Meet the Masters

I took a break today to do some sample projects for art camp. Basically I spent all day in an elementary/middle school art class...so fun! I can't wait to explore the works of O'Keeffe, Picasso, the Renaissance, Matisse, and Klee with the kids.

More Color

I think these two are done...time for some more sketches. I picked up some kids' books from the library with great reference photos, so hopefully that will help my process.

Color

When I was younger, I hated water colors. They take a good deal of planning, precision, and patience. Since I saw all three of these disciplines as cramping my style, I buried my watercolors in the back of a drawer somewhere. Then a friend introduced me to watercolor pencils and they were the perfect compromise between my beloved drawing tools and the tedious paints. With the jellyfish, I am trying on a technique called glazing where one color is painted on and allowed to dry and then another color is painted lightly over the top. I'm having a lot of fun exploring and I even dug out my old set of "grown-up" watercolors this afternoon.

Jellies 3 and 4

These pieces are requiring more work than the other two. I think it might be because my reference photos weren't as good. Tomorrow I'll probably put them aside and start adding color to the first ones. I plan to do some smaller test runs first since I always find the line work comes more naturally to me than the color.

Jelly 2

Jellies

I could really get used to spending my days in the studio. After a much needed vacation in Monterey, I feel completely recharged physically, emotionally, and creatively. The art camp I'm teaching isn't until August, so I plan to divide my time between creating new pieces, administrative tasks, and hunting for a part-time job. I'm not sure exactly where the new pieces will take me but I'm enjoying working on a larger scale, drawing inspiration from the lines and textures of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's jellyfish.