Author Archives: leslie

Wordy Wednesday: Learning to Embrace Fail and Fast

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One of the important things I’ve learned over the years about art is that it’s okay to make bad art.

It’s okay to fail.

It’s part of the learning process of art.

Back when I was in college I pushed myself to make every piece of art I approached a successful work. I worked hard on things and labored over stuff and I grew to hate it. There were few pieces of art that I really liked when I was in college. Over the years I worked on less and less outside of class until my last year where I became fascinated with Matisse’s collages and started making my own with crayons and white glue. I loved making collages. The great thing about it was that it was easy to make something vaguely attractive.

After I left school and I worked with kids I realized that a good part of what I had learned was how to fail and how to make really really really bad art.

Some of the stuff I made in college was awful.

Really bad awful.

I avoided painting class but the funny thing is that some of my more successful pieces from college were from painting classes.

I’m not sure why I avoided those classes. Perhaps I didn’t want the challenge or I was too distracted by all the ohh shiny stuff of other stuff I hadn’t done yet- carving plexiglass? Why, yes please!

I gave myself a challenge today, to complete a 5x7inch painting of stuff in my office while on my lunch break. Before my break I noticed that my hand sanitizer bottle and tabbed paperclips made an interesting composition. I quickly set up my pochade box, grabbed a panel and sketched out the little bottle and clip, super rough. It took less than 5 minutes to sketch them out. I squeezed out 3 colors: titanium white, unbleached titanium (titan buff), and cobalt blue hue. I grabbed a crappy #1 bristle brush and dipped into the blue, applying color in bold strokes. I then added the unbleached titanium in dabs and small strokes, allowing the color to blend directly on the page. As I worked the thinner layers of color  dried the thicker layers stayed slightly moist. I scrubbed color here and there, dabbed it in other places.

At the end of 30 minutes I snapped a picture of my piece and posted it to twitter.

If I spent another 30 minutes on this painting it would be inherently better. I’d add more layers of color, maybe some glazes and maybe add some other colors. I could firm it up and make into a finished piece.

That defeats the point of a piece like this.

A piece like this is meant to stretch your skills force you into looking in broad bold strokes and attacking the canvas/paper.

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There is no mincing around when working small and fast. There is no going back and touching up  little slips here and there.

It’s go.

Here’s the thing, I’m not beating myself up because this isn’t my best painting ever, instead I’m looking at it as a starting point. From here I can only get better. In 30 minutes I’ll be able to produce something neat.

But I won’t kick myself if I fail.

Technique Tuesday: Cigar Box Pochade

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I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect cigar box for a pochade box for quite some time now. The thrift store I shop at often has cigar boxes for just a few dollars and I always buy one if they have one. I built my first pochade box back in 2009 with an empty wine gift box, it’s far too big and heavy but it is sturdy and good for short travel but not long walks.

Last night I found a nice small cigar box, wooden and very sturdy. When you look for a cigar box look for one that has a hinged top that is not just one flat piece of wood, that way you can replicate my very easy pochade.

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Once you find a box you’ll need the following tools and materials:
5/8th hardwood square rod/dowel
Saw
ruler
Pencil
Glue
Sand paper
Exacto knife

The lid will form your easel. Start by opening it to where you’d like the easel to rest. Use this as a guide for where your 5/8th wooden rod will sit. The wood stock will form the rest for the base of your easel. The lid will rest against the wood and be supported. For one of my boxes the wood pieces came 1/16th of an inch from the top of the bottom part of the box. For another box the wood sits flush with the bottom of the box.

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Measure this and cut your wood to size. Depending on your box you may need to work around the hinges. In my case I cut 2 pieces of wood to create vertical braces. I sanded the edges smooth and used wood glue to adhere them to the box. Any glue that squeezed out I wiped off with a damp rag. I put them box under weight and allowed the glue to dry over night.

I cut a piece of plastic to fit inside the lid to act as a palette. I then cut a notch in the inside lip of the box to securely grip the palette. I did this with an exacto knife.

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This box holds a large water bottle, 8 small tubes of Liquitex basics paint, a rinse tub, a small tube of acrylic glazing liquid, some rags, and soap. I added a mini bungee cord to help hold any canvases or boards in place. This pochade would easily hold 6 full sized tubes of paint. The water bottle could be discarded and more paint or mediums added.

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I may end up getting rid of the water bottle as it adds a lot of weight to the box and I always carry a reusable water bottle with me. This would allow me to add a mist bottle and a larger bottle of glazing medium. I carry 2 or 3 brushes in a brush wrap, 1 small round, a flat and a filbert.

In case you missed it, all I did for this was figure out where I wanted the lid to rest, cut 2 pieces of wood and glue it to the backside.

Ads on my sidebar —>

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I've been debating taking the ads off my blog for awhile now, but I'm going to give them one more week. When there are no ads it simply looks horrible. Feel free to head over to Project Wonderful and search for Comfortable Shoes and bid on an ad. I moderate them so only ads go up from artfire/etsy sellers and bloggers.

Cult of Stuff part 10

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One of the things that really gets me going in the online art world is the concept of the online art instructor saying things such as, “You’re an artist because I say so, “and the “I give you permission to create.” It’s patronizing, condescending, arrogant and downright self-absorbed.

I am an artist because I believe I am; I create because I must, not because someone on the internet says so or gives me permission to do so. I’ve voiced this opinion before and the major argument was that these statements are put out there to give others self confidence. I submit that the reason you are here (reading my blog or at aj ning) is at least partially because you have an interest in art, maybe you don’t call yourself an artist, and that’s fine. Maybe you are looking for inspiration, and that’s fine too. If you are looking for permission  you are looking in the wrong place.

I can’t give you permission to create or to call yourself an artist.
I can’t do that because the permission comes from within.
You have to give yourself the permission to create.

You have to make a conscious decision to call yourself an artist. Maybe you never will. Maybe your kids think you are. You could be like my Mom and call yourself a really good craftsperson.

Maybe if you are looking for me to call you an artist (or some other online art instructor) then maybe you aren’t ready to call yourself an artist? Maybe you don’t want to say it. Maybe you don’t want to be labeled. You could need more time. It’s not up to me or anyone else to slap a label or pigeonhole you into something you may not want.

You need to make that choice.

You need to grab permission and take it for yourself. If I give you permission to create you’ll always be looking for my approval. I don’t want that. I want you to create art because it is inherently wonderful for you. I want you to create because you love it, it relaxes you after a hard day and because you learn that you cannot live without creating.

You need to make your own permission.

Walking and lots of it

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One of my summer goals is to spend more time walking in this pretty city that I live in, get to know it by foot. Some of you may know that a few summers ago I got to know it by motorized bike. I traveled around the city on my little bike, okay, mini hog, and snapped pictures of it near landmarks. I traveled to nearly every park in the city, there are nearly 15, and really got to enjoy the city. I did many of these trips at sunrise and sunset, as there are fewer cars on the road and thus it was safer.

Anyway, I’ve decided that this summer I want to spend more time walking the city. Beverly is a pretty safe city that is friendly to walkers and there are lots of neat places to walk to.

So anyway, I walked up to the festival today and then walked around the park. I shot a bunch of pictures to get more accustomed to my camera. I need to learn how to use it better. I got some neat shots, some of which I put up on the blog yesterday. Anyway I took a few more shots and I’ll post them here.

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Beverly Arts Festival 2011

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I spent the AM at the Beverly Art Festival, a yearly arts event here in my little city. I was struck by the contrast in the “nice” part of the city and the other part of the city. Cabot street has been beautified and streets blocked off for the festival, which routes traffic through the other parts of the city. It would be really nice to see the city expand the festival to the small park just off the main street and have some live local bands in the Gazebo. (Just a thought.)

I was able to meet a few really neat artists and peruse their wares.

The following people were of interest and had some great work for sale:

Altered Perceptions– a couple of ladies who make altered books and journals. Their work is very interesting and pretty affordably priced. It’s the first time I’ve seen a journal and thought, “That’s to pretty to use!”

Pins with a Past– jewelry made from found objects. ARGH GEARS so many gears, if I’d had the cash I’d have gotten a pendant. Very cool stuff.

Little House Art, aka  Tony Ziegler. He makes this fabulously simple art that he sells at affordable prices. He’s really nice too.

I also saw a local flamenco dance instructor and her students dance as well as the local Tae Kwon Do academy demonstrate their classes as well as their work. Check out my pictures for some high flying action shots and some graceful dance.

There were only 2 local food vendors there, a hot dog sales man and the local Indian place. Yum, mango lassi!

Discombobulated

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I realize that the 5 days I spent away and being unable to work on the stuff I usually work on over my weekends has really thrown my old blog for a loop, I'm thinking I'll be back on track with my reviews and Art Journaling Essentials posts next week. We're supposed to get rain this weekend so I'm thinking that I'll have a lot of time to work on the blog.

Until I get caught up, here are some of my automatic coninuous line drawings:

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Letting Go

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Awhile back I was emailing back and forth with an art friend about messages received online with negative intentions. A month or so before someone who runs another group online sent me a long rambling email telling me, “Hey I don’t want you to take this the wrong way and I don’t think you suck, but I don’t want to be associated with you, and by the way, you suck.” The way the message was written she wanted some sort of apology for an imagined slight, it took me off guard, and the tone in which it was written ticked me off. I collected myself and fired off a response. She fired off another long rambling email which again beat the dead horse of me sucking. I fired off another response and her another. After the 3rd exchange I realized I wasn’t going to get anywhere, no matter what I said or did this person was always going to think that I suck. I stopped responding. I let it go. I let her go.

In my conversation with my art friend I suggested that my friend shut out the haters, block their email and IP addresses, give them the finger and go on with her life.

The realization that I came to today is that is not what I did with the person who repeatedly said I sucked, you know, for my own good, in a patronizing “this hurts me more than it hurts you tone.” I let her go, which is inherently different from shutting her out. I said my piece and when I realized we were never going to see eye-to-eye, I let her go.

Fighting with someone who wants nothing more than the fight is a pointless activity. It detracts from the real good that can happen and from your reality. Life doesn’t need to be full of drama for it to be exciting and full of wonder.

I did learn from the experience. I learned that if someone comes to me first spouting sweet nothings about how great I am and then pretends to be a friend that they can turn on a dime at some perceived misstep. In the end I did block her email and IP address, I did that first, before I realized I’d let her go. I have to think that the conversation that I had with her before blocking her was as useful as the act of blocking.

This negative Nancy’s wanted nothing more but to tear me down to build herself up. But why? Some might say she’s jealous of my success (I run 2 websites that don’t make money, um yay?) or that she wants what I have. I asked myself all kinds of questions immediately after the interaction what exactly had I done to incur her wrath? I wanted to know where it came from. I wanted to explore it learn from it.

In the end I wasted a lot of time pondering her words and her anger, wondering if she were justified.

I let her throw a wrench into my life.

I gave her control.

I took the control back and let her go.

What does this have to do with art? It’s the time suck, the time I spent worrying about her I spent away from art, I let it get me blocked up and upset. Online interactions can sometimes leave me  feeling grumpy and tired and sometimes I just need to let go.

 

Cult of Stuff part 9

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I recently found a journal I’d forgotten about. It’s from the time when I’d moved home and was going through a painful break up. It was a tough time in my life but filled with lots of friends and family. It’s probably one of my more raw journals. I worked in ink, colored pencil, crayon, watercolor, glue, tape and ephemera. The drawings and doodles are not anything like the art I was doing at the time, which was mainly landscape done in watercolor, gouache and ink.

When I worked in that journal I had no notion of what my art journal SHOULD look like I simply worked in it. I wrote more than I drew and painted. I never took that journal with me places, unlike some of my other journals that I did during the same period.

Back then Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter did not exist. Loading an image from my dial up line took forever and was mostly reserved for my eBay sales. Sharing art was a commitment. Blogging was just starting out with services like LiveJournal and DiaryX.

It wasn’t until many years later that I’d make the commitment to sharing my art via the various photo sharing sites like PhotoBucket. It wasn’t until LiveJournal took off that I found many images of art journals being shared.

By that time my art journals had a look of my own, but still I felt I needed to add more stuff to make them more artsy.

Then I got over it and worked in my own style and used the materials that I liked, not what others dictated that I should like.

I like to use photos in my art journals. A few people might say that takes my art to the realm of scrapbook but I don’t think that is the case. I’ve been using polaroids, film prints and mini polaroids in my work for years. The only difference is that now I’ve got software that lets me adjust the images to what I want them to look like.

What I’m trying to say is that an art journal can have anything I want in it (or you.) It’s all based on how I best feel I can express myself. Let go of what you think your art journal should look like and what you feel others tell you it should look like.