I am used to thinking about myself as a reasonable and sensible person. Well, I’m used to.
The events of the the last 8 days show me that the anxiety I’ve experienced before was very mild and insignificant. Now I’m angry, sad, annoyed, irritated, anxious and tired all at once.
And the scariest part is that i feel I literally cannot do anything. I can watch, I can close my eyes, the picture won’t change. So I am going to live the life, as long as I can do it. Do your duty and let what should happen happen.
About 2 weeks ago I started drawing fun shapes over random pictures. The mood has changed, but this exercise really helps me relax. So I will keep doing it.
For many years I was so faithful to watercolour, it was my true and only. In the last couple of years, though, I tried more materials than in a whole decade before that. I started with acrylic paint and oil, then there were printing experiments, and now I went on to pencils, crayons, pastels and even gauche. Yes, gauche, that I painted with last time when I was maybe 6 years old 😀
What can I say? New materials a very liberating. It’s like moving to a new place where no one knows you and starting all over again. And it’s easy to make mistakes, you’ve never done that before, it’s okay to mess up.
Plus, stuff like oil pastels are good for quick sketches, so if I don’t have many hours, and lately I cannot find time for a proper painting session, sketching with some dry materials is quick and not too dirty.
These small (a4) random sketches I’ve accumulated since Christmas. I won’t call them “finished works”, but I like some elements and maybe will use some parts in digital projects or print as posters, haven’t decided yet. But l like this abundance and variety, I’ve been missing it since corona started 🙂
I have a small exhibition in Aalborg University library right now. Despite corona social weirdness and limitations, it feels great to see my pictures hanging on the walls in this nice space. I really wanted to show my works in 2020 and it’s happening! It will last till the end of January.
It happened quite unexpectedly, even though I was talking to the art union representatives for several months. Their sudden call was a nice last moment 2020 surprise.
Now to a few technicalities of putting together a small exhibition 🙂
It is the second time I have my pictures presented, but this time it was much more difficult to put it together – mostly due to the grown volume and difference in materials. Today I paint not only in watercolor, there are many pictures in acrylics and oil. I wanted them to play nicely together, and I think it worked in the end, even though the pieces are rather different in mood and contrast. I took some pictures of the ready exhibition and of my “casting” at home.
A separate challenge was to hang frames on the walls nicely. I’ve never tried hanging a bare canvas frame before. It turned out to be quite difficult for a newbie like me J I spent like 3+ hours putting them up. I needed to figure the order first, and even though I had a vague plan of my grouping, I had to change it a lot on the way. Make them hang on the same level was also “fun”. With my lack of experience in the field, it was quite an exercise, but learning was exponential)). Now I think I’ll have far less trouble with a similar task 🙂
At the same time I felt a bit under the weather because of corona situation. Exhibiting at the moment when not even half of the potential viewers can access the pictures is not feeling exactly great. So I was a bit hesitant to share the news on social media. But then I finally pulled myself together and made a small post on personal Facebook. I think I’ve never got so many positive reactions and comments on social media before, it was awesome – I am very thankful. So now, when the exhibition is almost over and almost no one can see it due to a harder lockdown, I still am writing about it. Because every step matters 🙂
I didn’t have much time to draw and paint this summer, so was mostly doing some work in photoshop. You know, the “fun” part, where you need to do scanning and cleaning of the original works.
At the same time, I got contacted by a Chinese company, who works with prints on silk and silk scarves. I checked the website and it looked legit. So I decided to give it a try. I ordered two samples of my designs on silk chiffon, and what I received was of a very good quality. My second order was 5 more samples. And here are the results.
I tried different kinds and of silk: silk twill, silk satin, cdc, and chiffon. All are 100% silk. I needed to iron them to get rid of the folded lines and used a steamer, hot air and a bit of moist didn’t create any problems, so they are not as fragile as they might look J
I also got many good replies from my friends and followers on Instagram and Facebook. In the end I made a small bulk order or two patterns and asked to make new samples – I think everything will be ready in about two weeks, I’m very excited to see how it turns out. The plan is to put some on etsy. I also contacted one of the local arts and craft shop and they asked me to bring a few items when I receive my bulk order. The fact that they were so open for it gave me quite a bit of confidence JNow I’ll need to do some homework for the legal and visual merchandising parts.
Recently I’ve seen a drawn copy of a photo I pinned to one of my boards on Pinterest, and then I’ve seen more pictures like this. It made me think about references in general. Just a quick note for those who are not sure what a reference is. A reference in art is an object, often a photograph, used for getting the details like anatomy, lighting, colour etc. right in the drawing/painting. Ideally, an artist should be able to draw “from head”, and some people are strictly against using references. But I think it is all right to use them in order to get a more realistic image – a bit of help to get the shape right. Quite often I have an idea of what I want to paint/draw in my head, and then I start looking for a suitable image to use as a reference, quite often I have a particular pose in mind, or an object.
What I am against, is when someone makes a copy of a beautiful photograph she saw – on Pinterest, for example. I don’t think it’s real art then, because the photographer has already done all the work: found the light, made composition. Making a copy is more of artisan, not a real artist. But sometimes it is really hard to resist “copying” something, especially when the picture you’ve seen is so great – I’ve tried that myself 🙂 In this case,I think it’s a good idea to add something of your own to it, supplement it with a new character/element, tell a bit different story, use other colours. Maybe even though it’s not 100% yours then, it’s still have your individuality in it.
I am a big fan of Pinterest, but now I think I’ll be using it less for references and more for recipes and cool things for the décor 🙂 Where to get the references then? Magazines, commercials, movie screenshots, pictures from your vacation, just what you see around you. I think it’s not even the question of where you get your references from, it’s about how you work with them. Do you copy it all, or just get that one line you were not sure about, or that combination of colous that you haven’t thought of before.. there are many ways. I’m trying to use the pictures I take myself more. I’ve collected quite a lot of material while travelling, and on a usual weekday try to not be lazy and pull out my phone every time i see something interesting.
These watercolors are based on the pictures I took on my last trip in Asia, one with my phone and another with the camera. Trying to do “art” of a snapshot is quite an exercise, makes you think 🙂
Legulie 