something new

a few weeks ago I came across a method of making books that focused on decorative stitching along the spine... decorative, yet functional as it is also how the book is constructed

as we're visiting at my sister-in-law's farm in Oregon it was the perfect thing to work on during quiet afternoons in the large barn conversion space that is used for all manner of creative work

rather than trying to learn the stitching pattern whilst actually constructing the book I tried a few that looked intriguing, doing them on strips of the cover papers

and am I glad I did!

they are not at all difficult but working out the best spacing for the stitches, thickness of thread for certain stitches and contrast preferences (thread to paper) proved to be a challenge; as with embroidery, some stitches just look better with low contrast and others shine with high

the thread I used was valdani pearl cotton in either a 12 or an 8 weight

when I get home I'll try a few with a 5... for the most part I think 12 is too fine

these samples will all go into my book-binding sketchbook and used as a reference - easy to make a choice when looking at these than a photograph or stitch diagram

and finally, a couple of photos 

 the first is sunrise south of Summerland the day we left

and this next one is a barn-shed on the hilltop across the valley... we climbed high on the hill directly behind the barn for this view

heading home on Tuesday, it's been a quick trip but a delightful one in every way

paper shuffling

last week, against all sense and reason, I had the urge to gather up some papers painted last year and shuffle them about for a while

looking for connections, how this might work with that

layers

juxtapositions

in the doing of that I noticed marks, nuances of line and colour I hadn't really seen before

beginning with commonality of colours, I found papers and fabrics I had painted with varying media

watercolour, ink, acrylic paint and gesso

and then lit upon some pieces done using expressive calligraphy, the words from a Robert Service poem

written with ink on paper I had painted with watercolour

a spray of water immediately after writing caused the ink to burst forth, creating marks that reminded me of the dark winter trees I grew up with

a heavily edited photo of cloth I had gathered shibori-style and painted with a granulating watercolour paint, also from a year and half ago, also seemed like an interesting backdrop 

there are some here too that are intriguing me but there was no time to take either of these further (hence the "sense and reason' remark) - we're off to Oregon for a while to visit family but as I said at the beginning, the urge to play with these was too compelling to ignore

I haven't brought them with me to work with but I have brought the fire they lit in me along with a few supplies to feed it

after a few years of struggling to find inspiration I have come to learn that I must take it where I find it, follow the threads where they lead me and let the work come as it will

to trust in that and seize it when it does

this one I've grabbed with both hands

on it goes...

its been some weeks now, that I've been working with a more limited focus than usual

 

sketching and painting and painting and yet more sketching

improvements come in small increments, most would probably be recognizable only to me, but I feel I'm better able to:

 consistently mix watery, juicy and pasty watercolour paint

manage the water and work wet in wet 

sketch marks are more deliberate, less hesitant

the need to rub out "incorrect" marks is mostly gone

and so on

I suppose it would seem that with those improvements the outcomes must surely have also improved but I don't know about that

 I do know I'm happier with the work now and as I gain better control over the method I can begin to focus more on the brush-strokes and composition

I've been taking a watercolour course by Anita Lehmann, an artist who, among other things, paints abstract landscapes

one of the lessons is on painting tree-shapes and this past week I've been practicing 

some I keep to refer back to, thinking about what's good and what needs working on

the bad ones get tossed... move on

the fifth one I did is the first one I kept

this is the latest version - sort of

I did two, one had better trees and the other a better ground so I tore off the good ground and glued it to the better trees

I'm struggling with fine lines for the branches though, they're way too thick so yesterday I bought a much finer brush, with very long bristles and tomorrow I'll start practicing with it

and just because I'm itching to get back to my Yukon work, I'm gathering photos of scenery and things I gathered whilst there and am going to make a few collages

a reader of this blog suggested I use some of the combinations I showed a few posts back in collage and I though it a great idea  - below is the start of the first collection

busy, busy days...

of the best kind

quiet time...

in grade school, ever day had a period of quiet time...

usually it was for silent reading and when the order was given, a calm silence descended over the classroom, the only sounds were books being pulled from our desks, pages turning to find the right place to begin

every evening I get into bed and descend into a quiet time of my own, for drawing

the lamp casts a soft light on the page, I flip slowly through the pages of one of my drawing books, looking for something inspiring to copy

something interesting but not too intricate

once found, the sketchbook is also opened, pages turned to find a blank page and, with my pencil in hand, the marks slowly start to scratch across the page

sometimes a quick bird sketch... another day, while feeling somewhat bolder, a larger bird

rocks are a favourite, this one copied from a drawing by Van Gogh 

another rock, and the next night, three logs, lying in the grass

these two are my favourite

"notice what you notice" is common advice in the art world

I have come to notice that I love drawing rocks and wood

there's something so calming and restful about being propped in bed, a small pool of lamplight shining down, the house dark and quiet and the only sound is my pencil on the paper

watching as with each mark a shape begins to appear, adding detail refines the image, the almost magical way a few marks in the surrounding area anchor the object to a place, how they add depth to the drawing and create a kind of story

when I first decided to draw at night, I wasn't sure it would be sustainable but I have come to love that quiet time before sleep and for now at least, couldn't be without it

its the most peaceful, thoughtful time of my day

the beauty of a brush

I've been immersed in watercolour these past few days... removing pans from different palettes in order to assemble one with a set each of warm and cool primaries along with a few neutrals

figuring out how to mix colours in quantity quickly

(spraying the pans with water first makes a huge difference)

getting to know my new brushes

(I have three new ones: a large dagger, a 1 1/2" wide angled and a 3/4" flat)

lines, washes, twirls, flat lays, learning how to let the brush do the work

below is some the magic the dagger brush can do though it wasn't done with intention

 as I tried using the brush in a few different ways, dancing it across the paper this way and that I realized a small flock of birds was emerging

(the wide brush strokes that now seem to hint of water were done first, testing the 3/4" flat with somewhat thick paint on dry paper)

I love when these things happen, not trying for anything, just playing, and then the noticing starts

next up to learn to paint skies so my eyes have been turned upward for these past few days

we had a beautiful sunset last Monday... first the sky gleamed with golden light, the rays shooting out over the hill tops... a stop you in your tracks vision

20 minutes later, a soft peachy pink

I love these last two, the architecture of the wharf at dusk, the hills a series of values

if you click on the images, a larger version should come up and they look even better

today I spent some time looking at sky holes and all the different edges where cloud and sky meet - noticing the shapes of the clouds and just how much grey there really is

drawing and painting really do make you look more closely, noticing the finer details, the incongruity of some of the colours you see but would never have thought were there, the beauty of a hard edge

today on my walk I was wishing I had a bit of paper and paint with me, so I think I might finally be ready to get that sketchbook outside!

back to the drawing board

when I learned to quilt many years ago I spent a lot of time studying the quilts I saw in books and magazines that I liked, the ones I was really drawn to

I looked at the colours, the values, how the shapes and pattern were defined... what types of prints were used - what was the coverage of the design motifs on the fabric?

all of these things and more, when looked at for dozens and dozens of quilts over multiple years, told me quite clearly what it was that drew me to the quilts I loved and in turn that showed me the way to making such quilts for myself

I was consistently drawn to a lot of variety, in both colour and value in each quilt

sparse prints held far greater appeal than dense prints

fragmented patterns rather than boldly defined ones

a very sparing use of bold geometrics

the use of subtle secondary patterns

what could be achieved through combining tones with brights

I realized I didn't have to like every fabric in the quilt, in fact there some I didn't like at all but taken with the whole, they were perfect and the quilt would have suffered without them

and so on

last week I decided to do the same with the the photographs I am most drawn to as well as the samples I've made that resonate the most

I have an inspiration board in my studio space and a while back I had printed some of those photos and put them up along with some of my favourite samples - over time I began combining them, photos with samples or samples with other samples, noticing how some might look good together

the other day I was looking at them again and thought perhaps doing the same kind of analysis with them as I did with quilts might be an interesting exercise and give me some directions to work in

I took photos of the groupings, printed them and have put them in my sketchbook

today I started making a few notes, first of what I'm most drawn to

in this photo, it's the water that strikes me first - the silver gleam, the broken pattern, how it looks like burnished metal in places

the scrubby darkness of the tree-line

the texture of the cliffs

in the painting scrap, it's the abstract nature of the brush strokes, especially at the bottom

in both, I like the high contrast of dark vs light 

in the next photo, again the water holds great appeal as do the trees

I like how you don't notice the cabin at first (at least I don't)

the faint broken shadows of the trees on the water

the sky, mottled grey with a yellowish cast in the centre

I find the subtle colours calming and there's a kind indistinctness to the photo I like very much

in the painted piece, its the lines with dark blue smudge of colour and the grey at the bottom

(the fabric behind isn't meant to be there)

for these two its the colour (no surprise there!) but I also like the fragmentation and the lack of strong regularity

not all of the marks are good but that means they make the good ones look better - perfection can be the death of expressiveness

I love the dark ink on the rough linen, the smudgy, gritty look of it

the black ink on white paper - loose, expressive, done with the cardboard tube from a roll of aluminium foil... random mark-making that was great fun and when torn into pieces the marks became even more random

the painted piece on the right is a favourite - when I look at it I can the swiftness of my hand as I made those marks with grey paint

swish swoosh

the way the white sparkles through in places because of the rough texture of the paper

that pale blue at the top with a torn white edge

so, now I've done that, what comes next?

I think looking at the commonalities over the four groups and then making notes for other samples to work at; ideas drawn from each pairing utilizing the colours, marks, media and methods that resonated the most

and then putting the three together and looking at it all, again with that analytical eye

and then do it again

the basics

"Skill is how you close the gap between what you can see in your mind's eye and what you can produce; the more skill you have the more sophisticated and accomplished your ideas can be. With absolute skill comes absolute confidence, allowing you to dare to be simple."

- Twyla Tharp

The Creative Habit

skill then...

probably the best advice I have come across in a long time... it answers all the questions, and most especially, gives me a roadmap to the simplicity I crave in my work

Rachel once commented on my quest for simplicity that one needs to understand what truly needs to be present in the work and ensure that it is, in order for it to look complete and not a half-hearted attempt... kind of like "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth"

I've thought about that a lot over the months since she wrote it and now these words from Twyla Tharp feel like a way to get there

so, literally, back to the old drawing board

as I admire Anita Lehmann's work so much I signed up for her online courses on watercolour and drawing and for the past ten days they have been the focus of my attention

lots of paint mixing and washes, learning about brushes and so on as well as pencils, true vertical and making good strokes

its early days but I am seeing progress

below is a drawing of a piece of driftwood from Lake Bennett... drawn with an "F" pencil and then given a light wash with Florence Printmakers watercolour

I could bring in the brown but I'm not going for realism and I prefer the softer grey

this piece of wood is a fragment of a plank... from a boat perhaps, or part of a cabin on the shore?

there was a ship-building yard part way down the lake and as well, several of the smaller boats built at the lake's headwaters by Stampeders sank... who's to say, but regardless of it's origins, it's a remnant of a time that has passed, events long over;  stories lost to time in the same way the wood has lost it's own substance

in the evening, just before bed I sit and copy a drawing or two out of a book by John Busby on drawing birds

I have always found I learn much from copying drawings - same idea as drawing from a photograph except I choose photos of drawings and so I see how the artist used line and shadow, noticing the expressive lines and where they work best

no eraser, no smudging tool, just one pencil and a small book

and in light of my last post detailing frustrations at trying to paint a wash with a lousy brush I bought myself a better quality flat brush and today I tried a pear with soft and hard edges

much, much better!

rather pleased with this effort although it was a big challenge - my first attempt went in the trash

paying attention to the dryness of the paper as you lay in the layers is a lot more important than I realized but try and try again

another good exercise to repeat, over and over

and over again

building skill is all about time and effort

and a big stack of paper!