the beauty of line

Ah, the beauty of line...

I recently purchased The Four Seasons of Mary Azarian, a delightful book with images of Mary's woodcuts. Mary is an artist in Vermont, USA and as the title suggests, her art scenes are divided up by the seasons as experienced in her part of the world. My husband and I traveled to Vermont for many years each autumn to witness the fall foliage in the Green Mountains. That is where I first encountered her work.

I love woodblock art, in no small part due to all those lovely black lines! I find the history of this art form facinating as the carved woodblock is one of the earliest forms of printmaking and dates back at least 1,500 years to the Middle East, where wooden blocks were used to make repeated patterns on cloth. Woodblock prints on paper can be traced to 9th century China but the art form didn't reach northern Europe until papermaking techniques arrived in the 15th century.

From this book, I learned that following the publication of the Gutenberg Bible ca.1455, there was an an explosive period of book production. In the 45 years from 1455 to 1500, some 16 million books were printed and many of them contained woodcut illustration. Sixteen million! I also learned that by the end of this time of dramatic growth in book production, there was a growing distinction between the artists who created the designs and the "formschneiders" who executed the drawings in pear, box or applewood with sharp knives and gouges. Artists were kept busy doing the drawings and out of that grew an industry of craftmen who could execute the woodblocks from the drawings.

Albrecht Durer is credited with turning the woodcut into an art form admired all over Europe. There was another revival of woodcuts as an art form when artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch explored the medium.

Mary Azarian is an accomplished award winning book illustrator. I encourage you to visit her website at www.maryazarian.com. I think you will find her work truly delightful.

Spring has definitely arrived!

These days I don't have to go far to add beauty to my life - I just wander around the yard! This afternoon I grabbed the camera and spent half an hour taking pictures of the wildflowers in the woods and flowers in the garden. I couldn't help but post a few...

I also added some further beauty to my afternoon by attending an art show. The exhibition was most inspiring. Works were done in various media. I was quite impressed with how some artists were working in watercolour in non-traditional ways, with striking results. Only one artist had done a few coloured pencil pieces. One very talented artist stood out for me, she worked in pen and ink with watercolour. Her confident use of line was impressive as well as her mastery of watercolour. Unfortunately she doesn't have a website or a blog so I can't share her work with you. When visiting exhibitions like this, I always return rejuvenated and motivated. I have so many ideas for paintings, I feel like I could burst. All in all a grand day!

Musings on teaching

I attended an art conference three weeks ago which I wrote about on April 10th. Someone I met there made an interesting comment to me which has had me thinking.

I introduced myself to a woman at the conference and in the course of getting to know one another, I asked her what medium she worked in. She then asked me the same question. Upon hearing that I worked in coloured pencil, she said "Wow, you must have strong wrists." I confess I must have had a rather dumbfounded expression on my face as I paused, trying to think of what she must have thought I said - surely she misheard me. Unable to come up with anything, I replied, "Strong wrists?" And she said, "You know, with all that burnishing you have to do." Oh dear...

Turns out this woman took a coloured pencil workshop with someone who had them work on a project that was all about burnishing. They apparently spent much time painstakingly burnishing cherries until their hands couldn't take it anymore. When I informed her that not all coloured pencil artists work in this manner and that I don't do anything with coloured pencil that hurts my hands, she was now the one to be dumbfounded.

I know the woman who taught the workshop and to start with she is not a good teacher. I took a watercolour course with her many years ago and she is more interested in the income teaching provides rather than being interested in her students actually learning something. One thing she did 'teach' me was how not to be as a teacher! :-) She doesn't work in coloured pencil at all, but she has found an opportunity to make some extra money given the growing interest in coloured pencil. I am not bothered by the competition as I believe there is room for all of us and I am passionate about supporting other artists. What does bother me is that people who exit her workshop haven't been properly informed.

What am I saying here? First of all, if you have a particular style of working, whether in coloured pencil, pastel, oil, whatever, yes it is okay to teach this style. You do not have to teach all the various methods out there. But what I think you do have a responsibility to do is to inform people that your way is just one way. If this were my first time being exposed to coloured pencil and the instructor told me this was how it was done and I found it physically painful, what would ever induce me to continue exploring with the medium? Of course this isn't new, I have heard of others taking workshops where a certain methodology was presented as the 'right way and the only way'. I guess I bristle at the idea of fixed rules in art. People new to a medium should be encouraged to explore, to try, to embrace a wonderful, new creative adventure.

When I teach my Introduction to Coloured Pencil course I expose my students to all the ways of working with the pencils that I know of. They get to try working on different surfaces, on coloured paper, drafting film, they get to burnish using various methods, they do a little exercise using a solvent. I don't just teach them to do art my way. I want them to leave the course armed with lots of info and examples of how one can work with coloured pencils. That way, if one method doesn't work for them, they can try something else. I am always fascinated at how one student will like a multi-directional stroke, someone else falls in love with drafting film, someone else loves the look a colourless blender gives...we are so individual and this is truly wonderful to observe.

So my thought for today is, if you teach or are considering teaching, please consider the importance of telling your students that your way is just one way...keep the door open for them to continue to grow and explore.

New Track Lighting, Yippee!

Last time I posted, I mentioned that I was off to purchase track lighting for my studio. As you can see from the photos, I now have two rows of track lights that run down the center of the studio. The top picture turned out too dark but you get the idea. A big thank you goes to my husband who spent several hours last Sunday making this happen for me. This required crawling around in a hot attic, on top of itchy, nasty insulation to run new wires etc. I am most appreciative! Drilling holes in the ceiling and so on left a mess to clean up and with this job going on, I couldn't set up my studio for teaching - which started the next day! Of course that is what I get for procrastination. I taught a course here not long after we got possession of the house (we hadn't moved in yet, but I had moved my studio stuff) and I realized then that the lighting wasn't great for a teaching space. Fast forward six months and the job finally gets done.

I am teaching the Intro. course (which ends today) and the ladies involved are picking up this whole coloured pencil thing very well! I am impressed as they are very new to the medium, brand new pencils and all.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed a peek into my studio...could I cram any more furniture in there? You can hardly see the couch that is behind the white board easel (middle picture) but yes I even have a couch in my studio. My husband made the tables for the students and the legs fold up. That way I can take them down if I don't want them in the studio. Yes, my husband is absolutely wonderful...I am a lucky gal indeed.

Apples on Pastelbord

The apples are finished! I really enjoyed working on this piece.

But...I must admit that at the beginning I was having some doubts. When I started working on the underpainting for the first apple, my mind was chattering away, 'you can't do it, you have messed it up, you can't save this, good thing it is only a 5x7 panel'. I was only on the underpainting layer! Yikes. This doesn't normally happen to me, now that I am comfortable with my medium, but this time I guess I wasn't as confident using the gray Pastelbord. I mention this in case you ever have these thoughts when working on a piece. Now I look at my dear little apples and think 'What if I had stopped at the beginning?' That would have been a shame. So, my advice - buck up and press on...play some of your favourite music, loud if you have to, sing along, jog around the room reciting how wonderfully gifted you are, look at some of your past work that turned out okay, pour yourself a 'stiffner' if necessary or maybe just a nice glass of wine...you get the idea. Whatever you do, don't give up and don't give in to these goofy thoughts. You can do it!

And for those of you concerned about my welfare and who perhaps don't know my sense of humour, the stiffner was not required and I am not at risk of becoming an alcoholic for the sake of my art! :-)

Okay, on to something else - Have you ever wondered how to find 'your customer'? I urge you to visit this blog, www.theextraordinarypencil.blogspot.com today. Artist Marsha Robinett has posted a Weekend Chat Line entitled What's your best venue for art sales? This topic follows last weekend's chat on how to price your art. I posted a comment on this past topic and my thoughts inspired Marsha to post this new topic on connecting with buyers. I appreciate Marsha posting this topic and I look forward to seeing what thoughts come in over the next few days. Marsha has a wonderful blog so do spend some time looking around.

I am now off to shop for some track lighting for my studio. I am teaching my Introduction to Coloured Pencil course next week and I would like to improve the lighting over the tables. If you live in the Ottawa area and would like to attend, there is still room and there is still time to register. Just contact me and we can quickly work out the details. For info on this course (and others that I teach) click here: classes. If next week isn't good for you, the course is also running in June.

Apples on Pastelbord, Work In Progress

Here is my newest endeavour, coloured pencil of course, on gray Pastelbord. Pastelbord is made by Ampersand (www.ampersandart.com). This product is a board not paper. The board or panel, is acid-free, and archival. Their packaging states that the "exquisite sanded surface" consists of a "hand applied kaolin clay ground, textured with fine marble dust granules. Holds more pastel layers than any other surface!" Of course you can use this support with many media, not just pastel. The surface is similar to the sanded surface found on pastel papers such as the Colorfix and Wallis brands.

For those of you in Canada, I haven't yet found a supplier here. After trying various Canadian on-line suppliers, I searched the Ampersand site. They do supply some products to a few stores in Canada, but not this Pastelbord (at least not according to my searching). Not to worry though, it is available from on-line suppliers in the U.S. There are several good suppliers such as Blick Art Materials (www.dickblick.com) and Cheap Joe's Art Stuff (www.cheapjoes.com). I like shopping from Dick Blick on line. They are a great resource for professional art materials. I appreciate the fact that they carry the Prismacolor Lightfast line of pencils in open stock. For a complete list of suppliers, try doing a google search or check out the various ads in magazines such as American Artist and The Artist's Magazine.

So, about the art...I am working on a 5" x 7" panel. One of the reasons I chose a small size is so that I could get the work completed rather quickly. I am giving a presentation in three weeks to an art group here in Ottawa. The members of the group are experienced artists. I have been advised by the event organizer that many will probably have some knowledge of the basics of working with coloured pencils. Therefore I thought I would focus part of my presentation on what isn't generally known about the medium - such as working on surfaces other than paper. So that brings me to this project, creating an piece for the 'show and tell' part of the presentation.

The first WIP picture (lower image) shows the bright underpainting that I put down. The gray surface is rather dead and dull but the wonderful thing with it is that colours seem to glow when applied. This use of an underpainting is also my approach when working on white paper. I ask myself what colours I see underneath the red of the apples and these go on first. The lower layers affect the end result because they are still visible. This is in part due to the fact that I don't burnish. This is just my style, the way I achieve the look I am after. While it takes longer than other methods of working I just love the final result. For me it is what makes coloured pencil work look so unique.

I am working top apple, left apple then the right apple. I am right handed and I don't want my hand across the work if I can help it. Working on this surface causes a fair amount of pencil pigment to flake off in the process. This method of working keeps the pigment off of my hand and prevents me from smearing the work with this excess pigment. Having said this, I still have more to do on the top and left apple. I will continue to work on them (being mindful of where my hand is resting) as I get the last apple underway.

'Reflections' Kit

Here is the finished image of the 'wine glass on black' project. I really enjoyed working on the black paper. It is so easy to get rich colours. Having said this, I have just read Jeanette's comment to the previous post. Jeanette notes that some colours seems to disappear on certain black paper. I have only worked on black Stonehenge and black Canson Mi-Tientes paper so I can't speak for other brands. I have found working on these two to be a similar experience.

Some colours do surprise me in that they don't show up the way I would expect, while others seem to beam off the paper like fluorescent paint. I have two ways of working around this. One, I only work on subjects that include the colours that will pop. :-) bit of a cheat, but hey if it works for you... To find out what colours work well on black, cut a strip off of your black paper and do some testing. Scribble some lines of colour from various pencils. You will probably be surprised too!

The second is a technique I read about somewhere and it is one of those no-brainers that is so simple, you question your intelligence because you didn't think of it yourself. So here goes, when you are applying a colour that doesn't show up as you had hoped, apply a lighter colour first (I use a really light colour such as pencils in shades of cream or peach, even white). Simple, but it works.You don't have to lay down a thick layer of pigment, the idea is just to cover the black. Then apply the colour you originally wanted. You just don't work this way when using coloured pencil on white paper and as someone who had a long history of working almost exclusively with white paper, this process just didn't come naturally to me. Oh well, that is my excuse anyway... :-) I am so glad that artists share their tips and techniques, saves us all from inventing the same wheel!

As I mentioned earlier, this image is for a kit that I am creating. I now have to write up my hastily scrawled notes into detailed step by step instructions. After that I will create the sheet of WIP photos and I also need to re-do the line drawing. I tend to draw as I work so my original drawing doesn't provide enough detail. I hope to have it ready for posting on my website by the end of the month. If you are interested in completing your own wine and grapes 'reflections' picture from this kit or if you are interested in any of the other kits, just contact me!

Now off to work on my new piece, apples on pastelbord.