Sketches!

Here are some sketches representative of the pieces I am currently working on. Some are only parts of images, while others show the entirety (well, more or less) of a piece.

They represent images I intend to paint digitally and traditionally, using a variety of media and techniques.

Curious? I hope you stay tuned for what is to come!

Sketches from an Artist at Play

Last Saturday, I did pencil sketches based on prompts given to me from my Twitter followers (and others). I didn't have a theme, but one soon made itself apparent: animals! It was a lot of fun. I just may do it again sometime, as it reminds me that art should be playful and it is okay to step back from super serious ideas and stories...if only for a little while.

There should always be a sense of play in art making, an exploration of both your materials and your capabilities.

On Drawing and Sketching

I rarely ever make sketches. I don't ever fill sketchbooks with drawings; a glance through my sketchbook may reveal a few ideas that are really worth developing, but by and large, its empty.  I have taught drawing; it is easy to see the difference in the drawings those who draw regularly and those who don't.

I see the value of the sketchbook.

It makes me question my own dislike of drawing: Is it because I think I'm not good at it, or because I'd rather paint or do printmaking? Is my time better spent working on the final product, or visually developing the idea behind it? I know that the drawing can be a final product in and of itself, but those aren't usually done in my sketchbook...

I drew in my sketchbook today, something that I definitely plan on returning to. I also periodically reexamine my sketches, for ideas that could be developed further or something I could incorporate into whatever it is I am currently working on.

Sometimes I think that maybe I don't dislike drawing as much as I think I do. For me, it is a means to an end, catching ideas and images before they are forgotten and helping them grow...as they help me grow in my artistic ability.

Healing the Connection between Inner and Outer Space

My inner space is constantly moving forward while my outer space seems to stay still. Though there is a part of me that would like my outer space--my physical self--to move as fast as my inner one, I truly believe it is the work of the inner space that is most important, most vital to my continued growth and learning, both as a creative being and as a woman.

Yet I remain frustrated with the slow-as-a-snail's pace movement of my outer space.

I need to draw this. I already see its potential as a painting...even if I don't quite 'see' the image.

These are the bits of prose that usually end of in my sketchbook. They are often more numerous than the drawings; bits and pieces of observations and quotes and prose that I don't usually share for they are as scattered and incomplete and mysterious and overwhelming and emotional and nebulous as my inner space. My art collects this and that from my inner space so I can see it clearly, feel and express it--bring it into my outer space--with some measure of certainty...

Oh, and many thanks to Laura--who I think lives a much more exciting life in her outer space than I--for the metaphor.

A Return?

This sketch was supposed to tell a very specific story, one that I never believed to be pretty...but it was honest and raw and real and I felt honored that it was shared with me.

This is none of these things.

To me, it's rather...cute. And a bit cheerful, certainly a lot more cheerful than I envisioned. It was about being vulnerable and letting other people in to share in a major life experience. I look at it and believe, quite honestly, that I missed the point...

Maybe I didn't.

Maybe here lies the beginning of a story that can't truly be told by me as it's not mine to tell, only to encourage and support. Maybe this is the future of the story, a happily ever after to look forward to...

Maybe?

Tree Woman?

Though I'm still a little nervous about this whole "peek into my sketchbook" thing (it feels a little like indecent exposure, somehow), I needed to begin somewhere...why not here, with this sketch? This was one of the sketches from the sketch-a-day project I did in January. I'm definitely thinking of doing it again someday soon. Hopefully the second time I'll actually manage to do a sketch each day...

 I've been drawing tree/woman hybrid figures off and on since maybe 2005, the most notable of which are (at least to me) are the relief print Asase Ye Duru: From the Earth We Arose, to the Earth We Shall Return (pictured below) that I did in 2005 and the mixed media painting The Tree Mother I did less than a year ago.

It's very much a recurring theme, but one that seems to change each time I revisit it. I've felt for a long time that trees have a nurturing, almost motherly aspect to them because a lot of plants that are food for people and other creatures grow on trees, many species make their homes in them, and, once they have taken root, they are a constant presence for many, many years.