Desk Mess Averted

This morning my desk was sort of a mess. I was working on 17 different projects over the weekend and had spread them all out on my desk. I started to feel despair but then I remembered your advice and put all of my projects away before beginning a demo painting for my online class.  In moments my desk was clear, I was shocked and amazed! I am capable of averting a major desk mess. This might be the biggest accomplishment of my adult life besides marriage, a daughter and learning to straighten my hair with a flat iron.  

Top: my desk this morning. Bottom left: Claude Monet's desk in his studio in Giverny, France, he must have cleaned it up recently. Bottom right: my current project value sketches. 

National Dog Day Drawing Challenges

I discovered tonight around dinner time that today is National Dog Day.  I would have started my dog portraits sooner if I had known that earlier.  However as soon as I finished dinner I grabbed my pencil and asked the dogs to pose. As soon as I began one pose the dog would shift his position. Finally Ollie fell asleep and held still and I was able to draw her. 

i wanted to give back to the dogs by making them each a portrait because they give so much to me. Maybe tomorrow. Who knows though if tomorrow is National Rabbit day and I will want to sketch a rabbit, but I don't have a rabbit so that is a moose point. 

A Miracle Occurred in My Studio

Due to the miraculous suggestions I received from you, my dear readers of this blog, I found the time, energy and inspiration to clean up my desk and studio before beginning my next project. My husband is going to think he returned to the wrong house in the suburb when he returns from work. He will not recognize me or my studio. The studio is clean. Trader Joes Sage cleaning spray supplied the wafting odor of sage and I am calm and in a Zen like mood.  According to my internet research, the odor of sage may help with mental fatigue and clarity. 

If you study my desk carefully you'll see I have only materials for my project on my desk with the exception of the white stone stick. The stick has nothing to do with the ink drawings I am about to embark on. It is a wand made from selenite given to me by my daughter. A well placed selenite wand is said to ward off negative energy and the last thing I want in my office/studio is negative vibes.

I may have mentioned before that I am now studying all avenues that will improve my artwork and teaching career. Hopefully now that I am able to find my art supplies and not create in a chaotic environment I will be more successful. I guess I'd better sit down and draw now... 

The photo of the beagle provides inspiration for me when I am working.  

The Votes Are Coming In

So far the responses to the messy vs. neat desks question have been almost totally in favor of the messy desk. A few of you suggested cleaning up the mess before starting the next project, this was a startling yet useful suggestion. As far as ideas for new topics to teach, one idea has come in. Suzy suggested an online class on painting cats. I can follow through on this idea, but please send more.

My demo from the journaling class I taught today

Thinking Up Some New Teaching Ideas

I pride myself on being forward thinking about my career. I try to anticipate changes in the field of art teaching and travel art journaling before they become the norm.  It has occurred to me lately that its time for some new teaching ideas. 

I have been studying trends in art teaching both domestically and internationally.  Trending right now in California and perhaps the rest of the U.S. is "paint nights" in wine bars. I believe this trend has merit, but since most of my classes are taught in the mornings or early afternoon drinking wine and painting probably isn't the best new idea for me to absorb. Besides, my students told me if they came to my home studio and had wine in the morning, they would need to take a nap before driving home.  I'm pretty sure we don't  have enough space for a nap room filled with sleeping art students. 

Another trending idea that has come to my attention is  coloring books for adults.  There was an article in the Parade magazine which said they were very  popular and theraputic.   I have been fortunate enough to publish some drawings in a few coloring books but I don't think you need  a teacher to advise coloring students. Besides, I would tell everyone to color outside the lines and use non local colors. 

I have thought about changing careers,  but I am too old to retrain to be a veterinarian, an astronaut or an architect and besides, I really like teaching art. I like my students, I like seeing people develop new hobbies and passions like painting and drawing and I like helping people to explore some of the most artistic spots in Europe and journal about it.  So, my only choice is to re-invent myself.  A new image, something flashier and more arty perhaps.  If I looked flashier I am sure I could teach more flashier art subjects.  I tried out some new looks this evening with some accessories I borrowed from my daughter.  I don't think this is quite what I am going for.  If you check out the photos below you can see for yourself.  

Until I find my new image I will just have to continue teaching watercolor with pen and ink, travel journaling, how to paint and draw without anxiety ecectera, ecectura and try to help my students enjoying painting their worlds.

However, if you have any ideas of what kinds of classes people would like, please send them to me asap because I am too shy to go out of the house dressed in a pink wig. 

Messing Around With A New Technique

Last week I attended a 5 day workshop taught by the most amazing teacher, Donna Zagotta.  

I learned a ton of information on composing pictures and color theory. Plus Donna taught us her technique of combining watercolor paint with white gouache. 

Here is the painting I started in class and just finished today. I think I will call it "First Kiss".

Do Creative People Have Clean Desks?

Quickly study the picture below and answer the question in the middle? If I get enough opinions saying clean desks are not useful I can put together a sound defensive argument to present to my husband about why I don't need to spend my time cleaning. 

If I need more facts to back up my theory I am going to consult this wonderful book. 

Sometimes I can't locate this book when I need it and I have to creatively shift through things to unearth it. 

Please respond before 4:00 PST when my husband returns from work. 

Olives Growing on My Sketchbook Page

I am content to paint anything related to olives right now. In any form, pattern or arrangement. It must be the summer sun rays that hit me this morning while I was pulling dry tomato leaves off our plants in the garden. Or my olive obsession could be obviously caused by my frenzied attempts to relearn basic Italian in my sleep by listening to "Learn Italian While You Sleep" recordings. 

Mixed Up Media

Les Jardins d'Helene Front Entrance

This painting was painted with watercolor paint. Somehow the red color of the front door bothered me. I repainted and repainted it several times yesterday afternoon. Anyone who says you can't fix mistakes in watercolor painting is mistaken. I lifted off and rubbed out the bright red door several times.  

I paced, I snacked and I had a glass of wine but no solutions came to me about how to finish this painting to some level of satisfaction. I took a book off my shelf by one of my favorite painters who is known for her translucent watercolor glazes. I read that she sometimes uses gouache(opaque water based paint) in the final stages of her paintings. Why, I have a whole drawer filled with tubes of gouache paint. I rushed to the drawer and grabbed the gouache, I mixed, I squirted paint and I tried concocting all kinds of pastels colors of gouache + watercolor.  Pictured here are the results of my endeavor.  Since this painting contains more then one art medium I believe it can be called a "mixed up media" piece. 

Dreaming of Lunch in Tuscany

I am not complaining about our recent warm summer weather in San Diego. My hair does not have a halo of frizz around it in the summer in San Diego like it did when I lived in the mid-west. However, my thoughts have drifted to Fall in Tuscany.  I see myself seated on a shady terrace looking out at the rolling hills, cypress trees and  all the greens of the countryside. In my dream I am about to eat lunch, (I am always hungry, dream state or normal state).  

Lunch will start with toasted bread drizzled with fresh olive oil, that has just been pressed from the Fall olive harvest.......wait! This isn't a delusional dream, this is a reality dream.  On Oct. 10 I will be in Tuscany teaching a watercolor workshop and I will be eating daily. It will be olive harvest season in Tuscany and I will be able to taste the freshly pressed olive oils.  

I would love to have you join me for lunch and 2 weeks of painting and touring in Tuscany and Umbria, I have only 2 spots open on my trip. Please email me today if you are interested at anywhereart4u@gmail.com

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Monet and I Have A Lot in Common

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I painted one of the windows in Monets house and he painted his house too!

I am reading yet another book about Claude Monet.  This book says that Monet sometimes felt depressed about a painting he had completed and when he was depressed he got angry.  In fact he got so angry that he went and stayed in a hotel near his house in Giverny. I wonder if he stayed, where I stay when I visit Monet's Garden with my students?  Les Jardins d"Helene? I wonder if he stayed in the blue room? No he probably stayed in the room with the very nice bathtub and big bathroom.  Anyway, I read that when his depression pasted (in a day or two), he came home and everything was fine again for his family. 

Now I am not saying that I move to a hotel when I don't that one of my paintings.  That would be silly. However,  sometimes when I finish a painting I don't like it all that much.  It happens to all of us.  Sometimes it happens because you are trying something new and the results are not perfected yet, and sometimes your eyes get tired of looking at your painting and it looks better the next day. 

Here are some other things I have in common with Monet: I like to paint/he liked to paint, I like lavender walls/he painted the walls in his house light lavender, I would like to have a Japanese bridge over a water lily pond in my backyard and he had a a bridge and a water lily pond. He liked living in France/I really like visiting France, ooh the things we have in common are endless...

Painted Fire Station

Here is my painting that I painted during the class I taught while sitting on the curb in Auburn with my students in my Moleskine watercolor journal.

Painting, Perspective and Placer County

I used to live and teach in a suburb of Sacramento. The town of Auburn 30 minutes up the hill was my favorite place to teach and visit. There is something to sketch on every corner of the old town. I found a good match for my teaching skills when I signed on to teach for Placer Adult school. All the students were eager to learn and full of enthusiasm. It was such a treat to return to Auburn this week to teach watercolor sketching to my wonderful students. 

Painting on the streets of Old Town Auburn

We drew the old fire house. 

What I Have Been Painting Lately

I have been in a painting frenzy lately. Even though my brushes haen't touched a canvas or piece of watercolor paper, I have been feeling happy as a kindergartner with her first box of crayons while I was coloring all my furniture inside and out.

Annie Sloan chalk paint is my favorite paint for my furniture. If you come to visit me, don't sit still for too long or you might get a fresh coat of paint. If you see me out somewhere, I bet if you look closely, you will see chalk paint on my clothing, in my hair or somewhere on my purse or phone. 

Repainted furniture  

Backwards Beach Painting

This weekend when I went to the beach in the morning to walk while my husband surfed, I did everything backwards. 

I walked in the opposite direction then I usually walk. I looked in the opposit direction from the ocean, at the homes perched on the cliffs. I painted at the beginning of my walk instead of after my walk like I usually do. Here is the result.

How to Make Friends in an Art Class

So exactly how do you make a friend in an art class?  My answer is to ask open ended questions.  Questions that cannot be answered with just a yes or no answer, but require more of an explanation, so you might learn more about the person. 

Here is a list:

To ask at the beginning of the class or while waiting for the teacher to begin.                          How did you find this art class?  What other kinds of art do you do? Are you from this area?  What other art classes have you taken? Where did you get that brush?  

To ask while doing the project.  How did you get that technique?  With an exclamation first, Wow, I love the color you used for the sky, where did you find that color?  Amazing! How did you learn to draw like that?  Awesome! Have you been painting for a long time?

At break time. If you are stumped for questions to ask, just look around and ask questions about the environment.  Do you know where the coffee machine is?  Did you think the man across the table is wearing a wig? Why do you think the teacher dresses like that?  Or if all else fails, give a small compliment and then ask a question. I love you shoes, where did you find those? 

Nearing the end of class you could ask things like, What do you think about taking another class from this teacher?  Are you going to be able to continue this drawing/journaling/painting or whatever process on your own at home?  Then you could throw in, maybe we could form a group to continue painting?

It's very scary to try to make new friends at any age, once you leave kindergarten.  I think its because no one likes to be rejected. However, we can't take rejection personally.  Compare it to something else like fishing.  You bait the hook and you drop it in the water and wait for a bite. Then if you get a bite you have to pull the fish out of the water and see if you want to take it home. Maybe this isn't the best analogy, because you are not going to eat your new friend for dinner. But, I can't think of a better analogy right now. So just be open to trying to make new friends in art classes.  Let me know how it goes.

Happy Acrylic Painting Class

Yesterday the students graduated from my 4 session acrylic painting class. They all learned a lot and got straight A's on all their paintings. 

I love acrylic painting for 2 reasons: 1. You get to paint with white. 2. You get to paint on canvas. 

Today, I am beginning to paint a "car" portrait. I will keep you posted on how it progresses. 

Finding the Right Outdoor Watercolor Painting Set Up

In yesterday's post I mentioned the challenges of painting out of doors.  It is important to have just the right technical set up. This morning when I went to the beach to paint I was testing out some new outdoor painting supplies. 

There was a fatal flaw with my new paperweight that I used to hold my Moleskine journal page open during painting. 

Next time I will try using a binder clip instead of a banana. 

Travel Painting Post Trip

When you are painting out of doors while on vacation the conditions are never perfect. Sometimes there are no places to sit in front of your subject or if you brought a stool small enough to fit in your 22" suitcase, it might collapse or tilt. Also your paint colors may be limited since you have to use a smaller palette then usual. Never mind the weather conditions that can effect your painting. Everything considered,  I love travel painting in my journal. I love plopping down in front of something beautiful, studying it and trying to paint my rendition of it. The feeling might be similar to how a jazz musician feels but that's only a guess since I am tone deaf.

My second favorite thing to do besides travel painting, is paint the final touches on my journal paintings after I return home in the comfort of my studio. I have a lot more control over the painting conditions at home then I do in the field. Also I have all the time I need to add the finishing touches and change them if I don't like them.  This is what I am doing this morning. 

Paintings from Monet's Garden that I am working on today. 

Packing Tips for Artists

 I must share with you how I pack to return home from a painting trip. I have to let you know that mid trip, I did ship some things home from the post office in Provence.  Otherwise I never would have made it home with one 22" suitcase and a carry on bag. 

First, I spread everything out I need to pack and look at it with a feeling of horror. Then I get to work sorting everything into to categories and piles.  When I got to this point, I decided I needed expert help, so I called in my assistant and world traveler,  Eileen Condon.

The picture below shows Eileen's reaction to my packing situation. It wasn't good. I begged for a tidbit of advice. Finally, Eileen came up with some very good ideas I hadn't thought about.  She suggested I take one of my Eagle Creek packing bags that you roll the air out of, and use if for my dirty clothing.  That was a big help.  She also gave me permission to donate some of my heavier scarves etc. to the charity bag in order to make room in my suitcase.  

We put together a bag for charity of all of our clothing and Sandrine, the wonderful owner of Les Jardins D'Helene said she would get it to a charity shop.

So, this packing story has a happy ending. I was able to fit everything in my suitcases and everything made it home in one piece.