Martha Kelly Art

I’m back to fast moving work again. I’ve had several paintings going lately, including the one above. It’s a little smaller than most of mine plus quite simple, so it was really a two session affair. Again, after struggling with a print that won’t get there, it felt good to dive into something where I could see immediate results.

Pen and ink has also been a lot of fun lately. I started my food journal this week (for three days before the holiday, anyway, and then we’ll see), and that’s got me doing some fast sketching with a fat, felt tipped pen plus a little tone with a brush pen. I’ve carried that over into a new series of self portraits, just for fun. I joined a facebook group called Self Portrait Sundays, so that’s inspired me to do another batch.

I spent the evening at my work table last night with baseball on the radio and a commission to finish. When I was done I did another quick self portrait and also a sketch of my studio helper Mr. Darcy. I haven’t been drawing him much lately and have been missing that. Plus at the bottom is yesterday’s food journal page.

I know I’m in Paris and haven’t actually SKETCHED Paris yet. I’ll definitely get there. But the figure sessions recently have me thinking about drawing people (as do my recent figurative paintings), and it’s been market weekend, where I hang out with musicians and draw them. Today, with all that momentum going, I did a few self portraits. This is actually pretty common for me in Paris. I have lots of time here to walk and think about the world, and somehow self portraits always spring out of self examination for me. So, for whatever reason, I did three today. Two largish facial drawings (definitely new territory for me) after one mostly full body one with a face I was really unhappy with. So I decided to dive more deeply.

This evening, after visiting with a marvelous artist friend of mine, I walked over to Luxembourg gardens and drew yet more people. I’m really enjoying these brush pens filled with ink. But I’ll post those in the morning, in the hopes that these blog pages will load better if they’re not totally weighed down with multiple pictures. Also, it’s past 8:30, and I’m on (nominal) vacation, so I think I’ll go read a book.

I got to Paris just in time for the weekend markets, which are about my favorite things here. My friends Rene and Dede were playing, and I hung out, listened to them, and drew people. Most of these are brush pens with Sumi ink in them (two different strengths), and a couple are fountain pen.

I had a blow walking over though. My spiritual home here was Dubois art supply store, which had been here since 1861. Apparently gelato chain stores draw big crowds, but multi-generational neighborhood shops can no longer afford the rent. I’m heartbroken. I’d been trying to decide which ink I wanted to buy from them this year. Many of my writer friends adore Shakespeare and Co. for its history and atmosphere. Dubois was that for me.

I was lucky enough to have a partner who wanted to drive more than ride, so I got a lot of time to both sketch and knit coming across the country. After all the shows and commissions, it was fun to sit and sketch whatever caught my eye, without any deadlines or agenda. 

I almost finished a scarf, and I played a good bit with my Sumi ink in the brush pens. I have a darker shade that is (shockingly, considering how dark it is) 50/50 with water and a lighter one that was just a small bit of ink and water for the rest. I'm enjoying using them together to get two toned gray drawings.