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I've been sharing with a few of you on Twitter about moods during the gloomy days and winter months and how I've been wanting to try a light therapy box. I asked for your thoughts and my feed exploded with positive feedback from those that have tried light therapy to help boost moods and take away other symptoms seasonal moodiness, without medication.

I've never been diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder, so I'm certainly not advocating making medical decisions such as this for those that aren't sure if they have the disorder or not. Just putting that out there. I'm not a doctor or a therapist! I have, however, suffered from diagnosed anxiety disorders for years, as well as depression in my late teens and early twenties. I know the signs and symptoms of a problem and I prefer to treat without medication, if possible.

I've been very blessed that the depression has, for the most part, stayed away for several years, but the anxiety is always around. I've learned tips and tricks to quell it (have a manageable to-do list each day, only listing a few chores every day, giving myself time to sit, etc.), but in the winter it comes back in full force. I'm tired ALL the time and even though I'm a mom of a toddler and I get up early, I do get plenty of rest. 7-8 hours should be plenty for me and it's not. I get overwhelmed very easily and that leads to meltdowns.

I'm trying out this box:

Continuing on with creating an illustration of Table 52 in Chicago...

I taped this photo onto my lightbox and did a first trace, establishing the main lines of the building. I straightened up the distortion in the photo (its slight, but its there... the verticals in photos are rarely all truly vertical.)

I took out all the "uglies" that I mentioned in the last post.

I moved the middle tree to the right just a bit so the pretty window would show better. This also had the added benefit of hiding a bit of the "warming hut".
Then I did a really bold thing and added a tree that isn't even there on the right side!
Before I did that I stared at that side of the building and pondered how on earth to show the fire escape and fiddly bits of pipes and all, then also how to show that whole basically dead area.

"Why don't you just crop the whole piece and take that side off altogether?" you ask. Good question. Two things: 1. It needs to be there to balance out the rest of the piece and 2. because I'm doing this for a magazine and there is a size specification, I have to include exactly what I have in the picture to make the size work.
The added tree is in keeping with the two that are already there, and I honestly don't think anyone's going to have an issue with it. This is a case where that "artistic license" we all carry around comes in handy. You just have to know when and how to use it.

So now that I have the composition basically worked out to my satisfaction, I do another trace, tightening things up a bit, cleaning up the linework and adding a few more details.


I forgot to say before that I also took out the buildings in the background. Sometimes I leave them in, it depends. If a building is flanked by others, up close, or if the surrounding buildings help establish where this one "lives", or for some other good reason, I will leave them in, and maybe fade them out some.
In this case, the surrounding architecture does nothing to enhance this one, and also, this one is kind of 'stand alone' anyway, so I decided it didn't need any company on the page.

Also, the trees will be very "light" in feeling. I don't want them to overwhelm the picture. I will be taking out the snow in the photo as well, and putting Spring leaves on the trees (and taking out the Christmas lights they currently have wrapped around them). So the overall feel of the piece will be much different than the photo.


Next I put that last sketch on the light box and transfer the drawing to my final paper.
I'm using Lanaquarelle watercolor paper. I darkened the drawing up in Photoshop to show here. In reality its much much lighter, and so is the paper. But it does have a warmish cast to it, which will work nicely with the whole feel of the piece.

The next thing to do is choose a palette and start painting!

All images and content herein are © Paula Pertile and may not be used or reproduced without permission.

for studio lolo...who warned me about the "slugs."