Welcome to this wandering tour of blogs by artists, writers, musicians, painters, photographers, and more.

Thanks to Bobbie Dacus for inviting me to the hop! If you don’t already know her, check out her blog, Artsyteapot, to see some fun and colorful illustration work! Bobbie Dacus is the illustrator of Saving Emma, which is a charming historical fictional tale set in Alexandria, VA in the 1700’s.  Designing and illustrating fashion comic books for teenage girls was Bobbie’s favorite pastime at age 12. Her love of drawing led her to study graphic design at University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi University for Women and she received her BFA at Arizona State University. Bobbie has worked in the field of Visual Merchandising utilizing her creativity in window display and winning numerous awards. She also worked in advertising corporate graphic design, freelance design, medical graphics and art instruction. It was after Bobbie’s children, were born that she was drawn to children’s book illustration. With bright colors dominating her palette, she creates her illustrations in acrylics, oil pastels, oil alkyds and frequently combines digital painting with traditional.

This blog hop poses the same questions to all participants…so here goes!

What am I currently working on? Watercolors! Watercolor is my latest obsession and I seem to be working all the time to develop greater facility with this mercurial medium. I’ve always used watercolor for backgrounds or as a base for pastels or colored pencils, but had never attempted making work that was watercolor from start to finish. I’m finally beginning to make some pieces that I’m happy with, and am excited to see what develops from here.

In my illustration work, I’ve discovered a way that digital can work for me – it’s a digi drawing/watercolor/collage mashup. This piece with Pete the sheep is a good example.

How does my work differ from others in its genre? With the illustration work, I think it’s the lack of the slick finish that is very popular. My work  features an obvious hand-drawn quality and often textures play a big part in establishing the mood. The watercolor backgrounds are instrumental in creating that texture – no wonder I’m excited about working with them more.

Why do I create what I do? Because of chance, to be honest. I have often said that “MAKE SOMETHING” is my prime directive, and that SOMETHING could really have been anything. A garden, a ceramic bowl, a stained glass window, a piece of furniture…any of those would result in an actual physical outcome and would be satisfying to make. It’s really only because of the options available to me when growing up that I ended up as an artist. Had shop class been offered to girls when I was in school, I might have decided that woodworking or welding was the thing for me.

How does my creative process work? There are two different flows here, and this is what really separates my illustration work from what is called fine art. When producing illustrations, my role is to further and enhance the story. That starts with getting into the right mood, one that matches the story, and developing characters that are at home in that mood. Then comes making rough layouts of compositions that express the feelings of the character in the different parts of the story. Finally, the characters are called onstage into the compositions, and actual rendering of the artwork can begin.

In my paintings, there’s no story. Sometimes a human presence or action is suggested, or there may be an identifiable light source or atmosphere, but the artwork is meant to be contemplative, both for me as the maker and for the viewer, too. Stillness is a feeling that is a part of my artwork, no matter the form or medium.

And now to introduce the next generation for the blog hop. I’ve invited a writer and a photographer.

First, my friend Candace. I love mysteries, and am looking forward to seeing what she does with the genre!

Candace Williams lives with her husband and beloved rescued Iggys (Italian Greyhounds) in Texas. Her first novel, The Earthquake Doll, was inspired by her early experiences in post-war Japan while her father was serving in the Korean Conflict. She is hard at work on her next book, a contemporary mystery.

You can learn more about her fascinating debut novel on her website.

The second new participant is my husband, David.

I tore that beautiful watercolor sheet into quarters so I have the wherewithal to make 4 of these cairn studies. Here’s number two. I continue to visualize these in watercolor or graphite because of the dry look, but want to try one in oils just to see what happens.

A painter buddy recently gifted me with a sheet of beautiful 300 lb. paper. I’ve been reluctant to try the really good stuff like this because I’m so new to watercolor and have been afraid of wasting it.

I’ve also been wanting to start a series of cairn pictures, and the new paper got me going on that, too. Thanks again, Ron!!

Three of my figure studies have been accepted into a group show! I’m happy to be showing again; it has been a very long time. Now to flex those framing muscles that have also gotten a little flabby.

What we have here are two conte drawings and one oil sketch.

Today’s thrilling adventure.

This is the piece I’ll take to Austin instead of the rooster. Yes, it’s a sheep doing a rooster’s job, getting it wrong. The task was to do a spread from an assigned manuscript, leaving room for text.

I may tweak it a bit more, but this is pretty close.

Just to keep the digital record complete, here is the final version. Very close to the one previously posted.

I’ll be going to the SCBWI conference in Austin in a few weeks. There’s an assignment for the illustrator session that involves a story with a rooster character. I did Chanticleer, here, on spec a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I can’t make him fit the assignment, so there will be another rooster in my future. Or maybe a sheep. There’s a sheep character in the story, too.

In September I took a trip to Iceland with a group of photographers with the idea that I would do some plein air watercolors. It was a wonderful trip! However, too much was new to me then and I didn’t produce much on location. But working with my snapshots, I’m finally starting to do the paintings I wanted to be making at the time.

Stark and minimal pretty much sums it up.

There’s actually a photographer in this one.

Last post of 2013. In the old style, but appropriate for the occasion.

Are the bunnies seeing the sun go down on the old year or rise in the new? All the best to you!

Hohodoodah doodle.

HoHoDooDa for the swans a-swimming. Looks like it’s cold in swan land.

I bet the true love in the song was glad when the lover ran out of birds.

HoHoDooDa #9, I think.

This was my card this year and I’m posting it to try to get caught up with the DooDas! I wish everyone joy and peace during the holiday season and throughout the coming year.

I haven’t made it to my Friday figure session in a month or so, and I’ve missed it. Last night was my last opportunity to work from a model until the new year, so it will be several weeks before I get another chance. When I do, I think I need to focus on drawing rather than painting, at least for a little while.

Back to the HoHoDooDa next time…Good thing our fearless leader left the requirements for participation loose!

I reserve the right to make a post without a pun at any time. This is Hohodooda #8, I think.

I cropped this image to make it appropriate for a blog that aims for an audience interested in kid lit, so you can’t see the tattoo. I’ll leave it to you to imagine where she has her squid hid.

…And here are a few of the finished goats, just in case someone is looking at this blog thinking, “Well, she seems okay, but can she draw goats?”

goat the first, who is sure of his superiority

The third goat, bright and informed.

goat 5, Mr. Know-It-All

A while ago I promised my cousin a few goats for a newspaper he edits and publishes. Goats are fun to draw, and there are so many expressive opportunities with their ears. Warmups are now done – time to proceed to the drawing board and finish a few.

Looks like there are a couple of Lamb Chop wannabes in there…and maybe Bambi’s mother. Gotta be careful!

It must have been the first modelling gig for this very young woman. I guess she must have been around 17. Her dad has posed for us before, and came along with her, which was good of him. Sitting still for three hours was challenging for her, though, so I ended up doing a head study instead of a full figure. Too bad, because she was wearing a crazy tutu that it would have been fun to paint.

2013.08.16

And check me out – I painted a mission. This is the La Bahia presidio in Goliad. I’ve been working on developing some watercolor facility, and am slowly getting there.

2013.08.16a
about 8×10
watercolor

2013.08.10
about 15x 12, oil on paper

Back at the easel again.

After two weeks visiting family, I was back at the Friday night figure session yesterday.

I am not involved with posing or wardrobing the model, and that’s the way I like it. It’s more fun to be surprised and then work with whatever you’re given; that’s a better creative stretch.

The setup last night featured lots of red – red in the border of the sari, and a fiery red drape over the chair and stand. Pinky-red flesh, too. I toned it down quite a bit since I was thinking of a Whistleresque/Japonisme type color scheme, more celadon and peach.

Several people asked whether this was a watercolor. It’s oil, but it is applied pretty thinly, and they could have been fooled because it was done on gessoed watercolor paper. My watercolor practice goes on…but it’s not ready for public viewing yet.

There was joy in the studio earlier this year when I finally found a figure drawing/painting group to join. Since then, almost all of my Friday nights have been spent in happy meditation on the human figure. This oil sketch is from the last session.

This model’s look really put me in mind of John Steuart Curry‘s vision of John Brown in his painting Tragic Prelude:

But my view did not include a frenzied glare. I rendered him so he could have been a worker hero in a Steinbeck novel instead. I could see him working in Cannery Row. Which at least brings this blog post back to books, even if it isn’t a picture book.

While I’m working on writing my own vehicle – a slow, slow process for me – I’ve been having fun working on my craft in some time-honored ways. This is the display wall in the studio, now filled with figure studies and landscapes. I’m also working on learning a new medium, watercolor, and the learning curve is steep!

busy, busy, busy!

On the picture book front, there are always way too many ideas, and it’s hard to choose between them. But I’ve settled on one, and the illustrations are forming in my mind as I write it out. This is a good thing, since it’s always easier to work when you can visualize the final product. The characters are the ones that appeared in the previous post, but they are going through some transformations as I continue to think about them.

The very first iteration of a couple of characters. You have to start somewhere, don’t you?

They do go together in the same story.

Buds are swelling and the birdies are singing REALLY LOUD. Here’s a little landscape in celebration of spring and the onset of pleasant plein air painting weather. This year aside from illustrations I am working on alla prima painting technique. This one is more like alla secunda, but everyone has to start somewhere, right? Those of you in central Texas might recognize a nook of Ink’s Lake.

Doing a little follow-up with contacts made in Austin and some people on the mailing list that prefer e-mail to getting postcards. I’m tactile-y inclined and would almost always prefer a real card. Not very green of me, is it?

This little composite is an appetizer and if the recipient’s appetite is piqued, the website smorgasbord is ready to satisfy!

Feedback on my image selection is welcome – what do you think? I want to show some characters and a little whimsy.

It’s good to get out and see things!

Last weekend fellow illustrator Bobbie Dacus and I went down to Austin for the SCBWI chapter’s annual conference. Austinites, you put on a good one. Star painter attraction was the great E. B. Lewis, who was inspirational and incredibly generous with his time.

Day two included a watercolor demo which made me want to give that medium a try! I’ve never pursued it because nothing puts you on the spot like watercolor. Decisions have to be made so quickly, there is no wiping off mistakes, and the least bit of overwork destroys the work.

Some photos of the demonstration…

getting started

Here the photo reference material has been selected, and E.B. is mixing some grays to begin. There will be several studies done on this sheet.

laying in darks for a high-contrast study

The first one is a high-contrast landscape. The general shape has been painted with particular attention paid to the quality of the edges. Warm and cool nuances are dropped into the still-wet paint.

starting study number 2

The second study is a forest scene with dramatic lighting. Drama is a key factor E.B. looks for when selecting reference for painting. This study begins with a wash of the general color of the light, leaving holes for the brightest whites in the painting. Darker areas are indicated by dropping in more paint, always keeping temperature in mind.

Check out the palette. That’s a big, generous puddle of color he’s working with.

about half finished

This was the state of things at the lunch break. The third study has also been started, and you can barely see the pencil indication of where a figure will be standing in the dunes. The photo reference for this one was very atmospheric.

E.B. says to stop 15 minutes before you’re finished.

Finished. The tape defining the edges has been removed. Texture and interest was added to the first image by working the paint with the edge of a credit card. The dark trunks of the trees were added to the forest scene. A sprinkling of salt into the wet paint simulated dappled sunlight, and subsequent layers of paint worked around the dappled pattern. Some dark values have been introduced to the third piece and the figure has been defined.

You can see a splotch under the third study that came from a preliminary demonstration on mixing grays. The way it ended up under one of the studies was unplanned, but ended up being one of those happy accidents. E.B. had an interesting thing to say about working digitally – that everything has to be planned on the computer, leaving no room for divine intervention or the accidental.

finished.

Right side up. These photos were taken on my phone, so unfortunately they weren’t as sharp as I’d like.

Great experience! Gotta go now…gotta paint!