29 Aug 2005

Art Journal Pages

This one (above) is an office doodle, technically. After lunch, I had to be on a conference call, and it was kinda slow going for a bit, so... I got my markers out and started doodling.



Here's a page from my art journal that has mostly collages in it. The color is really washed out here. The green is a gouache, and the images are from magazines and catalogs.

I like this kind of collage. It is so relaxing to cut and paste, and it can be whatever! The image has no planning or preconceived idea guiding the process, it just emerges on it's own. As I cut out colors and pictures, images and shapes that appeal to me they end up together somehow, during the process. I might find connection between some of the images after I've already laid down half the page, and then I'll find something in the scrap pile that seems like it also belongs on the page! How cool is that? !

22 Aug 2005

View to a Hill

(from vacation journal pages)
This is one I haven't wanted to post because it doesn't seem finished. I guess it is though... I would have liked to spend more time on it.
From our camp spot, our view of Prospect Mountain changed all day long. It would change from a dark blue in the morning to a dusty grey-tan in the afternoon...

The neighboring RV's changed avery couple of days also. I guess people either live in an RV park for weeks, or a couple of days. Yepp. It's either, or.

I just joined the flickr Art Journal Group. Now there's a place to share journal pages for folks who prefer to write and draw over typing and posting pictures. (I like doing both !)

19 Aug 2005

Office Doodles



The one on the bottom, it was drawn during a meeting. The top one came to life during a phone call.

17 Aug 2005

Drawing in Public


Fiona, of Leap-of-Faith (I love that blog name!) shared a poignant passage on the subject creating in public. The author, whom she quotes (Eric Maisels) talks about overcoming embarrassment and imagined criticism when writing in public, at a restaurant or on a sidewalk or whatever. I love that quote. It's about creating in public, in front of strangers, among eyes that may judge, mouths that will comment aloud, and brains that will mutter quietly to themselves.

I love Fiona's own words even more. She writes about drawing, how she thinks of drawing...
"...as a tool for being more creative. I can see the need to play and to use it to quiet that inner critic."


I love that! Nevermind the eyes and mouths of strangers in public. My biggest critic is me!

When I sat on the floor in that traffic class I noted with words some observations around me that I didn't draw. Just random visual images and quotes, moments in time. For example:
  • The girl with the black pants, loose hanging pants, like a skirt, got her ticket on Dickson street. She's wearing an orange tank top with a gold sequined trim around the arm holes.
  • The guy with the gallon jug of water is from New Jersey. He's never been to Tulsa. He asked someone where the fountain was so he could wash off his apple.
  • A tall dude with big curly hair has a piercing below his bottom lip. He was going 20 mph over the limit.
  • Black lace trims the neckline of a thin black tank top worn by a girl with long blond hair. She is talking to the person next to her about the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She loves Johnny Depp, "but not because he's aesthetic. He's such a good actor and chooses such interesting roles to play."
  • There is a tattoo of some kind on the top of the foot of the woman sitting next to me on the floor. She has a cool bag. It's a white canvas bag with large round lime green spots.
  • The instructor is telling us he used to play bass in a band during the 60's and 70's and how the loud speakers and amps caused his hearing loss.
  • The girl who was talking about Johnny Depp earlier just asked me, "are you an artist." I answered, "I like to draw."
That question, "are you an artist?" is a curious one. Do people who are writing in public get asked, "are you a writer?"

I think everyone is an artist. Everyone. Some folks just haven't been practicing for a very long time.

13 Aug 2005

Traffic Violators


Traffic Violators, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

This morning I had to go to a driver safety class in order to avoid a higher insurance premium because of a speeding ticket I got a few weeks ago when I was caught going 11 miles per hour over the limit in a 25 mph zone.

The class was over capacity and several people had to sit on the floor. I was one of those who sat on the floor.

I brought my sketchbook with me even though the instructions said we only needed to bring an ink pen.

11 Aug 2005

Snowmelt

Again a vacation sketch.

8 Aug 2005

Sunset Quickie


One evening my hubby and I enjoyed a short hike together while the kids went to the Estes Park rodeo with the grandparents. We walked a couple of miles or so on the Wild Basin trail near Longs Peak, but since we hadn't brought our flashlights we turned around when it started to get kind of dusky.
As we headed back to Estes Park on Hwy 7 we noticed this gorgeouslicious sunset going at Lily Lake.
We pulled over and parked the car and got out to savour it. With not much more than a few minutes left I scrambled to paint an impression of this moment. Sitting on a rock by the waters edge, I dipped the paintbrush in the Lily Lake and sketched the sunset.
Quickly.

Update: If you are curious, you can see one of the photos I took of the sunset here... though no matter how I tried, my photography skills greatly lacking, I could not quite capture the intense red orange peachy tomato blush colors....