February Challenge for Valentine's Day: Love

The challenge for this month is to use the word "Love" in whatever decorative way we choose.

* * * * *

 

 Carmen's Entry:

I decided that in these strange and dangerous times that I would put a message in my "Love."

carmen beecher.com

* * * * *

Kathy's Entries

I had my sketchbook handy during a slow time at the Robot Love exhibit and doodled a few ideas and have just been using those to play around with different media. But, more importantly, to force myself to use my new laptop and all the newest versions of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Just a few ideas for our challenge...

First one I tried watercolor with Elegant Writer Pen

Second try with Micron Pen and Markers

Third try with my CS6 Adobe Illustrator (it's going to be hard to give it up!)

Fourth try, channeling Peter Max in the newest CC version of Illustrator
playing with it's new gradient options.

******

Jean's Idea

Tried my hand at Procreate. This was fun to play with the pen tool?

Hug the one you love!

Journaling the Quarantine

Since I have been remiss in my journaling lately, I decided to catch up. There's not much to say since we have self-quarantined since March. Click on the picture to see it better.

I did finally make some successful masks, and since we have never had this much time to work in the yard, it's looking really good now.

Carmen

Sketchbook Project at the Brooklyn Art Library by Carmen Beecher

I am participating in the Sketchbook Project, a challenge by the Brooklyn Art Library to fill a sketchbook by August 15 using one of their suggested themes. Limericks were one suggestion, which is right up my alley. My book is called "My Life in Limericks," and I am writing and sketching about all the places I've lived. I have lived in a lot of places. Here is a bit of my book.

I have come to the realization that art is not all about making money. I am enjoying this project so much, and I hope my enthusiasm continues at this level for all 29 pages. This is a sentimental journey.

Carmen

Challenge for December: Do a Painting Using Only 50 Strokes

Carmen: This challenge is really challenging! A painting done using only 50 strokes. What a great exercise this is for making us simplify.

When I got to the last stroke my hand was itching to do just a couple more details, but I resisted.

Carmen Beecher

 "50 Strokes of Chicken"

 www.carmenbeecher.com

www.carmensart.etsy.com

www.carmenbeecher.blogspot.com

******

Donna:  50 strokes, no problem...after the 4th try of 4 different subjects  I finally had something!!

There are lessons to be learned here but let's just say pick something simple, a stoke is a stroke be it long or a dab, roundish strokes somehow cover more. You will notice the original photo is upside down by this time I had learned that 50 strokes is not a lot, the pear would have to stand alone.

A pear in 50 strokes

donnavinesart.etsy.com
donnavinesart.blogspot.com

***************

Kathy: I kept trying with this challenge. I never managed to produce something I liked well enough to leave alone after only 50 strokes. Of all my attempts (3 different birds and a butterfly), this was my best and it kept the closest to 50 strokes.

Left: 20 strokes, Middle: 33 Strokes, Right: 50 Strokes

 I was supposed to stop there!

I had to finish this little chickadee and did not count how many strokes that took! 

******

Fay: Above is a photograph of a great white egret in flight. It was taken by my late friend, Tom B. Sanders, and is used as the cover for a book of his photographs of  birds along with the poems of his wife, Bonny B. Sanders. I recently helped Bonny format and edit this book. I was so taken by this image, I decided to use it for my challenge, seen below.

This challenge does not meet the requirements of 50 strokes (or pieces of paper), but it comes close. There are 47 wing feathers, 6 additional pieces of paper for the head, shoulders, shadows on the wing span and legs. I added one outline of the eye in black, filled it in with yellow and surrounded it with the typical green found around the Great White's eyes. It took 2 strokes to make the black feet. If I have counted correctly, I am still under 60. I should have made fewer feathers. No going back now.

Fay Picardi

********************

Denette: Above is my fifty strokes although was more sixty strokes. It was interesting but not my cup of tea. 

Glad I tried it and learned a lot. Denette Schweikert. 

denette.net 

*************************

Carol: I am an oil painter....in a slump!  However, I am away from home for 3 months.  In the interest of saving space, I left my oils at home and brought a collection of watercolor, pastels, and alcohol inks.  I wanted to stretch myself, and maybe ignite a new interest in my art.

This is a watercolor, and oil pastel painting.  My reference photo had many, many more trees, but I could not add them in under 50 strokes.

This is a second try; a scene from Sanibel Island.

I will try this again.

www.CarolASchiff.com

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com

***********

Mary: After several really bad tries, I used one color, alizarin crimson, and two brushes, a one-inch flat to begin and a number 10 round to finish.  Fifty strokes exactly.  Not the most interesting painting, but better than the first attempts.  It was fun to try, and just being with the Pieces is always fun!

Mary Warnick

***************

August Challenge, Leaves

Our challenge for August is simply "Leaves."

*****

Carmen Beecher

Golden Ginko Leaves

I've been experimenting with gold leaf and I love the shape of Ginko leaves, so it was a good time to make golden leaves for our challenge. This is metallic gold leaf on black canvas, 12x12 inches.

carmenbeecher.com

carmenbeecher.blogspot.com

carmensart.etsy.com

* * * * *

Kathy Garvey

Leaves are one of my favorite subjects. For this month's challenge, I went through my sketchbook and decided to paint some Blood-root leaves found on one of my walks in the mountains of Kentucky.  Started playing with the idea and composition around ten in the morning and worked on it while my new kitchen was being installed. 

Sketch, composition, watercolor start.

Lots of banging and clunking going on in the kitchen. I couldn't do anything else, so I stuck with it until 5 pm. The finished 9x12 watercolor is below. (The banging and clunking is still going on!)

Blood-root Leaves
9x12 Watercolor on 140 lb Cold Press Arches Paper

And then, my kitchen still not done two weeks later, I looked for something to paint on this circular heavily textured watercolor paper traded with another artist in Kentucky. I found a leaf from my friend's yard that looked like it would work. (And while it looks like Marijuana, it's a Coral Tree leaf.) The paper is unusual to watercolor on. The water seems to sit on top as you work, but then sinks in and almost disappears into the paper.  Below is the progress.

And here is the final - after four to seven layers of paint in most areas. (Click on an image to enlarge.)

Coral Leaf
Watercolor on 12" Round Textured Paper

etsy.com/shop/snailflower

spoonflower.com/profiles/kgarvey

* * * * *

Cindy Michaud

Eco-printing is a way to use leaves to make a direct print on fabric or paper. Naturally this phenomenon (just google it) grabbed my attention and I was all in! To make the magic happen one must first “mordant” the paper or fabric which means dipping or soaking it in a solution which prepares the material to receive (permanently) the color being transferred. I have experimented with both fabric and paper. In short, one layers the leaves in stacks, applies pressure to hold a stack tightly and steams the bundle for several hours.  Let cool and unwrap to reveal the print.

Here are some of my papers right out of the pot! It’s always fascinating to see what works and sadly, what doesn’t.  (Notice my leaf mug? Another way to use them best left to potters!) 

 Here are some “rejects” on fabric getting a new life as a wall hanging to be.

Here is a sample of a perfect print! I make these into a variety of cards with hand sewn paper inserts to write on.  Coupled with an envelope they are sold almost as fast as I can produce them.

I’m collecting leaves now of some of my tried and true varieties. As fall comes and the leaves disappear I will be happily steaming up prints and crafting new ways to use them.

Cindy Michaud 

 

art@cindymichaud.com,  www.cindymichaud.com
 

* * * * *

  
This has been a crazy month.  I have been away for most of it and now I am lucky enough to have my grandson James with me.  I have not gotten my paints out yet or my easel set up but wanted to get started on this months challenge.  James helped me using watercolor pencils and watercolors.  He picked most of the colors and was a great help in the critique department.  So here is an attempt by a happily tired lady with some help from an energetic young man to rise to this months challenge. This is what leaves would look like in our world.  p.s. we did a lot before the lure of the video games became too much.

making progress

James has a good color sense

Leaves

Donna Vines


***********

That I am a pack rat  is a well established fact. Therefore, this tear-out from a 1997 copy of Country Living should be no surprise to anyone who knows me. Yes, I have been waiting that long to do something with the info in it. We are awaiting Hurricane Dorian, so it is a pleasure to escape into the memories of crisp and colorful falls.

 

Dogwood is my favorite tree. The dogwood is one of the first to change colors and is such a deep velvet red that I remember it still as vividly as one recalls those most special moments in life. Maples have the most brilliant of foliage, at least in Virginia. And they are also early to turn many different shades of gold and orange and cadmium red. The good ole oak is just plain dependable and strong.

                                          Below I have tried to do water colors of the maple and the oak. I promised myself I would do it at one of  our weekly gatherings and not go back to it. Well, the outcome is not what I envisioned. I probably should have started over and tried to get more variety and contrast. Next time.





Fay Picardi

June Challenge, Black and White Art

The challenge for June was to do a piece in black and white.

* * * * *

Donna: When I heard Black and White my mind immediately thought "collage".   Hmm... black and white, penguins, tuxedos, pianos, people, words, photos???   No, songbirds, musical notes, sheet music and of course polka dots.

Song Bird 8x10 collage

Donnavinesart.Etsy.com

Donnavinesart.blogspot.com

* * * * *

Carmen: I love roots and the patterns they make. I was just in the Smoky Mountains and saw these beautiful roots spreading across a ledge. This challenge gave me an excuse to draw them in pen and ink.

Carmen Beecher

https://www.etsy.com/shop/carmensart

https://carmenbeecher.com/ 

Then I decided to do a black-and-white oil painting, so I chose a subject that had little color to begin with, Ruby Beach on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. This is a tiny 5x7 painting.

Carmen Beecher

https://www.etsy.com/shop/carmensart

https://carmenbeecher.com/  

*********************

Carol:  For this challenge, I chose three small paintings, done in black and white on a red support.  I allowed small amounts of the red to show through, which I believe, gives an interesting warmth to the paintings.

These paintings were all done from photographs of flapper movie stars.

Carol Schiff

www.CarolASchiff.com

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com

***************

Fay: Several years ago, a distant cousin sent me this picture of the old Dressler family homestead. My great, great, great grandfather, Thomas Wilson Richardson, married Margaret Dressler in this house in 1860. My great, great grandfather was born here. I was inspired.

I started drawing the cabin free hand. REALLY free hand.

I decided it wasn't dark enough, so I darkened it up a little and added some sparse trees.

The final sketch below is a try at graphite transfer. I wish I had known about this technique BEFORE I spent hours trying get the cabin above in proper prospective. This discovery may have change my whole approach to art!

Fay Picardi

*****************

Kathy: Below is my response to the challenge. I love drawing with Micron Pens on good watercolor paper. This drawing was inspired by a leaf found in a cluster of similar leaves in an open field. I was on a one month artist's vacation in a beautiful cabin at the Furnace Mountain Zen Center in Kentucky. Surrounded by woods, I got to hike, paint and draw every day. I thought the leaf was just a beautiful dandelion leaf. There was no stalk or flower. But later I checked online and through several field guides, and it is most likely a young leaf from a milk or bull thistle.

Kathy Garvey

etsy.com/shop/snailflower

spoonflower.com/profiles/kgarvey


•••••••••••••••••
Jean: I love black and white. My sketchbooks are full of ink/Pitt pen drawings. Black and white forces you to simplify to achieve tonal variation. The drawing below is of my son Chris, underwater. He loved swimming. I found an old snapshot of him from one of those throwaway, underwater cameras. So I sketched him!

Jeanie Thomas
ozworks22@cfl.rr.com