Little Taylor

While I was at St. Paul Art Crawl over the weekend, I found the photo below on my iPad and decided to sketch the little guy. It's not a great picture; it's poorly lit and somewhat blurry, but I liked the expression and chose to give it a try. Taylor belonged to a friend of mine who misses him very, very much. He was such a little dynamo that there aren't many great photos of him; he moved too fast!

Today I'm thinking I want to put in some of the freckling around his nose, and possibly add some subtle shading on one side of his face, and alter the shape of one ear a little bit. This is why I like to keep portraits around for a few days, if I can; I see things I didn't see at first.

Piper with her Favorite Toy

Piper Wants to Play, 12" x 9" mixed media on cotton rag paper. I know this dog; she belongs to my friend Josephine Geiger, who does fantastic stained glass art.

I took the photo I used for this portrait. It was a sunny afternoon and the dog was happy, and I had my camera on hand. As soon as I saw the photo, I knew I had to use it; it's absolutely her, tail in the air and ready to go.

Watercolor Pony Sketch

A Streak of Paint, 10 x 8" watercolor and pencils on cotton rag paper

This darling pony mare belongs to a friend of mine and is currently without a name. She's half Arabian, half Pinto pony, and yes, she really does have that tiny muzzle, those huge eyes, all that impossible fairy-tale-illustration stuff you might thing I exaggerated.

Her owner took the photo I used for this sketch. The art required about 30 minutes total; that's because today was a good day, and the profile view is pretty simple (well, it is is you're me and you've been drawing horses since you were ten).

Pony's owner has spoken for this piece, but if you'd like one similar to it, come see me at Saint Paul Art Crawl and bring your photos with you. I'll be sketching animals on site.

Amazing Gracie

11 x 11" mixed media on cotton rag paper. Gracie was a whole bucket full of sass.

What the heck is Saint Paul Art Crawl?

Saint Paul Art Crawl 

Friday, April 26, 6- 10 pm; Sat., April 27, 12 - 8 pm; Sun., April 28, 12- 5 pm. 

Orange Ranunculus, 10 x 8" oil on panel, is one of the pieces I'll have available at Art Crawl this month.

So what is Saint Paul Art Crawl, anyway? I've noticed, when I say "Art Crawl," people smile and nod, politely pretending to know what I mean.

Saint Paul Art Crawl is around 300 artists opening up their studios on one weekend and inviting everyone to come on in.  The bulk of these artists are in Lowertown St. Paul, but many (like myself) are part of "Crawl Off the Map" in other parts of town.

It's a busy weekend, with all kinds of people, and art, and everyone moving from one space to another. Crawl has a very relaxed atmosphere similar to an outdoor art fair.  Just without all the bugs and muddy spots.

                                             
I'll be making animal sketches, like the ones above, from people's photos "On the Spot," in about 20 to 30 minutes. I only do this at Art Crawl. Bring me a photo of your creature (all breeds and species welcome) and I will make a drawing while you're there. If you like the results, you hand me $20 and take it home.  If you don't have an animal, it's still fun to watch. I'm an instructor and if you're not careful you might learn some stuff by accident.

You'll find me with Josephine Geiger, Brenda Brousseau, and Christy Johnson, at J. A. Geiger Studio at 1647 Beech Street, just off 94 and White Bear. Parking on the street is free at our location.

Late to the Pony Party, #30, Lad the Appaloosa

I think it was his softness that actually gave me so much difficulty with Lad. I mean, I did have to correct for lens distortion that had stretched out his nose in the source image, but still -- everything about him was so soft around the edges that it was really challenging to find and define the structures of his head.

Of course, the thick pink halter he was wearing in the pictures didn't help either. :-D I chose to remove that, guessing it was a hand-me-down from an older sister or something.

The softness is what I love about this horse, though. It's so clear how kind and sweet he is.

Easter

With my family all over 1,000 miles away, I'm not doing anything official for Easter. I'm going to the barn, even though last night's session was a mess: an over-emotional, fearful horse and myself feeling less than competent to help her. I probably screwed up. But if I want to be better today, I have to be okay with that, and okay with the chance that I'll screw up again.

Acceptance and forgiveness are what it takes to try anything again, I think -- no matter what faith we have or don't have. Strangely, most of us will forgive other people's blunders, while we hold grudges against ourselves for every woulda, coulda, shoulda. But those scorecards against myself have never done me any good, only kept me paralyzed and stuck.

Which is why, when I found this graffiti on a Minneapolis mail slot, I took a photo. I need the reminder sometimes.

Happy Easter, everyone.

Workshop in Door County, WI, July 8 - 10

When I'm not painting in oil, I work in mixed media by default. This began in 2008 when I wanted to improve my painting, so I went back to drawing, using dramatic light and shadow to sharpen my sense of composition.

The problem was, I hated shading in all those shadows. So I started toning my paper with acrylic matte medium and some paint, and then working over that in charcoal, pastels, chalk, whatever I had on hand. The results were magical, and I've been happily mixing up media ever since. Acrylic and Prismacolor pencils? Sure! Watercolors, pencils and pastel? Absolutely; that's what the horse in this post is.

These techniques have attracted some attention. The Peninsula School of Art in Door County, WI, invited me to put on a three-day workshop there. I am honored and very excited. Click the link above for their site, where you can find more information and register.

If you're feeling stuck or bored, mixed media can break you out of that and make art fun again.

If you've been drawing, and wondering how to transition into painting, the light/dark layering approach I use is a very good bridge to help you get there.

If you're still learning to draw, that same approach can help build your confidence in a way that will surprise you.

Jane, Not Plain, is Pony the 29th (I think)

Forgive me; I am from Florida and counting stuff is hard for us.

Not Plain Jane, 10 x 10" mixed media on cotton rag paper. I had a gorgeous couple of photos to work from for this, and the main thing I altered was, I turned winter to summer in order to better contrast and show off her rich red coat.

I have to do a recount (ha) of the Ponies, because some schedule shuffling and my recent travels have left me unsure whether my numbers are off. I know there's at least one more and possibly two.

In other news, I am planning a weekend workshop this summer (after Shedding Season ends) so those who are curious can learn how this is done. There are so many artists who ride, and riders who make art, I think we could really have some fun.

Here's the Mystery Horse!

Bold Brigadier, watercolor, pencils and pastel with touches of white acrylic, on cotton rag paper. I used a deeper tan instead of my usual Rives BFK, because I felt this horse would look best on a slightly darker ground -- the better to make that beautiful blaze stand out. He may be the only one for whom I chose to leave the backdrop blank.  Oh, and there is a lot of violet, blue, brown/red, and even touches of green in the big black stallion. 

 

Center photo above, the portrait in progress. This was with the first layers of carbon pencil and watercolor. Last, my reference photo. Brigadier is no longer with us, sadly, and while I loved his sweet expression here, the photo ... you really can't see a lot of detail, and if you look at his ears you'll notice the camera distortion that made one of them much too large. I corrected that right away. The other thing I altered, you can't even tell: I made his neck thicker and more arched than it actually is in the photo. 

Yes, I know it looks exactly the same. But in order to get it to look exactly the same, I had to change it. I think it was another perspective/distortion problem, but when I drew it accurately to the photo it looked far too skinny. This kind of thing is pretty common when translating photos into art; the thing that looks fine in a photo can look very wrong as a drawing or painting. So artists learn not to let the photo be a tyrant, and to trust ourselves instead.