New Phases in An Artists Life

The phases consist of areas of concentration that an artist is focusing on. This year I've had two: Movie posters and horse paintings. Both of them are fun and rewarding, and allow me to really grow. The theory goes that in order to excel at a certain genre, you have to paint that particular subject three times. The other is that it requires 10,000 hours to excel. Hey, I'll go with the three paintings. Who has 10,000 hours to do anything?

MOVIE POSTERS

The first one is the movie posters. I started by doing existing movies posters, like the Good The Bad and the Ugly on a two foot by three foot sheet. I searched around on Google images to find the poster that jumped out at me. Believe me, you will know the one that speaks to you when you see it. It has to be an image you want to spend at least 12 hours with, and although I don't like the movie (way to slow and too little dialog), I could look at these guys all day. I also learned pitfalls with going for large subjects. Keep this in mind: you will not have a way to stretch it on a backing. So you want to pick focal points that won't take forever, and a background that you can speed through in order to NOT waterlog your paper. All these are watercolors. If you waterlog a huge piece of paper, your whole thing will be warped and not look good even pinned down by the mat. You may also have limited acccess to an area. I had to do Van Cleef standing up to reach his part of the paper because he was so high up. Here's another trick, use Indian ink for your background. I found that it covers it usually in one application and doesn't warp much. Remember, without a backing, you only have so many times to hit it with the wet brush before the paper goes all accordian on you. Black ink makes that foreground really pop. Cool 3-D effect. I started off masking any area that was going to stay perfectly white, especially the highlights on the hats and the whites of the eyes. Doing three faces back to back, I figured out that you want to go as far as you can with the burnt sienna (reddish brown) as a complete portrait. Then add burnt unber (dark brown) as far as you can go, then erase using the magic eraser where you haven't left enough lightness or white for the highlights, then go back and with the burnt sienna and burnt umber. You don't do the black ink until everything else is done.

I made a boo boo by not leaving a highlight on Van Cleef's hat, which made it look different from the other two (to me anyway.) I taped off the edge with masking tape where I wanted the highlight to show up. Then I scrubbed it with a damp magic eraser. This is the greatest invention ever for a watercolorist, who used to be cursed to live with screw-ups like that for the life of the painting, since I we had was a little lightening of the color with a paper towel. Now we have the best of both worlds, even with staining colors like green! The movie poster "of Human Bondage" was an orginal I made up from a photo of one of the movie scenes. This is even more fun than doing an existing poster, because you get to make it look any way you want. Next I could do favorite book jackets. Whatever grabs me at the moment.

THE HORSE PHASE

The second phase was painting horses. Horses make incredible subjects but require TONS of detail work. This is something you can really get OCD with if you don't finally say "Good enough!" But they really come out looking just like the photograph if you dedicate a good bit of time. Here's what I do: I tape off the horse and rider. This frees me up to get nice and loose on the background. Then I would tape off a fence. What if the photo doesn't have a fence? Well, I find a fence a pretty way to do a background and just about the easiest. Just three strands of tape across the canvass and your have a fence! Do this AFTER you have taped off the horse and rider. It will be your middle ground.

Now you can go a little wild. Lots of great sky, trees in the background, a nice grassy lawn (remember, these are people with money for horses and landscaping) of course your fence needs some pretty shrubs and bushes behind it. Throw in some color. Not overly detailed, though. Your horse and rider are the focal point. Nothing should take the eye away from them at all. So leave out the details and dark shadows. This should take an hour or less. Do not leave the background until it can stand on it's own as a nice fuzzy landscape picture on it's own. Once the tape comes off, you cannot go back to it! If you find you must go back, retape at least the fence. That fence is left white.

Now we move on to the horse and rider once you remove the fence tape. Again, you're going to hang out with these two for about three days, so find a subject you LOVE to look at and won't get tired of. I guess with the horse thing, it's like an alter life I might have had if I could have handled being on a fast horse, and had the money for boarding, food, a horse, and lessons. That didn't happen, so I will do the vicarious thing. I don't doubt I'm a much better painter than I ever would have been a horsewoman.

With the horse, again, start out with the lighter color (either burnt sienna or burnt umber) put down a wash, dab off the highlights, and then add layers upon layers of darker paint. Lift as you go with paper towel if necessary. Then go with the darker color and go as far as you can with that. Then you want almost black. Mix a burnt umber and blue the shade of your sky to get a "black." I do not use Payne's grey. It's kind of a dead color. I do for the top hat and things like that, but that's all. See that tent in the background? Purely taped off. No paint on that except the stripes. Then I went with a double mat of the same white and black. I hadn't paid for framing in some years, but this one was really an exception. Here's my plug for Hobby Lobby: If you buy the frame and have them cut a mat there (you'll have to for these jumbo paintings), Hobby Lobby will frame it for you while you are in the store!

The neat thing is I've been commissioned to do a couple of paintings of family members. This will always be a hobby of course, but it's nice to actually have people think that I'm good enough to paint their family and friends. These frogs are not part of the two phases, but they did win in a rescent art who, and they COULD be a movie poster, don't you think?

Fingerpicking on the Guitar: A More Challenging Hobby

There's a big difference between fingerpicking and strumming. Strumming is easy and you do not need to be able to read music. Fingerpicking generally requires that you be able to read either music in the regular sense or what is called Tabulature. Since I can read sheet music I saw no reason to try to learn Tabulature. I concentrated on learning how to translate the sheet music to the neck of the guitar. It's one thing to be able to play it on the piano, but you have to eventually be able to recognize where the same notes go on the guitar neck. I started by playing songs I already knew on the piano and practicing them on the guitar. This was OK, but the songs I picked (Bach) were difficult and limited what I could learn out of those songs. I finally broke down and bought Hal Leonard's Guitar Method, Complete Edition. This book not only gave me a ton of songs to play around with, it was progressive in terms of learning songs on the first string, then songs on the first and second string, then first, second and third, etc. So you really learned the neck of the guitar. Plus, as the string included particular chords, you learned them, too. Plus variations in strumming and picking. For anybody who wants to learn to read music and become proficient, this book is THE way to go.

I took lessons at Brookhaven and where I saw beginners really hit a wall was when it came to reading music. Just like me with Bach, the class didn't start off with baby steps, like one string of notes at a time. Hal Leonard's Guitar Method, Complete Edition would be a great way to supplement any class, whether it be group or private lessons. I will also say, if someone doesn't have SOME way of learning how to read music, one of three things will probably happen (1) they will give up on fingerpicking before they ever get started because it IS hard to figure out the notes on the scale, or (2) they will memorize a few songs by ear just out of lengthy practice and trial and error, or (3) they will develop their ear and arrange songs on their own (this requires a LOT of natural ability which you either have or you don't). What sold me on this particular book was one of the reviews on Amazon. A professional guitarist in a band had played all his life without being able to read music. He got this book and was now reading and enjoying the ability to pick up all kinds of sheet music and play it for the by sight for the first time in his life. I thought, "If this guy can do it without ever having had a music lesson, so can I."

Eric Scortia is my guitar instructor as well as my piano teacher. We divide up my lessons into 45 minutes of piano, 15 minutes of guitar. The benefit of having a teacher is always the same: If someone is going to listen to you once a week or once every two weeks, you run a much better chance of practicing and learning your goals. I can't stand for Eric to show up and not give him a pretty good show. I hate to sound bad. It's one thing for my boyfriend to hear me sound like crap. Nothing I can do about that. If you are going to learn a new skill, you will always suck in the beginning.

If you really want some motivation, watch some fantastic guitarists doing their thing, or just listen to incredible guitar music. I like a CD of Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood doing a recent live concert together of all their old hits (found at the library). I recently saw this young woman in the late Michael Jackson's movie This is It on guitar and she will blow you away. There are lots of closeups of her playing and I swear she must have started at ten years old to be this good this young! I like to think her career got a boost out of this movie. She can also bend strings like you wouldn't believe. I barely have the strength to press them all the way down. Once again, if this young Greek gal can do it (at least her name was Greek) maybe I can someday get there! I hear people all the time use the excuse that they are too old to learn new stuff (like reading music). First of all, that's totally false. That kind of thinking leads to dementia because you've stopped challenging your brain. Secondly, if you completely give up on learning anything new you will be incredibly bored for the next 20-30-40 years of your life. Reality TV shows and eating out only give you so much bang before your brain goes completely numb. OK, enough philosophicating.

Sculpting Ceramic Roses: Beautify Your Pots Even More

A pot can be made unique and beautiful with stunning glazes, textures, shapes, and what I call "doo dads". Doo dads are things you attach to your pot, like roses, insects, frogs, snakes, angels, and animals. I've stuck everything on pots from elephants and dragonflies, to entire bouquets. My sculpting never involves anything but my hands and the clay. I've tried using cake decorating tools and all I can say is don't waste your money. All I ever got was frustration because the clay is either too wet to hold a shape once it comes out of the cone, or too dry to come through the cone. With a couple of hours of practice, doo dads can be whipped out as long as your clay has the correct level of moisture.

You can also teach children how to make roses, frogs and dragonflies on Play-Doh, polymer clay, or good old clay. Polymer clay doesn't require a kiln, but the downside is it's pricey. I spend less than $8.00 on 20 lbs of stoneware. One pound of polymer clay is $10.00 or more. That's enough to make a small coffee cup. There's actually shops out there that will fire your stoneware projects in a kiln for a fee.

Here's the quick and easy way I make certain doo dads using clay:

ANGEL: Flatten out a slab for the "robe" and form into a cone. Roll a ball for the head (don't make it too big) and attach to the top of the cone. Roll a ball and flatten it for the halo (it will be a little bit bigger than the head so it will stick up above it) and stick it on the back of the head. Roll bigger balls and flatten in your hands to make wings. Make sure they are of equal size. Attach to the back. Add some little arms and praying hands if you like. All attachments are done through "slipping and scoring", which means scoring (using a pin tool or a little knife) the pieces you wish to attach where you want them to touch, applying watered down clay as the glue (or slip) where you want them to touch, and the sticking them together. If you don't "slip and score" the wing or head WILL pop off in the firing.

FIREFLY: Roll out a fat worm for the body. Roll out four more worms, two about the same size as the body, two a little bit smaller. Flatten them between your hands to make two big wings and two smaller wings. Attach the big wings about the middle of the body, and the small wings a little further down using slipping and scoring (see ANGEL instructions.) Roll two small balls for the eyes. Flatten them out just a little bit and attach them to the top of the worm where the head is. You might want to poke some holes into the eyes to make pupils.

FROGS: Roll out a short fat worm for the body. Roll out two more short fat worms for the back legs. Pinch one end of each of the legs and attach them to back side of the frog and pinch them all together into a little butt. Roll two eyes, flatten them a little and attach them to the "head". Then poke two pupils into the eyes (using a pen or whatever you have.)

GRAPES: Roll a buch of little balls and stick them on your pot. Roll out a ball and flatten it in your hand to make a leaf. When I make a leaf, it fold it at the point so that it looks more like a leaf. Attach to the pot and stick a few grapes on top of the leaf where it contacts the pot.

For anybody that wants to make a few bucks on this hobby, doo dads can double or triple what you would normally sell a piece for. For example, I've knocked out round lasagna dish that would normally go for maybe $15. When I stuck a couple of roses on the sides for handles, it went to $50. A $10 coffee cup goes to $20 with a flower on it. Teapots require a ton of work, but you can't always recoup your time...unless your have some doo dads or flowers stuck to it. People pay quite a bit for the decorations that make it a one-of-a-kind. As you can see from the video, it ain't rocket science. And in my case, roses are easier to whip out than two really nice symmetric handles!! All it takes is a little practice. People will also pay quite a bit for a doo dad that speaks to them (e.g. their favorite collectible). Start finding your forte and perfecting it!