Value of Sketching Still Applicable

It’s been a busy week and I am running late on getting this posted.

We have had an issue with getting the title on a travel trailer. We are finally resolving the problems and just sent off a down payment on a different trailer (from a private party). The RV dealer will be refunding our money this week. We are very happy to be getting everything resolved.

In the meantime I have been moving our stuff out of the RV we got from the dealer. I haven’t had much time to think about writing this week.

So I will share a post from 2013 that I had deleted at one point.  

I am a proponent of sketching and drawing. I spend a lot of time doing preliminary sketches for everything from my paintings to my dolls, to my jewelry. I like to get the ideas on paper at the time they are playing in my mind. Then later I can go back through the sketch books and find my inspiration for new projects.

This week I am going to show some of my sketches and the resulting works that came out of them. I have spent most of the past two weeks doing lots of sketches for the project I want to put on Kickstarter.

First up you see above the 30”x30” painting called Starwoman, the Return. Here is the original sketch (approx 5”x6”) done back in January of 2009. The sketch is done in pencil and pastel pencil. The resulting painting, done in February, was in a group show in March 2009.

Next is a page of landscape sketches from the fall of 2012. I was doing a lot of oil paintings in miniature and so did several pages of small sketches to use as reference. You can actually see several of these in a previous post from August 2012.

Here is just one of the small oil paintings done from some of my sketches.

Last is an example of the bookmark designing from this past week. First are three sketches for one bookmark that I worked on. It took three to get to the one I liked. And below is the resulting stamp design.

You don’t have to go out and buy an artist’s sketchbook from the art store. The paper from your printer is fine. That’s what I used for my bookmark sketches. I cut out a template from cardboard and drew around it in pen to give me the right size. Then I just did the sketches in the rectangle in pencil.

Sketching helps you develop ideas. It gets the ideas out of your head and on paper where you can see whether they will really work. Sketches are not meant to be beautiful, perfect, finished art. They can be simple doodles that don’t have to be finished. And you don’t have to be a great artist to do sketches. It’s just about developing the idea.

Many times I sit and sketch while watching television. Partly because I have ideas I want to get down on paper. But partly because things I see will give me more ideas. I have a stack of sketchbooks from the past few years and two binders full of original sketches and photos of my artwork from clear back to the 1980’s. When I need inspiration I go back through them (sometimes every week). I forget what I might have drawn and am surprised to find that I can use those ideas for new project.

Many of the ideas for my new bookmarks came from older sketches.

Don’t be afraid of drawing and sketching. The more you do, the better you will be at it. You will be surprised when you go back months later to find that you can still see the idea in your sketch and how to use it now.

Sketching is not really a messy project. Except when my hands get black from all the pencil smudges. Oh and the pencil trimmings on the floor and my desk because I sharpen the pencils a lot. But that is all part of the fun.

So grab some copy paper and a pencil and make some marks. Use a three hole punch and put them into a binder. There you have a sketch book.

Til next week. J

Terri

 All the artwork in this post/blog is property of Terri Warren - 1krazyrtist. Artwork cannot be copied or duplicated without permission from the artist.

Webstore: http://www.etsy.com/shop/1krazyrtist

A New Focus

This week I am going to a couple of the paintings I have been working on.

I love making jewelry and dolls and lots of craft pieces, but I have been an artist since I was very small. Space is limited in an RV and drawing and painting supplies take up less room than jewelry supplies, doll making supplies, scrapbooking supplies, etc. I don’t have the luxury of a work table and spreading my supplies all over. I work at the dining table/booth and share it with my husband. (The photo was taken before we moved into the trailer.)

Truthfully, this is a great way to help me focus my energies. Having too many options can be overwhelming and stressful. Focusing on one or two areas instead of six or more can help. You can also become more proficient at the one thing you are doing when you aren’t trying to do too many things at the same time.

These watercolor paintings were done on watercolor paper. They are small sizes, 5x7 mostly.  

Watercolor is said to be the hardest of painting mediums. I would say that it takes practice, like everything else. If you want to be proficient at it, keep doing it and learning more about it. Don’t get upset if you don’t get it right away. If you really want to do something, anything, you have to work at it. Sometimes it takes lots of failure before you finally get it right. Many successful business people have been turned down a thousand times (Colonel Sanders KFC) before finding the one person who believed in their product. Keep trying and believe in yourself. You can do what you put your mind to.

Working small allows me to see how a painting goes together. Then, if I feel it would be good as a larger painting, I can paint it in a larger format later. I also do some ink sketches then add the watercolor paint. This creates a whole different look from just painting. The second painting, the tree and path, is done with an ink drawing. 

 I usually go to Google search and look up different types of paintings in the images to get ideas. Pinterest and even Etsy show so many great images it's fun to look. I get inspired by all the amazing art that is being created. 

Don’t hesitate to try something new.

Til next week.

Terri

http://www.etsy.com/shop/1krazyrtist

New Year, New Ideas

February 2, 2016

Good Morning everyone. This is the first official blog for the restart.

It has been two years since the last post and I am finally able to add new ones.

 

Since my last posts we have moved from a small house into a motorhome and now into a 30 foot travel trailer. We are working part time for the rv park where we live and doing improvements on the trailer. We are hoping to move to another state in the coming months.

Since we have limited space I have decided to focus more on art (painting, coloring books, etc.) and less on jewelry or craft type projects. Though I did create a fun jewelry board to hang my jewelry on in my bedroom a few weeks ago. This was a fun project.

I found a picture frame that had a masonite backing. I used scrapbooking paper, a large piece that I had carried around for years, for the background. I glued it down with ModPodge. I used cup hooks for the bottom edge for bracelets. Sewing bobbins were put on with bolts and nuts (then glued on the back) to hold necklaces. Funky old chain necklaces were put on with bolts and nuts also to hold earrings in the middle part of the frame.

Fabric or wrapping paper could also be used for the background. I put glue on the nuts on the back so they wouldn’t come off the bolts. I wanted to make sure they didn’t move. I used a drill to make the holes in the masonite for the bolts to go through and to create start holes for the cup hooks. I love how it looks.

We are in the process of painting the walls and doing other improvements on the trailer. I will probably include pictures occasionally here.

In addition to everything else I am learning to create pdf files in Photoshop for digital download. I will be adding new coloring pages to my Etsy Store in the coming weeks.

I hope you check back occasionally. Have an awesome week.

Terri


http://www.etsy.com/shop/1krazyrtist