Illustration Friday - Stay

 

Stay With Me

(while I monkey around with my career)

Collage and graphite

9.25 x 5 inches

Big changes have happened in my life since my last post.  I did something even I couldn't have anticipated.  I resigned my high school art teaching position.  This was one of the hardest decisions I have made in a long time, and I know a lot of people think I must be off my rocker.  Maybe I am...  I absolutely love teaching.  I work very hard to be good at it, and I can only hope that the effort is understood and appreciated by those who retain my services as an educator.  The students always get it, maybe not at first, but eventually and reliably.  I miss them already and we are only half way through the summer.  

But change is good even if it is hard.  As Newton tells us, a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and I am no exception to that rule.  The current plan is:

1. Make art full time -  It is a now or never opportunity to promote myself as a professional artist.  Teaching gave me freedom to make art for personal intellectual pleasure at my leisure.  I have been much more productive in the last couple of years than in the past but now is the time to ramp it up to the next level.

2. Finish up my Masters degree - I am five classes away from completion.  With more free time I should be able to finish up by the end of next spring semester

3. Start a new blog - I will be putting up a new blog that will deal more specifically with my production of fine art and illustration. Illustration Friday submissions will be posted there as well.  I have three recently completed large canvases that are the beginnings of a new body of work.  As soon as I have good photos, I will inaugurate the new blog.

4. Work part time at Micheal's - As a evening/weekend "Customer Experience Manager" and hopefully fine art instructor... I still need to be able to make my car payment and tuition. :(  I worked at Micheal's about six years ago as a framer and event coordinator before I started teaching.  They still like me and have been kind enough to take me back.

I showed my son Todd, the illustration for this week.  He asked me what the word was, when I told him, he looked blankly at me and said "I don't get it."  If you have read to this point I hope it now makes sense.  To those who have been kind enough to follow this blog, I hope you will "stay with me" as I move on in another direction.  I'll post here to let everyone know when the new blog is up and running.

Make art with all your heart, mind, and soul!

Sally

Illustration Friday - Shadow

Pasture Gate

9 x 6 inches

water soluble graphite and colored pencil 

on watercolor board

This is just a quick color and value sketch for an image that I would like to turn into a small oil painting.  I find a little pre-planning helps immensely.  This gate is just up the road from my house and on this particular day, the play of light and shadow created beautiful elongated patterns.  For me the most interesting times of day for shadows are early morning and late afternoon, but it is also the most fleeting.  The sun seems to move more quickly when it is near the horizon.  For this reason I am a strong proponent of carrying a camera in order to capture references of this magical part of the day.  I also like use the computer to desaturate my studies to make sure the composition holds up based on value in addition to color.  It is a good idea to do this with paintings while they are progressing as well.

Here is an example of this study in grey scale.  I think it is still fairly successful.  Time to get busy painting!

Lucy Revisited

Lucy Loves Ducky II
40 x 30

Acrylic on Canvas

A larger acrylic version of the last Illustration Friday image that I did.  

School is out for the summer and I will be taking two graduate classes, and making art like crazy! Who knows, if any of this stuff sells, I may have to give up teaching. :)

Illustration Friday - Toy

Lucy Loves Ducky

8.5 x 8.5 inches

Watercolor and Sharpie Pen

Playing with toys is a sign of intelligence, and all of the higher order animals do it; elephants to whales to dogs and cats.  The tendency for humans and animals to continue to play well into adulthood is both a learning activity as well as a stress reliever.  My border collie Lucy thinks it is just plain fun.

Illustration Friday - Cultivate

2 point perspective drawing sample

I am teaching perspective drawing at school to my Art 1 students this week, and it just occurred to me today that my sample drawing could work for this weeks Illustration Friday word.  The drawing is not finished, but it is far enough along that it is a good example for my students on drawing a cityscape with details in two point perspective.

In addition to cultivating young minds, I have been doing a lot of literal cultivating this week.  I have built three raised vegetable and flower garden beds using the a square foot gardening plan.  I also purchased root stock of male and female hardy kiwi berry plants at Sam's club. I have been researching online to determine the best way to plant them.  It turns out that the vines get really large, (think Kudzu) so I am going to have to find some spare fence line to plant them on, or consider building an arbor.

You might remember a couple of posts back that I commented on my notoriously black thumb.   I figure I have about a 25% chance that any of these current gardening efforts will turn out to be successful.  I am ever optimistic that I will find the magic spell that will turn my black thumb green.  The above drawing is pure fantasy. :)

Illustration Friday - Stir

 

Stir the stars with a silver spoon,

and say "goodnight" to the waning moon.

The Sandman sings in the willow tree,

Ta Loo Ra La, Ta Loo Ra Lee.

I almost gave up on developing an idea for this week's word.  It just wasn't inspiring me and everything I could come up with seemed cliche or trite.  I'm not sure if this is any different/better, but this little quatrain kept swimming around in my head, so I finally decided it was worth pursuing.  Who knows maybe it will develop into a full fledged poem some day.

I am including the initial rough sketch.  There are a few things about it that I actually prefer.  Also the scanner fails to pick up some of the pale color shifts and value changes that are in the actual color version. :(

Foreshortening can be an interesting challenge!

Illustration Friday - Warning

Don't Eat Me!

ATC 2.5 x 3.5 inches

mixed media

Vocabulary word of the day:  Aposematism - a visual warning signal (usually bright color or high contrast pattern) indicating that an organism has a secondary defense mechanism such as; unpalatabilty,  poisonous glands, stings, neurotoxins, or foul odor.

Old IF entry wins Best in Show

Who would have thought that a small drawing created last year as an Illustration Friday entry would lead me to fame and fortune?  OK...no real fame and only a small $200 award.  But still, I am very proud to say that this small colored pencil drawing won Best in Show at last nights opening of Main Street Gallery's juried still life exhibit.   What a truly fantastic surprise!


The show will be hanging from March 3rd - April 12.  If you find yourself in downtown Tyler Texas, stop by to see all of the beautiful artwork created by East Texas artists!

Illustration Friday - Swarm

Queen Bee

Ink,  marker and watercolor on mat board
4x6 inches

Wow!  It has been too long since I have participated in Illustration Friday and I am having serious withdrawal.  I may have to commit to another 1 year goal to make sure that I stay motivated to keep it up.  

This is just a quick one this week, but it had me thinking about the zen of being at one with nature.  Nature and I have a love hate relationship.  I consider myself something of a nature girl, but become literally depressed when things don't grow and flourish in the ways I envision.  We have had terrible drought conditions here in Texas for at least four of the six years that we have been back.  I have had very little success at growing anything.  OK, in reality I have a black thumb.  My husband commented on it just yesterday when I was fondling the plants in the garden department at Lowe's.  But despite my general ineptitude with growing things, I have always been happiest outside, breathing in fresh country air.  And I like to think that I will eventually get better at nurturing nature, if I just keep at it.  (And don't forget to water)

I remember being particularly concerned about the state of the natural world a couple of years ago when I heard that bees were disappearing.   Apparently a bee virus was decimating bee colonies, but they seem to be making a comeback.  I am still pretty upset about the fact that I haven't seen a firefly in several years.  No one really knows what has happened there.  But on the positive side, ground dwelling birds have returned to East Texas.  I have been seeing road runners and killdeer again for several seasons now.  Apparently the fire ants are finally finding a balance.  That is the thing about nature, isn't it?  It always finds balance.  How Zen!

Illustration Friday - Winter

Walking in a Minion Wonderland!

Do you know that it is virtually impossible to purchase any kind of merchandise from the movie "Despicable Me"?  My husband is a five year old when it comes to Christmas.  All he wanted wanted was minions for his desk at work and there are none to be found anywhere.  Its not that people are snatching them up, its that none were ever made in the first place.  Soooo...loving wife that I am, I produced these three out of polymer clay just in time for Christmas.  I had to bar my husband from my studio and swear my son to secrecy, but they turned out to be a rather big hit.  Add a bit of wintry background, a couple of snowballs, and I ended up with a IF entry to boot.

Missed Opportunities, Baking and the Holidays!

We have one more week of school before the end of the semester and Christmas break.  Kids and teachers are anxious for the R and R.  I have been completely remiss in participating in Illustration Friday, but I still mull over ideas every week when the email with the new word arrives.  This last week I even went so far as to photograph my Schleich Mammoths for the word "prehistoric" while waiting on dinner with Todd at Dairy Queen.  I had good intentions to turn them into an illustration, but alas....well, I hate excuses, especially my own.

On the tastier side, I spent much of yesterday researching wedding cakes for my daughter Bailey.  This (of course) gave me a strong hankering for something tasty and sweet.  Since I was awake this morning at the usual 5:00 am, I got up and made an absolutely yummy carrot cake.  I had two pieces of it for breakfast and I am now in a diabetic coma.   I hate to cook, but I love to bake.  Other people love you when you bake, so it is a much more positive and indulgent experience.  Below is the end result of my morning labors in the kitchen.  Cakes are so pretty, even if you don't have the appropriate stands and plates to display them on (which I don't).

Happy Holidays everyone!  The nature girl in me has decided to celebrate winter solstice on December 21st.  I would love to hear from anyone who has a tradition of celebrating this celestial event.  Please leave a comment about what traditions you observe and the symbolic meanings behind them.

Illustration Friday - Spooky

A twelfth hour posting for Illustration Friday.  These are three more sketches using the LiveSketch app on my iPhone.  You can't help but end up with spooky images using this app.  Happy Halloween!

Illustration Friday - Beneath

Beneath a Pale Blue Sky: "Alchemy at the Edge"

24 x 48 Acrylic and Metal Leaf on Canvas

This is a recently completed painting that was juried into an upcoming exhibit at Gallery Main Street in Tyler, TX.  I am having a lot of fun participating in the themed exhibits that the gallery hosts, and have even resumed selling a bit of art.  If you are in the Tyler area, the show opens on Oct 28th.  Please drop by for a visit.

Illustration Friday - Acrobat

Digital sketches using the Ap "Live Sketch" on my iPhone

My son found this free ap a week or so ago and downloaded it onto my phone for me  I really like the charcoal look of it and the fact that you are forced to work loosely.  You are drawing with your finger on a 2x3 inch screen after all.  Of course it is such a small image that the resolution is not great, but on the iPhone it looks fine.  This week's word made me think of the acrobatic manuevers that birds manage while in flight. I am awed by the flight of the swallows that come back to my house year after year, as well as the redtailed hawks that take nose dives from nearby telephone poles. (Usually to pounce on a windblown leaf)

I took a good month and a half break from IF but hope to still contribute on a semi-regular basis.  I am finding myself more and more busy with teaching, producing art for a local gallery, and working on a masters degree so I will have to balance my time a bit more carefully.  Below are a couple of more images from this sketch ap.  Kinda scary but fun!

Illustration Friday - Artificial

Venus

3.5 x 2.5 inches ATC

colored pencil on toned paper

Some of the synonyms for artificial are: man-made, artful, cunning, imitation, sham.  Man has been imitating nature for a very long time.....

Illustration Friday - Double

Double Thunderhead - Crayon on Manila Paper

Well since I reached my one year goal last week, I thought I would use this week's word to finally make a banner for my blog and give it a design overhaul.  Blogger is starting to offer a lot more options for those of us who are technologically challenged.  I also decided that I would use a traditional public school art media, the good old Crayola Crayon.  Even though I rarely put crayons in my high school student's hands, I think they are as worthy and useful a medium as any available.  Nothing makes me happier than a brand new box of crayons!

Illustration Friday #52! - Breakfast

IHOP Breakfast

water media on rag paper, 9 x 12

ONE FULL YEAR OF ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY!

This weeks illustration is my 52nd consecutive weekly submission to Illustration Friday, meaning I have reached my goal of participating for a full year!  This week's word was a bit of a bonus since it gave me an excuse to visit my favorite breakfast restaurant, The International House of Pancakes, or as most Americans know it, IHOP.  My husband John and I went for breakfast yesterday morning as a sort of mini celebration for having made it through the whole year.  

As you can see, I had one of my favorite selections, the stuffed french toast combo, with scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns,strawberry stuffed french toast, and ironically, a diet Coke. :) (I'm not a coffee drinker)  John had something called loaded minion taters that IHOP is promoting with the "Dispicable Me" movie that recently came out.  His came with a tater tot casserole, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and an added side of bacon.  

We came hungry.  We left happy!

Illustration Friday - Diary

scanned and digitally manipulated image

click it to big it!

Like many other IF participants, my blog and sketchbooks are my diaries.  They just focus very specifically on a need to communicate visually.  This scanner image was inspired/stolen from this week's Photojojo project.  If you aren't already familiar with Photojojo, it is a fantastically creative photography blog site.   I think I may try do do something like this with my high school kids early next school year.  Fun stuff!

PS: I realized that I improperly submitted this to my blog site rather than the blog post so I am resubmitting it.  I apologize if you are seeing it twice.

Illustration Friday - Giant

Attack of the Giant River Otter

(collage)

A small mining community in Northern Kentucky was attacked yesterday evening by a Giant Amazonian River Otter.  Mine workers fled the scene while animal control, fire, and police officers debated over the best way to capture the rouge animal.  The 150 foot long creature disappeared into the mountains before authorities could devise a plan.

Juvenal Giant River Otter Sighted in Barrow Alaska

This just in... What appears to be a young Giant Amazonian River Otter was sighted just hours ago in the still sleeping town of Barrow Alaska.  The animal downed power lines and damaged several buildings.  Authorities will not comment on the rash of recent attacks or the reason for the enormous increase in growth that is forcing these animals out of their usual rain-forest habitat.

I'm late this week, but had lots of fun with the word!

Illustration Friday - Satellite

Lunar Horizon

12 x 12 Acrylic on Panel

This weeks submission has a dual purpose.  In addition to being my IF submission, this painting will be donated to Stephen F Austin State University's art department as part of its 12 x 12 scholarship fundraiser.  I participated in this event last year and really enjoyed the event as well as the opportunity to exhibit alongside quite a few very talented East Texas artists.  I also brought home a beautiful painting by Peter Andrews, a very gifted artist and instructor at SFA.

Now if I could just get someone to offer me a scholarship to finish my MAAE degree.  If anyone knows of scholarships for middle-aged high school art teachers, with excellent grades, working on a Masters degree, let me know!

Below is a second painting that I am donating as well.  This was inspired by a bird that has built a nest in my bicycle basket.   I have agreed to let her stay there until her babies have fledged.  It is too hot to ride a bicycle now anyway.  :)

Genesis Renewed
12 x 12 Acrylic on Panel