saraccino: sketching

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Samstag, 28. März 2020

"Gnomes" - Art Elements Theme Challenge

Okay, I have to admit this was one of the more difficult themes for me. Although gorgeous illustrated children's book with wonderful tales on gnome life are a joy to look at and make me smile (Jenny, who chose the theme, shared some) - it never tempted me to create some of my own. It like with a lot of other topics. I can create cute images but they are not "me".

However, it is called challenge and so I challenged myself by starting with some sketches. Trying to find one I would like to use as base for a painting. It didn't work and I stopped working on the theme for a long time. Sure, there were other reasons for this as well, especially changing from the lab to home office.

But then I went back to Jenny's inspirational books and thought of the landscapes and houses. So here is just a picture I had to take with an old tiny dog miniature toy...

...and then I used the Easter egg I made for my Art Elements blog post yesterday and used it to create a tiny landscape as well.

The houses are simply added with polymer clay, I had some organic dried stuff lying around (my stash is enough to occupy several people for a.... very long.... time ;) ), and then I painted everything after baking.

Thank you for joining us and please have a look at everyone's creation! :)

AE team:
Marsha
Cathy
Jen
Jenny
Lesley
Claire (you are here)
Niky

Guests:
Tammy.
Linda
Hope
Cat
Sarajo

Dienstag, 30. Juli 2019

"Flowers" - Art Elements Theme Challenge

The theme for our monthly challenge at Art Elements was chosen by Marsha - Flowers! A wonderful summer theme and one that allows for a broad range of interpretation. I really enjoyed it, only work and other obligations cut down heavily on the time (and energy) I had available.

So I won't ramble along like I usually do... but rather show you pictures ;) I played with the moleskin notebooks I got from my Art Elements secret santa. Pen and water color mainly.

I played again with layered monoprints but had to stop since our printer run out of black. Also although I liked the new color combinations I tried out, a lot of them had not enough contrast so I added marks with colored pencils, gel pens, and acrylic pens.

In between I started carving. I had a rubber printing block from a company I am not using anymore since it crumbles way too easy. But I wanted to use up all my leftovers.

With hare...

I also finished a big background printing plate / stamp with an abstract flower design.

For such big prints I use lino paint from Schmincke and thin rice paper. You can see the print through the back while printing.

I forgot to carve three lines... but I somehow like it and may leave it s it is.

The leftover pieces from the border can be used as tiny stamps.

I also made a test print with my hare again. For this I put a mask on the stamp before the printing and added the hare stamp later.

The background needs to be in a different color to enhance the contrast to the hare but I do love the end result!

When you had a look at yesterday's blog post at Art Elements (it was my turn) then you have seen this stamp during the carving process. Here it is finished with the first test print using an archival ink stamping pad...

....and here with lino printing ink.

I had to add the hare again since this was my original idea - combine the hare with flowers!

....and with color added! Love it!

And at the end: Some of the flowers on our balcony :)

Thank you for coming along to this blog hop and please have a look at what all the participants made! :)

Here is a list of our Visiting Artists:
Alysen
Cat
Divya
Evie and Beth
Jill
Hope
Kathy
Linda
Louise
Martha
Melissa
Michelle
Rozantia
Sarah
Sarajo
Tammy

And our Art Elements Blog Contributors:
Caroline
Cathy
Claire
Jenny
Laney Lesley Marsha
Susan

Donnerstag, 28. Februar 2019

"Birds of prey" - Art Element Theme Challenge

This month's theme was chosen by Cathy - "Birds of prey". I already knew it would be a stressful month and I still struggled with my lung, but I took the chance to at least sketch, paint, and experiment with styles a little bit.

I love how both of this sketches turned out although they are so diffeent in style! I will definitely play more with that.

Also I try to incorporate more bold color contrast quite often. I am not drawn to realistic images but rather to expressionistic ones. Still, I have to work on both before I will get close to what I would love to express ;)

Not all turned out well... but I will show you all here!

And I don't enjoy repetitious work like feathers from wings. Nope.

I get messy with it and I don't like that... but at least I gave it a try and I know that I don't enjoy it. I don't want to spend too much time with that... but before you can get lose, you have to know how it is build up... and I don't want to!

But I so love the face of this one! You see the difference if I enjoy painting a part? I pay attention to the details, shadows and form... NOT true for wings. Ugh.

All of my coptic stitch sketch books really hold up wonderfully to a lot of "abuse".

Nature is sometimes just weird. But I love it!

I also mixed water color and goauche quite a lot.

...as well water soluble pen and a water brush with diluted white gouache I made myself, it creates wonderful effects!

To the left whit gouache with a water soluble black pen and on the left only water colors.

I love her! With the pink eyes and the mix of details and lose colors! This is the direction I want to go to more.

By the way: The best water color sketch book I have used until now is really the handmade one with high quality water color paper. I use the back ides for mixed media and the right side only for water color. If you are struggling with water color sketch books, I really can recommend binding your own one. Saves a lot of nerves!

Thank you for joining us for this month's theme challenge and please have a look at everyone's creations! :)

Guests:

Cat

Sarajo
Sarah

Team Members:

Cathy

Claire (you are here)

Jen

Sue

Donnerstag, 31. Januar 2019

"Moon" - Art Elements Theme Challenge

This month's theme for our montly Art Elements challenge was "Moon" chosen by Lindsay. It was a wonderful theme for me mainly for one reason (and yes, you can laugh ;) ) - A moon is round. A circle... and circles are an elementary part of my work, especially my abstract mixed media work.

I am still trying to recover from the bad cold I got during christmas. The coughing is still bad and my lung is hurting. Don't worry, I went for a check to the doctor, got a lot of strong drugs and still waiting for the test results because my doctor just let them test... everything?

At least a lot since it seems that I have an atypical version which can untreated end bad. I am taking it slow, take the tram and bus instead going by bike, don't carry anything heavy, and at work I am mainly sitting at the computer.

But I am so thankful for the strong drugs so I won't cough as hard and the pain goes down. It could also be that I am not a good patient... being ill annoys me way too much!

So I also took it slow with the theme challenge.

I had a lot of ideas for earrings and monoprints using a resist technique and vintage moon motives... but I didn't stress myself, I can always come back to these ideas.

I enjoyed playing with different techniques and materials, being abstract as well as whimsical or simply playing with paint.

With every single sketch I learn a little bit more. On my to-do list is to create big, really big abstract paintings one day. It won't be anywhere soon, but the desire is there.

I will need more training before, to better find the balance between complexity, depth, and simplicity. It is already there in parts in some of my work but I am still not there.

I don't know why but there are abstract paintings that stop me right there. That I could look at for hours without tiring. Where paint and structure, color and composition evokes some feeling inside me.

Once in a gallery tour I saw a painting that felt so alive, I almost could smell it. Cool and rich, earthy... Sadly I never wrote the artist name down and one of the times where I really would have loved to be rich, so I could have bought it.

I love painting animals and flowers and hopefully in the future also more people, it is what I enjoy... but my abstract work is more personal, you will find me in there, it is what I need to create.

And there will be a giant painting... with a circle! ;)