Saturday, January 30, 2010

Painting Class/Apples and Hat Box

Oil painting is taking over my life right now! The new semester has begun and will keep me PLENTY busy. I haven't painted with oil paints in over 25 years, and at that time I had only taken an 8 week lesson. So this newest attempt is liking starting from scratch.

In our Wednesday night class, we painted a still life with apples and other objects from the presentation table. After three hours mixing and applying colors, here's what I came up with:



We will spend half of our next class working on the painting again. I would truly appreciate your candid critique and feedback that will help me take this to the next level. Please, please, please post your artist critique in the comments!

And, on a fun little note, here is hubby hanging out with our one kitty last weekend. She's so comfy on Dad's shoulder!



Saturday, January 23, 2010

Charlotte's Web - Illustrations for a Local Theater Production

How lucky can I be to have the opportunity to draw the infamous Wilbur from Charlotte's Web?! The theater program at the local community college needed promotional material illustrations for their April performance.

I have to admit, I had to google Charlotte's Web to recall the full story - it's been quite awhile since 3rd grade. ;) Web photo searches of pigs, rats, and spiders provided for an array of drawing references.

The Final Illustration: The "terrific" pig gazes at his favorite spider, Charlotte, while Templeton slumps on the barn post. Plenty of "white space" reserved for promotional text.



The Sketch: "Some Pig" came out of my pencil after quite a few rounds of 'sketch and erase'.




Revisions: After consulting with the publications director, we downsized Wilbur a wee-bit, and moved up the pig-sty dirt to allow for logos, disclosures and text at the bottom.




To Print: the final flyer produced by the college's public relations department.



Close-Ups:







If you enjoyed this post, you may enjoy:




Thanks for visiting!



Sunday, January 17, 2010

Influenced By Berthe Morisot - A Series of 4 Oil Stick Paintings

Learning to use oil sticks in last semester's drawing class was so fun!

For our final project, we were challenged to select and learn about a master artist, study their work to learn how they created their compositions, then develop a series of four of our own still life's that were influenced by what we learned.

My Artist: Impressionist painter, Berthe Morisot
I was drawn to Morisot's paintings because of the fancy hats and loose brush stokes of her work.

My series of four oil stick paintings depict a bust of a lady wearing colorful hats:









And, here's the process of creating the fourth and final in the series:








A Bit About Morisot:
Morisot was a woman ahead of her time. Born into an upper-middle class family, she pursued a successful profession as an artist at a time when society frowned upon a woman of class having a career. She was the only female in the elite circle of French Impressionist painters. Because of her social class, her painting subjects were limited to domestic scenes, women and children. Outside landscapes were painted at her family's summer property. Many of her paintings portray her daughter, Julie.

If you enjoyed this post, take a peek at my final project from last Spring's semester:

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my "Creative Time" blog. In a few weeks, I'll be posting an update to my neighbor's duck carving of a Hen Mallard that's she creating for the WARDs world duck competition in Ocean City, Maryland. So, please stop in again. soon!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Meet the Duck Junky - a talented duck carver!

Meet my neighbor, Deb. Otherwise known as "The Duck Junky". She started carving ducks in 1993 and has been swimming in blue ribbons ever since.

We'll take a peek at her awards and studio, then follow her progress over the next few months as she carves her next duck, a Hen Mallard, that she'll be entering in this year's WARD World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition at Ocean City, Maryland in April.

Deb and her ducks in the local newspaper:



Where it all happens. Notice the name above the door.





Ahhhhh, and all of those incredibly gorgeous colors of silky ribbons. Well-deserved after hours upon hours of time spent carving and painting to perfection....













Deb's accolades include:
Best of Show for her East Caroline (2 years!)
First Place for her Hooded Merganser in 2008
First Place for her Harlequin drake sea duck in 2009
...and several other blue ribbons at WARDS World Competition, she relays so humbly.

You'd expect nothing less than lots of duck heads gracing the shelves of her studio.





Which one of these is the real one?





The toolbox.



Grinding and sanding.



Carving the details.



The new project - a Hen Mallard.



Next Steps....The Duck Junky will be laying out the pattern and begin rough cutting the wood block. Stop back and share in her progress. It will be fun to cheer her on as she prepares for April's competition.


Please post any duck carving questions you have for Deb so I can be sure to post Deb's answers to them in future posts.
Thanks for visiting!