Focusing on Focal Points

Focal Points and Edges

A recent experience of judging an exhibit of watercolor paintings brought my attention to focal points and edges.  The questions I have to ask myself is "What do I want viewers to look at and why do I want them to look at it?  What makes the scene, the object, the patterns exciting and/or worthy of me spending time translating it into a painting?"  If I simply want to enjoy pushing paint around, I don't need to answer those questions.  If I want to snag someone's attention and keep their attention for at least thirty seconds, I need to use the right bait.

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Dolls in Washstand

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The answers can be simple.... "I like the pattern of the tree trunks as the light is hitting them. I like the shape of the teapot. The colors of flowers excite me."

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If it's the pattern of the tree trunks then I want to make sure they are the main actors and the foliage, sky and ground are not as detailed, not as sharp-edged, or as contrasty as the tree trunks.  If it's the shape of the teapot, I want to make sure that the tea cup, spoon, flowers in the flower vase, pattern of the tablecloth and the slice of cake don't compete for attention.  If it's the colors of the flowers, I want to make sure that I make them sing loudly by contrasting them against more neutralized hues.

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Sketchbook Drawing:  Dolls in Washstand - drawn first in ink with a fountain pen, followed by watercolor washes.  What do I want the viewer to look at in this little sketch?

 

 

 
Focusing on Focal Points

Drawing Death - Fallen From Nest

My day has not gone the way I expected....

A cool breeze tempted me out onto the front porch with my cup of coffee, a perfect way to start the day.  Beside a pot of Oxalis a seventeen year cicada lay on its back, the first I have seen on our property this year.  I was expecting them today or, at the latest, tomorrow.  The sound of their mating call was distant yesterday morning and grew louder as the day passed.  This morning it filled my ears like surround sound in a movie theater with the volume set on high.

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17 year cicada

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Naturally, I picked up pen and sketchbook. I couldn’t ask for a more cooperative model.  As I began to draw, I realized that the cicada still lived, but I knew, not for long.  The creature had lived in the ground for seventeen years, a long wait for a six week mating binge followed by death.  The one I drew was silent and spent.  I hope it had been worth it for the noisy little winged creature.

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Fallen from its nest

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I spent far longer than anticipated drawing my lovely cicada.  I’m nowhere near finished re-organizing my studio and cleaning the house for guests.  Being somewhat sensible I put it aside after the drawing was complete, hoping to paint it this evening.  Rather proud of being so disciplined I headed to the studio, filled a garbage bag with trash and carried it to the dumpster.  Had I been looking up at the bittersweet instead of down at the weeds I need to pull, I would have missed seeing the newborn bird on the pavement.  Not only was a filled with sadness, I was filled with awe at the beauty of the colors of its featherless skin.  The shapes of its head, distended belly and jointed claws intrigued me.  All thoughts of cleaning my studio vanished.  I retrieved my low chair, pen and sketchbook and began to draw.  I had absolutely no intention of putting off painting it until this evening.  I knew the colors would change and the moment would be lost..No sooner had I put pen to paper when the tiny creature’s belly grew even larger as it took a gasping breath.  Well, there’s a dilemma.  Most of the animals I find and draw are dead already.  When I’m done drawing them I bury them in my secret garden in the back corner of the yard. I had never drawn a dying animal until this morning.  Now I found myself drawing the second of two dying animals.  What is the right thing to do?  go in the house so that I don’t have to watch it die? Put it out of its misery? And what is the kindest way to put it out of its misery? Once I trapped a mouse and found it still alive but with a broken back.  I might have let the mouse out of the trap in the field to allow nature to take its course, but I was attached to this little mouse.  I greeted me every morning in my studio.  When it began eating my drawings, I knew our friendship had to end.  I thought that the “put it out of its misery” was a kinder thing to do, so I buried it alive........   I have always regretted that choice.  So ..... what did I do with the newborn bird?  I spent the next two hours drawing and painting it.  The skin changed color and the ants started to crawl all over it.  The baby bird continued to take gasping breaths at odd intervals.  Queasy is not the right word for how I felt.  It was certainly not the first death I had witnessed nor the first time I had drawn death.  I just hadn’t drawn an animal dying.

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I felt uneasy, yet calm and compassionate.  The little bird was not dying alone.  I was being witness to its passing and I was honoring it by recognizing the beauty it brought into the world as brief as it was.  I am grateful to have been at the bedside of Tom’s mother and especially at the bedside of my own mother as well as my first (and second but not third) husband and father of my three children.  I am also grateful for the experience of being with and drawing an old friend from high school who lay in a comma, brain dead while the time and date for pulling the plug was being determined.  I like to believe that being in the presence of the dying allows for resolution of the experiences both the dying and the witness have had in life, no matter how long or short.  It is a gift, not to be rejected, but to be embraced.  I hope the little bird felt the same way as it gasped for breath until it finally surrendered and passed to the other side.

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Sketch: Fallen From Nest - drawn first in ink with fountain pen, followed by watercolor

 
Drawing Death - Fallen From Nest

Risk Free Experimenting - The Power of a Sketchbook

Trying Something New

When experiencing a sense of comfort and control with a particular tool or technique, I know it's time to try something different, something unfamiliar. Maybe a different brush, round rather than flat. Maybe different paper, pigment, pen, ink or pencil. Maybe a completely different style.  Maybe just a small change in the approach to a sketch or painting.

Opening

Though I do a pretty good job at pushing myself out of the comfort zone, I'm still a creature of habit. I haven't been experimental with the style of drawing I often use playing The Color Scheme Game.  The last day of my road trip with Tom, I decided to try incorporating the wet in wet color mixing technique I enjoyed at the Don Andrews Workshop.

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Seashells No. 4 Myrtle Beach, SC

Seashells No. 3, Myrtle Beach, SC

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Though the top sketch may not look too different from the other two, similar sketches of seashells, I felt completely different when painting it.  I tapped into something different, I'm not sure what.  I do know that I got rid of a few cobwebs and opened a door to something that will make my paintings stronger.

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Sketchbook drawing: Drawn first in ink with fountain pen, followed by wet in wet watercolor washes.

 

 
Risk Free Experimenting - The Power of a Sketchbook

Exercise - Twenty Steps to Sketching and Painting Anywhere and Everywhere

I hear so any excuses for not drawing, for not painting, for not being in the right place for inspiration.  Bah!  I plug my ears.  Everywhere and Anywhere provides more than enough information, though maybe not inspiration, to draw and paint.  No more excuses!  Put on a pair of baggy pants with room in the pockets for a small sketchbook, a pen (or pencil) a waterbrush and a mini Altoid Tin with three pans of watercolor or gouache paint. That's all you need!

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Walk out your back door.... take twenty steps.... and draw.  Take twenty more steps .... and draw. Take twenty more steps .... and draw (paint, too).  Just do it!

 
Exercise - Twenty Steps to Sketching and Painting Anywhere and Everywhere

Four Day Workshop with Don Andrews

Pushing to a new level in a four day workshop with Don Andrews....

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I have admired the paintings of Don Andrews for years.  His colors sing. He  creates strong design through his use of shapes and values.  I've spent many nights re-reading his book Interpreting the Figure in Watercolor.  Though he is articulate, nothing compares with watching him lay the paint on the paper!

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This painting began as an exercise on the third day, experimenting with granulated washes using abstract shapes leaving a few strong shapes unpainted, exposing the white of the paper.  After applying several layers of granulated washes, the white shape began to suggest a figure.  In the studio, it often takes me hours of throwing, splattering, washing off and tilting before a figure will emerge.  Twenty minutes after applying the first strokes of vivid pigment to the paper, the Medicine Man appeared.  I suggested the eye and mouth before packing up my paints for the day.

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Detail of Medicine Man's head in two stages

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During the first part of the fourth day I softened some edges and suggested more subtle form.

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Medicine Man - two stages

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The differences between the second and last stage may not be obvious at first glance.  The last, careful touches made a world of difference through my eyes.  Of all the painting I did over the four days, this is my favorite.

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Painting:  Medicine Man - watercolor - 9" x 13" image

 

 
Four Day Workshop with Don Andrews

Color Scheme Game Kit (Duplicate)

The Color Scheme Game Kit includes a laminated color wheel, two laminated templates to create your own color wheels, twelve laminated templates to play The Color Scheme Game, one mini game card, one twelve-sided die, one ten-step value scale and directions to play both The Color Scheme Game and the Extended Color Wheel Game. I have laminated the template sheets, but you must cut them out. To fix a template to the color wheel I use a push pin and a wine cork (not supplied in the kit) It is not necessary to fix the templates to the color wheel.

I developed the game to learn more about color, color mixing and color schemes. It forces me to use new combinations of colors in my paintings. I start each day with a throw of the die.
Color Scheme Game Kit (Duplicate)

Exploring New Territory in the Bay Area of California

My recent trip to California was fabulous.  The Watercolor Techniques Workshop at Riley Street Art Supply in Santa Rosa was filled to capacity.  I'm proud of how hard they worked and how courageous they were with their paintings.  Excellent work ladies!  It's not easy to let loose and break through barriers of preconceived notions.

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Of course I had to begin my trip sketching Hangar One at Moffett Field.

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Hangar One, Moffett Field, Mountain View, California

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Hangar One, Moffett Field

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And a trip to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.....

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Philippine Coral Reef Aquarium

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As always, staying with Joanie Springer and her two lovely kitties in Santa Rosa was a treat.  Joanie introduced me to the work of John Lovett ...  I turned her into a plein air painter! (Maybe) .

Matanzas Creek Winery inspired by the work of John Lovett

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I met up with Nancy Roberts at Mount Diablo where she shared her favorite plein air spots with me.

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Nancy Roberts and the beginning of her plein air painting

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The next two days were spent wrangling and roping with my cousin Jacque and her wonderful hubbie, Herman.

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Herman's Roping Cowboy Boots, with and without spurs

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I rented my car for an extra day and visited Lick Observatory, stopping at the pull-offs along the switchbacks to paint.

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Along the road to Lick Observatory

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My only regret is that I didn't get to paraglide with Mike...... hopefully in September .....

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I'm reorganizing my blogs and simplifying my life so that I spend less time on the computer and more time with pen and brush in hand.  Please be patient with me as I sort it all out.  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Exploring New Territory in the Bay Area of California