Colorado Art Studio

I hadn’t made any art since Christmas, maybe longer if you don’t count a necklace I made for my sister in law. Today, with the snow outside and my 2007 goal of doing something art related everyday, regardless of how motivated I feel, I went into my studio. I decided to just start doodling and pulled out some Lyra Aquacolor crayons my mom had given me last year.

I had cut out a picture of a painting from a magazine of mid-century home furnishings designer, Tommi Parzinger, who happened to also paint. I like his paintings, though, I think he’s better known for his home fashions than his art. I thought his style would transfer really nicely to a quilt and decided to see what I could come up with.

I’ve never worked with water color crayons and I have to say I really liked using them. They’re almost like using oil pastels, which I orginally wanted to use. I felt a little bit like a child again drawing with crayons. Afterwards, I pulled out my old fashioned pen and India ink to add the “stitches”. This is subject to change when I finally sit down to stitch. Also, I’m not married to the black stitches, it’s just what I had on hand. In the end, I will probably change the thread to compliment the colors I end up chosing for the piece.

I’m considering purchasing some Shiva Paintsticks which are oil based to use on fabric. Has anyone ever worked with these?

Update: Thanks Janet for directing me to Art Lady Confidential’s site. She has posted a terrific article on her blog about using Shiva Paintsticks. She also has a link to Richeson’s, the company that manufactures Shiva Paintsticks that I found helpful. I’m going to give them a try.

I had been thinking that I should do some quick sketches with my left hand (non-dominant) to loosen up a bit and as a drawing exercise. I wasn’t going to post the results, but then today, I read an interesting entry by artist, Jafabrit who posted a self portrait that she had drawn while her eyes were closed. I thought, great, why not post my results. So…I started with my dog, Zuzu, a shepard mix who lounges most of the day.

Followed by a self portrait. I didn’t actually do this with my eyes closed, but I stood in front of a mirror and sketched while not looking at the paper or my pen.

Then, I followed up with a longer sketch of myself while looking in the mirror, but, drawing with my left hand and allowing myself to look at my sketch book as I worked.

What I found interesting about the first 2 sketches is that I recognize the first image as a dog and the second as a woman, but not necessarily as my dog or myself. I do, however, recognize myself in the third sketch. It’s not polished or does not even show me in the best light, but that’s what I liked about the exercise. I couldn’t control my hand and mark making like I would have if I had done a sketch with my dominant writing hand, yet, it still is recognizable as me. I should really add a quick sketch done with my right hand to see the difference. I wonder if I would try to capture a better likeness over which I had no control with the other methods.

So here’s a challenge for anyone else who wants to play along…check out Jafabrit’s blog and try it yourself. Also, Sue has some pretty nice figure drawings as well. It’s enlightening! Jessica just joined in too!