Welcome 2012 and a feature...

I can't tell you how excited I am for this year.

In my 5.5 years of being a mother, it's all finally getting a little bit more organized.

Next week I return to my studio.

I've been finishing off a few to-do's around the house this week and this weekend we'll finish the last of our de-cluttering and organizing tasks.

I've got some art goals to reach but my goal is to keep them flexible.

My main goal is to sketch or draw every day, even if it's for 15 minutes.

My focus will be on skull and bone studies.

Secondary to that, I have a short term goal of 2 painting sessions weekly. Which doesn't sound like much, but considering how slammed I've been with graphics work, that has consumed every minute of my day, evening and even the wee hours of the morning, it's an improvement.

As I have slowdowns in work, I will increase when possible.

So my return will be slow but hopefully methodical.

To kick off the year, I'm happy to link to a lovely Artist Feature written about my work, with a focus on my brush use by Dynasty Brush (follow this link to read the article).

It was so kind of them, and quite honestly, made me feel pretty good considering I was somewhat unproductive in 2011.

Happy Holidays - An Artist's 12 Days of Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone!

Yes I'm still here.  I've been cleaning and reorganizing my studio. I'm looking forward to 2012. It's been a crazy 5 years since I had my daughter and I greatly underestimated how difficult it would be to paint once I had her.

But it's all good. I've raised an adorable and personable little girl that is now in kindergarten and doing so well.

It's taken me months to catch up on everything that fell behind in the past five years! But I'm finally reaching the end. I'm looking forward to a slow but triumphant return to painting after the holidays.

I will love every minute I get to spend at the easel.

I've spent 5 years filling my head and notebook with painting ideas and I can't wait to finally put them on canvas.

:]

And since I had 5 minutes to myself last night while everyone was sleeping I took the one Christmas song I can't stand and turned it into one I could, because that's the silly things I do at 1:00 AM…. enjoy!

An Artist's 12 Days of Christmas

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

12 charcoal pencils

11 tubes of schminke

10 rolls of viva

9 sable filberts

8 cups of coffee

7 sheets of canson

6 H-frame easels

5 Gessobords

4 pints of Gamsol

3 mahl sticks

2 bristle flats

and a new kneaded eraser

Today's my Birthday

I owe you a recap of the Carlo Russo Workshop…

I know…

Busy, Busy.

The jelly bean has started school, in a few weeks when I get my graphics workload caught up I get to return to painting! Yay!

But today, today is my birthday.

You can read how I am taking it in stride… HERE.

:]

Workshop day 3

Went in early today and stayed late. I painted from 8:30 am to 5:15 pm.

I am exhausted. But in a good way.

I work similar to Carlo which is cool because my insides aren't freaking out. :)

But also different enough that I'm getting some great pointers and insight from him.

It feels great to be in a workshop where my head isn't spinning because the instructors method and style is so drastic from my own, and where I can focus more on improving my skills and learning some new techniques.

tomorrow I'll go in early again in hopes of making some serious headway.

This photo shows my color wash in and the start of my final layer.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Workshop day two

day two down. My final drawing, although this has been traced over with pen. can't figure out how to turn the pic on my phone.

finalized my drawing and toned my canvas and then I had a few setbacks.

Nothing I couldn't handle but still frustrating.

I ordered a claessans Belgian linen panel that turned out to be a nightmare. Considering what I paid for it I was a little disappointed.

Carlo works on CBL and wanted us to try it but the panel I ordered had a oddly slick and smooth surface. It wouldn't hold paint. I toned it, it dried and I could wipe it right off. Grrrr.

Even transferred my drawing and painted the lines and it wiped off.

Lucky it was end of day so I decided to head to the downtown Philly Dick Blick to pick up a Gessobord panel.

one of the other participants was nice enough to drop me off near the store (really no parking). So I picked up a few things and walked 20 minutes back to my car in the heat. Lucky for me I passed a Starbucks and took the walk in stride with an iced coffee in hand.

so tonight I'm doing a little homework to get back on track and one of the girls is going to meet me in a little early tomorrow so I can get an early start on my color block in. Hoping to have that done mid-morning to lunch so I can can start in with thicker paint after lunch.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Carlo Russo workshop: day 1

day one is done and I'm glad. I always have such anxiety the first day of a workshop, compound that with a 50 minute traffic packed, merging after merging fastpaced highway drive into the city, and I'm wiped.

I was happy with my drawing progress and hope that I should be ready to transfer by lunch tomorrow.

I had a funny moment when I arrived to find the elevator out of service. Funny because I had just joked to some friends about packing so much and being grateful I could take the elevator.

not so funny this morning, but lucky someone did direct me to another one. by the time I found it and rode what was the longest elevator ride ever and wandered the halls aimlessly (all while carrying 50lbs of gear) I finally found my destination.

At least I got my workout in. looking forward to day two.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

overpacked, but happy...

I've spent the past two days sorting and packing supplies to head out to Studio Incamminati for the Carlo Russo workshop.

If you've never seen his work, definitely check it out.

Finally I've got the list of supplies checked off, and I've packed a few other items I'm sure I can't live without. The ratio of art supplies to clothes packed is definitely skewed.

I only wish I could have spent some time painting/drawing beforehand but my graphics workload has been a little crazy with me taking off for a week. (only to be followed by two more weekends away) Nothing I could do about it.

This will be my second workshop at Studio Incamminati. I'm looking forward to spending time there again in the space as well as with the people.

Will anyone else out there be attending any of the other workshops going on this week at SI?

If so, come find me!

I'm going to try posting from my phone, no guarantee's.

I'll be staying in NJ with my Mom, who gets the added bonus of caring for my daughter while I'm off painting. I think both are equally excited about this!

I can relax knowing she is in good hands. I'll be commuting into Philly daily, it's quite easy and a nice ride where I can drink my coffee and clear my head.

Off to finish packing...