Day 5 of my 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. I'm using sketches i created from Instagram photos on my iPhone I did as part of a 100 day project and turing 30 of them into paintings. User: @wesbrawner
Original Instagram photo:
100 Day iPhone Sketch:
30 in 30 day painting:
Watercolor, Watercolor Crayon & Ink. 8 x 8 on 140 lb. watercolor paper.
Day four of my 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. I'm using sketches i created from Instagram photos on my iPhone I did as part of a 100 day project and turing 30 of them into paintings. User: @northern_wind
Original Instagram photo:
100 Day iPhone Sketch:
30 in 30 day painting:
Acrylic, Silver Metallic Acrylic & Ink. 8 x 8 on 140 lb. watercolor paper.
Day three of my 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. I'm using sketches i created from Instagram photos on my iPhone I did as part of a 100 day project and turing 30 of them into paintings. User: @Sproctor
Original Instagram photo:
100 Day iPhone Sketch:
30 in 30 day painting:
Acrylic, Gouache & Ink. 8 x 8 on 140 lb. watercolor paper.
I'm about to embark upon a 30 day painting journey taking on the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge presented by Leslie Saeta. Somewhere around 750 other artists are doing the same and we will be posting our work daily here.
For my theme, I'm reaching back to my 100 day project from a few months ago where I selected a daily photo from my Instagram feed and did a sketch on my iPhone. This time I'm selecting 30 out of the 100 and turning those into paintings. This should be an interesting challenge. I plan on posting on Instagram and tagging the original user again inviting them into the process again!
It will look a little something like this:
Original Instagram photo:
100 Day iPhone sketch:
30 in 30 days painting:
If you would like to join in the fun, it's not too late!
One day a few weeks ago I decided I wanted to create something new, but I wasn't sure what. I started with just throwing down some watercolors, then took an X-acto knife to make shavings from my watercolor crayons. I spread these shaving out randomly on top of the previous (dried) watercolor. Then I grabbed a spray water bottle and sprayed around on the shavings until they started to dissolve a bit. I let that dry and washed over again with some more watercolors.
At this point I still wasn't sure what this work would become. I knew I had created a base to work off, but that was all. As I sat pondering, I felt a need to express something that would speak about a current social issue. Having been on a trip to Nicaragua this May to help bring clean water to a village, I decided that was what this piece was about. I found some reference photos to use as inspiration, and set to drawing with black Take-Sumi ink using a bamboo pen. Once the ink dried, I carefully went back in adding some yellow gouache.
The result was something that spoke to a lot of people, about an important issue. "A Cup of Water for the Least of These." I recently sold the original as well as some prints. Sometimes, you just need to follow inspiration where it takes you. Sometimes I plan out what I'd like to do, but other times I like to just "play" and see what comes. There is tremendous freedom in that!
If you're interested in donating money to help provide get clean water visit here.
If you'd like to purchase a print of this or other work of mine visit my society6 shop!
I saw this documentary available on Netflix called "Pablo" and decided to check it out. It turned out to be a very interesting documentary about an artist named Pablo Ferro. Odds are you've seen his work without realizing it. He's been producing innovative work for years. He's created opening credit sequences and trailers for tons of movies. If you are a graphic designer or motion graphics designer I especially recommend it. Be forewarned that this is about his life, and there may be some content that could offend (drugs, sex, etc.) if that's of concern to you. That aside, it was a very intriguing documentary on this artist and his life. It contains some cool animation throughout and is narrated by Jeff Bridges. If you have Netflix, check it out!
Don't miss your chance to see my 30 Days of Faces solo exhibit at the Hunterdon Library North Branch. Show ends August 31st. Most works are for sale. Spread the word!
Hunterdon Library North Branch
65 Halstead Street, Clinton, NJ 08809
Hours:
Mon 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Tues 9:00 am-9:00 pm
Wed 9:00 am-9:00 pm
Thur 9:00 am-9:00 pm
Fri 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Sat 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Sun CLOSED
Last weekend I entered the Hunterdon Library Outdoor Art Show. It was my first time in a show like this, and to be honest I wasn't too sure what to expect. They provided me with a 4 x 8 piece of snow fence to display my work, some for sale, some not and two pieces that I was to enter into the show for judging.
There was so much great work, and a variety too. The judges had a hard time deciding. Ultimately, my "Billiam Murray" took home First Place prize in the Mixed Media category! Hopefully I did Bill proud. ;)
This past Friday, June 13th, I completed my 100 Day Project of sketching photos from my Instagram feed on my iphone only. How'd I do it? Simple actually - I used an app called Sketchclub & a stylus to draw with.
It was a fun project that had some interesting by-products. One sketch won me a free t-shirt. I had a few (minor) celebrities respond to the sketches of their photos. But mostly, it was reactions from people I know and know only through online, that kept me coming back again and again. Most people were excited and thrilled to be chosen, so it made for a fun interactive element of harnessing the social in "social media". I ended up with a little over 100 (guess I got a little over zealous and my week out of the country made me loose track a bit). Thanks for all those who played along & encouraged me along the way!
If you'd like to see them in order check them out here!
Special thanks to Elle Luna for the prompting & invite to join her in this 100 Day Project adventure!
I had the privilege of spending a week in Nicaragua with a team of people from my church, working alongside an organization called Living Water International. Our goals were to drill a well to provide clean water for this village, and teach them about hygiene and the love of Jesus.
It was an intense week, both physically & emotionally. We had to move our drill rig and restart the process of drilling a few times, and ultimately it was determined that we would not hit water that week. There was no video of happy people experiencing clean water for the first time. There was no village celebration. It was incredibly difficult to process it all.
Our faith was stretched. We were faithful in all we could do, yet we did not arrive at our desired outcome. Thankfully, LWI is committed to continued efforts to bring clean water to this village. We wait in anticipation for the news.
Before I left for the trip, I had the idea of filling up a Moleskine sketchbook with the things I saw and experienced. While I had to finish things upon my return based on some photos I took - I'm so glad I decided to record these things to cement the experience all the more.
If you're interested in seeing all of the sketches check them out here!
If you've been tracking with my art, you know I've been doing a 100 Day Project. I'm at Day 61.
My normal routine is to flick through my Instagram feed & look for an interesting photo that i will then sketch on my iPhone. I've been trying not double up on anyone and so far, so good.
So today, as I flicked through my feed. I came across a photo from @mediapeople (Nathan Davis) of his daughter being prepped for surgery. I met Nathan once a long time ago at a church media conference. We were hanging out in the same crowd for maybe all of a half hour. So I did what any media guy does & followed him on twitter. I don't even know that we talked.
Fast forward to today. Seeing the photo he posted of his little girl Aleah, I knew I had to sketch his photo. As a dad, my heart swelled. As a believer in Jesus, I prayed for her as I sketched.
When I posted it, Nathan immediately responded that he was so encouraged, and as well he showed his daughter & it brought a smile to her face. That is why this is the best thing I've drawn all week. If my art can bring a connection, if i can use it as a gift (small as it is), then i feel like this is the best use of the abilities God has given me.
I don't know if you are the praying type, but if you are, would you pray for Aleah right now? She's been on a long road with surgeries to recover from a spinal cord injury from three years ago. If you're on Intagram, share some love on Nathan's account - @mediapeople
Sometimes the internet & social media just seem to rob you of time and amounts to nothing good. That's why I love when things like this happen to connect people. Why not join in & encourage these parents and their daughter? I triple-dog-dare you.
Last Friday I was sketching in Central Park. I like to go there every so often and just walk around, people watch, take some photos and recently, sketch. As I sat down in what is referred to the Mall section, I found myself sitting across from two musicians playing some songs for passers-by.
I decided it would be a great time to pull out the old sketchbook. Typically, I try to sketch people in public in as stealthy a way as possible as to not draw attention (no pun intended).
When I finished my sketch, I was ready to put my book away, but suddenly felt prompted to go over to the street musicians, throw a tip in their open case & share my art with them as they had been sharing their art with me.
What followed was a cool moment - I got to meet Sol Liebeskind & Agustin Uriburu. Sol was excited about my quick sketch so she snapped a photo to share on Instagram. It was a great little moment that wouldn't have happened had i closed my book and walked by (like you're trained to do growing up in NY). Glad I stepped out of the shadows.
Check out some of Sol's music.
I know it's common for artists to do self-portraits, but to be honest I have only done a few in my life until now. I'm not someone who has to look in a mirror whenever i'm near one. So this exercise was my most difficult yet as far as sticking with the subject matter. I struggled with thinking about how I could represent myself in more ways than just head on. There were times when I wanted to abandon this project, but I pressed on knowing that the only way to grow sometimes is to push.
Overall, there are a few that I'm pleased with. The rest were playing and tinkering. I did expand beyond my usual watercolors as of late, so that felt fun. Well, off to think up my next project.
Want to see the individual pieces? Check them out here.
I grew up on Jim Henson's work - Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock (to name a few). He was a master at creating magical realities. Unfortunately, as a kid you don't recognize the work and genius. You just enter it and enjoy it. With the release of the new Muppets Most Wanted movie, a whole new generation is getting to experience his brilliant work, long after his untimely passing in 1990.
I recently found myself checking out from my library, the audiobook of his biography "Jim Henson: The Biography" by Brian Jay Jones. While I had admired his work for years, and the part it played in my childhood, to be honest I knew very little about the man behind it. It was great to hear of his humble beginnings, and drive to succeed at his dream. I'm only on chapter three, but I'm finding his story inspiring and refreshing.
Especially noteworthy to me was a description of how he learned by experimenting and playing to problem solve. This often led him to breakthroughs that were unusual, because he wasn't trapped by traditional thinking or training. He often didn't know any better, and this freedom was the exact thing that he needed to try new things. Case in point - he decided instead of creating an immersive physical theater for his puppets, that he would wed his love of television and consider the monitor his puppets theater and world. Everything had to look good and operate with Television viewing in mind. This was not how his predecessors worked. It was revolutionary thinking for his time.
I suppose that in the past I never really thought to look into his story because I wasn't really interested in puppets. But there's so much more to his life and story. If you're looking for an inspirational book, from a guy who followed his dreams and passions - check this one out! You just might find some influential thoughts to your own dreams and creative process!
"Don't think about making art. Just Get it done. let everyone else decide whether it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they're deciding, make even more art."Andy Warhol
Always tension between the two.
What do you do if you feel like you're doing everything you possibly can to advance in your art and yet there seems a lack of opportunity? You try and try and yet it's like there's no traction. Where is that "lucky break"?
You have two choices:
1. Complain about the lack of opportunity and become jealous of those around you who seem to be succeeding with such ease. I could so do what they're doing, you think. But you're not. To be honest, you're barely doing what YOU are doing. It's not luck. It's hard work on what is before you right now, no matter how small or big.
2. Make opportunities. Yeah I know. I hear the push back. The truth is though, if you are HUNGRY enough you can take advantage of opportunities all around you. They just aren't those sexy opportunities that thrust you into the public eye with accolades and acclaim. And let's be honest. If we're going to bust our butt, we want it to count for something BIG right?
What I have found is that you might have to redefine your idea of what great opportunities look like.
If opportunity hasn't knocked, start going door to door.
Are you doing work you love? (If not - then get to it. Stop waiting for someone to ask or invite you to do it).
Ok. I'll use myself as an example. Would I like to have my art valued, hung in galleries and sold for a lot of dough, and soak in all that goes along with being a "successful" professional artist? Sure. But I'm not waiting for someone to come knocking. I keep taking the right next step. TODAY (That's my mantra, as you know well if you frequent my blog).
Practically here's what that looks like:
- I committed to a drawing or painting a day for an entire year. April 4th will be an entire year. I have held to that. And even done more some days. Did I do this because some one asked me to? No. I did it to kick to the curb the lie I believed for too long that I because I couldn't draw in a photo realistic style my art was no good. This experience is more valuable than your could possibly imagine.
- I have taken advantage of FREE (and cheap) opportunities. Visit the Sketch book project. Sign up to not only do a sketchbook but every so often they have other projects to join in on. Most recently it was The "Dreadful" Project and it was free to enter. Sign up for a class at a local art center. Take a class from Craftsy.com
- A fellow artist i follow on Instagram decided to do a #100dayproject and asked who might want to join in. (see my previous post) So for the past 21 days I've posted an iPhone sketch of someone else's photo in my Instagram feed. This has been great because I get to keep myself sketching and benefit from brightening up someone's day when I tag them in my post. They often are flattered & think it's way cool. And I even won a t-shirt from one post :)
- A few weeks ago I joined up with the NYC Urban Sketchers group. These are people who just love to draw. They meet up every Saturday in NYC and sketch in various places. Urban Sketchers have groups meeting world-wide. And it's F-R-double-E except when there's an admission to a place they are sketching (like the Central Park Zoo, which was $12 admission).
- Make things for other people. Give your art away. Give some to friends and family. Surprise someone with a handwritten letter and draw on the envelope. You'd be surprised how this could make someone's day. I did a watercolor painting of my daughter as a surprise for her 11th birthday. Your art is a gift, and while you need to make money if this is a career, there are also times when you need to gift it.
- Use social media to share your art. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest - you never know who might be exposed to your art, like it or even share it. It's todays networking. And if you're an introvert, this is great news as you don't have to have the personality of a mayor to connect.
- Look for local venues to display your work. In april, I will have one piece in a show at a local library. In August, I'll have my first solo show at another library. While it's not a SOHO gallery in NYC, it's getting your work out there that counts!
I don't say all this to brag. On the contrary, I say it to show that everyone has opportunity. Sometimes you just have to get creative, or change your perspective. And before you tell me it's easy for me because I'm a "creative professional" - all that I mentioned above has nothing to do with my full-time graphic design job. This is extra.
So, still think there's no opportunity? Get to creating...
The other day I tweeted out "Taking a Shortcut cuts short your opportunity to become who you need to be on the journey." This statement came to me after reflecting on a biblical account in 1 Samuel 24 where David had the opportunity to kill his enemy, King Saul, who had been pursuing him. But David chose to forgo the easy path. The obvious path, and what some people (especially those around him) would have said was the RIGHT path. David knew better. It wasn't the path to becoming who he needed to be. What does this have to do with creating your ART?
Following that, I came across this nugget from James Victore:
Do the work. The process is everything. If you cheat it, you compromise your transformation and come out unchanged - a knucklehead. And if you don't like doing the work the first time, you're gonna hate doing it again. Do the work.
Do the work. Become who you need to be, in the process. Without it, your Art, like your character, will be hollow.
There's a scene from the 1992 movie "My Cousin Vinny" (younger generations - you can google it) where the main characters get their car stuck in the red clay-mud of Alabama. Being from New York and out of their element (to say the least), they seem to be the only ones who aren't aware of this hazard but have to find things out the hard way. But It does becomes useful information for them later in the movie.
"...anyone who’s been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing." - Mona Lisa Vito, My Cousin Vinny
Ever feel like your Art is stuck in the mud? And no matter how hard you struggle to release it, your wheels just spin? It's tough when you feel like your the Art you're creating lacks traction.
Here are three observations from my own time spent while spinning wheels:
First, allow yourself the grace to be who you are, where you are. Don't be ashamed or embarrassed because you've compared yourself to where other's are. Or because you feel like you've lost time and now it's too late to close the gap of where you "should be."
Second, remember that today you are better than you were yesterday, and if you keep at it, tomorrow you will be better than today. It's a JOURNEY. It's always a moving target, so try to enjoy the journey and process, not just looking to attain a goal.
Third, set yourself up for success. Make small goals, then keep adding to them. You gotta crawl before you run. We know this in other areas of our lives, yet somehow in our art, we convince ourselves it's frivolous to exert that much energy challenging ourselves. Energy is going to go somewhere. You mind as well channel into something that will help you in your art.
No one is going to care about your Art if you don't. Prioritize for it. Work hard. Keep going. Surround yourself with encouragers. Up your intake so you have something to output.
What's one thing you can do TODAY to get yourself out of the mud? No excuses. Go do it! Then tomorrow, do it again, and add to it. Get a taste for momentum!
Sportaldislexicartaphobia is the fear of paintings and other forms of visual art. While most of us will never suffer from this particular phobia, we do in fact suffer from another kind of fear of art. The fear that blocks the creation of art.
I have had conversations with other artists at times and realize that we're all battling some kind of fear. Sometimes that fear gets the best of us and squashes our art (and our desire to create) all together.
Here are just a few that I have seen and/or experienced myself:
(What if they not only hate me, but hate what I create?)
(Doing something new or different seems just too difficult)
(What if I have nothing to say? What if I'm not inspired by anything and can't find my Muse?)
(What if I can't hack it? And crash and burn publicly? What if what I create sucks? What if it sucks and I don't realize it? )
(What if I succeed and am trapped in having to keep producing the same kind of art that made me successful in the first place?)
(I can't really show who I am in my work. It's easier to copy others. Hey, I might not even know who I really am, let alone be able to express that in my Art. I'm too lazy to do the work inside to figure out who I am, what I have to say, and what my style and voice as an artist is.)
Just like in other areas of our lives, we might never know exactly what hangs in the balance if we don't push past our fears. Notice most of the questions around our fear start with "What if...". That means it could be true, but also could not be true. And yet we invest so much emotional energy in the worst case scenario.
There's no one time fix all, rather a battle we have to keep showing up for. But when we do engage the fight, we can take ground and find new freedoms and reap the rewards of battle. Our ART can get a new breath and depth.
The thing is, it takes courage. And consistency. And a community of people around you. It's HARD work. Only you can do it. And no one will make you. Not even this blog post.
So, what fear do you need to face that has been holding back your art?
Not wanting to take that art class for fear of looking silly? Afraid to put your art up for sale because you think no one (except maybe family and friends) might buy and value it? Avoiding sharing your work with others because it's not good enough (you're playing the comparison game) or you feel like it's not your "best work" (perfectionism, anyone?)? Think you're too old to get back to your art, like that ship sailed a long time ago (If you ain't dead, you ain't too old!)?
Maybe today is the day you show up for the fight. You know what it feels like on the loosing side. Don't you think it's worth a shot to see what victory tastes like?
Go get 'em.
{Photo Credit}