A different kind of art

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I have been working on my colored pencil drawing of a toad looking into a three-way mirror for almost two months now and am very excited to finish. It’s a delicate balance between hurrying and concentrating at this point. This is what my drawing board looks like; 3/4 of the way done:

There is a lot to be done with it, but the colors are really beginning to come together, at least on the main toad. I should be working on it now, but I am becoming overwhelmed by a different kind of art. National Novel Writing Month is November, which is coming up super fast. Something about the fall makes me need to write; it may be the memory of  high school. I did more writing in class than listening, taking tests, and daydreaming about David Duchovny combined. The dead leaves and early sunset just beg for an all-nighter just between me and Word.

As a person with a real  job, a kid, a house, and a desire to do art, I have little time or motivation for writing much at all anymore. “NaNo” brings millions of terrible writers together to pen their  50,000 word novel in a month’s time and share in the glory (or horror) of putting pen to paper. Last year I decided to try it for the first time.

I “won” last year with a “novel” about snake people. I liked the story, but realized after finishing I need to work on it A LOT. Writing is so unlike colored pencil drawing in that nothing is set in stone. You can always erase words; ten layers of Prismacolor not so much. Of course, my last year’s novel still needs serious help and I didn’t get very far in the revision process. It is the third “novel” I have a first draft of, and so I feel that maybe all of this is a waste. My instincts will not rest, however. The minute autumn arrives my body and brain NEED to write. So here we are. I am planning on a brand new “novel” stemming from an idea I had on a road trip in September 2008 about being on maternity leave with the devil. Drawing will no doubt fall by the wayside as I squeeze in 1000+ words of writing each day for 30 days. Join me!

Colored Pencil on Wood

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At the LoLa art crawl, my husband asked me if I ever considered drawing on a wooden panel. I thought that was a wonderful idea and wanted to go to Home Depot and buy myself a nice piece of plywood right away. I quickly decided that that was too much work and visited Dick Blick online.

Of course Blick has birch panels, cradled and ready to go in different depths. The American Easel wood panels seemed to have the promise of a bit more tooth than prepared panels like claybord and similar panels. I ordered a 12×16″American Easel panel to use for my next drawing of a toad still life  and a 5×7″ panel to test my techniques on.

The boards came in and I could tell right away they were well made. Where I work, we get a lot of art on panels; they seem to be really “in” right now. I decided to try a loose landscape on the 5×7. That way I would know if they have enough gumption to hold all of the layers I like and I wouldn’t ruin the larger panel.

Here’s what I  came up with. It isn’t a great photo, but it shows that there is potential here. I used my phone, so the photo is missing detail especially in the grass. There are a lot of darks and midtones missing.  (Man, I need real Photoshop at home!)

The wood does not take the layers that my favorite substrate for colored pencil – Stonehenge paper – does, but there are possibilities mixing watercolor pencils with regular colored pencil on the wood surface. I used some Derwent Inktense with water in the sky and fields and they work very well to put pigment into the wood surface. Prismacolor and Caran D’Ache Luminacne go over the Inktense after they have dried. I found that the coverage differs among pencils in the brands I have. For example, Prismacolor white did not want to go on other layers, but their Artstix did great. Luminance in general worked OK, but the turquoise blue rocked. I need to do more experimenting, so I went ahead and bought three more 8×10″ American Easel wood panels at my local Blick’s. I don’t think these will take the OCD detail of my toad pieces, so I was thinking about either mounting Stonehenge to them or just going a bit more abstract. Either way, I like these panels and I hope to do some good experiments with them.

 

 

 

 

 

Why toads?

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I had a very good experience at the LoLa Art Crawl this past weekend. I was at Glacier’s Cafe on Minnehaha across from the Hub. We had great weather, good traffic, and really good frozen custard and sandwiches. Thanks to Ben and everyone at Glacier’s for a great time! My only complaint would be that I wished I could have gone out to crawl some of the other spaces myself.

I had a lot of interesting conversations with people about many different topics. Some wildlife rehab volunteers told me about rehabbing snapping turtles. I directed a young artist to Wet Paint in St. Paul for the best selection of truly artist quality colored pencils. The question I got most was “why toads?”

I know I gave a different answer every time. Sometimes I talked about the wonder of frogs and toads in fairy tales, other times I just said that they make me smile. I do  think there is more to it than that ; I identify with their ugliness and their ordinariness.  Their individuality is lost on the people they come in contact with. They are defined instead by the odd place where they were found or how close they got to your lawn mower blades. Instead of the princess, I feel like the toad. Perhaps there is some magic behind this toad skin; perhaps not. I just know that this really does make me smile.

 

 

 

 

Show me your Snake!

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Ball Python Colored Pencil Drawing

"Ball Python Portrait" Colored Pencil

This weekend there are two reptile expos I am excited about. One is the amazing National Reptile Breeder’s Expo in Daytona Beach, Florida that I have sent some art down to. It is a huge show with many of the best reptile breeders in attendance. They have everything from normal corn snakes to one-of-a-kind animals going for tens of thousands of dollars. They also have a great art show right on the expo floor. I met Tell Hicks the first time I was in the show. He is a great guy, very friendly and very talented. He gave me a greeting card print of a green toad that still hangs in my kitchen.

It’s hard to describe the NRBE; if you like reptiles at all or are just fascinated by them — or even just intrigued by the people who love them, the show is more than worth the trip. You can see and buy chameleons in storybook colors, anacondas coiled in plastic bowls, frogs that eat mice, and turtles older than I am. If you want a reptile (or amphibian or bug) chances are you can find it there, or find out who can get you one.

This weekend there is also a reptile show much closer to home for me, the Minnesota Reptile Show in Bloomington, MN. I have been to the two previous MN Reptile Shows and they are quite impressive despite the smaller venue. They have had a good selection of animals and supplies, and it’s great to see there are plenty of reptile people in my home state.

My toddler loves to look at all of the different snakes, turtles, and lizards on display. She doesn’t decide which ones she wants, she decides how many of each kind she wants! It is tough to say “no” when I love reptiles myself. All I have to do is look at the tanks full of cockroaches to remind myself that we aren’t ready for a bearded dragon. Yet!

Busy August!

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Great news; “Lipstick” made it into the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts show. Last year 413 pieces were shown out of 2330 entries, so it is a huge honor! I am excited to see the show and the other entries and eat a few cheese curds and Australian potatoes!

I decided to straighten the horizon and crop in on the drawing from all sides. Here it is in it’s final state:
Lipstick colored pencil drawing I was going to exhibit it at the LoLa Art Crawl if it didn’t make it, but since it did, I am making a few prints of it. At work I have access to an Epson 11880, a great giclee printer. I plan on listing a couple prints up in my Etsy Shop.

In addition to the Fair and the LoLa Art Crawl, this month brings us the Cold Blood Creations Art Show held in conjunction with the National Reptile Breeder’s Expo in Daytona, Florida. I have been participating in this show for years, and it is a great time. The art is right on the expo floor with hundreds of beautiful reptiles and amphibians for sale at the largest reptile expo in the U.S. This year I am sending my colored pencil drawing “Shiraz” down to be a part of the show.

Shiraz Colored Penci Drawing

It’s going to be a busy August!