Page Prepping and Rosemarie Beck Art Journal Pages

Today was one of those magnificent weather days that make you excited to be alive, blessed to be breathing clean air, and want to hug trees all day. Thanks to my dear hubs he built me an outdoor studio so on days like today, I can sling paint to my hearts desire and not worry about the mess, all the while watching orange headed Skinks scatter about. 

I scored an amazing new journal that I can't wait to break in, love the words of affirmation on the leather cover! 

Most of the afternoon though,  I spent prepping journal pages for my mixed media journal and class, "Field Notes," by Juliana Coles. The class is amazing so far and never did I expect to have so many incredible assignments, videos, and suggested ideas thrown at me in an online workshop. These pages were prep work and will eventually be filled with tons of assignments during the course of our class. 

I also spent some time reading the first section of Nicolaide's "The Natural Way To Draw" which is written so precisely that just about anyone willing to put forth the effort can learn to draw. Thanks to his inspiration, I became inspired to finish one of my journal pages using some of his suggestions and chose the beginning page of the interview for Rosemarie Beck, a fascinating figurative artist who was with us until 2003.  

(This is the quote at the beginning of the book)

The photograph and interview of Rosemarie, from my journal "Perspectives On The Arts" was a juxtaposition in contrast and ease of conversation, so I opted to try my hand at gestural sketching using my non dominant hand. I used graphite, a blue Neocolor Pastel, Micron Pen in pink, and a water soluble graphite stick. Each study lasted only about a minute or two, and then I wrote a few quotes and thoughts from my own voice as well as Nicolaide's across her dress. The journal page was more about letting loose, trying something new, and reflecting on the brilliance of both of these artists who have blazed a trail for me. 

This past weekend was full of surprises, a great Artwalk, and a beautiful Mother's Day where I was able to spend it not only with my own mother, son, and family, but also with my step daughter and her family which made it so much more special. She is an incredible mother and it is a joy watching her grow as a parent. Art is about life, and the most beautiful parts of it, in my opinion, are the celebrations of family. 

Mixed Media Workshop at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Arts Center

May 18th is fast approaching and I am psyched to be teaching a mixed media workshop at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Arts Center. We will be painting papers, creating glorious textures, and then ripping them up to create a mixed media collage on canvas! Each student will leave with a pile of painted papers and a finished painting, similar to this Pelican or other coastal life theme. If you haven't gotten mom a Mother's Day gift, this class would be a great idea! 

YOU CAN REGISTER HERE! 

Table With A View Art Journal Page

The inspiration of nature, three blind contour sketches, and collage equals a totally zen morning of journaling. 

Started with a few magazine pics that were oh, so inspiring. 

Got my sketch on with images from outside the window and inside my mind!

Added some really loose, acrylic washes, Neo Colors, and Markers. 

Went on to add some blind contour sketching with water soluble graphite, vine charcoal, Sharpie, and a paint pen. 

Last layers, isolated the text I loved from the initial page, added my own in regards to nature, and finished it off with a few hints of bright white. This was a quick page, but I loved that about it. If you are inclined to try your hand at sketching from the real world, join us on Juliana Cole's Field Notes online class. It isn't too late, and it is fabulous!

You can view my entire album of these journal pages on my Facebook Page. 

The Disconnect of Self Art Journal Page

I began this page early this morning and was drawn to the image by Diebenkorn of his "Woman At the Window"painting. Before I bought this book I was totally unfamiliar with him or his art, but one of the beauties of altering an art book is that it gives me a chance to read and become intimately familiar with the art and history of each artist being showcased. I didn't seek out the colored version of this painting until after I had finished my page, and after seeing it, I am quite enamored with his figurative work, his line, his shapes, his mood, all quite enthralling to me. 

So many of my friends are dealing with a parent who is growing older and has dementia or Alzheimer's. I see the emotions well up when they discuss it, I see the longing for the person they know in their eyes, and I sense the huge amount of loss they feel when the realization of their family member still being here, but their mind being lost becomes quite real. My mother-in-law suffered through this, though I met her after it had set in, so I missed getting to know the incredible woman that she was. This journal page connected me with the sense of loss, of disconnectedness that one must experience from not only the aging process and disease, but from the sheer act of closing oneself off to the world due to fear or various other reasons. 

I used the same process of my other pages, sketching from shapes and inspirations in my natural world and from those that I remember. As the image begins to develop, I think through the sense of message and lesson the page seeks to represent. 

I intentionally left the majority of the woman figure without color, symbolizing the void of self that she represents, but surrounded by outrageous color just out of her reach. There is also the use of color blocking which mimics the physical blocks placed in the path from these experiences. I can't say that I fully am at ease with these pages, as they are markers of so much life transition, but I do think of these concepts often and wonder how to make an impact just the same. 

This journey of art journaling has been the most profound for me yet. I make a record of my daily thoughts, my environment, my connectedness to an art history that I am just beginning to understand, and I feel as though each brushstroke teaches me a little more about myself and the world I have come to love. What a power the act of painting and writing can be when combined on the page. 

You can view the other pages in this book at these links:

http://ardithsart.blogspot.com/2013/05/art-journal-page-testing-tools.html

http://ardithsart.blogspot.com/2013/05/nature-at-its-finest-journal-page.html

http://ardithsart.blogspot.com/2013/05/art-journal-page-freedom-of-choice.html

Nature At Its Finest Journal Page

I have no clue where this will end up but I freaking LOVE the process of one....not knowing, and two...playing along until I get there. This is one of my pages in Juliana Cole's Field Notes online class and as I understand, this page may not be finished, but for now, totally swooning over the colors, the messiness, the energy and feeling of being alive when I see this page. There are things in nature that inspire me more than others, and then, well there is the incredible connection with GROWTH and DECAY that all living things experience. It was with those two concepts in mind that I trotted forth into this journal page. 

As always, started with a page from "The Perspective on the Arts" and let my spirit guide me based on my assignment. 

Next, began sketching and considering things in nature, out my window, things I remember, and sights and sounds that influence me when it comes to 'being and feeling alive.'

I knew I wanted to used birds, and started to sketch small ones, birds flying on the page, and one really large, bodacious bird, because we have one of those on our 42 acre farm. He pretty much knows he is the bees knees when it comes to being a bird. I call him our water turkey....he knows why as well, ;) 

At this stage I starting mixing it up with Crayola Markers, Neo Color II's, Sharpie Markers, and then Golden Fluid Acrylics. 

I love how the Golden's made the colors more intense and transparent, especially when helping the birds come forward and the background recede. 

Finally, I added my juicy tidbits, the layers of white, Molotow markers, the words, oh the words, and I blended in the fence, vegetation, and feathers. This, to me, is what I love about art journaling, the ability to take an ordinary image, transform it based on where your artistic vision leads, and develops your painting style and voice all at the same time. Can't wait to see how this piece eventually turns out. 

Monochromatic Art Journal

I came across this "My Yellow Pages" address book at Goodwill last week and the page color resonated with me that it would make a unique monochromatic art journal. I decided I would keep it by my bed and use it to sketch in with graphite or Sharpie, just seeing where the color, line and pattern would take me. There was one white sheet attached which I used this morning for to practice blind contour drawing as well. I really love the contrast in this book and look forward to seeing the images come to life on the yellow pages. 

This was  a blind contour sketch I made using a red crayon, a blue sharpie, and a blue uniball. 

This was my first blind contour sketch and I love the fact that I decapitated myself and have a floating head, lol. 

This image was a 30 min sketch using just a Sharpie and I have no idea what the inspiration for it was other than mark making and weirdness, total weirdness. 

And this was a 5 minute quick sketch holding the pencil with only two fingers. I wanted to push myself to let go of control and just loosely sketch the contour. It was more challenging than I thought. 

Ok, I saw a photo of this crazy looking cat on Pinterest today but failed to pin it, and now am at a complete loss as to how to locate it, but I just adored the look on the kitten's face because I have seen it so often from my Yodaman. Crazy cats, they rule the world you know!

Art Journal Page - Testing Tools

Juliana Coles, art journal and teacher extraordinaire, teaches an online class called "Field Notes" and I am loving it!One of our exercises was to test out our sketch/journaling tools that we would carry around with us and use, so I dove right in making marks, making notes, and trying out some new combinations. 

Because I am using my newest altered book as one of my journals for this class, I opted for two pages that had pretty basic images of African masks, and then coated both with white and phtalo blue Golden fluid acrylics. I wanted a base of acrylic because I knew I would primarily be writing, drawing, painting over acrylic on most pages. 

After all was said and done, I learned a bit of unexpected insight in to the materials I thought I would love the most, but didn't. My Copics, Micron, and Uniball Vision Needle were great, waterproof, smooth lines, just loved them for pens. My Molotow white paint pen worked the best, but I was also surprised to find the Elmer's Painters Pens (found at Walmart no less) way better than I expected, for half the price and tons of colors. Graphite was a huge disappointment for me, but most likely due to the acrylic paint. I HATE F and H graphite, they are just too hard for me, but I love the B's, especially the 6B and 8B. What that tells me is that I am drawn to dark lines and really love lines that will blend at times. 

I also just got three water soluble graphite sticks in 2,4, and 6B, and when wet the create a wonderful flow of black pigment....totally yummy. My Pentel Gold and Silver pens wrote smoothly, and even a Bic pen didn't disappoint either. My Neocolor II sticks were the best 'crayon' like product, went on creamy, but when wet they took a while to dry and were very runny, so I know they will be better suited for paper, but as a crayon, they were great. Derwent Inktense were about the same, loved the crayon like feel when dry, but when wet they were almost too runny and require a matte medium to coat them or they will lift easily. 

I glued a flap onto the left of this page so that I could write my impression of each tool. 

The most unexpected product I loved was my Crayola marker (to the right of the larger figures face three orange horizontal lines). Went on smoothly, totally transparent, and next to my ChartPak markers which were way more expensive, they worked just as well. Glad to make that comparison. Overall, I know I will use most of these tools in my sketchbook, but I wont be using my F or H pencils anytime soon. 

Tomorrow I shall try a few products on a dry page, no acrylic, and compare and contrast the difference. If you are looking for an online art journal class that pushes you toward creating edgy, messy, fantastic life sketches I strongly recommend her classes. I am just in week two and have about 10 videos left to watch, amazing PDF's, and the fact that she, as the instructor is so involved in our class makes thrilled. I have taken many online classes, some really expensive ones from well known instructors, only to be really disappointed at the 'lack' of personal presence from them. Juliana makes herself part of the class, and I value that in a teacher. 

Looking forward to what the next lessons bring.....on to make marks. 

Art Journal Page - The Freedom of Choice

Another page in my Field Notes dual sketchbook. You can view the previous pages HERE. 

This page was quite interesting to me, especially today when its message seemed to appear out of no where yet resonate so deeply. What first captured me was the image of the girl, and her look of being lost. The artist may not have intended to relate her in that way, but that is how I connected with her. As I began these two pages, I simply wanted to practice sketching the human face or figure in unique stations of life, just like this female, so I began sketch. I also began to read a book on China that I was given and gained much of my inspiration from the images I viewed in that book, beautiful, haunting, and so telling. 




I was also taken by a memory of my family, who are professional clowns, and what importance the concept of putting on a mask does for folks. As I sketched, I also sketched what was around me, my car, the trees in the distance, and the barb wire fence. Over the course of several days, as I continued to layer, I still had no clear message about the meaning of the pages other than a practice, an observation, a record of my viewing a book and choosing to play with my paints and markers. 

When I got the book out again I noticed a pattern.....every image resonated with the concept of freedom, or the lack thereof. From the car, the barb wired, the bird, to the images of people in places, each had a significant relation to our freedom, either of choice or having our choices taken from us. 

I plan to sit with these pages a while and really absorb the process, not only of how I made them, but what I am to learn from them. I live in a country where freedom is taken for granted so easily, and do realize, just how incredibly blessed I am to live here, and not in a place where my body, mind, or spirit is in bondage. Art  journals can give us incredible insight into the life lessons we are meant to learn, today I am most grateful for the freedom of free expression and the freedom to share what I create with a greater audience. So many will never have this. 

The Abstraction of Glass

If you are familiar with my work then you know I am drawn to color, lots and lots of color. After finishing up the painting "Reflections in Creation" see below, I tackled painting number two as part of my entries for the The Watercolor and Graphic Arts Society show. So many ideas of subject matter came to mind but the concepts of abstract, glass, and the use of fluid acrylics just became a combination that was difficult to resist.  

Fluid acrylics, especially Golden's, will perform almost as well as watercolors and create stunning 'bloom' effects when color is floated in wet in wet. This technique was especially important as I worked at keeping the reflections in the piece, "The Abstraction of Glass" flowing and luminous. The composition is minimal, a total juxtaposition between the complexity of reflections, and that is what I loved about it. It reads as an orb to some, an empty glass to others, but totally abstract in nature as well. 

For the background, I glazed about 20 layers of very thin, watery acrylic in Titanium and Pistachio over a base of teal/phtalo green shade using a sponge and for the final layer, used saran wrap. The texture that resulted gives contrast while adding interest as a subtle element as well. 

Two glass paintings, totally different in composition, but equally similar in expressing reflections and color. I learned a lot between these two, such as how challenging  it is to paint large through chronic back pain, how patience and planning can go a long way in the success of a piece, and how working slowly over time actually aids in the strength of the finished piece. Although I do miss my mixed media work, it felt really good to get back to watercolors and fluid acrylic work. If you are in Mobile or live on the Eastern Shore, you can see these two paintings at The Eastern Shore Art Center during Artwalk, and I would love to see you as well. 

You can view my entire Watercolor Gallery on my website too! 

The Challenge of Drawing Perspective and Perfection

I am just going to say it, drawing the correct perspective and proportions is a pain in the butt! With that said, it is also a vital one to the artist if one is to master the skill of drawing to make things look the way they are. To a painter who works in realism, this is essential, to an abstract painter, not so much. Regardless of genre though, learning to sketch and improve your drawing skills is one of the first and best tools to add to your 'tool box.' 


As a kid, drawing came naturally to me. I didn't become an artist until my mid 30's, but the ability to see shapes and get a 'likeness' was something I at least wasn't afraid of, so going forth into sketching was something I found fun, my only problem was, I taught myself to draw from pictures, not from real life. Place a photo in front of me and I can draw it lickety split. Place an object in front of me and I am dumbfounded, or at least I used to be. 

(This is my version of George Washington when I was in second grade, notice I received a B-! ) 

Seriously, who grades art? 

My brain really sees well in 2-D, but I so wanted to teach myself to use it in 3-D because I knew if I wanted my paintings to improve I needed to practice my drawing skills. A few months ago I drew my first still life, then I painted it, and I LOVED that process. It wasn't that I loved the sketching per se, that was cool, but I loved that I gave myself permission not to seek perfection in the process, just to let the process be what it was, and learn from it. That is so difficult for beginning artists, they want to paint like the pictures they see in books, they want to paint like that NOW, but they struggle to understand that those paintings were birthed from often years of practice, practice, and more practice. 

This morning I began a sketch of the edge of my Golden paint box and one of my 4" by 4" collages. It was a simple sketch for the most part, but as soon as my pencil touched the page that voice in my head started saying, "Your doing it wrong." That voice wasn't the voice I needed to listen to. I needed to listen to the one that gently said, "Look at the line again Ardith, it is shorter and closer to the edge of the bottle. Find a reference point to make a marker, sketch from there." Two voices, but one nudging me to quit and fail, the other nudging me to learn and progress. The artist must learn to silence the negative and turn up the volume of the 'teaching voice.' 

Although there are things I see that I could have changed, improved on, or spaced out differently, I am pleased with the sketch. It is a learning process, it is not perfect and I don't expect that it ever will be. Yes, I could have sketched from the cropped photo you see here and gotten a much more accurate likeness, but I would have missed the point....to train my eye and brain to see things as they are, not as I think them to be. 

If you are new to sketching, new to art, or just learning to draw, be gentle on yourself. Turn off the voice of negativity, don't compare your work to others, and learn to listen to the teacher voice that nudges you forward rather than back. I like to tell my beginning students that we all are on a bus ride together. Some are just getting on the bus at the first stop, others have been on a while, have gotten off a time a two to pick up new skills and gotten back on with 'heavier luggage." Other artists have ridden the journey many times, and picked up so many skills that their luggage got to be too heavy, so they bought themselves their own buses and started to pick up new artists to join them on their journey. Where you are on the journey is important, but the realization that we are all on it together is key!

If you really want to spend some time improving your drawing/sketching skills but don't have access to classes Youtube is where you need to head. There are TONS of videos to teach you, but one of my first and favorites is by artist Larry Gluck, because he explains things so simply and is easy to follow. 

Look forward to seeing some of your sketches!