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I'm still going on the sky studies from my watercolors in Paris. The skies moved so quickly there, and there was so much that I couldn't capture, that I took a bunch of photos in case I wanted to paint from them as well, but so far, I keep being drawn to work from watercolors I did there instead. I get asked about working from photos a lot, and I would always rather work on site. Skies are easier than anything else for me to get from photos, or at least to abstract from a bit, but it is much more pleasurable for me to work from a sketch where I have already distilled down, in the moment it caught my attention, what it is I want to capture. Plus they sit there brightly on your easel and look at you. Photos are just harder to have to call up on a phone or whatever. So for now, the sky studies I'm dong in oils
are based on either freestanding watercolors or journal sketches from the summer.
This middle piece was a process photo I took partway through today's session. I'll do a bit more work on the top one tomorrow. The bottom one is now finished.
I'm also enjoying the oil on paper experience. It's smaller and more intimate (at least on the scale I'm working -- Frieda Hamm does them enormous), and I can keep the transparent aspects of watercolor (the sun and cloud trail below are simply the paper showing through) while build up with the lusher colors in the places where I want to do that. It feels like the best of both worlds at the moment. Plus these are much faster than the really intricate print I'm laboring away at, so it's nice to have something that's a little more immediate gratification to balance that project.
This middle piece was a process photo I took partway through today's session. I'll do a bit more work on the top one tomorrow. The bottom one is now finished.
I'm also enjoying the oil on paper experience. It's smaller and more intimate (at least on the scale I'm working -- Frieda Hamm does them enormous), and I can keep the transparent aspects of watercolor (the sun and cloud trail below are simply the paper showing through) while build up with the lusher colors in the places where I want to do that. It feels like the best of both worlds at the moment. Plus these are much faster than the really intricate print I'm laboring away at, so it's nice to have something that's a little more immediate gratification to balance that project.
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I took a couple of days off and then roared back to work today. I've been doing some oils on paper from my sketchbook images of Paris. I like oil on paper because it has the richness of oil but also has the immediacy and can retain the transparency of watercolor if I don't use it too thickly.
The first is St. Chapelle. It was glorious to sit in there and sketch, and I find myself still fascinated by stars and celestial themes from the trip. The second is a sky study from the window of the apartment I was staying in. I loved the huge, high windows and did a ton of sky studies through the course of the summer. It was the perfect spot for an artist. I'd like to do a series of sky oils for the November show at Playhouse.
The first is St. Chapelle. It was glorious to sit in there and sketch, and I find myself still fascinated by stars and celestial themes from the trip. The second is a sky study from the window of the apartment I was staying in. I loved the huge, high windows and did a ton of sky studies through the course of the summer. It was the perfect spot for an artist. I'd like to do a series of sky oils for the November show at Playhouse.
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I will have two calendars this year, and they're being set up by the printer right now. I'll have some at my fall shows (Paris watercolors at Playhouse on the Square in November/December, at the Pink Palace Crafts fair, and at my open studio show with Melissa Bridgman Dec. 10-11), but I don't order too many extras. If you know for sure you'd like one, your best option is to pre-order online through my Square store so yours gets included in the order to my printer. They're 8.5x11" and $18, just like last year. You can order for shipping or to pick up, but please only use the pick up option if you're planning to come get one at one of my shows or in midtown Memphis. Orders are open right now and will affect how many I order to be printed.
Here is the full set of images (all new and all done on site ) from this year's My Memphis Calendar:
And here are all the Paris images, again all done this year sitting on the sidewalk, or, when I was very lucky, at a cafe table with a little tea.
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Park Friends Music Nights have started back again for the fall. We had the Side Street Steppers open the season for us, and Mr. Darcy and I had a night out together. I did a good bit of sketching, as I tend to when I'm listening to live music, and I tested out a new golden brown ink in my favorite fountain pen.
I was kind of low energy, and it was also a little bit low light, so I didn't do any watercolors. Just stuck to line drawings.
Of course I had to draw my date...
The next morning I took my sketching things along for my morning walk to check out that ink in the forest. I really love how it melds with the watercolor.
I also drew my favorite tree (again) on the way home.
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My work for the Daily News has given me a leg up on the calendar this year. Here is one of Jerry's SnoCones I did for them over the summer. I'm laying out both Memphis and Paris calendars this week and will have them available for order soon. I'll have a bunch of full page watercolors like this one, but following in last year's footsteps, I'll also include a few more sketchbook feeling pages as well. Here's my musician one for this year. A sketch of Breeze Coyolle's band on top and Le Tumulte Noir on the bottom.
I also think I'm going to be a little self indulgent and include my show from last year at the Dixon. It was such a highlight for me that I want to just keep savoring it a little bit. I'll probably make that one March for my birthday. I'll post the full set of images and get them up for order soon.
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I got home from a weekend in St. Louis yesterday. It was a fun progressive pajama party. Bob and Martha stayed with me on Friday night while Bob called our dance, and then I went up to stay with them for a couple of nights and dance there. I saw all kinds of really lovely friends I hadn't seen in far too long, including several trees I love in Tower Grove Park.
It had been fully a year, so I was relieved to see my favorite old sycamore, below, still thriving. I visited her first on Saturday night and then spent a lovely Sunday morning walking and sketching at the other end of the park. I was having so much fun with people that I spent less time than usual with trees this trip, but I have a feeling I'll be going back again sooner this time.
I also did a quick sketch at Sunday lunch. It's very, very rapid, but I wanted to mark the occasion and remember the good company. Just a fast sketch in my art journal will bring back good memories later on.
Also, I'm way late scanning these in, but I saw Le Tumulte Noir, one of my favorite local bands, the previous Sunday at Huey's. Going to sit and listen and have a burger is one of my favorite small pleasures in life when there's a good band playing.
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The views from both front and back windows in the apartment I stayed in were sources of inspiration for me this summer. Here is the view from my bedroom window. I had been chatting in the early morning with a friend on evening America time as I woke up, and I got up to draw my curtains. The moon over the rooftops made me catch my breath, and I ran for my watercolors before I even brushed my teeth. Fortunately the friend was a patient one, which is a moderate requirement for keeping company with artists. Skies and moons wait for no one. The moment has to be seized.
After sketching I went downstairs to watch out that tall, stunning window as the city came alive for the day. One of the really meaningful things about art is being able to not fully capture a special moment, but at least to make something from it, something that lives on and reminds you of that place and time in your life and hopefully communicates that joy or beauty with others as well.
After sketching I went downstairs to watch out that tall, stunning window as the city came alive for the day. One of the really meaningful things about art is being able to not fully capture a special moment, but at least to make something from it, something that lives on and reminds you of that place and time in your life and hopefully communicates that joy or beauty with others as well.
At the top is my batch of color proofs from today. I always hang them up on the door of my print shop to stare at and get some distance from. The middle photo is the first proof I pulled yesterday, and at bottom you can see the bottom layer plus the second block and the journal sketch I was working from.
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I tend to say hello to places by sketching them. This is the door where Vincent van Gogh lived with his brother Theo near my "regular" neighborhood in Montmartre. I buy my meusli across the street and always say hello. I went by while I was up in the area and felt the need to sketch it again. This time a sweet older man came out of the door just as I was finishing up. There are always tour groups stopping outside, and the residents must be unbelievably sick of it, but he came to see my sketch and asked if he could take a photo. Then he asked if I'd ever been inside and if I would want to. He so kindly backtracked, opened that magic blue door, and ushered me into the courtyard beyond. It leads to a small alley between two walled gardens, and there are several more buildings that back up together in there. It's this lovely, quiet, secret spot.
We turned around to see the back of the house, and he pointed out Vincent's third floor window with the closed shutters. I wanted to sketch in there too but didn't feel I could ask. It was so kind of him to offer this to one more tourist camped outside his door. I was really touched.
We turned around to see the back of the house, and he pointed out Vincent's third floor window with the closed shutters. I wanted to sketch in there too but didn't feel I could ask. It was so kind of him to offer this to one more tourist camped outside his door. I was really touched.
