Our good friends, The Goubrans, are taking a month's sabbatical starting this week.
I'm glad I captured them, minus Steven who was in the nursery, while in church last sunday.
Guys, hope you have an enjoyable month off. Relax, learn, and come back to us refreshed!
Last sunday, it was my sister's birthday. We had a surprise party for her.
Lots of people were there, from my parents' church. After a while, I decided to sketch, and I did this one.
The ladies looking at my sisters new-ish apple macbook.
I think I saw them looking at a picture of some guy.
pitt brush pen on moleskine
So, a couple weeks ago, I saw this fruit at the supermarket.
It looked so strange and intriguing, I bought it just so I could make an attempt at drawing it!
That much I accomplished. YOU can see the results.
I did not manage to eat, it, and it is in the fridge, but now I hear that as a tropical fruit, it should not be refrigerated.
I think I'll cut it open tonight and try it.
According to some other people's blogs, it should be a nice green on the inside.
The only problem is, It cost me $3.99
I guess for art's sake, it was worth capturing it!
Colored pencils on sketchbook
I have been working on a bigger scale project, but I've managed to make a few drawings or sketches here and there.
This one was done at some friends' house, when we were over for dinner.
It was really fun trying to capture the reflections on the glass.
Watercolor and pen on watercolor moleskine.
Despite my failures in the november project, I push on ahead, instead of looking back,
The journey to make art, successful and pleasing to God, is interesting. It us also what I seek to do with my life, so I've been trying to make those 2 parts of my life become one. My life is about "Seeking the Muse" not just my art, or my blog.
While seeking, it occurred to me what would be a great project for December. That is, to paint 4 moments from the Christmas story.
Painting from stories in the Bible has always been something I've wanted to do, and this was just an extension of that.
So I've been praying and seeking to figure out what those might be.
My goal is to have 4 paintings by the end of the month.
I'm having to do a bit more research than has been the case of late, so this might be a bit of a challenge at first.
So, below are 2 quick sketches of to help me with placement of ideas for the final paintings...
joseph's dream
the shepherds are terrified
Any comments, thoughts or questions are always appreciated.
Another November is over, and unfortunately, I did not reach my goal, I'm far from 30 faces. I got a few requests I was not able to accommodate. But I have to more on.
This is the last face I finished in November. It's my dad.
I like the drawing on it's own, but I'm not happy with the likeness to my dad. This drawing had so many interruptions, and was done over the course of several days, and I think that is why.
At the end of it all, I got 11 faces done. That's a pretty far cry. I did have some unexpected things happen this month, like the chicken pox, so that accounts for some of my delay.
December holds an entirely different endeavor, and I'll write more about it on the next post.
Thanks for everyone who's been commenting.
For Enoch, Michelle and Raquel, who made faces requests... I haven't forgotten you, and I'm planning on attaching your pieces in January. I need a breather from faces, for right now. Thanks for understanding, and keep on coming by!
So, I finally finished this a couple days ago! And it feels great! It's one of those paintings which I learned alot from, and I'm happy with, and so it's a success already, no matter what.
I learned about a limited palette, as well as broader strokes. I learned about acrylic and texture, as well as how not drawing first can affect a painting positively and negatively. It's an exciting new phase for me.
Also, today I scored a great deal. I bought some 50-60 tubes and jars of acrylic paints plus mediums, used of course, for just $70. This about triples what I had in paints, and gives me the freedom to continue to experiment! It's a great feeling! Thank goodness for craigslist!
11x14 acrylics on linen canvas pad
I also finished another drawing...
This one is on the moleskine, with the gray pitt pens and then ending with the sepia for the background.
A face I started 2 days ago, and finished yesterday.
I'm a bit slow this month. Still trying to figure out why.
I'm not entirely happy with this one, but there are some aspects I still appreciate.
Another face, a slightly different approach at hatching.
More of an exercise, than a presentable piece, but at least I am putting pen to paper.
Pilot v5 pen on large moleskine
I'm still a bit behind on my 30 faces, and yesterday, I thought I'd catch up, and sketch a few extra faces. Instead, I had a terrible time, and only one of them was of any merit.
Pitt brush pens on moleskine
I came across this in Ryan's blog. It's a tool that lets you draw directly within your browser, with your mouse, and it records your strokes.
So now, you can see my drawing take shape.
Nothing spectacular, but fun nonetheless.
Hopefully, with practice, I can get better at it...
What do you think?
Yesterday would be the last day that Willik was home with the chicken pox, first, then with a terrible cough.
He'd been wanting to teach me a technique he learned at school in art class, so we attempted it.
It's called "drawing with scissors" and we had a lot of fun doing it. You can make it as realistic or abstract as one wants. And using different interesting papers would make it more special. For this particular application, we used construction paper, and it worked well.
Because I'm in the middle of my 30 faces, I naturally figured this would be a good day to "make" another face, and that I did. I cut a profile out.
The process is to cut any shape you want out of a piece of paper.
Have another 2 pieces of paper of the same size, but different colors/textures ready to go.
Once you cut, you then glue your "positive" image to one paper, and your "negative" to the other.
You end up with 2 versions of the piece. I chose to glue mine down as mirror images.
It was a lot of fun, and practicing with scissors is a great thing for any child! and artistic moms too!
Mine:
Willik's umbrella bird:
While looking for faces to draw, I came across a contact sheet of portrait shots I had taken during college. This was one of them. I liked it because it was an unusual expression, and therefore, challenging to get the features correct. I think I did it. It also was a picture with good contrast.
If anyone has a good photo of yourself or someone you'd like me to draw, please send it my way.
It needs to be clear and have good contrast.
liz
colored pencils on moleskine
This is my effort for today.
Despite still having Willik at home with the chicken pox, and I had a big headache all day.
So, I painted this on a new canvas linen pad. I like the color of the linen, though I think I'd like it best if it was a stretched canvas.
I'm using a limited palette of 4 colors only, and I like it so far.
There was no underdrawing, just straight painting. It's very liberating. I still need to do about an hour's worth to call it done, but I'm not looing for a peice with every detail. I want to keep this loose, quality about it, somewhat abstracted, and treated as big shapes of the different planes of the face. it's a new way of painting for me, and it's a great learning process.
I also stretched my first canvas this morning. That made me feel like a "real" artist. Believe it or not, I've never stretched canvas before. I've stretched watercolor paper before, and that's super cool, and the concept is the same, but stretching canvas requires some heavy duty manual labor. You really have to pull the canvas tight, and it's difficult to do with your hands only. I used some of my husband's tools to get the job done. To staple the canvas to the bars, I used my own, recently purchased, heavy duty stapler. It worked great, but you really have to put some force into it. And now I know why one really needs canvas pliers. They are probably easier to use than regular flat little pliers found in a "normal" tool box. But all in all, I think the stretch on my canvas is pretty tight, and I need to gesso it, before I paint on it.
This is a sketch, and not a finished piece, but this is my face for today.
Some might say there's not much of a face, but I think the whole point for me, is doing interesting angles, and unusual, styles. I think this drawing has both.
Of course, it's another drawing from church, as you might notice the small quote up at the top.
I didn't have my regular moleskine with me, so I drew this inside my journal, and I like the lines going thru it.
What do you think?
I know, I'm still 2 behind, but I'll get there!
Thanks for looking.
Yes, another stab at 30 faces in November.
I'm already behind, in posting, but I've worked over the course of 2 days in one drawing. That means I am one behind, so I have to bang out 2 things one of these days. A bit of a challenge with Willik home from school with chicken pox, but I have to get thru it and still manage some art in there.
Anyway, here's a 2b pencil drawing of a lady from our church.
9x12 canson drawing paper
2B pencil
"Edna"
I think I'm finally getting into an art groove.
On thursday, friday and yesterday, I have been working on art projects.
I worked on an old painting about my salvation story which I hadn't worked on in 10 years, I think, and you can see the progress to the right. It's on wood, nothing fancy or special. It's a square, but it's warping a bit. It's not a great photo but you get the picture.
then, when this needed a break, or rather, I needed a break, I gessoed a couple canvases, added texture, and tried to glue stuff to them, and waited for them to dry.
The texture to one of the canvases worked, but the glued/collagey stuff didn't and I had to remove it, and do something slightly different to the canvas.
While this tried and I figured out what to do next on these surfaces, I worked on the boys' costumes for Halloween. They had the Autumn Festival at Graffiti church, on saturday, so I worked into the night on friday to finish the costumes. They are pirates, and you can see their pictures here.
When I came back to the canvases on monday, I knew how to approach one, so I began by doing a quick sketch of the figure, and then I blocked in 3 shades of blue in acrylics as under painting for tone and contrast.
Then this needed to dry, so I set up the next canvas on the easel.
I felt a need to use orange, and so I started brushing it on to the canvas. I was originally planning on making this a big head, somewhat distorted and comic book-like, but as I got orange over the whole thing, and played around with wiing off some paint, and letting the texture show thru, I realized it was not to be a face, but a cityscape of sorts. It was weird, because I've read and heard many times of artists being "spoken to" by their paintings, as to what it wants to be, and I believed it, though can't say I remember haveing those experiences, so it felt strangely odd and exciting to be so in tune with the painting. It made me feel like a real artist.
of course, these are in their beginning stages, so there's not much to see here, but I thought it would be good for me to record my progress and keep myself accountable.
After the blue figure set aside and I looked at it enough, I decided it will be my modern version homage to St. Francis, since he loved animals, especially birds.
Any thoughts or comments always encourages me.
Thanks for reading.
This past weekend, we had a retreat here at home. It was fun to get away from the city and get to spend a bit more time with some of the church family. Sunday mornings are so rushed!
Anyway, one of the things I was in charge of, was having a little art workshop during the free time on saturday. I was glad to do it, though I had so much to prepare for between the workshop and the games I was in charge of, it was just a lot of stuff to pack and bring, all for a one night away.
I decided that I would teach a bit about collage. It's what I've been doing alot of lately. We got off to a slow start, with only 2 people joining me at first. Then one more, and then a whole family of 5 joined us at the very end, with only 20 minutes left. Things got a little nuts there at the end, and I'm not sure anyone learned great things but I think everyone had fun, and got to play with some things they might not have come up with on their on.
The little painting above is what I did during the workshop. I was just playing with shapes, and textures, and when my boys and Fabio came to see if I was done, they declared that it looked "planetary" or like-saturn" or "from outer-space." I did a little finishing touch to it when I got home, but though it wasn't my intention, I think they are right. I like how it came out.
Any one have any thoughts?
I used to ride the subway everyday, throughout high school, then college. That's 8 years of riding the subway every week day. All the time, I was going to art school. I could have been drawing on the subway everyday. I don't know if it's the combination of rush hour in the subway, or having too many other things going on, or just not being a good journaler back then, but I spent most of my subway rides either talking with friends, or sleeping. Never really drawing. Now I'm rarely on the subway. I spent most days driving the boys to and from school, and I spend time at home trying to make art, or trying to keep up with my house, so being on the subway, much less drawing on the subway is just not in the realm of possibility. But an opportunity for a meeting in the city prompted me to ride the subway, precisely so I could draw. After all, if you want to draw people, there isn't a better chance 
around, with the millions of riders in NYC everyday! Sure, it presents it's own challenges, being as you're moving and there's no real steady surface, and there are lots of people around you, looking or trying to look over your shoulder to see what you're doing. It takes some courage to draw the person in front of you without drawing too much attention to yourself. But in the end, it's an awesome drawing session, and it's great practice. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it makes you notice alot of stuff. So, that's what these 2 drawings are all about. I spent time making art on the train and that brings me alot of satisfaction!
A good friend had a birthday about a month ago. I told him that for his birthday, I would be giving him a "glaucia original." This is what I came up with
Kareem is the music leader at our church, among many other things. But more than that, he loves music, he inspires others to love music. He will give guitars to anyone who wants to learn, and he will teach them the basics. He loves to support all musicians and artist in general, and I feel like he's one of my biggest "fans" and supporters. He really is the man behind the music and that is what inspired this piece. Pictured are just some of the instruments he plays.
I hope that he'll enjoy this piece, and that I can be as generous and inspiring with my talents, as he is with his.
8"x 8" mixed media, on wood fiber board
This was a first. I just recently learned what an ATC is (Artist Trading Cards) and although artists have been exchanging these for some time, this is my first time even making one. I made 3 by the end.
I listen to a wonderful podcast called Creative Mom Podcast. If you are creative and have kids in your life, even if you're not a mom, you will enjoy listening!
It was thru this podcast that I first considered making some atcs. The artist/moms that listen to Amy have formed a community and often exchange their latest artwork and comments at flickr, and they exchange atcs as well.
So I decided to try it this month for the first time. The theme, for the atc's was "signs". Here are the 3 ideas that came to mind when I read the theme. Tomorrow I will mail out one of these to the person who is to receive one from me. I'm looking forward to receiving someone else's work soon!
All in all, I had fun doing these, cause since they are small, it didn't take me long, and it does wonders for the sense of accomplishment!
For me, the thought process was that I need to be reminded, possibly with signs to "make more art".
Drawing well takes practice. I've always known that, and when I was in school, especially the first 2 years of college, we had several classes in which we would draw from the model, or draw from still life set-ups.
These days, I have to make sure I'm getting practice.
Drawing at church, or some other meeting or training sessions, works out for me as one of the best times to practice. And many times, these drawings can become part of a bigger project.
Not only that, but if I have sketchbook in hand, and I can jot a few notes down, it heps me to
remember more of what the sermon, or meeting was about.
Even if you don't draw regularly, you should try keeping a sketchbook with you at all times. You never know when you might find a chance to sketch. And just taking the time to really look will make each of us better artists!
Let me know what you're drawing!
A quick pen drawing of an old high school friend, drawn while I had coffee at Starbucks.
It was my first time in about 6 weeks to have a quiet drawing moment at Starbucks. Now that the boys are back in school, I should have these kinda drawings more often.
Pitt pens on moleskine.
Another mixed media piece.
This time, I added texture to the gesso, as well as did the transfer method straight to the acrylic gesso, and it worked pretty well.
It'a also got collage elements.
It's been really fun experimenting with all these different techniques.
6"x6" on canvas
Yay! I finished another mixed media piece.
Again, it was experimental, and full of learning.
This one includes a photocopy transfer, drawing/writing and collage, as well as painting. It includes a bit of a background technique I read about in Claudine Helmuth's book which includes the use of vaseline. I don't think it worked like it was meant to work, but in either case I like the way it turned out, considerin how much learning went into it.
6"x6" canvas
Any thoughts, or advice? I look forward to comments!
The first of a series of mixed media collages, after having found some great older photos from my husband's family.
6"x6" canvas
July flew by.
While it was great for the family time, and a nice vacation, there's hardly anything to speak, as far as artwork.
I did manage to sketch this one lazy afternoon, and I really like it.
So though it's taken me a while to post, I am pleased with it.
Now if I can only accomplish a couple things in August, I'll start to feel better.
pitt pen on large moleskine
This weekend was fabulous. The women of Graffiti had a retreat at the beach, in Ocean Grove, NJ.
Much time was spent talking, and getting to know each other better. We also had some good time meeting together and dreaming about the road of adventure which God has for each of us.
While enjoying some quiet time on the beach on saturday morning, I painted this. It was a great time with God and my sketchbook.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
Watercolor on large watercolor moleskine.
Since the beginning of the Everyday in May projects, and shortly after painting in church in under a hour, I thought that I should try to do some more paintings in a short time, just to see how I do.
So, after some thinking, and some listening to an old episode of the Creative Mom Podcast, I decided that a self-portrait should work well for the job.
I had pre-sketched myself the other day, but I wasn't very happy with the drawing, so I decided to just put the background color over it, and start from scratch.
Before doing anything, I had to "straighten up" my boys' book collection which was all over, in order to have a space to set up my easel. The studio space we're trying to put together still has a long way to go, and if I set up the easel in there, there will be no space to actually more around. So I opted to bring everything out to the living room, which then took more time, as mentioned above.
I then found a way to hang a small mirror from the easel, so I'd have some way of looking at myself while painting.
I then painted a the orange background over the back and after giving it a few minutes I set my timer for an hour, and started to paint. I "drew" directly with the brushes, and attempted to look at myself while I was painting.
The set up for the mirror got in the way, as far as painting the left side of the canvas, plus I did not get a look at my whole face at once, which I knew it would lead to distortion, but that didn't bother me.
Working quickly for an hour, checking my countdown a couple times, I managed to come up with the painting you see above. Those of you who know me personally might be a bit confused, as to say it doesn't look like me, . Those of you who don't know me, might say that it's a distorted face. I suppose all of you are right. As the artist, I don't think it matters.
I actually am really happy with the result. I wouldn't say it captured me perfectly, but it accomplished what I wanted to, with this painting. I did manage to make a face, with no prior drawing, show up in the canvas within an hour. I like the impressionist brushy style it's in. I like the colors, and I like the confidence it gives me for the next quick painting I will do. I learned some of what works best. I learned a bit more about dealing with acrylics, and I learned a bit more about how not to place the mirror next time.
Regardless of how I look, what do you think of the painting on its own? If you didn't know it was a self-portrait, or that it was done in an hour. What would your response be?
16x20 acrylic on stretched canvas
On saturday, my everyday in may activity consisted of sketching throughout my day, in order to participate in the 14th Sketchcrawl, to help raise money for Emergency (an organization that provides life support for war victims).
Juggling between laundry, parents' duties, helping with the cooking at my parents' house; finding time for sketching was a bit tough, but I managed to squeeze some time in. I think I raised slightly over $100 and I'll be sending that in soon. (Those of you reading this, who sponsored me and haven't given me money, I'll be collecting this sunday!)
So I sketched around the house, and the boys and I went to Barnes & Noble and sat at their Starbucks cafe and sketched people there. It was really fun to capture people before they
moved. I also managed to do some pen sketches in my new watercolor moleskine, and put color in later.
All in all, a very fun day, and it just reminds me of how much I love to do this, and how I should be doing more of it!
You can see the rest of my sketches here.
That's me. Croquill pen, with sepia ink, staring at a mirror.
This is my new "boy"haircut. Most of the time, it looks like this, and sometimes, I spike it up. Soon there will be a picture or painting of the spiked up version.
I enjoy drawing myself. Not because I'm so good-looking, but because I think it's a good subject, in that I have no one to please but myself, plus, it's a ready model. I don't need anything but a mirror.
Rembrandt painted tons of self-portraits. I can only hope to be as prolific, and achieve such skill.
On another note, I am disappointed with the particular sketchbook I am using at this time. It's not a moleskine, and boy does it show!
I really am surprised at how thin the paper is and how the signatures don't match up, and don't flatten out very well, as you can see from this drawing and it's scan. I need to keep drawing in it to finish it up, but it's kinda thick. I really cannot do any color wash in it, or it will go thru to the next page.
I think I will do a it more on this drawing, but I'm most sure what.
I like it even now. Any suggestions?
Posting what I've done each day has seemed impossible. I'm not really sure why. I seem to be exhausted at night. I'm just trying to find energy to actually do the work!
So on that day, I worked on 2 tshirt design for 2 different church's summer camp stuff.
This is what I came up with...
This one was for my church's summer program called GASP (graffiti afternoon summer program).
The children's director asked me for something simple, and it will be one color on a shirt for all the kids.
She approved it, so all I gotta do is get it ready for the printer guy.
The other design was a bit more fun, because I was given more lee-way, as well as more colors to work with.
This group is Graffiti 2, which is a spin off our church, but they meet in Motthaven, in the South Bronx. It's a tough neighborhood, much like the Lower East Side used to be when Graffiti first started over 20 years ago, so doing a more edgy, graffiti-driven design seemed appropriate. I haven't yet heard back from that director. We'll see where we go from here.
This is what I came up with...
Any thoughts?
Would you want to wear a tshirt that had either of these designs on them?
That day felt more productive. I worked on a card for a friend. Another pop-up card idea from this book.
I will scan the front of the card later, but I did some experimental work for it which I read in an excerpt of Claudine Hellmuth's collage book , with acrylic and saran wrap. Interesting results. I need to try again, cause I did not master the technique, but it was fun.
Sorry I'm posting so late.
For the first time today, I chaperoned in Willik's class, for a trip to Colden Center, at Queens College, for a play of Max & Ruby.
It was just a short walk from his school, with just the 2 kindergarten classes.
While we waited for the play to start, I took the opportunity to draw this very animated and talkative lady, who I believe was a teacher from some other school.
It definitely wasn't a thorough drawing, but I felt good that I took the opportunity to do so.
So here's that quick drawing.
The everyday sketching, which I continue to try to do, is one of the most effective and joyous parts of my artistic life. I love it that I'm really journaling for the first time in my life, keeping an acurate and memorable account of my life as I really live it.
Previous attempts at journaling always started with great emphasis, only to be terminated by the reality that I'm not much of a writer, and just wasn't very good at keeping the habit. This kinda visual journaling means so much more, and is so effortless, that my only hindrance is how I spend my time, or sometimes being afraid of not doing it "right".
Victory is mine!
I think I'm done. I think I like it.
Looking at it here, in this small version, makes me like it more.
I finally had enough time, and mustered energy enough to finish it. It was a fun process. Lots of new aspects for me in this. From the collage of chinese newspaper with gel medium, to the glazed, layered acrylic style, it's been full of experimentation as well as learning.
Believe it or not, though I have drawn Fabio many times, this is the first time I painted him, even though we've been married 8 years. I attempted to paint him before, but just didn't get it done. So this finished project is satisfying for that reason as well.
So, I haven't posted because I was at my parents' house over the weekend. But I did draw.
Actually, it was more about a job opprortunity to design a logo for a friend's band collaboration.
So, it was late on saturday, and it'd been a long day, so I just had enough energy to think about this logo, and some of what Bogs and I had discussed.
So here's the page I worked on.
The good news is that I showed it to him, and he liked a few which I will develop further. It's nice to keep having a variety of things to work on or try. It keeps the wheels in my head turning, even when I'm not making art.
pen on sketchbook
This may be a bit hard to see, but it's a self-portrait sketch I did last night, on a canvas I intend to paint.
It's a bit of a challenge I'm giving myself, to paint it in an hour, much like the painting I did in church a few weeks ago. I want to see what I can accomplish in an hour. After all, if I could paint that large painting in 45 minutes, the 12x14 or so canvas should be doable. The issue is, when you go smaller, the details are smaller, and somewaht more time consuming. It's kinda strange.
Anyway, it's also a chance to record my new haircut.
Stay tuned for the progress.
Colored pencil on canvas
It felt good to do this one, because at least I didn't skip a day.
Inspired by an entry by another art blogger Nina Johansson this is an experimental piece.
The theme, nor the subject are particularly beautiful or life changing.
It was more about trying a technique, which I certainly didn't master, but had fun with, It's about trying out some textures and some tools for the sake of getting better at what I do.
I think this whole project is good for me, for this very reason. It helps me to think of ideas of things to try, even if the result isn't going to be a masterpiece, it will help me for future peices that might be! :)
sepia ink with croquil on 4x6" watercolor paper
