In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16:9
Sculptural Trees
Category: From My Sketchbook
Northampton Garden
I’ve been delving into my reference files and made the above drawing from the same scene that I drew in this drawing from 2009. I made the earlier drawing from life and added the watercolor at home. I find it very interesting how I approached my current drawing differently (more loose and imaginative).
Testing some new paints
I splurged and bought a Winsor & Newton compact paint box and I took it for its first test drive today in my sketchbook, trying out different mixes and seeing how colors look when they are layered over other colors. The photo below was taken with my phone, and the colors don’t appear as vivid as in real life. I’m looking forward to painting some pink roses with the lovely pink peachy colors in this set. Overall, the palette seems very suited to the natureish type of things that I love to paint.
I also had a custom stamp made for myself (1 x 2 inches) which says: “From the Studio of Carolyn A Pappas.” I felt very official with a stamp with my name on it and I’m already thinking of some things to stamp up.
Here are some links I have come across recently which interested me and may interest you as well:
- Take a peek inside the sketchbooks of J.M.W. Turner. I love the urgency in his sketches.
- Danny Gregory is looking for people to email him their stories of their encounters with their personal monkey (inner negative voice).
- I read some interviews of designers/freelancers discussing money and how they manage it which I found very interesting. Read them here and here.
Gifts and Talents
Intentions for 2015
First, a wintry drawing for the start of the bitterly cold part of winter…
In terms of my artwork, I have a lot of work to do because I have empty walls to fill. I can understand the feeling of overwhelm that artists can feel before a gallery show at the sheer amount of work to do. However, I have no deadlines, and that might work against me too. In the words of Neil Gaiman*, “Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin.”
My art goals this year are to keep working on things and always have a project in the works. I also want to concentrate on pen and ink and watercolor and different combinations of the two.
*I really liked Neil Gaiman’s new year’s post.
2014 in Review
Around this time I like to look back on the past year and assess what I’ve accomplished. 2014 was a quiet year in terms of my artwork as I didn’t get much done; however, it was a big year for me personally.
My formal goals for 2014 were to send a custom Christmas card featuring my artwork (I did this), to work in colored pencil on wood (I tried this and it failed miserably), to exhibit some artwork (this went onto the back burner – maybe next year?) and to remake my website (done).
Here are some of the other highlights of my year:
- In March, I rented a house and moved out four months while renovations were being completed. The work is now finished and I have moved back in and enjoy an insulated, heated and air conditioned space with beautiful hardwood floors.
- In September, I changed jobs. I am excited about my new opportunity (and my work hours and commute are much better for me).
- I participated in an open studio/painting group led by an artist who goes to my church. It was a good opportunity for me to meet some other artists and make some friends.
- I left the Colored Pencil Society of America District Chapter 112. The group’s participants were too spread out across the New England states leading to an inactive group. I was nervous about quitting, but I felt much lighter afterwards.
- I joined a gym and hired a personal trainer. The trainer was worth it for me because I learned so many new exercises and techniques.
- I took an online class (MOOC), The History of Boston, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I studied history in college, but I did this for fun and ended up learning quite a bit of Boston trivia. The class was easy (no homework or papers), but it was a time commitment to listen to all the lectures.
2015 will bring big changes for me too – stay tuned. Next time I will post about my goals for the new year.
I am wishing all of my readers a wonderful 2015 – I hope it is a turning point year for you.
Open your sketchbook.
More sketches of blossoms.
I wish I had done more ink drawing in October. I have, however, started going to the gym again after over a five year break, so I am proud of myself in that regard. Already I have noticed a huge improvement in my sleep and clarity of thought.
Below are some more sketches I made in my new gray toned sketchbook. I really like this book because of the soft feel of the cover (almost a silky feeling), the general substantial feel of the book in my hands, and the color of the paper. There is some drag on my fountain pen which I don’t like, but I enjoy the color of the gray ink on the gray paper, so there are tradeoffs. I tried out colored pencils but I would like to do some experiments using black and white colored pencils for drawing.
Weeknight Pen and Ink
I’ve been continuing to work in pen and ink for #inktober and I’m pleased that I have sketched most nights this week, although I haven’t done much by way of experimentation. One of these days I hope to take out my dip pens for a change.
Dirt Floor
You know, people talk about this being an uncertain time. You know, all time is uncertain. I mean, it was uncertain back in 2007 – we just didn’t know it was uncertain. It was uncertain on September 10th, 2001. It was uncertain on October 18th, 1987 – you just didn’t know it. -Warren Buffett