Lucy Revisited

 

Lucy is growing up so it was time to update her portrait. This is done in charcoal on 12 x 12 inch watercolour paper 140lb cold pressed. I was really pleased with how it turned out overall but especially her mouth and teeth.

I'm once again taking Louise Fletcher's Find Your Joy course this summer and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm a bit behind on the weekly modules due to some other art commitments but since I have access to the material for the year, that's of no concern. What I can see though is how my work this year has been propelled by my participation last year, if that makes any sense. Sort of like a springboard effect. 

Those 'other art commitments' are also an after effect of taking FYJ last year in that it's given me the confidence for putting myself 'out there' more than I ever have as an artist. My mini canvases have been selling at a rate almost faster than I can keep up with - not a bad problem to have LOL. 

Lucy

 

It's been ages since I've done a realistic drawing but I'm quite chuffed with the results. Lucy is an English bulldog puppy belonging to a friend of my sister and too cute for words.

It's far from perfect but the likeness is there and I'm quite loving the lost and found edges and incomplete nature of the whole thing. I stopped at this point because the 'fear of ruining it' would not be denied LOL. 

Who knows, maybe I'll try another one and see how much farther I can push it. Would also like to try it in india ink.

Fall is Here

How quickly it seems the season changes. 10 weeks of the FYJ2020 course has just flown by. Later this morning will be the wrap up zoom call, which will be an ending of sorts but such an amazing beginning. I can't say enough about the value of Louise's teachings. There's just been so much to take in and the amount of exploration that still awaits is huge. So glad we have access for a full year! 

 

I've kept up with the videos with each new module but not necessarily the assignments and journaling that is so key to moving forward. But all in good time! I've been having a blast just through swatching different colour palettes, amazed at the variety of tones and colours one can make with just a couple of colours plus black and white. There's a part of me that would like to pick a short term palette to work with for a period of time. 

This piece to the left is baltic blue, yellow ochre plus B&W and I'm quite enjoying it. I've watched a lot of the series Shetland recently and find a wonderful beauty in the bleakness of the landscape. Such a drastic difference from my own surroundings. I also have a 'thing' for the simplicity of some of the cottages found in the UK. It all ties in with my connection with inukshuks I think, in that here is a marker that someone has been here, no matter how harsh the geography might be. Someone has been and left their mark. This is one of the many revelations that my journaling uncovered for me and that is key to why I want to make art. Can't wait to see what else I find out about myself LOL. 

Before and Afters

 A little over midway through FYJ2020 and it's everything and more that I was hoping for. I'm still keeping up with viewing each modules videos even as I fall a bit behind in the exercises but that's okay. We have access to the course for a full year and there's just lots of room for exploration, so I won't lack for things to do for the upcoming months LOL. 

The current module is dealing with contrasts in relation to composition and tone. I took my 3 least favourite from an exercise in the taster course and decided to use those to resolve. Pretty happy with my first attempt. 

        

Using the same colour palette of payne's grey, Q nickel azo gold and pyrrole red I changed up the shape sizes  and made the darker tones more dominant. Don't think it's done yet but definitely progressing. 

I also took another piece that was meandering in no fixed direction and decided to see where I could take it. Again, not sure it's reached its final destination either.

  

Find Your Joy Taster Course

Had a blast doing Louise's taster course. This is my result from the first lesson, where we picked 3 colours plus B&W and just went to town. We started on a full sheet of paper that was taped off into smaller grids. The idea was to treat it as one big painting, no thought given to the smaller areas, and work for no more than 30 minutes. This was to avoid thinking about what we were doing and just do what our intuition said to try. 

It looked quite the chaotic mess until the tape was removed and then, as always, the magic happens LOL. It never ceases to amaze me how different things look with that white border around them. The colours I used were Paynes grey, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold with a bit of Pyyrole red brought in just at the end for some visual pop. I've since cut them up into individual pieces to play with at a later date. A few I quite like now but most of them need some further resolution. 

I thought I would be good just carrying on with some of the ideas and exercises from the free taster course but after a couple of days pondering I committed to taking the full 10 week course. Starts Monday - can't wait!

2020 - What a year it has been so far

Wow almost 7 months since I last posted here - even I didn't realise it had been that long. Who knew the world was going to change so drastically overnight?! I've been busy with lots of things and a good number of them creativity related, either directly or sometimes indirectly. 

I was able to get out to my studio so much earlier this year after we installed new garage doors - these ones are insulated (big help in this climate) and with windows for extra light. The beauty of this is I learned even with having studio space set up indoors last year, I pretty much stop and pause for about 2 months post xmas. I swear I was a bear in a former life as hibernation comes very naturally to me. By the time the doors were done I was ready to get back into making something, anything LOL. 

Then the whole Covid shutdown happened. Thankfully I had already joined an online art community run by Louise Fletcher. If you don't know who she is, search for her on YouTube or google her. She's an incredibly generous artist spirit who somehow manages to speak directly to my creative soul. Watching her videos helped me to stop being precious about my work or my supplies and to learn that just because I don't know what to do with a piece today doesn't mean I won't be able to resolve it at a later date. Just put it aside and play with something else LOL.

Yesterday that very thing happened. The first picture was several layers into it and it was all feeling too contrived and forced - so I put it aside. That was last fall; then up out of nowhere I picked it out of the pile of broken toys and just threw paint at it, playing intuitively and not the least bit concerned about the outcome. I still don't know if it's finished but I'm much happier with it now.

This week I am taking Louise's free Find Your Joy taster course so hope to be posting some more this week. We'll see!

Change of Plans

Clearly, my inner artist has been growing more confident with my time spent in studio this summer and she was not to be denied LOL. I have a lot of available space in my bedroom and so with a little shift in layout, the winter studio has been set up!

Took down the california shutters on the big window, plunked my table right in front, bought some flexible floor lamps with daylight bulbs in them, rearranged the furniture and we're good to go. Touille, my calico longhair aka the boss, was a little unsure with all of this activity but has given her stamp of approval now that the dust has settled. And she's behaving herself as far as painting etiquette goes, though anyone familiar with cats knows that could change at a moment's notice. For now she gets to come and go freely when I'm painting. 

With the change in location and season I'm already noticing some differences in my practice. Winter is just around the corner and with ever diminishing light a reality, I'm finding late morning or early afternoon is usually when I'm drawn to create. But every now and then I find myself called back in the evening, to play around some more. And I like that!

New Season

Fall is definitely upon us! Cooler temperatures for the past few weeks have forced induced me to alter my studio time. No longer can I head out there first thing in the morning - well I can but I'm not a happy camper being out there LOL. 

I do have a space heater but that necessitates me closing the garage doors in order to be effective, and I'm loathe to give up the light just yet. So I am starting to make a plan for when I finally have to close my little haven down and relocate inside. A list, because I love lists, of things such as what art supplies need to be stored indoors (mostly just paint and mediums) and what kind of art do I want to make until I can get back into my studio. I know in my head it makes perfect sense to spend the winter working on my ancestry, and I'm sure I'll embrace that once again when it's time but the painter in me isn't ready to give up the reins just yet to my more pragmatic side!

In the meantime, here's a sampling of some of the pieces I've worked on since my last posting. Oddly enough, I've gotten back to my watercolour roots in recent weeks. Wasn't expecting that but I'm delighted that it happened. It's also got me dreaming of working on full sheets of paper which is huge, both physically and philosophically for me. Scary and exciting all at the same time!

Siddall Road (c) Susan Langdon aka Nukiart
acrylic on 12 x 12 in canvas panel

Cosmic Duet (c) Kate and Susan Langdon
mixed media on 12 x 16 in paper

Southwest (c) Susan Langdon aka Nukiart
watercolour on 12 x 16 in CP paper

My Second Process Post

I do love how something can be nothing until all of a sudden it isn't anymore. The following piece started off with no specific intention other than waiting for it to tell me what it wanted to be - and apparently that was some post apocalyptic hell hole! Definitely not on my mind at the beginning LOL. 

So it started with some mark making with charcoal on paper.

Then I added some paint in an analogous scheme of predominantly yellow with some blue and green added.

Wasn't really excited about that so I threw in some white spotches for some relief and smeared some of them around.

Not sure where to go from here so I put it aside for a day or two to 'ponder'. Of course, that led me to the other day when I decided it was the day to make a bold move and transparent orange was on my palette LOL. So first I turned it upside down, decided on a high horizon line and glazed the top half. All of a sudden there was excitement! 

I loved that you could so clearly see the previous layers but in a whole new way. So I wanted to glaze the lower half with blue. I chose prussian blue rather than the previously used phthalo blue which gave it the much darker look. This immediately made me think of the wildfires we have been seeing in the news with sadly increasing regularity. Hellhole was the first name that came to mind but I'm not sure if that will stay its name, yet.

Hellhole - mixed media 11 x 15 inches on paper
(c) Susan Langdon aka Nukiart

Thoughts from the Studio

Still relishing my new studio space - it's a rare day indeed when I'm not out there for at least the better part of the morning. What I like best is that I seem to have successfully granted myself permission to play and learn while I create. Gone is the entirely self imposed expectation that everything I do must be 'good' - something, that if I chose to show other people, would not be embarrassing to me. It's been a long battle, that one, but so freeing to have achieved!

To set the stage, I usually have 3 or 4 pieces on the go at once, in varying stages of 'doneness'. This allows me to keep the creative flow going while I'm waiting for a layer to dry - yes, patience is a struggle and this really helps LOL.  I had already decided that yesterday was the right time for making 'the bold move' a la Tara Leaver's wise words. Then I decided to work with a colour that I don't normally use - a confident, bold orange created by mixing primary magenta with hansa yellow medium. 

I painted a ground of bright aqua green mixed with a smidge of phthalo blue. On this I outlined several circles of varying sizes that would then be painted orange. Of course, the orange over the aqua background dulled the colour down considerably so I needed to paint the circles white before they could be orange. Here the large circle is orange on top of aqua whereas the two smaller ones were painted white first, then orange. Not sure yet where this will end up!

While I was waiting for layers to dry I started eyeing some of the other pieces I had on the go and decided to spread the orange to them as well. Because this mixture is quite transparent, it acts more like a glaze enhancing the underlying work. It certainly breathed new life into one piece and showed potential for a whole new direction in another. I think I'll save that for another post though as this one has gone on long enough and it's time to head to the studio!

Update: threw some more paint at it and have left it here for now.