Paper paper paper

UThis is a photo of a horrible "drug" for me.
(Note:NOT making light of really awful real drugs.)

Some folks get giddy feeling fabric, others love adding to collections of so many different kinds, many have to get that morning exercise fix.

I LOVE paper.... And Free Paper is the Best!

And free paper is EVERYWHERE!!! This box was at a holiday boutique several years ago.

This paper was from a bunch of greeting card card racks. That was it's purpose. To back and designate types of cards. It came in different sizes and slightly different shapes. It was heavy weight and felt nice to the touch. This was not "scratch paper." I could DRAW on it! Maybe even Wonderful Things.

Oddly, I  held myself to taking about twenty pieces. I wanted to lug the whole box away, while screaming "Free paper!! Free paper!!!  Yay!!!!!" (Todd would NOT have been happy.)

Self control. Yup. Had a little.

Garage-sale season is coming up..........

Did use up a bunch of smaller papers last night during a two-hour life drawing session. Yay, again! The pieces were not "valuable" but they were of different colors and textures. I prepped some by going over portions with graphite or colored pencils. Played with charcoal and erasers. Concentrated on model's head. Used up about six sheets of paper. Shouldn't have worked on both sides of sheets....; then could have used up more.  Oh, well.

Will toss some of the efforts and keep some. Copy notes made while drawing. On other paper.

We shall not speak of Journals and Sketchbooks today.....

Yay, PAPER!!!!!

Grab some, put some marks on it! It'll be Fun!!! Or at least A Life Lesson. Well worth the effort.

Now, back to that Sue Rowe Studios Facebook Page 30 Bear Challenge. It will use up at least ONE more piece of paper - woo hoo! Maybe time for a collage?

Fare-thee-well, on this 19 degree Spring day, with .......snow...... in the forecast.
And, yup, the juncos are still here - sigh,

Sue

Colored Pencil Possibilities

This 30 Bear Challenge came about because I needed bears and I needed 'em FAST. Well, not really fast - but soon.

Materials always at hand? Paper and pencils. Decision time... I love working on black paper. It makes colors vivd just by being.

Cheating? No. Knowledge? Perhaps. And the dancing bruins have been cavorting a bit much lately, so it was time for rest. They, in fact, would take a back seat, so to speak, in this piece. This was a time for Negative Space to shine!

Because I'm seldom smart enough (or too lazy) to do thumbnail sketches of possible compositions, I just grab a pencil and hope that an idea will come. Leaping into the dark end of the paper... Scribble scribble - come on bears. The composition begins on left and proceeds - bear by bear. No thinking - just shapes. It's an odd sized sheet - 7 1/2" x 13." I like working on long and narrow - in fact the very first original bear sketch I did was a group of bears drawn with graphite pencil on a long and narrow sheet of white paper. Remind me to post them someday?!?). O.K. - five bears will fit just fine.

At this point I don't care about perspective - just filling space with shapes. Truncated triangles with ears.   That's accomplished. Bring on that COLOR!! Go for The Glow! Starting again from the left side I simply grabbed colors that appear and I know should Pop. And with Spring and Easter eggs in mind - well - you can see where we're going. For a while I debated bringing range of bear shapes out into whole space, but that seemed safe and boring. Just MY thought. So on to the Fun of arbitrarily choosing and using those lovely Prismacolor tones. for some spaces I did choose  specific colors, but mostly, if a pencil yelled "I'm Spring!" it was in. Did erase a few bear lines, and each bear is mostly a solid color - deep green, indigo blue, dark red, etc. But the "atmosphere" was where the challenge continued. Some portions are a single color; others, three or four layers.

More choices/decisions?  Using ivory, white, or other bright colors to outline areas. Though often using  blended shapes I admit to being a frequent  outliner... Scribble scribble, blend blend. Final decision - float bear on right in color. why? Just because.

This piece might be a study for more "important" work later on, but for now it stands (sits?) on it's own as a new way for me to work.

Go for the glow!!

Check out my Sue Rowe Studios Facebook Page for previous 30 Bear Challenges? And maybe words or images to inspire your day? Happy Dreary Rainy Grey Spring Day here! This color is about as bright as today is going to get!

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

Another Start - Another Finish

May is here, and green is happening. No leaves on trees yet, but where is are buds there is hope...

Where there are boring paintings there might be hope.

Hunting through some stacks I came across this semi-finished acrylic painting done on an 18" x 24" canvas. I don't do much work on canvas, and this piece was O.K., but not good enough. Plus, I needed a challenge to finish off my Sue Rowe Studios Facebook Page "30 Bear Challenge." Bye bye, Bear...

Out came the sand-paper. Off came the paint.

On to seeing who next will show up. Time to PLAY WITH MORE COLOR. I have nothing to lose. And after a few days, paint tubes, brushes and fingers (and consultations with daughter and husband) this is who appeared:

His name is Mr. Smirker. Folks seem to like him. He feels at home on his canvas, and is waiting patiently for varnish and frame. I'm glad to have given the canvas a second chance, and I hope that this guy will liven up an art fair or gallery.

Give something or someone in your home or studio that second chance? Mr. Smirker would say "Yes!"

Shepard's Harvest/Llama Magic is coming up Mother's Day weekend, at the Washington County Fairground, outside Lake Elmo, MN. Admission is free. Come see all the wonderful fiber work, demonstrations, and  wide variety of animals - of which many will be the fluffy or shown llamas and alpacas. We will have a booth in the Llama Magic barn. Come by and say "hi!"

Spring does seem to be actually coming. Our baby tomato, basil, and marigold plants are very excited!

On to the next "30" Challenge. And Spring.....

Fare-thee-well,

Sue

Yet Another Start

ABeen away, now we're back. No excuses. On to the the day.

A recent bear from my 30 Bear Challenge on Facebook. Scraps of soft pastel on scrap of velour matboard. Finished image would mat to 7" x 5."

Progressions: 1)

No thoughts except "bear" and "highlights," and "fit image to mat." This is a scary time. But one must keep going.

2) Keep going. Keep going.

I have large hands. Fingers don't like working with bits, chips, and small pieces of pastel. "Tough," I tell them, "It's our mission to use these tiny colors to possibly create some new beauty." "We NEED more BEAUTY," I tell fingers. (This is a lie. I simply want to use up more bits of pastel.) Time to break out of the blue and see what happens. Come on, little pastels, you can do it!

3) A bruin is appearing. I want it to be Joyful. Lift those arms skyward! Pick up those feet! Fingers, grab that lovely intense light blue! And more yellow! Make tentative marks within the bold ones! (Sadly, I'm quite good at making tentative marks. Be brave enough to go for Bold!)

"Why is that line of bright green dots there?," you ask. For Fun! And perhaps - a bit a Stability.  And a wish for Spring in this white white Upper Midwest. And because I love that color.

4) Keep making marks, keep making decisions. Blend some parts. Keep other spots untouched. This is the time of Tiny Miracles. Don't go too fast. (I almost always go too fast.) Let the image form. More decisions. More marks. Good thing that pastel on velour mat-board is quite forgiving and one can re-work areas deemed in need of such. (Recalling pen-and-ink horrors... I shall not elaborate...)

At this point I have no "good" reasons for placing colors, other then feel for composition and an unbalanced balance. Six colors used so far. Is that enough? For this piece, probably. But one must keep options open. It's fun to work with abstract shapes after most often drawing blue "lakes" and green "trees." It's scary to dare to play. But fun to have fun. This bear is making me happy. This piece might be a 'successful" piece. I try not to care. I'm one who likes succeeding, darn it. But the end seems to be near - that's a whole other problem....

5) I keep fitting the matting over the image. Choosing the final cropping. At this size an eighth of an inch can make a big difference. And I know that the finished piece will be used in cards and a variety of reproductions. An 10 x 8 reproduction crop differently than a 6 x 4 image for a greeting card. Now we're starting to leave the Fun and return to Business. Sigh. Keep adding high-lights! Stay with the Joy!  You can do it. You can do it! A few more marks, a couple more blends. One more look overall. And, ta da!, let's consider this bruin done. 

Now it's time to relax and enjoy the results. This piece came quite easily - whatever THAT means. One is not often so lucky. And there are so many small bits of pastel left...

But we'll leave them for another day.

Hoping this piece inspires YOU to pick up something and make your own marks. 

Time to get back to transplanting zinnias and tomatoes and starting to plant the beloved Sweet Basil.

Fare-thee-well,

Sue