June 3, 2020

Digital Painting


I have had Procreate software on my iPad for at least a year and I have been playing with it, but never really understanding all its features and how it works.  I finally was nudged by my friend Marie to take a class in digital painting.  I love it!  What an amazing tool and so much fun to play with.

The process we were urged to use followed classic drawing techniques, building a face by drawing the skull, the muscles, and layering on up.  The layer feature in the software makes this really work.

We were given the assignment of a profile face with dramatic lighting.  I uploaded a photo of a famous actress, and drew with that as my reference.  You can see the results in time-lapse video.

June 2, 2020

Finding Creativity

I'm like everyone else struggling to make sense of the world today and imagining what the future will be like.  One thing I love about painting is that it gets me out of the wordy world -- so much talk, so much writing, so much sound -- and into a place where paint is the expression.

I've been trying out online workshops and open studios and much to my surprise, I've been loving them.  And in spite of being largely isolated in my home, I'm in these online sessions with people in Madrid, in Dublin, in Texas, Seattle and you get the idea.  Connecting through paint isn't like connecting through words, it's almost like the paint bypasses the brain and goes straight to the heart.  Thank you to the Seattle Artist League, Atelier Dojo in Texas, Peggi Kroll Roberts in California and the Art Digger Lab in Madrid for a lot of inspiration.'

I'm working on on a new painting that I've got in my studio, where I'm.using a wire figure and a wooden person  (studio models used for exploring ways the body moves).  I'm. hoping to express in paint thoughts that completely are failed by any words I can say.




here's the original painting
 I've also been challenged to take a successful past painting and repaint it, thinking of new ways to approach the composition and expression of the paint.  Years ago, I painted metro escalators and here's the original painting and the new ideas I'm working out based on that work.

and my new approach