Wet Paint Summer Workout #4 - Nocturnal Notes

I signed up for Wet Paint's Summer Workouts, but haven't kept up with it. This is challenge number four, also known as my first completed one.

This challenge was to paint a representation of the summer night sky. I worked much larger on this piece than I usually do, and had grand plans to paint my July Night Sky in a true pointillism (all dots), but, alas, I've run out of weekend and have to call this done. Fireflies at dusk are my favorite thing about summer nights.

Summer Night Sky; watercolor

WPWW 12 - Petals Painting with Paul

The last challenge in this series was to draw flowers in the style of Paul Cezanne, focusing on shapes of color and not including too many details.

I had no idea if this would ever come around to something I liked enough to share. I kept defaulting to adding details, so I kept painting over them to blot them out. Turns out it takes MORE time and lots of extra paint to stay simple. This is called "Last Week's Tulip" and is painted from a picture I took at my mother-in-law's house last week.

WPWW 12 - Petals; watercolor

WPWW 10 - Treat Yourself

The tenth assignment was to use gouache to paint a sweet treat you've enjoyed recently. The day I did this piece, I had enjoyed a big, bad muffin for breakfast. Comedian Jim Gaffigan says it takes a certain degree of denial to eat muffins for breakfast and not admit that you are having cake for breakfast. Okay, I can live with that. They are certainly a treat, so I went with it for the assignment.

I've never done much with gouache before. It felt a little like upscale poster paint to me. I do like the vibrancy of color.

WPWW 10 - Treat Yourself; gouache on mixed media paper

WPWW 11 - Grab Your Graphite

The challenge was to draw a hand using pencil. I had to crank this out quickly as the rest of my week is full. Drawing hands is an art course in itself! Such a challenge!

WPWW 11 - A Hand; pencil

WPWW 9 - Vintage Vignettes

The assignment was to use a tool that would give a varied line and draw something with sepia ink. I drew this from a photo I took last weekend in Cape May near the lighthouse. I used Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay ink in sepia and a small liner brush.

WPWW 9 - Vintage Vignettes; sepia ink

WPWW 8 - Kut-n-Paste

The assignment was to create a collage of many elements. I decided to chronicle last weekend's trip to Cape May to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary. This is more scrapbook page than art, but it will remind me of a perfect weekend!

WPWW8 - Collage; torn paper, photo, & marker

WPWW #7 - Proportions & Proximity

I'm catching up after a couple weeks of being unable to draw or paint, so here is my sight-sized drawing, done with colored pencils and various fine-line markers. Nothing overly inspired, but fun to be back at it.

WPWW 7 - Proportions & Proximity; watercolor & color pencil

Wet Paint Weekly Workout #6 - Panorama in Pastels

The sixth assignment was to paint a panoramic landscape using pan pastels, which can be layered on in the same way oil paint can be. I have a long-standing aversion to all things chalky or greasy, so I own no pastels and have no budget or desire to buy them. So, for the second week in a row, I had to fall back on what I already own. I used watercolors.

Landscapes are uncharted territory for me, so this was a novel experience. I enjoyed loosely sweeping wet colors onto the paper and letting them "do their thing." I drew this while parked in my car and came home to paint it from memory. I'm going to call it "Just Before Spring."

WPWW 6 - Panorama; watercolor & sepia pen

Wet Paint Weekly Workout #5 - Put a Bird on It

The fifth assignment in the Wet Paint Weekly Workout was to paint with paint markers and pastels in the style of modern artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Maybe it's that I find it so hard to connect with Mr. Basquiat's work that I really missed on this assignment. I find his work chaotic and stressful. I don't need more of that in my life! Or, maybe it's that I don't own or like pastels or paint markers that I couldn't pull off this assignment. I REALLY don't like pastels! It's like nails on a blackboard for me. I found out that I'm not the only one who feels this way in the group, which was strangely comforting. It's nice to know I'm not entirely nuts...or at least I'm not alone in my nuttiness.

The truth is that I struggle with highly abstract art, and the only thing harder for me than connecting to it is producing it. I'm sure my interpretation of this assignment is not nearly abstract enough, but I did try a new-to-me product (gum arabic to make the background glossy), and I tried to be bolder with color than I usually am. AND, I put a bird on it!

I was given permission to try this assignment again with a new painting, but I didn't have time, so this one stands.

WPWW 6; Put a Bird on It; watercolor

Wet Paint Weekly Workout #4 - Shoes with Pens

I titled this piece "Comfort Times Three": soft, comfy leather shoes; warm, handknit wool socks; and faithful, old blue jeans. Ah!

I used Prismacolor Premier 005 fineline pens in four colors. I should have stopped there. I've done plenty of all-pen drawings before, and I'm usually very comfortable with that medium. But, I felt like this drawing needed some watercolor. Hope that doesn't affect my grade!

The photo of the finished piece is deceiving. The shoes, which were the all-ink part of the drawing, look really flat and dull, almost like a photocopy. The watercolor part (jeans and socks) is vibrant and more three dimensional and looks like it's still wet. The contrast between ink and watercolor is not nearly as stark in the actual piece.

I just want to go on the record and say that it took three weeks for us to get to an assignment I was comfortable with. The first two weeks were CHALLENGES! This one was FUN!

WPWW 4 - Shoes with Ink; pen & watercolor

Wet Paint Weekly Workout #3 - Abstract Watercolor with Limited Palette

Well, the next challenge in the Weekly Workout group was to paint abstract shapes in a limited watercolor palette. Like the first week's self portrait, I was a little intimidated. This time, it was the word "abstract" that got me. I don't think I quite met the challenge, because my painting isn't abstract enough. What can I say? I'm an illustrator. My abstractions have to look like something familiar!

I painted an abstraction in four hues reminiscent of spring and embellished with fine point colored markers. I hope the abstraction turns into the real thing soon! We are winter weary!

WPWW 3 - Abstract Watercolor

Wet Paint Weekly Workout #2 - Self Portrait

Best thing about this is that when the model is tired of sitting still, you know you're done.

WPWW 2 - Self Portrait; sepia pen on mixed media paper

This project reminded me of my first week of art school back in 1984. I had almost no formal art training when I started studying commercial art and design in college. I had already finished a bachelor's degree in a non-art major, so I was older than all the other students in my art classes. I really wondered if I belonged and if I was going to make it through. I had very little confidence in my abilities.

When the first project in my life drawing class was to paint a self portrait, my first thought was, "Yup, I'm gonna to hate this." I was okay with the idea of drawing a face, just not MY face. I was also unfamiliar with the assigned medium. We had to use a brush and ink wash. I had almost no experience with painting, and I'd never thought of ink as something you would paint with. It was tough! It still is tough to do self portraits, and I avoid them at all costs. But, I made a commitment to stick with this 12-week challenge. What was I thinking?

I completed this portrait by looking in a mirror, which was excruciating! I chose crosshatching with a fineline pen because I'm very comfortable with that technique. Overall, it isn't horrible. Unfortunately, it looks a lot like me! I figure this challenge thing can only go up from here!

Wet Paint Weekly Workouts

I've been participating in a 12-week painting challenge called "Wet Paint Weekly Workouts." It is a Facebook group, and like other similar groups I've been in, it is proving to be very inspiring and great fun. I decided to post my weekly contributions here.

Week one's challenge was to choose or make a sketchbook and decorate the cover in a way that would make me want to pick it up and use it. I decided to construct my own book, using Arc binder disks from Staples. I made slip-on covers using some basic bookbinding techniques. The image on the front is my monogram, printed in color on Kraft scrapbooking paper. The floral letters are my design. I sell them individually as prints in my Etsy shop. For this project, I embellished the color copy with opaque gel markers to make the image "pop." The white "lace" edge is drawn with white acrylic ink using a dip pen. After adhering the image to the front cover, I sealed it with several coats of acrylic sealer.

I filled the book with mixed media paper, cut to fit and punched to snap onto the disks. I left out the middle disk so that I could include a long piece of coordinating ribbon to tie the book closed. This project was so enjoyable, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Stay tuned for the rest of the Weekly Workout challenges.

Wet Paint Weekly Workout book

WPWW book inside