Pop Goes the Artist!

This is the portrait of my boyfriend I was having such trouble with the other day. For whatever reason, things came together a bit after that rant, and against all odds, it actually looks like him. It’s not perfect–the skin tones need an adjustment and the chin is a little too rounded–but considering that my initial sketch resembled no one so much as former Bill Clinton, I’m satisfied. It’s not the first time I’ve painted James, although this effort was considerably less ambitious–only 9×12″ on canvas board. I did it for fun/practice and so I’ll have another portrait to put out in my upcoming display at the library. My next painting will tentatively be a similar portrait of my brother. I’m not sure.

For the moment, however, I’ve set aside my paintbrushes and picked up a pencil for the first time since I’ve been home for the summer. The other day I was fooling around with my camera taking pictures of myself and I came away with a few interesting shots. I uber-cropped one of them, blew it up a bit, and am now working on a 3.5×8″ drawing of my eyes. It’s going ok so far, but it’s a little intimidating, since it doesn’t have lines so much as it has areas of value, plus it’s a little larger than life-size. We’ll see how it turns out.

First, a cute little art timewaster from one of the non-art blogs I read, WardWideWeb: now everyone can be Jackson Pollack!  It’s a fun way to spend a few minutes, although I can say from experience that it’s a lot more fun with real paint.  (We spent a fun day in art class junior year recklessly squirting cheap craft acrylics all over cardstock and declaring ourselves geniuses.)

And now a vent: I’m working on a small portrait of my boyfriend (similar in size and style to the one I did of Lisa awhile back) and it is giving me fits.  First, I had a terrible time pinning down his likeness in the sketch (although I had almost no trouble in his Christmas portrait).  I can’t shake the feeling that the sketch makes him look like Bill Clinton, which is not quite what I’m going for.  I’m still not convinced I have it down, but perhaps it’ll turn out better in paint, with more modeling.  If not, well, canvas board is cheap.  But it’s extremely frustrating.  Now that I’m actually painting it, it seems to be an uphill battle to get my mixes right.  I’m using the same colors I always use, the same combinations, so I have no idea why I can’t seem to get the values right at all.  The skin tones, the hair, even the stupid shirt, are all taking multiple tries, multiple coats, and far more frustration than is usual for me.  It’s like I’ve lost all ability to judge values.

I thought I do this because it’s fun?

Two quick links to share, both courtesy of WetCanvas’s brand-spanking new calligraphy forum.

First, Arteilluminandi, the website of (I assume) a Spanish artist.  He has some really amazing calligraphy and illumination in flawless medieval and Renaissance style.  If I didn’t know it was modern, I would assume it was six hundred years old.  Caveat: the site claims to have an English section, but it doesn’t seem to be working right now, so if you click on “Espanol” and then “Exposicion” along the top, you’ll get to the image galleries.  They really are phenomenal.

Second, the winners of the 2006 Graceful Envelope Contest, sponsored by the Washington Calligraphers Guild.  Click on any of the names on the list and you’ll see their entry.  All of them are excellent syntheses (sp?) of letters and images.  It’s absolutely worth clicking through every single name, as I did.  Very creative stuff.

I’m not sure if I’m inspired to do more calligraphy or embarrassed because mine just doesn’t hold a candle.  Funny double effect.  Either way, I’m bookmarking both pages for future inspiration.

Normally I don’t read the Sunday Non Sequitur (I prefer his one-panel zingers) but for whatever reason, last Sunday’s caught my eye.  It’s always interesting to see other artists’ takes on the creative process and this one is dead on.

A few years ago, I wrote fiction pretty prolifically.  I haven’t in quite some time, but my greatest fear was always that someday I would run out of ideas–the fear that somehow, I’d finally write down everything that was swimming around in my head and my muse would say “That’s enough.  You’ve finished.  You’ve used your share.”  The same fear strikes me occasionally in art as well, although with less frequency, since I know that as long as there is a world around me (and as long as I can see), I’ll have things to paint and draw.  Furthermore, experience in both writing and art has taught me that ideas are a whole lot like rabbits: they reproduce endlessly.  One idea leads to another leads to another, endlessly.  (Which leads to the more realistic flip side of the no-more-ideas fear: more ideas than I can possibly give form to in my lifetime.  No matter how long I live, I will never be able to paint everything that’s in my head.  That fear is almost as crippling as its opposite sometimes.)  Most ideas I jot down, sketch a few thumbnails, and never go back to again.  Some ideas just aren’t as fun or attractive with a few days (or weeks) of perspective on them.  I have a file of reference photos on my computer labeled “to do.”  Some of them I’ll never get to, but most inspire me strongly.

That’s one way, I think, of balancing the need for self-discipline and a steady work ethic with the desire to “wait for the muse.”  Having a wide variety of project ideas “on file” means that, at least for the next few months, I don’t have to worry about running dry, but it also allows me to always (or almost always) be working on something that I’m really enthusiastic about.