Send This Artist to Paris!

This is another of my little 'Places I Remember' paintings. It is of Quebec City, in the rain. It is also just 5x7". It is oil on masonite. It is one of the little paintings I will be doing canvas prints of for my new project.

So... here is what I will be setting up, as a new Etsy project: It will be a 'Send This Artist to Paris Sale.' It will include paintings, prints, tapestries, and some other items I  have ideas for. Any purchase for the next 9 months-a year will also include a postcard from me from Paris, when I reach my goal of raising the funds to get there!

I have been to Paris once, with my son in May of 2012 (you can see my posts from there if you go to that time period in the archive list on the right.) I saw a LOT of that wonderful city in the week we were there. But it is something like having just one sip of le chocolat chaud; you just want more! I did not see the Gobelins Tapestry Workshop, nor did we get to Giverny or up to Montmarte or to Sacre Couer. And I could easily spend another full day in the Louvre, and I am missing the Lady and her Unicorns, and wanting to see them (especially the one that was out for cleaning and repair) again. 

So... I will soon set up my 'sale' and see how it goes. I will let you know when (and what) I post on the sight. Wish me luck, and if you have any ideas for what might do well in such a project, please let me know!

How I spent my morning vacation...

I have a very busy week ahead of me, then a few more busy weeks to come after that. So I decided to take a morning 'vacation' and do something just for myself for a small space of time.  I signed up for a sketchbook workshop at a local art supply store. Since I have been keeping sketchbooks for several years, I decided this would be a no stress situation, and I always enjoy learning something from someone else. I didn't even have to take any materials; all were provided. In fact, I think it was that last feature that clinched the decision for me, as I'm always fascinated with what other artists use to sketch or work with.

The workshop leader, a man named Don West, keeps a lovely sketchbook, which he documents on his blog.  He provided us with very nice handmade journals, filled with 90 lb. watercolor pages. He also provided clever paint sets, several sizes of waterproof markers, and a water brush. Then he gave each of us something different to sketch. I got a couple of tickets to a dance performance and a Guatemalan cup. In doing my sketch, I discovered several things: I like my own water brushes better than the one he gave us, as it leaked water and kept the brush loaded with water and too wet, no matter how much I blotted it. Also, I have come to love using fountain pens, so I found the markers somewhat clumsy in comparison, though they are an excellent brand and worked well, not bleeding into the water at all. I have painted so many cups (one of my favorite go-to subjects when I am stuck) that I found myself a bit bored with the cup, but I had fun sketching the tickets! That was good to discover, too, as I often just glue ticket stubs into my journal or sketchbook. From now on, I'll sketch them in!

I did not disclose that I am already a sketchbook keeper. I believe the women next to me had some experience, as well. We all just sketched, and everyone did something clever and unique in their books. It was lovely to have a few hours where I was actually required to sketch. Then, as all vacations go, it was over too soon, and I needed to get back to work. Sometimes a few hours of vacation are just right.... no bags to pack even, for this one! And I brought some 'souvenirs' home with me; the best kind (new art supplies!) As vacations go, it was a pretty economical one, as well.

Life is too short to not take a few vacations here and there. Even if they only last an hour or two.

Working, in many ways....

Bass Harbor Lighthouse, Acadia National Park, Maine

I have been getting a lot done, though I have not been at the loom since I cut the "November" tapestry from the loom. We went up to our cabin for a few days last weekend, and while there I painted several small paintings, including the one above. They are all just 5"x7", oil on canvas. They are of places I have been, and have loved visiting. I am starting to get quite a collection of 'places I remember' paintings; all just 5x7". I love to prop them up on window ledges or on a shelf among other items I treasure. I do not frame them, but let them stand alone; little memories on canvas. I would like to one day do a small coffee shop exhibit of them. But... I also have another plan in mind for some of them, which I will reveal soon.

In the meantime, I have been repairing and painting a cracked basement floor, painting a bedroom, planting a bit of garden, and spring cleaning both cabin and house, as we have company coming this weekend and throughout the summer. In fact, I need to get back to work, as those little worker elves who do your work at night while you sleep just refuse to come here, for some reason.

'November' finally here!

"November" tapestry, Kathy Spoering

The 'November' calendar tapestry is getting closer to being done. The slits are all sewn, and it is blocked. I am just waiting for my in-house carpenter to build me the custom mounting frame; then I will mount it and it can join the other completed tapestries in this series, as they wait for me to find a venue to exhibit them all together, and to complete the final three tapestries.

Good news on that front, as well: I am very excited about a design I am working on for the 'April' tapestry. So far, it is mostly in my head, but I am beginning to pull it out into visible maquette format. It will be considerably different from any of the other tapestries, but that is what I want for the April tapestry, so YEA!

I think I am happy with this one. It takes me a while to decide, once done with a piece. I have been too close to it for too long. But I don't hate it, and that is a good thing. In fact, I believe it captures a feel I have for the month of November, and more specifically, a special time and place for that month, quite well. This is an image capturing the full autumn moon as it comes up through the bare trees up on the mountain at our cabin. In the tapestry, I recognize the specific tree; one of my 'friend trees,' just outside the cabin's kitchen door. I have actually woven this particular tree before - or bits of it - in the "Scrub Oak" tapestry!

Back to the studio... there is more work to be done there today, and for that, I am happy and grateful.

To App or to Sketch? That is the question....

Like just about everyone else I know, I have a smart phone and an iPad. I got the iPad to collect and store photos when I travel, and to sketch and paint from when I can't do those things from life. Now, there are some incredible apps for artists to use, but I am beginning to question whether or not they are really 'artist friendly' or whether they are taking the place of actual sketching with our eyes and hands.

There are many things I like about the apps I have and am using. I use Snapseed at lot. On my iPad and iPhone, it is like a travel version of Photoshop for me, allowing me to crop and fine tune a photo, just as a photo. The photo at the top is one I shot on Easter in my son's church. The photo just above has been cropped and brightened a bit in Snapseed. The photo below was also altered in Snapseed, changing it to a black and white photo with a 'frame.' I might use either of these to post on my blog or on Facebook, or to send family or friends. I love Snapseed, as it helps me make a photo just a bit better, as a photo.

 

One of the first 'sketch' apps I got is the AutoPainter app. The 'sketch' above was altered in that app, using the Aquarell option. I confess that I do not often use AutoPainter anymore. I do not sketch this way; it is looser than I work, though I have taken the resulting 'sketches' and layered them in Brushes (an iPad painter app) with the original photo. Brushes lets you use layers, an option which I do like.

If I want a 'watercolor' sketch anymore, I use Waterlogue, a newer app. It has a number of options and looks. The image above was created using this app. I love the looseness of the 'sketches' done in this app. I feel like it 'gives me permission' to be looser in my sketches, as well.

As I only use watercolors to sketch, anymore, it is fun for me to see what an image looks like from these apps in comparison to what I would do in my sketchbook. Like Photoshop, they get rid of details, and they can help loosen my vision up a bit. But I sometimes think the app version is so good, why should I bother to sketch it myself? Maybe I should just print the image and glue it in my sketchbook! (A choice I believe some 'artists' are making.)  I occasionally do print out one of these app sketches, to put in my handmade calendars or journals, but not in my sketchbook.

As I also use oil paints, I like to see what the apps can do in that 'medium.' The above image was from AutoPainter, using the Benson option. It is my favorite look from that app, possibly because Benson is one of my favorite painters!

 

This 'sketch' is from another app, called Glaze. It has a number of options to make a photo look like an oil painting, ranging from very abstract to very realistic. I do like this app. I think it will be useful for plein aire painting, to capture fleeting images for studio work and to delete overwhelming details.

I find all of these apps fascinating. Sometimes I find them so fascinating that I spend my sketch time playing with apps, rather than painting in my sketchbook. After all, these images are just what I would love to paint, if I could! However, when the iPad is doing the sketching for me, I may not notice the lovely curve of the lily's petal. I may overlook the bit of stamen peeking out of the center of the flower. I may not feel in my brush the sharpness of the leaves. I do not experience the image for myself, and my own version of how it looks to me as an artist is, I think, negated and even lost.

I know this sketchbook sketch of mine is not as lovely or as perfect as the apps 'sketch' the image. That is OK with me. Doing the sketch is an act of creation, by me, not by my iPad or iPhone. It brings back to me the appreciation I felt for the beauty of the lilies on that sunny Boston morning, for the light shining through the window and back-lighting them, making the white lilies glow. As I compare my own sketch with those above, I also learn that I regret not putting the cross shape of the window panes in my own sketch, as it seems appropriate, since the image was a church window on Resurrection Sunday morning. but, oddly, I did not even notice that cross shape until I had done my own sketch, leaving it out. That's why the process is more important to me than the product; the things I learn from doing the work myself.

What apps do you use, and do you think they enhance your own creative work, or detract from it? I would love to know!

Home from Wonderland.....

I have still never really made it to Wonderland, I just love that it is a destination!

I spent all of last week, plus the weekend before that, at my son's home in the Boston area. My grandchildren there were on their spring break, so I went to have some 'grandma time' with them. One of the things all of my grandchildren know about me, and, thankfully still seem to enjoy, is that when we are together, we will 'do art.'

We sketched and painted in a coffee shop.

We drew, sketched, painted, and colored at home...













...and at the children's Museum.

We walked long distances, always ready for surprises, like seeing a turkey waddling his way down busy Mass Ave in Cambridge!

And I took lots of photos, some of which I may find paintings in, like this peaceful, zen-like scene.

I am home now, and am eager to be an artist again. The pantry and refrigerator are re-stocked; my jet lag is finally gone; and I am ready to go to the studio and work. Yes, I am!

And maybe that is where I will find Wonderland.

I See a Bad Moon Rising

The other night, the night of the lunar eclipse, my husband set up his camera, and set the alarm to go off in the middle of the night, wanting to capture a bit of the Blood Moon action. He, being a perfectionist, is not excited about the photos he got, but I, being a person who sees photos just as reminders of what I want to remember, think they are terrific!

 My only disappointment is that the lens he was using was so large, it could not get both the moon and Mars into a single photo together. Mars was up to the right, and it was even redder than the moon.

In my studio, my moon has not yet 'risen.' There are still a few slits to be sewn, and it needs to be blocked, and mounted on a stretcher frame. That will have to wait until I return from the east coast, as I leave tomorrow, and my suitcase is still empty, except for art supplies I keep throwing in to use with the grandkids. I may get there with oil pastels, markers, colored pencils, watercolors, my guitar music and only the clothes on my back! That would be better than getting there with a lot of clothes, and no art supplies or music, in my viewpoint.

(By the way, I just had to use the blog post title I did, because that Creedence Clearwater Revival song is the first real rock song I learned to play on my guitar. I still play it when I just need to rock out and wake up the pets! When I do that, Gus occasionally will come and put his paw on the fret strings. I don't know if he wants to rock out, too, or if he is trying to mute - or completely stop - what I am doing. Probably the later...)