More lost dogs...

 

Sorry if this looks weird. My computer is dead and I'm using the blogger app on my phone. It's a bit primative. I can't figure out how to format the images. 

Well anyhoo... Here are a couple more lost or homeless dogs. Drawn from Facebook posts.

Draw Tyler

From my sketchbook - detail. Copyright Michelle Taff

For the last two weeks I've been really interested in drawing faces. It's a skill that doesn't come easily to me, and I've been saying I would practice more portraiture for a long time. Below are a few examples.

From my sketchbook - detail. Copyright Michelle Taff

From my sketchbook. Copyright Michelle Taff

From my sketchbook. Copyright Michelle Taff

From my sketchbook - detail. Copyright Michelle Taff.

The first two pages I drew from photos uploaded to the sketchy app. The second two, well they're everywhere. Enough said (unless you can't tell who they are...???).  I really like the idea of drawing political figures and also wish I had the skill to draw caricatures. Something else to work on. I will say, my faces generally look like human faces, but rarely do they look like the photo or the person I'm drawing. Plenty of work still to do.

But this week I got really into the idea of sketching my town, and started with a trip downtown, stopping at the Children's Park on the way. This is a really fun project but way more work than I anticipated. If I want to be accurate anyway. Hopefully I don't get sick of it. To keep from getting completely bogged down in the minutiae of drawing places I started a series of small works. This is something I can complete in a relatively quick time and will give me something to sell down the way.

From my sketchbook. Copyright Michelle Taff

From my sketchbook. Copyright Michelle Taff.

Small works.  Copyright Michelle Taff

Also I started back to work on a couple of paintings I started last month and then abandoned. They are NOT completed in a relatively quick time. They are mind-numbingly slow process works. But I can't seem to help but pick difficult subjects to paint. I guess I like the challenge. Here is a work-in-progress shot of Chinese cabbage. Pretty thrilling I know. But... the heart wants what the heart wants... 

Painting in progress. Copyright Michelle Taff

Tips for Procrastination

     Writing a blog can be a bit intimidating. After all you are basically assuming that what you put out into the world is worth reading. It must have some value, right? I've thought long and hard about what I'm really good at. What do I know enough about to really sound like an expert when writing? One of the things I am most skilled in is procrastination. Especially in the things I love to do. (Like art-making which is what I'm primarily focused on.) This is not positive, I know. I write the following with my tongue firmly held in cheek. Please take it in the spirit it is intended, as motivation NOT to do as I do.

Tips for Procrastination

1. Believe in the Myth that is Multi-tasking.

     I am so guilty of this, it's not even funny. I proudly brag about how much I can accomplish at once, when in actuality I simply do a lot of things poorly around the same time. I will continue to try though. I love the idea of doing my laundry, listening to a book on tape, painting, paying my bills and organizing my week all at the same time. I believe it's just a matter of the amount of willpower needed to perfect this skill.

2. Be Overly Organized or Terribly Sloppy     

Hopefully I hid all the phone numbers and personal contact info stored on this page. It is handy, not going to lie! Come on you gotta love graphs! Also you can see here that I am most productive at the beginning of the week. I actually look forward to Mondays. It's my get it done day.

    

      If you are really talented, like me you can be both obsessively organized and a slob at the same time. I would like to say that this is a learned skill but it's a gift. Now what does this have to do with procrastination, you say? Let's start with the obvious. Sloppiness. When I have a few minutes to draw or even longer to paint, I head into the guest room I lovingly call my studio, which is just appallingly messy most times. Before I can draw I have to clear a space on my desk and find supplies. Before I paint I have to rearrange whatever has been dumped into the four feet between the guest bed and my desk to set up an easel and palette. This often eats up whatever time I have or leads to distractions, like when I find my spiro-graph or decide to arrange my paint brushes by height- again.

     Which leads to the problem of being overly organized. I love a paper planner. LOVE I tell you. I can spend hours decorating it and writing in it and looking through it and planning how I'm going to spend my time. Except that is how I spend my time. Can be so handy. Can be a time suck.

3. Spend Most of Your Free Time Looking at Other Blogs and Books for Inspiration.

     What artist doesn't love to look at art? Gather ideas and inspiration? It's great and we are blessed to live in a time when the world is at our fingertips. I often will sit down and look through my bookmarked sites just to get a good idea of what to draw right now and the next thing I know it's time for bed and I've forgotten most of what I looked at anyway.

4. Beat Yourself Up for Past Failures.

I don't like this page. It makes me want to throw the whole sketchbook away.

     We all do this right? Well ok, maybe I do it more than some. I took a class one time that explained that we set ourselves up for disappointment by having unrealistic expectations. Duh, you say. Well it seemed very profound at the time. An artist has to get used to seeing their own bad work staring back at them. It should inspire them, not make them want to turn off the light and walk out of the room.

5. Don't Have a Clear Idea of What You'll Be Working on Before you Begin.

     Boy oh boy. And how. Do I need to explain? Ok. Well in the page above I knew I wanted to draw and sat down, looked around for something interesting and ... all I can up with was the pen in my hand. This happened on each consecutive day. Pitiful. That's where looking at all those other blogs was supposed to inspire me, right? But I'd already forgotten what I saw. When I was taking painting classes, my professor drilled into our heads that you don't waste time in the studio. Before you walk in, you know exactly what your next step will be. You plan it out while you shower or drive or wash dishes. You are always thinking about what to do next. When I forget this, I loose precious time.

6. Compare Yourself to Others.

This pages were drawn in the style of someone whose style I admire. I would happily link to her website, but I fear you would compare me to her.

     Last week in my Tuesday morning ladies' Bible study we were talking about this and someone mentioned this quote (I didn't note down the author, but I'll try to find out) "Comparison is the thief of joy." Yep. We are all so blessed, but we miss out on enjoying our blessings because we're too busy looking at someone else to see what we don't have. Someone will always be more talented. And you will always be more talented than someone else. Don't let it rob you of your joy. It's yours, for crying out loud.

7. Overbook Your Life.

     Sometimes, procrastination is outside of our control. There are things that have to be done. Have to. Taking care of kids. Work. Feeding your family. These are non-negotiable priorities. There are days I can't squeeze out a free moment. And there are days when I busily do things that could wait, or be done more efficiently later. How much time wasted on a single errand that could be combined with another tomorrow? You know the drill. Say no to say yes, blah blah.

8. Have Too Much Inspiration.

     This may sound backward but having too many great ideas rolling around in your head is as paralyzing as having none. This summer (like every summer) I have a long list of projects. Like refinishing furniture, or writing and illustrating a children's book, or making lots of quilts or a new group of paintings or writing a watercolor workshop or teaching kids art. I get excited and start one project and then I get excited and start another. Well you can see how that works out. I have a lot of things started. It's just overwhelming.

9. Be Unrealistic in Assessing How Long a Project Is Going to Take.

I dread working on this unfinished painting because I know it will literally take hours to do one layer. I worked on it about six hours this weekend and made it about a foot and a half down the canvas.

     I like detail. It will kill me someday. Or blind me. I'll sit down to do a twenty minute sketch of a pine cone and two days later I'm hating myself. I always think I'm faster than I am. I love the finished product in the end, but the joy in the process often gets lost along the way.

10. Mess Around Your With Art Supplies Instead of Using Them.

Well this drawing doesn't really prove the point but it does show my new fountain pens!

     Sometimes I really do draw my supplies but a lot of the time I just move them around or change the ink in a pen or see what types of paper I have in the drawer, or line up the washi tape in the opposite direction as the original way they were stored. I like to touch the tops of the brushes and reorder them according to their purpose. Waste. Of. Time.

11. Let Your Mood and Emotions Affect Your Production.

I borrowed this technique from an artist I really admire, but once again, if I told you who, my work would suffer GREATLY in comparison. I will link to her another time.

     I have the worst habit of only working when the mood moves me. Plurggg! That is not productive.  AT ALL. Luckily the mood hits pretty often or I would never accomplish anything. Also, if I'm feeling down, I'm not creative. I can't get things going. I'm lucky to just keep pulling air into my lungs. Quotes help then, especially scripture (as in the example above). There is a lot of scripture in my sketchbooks. It's imperative to think of art-making as a job. Take it seriously and just do it. Whether you feel like it or not, you big baby.

12. Don't Take What You Love Seriously.

     ...and no one else will either. This is a bleed over from the last tip. If you want something bad enough you'll work for it, cherish it, grow it, and pray prayers of gratitude that you have the chance to do something you love. Artists Make Art. I write these words in my planner every week to shame myself for not taking every opportunity to stretch and grow and worship God through the visual arts.

Trying to get in the drawing mood

 An exercise from the Sketchbook Skool Bootkamp class. Draw an apple in various stages of consumption. This was fun and relaxing. I even loosened up a little. I did this while listening to my Bible study lesson. I'll be coming back to this exercise in many variations. Ink and watercolor in a watercolor Moleskine.

Tapping Into My Inner Frida

I guess it's prickly pear season in my studio. I took several pictures of the flowering cactus when we were in San Saba a few months ago, and made a sketch then.

Which was translated into a watercolor painting that I just finished (maybe, I think). Here it is with my reference photos. I don't paint watercolor on the easel. It's just so I can get a look at it.

Close up view.

Last week when I went to the Mexican grocery store to buy tortillas I found tunas, or prickly pears. Well, having written so many papers about Frida Kahlo I felt I had to take them home. I did a sketch and took some pictures for a future painting. Now, does anyone know if they taste good? I'll have to try them later tonight.

Monkey Business

I mentioned earlier that I made a sketchbook out of scraps left from printmaking class and various projects-I just have a hard time throwing things away if I think I can use them later. Well I made that sketchbook into my monkey book. Huh, you say?

Just as I associate the octopus with stress and lack of control, (for example, here and here) I associate the monkey with self doubt, you know the old "monkey on my back". I have for years and it seems so odd to realize that many other artists do as well. Well this book is dedicated to monkeys and overcoming self doubt and the glorious freedom that comes with it. Since the book is made up of all different shapes and sizes I don't feel obligated to work in chronological order. I just open the book and draw. (Granted there aren't many drawings yet) Here's a peek so far.

From stencils I made using drawings I found on the internet. Spray paint is fun. I want to spray paint the whole book.

I started this little guy on a piece of scrap paper to use up some acrylic paint I had left on my palette before it dried. I like him way better than the original project I had the paint out for. Just pasted him in the middle of the book.

I think it's important to note that I don't have more self doubt than the average person, or the average artist. I think I'm just very sensitive to it's effects on my production. I honestly feel better when I can say "Oh that's just the monkey getting you down." I'll be honest, a lot of times the monkey is there telling me I'm not being authentic to myself or thinking what I make is MINE. When I remind myself that I am a tool for God, that old monkey goes and lies in the corner. 

One Sketchbook Down Many More To Go

Unfortunately I haven't sketched as much as I would have liked the last couple of years. I really haven't mastered the art of the quick sketch. Quick for me could mean an hour. I feel like that is a lot of time I don't have during the school year. So I've been trying to draw as often as possible this summer. I made a goal to draw everyday in June but that lasted about 7 days. Still , I don't want to beat myself up about it. I'm drawing, that's what counts. I finished the 8 x 8 sketchbook that I made last summer. (Eek. I hate that it took almost a year to finish it)

This is the second sketchbook I've made and I really didn't know what I was doing. Still, it held together and it was fun. So much so that I made another one this weekend. Same size, but made up of all the scraps of printmaking paper that I had leftover from the two printmaking classes I've taken, mostly Rives BFK and Arches Coverstock. It is literally a scrap journal. Made up of all different sizes and shapes. I don't know how well the paper will hold up to sketching or painting but that's part of the fun for me. 

Anyway, here are the last few layouts in this book. (Actually these are some of the last few. I had a few stinker sketches in this book. It has been heavily edited.)

I have many more finished pages in the moleskine, but I'll save those for another day, and a couple of really cool sketchbook projects that I hope to share later as well. Have a great Monday.

This is for the birds

Whew! Been awhile since I've posted, or even visited this little spot. I don't have just a ton of work to post but there's enough to make a too-long post. I find lately that I'm reluctant to share online. I'm paranoid, I guess, about copyrights and such, but also I tend to use my sketchbooks as journals and I really just don't feel like putting all that out there. Now if we were sitting at my kitchen table, I'd have no problem with you looking through any of my books, but there's something disturbing about the impersonal nature of blogging. Maybe it's just a phase I'm going through. 

That said, here are a few sketches. Strangely enough I uploaded them in the opposite order they were created. It'll be just like traveling backward in time. Like Dr. Who. First up, a saucy flamingo painted in my watercolor sketchbook with gouache. As the journaling notes, I've fallen back into the bird habit. Hard. I thought I'd moved on, but here we go again. I may never finish that longhorn painting on the easel.

...and a Sooty Tern, for you consideration. Ballpoint with acrylic and gouache accents in moleskine

...and a couple a dancing Pelicans... acrylic and gouache in moleskine

I'm dying to learn the art of graffiti . When I worked at the bank I used to sit in my car at lunch and look at the train cars stopped in the rail yard across the street and marvel at all the graffiti. How do they do that? Make art with spray paint in minutes all the while looking over your shoulder? Cool. I want to study it more. Clearly just trying to write my name in this stylized manner strained my brain. Ballpoint pen in moleskine

 

Okay first of all, I don't really draw people that well. Okay. That's settled. I know I need practice so from time to time I practice with my own face. And anytime someone sees these self portraits I hear how they don't look like me. I can't really tell. Sometimes I know they don't and sometimes I just don't care. I drew a face. I used mine as a guideline. We'll leave it at that. Ballpoint pen in moleskine.

These last two offers were done during and just after our ski trip to Santa Fe. We had a great time. Loved the city and I think we will definitely go back. However, I'd never skied before and it was a bit (just a bit) of a traumatic experience for me. Above, acrylic and pen in moleskine. Below, uniball in moleskine.

So...that's enough for tonight. I'm thrilled to have more time to draw and paint and hope to post a little more regularly. It really is a good motivator. Hope you all have a fabulous rest of the week. 

Behold the Mighty Longhorn

Well, mighty might be an overstatement, but they're pretty darn interesting. I was given the idea, or the challenge, of painting a longhorn over dinner Christmas night and have been thinking about it (mostly thinking--can't seem to find time for anything else lately) ever since. I know what it looks like in my head but haven't been able to devote enough time to getting it out on paper. Here is my version of watercolor, trying to stay loose and a tiny bit abstract.

Here is what turned out to be a cartoon version. I'm ok with that, but not to worry, this is not our final direction. Point of note, I used India ink to sketch him in and work the background (which is not at all forgiving, thus the cartoony-ness) which makes it look shiny. No bueno

This is a sketch trying to learn the ways of the cow. Well, at least I got the horns right. Hope to rough in the painting tomorrow. Canvas is prepped and waiting.

Stuff and Nonsense

I plan to spend my weekend with this bad boy, or a reasonable likeness of him as I try to lay it on a canvas once and for all. I'm tired of thinking about birds and rocks. Time to exorcise that particular demon. Acrylic in moleskine.

Here are a couple of mediocre and pretty silly sketches from the last week or so.

Trying to draw people. NOT my strength by any means. Poor girl has a chin for days, but I like her foot ok.

Ink and watercolor in watercolor sketchbook

Ok, another trial tonight. A little bit better but still disappointing. You know what really stinks? My sister took up sketching like a month ago and is a hundred times better at drawing faces than I am. Clearly I need some professional help. I think a figure drawing class is in order. Or at least a little more practice. Mechanical pencil in moleskine.