Timed Still Life Gesture Drawing Video Made for Beginning Artists

 This weekend I made a resource for beginning artists. It's a gesture drawing video for still life compositions.

The video feature simple shapes and 10 second, 30 second, 1 minute and a 5 minute intervals with an emphasis on a single strong light source.

You can find the video on youtube at
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IbS4auP0sw 

I have also made the images copyright free, except for selling to redistribute, so you can use them to paint with or reference for in a portfolio. Images for download are found:

http://dabblebag.weebly.com/videos.html 


Enjoy! I had fun making this, and hope to make more like it with growing complexity of composition. 

 

3 Steps to Choosing Art Projects And Give Your Goals a Direction

This will be a great idea.
 After I test it myself and get guinea pigs to test it too, I want to write an e-book and set up a webpage with ads.

So, baby steps?
Always.

Three steps to help you create a direction for your career.

Here they are:

1. Naming the Direction You Want to Go in.
2. Creating Quantifiable Criteria for Your Direction
3. Evaluating Your Projects

Now I want to expand on those in an e-book. A free e-book.

Three Steps, but I never said they were easy or short! But I think they will be worthwhile. Not only will you have a clearer sense of what you want your career to be like, you will have the basis to an artist's statement and a purpose to your efforts.

Notice I'm not saying GOAL, I'm saying DIRECTION. Why?

Goals:

• Fail/ Succeed-- may not be as useful for the ever evolving projects of artists.
• Time limit to being complete. What happens afterwards?
• Aren't as flexible to change without a feeling of failure to the original goal. 

Direction:

• Continues after goals are reached, gives a purpose to the goals!
• Can change, more fluid
• Give you more meaning and purpose
• About developing more than achieving.

I want to write an e-book that will always be free. PDF, good for mobile too! Printable, in black and white to make it easy to print at home. That means ads on the website for it. Building this tool actually fits in MY main direction when I followed my own process.

Lucky me. 

Want to be notified when the e-book comes out?

Sign up for my e-mail newsletter! 

Faith That Comes with a Lifetime Warranty: What Happens to Faith When You Doubt?

Here's a pretty picture to be replaced with sketches soon.

Doubt.
Are you afraid of it?
Do you do everything you can to avoid it? 

It's very nice of you to try to not break your faith. But what happens when you do doubt? Do you give up, or take it to the manufacturer with the receipt? We did not buy our faith, it was bought with the sacrifice of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the receipt, and when our faith is weak we can take it to God to get it fixed. Lifetime guarantee. Your faith is expensive, why give up on something when you have such a warranty on it? You give up because you do not value the cost of it, and let doubt take over. You don't have to give up on faith when you doubt, and you don't have to fix it yourself. Take it back to the manufacturer to get it fixed!

I want to make an art work themed on the promises of God, hope, and the seal of the Holy Spirit. Problem is, that's all very churchy lingo. How do I translate this message into the visual language?


I can see a mixed media triptych,  am not sure about all of the elements or the content of the elements. I was thinking of using some seals of some sort, the wax stampy kind. Or threads, things torn and pieced together. What does a contract look like without words? 

Handcarved Dip Pen Nib Holders Stained with India Ink

Here are some nib holders I carved from dowel rods. Not the fanciest wood, it was soft enough to do with a craft knife.

Then I stained them with India ink and a polyurethane varnish. 

I think they will be posted on Etsy soon. They come with the nib, which I also bought on Etsy. That makes the price a tad higher because nibs are pricey!!!

En Plein Air Painting At Kalamazoo Farmer's Market

 It was a little busier than I thought when I got there at 8:30. I stayed for two hours.

 Thanks to Scobey's Produce for letting me steal a spot to paint in. I did this little 8"x10" for them as a thank you gift.

Here I'm letting some palettes dry before I pack up, and getting the WIP dried up too.

Here's a view of my spot. I didn't end up using this canvas though. Not yet anyway.

Getting Into Oils With a Still Life Macro Painting of an Artichoke .

6"x6" Artichoke, Oils, 2015  WIP



 Still slightly new to the nuances of oils, I think I love them. I know my art basics and fundamentals, and now I get to apply them in a new medium with plenty of time for blending.

I bought an artichoke and did my own photography with my beloved camera that does a great macro.

Here's a bit of my set up. I don't have color ink at the moment, but working from black and white photographs gives you a better idea of value independent of the color. Also, I'm using aluminum foil for a palette right now. My oil painting media are at the other house.

I am painting with straight paint, no thinner or oil added to it. I would have liked to start  with thinner for the first underpainting, but was too lazy to go to the other place to go get it. I like how it's turning out though.

Small Acrylic Paintings and Other Odds and Ends

Acrylic, 2010

Here are some old beauties of paintings I thought I would air out online.

Acrylic, 2010

Pen and ink, 2010

Watercolor, 2009

Acrylic, 2011

Acrylic, 2013

 

 

 

Digital Painting, 2013

Ideas from Vegtables and Fruits for the Next Still Life Painting

I have a need to paint. Today did not get much painting done, so in the end of the afternoon I went out and bought some fruit and vegetables. Those are fun to paint!

I am going to work from the photos I take so my light stays consistent, and with how much I work, I doubt I can complete it all before the stuff goes bad. 

Do you know how hard it is to artistically peel an orange?

Most of these things are backlit by an overcast Michigan Spring day.

 Love the translucency of grapes and oranges! Which is why I chose back-lighting.

 I love the macro on my camera. Go ahead, you know you want to Pinterest it!

I may put these on a long aspect ratio canvas.

This one I would love to do on a medium to larger canvas. I'm not sure if I will go for oils or acrylics if I go larger.

Set of Small Acrylic Cloud Landscape Paintings for Sale with Free Shipping

I have a set of 6"x6" paintings for sale in my Etsy shop now. That size of canvas is very addicting!

You can find them HERE,

unless they are sold! '


























And here are the detail pictures for you! 
 

Having an Idea for a Small Fiber Art Series: Should I Pursue the Project?

I had an idea for a project, which is always very dangerous, because ideas are just powerful.

Also, ideas tend to be very strong for me in the beginning of the inspiration cycle, so sometimes I need to sit on it for a few days to see if it's wise to pursue.

Meanwhile, I want to make a small fiber/mixed media series called The Twelve Baskets.

Each of the vessels represents, or will represent something we can give to God that he makes bigger. We give of our little, we give of whatever tiny thing we have, and trust in him to grow it to fill the need.

I had many ideas for how to go about this, even down to asking for donations of materials so I could "enlarge" the donation with the art process and make a piece of trash worth $60, and have a sort of cooperative art work! We'll see. I'd like to have people invested in the process, and they can see thier contribution in the final product too. And I'd have at least 12 people at the opening event.

But where to exhibit these things? I would be selling them individually unless someone really wanted
all of them. And I'd want to have a little booklet to go with them.


Another idea for Art Shows:  QR codes that people can scan and go to information about the art! I'd have to see how those work, because I don't have a smart phone.

Etsy Shop is Open Again: Small Acrylic Landscapes and 6x6 Paintings.

Examples of what's for sale.

I've opened my Etsy shop again!

This time it's mostly tiny paintings, 4x12, 6x6, and 8x10. I call those tiny.

Want to see more? Please check out my shop! 

Here's a link to the shop. I always have free shipping!! (I put that into the price so you know exactly what to expect!)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Dabblebag

Small Paintings for Sale at the Alamo Craft Fair

Repurposed Wooden Box Upholstered Folding Jewelry Display for Craft Fairs

 Once upon a time, I was given a box.

I painted the inside of the box white.

And wanted to make a folding jewelry display out of it.

 So I cut cardboard slightly smaller than the inside of the box, and cut batting the same size.

Then I cut an upholstery fabric a few inches larger and cut the corners diagonally so it would fold flat

I pulled the fabric around the back and used my glue gun to secure it.

They fit perfectly in the box!!!

Now I can use pins to put tags with jewelry on it!

Even with the padding, the box will shut with the jewelry inside.


Easy to make, easy to transport and set up, and easy to store!