The World is a Carousel of Color

Something was bugging me about the colors of the wall in the painting I am working on of the chairs. After taking a day off from painting, I came back to the painting with fresh eyes and discovered the wall colors were only one tone and too bright. My dilema was to figure out what colors would look better on the walls.  

The answer to the wall color was presented to me at lunch time. It was the color of the yellow orange mini pepper. Do you think this could be an example of what the wonderful creativity writer, Julia Cameron calls synergy? 

Furniture to Match Your Paintings

Many times when someone is decorating their abode, they choose their paintings last by the criteria that the painting must coordinate with their furniture.  We painters are advised to consult the latest trends in home decor and use the trendy colors in our artwork in order to sell more paintings.  

I am all for creating  a harmonious color scheme where you live. My problem is sometimes the colors of my subject matter are not on trend. The panetone colors for this year are a greyed blue and rosequartz.  These colors are not what I find in the landscapes and subject matter I am drawn to paint from Tuscany and Provence.

What do you think about choosing your painting first, then matching your furniture to it second? 

It's a win win situation if you buy a painting whose colors and subject matter you love and then surround yourself with furniture in colors that compliment your painting. 

At least that's what I am thinking. What do you think? 

Top left, painting I am currently working on. It's painted with water soluble oil paints.* 

*I am teaching a class on Saturday, Sept.10th at Miracosta College in Encinitas on HOW TO PAINT WITH WATER SOLUBLE OIL PAINT. 

Why Everyone Can Draw

This concept about drawing came clear to me this morning when I was at the beach walking while my husband surfed. I've been ruminating about the many purposes of drawing and painting for quite a while. 

We know that most children draw freely at an early age, right? I learned in my art education courses that most children draw symbols of things like houses and smoking chimmneys until they reach adolescence. Around 12 years kids desire their drawings to look realistic. At this point they can either take some art lessons to learn to draw realistically from what they see or they quit drawing.

Flash forward to sometime in adulthood when you feel the urge to draw. How do you respond to this urge?  A. You sign up for a drawing class b. You lay down and say " I can't draw, so I will stream Netflix instead. C. You get out your pencils and buy a sketchbook, order a set of 24 colored pencils on Amazon and store them in your art supply cupboard. D. All of the above E. None of the above

If you are still reading this , my point is you have the rudimentary drawing prerequisites at any age and can develop these skills if you have the desire and I think a strong passion for what you want to draw. In my recent posts, I have been motivated to draw Socks, the elder beagle to record him and his character.

Think about WHAT subject you might want to draw that would provide you with a strong motivation to brave the perils of learning to draw. Let me know if you come up with a subject and I will help you. 

Make Time For Drawing By Pretending You Don'T See the Mess

Into 25 daze of drawing Socks, the elder beagle. This morning, he took a different pose on our kitchen floor by the table because he is a beagle.  

I stopped my to do list and ignored the dishes I had to do, grabbed a pencil and drew him in my bullet journal. Even though I have sworn to use pen without pencil underneath for this project, I was forced to grab the only drawing tool available before Socks changed his pose.  

Dog Drawing Basis Skills

 I found this email from Sandra in my mailbox last Saturday and it was so inspiring, that I had to share it with you. Sandra had said that her favorite drawing instruction book was The Natural Way to Draw by Kim Nicolaides. It was written in 1941. I have a tattered copy on my shelf because it was the first drawing book I ever had. It was given to me by my artist aunt in 1968. I love this book and refer to it from time to time but I was curious as to why Sandra thought it was the best. Here is her answer, which I found motivated me to pick up my pen and draw more immediately.

Yes, Barbara, I believe that "The Natural Way to Draw" is still relevant and always will be.  I don't think any drawing method will eversupersede it, mainly because it teaches a person how to look.  For instance, find Picasso's drawing of (someone!) smoking a pipe, sitting in a chair.  The instructions are to turn the picture upside down and copy it.  You will have an almost perfect replica since you no longer confuse yourself with thoughts of "how is he sitting?  what is his hand doing?", you are merely copying lines.  To me, this is a most valuable lesson - one that I saw could be used in the watercolor class that I just attended.  There were manygood watercolors, but the few excellent ones were not of trees, grass, etc., but of shapes and colors and the way colors reacted with each other & the water.  That is art, an interpretation - not a photographic representation - of what is in front of you.

The drawings you make of Socks are not photographic, they depict how you feel and what you think about Socks - not what I would see if I looked at Socks.  That's another reason I like the Chinese drawing classes with Jean Shen.  Although the strokes are meant to be exactly the same from person to person and exactly the same from picture to picture, there's no getting around the fact that each person's personality/thoughts/feelings are expressed through their hand/eye coordination and use of painting materials.  Just look at your students' pictures in your library classes.  Even though you have provided the drawing, no two paintings are alike - everyone thinks differently.

In drawing, we all could learn to take out pre-conceived ideas - things I've heard include "Oh, let's don't draw trees, they all look alike."

I wrote my insights about the order of drawing skills I found useful at the top of my notebook page.  I grabbed a Pilot Varsity pen I had languishing in a draw and used it for the sketch. I have been trying to find a technique or marks that work for me to describe the color changes I observe in Sock's fur. After making hatch marks closer together for darker areas and farther apart for the lighter colors, in frustration I dipped my fingers in my glass of water, rubbed them on the ink areas I wanted a medium tone and since the ink is not waterproof, wa la! I added a mid tone wash.......

Finding More Drawing Time Yet?

Having set up 3 drawing stations in my house with minimal supplies IS helping me get in more drawing practice. 

Have you tried setting up EXPRESS DRAWING STATIONS AROUND your house? 

If not, try to think about drawing in the same way you think about practicing for a sport. You practice hitting tennis balls against a wall or hit golf balls at a driving range, so think of your drawing in the same vein. Its a skill you need to practice... 

Ink Drawing #18

Day 18 of 25 contour drawngs of Socks. I think making myself practice a drawing technique I am not comfortable with is actually a turning out to be good practice.  I am starting to be more familiar with sketching with a contour line in ink without my beloved pencil.

This Idea Could Help You Find Time to Draw

Place your drawing supplies in locations where you sit around your house. 

Finding more time to draw is a problem I am always trying to solve.  I wrote an article titled, "Setting Up Cozy Corners for Art Journaling" for Cloth,Paper, Scissors Magazine addressing this issue.  

This morning it occurred to me that one could find some simple office supplies around their house and slap them down in a location where they sit. This would provide a quick way to have a place to draw.  Cozy corners are wonderful too but take more time to set up. Express drawing stations are no frills, diy, and take less than 5 minutes to set up.

If you study the photos above starting with left top row, you will see a basic drawing set up (pencil, pad of paper and jar) and the deluxe set up which consists of a pencil with white eraser topper, a sharpener, a pen, a bound pad of paper and jar).   Next you can see the locations I found to place these "Express Drawing Stations".

Do try this in your home and let me know if it helps you find more time to draw.

The 25 Beagle Drawings in 25 Daze Continues

I am learning a lot of interesting things during my process of drawing my dear elder beagle in pen without pencil lines first:

1. It's not as easy as my artist fiend, Nancy makes it look. 

2. A lot of observational skills are involved as well as a lot of thinking.  I've discovered I need to explain to myself what shape I am trying to draw. I say silently to myself things like, the end of Sock's lips are a small circle.

3. Socks likes reclinging poses these daze. 

4. I had to excuse myself from sketching on day 24 as I didn't fit in sketching time. Nobody's perfect. 

Beagle Sketching

After a visit with my friend, Nancy Holtz, the pen sketching artist, I decided to use the pen she gave me to sketch my beagle of a certain age, Socks. 

Nancy effortlessly ink sketches what she sees without drawing in pencil first. The thought of not using a pencil first brings me back to my sad memories of 3rd grade when my teacher took away my pencil. The teacher said my writing was too small and that I needed to use only a crayon until I enlarged my writing. I ought to talk to someone about this as my stomach churns at this memory.

The new pen beckoned to me. Nancy received this pen a Pentel Hybrid Technica directly from Cheap Joe when she took a class from him in North Carolina. In my book, this is like receiving a gift from the guru of art supplies. 

Many of you dear blog readers know my house is filled with a pak of dogs including 2 beagles. Socks is our beagle emeritus and deserves to have his beagle poses documented for posterity. So yesterday I over came my fear of not sketching with a pencil first and sketched him with "the pen." 

The first sketched resembled chicken scrawls and I wanted to quit. However, I remembered I tell everyone that drawing requires practice. I had to keep drawing. Today's sketches were better. Then I invented the beagle project; 25 Sketches in 25 Daze to keep me going.  

Would you like to join me and find a subject you can sketch for 25 Daze? 

Let's Paint Paris

 France is on my mind right now. The country has suffered a lot lately. France and the French are amazing. I have made many wonderful friends in my travels through France and I feel very bad for the problems they are enduring right now. One of the many things I learned from my mentor, James Nastasia was when you can't physically make a trip to a desired location you can mentally transport yourself there as you paint an image of that location. So today, let's you and I take a mental trip to Paris and spend some time in this sunny sidewalk cafe. I have included the drawing if you want to print it out and trace or copy it.  Feel free to change your order in the cafe and draw a different beverage and dessert. Lunch is on me.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Bargain Shipping at Cheapjoes.com

Here's my shopping list that took me two hours of study to complete. I always try to take advantage of cheapjoes.com $1 shipping on small shipments. It's a good time to get good prices on art supplies without having to pay a big shipping fee. 

When I started writing my list of paint colors to order, I threw a ton of colors in my basket that I either needed, really needed, thought I needed or wanted to try because someone else used that color.  When I saw the total of all those paints, the free shipping was no longer a bargain. So I had to whittle down my list. The list contains colors I actually use and am out of or nearly out of.  No flamboyant colors I might use only once or just brag about to my friends.  

The letters after the colors are for the paint companies. DS is Daniel Smith, H is Holbein and WN is Winsor Newton. 

Artists Garden

You may be familiar with the larger than life mosaic vividly colored sculptures created by artist, Niki de Saint Phalle.  I first saw a few of her sculptures across from the San Diego Art Museum in Balboa Park.  They are whimsical, wild, delightful creative, creations. Viewing them will inspire you to think out of the box and infuse you with the desire to be incredibly creative.

I discovered that in a remote corner of western Tuscany there is a garden created by Saint Phalle that contains 22 of her sculptures! I found out about this garden when my friend, Marianne gave me a copy of the book, 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go by Susan Van Allen. After reading everything I could find about this garden, I decided both men and women and us should go.  So I have scheduled a day trip to Capalbio, Tuscany,  the home of the Saint Phalle Tarot Garden. We will visit this garden on my upcoming Fall Tuscany Watercolor Sketching trip, Oct. 2-9, 2016.   

Another Idea That Might Help You Get More Artwork Done

I read an article on the Domino Effect on JamesClear.com this morning.  I thought you might be interested in how we can apply this effect to our issue of getting more artwork done.   

According to Mr. Clear, the domino effect is when you make a change to one behavior and it activates a chain reaction and causes a shift in other related behaviors as well.

Now that I have been picking up my paintbrush most nights after dinner to paint what other behaviors are activated? Well, I am painting very small objects and concentrating on using one specific watercolor technique only. This is causing me to paint more often because I am seeing my work improve. Could this be the chain reaction?  Let me know what you think about this and if it helps you.

Beautiful twilight in Winsor, England.  Maybe, I'll find sometime to paint this photo....if I follow this advice. 

Speaking of Travel Journaling and Packing for Your Next Trip

Tomorrow I am speaking to members of the San Dieguito Art Guild about finding time to watercolor journal and how to pack your art  supplies.  This is a subject very dear to my travel painting artist's heart. I can chatter on endlessly about water brushes, sketchbook sizes, paper quality, packing cubes and the importance of purchasing expensive travel underwear that dries in 2 hours or less. 

 I must confess that I actually study the dimensions of suitcases and overhead bins. I know the best pencil sharpener to take on a trek up to a mountain top.  I know the smallest paint set you can  toss into your tiny travel bag to take to Tasmania. I have no less then 24 bags to choose from to take along on my next trip. 

I am sure they will find me fascinating. If not, I hope the refreshments are good.

Are You Interested in Visiting Ireland, Scotland or Italy with Me this Fall?

Sketch and watercolor views that this in your travel journal. 

If you have been thinking about a trip to Europe now is the time to make your plans. I can teach you how to record what inspires you as you walk down the road with me in Edinburgh. I can show you how to sit in a cafe and sketch a window across from the cafe as you sip a glass of wine or savor a cappucino.  If the colors you see from the window of the train inspire you to paint, I can teach you how to mix those colors and paint without anxiety.  

I still have a few spots open on my Fall trip if you want to join our small group and travel, sketch and relax.  Here are the details: 

Scotland- Sept. 18-25, 2016 $2,500. 

Ireland- Sept. 25-Oct2, 2016 $2,500. 

Italy(Tuscany)-Oct.2-9, 2016. $1,700.

Discounts available if you sign up for more than one week. 

For more info www.barbararothanywhereart.com   

Sometimes A Scribble is Enough.....

......to get you started drawing.   I was making a list this at 2am when I couldn't sleep. I had some ideas for the book I am finishing up and I scribbled some very simple images of possible ideas at the bottom of my list.  When I looked at the scribbles today, there it was, staring me in the face, the idea That had been eluding me for my illustration!  Now that I have my idea I can go ahead and complete the drawing.

Start scribbling your idea today and let me know how this process works for you. 

Finding More Time to Paint, Free Art Supplies and Trader Joes?

Frequently I am asked how to find more time to paint. Do you wrestle with this time issue?  If so, consider one solution I have discovered which is to shop at Trader Joe's.  

Trader Joes sells many pre made or pre prepared items that will cut down the time you spend cooking and preparing meals. 

Did you know Trader Joes also gives away free art supplies? I repurposed their cookie jars into a watercolor brush cleaner. Note that it has a clean water holder inside and a larger round water holder outside to hold your dirty water. 

Dip your dirty brush in the outer container to clean it and into the inner container for clean water.

Pet Peeve and A Petite Seminar on Viewing Artwork

Have you ever showed someone a painting you've done and they said nothing or maybe mumbled something?  

How did you feel? Let's face it we artists have sensitive souls. When we get up the courage to show someone our works of art, it is a little like showing your mom your first pre school painting (at least for me, you may be a lot more mature).  You want a positive response to validate your efforts or at least but maybe too much to expect, an offer for them to hang it on their refrigerator. 

If you put yourself in the other guy's soes, in this case the person looking at your painting, they may not know what to say. After all they cut most of the art education out of the school budget when most of us were growing up.  

So I am going to suggest to you somethings to say upon being shown a person's artwork: 

"I like the colors." 

"I like your line work" 

"I like the textures you achieved with your brush work." 

Or you can ask an open ended question such as: 

"What inspired you to paint this subject?" 

"How did you get that subtle color in the sky?" 

Or you can resort to one or two word answers but say them loudly: 

"Fantastic", (maybe over the top but please err in this direction). 

"Wow!" 

"Excellent!" 

"Terrific work!" 

Now here is a thumbnail I did for a larger painting of Napa, you can practice your responses by emailing or using the comment box on this blog. 

Setting Priorities to Find Time to Paint

Study the picture below. Can you find my eye glasses? They disappeared in here sometime after midnight Monday night.  

My art studio

In case you think your art space needs to be pristine at all times in order to create, re-think that concept and decide how much chaos you can tolerate and still find time to make art.