Doodle Like the Masters!

Pablo Picasso. (Spanish, 1881-1973). The Kitchen. Paris, November 1948. Oil on canvas, 69" x 8' 2 1/2" (175.3 x 250 cm). Acquired through the Nelson A. Rockefeller Bequest. © 2007 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS),Museum of Modern Art, New York

OK, I mean no disrespect by the title of this post, but some of the most influential artists of the 20th century created certain pieces that look like they might have been thoughtful doodles. What I mean by "thoughtful" doodles, is that they are not haphazard or mindless, and make great use of the space of the page/canvas, but they still retain fun and whimsey, which I think is what makes the doodling process so appealing. I thought it would be great today to give ourselves "permission" to doodle in our sketchbooks!

I was surprised to come across the Picasso piece shown above, which I found in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art online, and thought I'd share with you here. In this piece, titled The Kitchen, you can clearly see the influence of Paul Klee and perhaps Miro in the simple whimsical linework, and the flourishes.
Look at this piece below, by Paul Klee, and note the similarities- the great use of space, a wonderful integration between the negative space of the background, and the positive space of his design:

Paul Klee. (German, born Switzerland. 1879-1940). Heroic Strokes of the Bow. 1938. Colored paste on newspaper on dyed cotton fabric on board, 28 3/4 x 20 7/8" (73 x 53 cm). Nelson A. Rockefeller Bequest. © 2007 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

On view at MoMA

Here is another piece by Klee, titled Twittering Machine. Notice the similar little shapes and flourishes to the Picasso piece at the top of the page.

Paul Klee. (German, born Switzerland. 1879-1940). Twittering Machine. 1922. Transfer drawing with oil, ink, and watercolor on paper on board with gouache, ink, and pencil, 25 1/4 x 19" (63.8 x 48.1 cm). Purchase. © 2007 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Finally, my last example to share with you is one of Joan Miro's paintings, titled The Escape Ladder. Again, there are similar shapes and a similar "feel" to the Picasso and the second Klee shown.

Joan Miró. (Spanish, 1893-1983). The Escape Ladder. (1940). Gouache, watercolor and ink on paper, 15 3/4 x 18 3/4" (40.0 x 47.6 cm). Helen Acheson Bequest. © 2007 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris, Museum of Modern Art, New York

What will your doodles look like if you do them with the intention of making the page interesting as a whole? Why don't you try it today in your art journal, and see what you come up with. Everybody has time to doodle. Right??

Study First!

Today, I'd like to share a little bit with you about the value of doing studies before beginning a painting or drawing that you will be investing a longer amount of time developing.

Don't worry, it is not nearly as painful as getting ready for an exam! It's actually fun, believe it or not, and a great day to get your creative ideas flowing. In addition to looking at the values that are already apparent in a scene, you can add and change values around so that they look even BETTER than what you are actually seeing. It is one of the great things about being an artist. YOU get to choose how to portray your vision.

Studies are great to do in your sketchbook or art journal. I usually start with a value study that is true to the scene- blocking in the range of lights and darks that I actually see, in large areas first- no detail at this stage.

These types of studies can be quick or more developed, but I generally spend between five and fifteen minutes on a basic value study. It is just a tool, and not generally very striking on its own.

Next, I will do a second value study, but this time, will edit reality to my liking. I might add some additional dark areas to balance out the composition, or move things a round a bit. It is a little like making a map at this point, and you are moving puzzle pieces around until you like what you see.

Once I get to that point, I will do a bit more detailed value and developed gesture drawing of the scene, like you see above (about 30 to 45 minutes, give or take). We will begin going into the power of gesture tomorrow, but for now, look at the values in the drawing, and how they relate to the final watercolor painting below.

I am out all morning today, but when I return, I will try to locate my original value sketches for this painting, so that you can see what they looked like in the early stages, or I will re-create them for you and revise the post. This will get you going for now.

Why don't you take something you'd like to paint or draw and try the techniques described above as a way to start. There are two reasons why this tends to keep life in your work- first, you are really looking at the full range of lights and darks and are beginning to use them to your advantage as you plan your painting. Secondly, after you have drawn the scene a few different ways, your brain relaxes, and you can get right to the creative part when you begin the actual painting.

Try this, and I think you'll find that "study"ing (in art) really pays off!

The Positives of Negative Space

To continue with our weekly theme of how shapes affect the art we make, today we will look at the importance of negative space in artwork.

For those who might be unfamiliar with the term, "negative space" refers to the area that surrounds the subject in a painting or drawing. It is the area that makes up everything else that supports the positive space (or the subject/object itself).

I chose a painting from the Yorck Project, distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH, which I found in Wikipedia Commons. It is an image that is in the public domain, and it shows a good use of the negative space.

Here is the information on the painting:
Artist: Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel
Title: Zwei Urwahler im Gesprach (Two discussing Voters)
Year: 1849
Medium: Pastel on Paper
18x24 cm
National Gallery of Berlin

I have outlined the shapes around the two men in the upper part of the painting, to show you the way the shapes make an interesting pattern. I did not outline the shapes made inside the boat or benches or in the foreground (the exterior of the boat/benches), but I invite you to take a closer look there to see that there are interesting shapes to be found in those ares of the painting as well. Basically, the artist has broken up the static background with these shapes, and has used the interplay between the negative and positive space to his advantage.



To contrast this, now that you have a better idea about how you can use the negative space to your advantage, let's take a look at a painting by the artist Albrecht Altdorfer:
Title: Sebastiansaltar des Augustiner- Chorherrenstifts St. Florian bei Linz
Year: 1509-1516
Medium: oils
Location: Augustiner- Chorherrenstifts St. Florian bei Linz

This painting is a much earlier work (by almost 350 years), also part of the Yorck Project. The main subject is seated in a gilded throne or chair, with a secondary subject in the background, partially hidden by a pillar.

Althought the negative space makes some interesting space as it goes around the shapes of the figures, throne, and architectural elements, there are too many small shapes and the negative space become chaotic. It makes the overall picture a bit hard to digest.

For your mini challenge today, consider carefully the shapes made in the negative space when you are laying out a sketch in your art journal today. Make the space have a purpose- to support your subject and make the whole drawing or painting more interesting.

Let me see what you come up with, or leave some comments about your experiences or impressions about this or recent topics!

Shape It Up- An Abstract Challenge

Today, we'll continue to explore the use of geometric shapes in art. Our mini-challenge today will be to create an abstract interpretation of what we see, based on shape.

Yesterday, we looked at one of Van Gogh's self portrait to see how he used repeating shapes in his composition. If you look back to the self portrait, you will see that it is interpreted somewhere between the reality of what we know of the human form, and a purely abstract view of portraiture. Our goal, in today's exercise, is to go past the semi-abstract, and elaborate on the shapes themselves to make something pleasing.

Today, using yesterday's post as a guide, dissect an interior scene or a photograph of something you like into its basic shapes. Do you like the way the composition looks when it is pared down to the basic elements? If not, consider moving some of the shapes around a bit to better balance the composition, without looking at the reference at this stage of the game.

If there is too much going on visually, edit out a shape or more than one shape until it looks good to you. Once you have your basic drawing the way you like it, take the reference away completely. if it is a photograph, turn it over. If it is a scene you are part of, ignore it, or move elsewhere to finish your drawing or painting.

Now, look at ways to integrate the shapes into something that works. Use color and value. Most of all, put your own twist on the art but creating a mood or feeling with the piece. Consider the way color and pencil or brush strokes can support the way you are feeling- an emotion you wish to convey. At some point, you may wish to return to the reference to gather some reaction to it, and translate that reaction to your abstract view.

Try to create a dance of darks across your page, to keep the eye interested. Add light values at the end, either by adding pure white sparingly or erasing to the paper's background to highlight areas you would like to draw the eye to. Remember, the person looking at your work will be drawn to the area of the lightest lights and darkest darks. Use this information in a way that will make your piece work better.

As we progress during the course of this art journey together, I will try to empower you as an artist to make your own decisions about translating what you see. It is great to have the technical skill to be able to render something accurately, but the greatest power you will have as an artist is to learn how NOT to be faithful in reproducing exactly what you see, and how to use movement, composition, value difference, line, and color to create powerful work.

It is my belief that we are not cameras- devices created to record an image exactly. Photographers know the power of using the tool- the camera- and manipulating depth of field, focus and point of view to get the viewer to see something special in something that might be ordinary otherwise. It is our job, as artists, to bring a special view to others who look at our work.

So today, create a masterful abstract! Try it in your art journal. I think you'll have fun with it.

Here's the first step for my abstract, just showing you some of the shapes I will plan to abstract out of this portrait of one of my dogs. Tune in later for an update with the actual art created from it....

Sketching In Public- Be a Secret Agent for Art!

Today's mini-challenge in the Art Inspiration Every Day blog is to try your hand at sketching in public. This is the final mini-challenge our our week devoted to creating and keeping an art journal. Tune in tomorrow for a whole new weekly theme!

I hope that you have decided that keeping an art journal is a beneficial practice, and will continue to work in your art journal as we explore new weekly themes and daily challenges. You may want to do future challenges (or as many challenges as you are able) in your new sketch journal that we have begun together this past week. If you are just joining in, just start with us wherever we are. You can go back later and try some of the past themes and challenges as you wish, but don't get hung up on doing it all. The idea is just to start in wherever we are, and you will begin to make art a part of your daily life as you move forward with the exercises.

Sketching in public is a great way to fit art in with your usual daily routine. Sketching in public can happen anywhere- at a coffeeshop, restaurant or food court, at an outdoor event (like a market or festival), in your car when you are waiting to meet someone or even just sitting on a bench at the park.

I usually like to sketch unobserved, so will share my tricks with you to remain anonymous. I like my "sketching in public" sketchbook to be small and to look like a regular book. That way, people will just assume that I am reading or writing in a journal and will not become self-conscious, like they might if they knew that I was drawing them. I also take a small drawing kit with me, which contains a Conte' pencil, a regular drawing pencil as well as a water-soluble drawing pencil, a Pigma Micron .05 pen or similar, and an eraser.

Depending on where I am and what I think I can get away with, I might even add watercolor washes while I am there, or at least add a bit of water to a sketch where I have utilized a water-soluble graphite pencil for the drawing. For this, you need a handy-dandy travel brush (which you can find at the larger art stores- try Dick Blick, Daniel Smith or Jerry's Artarama, and search for "travel brush."

A pocket-style watercolor palette is great to have, as well. Some travel watercolor sets even have a little container included for water. I know that Winsor-Newton makes a nice one, and as an alternative, you can make your own if you buy a empty plastic palette and fill with the tube watercolors. (Just make sure you let the paints dry in the pan sections for a few days before folding it up and taking it out with you, or you will have a mess!)

Select a place to sit where you can blend in with the background. If you are going to sketch in a coffee shop, choose a table along the wall or in a corner, preferably a few tables away from others. Make sure you order something, and wait a few minutes before you pull out your gear. Take out only your sketchbook and one writing instrument. If you get the cap-style eraser, you can stick the eraser right on the end of your drawing pencil, so that you don't have to have a lot of things out on your table to draw attention to you.

Try to begin sketching the entire scene, paying NO attention to detail at first. People will move, so just sketch the form in quickly and add detail as you have time. That way, if they get up and walk away, you will still have something that looks pretty good. If you start working on the eye for five minutes, after you have sketched in the whole scene, you will end up with a weird-looking drawing of a loosely sketched person with one detailed eye, so the idea is to build up the detail in your sketch fairly uniformly. Once your sketch is to a certain point, if the person is still there, you can decide to make a focal point of their hands or face, and put more detail your area of choice, but wait until your drawing has enough detail overall before zooming in on an area to detail. As I have mentioned in past posts, write some info about your scene, your mood, the date or a bit of prose or poetry near your sketches that you have made in public.

I have included a few examples of a few sketches I have done in public places. As these are not, don't expect masterpieces when you are out sketching in public. You will be moving fast, and the purpose is the PROCESS, not the product. The sketch at the top of the page was done in less than ten minutes total while I was on a job and I had a quick break. Another sketch (just below it) doesn't have any people or animals in it, but was something to do while I waited in an empty waiting room prior to an appointment, and the last sketch (at the bottom of the post) was done at a family gathering, so it was only a little "in public"-a good starting point if you are nervous about sketching in public. Animals move a lot, so it is also good practice to work with them, because you never know when they will change positions, which keeps you on your toes and working quickly.

Learn to take your sketchbook with you EVERYWHERE! You will be so surprised at the times you will have to sketch in public, and the 15 minute bits of time that will present yourself an opportunity to draw. The more you draw, the better you will get!

If you are shy at first about sketching in public, sit in your parked car and observe people out of the window. Try sketching that way first. But don't wait too long before going out in public to sketch. You will love the practice and the whole idea of sketching unobserved. Be a "secret agent" for art!

Sketch a Landscape

I know- most of you are freezing your tuckuses off right now, and my suggestion to "sketch a landscape" might sound daunting and unappealing this morning, depending on the type of weather you are experiencing in your part of the world, but- I promise- you can stay inside and sketch from a window or work from one of your photographs, either taken today or during a sunnier time and you will love adding a landscape to your sketchbook.

If you like, you can write in your sketch journal about your daydreams of being in a warmer climate today, or choose to revel in the cold and the snow, and sketch a winter day scene. Whatever your mood today, sketch a landscape that goes along with your mood

It is always a great idea to sketch from life if you can, because you can translate more that just what you see onto your journal page. Other senses become involved and become part of your impression of the scene when you are experiencing it in real life. The sketches and mini-paintings you see surrounding this post were all done at various places and times in different sketchbooks. Some are from life and some are from photographs. I tried to include a variety of approaches and media here- pen and watercolor, acrylics, and pastels. Also, some are more literal and others are more abstract. Try your hand at different approaches!

If you are working from a photograph, try to feel the mood you are getting from the scene first. Don't just try and replicate the scene- try and make it YOUR view, YOUR feeling of the landscape, and bring that out in how you make your strokes, how simple or complex you make your sketch and which colors you choose to work with.

So, sketch a landscape, and see how yours turns out today.

Share your work and experiences by including a comment!

Art Journal Update

I went ahead and did the Art and Letters challenge (see previous post), so that I could talk about the attitude toward the process while I was working on it.

First, let me say, that there were quite a few times I hated what I came up with, and other moments where I liked it very much. I feel pretty sure that a lot of you might vacillate between the love/hate relationship with your work as well. Am I right?

Anyway, I took a few shots along the way to give you an idea of how this progressed. The finished two-page spread in my Moleskine Sketchbook (shown above) took about 50 minutes. The graphite drawing (shown below with other pics) was done in 10 minutes, the first wash 10 more, adding watercolor pencil about 15 minutes, adding more watercolor pencil (dry this time) 10 more, and the last 5 minutes were spent journaling.

I ran up against some stumbling blocks- the paper got too wet from the washes, and I even made a hole in the page near the coffee cup, but my attitude is just that anything I do can be fixed or covered up. It is not a big deal. Here are some of the other pictures of the work-in-progress:

Art and Letters

Here is a great example of the Art and Letters challenge, submitted by Sandy W. of Charleston, SC. Thank you, Sandy!

Today we will start actually working in our art journals together.

The mini-challenge for today is called Art and Letters, because you will be using both art and text together to create an interesting page.

Today, think about creating a page that features something that you use just about every day, and may take for granted a little. Sketch it or paint a little picture of it in your art journal and write a tribute to it that you incorporate into the page.

The object that you will draw can be any object at all, but let's use the example, "Ode to my Coffee Cup," since a lot of people might want to try this.

You can elaborate on why this lowly cup is rarely thought about, but has such an important job to do- bringing you the caffeine buzz that you need to start your day! Whether it is a coffee mug, a paper cup with the obligatory cardboard sleeve, an insulated carafe or something else, it is usually ignored most of the time, but takes on a new life as you warm your hands around it and sip its lovely contents.

Make a title that you write in larger text and maybe embellish a little with color (colored pencils, pens or paint) or keep it really simple if you like. Just think about incorporating your own handwriting with your little sketch in an interesting way.

If you really hate your handwriting, don't worry, you will have lots of practice if you keep working in this type of art journal. Slow your writing down a little and pay attention to keeping it neater than, say, you might when jotting a note down at work, You might even consider printing instead- just experiment a little, and don't get hung up on it.

You have nothing to lose! It is only a little book with paper pages, and a small time investment to make the sketch. Spend anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour on this- no more. It shouldn't feel like it takes a lot of time, or you might begin to make excuses why you don't have time today, and YOU DO HAVE THE TIME. Fifteen minutes! Just do it!! You'll be glad you did.

Weekly Art Theme #1- Keeping an Illustrated Journal

You can call it an illustrated journal, an art journal, a sketch journal or sketchbook- all of these describe the book that you will be using for your work, but after you work in it for a while, you will find your book transform into something so much more than just a sketchbook. It will become a wonderful compilation of your creative self, using your art, tidbits of things you collect that inspire you, and your own journaling about the process or whatever is on your mind that day.

You will first need to purchase or begin using an unwritten-in, unlined sketchbook to devote to your illustrated journal. You can buy any brand you like, but look for one that opens flat when you work in it, so that you can work across both pages to make larger sketches. I like ones that are bound, rather than the spiral type, because you can draw without running into the spirals. Just check the bound types to make sure that they are easy to open completely flat.

My favorite type of book for this is the Moleskine brand large sketchbook. They can be purchased in most of the larger bookstore chains- (you know- the ones with the cafes and WiFi)....The size of this journal is compact and easy to carry along, and opens completely flat. The other great thing about these is that you cannot tear out the pages!! Yes- you heard me right! You do not want to discard any of your work along the way, because we are not perfect people. We are not art robots! When you make something that you think looks weird- write something funny about it in your journal or collage on it or add paint- transform it! You will become more creative if you don't let your internal editor get the best of you. This is about freeing you up to be creative. You can keep your art journal private or show it to everyone you know. It will be much more authentic if you let your work stay there and grow. So if you don't like how something came out, look at it the next day with fresh eyes and do something different to it, until you like it, or just let it be as a little record of how you were in that moment.

Another fun thing about Moleskine journals is that there is also a whole culture of devotees who are crazy about using that brand of journal, so it is fun to search on the internet and check out how other people are using their Moleskines. But, I digress- use any darn brand you wish- the important part of this is that you actually work in your sketchbook as much as possible. If you work in it daily, it will totally transform how you think about life and art and become part of who you are, but any work in it is valuable- just do it!!

So go get yourself a sketchbook today, if you can, and go ahead and draw or write something in it! Tomorrow, and the rest of the week, I will give you a new little idea each day about the work you can do in your new art journal. I know you will enjoy trying this.