am hoping that this weekly list of goals will not only get me to draw everyday, but also challenge me artistically. I plan to start this challenge in January, as sort of a New Year's goal. It will start at the first full week of every month.

Art Show and Night Doodles

2009-12-11T10:26:00.004-05:00

I decided to sketch in bed last night. I hadn't had time to draw all day, because I was helping set up the art show for the Christmas concert at my church. There was a lot more artwork entered than I had expected, so I ended up staying late to help finish hang everything.

There are some very nice pieces in the show. Even the kids have their own little corner of artwork. There's one chalk drawing of a Dalmatian that looks like a photograph from far away. It was done by a 10 year old girl. And there's one woman who does beautiful pastel work. I think it'll be a good show. There are paintings, drawings, photography, mixed media... all kinds of stuff.

While hanging the show, I met a man from the church who is a professional illustrator. He was very knowledgeable when he spoke, yet quite humble about the way he talked about his own work. I'm looking forward to meeting more artists at the church. After seeing all the artwork entered for the concert, I feel like there is a whole community of artists that no one really knows about, except on the occasions there is a special event at which artwork is displayed. That is one of the reasons I want to start an art ministry.

What the heck...

2009-12-11T10:21:00.002-05:00

Tree Abstracts

2009-12-09T16:19:00.002-05:00

Photos I took with a telephoto lens and put into photoshop. The first two I thought had their own abstract quality. I simply adjusted the levels. The last one is obviously more manipulated. I'm thinking one of these would be a fun painting.

Cardinal Sketch

2009-12-09T14:03:00.002-05:00

I felt like painting with the left over red on my palette. So I looked up a photo of a cardinal.

Elvis Commission Finished

2009-12-08T11:32:00.004-05:00

Reference and sketches...

I really never imagined I'd be commissioned to do a portrait of Elvis Presley. Or any celebrity for that matter. It's not typically my thing. The only time I did a celebrity portrait was for a class assignment in college. Elvis proved to be a challenge. I looked at a lot of pictures, trying to figure out what made Elvis... Elvis. The most challenging thing about this was trying to get the look the client wanted. In this case, Elvis in his jumpsuit, standing next to the client's boyfriend. It was the face that was most difficult though. I had to reference multiple images and sketches to try to get the right look. I'm not sure how I feel about the final outcome, but this was definitely a learning experience. I wouldn't be surprised if this project subconsciously inspired me to practice more famous faces.

Commission

2009-12-03T19:33:00.005-05:00

My current commission. Still have a ways to go. This is a picture of my work space, taken yesterday. Gonna try to finish tonight and tomorrow. Adam's bringing home a coffee coolatta for me. Mmmm... What a guy.

I found the camera!

2009-11-13T12:09:00.004-05:00

The other day I was frantically searching the apartment for my ruler, or some other such nonsense. It seemed pretty hopeless since all I had to go on was the fact that it was SOMEWHERE in the giant pile in the room. While I didn't find what I was looking for, I DID find what I wasn't looking for. Our camera! I can't get quite the same quality with some things as I can with a scanner, but it's better than nothing. Of course, I can't take pictures of the stuff that is also lost in the pile. But I did scrounge up a couple little things.

Car ride doodles and ears.

Brought my little sketch book in with me when I went to go see Where the Wild Things Are. These are my doodles before the movie started.

A silverpoint portrait I'm working on in my spare time. I'm using a little bit of graphite for this one, just to see what kind of results I can get.

Going On's

2009-11-05T14:18:00.002-05:00

Life as a Lewis...

So Adam and I have been married a month now. Married life is great. We're living in an apartment in Wethersfield, CT. Right now things are kind of frustrating for the both of us, though. All our stuff is piled into the middle of the living room at the moment, and must remain there until November 11th. I won't get into the details, but basically everyone in the building has to do this. And so here we are.

We've been trying to stay optimistic about the situation, but there comes a point where you just want to be able to find what you're looking for and have room to breathe. We had just moved in and begun to unpack when we were all told we'd have to be packing it up again.

The biggest issue for me is that I have a commission I need to work on. I don't have access to any of my books, I don't have much room to work, and I have no way of scanning or printing anything. I do have some reference material to work with, which is a good start though. I'm just hoping I can make the best of this situation, and get my work done despite the inconvenience. I have to get back into the habit of making a schedule, too, so that I can make deadlines for myself. My goal is to have the piece done by the end of November, or early December at the very latest.

I also want to start drawing everyday. I've had periods of time when I am successful at this, but as of late, I haven't had much time and/or motivation to do so. With possible commissions in sight, it is especially important that I do this. Today, I started working on a little silverpoint piece to start my day. Unfortunately, I've been sick so I didn't get far before a had to crash. But it did feel good to switch out that graphite for a piece of silver wire.

Can't wait until home and health are back to normal. I want to start posting sketches and the like again, too.

Frustrated

2009-10-23T10:03:00.002-04:00

I am very excited to have a Mac now. The main reason for having one is so that I can use Adobe programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. But right now I'm trying to figure out how to do everything else that would normally be easy for me to do, were I working on a Windows machine. I'm so used to Windows! Just a moment ago I tried scanning something so I could post it here, but the computer won't recognize my printer/scanner. I could take a picture, but without my card reader -which I expect is back in Wolcott at my dad's house- I can't even put pictures onto the computer.

Given, Mac does make some things a lot easier, and it is a very "quick thinking" machine, I just can't help but miss the simple pleasures of having Windows. Like being able to use the right click on the mouse, or just being able to print a selected text instead of the whole page. And I really miss the delete key that let's you erase letters in front of the cursor.

Anyways... I'm just frustrated because I can't do things as easily as I could before. I know I'll figure it out eventually. I just want to figure it out soon...

Winner!

2009-09-09T15:02:00.002-04:00

Thank you to everyone who voted. The winning title was The Colors of Joy. And because it was tied for so long with Alyssa Joy's Art Blog, I am still including something similar in the description. I think that's a good compromise.

Next on the agenda for this blog, as you may have noticed, is changing the look of the blog. I won't have you guys vote this time, but I will be experimenting, a little here and there.

De-Stressing

2009-09-04T15:30:00.002-04:00

I'd been wanting to work with charcoal again. It's a messy medium, though, and it was hard to make time. Today, however, was one of those really annoying days. Not the day itself, rather the things going on within its time frame. One thing after another it seemed, from that person honking their horn at me for not turning left into oncoming traffic, to miscommunication with our bank being the reason I still haven't gotten a new debit card.

I had pulled my big sketch pad out days ago, and even went so far as to tone the paper for my next anticipated drawing. It sat on the craft table downstairs after that. Until today. After finding out about the bank stuff, I grabbed that same sketch pad, my box of charcoals, and headed outside to the backyard.

We have this big flower pot that looks like something from antiquity. That's what I wanted to draw. And so I did. It felt good to work in charcoal again, and to draw from life. When I go for long periods of time without drawing or creating something, I feel like I'm losing touch with a very important part of myself. It's been fun planning my wedding, but in all honesty, I can't wait until it's over so I can just go back to doing art.

What's in a name?

2009-09-01T09:35:00.003-04:00

The moment you've all been waiting for (maybe)... a new blog name! I really had a hard time coming up with names I thought suitable, and ones that I could possibly find myself liking for a long time. And so, a vote is in order. I will go over all the choices here, then find a way to add a poll. I think blogger has that option around here somewhere. Here we go...

Alyssa Joy's Art Blog - This is pretty straight forward, to the point, and includes everything you need to know about this blog in that professional sense. It also follows close to the url address, alyssajoyart.blogspot.com. Not that that's completely necessary, but it's there.

The Colors of Joy - This is more on the clever side of telling you what this blog is. A bit of play on words. "Colors" referring to something visual and/or aesthetic, while "Joy" can refer either to the emotion or to my name, Alyssa Joy. So this title also includes a what and who, in a sense.

Creative Joy - Like the previous one, a unique play on words. "Creative" suggesting originality of thought or expression, and "Joy" being the emotion of great delight. Together these words can mean different things: the delightful satisfaction ones finds when taking part in the creative process; or again, that play on words referring to the creator of this blog. I think both interpretations are appropriate, as with the previous title.

What do you all think? If you have other suggestions I'll take them. alyssajoyart@yahoo.com

Starting from scratch... Again!

2009-08-27T00:28:00.002-04:00

I know. I'm so fickle. I am very particular when it comes to naming things, which is why I don't usually title my pieces. I feel a title can either add or take away from a piece. Any title given to my artwork is most often a title descriptive of that piece so that I can identify it myself. Simple, to the point, and not leaving everything untitled, which also drives me crazy. For example, this piece is call "The Way" for obvious reasons.

Anyways... When it comes to something as involved and longterm as a blog, I like having a title that not only means something to me, but is something that sits right with me everytime I see. The title for my personal blog, Better Is One Day, has stuck with me since freshmen year of college. And I am still fond of the title today. That is how I want to establish my professional blog as well. It's something people are going to be familiar with when they visit my blog, and something I'll have to see every time I update.

As much as I enjoyed the meaning behind the previous title of this blog, I just haven't been crazy about it. And so, onward to discovering a new name. A name that is both professional and meaningful.

Portraits and Sketches

2009-08-06T17:02:00.004-04:00

Graphite drawing of my sister's friend. This took me forever to work on. It became the little thing I'd work on in my spare time. It doesn't really feel quite done to me, but the paper has lost a lot of its tooth for some reason, so I can't get the darks I wanted. Either way I'm ready to move on to something else. Gonna try to do some little portraits of family members when I can.

I used to not be that interested in doing portraits, but I'm actually quite fond of them these days. It's like I get to show a piece of myself in someone else, to take special care of ever single feature of their face as if it were the most important thing I could possibly do in a single moment. There's also something fantastically gratifying about doing a portrait of someone without them knowing about it. When they see that you chose to draw them, of all people, there is a humble, yet flattered and excited, vibe they give off. It's so rewarding.

These two I did last night. Sketches from pictures I took in Vermont.

A Pile of Pictures!

2009-07-21T14:42:00.004-04:00

I have been working on a few things here and there. I just haven't been taking the time to post here lately. These are the things I've had scanned and saved to the computer for a while now, so I'm posting them all together from most recent to oldest. I'll explain each a little bit.

This is a sketch for a commission from my little sister. Her band has this thing with buffalos -which I won't go into- and she wanted to be the first with a tatoo of one. This is before I did the final alterations, like outlining and fixing the feet.

These two were just the result of me being in the mood to draw. I don't always know what to draw, so I'll just put my pencil to the paper and draw anyways. I really miss drawing the figure, hence the one with the figure and bird. The one with "frames" started out as those little swirlies, and because I like drawing rectangles, that's the directing it took.

This one was part of a collaborative project my friend has been doing this summer. It was in response to a piece of writing someone sent me. Once I finished my drawing, I sent it to someone else, who then responed with some kind of musical influence. It was pretty cool. I've only been able to stay minimally involved so I'm not really sure what happened after that.

This was more of an experiment than anything else. I don't usually do stuff with type. I've been thinking about starting an art misistry someday so I was playing around with the idea and seeing what I could come up with for a poster design. I must admit I had fun. And I've been having fun designing all the wedding stuff, too. Maybe when it's all over I'll post all those things as well.

Car Ride Doodles

2009-06-16T10:47:00.003-04:00

Worked on this in Mom's van on the way to and from Subway. Em and Mar came, too. Oh, and our dog, Ruby. It was a fun little time. Mom said she likes watching me doodle like this. Another way to experiment, another way to release some creative energy. I love doodling.

More Experimenting

2009-06-16T10:24:00.002-04:00

It's these kinds of little projects that make two things happen. One, it makes me miss using Photoshop. Everything about Paint Shop Pro is so limited compared to the superior program that Photoshop is. And two, it reminds me why I'd much rather be painting in real life than trying to do it digitally. I'm just so slow at it. Although it does have the benefits of no clean up, and you can change the color of something without much hassle, I still prefer traditional media.

Don't get me wrong. I did have fun with this, despite the frustrations. It started as an ink doodle, which I scanned and colored in Paint Shop Pro 7. I was doing something similar to this a little while ago, only now I'm filling in a lot more with color. This time, I was actually inspired by the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. This, of course, is my own version and it looks nothing like his work, but I had been looking at his work online before I started this doodle. I liked the look of collaged shapes and the depth in his work. Mine is a very flat, digital doodle, but I think it could be the spark for future experiments.

Quick Portrait: Mar

2009-06-16T09:57:00.004-04:00

My sister's friend from out of state has been visiting for a couple weeks. I was in the mood to take some portrait photos last week so I took advantage of having company over. I shot pictures of my sister Emily, her out-of-state friend Mar, and her other friend whose name I do not recall at the moment.

Ever since I finished the silverpoint series of my other sister, Kaylee, I've missed doing portraits. This drawing was a nice break from the experimental stuff I've been doing. I did it in a couple hours. That's why I call it a quick portrait. Not as much time put into it as my more detailed renderings, so I suppose you could call it more of a sketch. Well, whatever you call it, I got my temporary portrait fix. I also printed her out a copy as a little gift from Connecticut. She was quite surprised and delighted.

Society Catch Up

2009-06-16T09:21:00.003-04:00

In a previous entry, I mentioned that I joined a blog with several of my classmates from art school, called the Open Sketch Book Society. It has definitely kept me motivated to keep drawing and making work. However, as my previous entry explains, I have not been able to keep up on the artistic area of my life every single day. So yesterday was a "catch-up" day for me. I got about four make-ups done and have three to go, the third being today's due entry. And today really is the only time for more making up because the rest of the week is wedding dress shopping, Six Flags with my sisters, babysitting, and possibly jury duty. Anyways, I'll post my make-up stuff one thing at a time, going in order of creation.

This one is a quick sketch of my cat, Rogue (yes, after the X-men character). I started it as a pencil drawing last week, and then finished it in yesterday morning in ink. "Scumble" refers to the line style, that scribble look.

Lagging Last Week

2009-06-15T09:39:00.002-04:00

As expected, I hit a pretty big wall this past week as far as sketching is concerned. I was job searching, hanging out with family, and taking care of my sick fiance at his house while trying to get through the registry stuff together. So I haven't quite had much room for the creative stuff.

I've also been slowly making my way through the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. The title sounds a lot more daunting than it is. It is very well organized, informative, and a great resource if you are an illustrator or designer. Actually, I think just about anyone could benefit from reading it, even non-artists. Why? Because it helps put into fair perspective the roles of artists and art buyers/clients. It helps set up guidelines for which art can be conducted as a business. It also establishes that artists provide a respectable service just as any other occupation, like plumbers or mechanics. We seek to meet the visual, artistic needs of others, yet artists, too, must make a living in this world. So again, this book establishes fair guidelines to pricing and business for both artist and client. Get it!

I got this book after it was strongly recommended to us by our illustration professors. I didn't have a lot of time to read during school, so it got added to the pile of books I want to read. Since being out of school, I've already gotten a few requests for possible commissions. So I made sure to pull out the Handbook and start reading. I want to make sure I do it right and not screw anyone over, including myself.

I hope to have more art up soon.

Rainy Day Doodles

2009-06-09T17:52:00.002-04:00

As much as I wanted to go outside and draw flowers again today, I couldn't control the yucky weather. So I made a doodle day out of it. When I doodle, I come up with the most random and strange things sometimes. It's sort of a game for me when I get focused like I did here. I start with one thing and branch off to transition into another thing, and so on and so forth. It's a different kind of doodling from the ones in earlier entries. It's kind of hard to explain...

Moving on. I was getting sick of my drawings being so light on the scanner, so I went back with india ink after penciling everything out. After outlining and scanning, I experimented with adding color digitally. Here are the before and after images. Not sure how I feel about the colored one, but it was fun to do.

Another Flower

2009-06-09T17:38:00.002-04:00

I've been enjoying drawing outside. These flower studies are very light, I know. It's just my lack of a good scanner that's the problem. I'll try to make them darker next time, or at least take a photo to see if that works better.

Anyways, I'm still doing studies before I do the actual watercolor piece. I think I'll make that a rule for myself. These are both from yesterday. Sketches (from life) in the afternoon, and the painting (from a picture I took) in the early evening. The butterfly was actually sitting there on the flower when I took the picture. There was a bug on the Columbine flower, too, but I left it out because it wasn't "cute" like the butterfly. I don't know the name of this flower. If I find out, I'll post it.

New Favorite Flower: Columbine

2009-06-08T00:04:00.004-04:00

I found this strange flower in my front yard last week. It's quite amazing, really. It's called a Columbine. Not sure where it got that name. It reminds me more of a dragon actually, the way the top pedals shoot back those long pieces like horns and the under pedals burst out underneath the top pedals. If I could name it, I'd call it something like "Dancing Dragon."

Anyway, today I set out to draw it. It was a beautiful day so I had no excuse not to. Lately I've been so busy with cleaning, job searching, and wedding planning that I just haven't had time to draw. But today was a rest day. I felt inspired to do studies of the flower first, like Leonardo Da Vinci. I also remembered doing tulip studies for Jeremiah Patterson my freshmen year at college, before starting our final drawings. I thought maybe he'd be proud if he saw me doing it on my own now, especially since I had hated drawing tulips over and over in his class. I suppose the repetition of subjects over the last few years has helped me build patience.

I eventually took pictures of flowers around my yard, including the Columbine, and did a watercolor this evening. This rendition does not do justice to the real flower. Its colors are much more brilliant and beautiful. This is officially one of my favorite flowers now.

You can also see these images on The Open Sketch Book Society.

Tonight's sketches for Open Sketch Book Society

2009-06-04T01:25:00.003-04:00

Ruby

Kay and Em

Open Sketchbook Society

2009-06-03T00:11:00.003-04:00

One of my classmates from Hartford started up this collaborative blog. I got an email invite today, and since I'm all about collaborative art stuff, I joined without much hesitation. This sketch was my first contribution.

Check it out!

Experiment #1: Abstract Scribbling

2009-05-27T21:08:00.003-04:00

Today I got the urge to experiment with scribbling. I had in my head sort of what I wanted to do, but I was unsure what I would end up with. I knew I wanted a somewhat controlled scribble, to design what would be thought of as a mess of lines with no plan behind them. And I knew I wanted to add color in some way. So bristol board, india ink, and acrylic inks were the materials I dug out from the plastic drawers in my room that have yet to be organized.

As I held my first blank sheet, ready to go, I couldn't help but hesitate. What should I draw? With that, an internal dialouge began. I could define an object or figure with loose, scribbling lines. Or I could layer different gestural drawings on top of each other an go from there. Or maybe... Those are all good ideas, but how about you stop over thinking it and just draw. Just start putting lines down and see what you come up with. It doesn't have to be anything. Be you. Experiment.

Still being unsure of the advice from my "get out of your comfort zone" self, I decided to at least start in pencil. I realized the light pencil lines weren't going to cut it when it came to adding color. That's when I ventured to use india ink, sloppily tracing over my lines with a brush.

I tried a second piece, leaving the first in black and white in the meantime. This time, I went straight to ink. I started out giving myself guidelines. For example, "Draw a line that starts and ends off the page" or "Start your next line on top of another" or "Draw a closed shape that touches a line." Etc. Eventually, I got to a point where I was making compositional decisions based on what I already had down. Finally, I added color to it. Then I went back to the first and added color to that one, too.

While I don't normally lean toward this kind of thing, I had fun. I guess I'm broadening my horizons. Maybe...

Ya Just Gotta Doodle Sometimes

2009-05-26T00:46:00.003-04:00

My goal was to draw something everyday. So far, I haven't been as successful with that as I'd like to be. But the last couple of nights I made a point to doodle my guts out. Here are a couple of the sketchbook pages that I filled with whatever came to mind.

The first started with a study of the bones making up the shoulder area. I did end up digging out my anatomy book so that I could draw from it. I'd planned on doing more skeletal studies, until I realized I was to exhausted to focus. I continued the next night with a book of houses I bought from the music library's art book sale. I landed on some kind of English interior, and mimicked the fancy arched door in the room. Sketched Adam while he was falling asleep, his hand, and popped in some out-of-head doodles.

The second page was my attempt to be as loose and gestural and quick as possible. Some was out of my head, some was from life. I enjoyed myself, and I think I might look into this approach a little further.

Figure Sketch

2009-05-22T00:14:00.005-04:00

Sunning Figure

Another sketch from Thursday afternoon. It feels good to draw the figure again. I can already tell how much I need to get back into this kind of thing. I need to do more drawing from life and less from pictures. Pictures are convenient, but there's nothing quite like capturing something that is right in front of you. Just by this one figure study I am able to tell what areas of anatomy I desperately need to revisit. Like hands and feet, to name a couple. Once I sort through the mess that is my room, I will be able to crack open my anatomy books and start studying.

A New Beginning

2009-05-21T23:36:00.005-04:00

Patio Chairs

Sometimes I like to start fresh when new ideas arise. I didn't really want to start a third blog, but after thinking over it a long while, I decided it was time. It made sense, I suppose, because I am officially out of school now. I am on my way into a new stage of life. The "real" world as most of us call it. Along with finding a job and trying to establish my career as an artist, comes the new world of marriage. In the midst of planning a wedding and getting more professionally organized, I must make time to breathe and to draw. To pray and to paint. To work hard, yet take the time to be inspired.

With that, I start this blog. To mark a new point in my life. Hence the title, which I also found other meanings in, which made it that much more appropriate to what it is intended for. It will be a recording of all my sketches and studies, and anything else I'm doing in between what major pieces I end up working on. Those pieces will more than likely end up in my portfolio, which can be found on my website. alyssajoyart.com

I will be sketching as much as I can, for fear that I will get rusty. Constantly drawing I hope will keep my skills sharp. And to start things off right, the sketch above is one I did today sitting on my patio in the backyard.