Art Journal - Winter Tree

Decided to get in a little practice today by painting one of the trees in our back yard.

Winter Tree

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #26 - Happy Little Tree

"Maybe in our world there lives a happy little tree over there."
      - Bob Ross

Painted this one in a cloud of fatigue at 3 a.m. When I shared it, I was told it was "a very happy looking tree." The name has stuck in my head.

This painting is growing on me. I like it.

Happy Little Tree

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #25 - Tree In Meadow

This is one of those paintings that just came out of nowhere. No reference photo. No clue what I was going to paint when I started. Just a desire to paint SOMETHING, and a vague impulse to paint a purplish sky. 

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #23 - Autumn Tree

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
      - Albert Camus

I am sticking with the tree theme today. I have a limited amount of time at lunch, and it is much easier to paint one of my small trees when I am in a bit of a rush. Definitely more relaxing as well. The tree below was painted in watercolor on 4x6 Kilimanjaro natural white block paper.

I thought the quote above was so cool the first time I ever read it, and I still love it. I like thinking of autumn trees as a garden in bloom, full of little "flowers" bursting with color. From a distance the leaves may all look the same, but when you see them up close they are like snowflakes, in they all have slight little variations in their shape and color that make them unique.

And every year that tree "garden" blooms just a little bit differently, so you can always look forward to a new and exciting show. God is an awesome gardener!

Autumn Tree

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #22 - Another Tree

"The trees are God's great alphabet:
With them He writes in shining green
Across the world His thoughts serene."
      - Leonora Speyer

Anytime I make a painting that I am really disappointed in (like last nights quickie sunflower - BLAH), I like to go back to my favorite subject: trees.

Even when a tree painting doesn't turn out quite the way I wanted, I am still happy, just because I like painting trees.

Shoot, the trees are my favorite part of any painting. Even when its just some vague, loose blobs in the background to hint of a treeline or forest, its my favorite part to paint.

Why? Because trees used to make me FREEZE. Totally. My first sketchbook has 3 drawings I did not complete because I had NO CLUE how to make the trees in the foreground or the background. It was a major sticking point for me.

My teacher tried to explain it to me, but without seeing it, I just wasn't getting it.

I'll never forget the night I had a breakthrough. I was sitting with some of the kids at a Parents Night Out I was hosting at my school. I sat out some watercolors for the kids to paint with, and I decided to sit down and join them. I was painting a pond I had fished at once that had woods along one edge.

I remembered my teacher had told me the trees did not have to be detailed. You just had to get some basic shapes in and let the viewers eye/brain make them into trees. So I loosened up and just splattered them in (well, thats what it FELT like anyway.) I was totally amazed when it WORKED. It looked like a treeline!

The kids were all looking over going "Wow - I didn't know you were an artist."

I was like "uhhhhh, not exactly, but thanks."

It was just a quickie little painting on a scrap piece of paper, but I was so excited. I remember how thrilled I was to show my teacher that I had MADE TREES!!!

That painting is still sitting on my desk.

So, tonight's painting attached below may not be anything special, but to me, the fact that I am able to accomplish even that, is a pretty big deal.

Watercolor Tree on 4x6 paper

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #21 - Sunflower (Sort Of)

Gave myself 5 minutes tonight to attempt this sunflower exercise from one of my books. The petals definitely look rushed. I'll go back and attempt a slower version in the future.

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #19 - A Tree

"Art is the tree of life."
      - William Blake

Tried a new brand of watercolor block today - Kilimanjaro 4x6. It has a texture that seems really different than any of the other papers I have used.

Its been too long since I painted a simple little tree.

There is nothing special about them. They break just about every rule I have ever been taught about creating art. But painting them makes me happy!

Little Green Tree

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #18 - The Road

"If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere."
      - Henry Kissinger

I have to admit that this past week I have felt like I am on that road to nowhere artistically.

Yesterday and today I ground ink to brush paint and could not get inspired. I attempted to put the brush to paper and found myself making random strokes that ending up forming.... nothing. I went through my books looking for exercises and could not bring myself to complete one.

Tonight I thought that maybe going back to a pen/ink painting would light a spark. Ehhhhh.... Tonights simple painting, one that would usually take me all of 20 minutes, took hours. I found myself staring at the paper, brush in hand, for long stretches of time, without adding a single stroke.

I've finally realized tonight that the problem is I have not been painting for me. I've been painting for the challenge, painting for what I think I am SUPPOSED to be painting and what I think the few visitors to my little blog would want to see.

Painting for every reason except to simply make myself happy.

I'm going to attempt to fix that. I'm going to paint what I want. If it means I paint a crappy tree 5 days in a row, so be it. Shoot, I LIKE painting crappy little trees! :)

I feel better already.

The Road To......

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Playing Catch-Up

Being sick this past weekend put me a little bit behind, so I am planning on doubling up some this week to get back on track so that I will have at least 30 total paintings by the end of the month.

This of course means on double-up days I will have to paint my watercolors even faster and looser than usual.

I actually did pretty well with the whole fast and loose thing until I got to the palm tree in the beach scene. I found myself slowing down tremendously to paint the palm branches. The branches alone took twice as long as the rest of the painting.

Both paintings below are watercolor on 6x8 paper.

I'm thinking maybe tomorrow its time to grind some ink again and make some brush paintings.......

Mountain Meadow

Beach and Palm

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #13 - Fences

"Fear Is The Highest Fence."
      - Dudley Nichols

That quote is so true. I can guarantee that over the course of our lives, we are kept from more happiness and joy by our fears than we ever will be by something as simple as a barbed wire fence.

I know I for one have gone over, through, and under actual, physical fences of all kinds since childhood to get to things and places I wanted, but I am STILL hung up on that silliest of all fears, the fear of failure, that keeps me from achieving things I would love to accomplish.

If it had only been something as simple as a razor wire topped fence that separated me from creating art, it would not have taken me until the age of 41 to pick up a paintbrush. I'm slowly but surely getting better at facing, and overcoming, that silly fear of failure, and have no intention of letting it hold me back from any more of my dreams.

I spent this Saturday and part of Sunday miserably sick with some kind of GI bug. I did not stir from the sofa or the bed until Sunday afternoon, and had no desire or energy to create anything artistic. So I am now behind by two paintings. No worries though, I am confident I will be able to come up with some multi-painting days.

While flipping through my folder of reference photos, I came upon a very simple one with a fence running down a small hill and between two trees. The photo was of a winter scene, and I wondered what it would look like in the summer. The thought intrigued me, and I figured it would be something I could paint fast and loose and get done over my lunch break.

The two trees did not turn out quite like I wanted (I tried a different way than my usual technique to paint evergreens), and the fence is a little rough, but after a 2 day layoff, I'll take it.

The Fence On The Hill

30 Painting In 30 Days - Day #10 - Flamingo

Ok, do you know how hard it is to find quotes about flamingos?!?!

Whenever I am having trouble with inspiration, I can just about always be saved by finding a photo of a flamingo to paint. One of my very first watercolors was a flamingo for my mom. She loved it, and I have been painting new ones for her collection ever since.

After feeling so horrible yesterday, I knew today a flamingo was going to have to be my project. So I scoured Google and pieced together a scene from a couple of my favorite photos. The painting below is on 6x8 cold press watercolor paper.

I also got some ideas for a few more projects, so don't be surprised if flamingos pop up again.

And again. :)

Flamingo

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #9 - Kicking At The Falls

No quote today. Ever have one of those days where you are completely, and totally, uninspired? Where you feel like even MORE of a hack than usual?

Today was definitely that day for me.

I tried to sit down at lunch and start a painting so that I could post earlier today, with ZERO success. I could not think of a thing that excited me, or even caused a twinge of some semblance of interest. I looked through my "inspirational" folder with no luck either.

So I asked for assistance. The first suggestion was to do one of my tiny figure paintings with myself practicing martial arts on a cliff. I actually (yeah, I'm embarrassed to admit it) have photos of myself doing martial arts poses on a LOT of different cliffs, including the Grand Canyon. Remnants of my younger days.

But after the struggle I had painting the overlook at Big South Fork on Day #7, I said I just did not want to attempt a cliff again.

The next suggestion was balancing on a big log. Sigh. Yep, I have photos of that as well (shakes head in embarrassment again......)

So I ended up going with a scene where I was throwing a round kick while balancing on a log over Fall Creek with Ozone Falls in the background. I had to leave out a few elements of the scene as I was just too tired to painstakingly put them in. Any Tennesseans familiar with Ozone Falls will immediately know what I left out.

Anyway, its not much, but it keeps the streak alive. Hopefully tomorrow will see the return of some level of inspiration!

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #8 - Skating

"We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them."
      - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Its unusually cold here in Tennessee, just like it is over most of the country right now, and there are patches of ice everywhere. My daughter Aubrey has been fascinated by it all, and does not miss an opportunity to slide and spin like a little madwoman on every patch she can find.

This morning after I taught my kickboxing class she found a small patch in the parking lot and launched into her now standard spinning routine. When she was done, she looked at me and said "I wish I could go ice skating for real."

What does a dad do in a situation like that? That's easy - we jumped in the van and drove 50 miles to Knoxville and the closest ice rink!

Post by Bill Whitworth.

As I skated around the rink today with Aubrey, I thought that learning to skate, to learn to glide across the surface of the ice, is a lot like learning to paint. In the beginning, the movements of skating are short, choppy, and hesitant. Just like a beginning painters brush strokes. You are all over the ice, and slips and falls abound. Everything is painstaking and slow. Painting is the same way. No control over the brush or the paint. Lots of mistakes. And you agonize over everything.

As you improve and gain confidence though, things change. Skating motions become smoother, you glide faster and easier, and slips and falls are farther apart. In painting, the brush strokes get easier and more controlled, and the mistakes slowly decrease.

I found myself becoming hypnotized by the rhythms of my skates and the skates of the others on the ice, and was fascinated at the difference between the grooves in the ice left by the obvious beginners and the experienced skaters. Its like looking at the difference between my paintings and those of my expert friend.

Anyway, tonight when I sat down to paint, I knew I wanted to create something that involved Aubrey and skating. The interior of the rink made for a pretty dull background, so I decided to idealize the painting and make up a winter wonderland. Well, kind of. I had to stay within the boundaries of my limited skill set. 

I was fairly pleased with the final result. Nothing great, but I did not make any major frustrating mistakes. So I took the painting to Aubrey and my wife to review. And of course, my VERY literal little girl has to say "Daddy. We did NOT skate outside. We skated in a RINK. You did it WRONG!"

Sigh. The life of a dad......



Aubrey Skates

Hmmm, its strange - the scanner REALLY picked up the texture of the watercolor paper this time. I have not seen that before.......

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #7 - Big South Fork

"There is a river somewhere that flows through the lives of everyone."
      - Roberta Flack

I love rivers. I've loved them since the first time I waded into one as a teenager, cast into the gently flowing waters and felt the tug of a fish on the other end of the line.

Time seems to flow differently when you are out on the river. Something about the the water moving past washes away the pent up worries and frustrations and slows time to a peaceful crawl. Its the best therapy I know.

I've fallen in love with many rivers over the course of my life, and one of my favorites right here in Tennessee is the Big South Fork. While the fishing is, frankly, terrible, the canoeing is outstanding, and the hiking along its banks and through the surrounding hills and mountains is world class.

My favorite hike is up to the Angel Falls Overlook. I've always joked that it should be called the Angel Falls OverHEAR, because most of the year you can HEAR the Falls, but you can't LOOK at them.

I have probably taken a zillion photos from the overlook. This past October I got to share the beauty of the hike and view with my daughter Aubrey for the first time. So today I decided it was time to attempt a painting.

I won't bore anyone with the struggles I went through putting paint to paper on this one. All you have to do is look at it - they are right there in plain sight.

I'm not upset though. When I look at it - I know, without a doubt, what the scene is. When I look at it, I can feel the breeze moving through the gorge, I can feel the vertigo I get when I stand close to the edge of the overlook, I can smell the pine trees, I can hear the roar of the rapids at Angel Falls, and I can feel the elation and joy I get every single time I step out onto that overlook.

I think that's what art is supposed to do for the artist, so I am happy.

I will be even happier when, someday, my paintings can bring the same feelings to the other people that view them.

Big South Fork - Angel Falls Overlook

Art Journal - Still Life - Mug

I prefaced my cherry painting earlier with a quote about facing things, good or bad, head on.

This was a challenge I really did not want to face. Hmmm, that's becoming a bit of a theme isn't it? My art cowardice? Definitely need to work on that in 2014.

Anyway, I do not care for still life paintings. I don't particularly enjoy looking at them, and I have no desire to paint them.

I do understand though that they are necessary to become a better artist, and are vital for learning shapes, tones, values and shading. They are vital for learning to SEE.

But, did I mention, I really, really don't like them?!?!

So I was challenged to paint a still life this weekend. I put it off and put it off, and managed to find a ton of different things to do today to avoid it. I came very close to going to bed tonight without having gotten it done.

But that quote about the cherries kept popping up, and I decided I just had to face it. I said I was going to do something and I had to do it.

So I attempted to paint the mug on my desk I have been drinking hot chocolate from. Challenges abounded. How on earth do I capture the curve at the lip of the mug? How do I mix the paint to show the transitions from lighter areas to shadow areas without the dreaded blooming that plagues my watercolors? How do I get the color of the shadow right? How, how, how?!?!

Much as I dislike them, I can tell that I am going to have to do more, because while it was not a FUN project by any means. it was an eye opener.

Still Life Mug

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #6 - Cherries

"You can't pick cherries with your back to the tree."
      - John N. Mitchell

Doesn't matter if its "picking cherries" or attempting a challenge, you have to face things head on to get them done.

At least once a week I like to attempt a challenge from my book "The Chinese Brush Painting Bible." This week I decided to attempt painting cherries on a branch. Why cherries? Because my last attempt at painting fruit was a major disaster! I had to make at least an attempt to redeem myself.

I filled two pages with practice cherries, stems and leaves.  Why is it that when I moved on to the actual painting, I could not get the two strokes for the cherries to match my practice strokes? Grrrr.

One victory - I think I actually got a couple of the leaves right! Considering leaves are one of my many arch nemeses (had to look that plural/spelling up), that's a pretty big victory for me, so I'll take it.

In the end, my painting looks NOTHING like the brush painting in the book. There was a time when that would have frustrated me deeply. But it DOES like something I created, something unique to me. Its MY art, and that's what really matters, that's what I am slowly learning to accept.

Cherries On A Branch

Snow Day

"Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery."
      - Bill Watterson

We won!

While we may have won a lame "prize" as far as the snow is concerned, we certainly hit the jackpot temperature wise. It is COLD here and the temp just keeps dropping.

Aubrey and I got out for a few minutes to have a little fun in our dusting of snow, but a few minutes is about all we could stand in the biting wind. Sigh, my daughters choice in clothing certainly did not help her at all.

What does any of this have to do with art? Well, nothing I guess - but I love to share photos of my beautiful little girl!

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #5 - Flowers By The Sea

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."
      - Henri Matisse

Day #5. One sixth of the Challenge completed.

Today felt like a pen and ink day. The warmer weather (however temporary) also made today seem like a good day for flowers. As cold as its supposed to get tonight and tomorrow - I needed an escape! I wanted to see flowers!

I scanned through a ton of images on Google before I found this one. Flowers and the ocean - a perfect combo! I painted the scene using the basic thumbnail view from the Google search. It was a little fuzzy, but did the job. When I was done I went ahead and clicked thru the image to visit the webpage it was on.

I was surprised to find that it was not a photo after all, but an oil painting!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34463075@N00/7899612896/

Flowers By The Sea

Art Journal - Fly Fishing

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."
      - John Buchan

Elusive. But attainable. The quote is about fishing, but it could apply just as easily to art.

Sometimes I feel like the brush stroke I want is just as elusive as the trout at Cataloochee. But when I get it right.... Oh yes, when I get it right, when everything seems to come together into some semblance of what I imagine in my head, it is just as sweet as feeling that tug on the end of the line after seemingly endless casts.

And I feel hope. Hope that someday those moments of "rightness" will come more and more often, just like the hope for clean casts and tight lines.

Fly Fishing

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #4 - A Dragon

"O to be a dragon - a symbol of the power of Heaven."
      - Marianne Moore

Is it only 4 days into the 30? Why does it feel like so much longer?

I was challenged today to paint a Dragon as my contribution. Yikes. Its crazy, my martial arts school is named Red Dragon (unbeknownst to many, that name was NOT my choice) and I am surrounded by Dragons of all kinds - painted, drawn, screen printed, carved, embroidered, knit - on pretty much a daily basis. I own an absolutely ridiculous amount of t-shirts with Dragons on them.

So why, when given the challenge, was I totally freaked out?

Well, duh, Dragons are HARD!

I have a history of freaking out when given assignments to draw or paint things that are, in my mind, difficult. I put off attempting trees for a pretty long time. It was silly of course, as trees are now one of my favorite things to paint.

So I sat down this afternoon to attempt my dragon. I started with my usual Google search for a reference photo. Uhhhh, crap. Did I mention that Dragons are HARD?!?! Every Dragon I saw had so much detail, so many complex parts.

My drawing skills are, frankly, terrible. Which is why I like brush painting and fast, loose watercolor. As little detail as possible, thank you!

Then it hit me - maybe a Dragon brush painting? A quick change in the Google search brought up some vastly different Dragons. Not easy by any means, but more within my limited skill set.

So, the Dragon below is an amalgamation of the 3-4 different Dragon brush paintings I liked. The body from one, a head with features from two, and arms/claws from, well, God only knows how I came up with those. I used a whole piece of paper practicing various arms, and really did NOT even want to include them. But what is it they say - "God hates a coward?" So I caved and included them. Ugh.

So having "slain" the Dragon challenge, will Dragons become a favorite creation? As of right now, I am thinking no. While my final creation can be viewed as very simple - there is not a lot of detail, and it is a very, uhhh, sparse, I guess, image, I can assure you, the PROCESS was NOT simple.

But that's why this whole 30 In 30 is called a Challenge, particularly for an amateur like me. And that's what makes it a great experience that I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in!

The Dragon

Art Journal - Practice Paintings

"It doesn't matter how badly you paint, as long as you don't paint badly like other people."
      - George Moore

I'm going to take solace in the fact that I don't think my bad painting is like anyone else's bad painting!

I felt like working in my art journal a little bit more tonight. I have been putting off painting a sunflower for awhile because they intimidate me. During my last 30 in 30 challenge I was actually encouraged by several people to paint a local field of sunflowers, but I chickened out. So, tonight I Googled sunflowers and found a photo I thought might be something simple to start with.

I knew when I started sketching the petals that I was in trouble. Doing this in pen and ink first was probably one of many mistakes. There is absolutely nothing natural about the petals on this poor, poor flower. I'm just glad the composition only included about half of the darned things.

Not a great start to my sunflower journey, but I should think positive - it IS a start at least.

Sunflower

As long as I was torturing myself today with the petals on the orchid earlier and the petals on the sunflower, why not make it a trifecta and torture myself with some more bamboo leaves?

I went ahead and turned to the next page and cranked out some quick bamboo. I did not grind my own ink this time, I just went ahead and used ivory black from my watercolor palette. The paper in the journal soaked it up so the whole painting ended up fairly light.

Overall it is not a good composition, but I felt like I got a few leaves right anyway. So I'm going to consider it a victory.

Hopefully, each time I paint bamboo I will get maybe one more leaf right, and my hit percentages will increase. I would like to get to about 30-40% with my leaves by the end of 2014. That would make me ecstatic!

Bamboo

So, overall not the greatest work to share. But if I am going to share my journey to learning to be an artist, I have to share everything, the highs and the lows, the good and the bad. Because that's the way any authentic journey goes.

Any journey worth taking anyway.

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #3 - An Orchid

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."
   - attributed to Buddha

I decided to continue playing with my 4x8 watercolor block today. I also decided to try and work on a really small brush painting, so I went with an orchid. I enjoy painting the long leaves of the orchid plant quite a bit. I love the twist and the flow. I'm not good at them, but I feel like i improve each time I make an attempt. The flower petals on the other hand....

Painting orchid petals for me is just as much of a challenge as painting bamboo leaves seems to be. No matter what I do, I just cannot seem to make them flow. I always end up painting them "stiff." Maybe I should have tried painting some while undergoing post-surgical pain management a few weeks ago - I was pretty relaxed then!

Just kidding. It doesn't seem to matter how relaxed I feel, petals and leaves just come out stiff. Guess its just another one of those things I need to figure out the "secret" to. :)

Orchid

Art Journal - Flying A Kite

Some days paintings for me are like potato chips - I can't stop with one! (or two, or three......)

I recently got a beautiful new watercolor art journal, and I have been dying to get something painted in it. Tonight I was looking at photos on Google, trying to find something for Day #3 of the 30 In 30 challenge, when I saw an oil painting of a meadow with a mountain in the distance. I thought "that meadow would be a great place to fly a kite with my daughter."

I did not want to save the idea for tomorrows project, and thus, the first entry in my journal was born.

The Kite And The Meadow

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #2

For today's painting I wanted to go with a hiking theme, and I wanted to experiment with a new paper size, so I broke out a 4x8 block of watercolor paper that has been sitting on my desk since the spring.

I was also wanted to go fast and loose, so I decided to take a brief break from the pen and ink I have been playing with the past few weeks. I am still dealing with some blooming issues, but overall I am ok with the results. I did not use a reference photo for this painting, so the perspectives are a little more skewed than usual.

Hiking Thru Evergreens

I also wanted to experiment with doing a brush painting on the 4x8 paper and try out a new brush at the same time, so I did the below "quickie."

I noted on Facebook that it is a good thing that grinding the ink for brush paintings relaxes me, because I continue to be frustrated by painting bamboo leaves. My teacher told me a few weeks ago that she can tell a childs age/developmental stage just by looking at how they paint certain things.

Well, I am convinced that anyone looking at my bamboo leaves would swear I am a 3rd grader!!

Hump Day New Years

I know he can be a little annoying, but I love the Hump Day camel. And I love that Christmas and New Years this year fell on Hump Day. 

I did a snowman/camel painting for Christmas, so yesterday I figured - why not do one for New Years as well? 

Yes, I know my snow camel is pathetic, and I was totally clueless as to how to paint fireworks. But it was fun, and that's all that matters, right?

Hump Day New Year

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #1

As if I didn't already have enough on my plate going into the New Year, I decided to join a group of artists (over 400!!) kicking the year off with a 30 in 30 challenge. I did ok with my solo challenge back in October, but I have a feeling this one is going to be a little tougher. I have to post my work alongside that of real, serious, working artists.

Fortunately, with so many artists participating, my hack work will (hopefully) get lost in the shuffle!

Below is my project for Day #1, another in my fly fishing series. I decided to play one more time with the pen and ink along with my usual watercolors, and I also wanted to use some warmer colors. I don't think my choice of greens worked well, but you live and learn.

Fly Fishing At Sunset