5 in a 5-5-5 Around the Yard

Somewhere in my viewing of artist's blogs, I came across a reference to an interesting type of challenge.  It seems to be a challenge to get the artist to sketch anywhere, sketch fast, and to not overwork the color.  Most of us artists cab use such practice, so I went for it one sunny afternoon this week.  The parameters:
walk no more than 5 minutes, stop, sketch for 5 minutes, then add color for 5 minutes, then repeat.  With Spring busting out all over, I had no problem finding subject matter, often walking less than a minutes.  As I went from one to the next, I decided the add that 4th 5, thus 5 mini-sketches in a 5-5-5.  And the results:

CHERRY BLOSSOM SNOW

 As far back as I can remember, I can see a painting by my grandfather, called "Cherry Blossom Snow" that captured my imagination and wonder.  Snow?  Cherry tree snow?  As I grew up, I actually did experience the "snow" of those cherry blossoms on windy days.  Still, I was fascinated by that idea, and wondered if I would ever really be able to experience such a phenomenon AND possess the skill to depict my own interpretation.  It has become a holy grail for me...a rather elusive goal, something to strive for - over and over and over.  But one can hardly complain about sitting under huge old cherry trees on a warm sunny day, while being gently touched by falling cherry blossom leaves.  Since moving to Seattle, in 1984, I have been able to find those cherry trees, and yes, I have tried often, to sketch them.

This scene was painted in the Washington Park Arboretum.
And yes, I was over in the UW Quad this past Sunday, when it was 69 degrees!! trying yet another sketch.  And I wonder if I will be able to use that sketch in another watercolor.  Time will tell.

Comparisons

Overworking a watercolor is the bane of artists.  Sometimes we add our own limitations, such as a 3-color palette, or allowing only 20 minutes to paint a scene.  So the other day, I did a small telescopic sketch of the house I always see when I look out my studio window.  It's hard to miss, because it's in such disrepair!  As always, I am trying to keep my work fresh, and light-infused.  So here it is.
At the time, I felt like I got parts of this watercolor "right", but another problem we have as artists, is that upon finishing a watercolor, it's almost as if we are too close to it to be able to properly judge it, and that allowing some time to lapse brings a better perspective.  So as I finished this, I immediately turned to another sketchbook, filled with a smooth multi-media paper.  I dashed off another quick sketch, and made myself call it "finished" so as not to create mud on this unforgiving paper.

 

What Captures Us...

Sometimes we go about our day, passing all-too familiar locations,  and then one day, the light shines differently, or we are different, or perhaps the birds are singing!  Something stops us! and we take a second look, or, we take a closer look.  Thus it was with this first sketch.  I live across the street from this view of my neighbor's stairway up to his home, and I have seen it every day for 5 years, often more than once a day.  But the scene captured me, and I compelled to try to show others why.

In trying to sketch more often (every day WOULD be nice, but the resolve only holds so long) I went over to the U-District to sketch after I ran an errand.  I wanted to record Weaving Works, because this establishment, recently announced they would move before 2014.  As I chose my spot to sketch, there was the painted mural wall of another business, Brooklyn Frame.  It's a bit disorienting, so I think this sketch is okay to record for history, but it would need re-working, or a better viewpoint) to stand as a "painting."  So what's the difference?  Juanita keeps asking me that.  We'll chat about it next time.

Watercolor Play and Inner Critics

Seems I've been spending more time with fellow-artists, since Urban Sketchers has become such an integral of my life.  I am going out with the main Seattle group once a month, and with a smaller off-shoot group 2 other times a month, plus there's occasionally an "ad hoc" crawl that's called.  This is a good thing!  Most artists I read about, or chat with, all acknowledge they need to DRAW MORE!  In fact, I would like to be drawing every day.

After we sketch, we usually share our work.  We all admire each other's work, yet when we have individual conversations I pick up a common theme.  Seems we each have an "inner critic" who is alive and well inside us.  Believe me, that kind of critical talk goes on all the time!  Along with it are the thoughts about "trying to be looser," or "struggling to render a car that look like a car!" or trying to change the way we work.  I guess it's just a fact of artistic life.

So in keeping with that idea, I am sharing this recent watercolor, in which I was consciously trying to paint looser, i.e not so tight.  Sometimes I tell myself, it's just "play," or practice, or drawing daily.  Thanks for checking in!

Challenge Completion...and what I Learned

Yes, I have decided my specific challenge of sketching the view out my back window is now complete.  I have 20 drawings from that series.  What about the other 10?  Well, I decided that when I was out Urban Sketching, it "counted" for the day's assignment.  I get to make the rules, after all!

I realized the last few days were becoming tedious because the challenge had been going on for 28-30 days.  I found myself looking for a slightly different viewpoint, or zeroing in on my subject.  And I also discovered as I painted the last one that certain w/c papers cause me to paint differently!  I guess that's a logical conclusion, but it became REALLY obvious to me.  So obvious that I set out to prove it, maybe!  I sketched the same scene on my favorite paper, Arches CP 140 wt.  It sure was easier to paint.  And the comparison:

The sketch below, on the left side, was done first on some "Magnani" paper.  To me, it seems flat, and it occurred because the paper was too absorbent.  The sketch on the right was done on the Arches paper.  Better, don't you think?

Soooo what's next?  I have some Urban Sketching trips coming up, both Friday and Saturday.  I am looking forward to both of them.  Friday I will be in the Burke Museum on the campus of the UW.  And Saturday, I will be in  and around St. James Cathedral on Capital Hill with the full group of Seattle Urban Sketchers.

Now I have another comparison for you all to see.  Last week, on the Seattle Urban Sketcher site, I posted a couple sketches from a session in historic "old Ballard."  Sometimes, what I see does not translate to what I sketch.  Sometimes? - more like most times!!  Anyway, I felt I had to use words to describe one sketch, because what I painted wasn't quite clear.  So I did another sketch  Now, you can judge these two sketches:



These 2 sketches are more challenging, especially as they appear here - quite miniaturized.  What I was disappointed with in the sketch on the right, is that the ivy didn't look like ivy!  And the large brick wall appears confusing.
In my redo, well, you can be the judge.

So, stay tuned here, and I will share my next set of sketches, with less analysis, and more simply living with the joie de vivre I feel!!

Having Fun with my Challenge

Seems I've been out sketching a LOT!!  It was three times this week because I built in time to sketch as I went about some other activities.  Now I must clarify one caveat I allow in my 30-day challenge, which is that I can skip my daily sketch if I happen to be out sketching somewhere else.  Thus, I have 16 sketches so far, of which I will share a few in here.  Someone asked me if I thought it helped to do this challenge, and I said yes, because 1) I sketch every day, and 2) I can try out different techniques, and styles, as well as mediums, and 3) it pushes me to be more creative, as I look at the same scene each day and contemplate different ways I can sketch it, or different parts to emphasize.

During the past two weeks, we've had fog several times.  Yes, I have painted scenes in the past, where wonderful pockets of fog create some mystery, but this fog was not like that.  Still, I thoughtI was be able to show that it WAS foggy.  However, in the 3 times I've sketched early in the morning while it's still quite foggy, I end up putting in too much color.  Still,  I will probably have some more days to "practice" fog!

This next sketch is an example of where I was a bit "bored" with the scene, so I "played" and ended up with something that strangely seems to "work!"




I want to show you one more from the series because it's quite different.  You see, I have always LOVED sketching!  I love even the feel of a pencil on good sketch paper.  And since I've started using both a Noodler's and a Lamy fountain pen, I want to sketch and sketch - anything, just to sketch!  Again, it's the joy in drawing, as well as how it feels to hold the pen and "make marks!"  So one day I set out to do some pen and ink before the usual addition of watercolor, however I just kept drawing and drawing, and soon I had a completed drawing.  I decided not to add color, except for those red berries on the holly tree!  But I'm still trying to decide whether to add some green leaves to that holly tree.  What do you think?  The jury is still out - stay tuned!

Attempted Link to my Photostream!

very soo

Peggy Haug's photostream on Flickr. 

Take a look at my Flickr photostream!!  So I was trying to put a link to my flickr account so anyone viewing my blog could also view all my artwork on Flickr.  I thought it would post as a link on the right-hand side of the blog, but that's what I get for trying to do it on my own.  So far, my fellow-blogger, Tina Koyama, has been giving me some hints!  (Do check out her blog!) So I will get another lesson.
BUT,  I am halfway through my CHALLENGE, so maybe it is time to post the first 14 sketches!  I will do that very soon!!

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION

 You have probably heard of this phrase, the idea that we are all only separated by six degrees, (or less!)  Well, I'd like to share my experience with this truism.  It involves my grandfather, the artist Charles Burchfield, (whose painting is pictured to the left) and an immigrant who was Palestinian and born in Jerusalem.   So grab a cup of tea and let me tell you about it.

In 1990 I met my life partner, Juanita, and she was, at the time, a nurse who cared for medically-ill ICU patients in their homes.  Her best friend, Deb, was the mother of a young boy on dialysis, and so Deb also became my friend. She learned that I painted watercolors, and that I had a famous grandfather.   Deb's son died a year later, and after a two-year struggle, Deb divorced and moved her other two sons back to California, where she had grown up. She found a small home to rent that was owned by the parents of her good friend from Stanford.  Dr. Bisharat had immigrated from Jerusalem back in the late 1940's, and he studied Psychiatry in New York.  But he loved to paint watercolors, and greatly admired my grandfather.  Though a starving med-student, he was able to purchase a Burchfield watercolor by making monthly payments.

So Deb often visited Maurice and Mary Bisharat, and one day, as she walked about their home, she noticed the Burchfield painting on the wall.  Dr. B proudly told her how he had acquired it, and mentioned how highly he regarded Burchfield's work.  Do you know, Deb asked, that I am friends with his grand-daughter.  Well!   Maurice really wanted to meet me!  A year later Juanita and I visited Deb in California, so of course we went to meet Maurice and his wife.

Speaking of influence, this is a painting by my mother, Martha Richter, done in  1945, one of her earliest.

Their lovely home was full of Maurice's paintings, and I was struck by the Burchfield influence.  Maurice and I bonded almost immediately, talked art and music (he was a talented violin-maker as well!) and eventually we traded some paintings.  As we readied to leave, Maurice talked about how he had actually gone to visit my grandfather.  When was that, I asked.  He guessed it was around 1950-51.  I told Maurice I was around then,  since I lived only one mile away, and often spent time with my grandparents.  We chuckled and said our good-byes. And that was that - except when I returned to my Seattle home, I retrieved my copy of the 10,000 page transcript of my grandfather's journals.  I started reading the pages dated 1950-51 and I found an entry about Maurice!!  My grandfather wrote that a Mr. Bisharat had visited him and they spent the day in his studio.  At the end of the day they came into the house for some tea.  I WAS staying with my grandparents that day, because my grandfather then wrote:  "Peggy crawled up into Mr. B's lap and they became fast friends." !!!!!!  It was nearly 50 years later when we "reconnected!"

A painting by Maurice Bisharat

ANOTHER CHALLENGE

In my last blog, I was talking about some of the challenges I've given myself in the past.  The idea behind these are to explore, to play, to stimulate my creativity, and mostly to get myself painting more, sometimes every day.  The interesting thing about my 30 day challenges is that even though I am depicting the same scene, or item each day, they always turn out differently.  I should confess that this idea isn't my own; I read about it one of my journaling books.  The idea is that where we are internally, emotionally, or even what's happening in our surroundings affects how we render a subject.

I promised some pictures of my last challenge, to depict the scene out my studio window, which faces north, towards NE 55th St.  The above two were among the first few in the series.  Hazen, my Siamese cat, would often sit next to the window, forcing me to share my small work table with him!  During the time I was doing this series, just about a year ago, we had that great snowstorm!! - And I love to paint snow scenes!!

Towards the end of the series, I had to get a little more creative, or playful, and one time I simply painted the awesome sky!!  Also,  I experimented with different techniques.

SO!  The reason I was talking about challenges is because I have decided to accept another challenge.  And I've finally decided what the subject will be:  a different view out the bedroom window, looking northwest this time.  In fact, I just finished No. 1 ( shown above.)  In this sketch, I used a Lamy Safari pen with a mix of two water-soluble inks.  Thus when I added WATERcolor, I had to work with the color I was picking up from the ink as well.  It was fun, and I want to play with this method some more.  

I hope you will follow along with me as I work on my challenge.  Perhaps you can judge as to whether I am achieving my goals of "loosening up", so that more spontaneity is evident, as well as becoming a faster sketcher.  Often when I am with the Seattle Urban Sketchers, and we have a little over 2 hours to sketch before we rejoin our group, I am barely finishing one scene, while many sketchers have done 2 or more!!  AS is often the case, I have a vision and an idea of how I want something to turn out, but that doesn't often come true!!

Oh, I am now one of the "official correspondents" for Seattle.UrbanSketchers.blogspot.com, so do go there and check out what I've posted, as well as the excellent work of my fellow Urban Sketchers.  And, stay tuned!!

WINTERTIME ART CHALLENGE

When I was perusing some of my handmade watercolor journals in order to photograph some of them for my Flickr account, I was reminded of a winter challenge I've given myself in the past.  Seems I get a little "stuck" in the winter, so several years ago while I was on staff at Holden Village <www.holdenvillage.org> I remembered something I read about setting a challenge of say 30 days of painting (or sketching) the same scene each morning.  The idea was that no page of artwork would be the same, because as artists, we bring our thoughts and emotions with us as we work, that wherever we happen "to be" (inside) does affect what we "see."

I was fortunate at the time to be living at 3000' el. in the remote North Cascades of Washington.  And I was doubly fortunate to have a front window view on the 2nd floor that looked south to the stunning Copper Basin, flanked on both sides by perfectly peaked mountains.  My view overlooked the lodges and "hotel" of the village, and the tall pine trees nearby added to the perfection of the framed scene.

So each morning for the next 30 days, I sat at my desk and painted what I saw.  Since I was also interested in the concept of where I was emotionally, I wrote a few journal notes with each sketch.  Sometimes I was up before daylight, and I could see the stars, and there was enough moonlight that I could see everything.

Well I really enjoyed the exercise, so I gave myself another challenge. When I went out of the village for a weekend, I found one of those winter cabbages at a nursery in Seattle and I brought it with me, on the 30 mile boat ride up Lake Chelan, to Lucerne, and on up the 11 mile mountain road in an old schoolbus, to Holden Village, and into my chalet apartment.  And for the next 30 days, I painted my cabbage!  What fun!  I kept the cabbage  outside, bringing it in each morning to draw.  A few times it snowed! and so I had to work fast to  get a sketch before the mound of snow on the cabbage melted!

Jump forward to October of 2011 when I created a small "studio" area in our den, so I could return to my art.  I decided to give myself a challenge again: 30 days of sketching the view out my back window, where I sit at my art desk.  Once again, it was so interesting to see how different every sketch turned out.  During those 30 days, we got a 6" snowfall!! - and I LOVE to paint snow scenes!!  Come around for my next posting, and I will share a few of the sketches from that challenge as well as a couple small paintings I did while we had snow.  Thanks for visiting my blog.