22nd & 8th, a Digital Watercolor

22nd & 8th

This week I worked on a digital watercolor for Leanne. It was suppose to be her grad present when she graduated from NYU last May but I had so much going on that I couldn't get it done until this week. It's the view from her window. I wanted her to have an artistic reminder of her life in NYC...where she lived when she went to NYU, graduated, fell in love, made her stage debut and started her career as a working actress. She even rode out Hurricane Sandy here. 

I did it all in Photoshop. It took 6 hours over three days and had 16 layers. I didn't save each layer so I can't show the progress like I did with the lion painting from the last post but if anyone has questions about doing a digital watercolor, feel free to email me. 

King of the Jungle

King of the Jungle

After nearly a year of traveling, hosting company and having my brother diagnosed with cancer, I finally had two weeks to do nothing but take care of myself and indulge in some art!  I started the month with a detox, (my hubby participated as well which made it much easier to stick to) eliminating coffee, tea, sugar, wheat and dairy. Treated myself to a couple of massages to help speed along the removal of toxins. Purchased a juicer, a Vitamix, dehydrator and a bread machine to make my own gluten-free flax-seed bread. All of this was spurred on by my trip this summer to the Pura Vida Spa in Costa Rica (I'll share photos of my trip in the next post). In the five days I spent there with my mom and my friend Phoebe, I ate a high alkaline diet, had body treatments and left feeling rejuvenated and a lightness of being. When I got back, the stress hit when my brother Ryan was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma (his treatment is over, now it's just "wait and see"). Stress can take a toll, causing one (uh, yea, me) to indulge in sugary mojitos and sweets. Thus, the detox. Detoxing is suppose to clear your mind as well, improving focus and clarity. I took advantage of that and the free time to delve into some digital art, creating my third painting done entirely in Photoshop. 

Lita and I got together for a digital art Saturday a couple of weeks ago and each of us picked something to work on from a Photoshop Creative magazine. I decided on a tutorial by Emerald de Leeuw on painting animal portraits. Here's a tip: when following a tutorial where the skill level is "expert", it's probably a good idea to be an expert at Photoshop. Unfortunately, I am not, nor did I notice the skill level until after I started and got stuck trying to understand what the hell they were trying to tell me to do. I *almost* chucked the whole thing but later that night, at home, I decided to just do it on my own, feeling my way through an array of colors and brushes and applying learned oil painting techniques. 

It took me 10 days, 30 hours and 40 layers. Titled King of the Jungle, here's how I did it.

The first step was to roughly sketch out the lion. This need not be perfect, I just needed to get the placement of the eyes and mouth correct:

My starting sketch

Next, I blocked in colors. I chose a variety of yellows, oranges, deep reds and browns. I also started the eyes right away, figuring if I gave him a soul, he would stare at me and demand I finish him. :-)

Now, I used a smudge tool to blend some of the colors together and then brushed in hair using a smaller brush, also adding more definition to the eyes and mouth:

  

Now I blended all those strokes together using a smudge tool and different soft brushes:

Repeating the two previous steps:

Next it was time to start blending and adding in details:



Next I worked on mouth detail:

Now it was time to get rid of the "teddy-bear" ears by reshaping and continuing the detail work:

Finally added the whiskers and finished off detail work:

Lastly, I adjusted color balance and contrast to my liking:

I even did a version in black and white with selective color:

I could still continue to work on it, smoothing out hair, adding details but I'm pretty happy to call it done! It's come a long way from that sketch!

The End of Summer

It's been so busy around here and I don't even have kids going back to school! Maybe it's the end of summer, when you get that rushed feeling that the holidays are fast approaching and there are so many things you wanted to get done before they sneak up on you. Or maybe it's too many adventures scheduled too close together. Whatever the reason, summer always seems to get the best of me...I end up not being as creative, not working out as much, not eating as healthy...summer seems to be a time to indulge in vice and laziness. Maybe it's the heat, maybe it's just my DNA wanting to run barefoot, ride my bike and play outside until dark. Summer is coming to an end. And that means it's time to start being healthy, active and creative again.

Painted Roses

Summer Flowers

I got a good kick-start with this painting app for the iPhone called GLAZE. I learned about it from another photographer and have been having a grand ole time creating works of art on my iPhone. iPhoneography never ceases to amaze me and it's a great way to step back into my creative self. Enjoy the upcoming weekend everyone and above all, be safe and be creative! xo

Friends, Flamingos, a Faerie and a Farm

It seems that yesterday's Creative Saturday with Lita was sponsored by the letter F. We decided on a digital art day because we both miss working on that medium so much. With my tendinitis and her wrist pain, it's hard for both of us to work on our Wacom tablets. But, we bound our tendons with braces (hers made with a sea-sickness band...hey, whatever works!) and got down to business. Two friends working on different images side-by-side, a second eye to check for composition and color, to encourage the path and to laugh off the pain. Lita worked on a faerie and I worked on (and finished!!) two images. One was a textural work of an old, run down farm (Nichole, that one is for you!) and the other was born from a dream...a flock of flamingos in the misty morning swamp.

Flamingo Dream
Mixed Media on Watercolor Paper

The flamingos started out as an image in a dream I had which I then started as a watercolor. I scanned the watercolor into Photoshop and painted more flamingos and used brushes and textures to make the dream into reality. This is pretty much what it looked like in my dream, although it was more faded and distant. This is the second piece I've created from a dream I had. The first was this piece:

Patches & Crow

Mixed Media on Canvas

Dreams are a great source of inspiration! Now, If I could only remember more of them!

For my second image, I wanted to create a take on Andrew Wyeth's painting Christina's World but when I started working on it, I didn't want to add any figures to it. I like the scene just as a landscape. So with textures and brushes by Distressed Textures, I went to work creating a painting-like image. I was quite happy with the result and it didn't even take me that long!

Lost Summers of My Youth

Of course we couldn't have a Creative Saturday without stopping by Barnes & Noble for a little inspiration. I picked up this great watercolor book called Watercolor Secrets 200 tips and techniques for painting the easy way by Robin Berry. Her work is amazing. If you like watercolor you won't be disappointed with this book.

Have an awesome weekend everyone and remember to take some time to be creative!

Welcome, 2012! The Year of Doing!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe another year has come and gone. A new year is always exciting, as hopes, dreams and wishes are thrown out into the Universe, with quiet hopes of being fulfilled. I've already promised myself that this year will be one of learning, improving, but mostly DOING. Doing photography, art, writing, gardening, inspiring others, giving, living healthy, spending time in nature, traveling and having adventures...all those things that fill my creative soul and make me a better person. I wish all of you, my creative cohorts a fulfilling 2012, one that brings you closer to your artistic self. Let's walk the path together and see where the journey takes us! Namaste.

Namaste

Unfinished Business

Last week I joined my friend and creative sister, Nichole in a goal-setting partnership. By putting our goals out here in blogland, we were sure to be more committed in finding the time to live a more creative life. It worked! We both found ourselves doing art, photography and other crafty things all week long despite the responsibilities that come with life! If we can do it, so can all of you! Even little moments, like writing down an idea in a journal or notebook count towards living a more creative and light-filled life.

This week my goals are about unfinished business. I have too many non-creative obligations this week to start new projects. I have tons of unfinished paintings, digital and traditional.


Digital art goal:
My first goal this week is to complete the digital painting of a pinup girl I started last year during a Creative Saturday with Lita. Here is where I left off:

She needs a lot of detail work and her face needs to be rounded more. And according to my grandmother, "her mouth ain't right". So, back to work. I would love to complete it this week and then post the steps taken to get to the final result. 

Traditional art goals:

Where traditional art is concerned, I have several unfinished oil paintings. Oil painting is what I do best when it comes to traditional art methods but living in a swampy, tropical climate really put a damper (pun totally intended!) on my love of oil. I paint the way the old masters used to...building up thin layers of color over an under painting of light and shadow. Each layer has to dry before applying the next. And it takes a really long time for oil to dry and even more so down here in Swamplandia.  But, I really want to get them finished. Especially these two..Still Life Pears & Copper Pots. So, I shall buckle down and work on adding layers this week. In addition, I plan on continuing with my watercolor lessons. The next lesson is learning to paint clouds & skies. I'm also going to continue with the Exploration tasks by doing #17 this week! 

Photography goal:

This week I have scheduled a photo shoot with Leanne. She needs new head shots as she enters her third! year at Tisch at NYU. Where has the time gone? She is soon to be 20...I took her original head shots which helped her get accepted to NYU back when she was just 16!

Last week we spent a day shopping together and bought matching "boyfriend" sweaters. We are going to plan on doing a shot together wearing them...and maybe some hats. :)  My goal is after the shoot, to process all the pictures right away and not have any of them still sitting on the card by week's end.

So, another week of goals has been set. I wanted to do a journal prompt as well, but realistically I'll have to put that off for at least one more week. I think I may have too much on my creative plate already! Anyone else out there planning an artful week?