Gwendolyn

I just 'finished' a new painting, and I'm left with the overwhelming sensation of having SO MUCH that I need to work on.  

I seriously need to amp up my drawing skills and really the only way to do this is by doing a lot of drawing from life, something which until this very week I hadn't even thought about doing since my junior year of college.  The past few days I've taken to drawing during my lunch break... drawing things in the real world, not stuff in photographs.  None of it is interesting or deep:  flowers I pass on my walk, the salsa jar on the table in the break room, gestures of sheep in a nearby meadow (sometimes I love working across the street from the historic area!), etc.  And it's really proving to me that I'm way too used to taking shortcuts with my drawing and relying on what I think I know about an object instead of what's actually there.  It would also behoove me to step outside my comfort zone a bit and stop always drawing things that I know I can already draw (more or less).

Also, if I want to start successfully incorporating backgrounds and settings in my work, I'm going to need to be able to draw and paint environments and landscapes MUCH more convincingly.  Again, I think I'm going to have to start going outside and doing some plein air paintings instead of heading straight for stock images on the computer.

And then there's color!  Good lord, color.  Basically, I need to start putting a lot more thought into the color scheme of a painting before I even think about picking up a brush.  Having a vague idea and making decisions as I go simply creates a lot more work in the long run and leads to a whole slew of headaches along the way. 

All that said, I really enjoyed painting every evening after work (even if it was only for an hour or two), and I desperately want to keep working and improve.

Inyhoo, new painting!


The plan for the summer is to put together a decent body of work and then actually get out there as an artist and start selling myself.

This weekend is Ft. Fred though, and I need to make a petticoat to go with my new-ish pink jacket or I'll be stuck wearing my ancient stuff.  I also want to finish the miniature I'm working on, but I don't think I can get it done before the weekend. 

Here's hoping they won't always be frogs...


(also, this marks the first time I've ever thought "Oh, I should do a painting/drawing for cards this coming holiday" and then actually went and did it.)

I am famous!

Well, not really, but apparently my work is seen outside my own circle of acquaintances.

I spent some time this past weekend hanging out and sewing with one of my new co-workers (who is also a reenactor), and at some point I pulled up my website to show her some of my previous costume projects.  I have my art on my site too, so I showed her my Farb At Heart painting thinking that, as a reenactor, she might get a kick out of it.

She looked at the painting, looked up at me, and said, "Wait, so YOU did that?  I've seen it before!"  She couldn't recall exactly where or when she'd seen it, but I guess someone else in the hobby must have passed the image around or something.  She seemed vaguely impressed by my other paintings too, and expressed interest in having me do a portrait of her and her boyfriend.

As soon as my current obligations are done (Christmas gift and miniature for Katie) I really want to focus on art and painting for a while.  I have quite a few ideas for a series of "farb" paintings to follow the original one, plus several steampunk-ish paintings, and for almost a year I've had the idea for a 3-D shadow-box type of project which I'm dying to work on.  Also, miniatures.  I feel like if I can get fairly good at them I'm in the perfect place for finding a market... maybe do them and the occasional portrait or two on the side.

Who knows?  If I actually manage to stay motivated and create a decent body of work I might try to get into some galleries around here.  If I don't have to rely on my art for my living, taking a stab at getting my name and work out there feels far less daunting.

I don't have pictures of my brown print regency dress... mostly because I'm avoiding setting in the sleeves.  The bodice is done, and one sleeve is pinned in, and now I'm perfecting the art of ignoring less-than-pleasant sewing tasks.

This is what I did instead.


And this:


The second sketch is me trying to work out steampunk wings for a painting I'm planning.  I know, I know.  Reenactment this weekend, I need a new dress, I should be sewing, yadda yadda.  But it's been OVER A YEAR since I picked up a brush, and right now all I can think about is painting and I have so many ideas simmering in my head at the moment.

Besides, this summer was nothing but hardcore sewing.  I'll get the dress done, but I need this change of pace for my creative sanity.

And speaking of sewing, I have a phone interview set up for the tailor position at Williamsburg!  Wish me luck!

... with Marina Bychkova, doll artist extraordinaire.

Her porcelain ball-jointed dolls are simply exquisite, and all the costumes and jewelry and accessories are amazingly crafted. Nearly all the costumes are encrusted with beading, and all metal pieces (crowns, corsets, shoes, etc.) are carved and cast individually.

I stumbled upon her work the other day when browsing through the Coilpress blog, and followed a link to her website. Be still my heart.


If anything could make me want to attempt ball-jointed dolls myself, this would be it. As it is, I'm already itching to break out my wax and bronze and silver and start casting again... unfortunately I no longer have access to the metals studio, so no matter how much I want to, I can't.

Sometimes I think there are altogether too many wonderful and inspiring things in the world.

If only I wasn't obligated to finish this jacket for my brother.  It's somehow turned into a massive mental roadblock... stopping me from working seriously on anything else, but not engaging enough to entice me into working on it.

This week, instead of sucking it up and making the be-damned jacket already (or sewing anything else for that matter), I mostly just read library books.  On Monday I got together with Gill for a night of jewelry-making, and as all the earrings I possess can fit neatly into a small, shallow bowl, I made myself a couple of pairs.

The filigree pieces on these were originally the center part of some odd decorative corner things... I could never quite figure out what they were exactly meant to be, so I just broke off the ends and attached the middle section to some jump rings and beads.

 
For this pair, I took tiny clusters of fake flowers and coated them in black tool dip.  The tool dip went on pretty thickly, and took about twenty minutes to dry enough to continue working.  The clusters were then strung onto a connecting wire, and irregular pearls dangle inside.


As you can see, even with two new pairs, I really don't own many earrings... these are all that I have in the whole world.  Still, I've only had my ears pierced for about a year, so it's not that odd that I don't own oodles more.

Today I sorted through all my papers and reference images and bits and bobs from my old studio space while listening to the audiobook of the first volume of the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy.

I first read this book a couple of years ago and had totally forgotten how incredibly good it was.  The language (and the world being described) is so incredibly visual and rich.  Just hearing the story is enough to fill your mind with images and characters far more vibrant than any movie.  Not to mention the plot, which is thoroughly engaging, and manages to avoid falling into the many cliches that a young-orphan-making-his-way-in-a-fantastical-world type of story typically holds.  I also love the fact that the author, D. M. Cornish, worked as an illustrator for many years before writing the book, and did all the illustrations (which are wonderful) for it himself.  The second book, Lamplighter, is just as good, and I am eagerly looking forward to the publication of the third.

More than anything else, I found the book to be inspiring... I not only want to make nearly every single piece of clothing described, I want to paint all of the characters, and, for that matter, paint all sorts of other things as well that have nothing to do with Rossamund and the Half-Continent.

This evening after dinner, I sat down, with Foundling for company, and got back to basics.

I hadn't really drawn ANYTHING since April, and since I've recently been brewing up some ideas for paintings, it seemed prudent to get back into the "art" mindset with some straightforward figure drawing.  I want to do a bunch more simple drawings like this in my sketchbook before picking up the brush again. 
 

Last night as I was researching Mary Beale (and incidentally staying up way too late falling in love with the late 17th century... it's dangerous stuff!) I started thinking about her as a portraitist and about how much fun it would be to actually 'get in character'  by doing several 17th century style portraits and drawings.  Then something happened.  For the first time in months and months, I actually really wanted to paint.  I want to wear my scruffy old apron and slap gesso around and be surrounded by the odor of oil paint and liquin.  There's a sort of magical calm in painting, where the rest of the world doesn't matter... all I need to worry about is if the colors are good or the mouth is the right size/shape or oh-crap-I-have-to-draw-the-hands-now. 

One thing I've always wanted to do is to paint while in costume; most specifically, in the costume of someone who actually was an artist and would have worked in those clothes.   This is going to be fun.  :-)

And I'm incredibly thankful that my love for art (and being an artist) has returned before the next semester starts.  In less than two weeks I'm going to be back at school, spending time at Calder surrounded by (and creating) art.  Two days ago I was dreading going back to school.  Today I don't think I mind at all.

I need to do painting about summer. Perhaps if I surround myself with images of sunshine and flowers I can forget that I was excited today by it being 'warm' at 32 degrees. 32!!! That's FREEZING POINT and it felt WARM after the arctic temperatures we've been having lately. Funnily enough, about this time last year I also did a painting of the feeling of summer... I think it's because I know that spring is on the agenda even though it still feels like the depths of winter. I just want it to be sunny, and for the sun to actually feel warm.

Anyway, my canvas is stretched (with the raw knuckles to match!) and primed, and I've been browsing around stock image sites for inspiration. I'm actually exciting about painting this one!

And even though my headphones for metals have a long way to go, I'm done with the casting process. I can't express how utterly relieved I am that both sides turned out nicely. Casting is definitely a fun process, but SO stressful when there's a looming deadline!

It feels good to be excited about art again.

(and I'm totally in love with a couple of my costume designs... I cannot WAIT to make them!)

My stomach has been really off the last few days.  I don't feel outrightly sick, but just constantly, mildly nauseous and exhausted.  I've had to get up early every day for the last couple weeks, but Sat I was in bed before 11, and last night I went to bed at 9.  I don't know if I'm just worn out, or if my body is trying to tell me something, or if I have a mild illness or what... but I'm just sapped.  There's just no end of things to do... and I can't really put anything off because I'll just be screwing myself later.  "Ugh" pretty much sums it up.

On the bright side, I did well on my Logic exam!  The professor has spent the whole semester thus far trying to impress upon us the fact that if we don't study for at least 30 minutes a day we will utterly crash and burn, and our only hope of achieving any level of success is to do the wark every day.  Yeeaaahhhhh, sure it's a good idea.  I'm all in favor of students doing their work.  However, I naturally prioritize my homework, and Logic generally is lowest on my list.  This means that before the 1st exam I maybe cracked open my book once or twice and didn't do any of the exercises.  In spite of this lack of dedication, I still managed to get an 87 on the exam... and while that isn't a grade of miracles, it's still above the class average of 84 and is a fairly solid, respectable grade.  I'm quite pleased... but will probably put in a bit more effort for the next one.

Lately I've been having fairly serious thoughts  about my future as an artist, and what I'll be doing with myself come graduation.  When I sat down and considered everything, it boggled my mind that I hadn't thought these things before, and that I hadn't really been thinking beyond school.  Take, for instance, something like art galleries.  At the present I don't go to galleries, I don't research galleries, and until I went through the phone book I (naively) had no idea that Grand Rapids had any art galleries let alone 18!  I need to make a habit of visiting galleries regularly, and at least getting a feel for the local art scene before expanding my horizons.
Another big thing is equipment.  I have access to everything I ever need here at school... computers, lights, cameras, wood-shop and metals studio, etc.  Once I graduate I will have to be self-sufficient, meaning I will have to OWN everything I need.  So far all I have is an easel.  I won't get very far with that.  I've written up a list of all the essential equipment that I won't be able to do without, and have resolved to whittle it down at every opportunity.  My dad seems to think that I should worry about paying back student loans before even considering buying expensive art "supplies", but one has to put something out before being able to make a return in any business, and art is nothing if not a business.

Oh!  And as a part of the general paranoia surrounding a post-graduation world, some of us illustrators have been putting together art blogs.  That way we'll still be able to have some level of community and sounding-board after we're out on our own.  Mine is Binding Eyelets (name suggested by Gill and Adrianne after I had been finishing off my regency stays at Adrianne's apartment and I mentioned that all I had left to do was bind a couple eyelets... they thought it would make an amazing name for a show or blog... and I must say I agree... after all, in the grand scheme of things it is quite unique.) And speaking of those two wonderful friends and artists, here are their blogs too: Christina Mrozik (Gill) and Adrianne Hollemans.  Seriously, CHECK THEM OUT!!! They are amazingly talented, and I have no doubts that they will be very successful.