Expanding my choices

Even though I've already transferred my drawing, I continue to have other ideas about how I feel like painting, in general. I went on a run to pick up some masking fluid today, and an extra kneaded eraser. I hung out in the art supply store for a while, seeing if anything might intrigue me. I picked up a couple of different painting surfaces, held onto them for a while, and put them back. I finally settled on some Claybord/Aquabord that is meant for use with watercolor. I keep looking for a one-size-fits-all painting surface solution since I keep feeling frustrated. This sounded like a good potential compromise, if it works well. I've never tried it, and so it will be interesting to see what effects it gives. It will also be interesting to see if I try it, considering all the wavering I've been doing :)

This surface is also available in a cradled format, which gives it that deep profile which is popular as of late. Personally, I do not feel all that contemporary, and prefer frames to that more modern look. I like to have the option to put a painting in a frame, and your framing options all but disappear when your painting has a thick profile like that. I feel like I'm butting heads a lot lately with what I perceive to be popular, and I'm getting unnecessarily confused over it.

I'm also feeling drawn more toward fantasy art, angels in particular. Something is brewing inside and I'm not sure what it is yet. A sense of dissatisfaction, some nervousness, perhaps a desire for comfort. I don't know. I feel like I'm having some growing pains.

I suppose the sane thing is to stay the course with the four small drawings I've already done, and do them on the watercolor paper I've already cut and marked. I'll see how I feel about it as I go.

Forging ahead in the face of uncertainty...Transferring

Moving on...This a quick rundown on transferring a drawing to watercolor paper (or a surface of your choice). The first step is to cut a piece of tracing paper slightly larger than your original drawing, and tape it over the original drawing. I'm using Scotch 3M Safe-Release tape (the white kind you find in art and craft stores) so it won't disturb the surface of my sketchbook when I remove the tracing paper. There are different kinds of artist tapes, that don't leave residue, for different surfaces. I use a mechanical pencil to outline the main areas of my drawing onto the tracing paper. I use solid pencil lines to represent areas where I will want to paint a hard edge (like the outer edge of the head), and dotted lines where I will want to paint a soft shaded edge (like a shadow).

Once I have a tracing, I tape my watercolor paper to a firm surface, my work table in this case. I tape it down with Scotch Drafting Tape this time, for a more secure hold. I don't want it to slip. I tape my tracing in place over the watercolor paper using the Safe-Release. I can keep an eye on the tracing if it starts to move, and so it doesn't matter as much. To be more secure, you can use the drafting tape instead. I sharpen a hard pencil. I like to use a 2H. If it is too sharp or hard, it will cut the tracing paper. So experiment first for a good balance.

I slip a piece of transfer paper (I use Saral) between the tracing paper and the watercolor paper. You can use homemade graphite paper, if you wish. To make some, take a piece of tracing paper and a 2B pencil (the wide flat ones work best), and cover the paper with graphite. Once you've covered it, take a cotton ball with some rubbing alcohol on it, and rub it across the graphite-covered surface to even it. Let it dry and you've got your own transfer paper. Carefully trace your drawing with your hard pencil, avoiding leaning too hard on your drawing as you go. Putting an extra piece of paper under the ball or side of your hand is helpful so you don't make smudge marks through the papers with your hand.

When you've transferred all your lines, remove the tape from one corner of your tracing and double check that you've gotten all the lines transferred. Once everything looks fine, remove the tape and the graphite paper. Don't slide it any more than you need to. Lifting it up makes fewer smudges. You will have some smudges anyway.

Take a clean kneaded eraser and press and release the eraser on the watercolor paper, gently lifting the excess graphite off. This is how you get the smudges off, but you also want lighten your lines, if necessary, leaving only faint lines to paint by. Some watercolor colors will lock the graphite lines in place and you won't be able to erase them. So, it is best to work with the faintest lines with which you can stand to work. Knead your eraser frequently to avoid putting the smudges back onto your paper. Kneading it keeps it "clean" (at some point, it will become too full of graphite and you will need to get a new eraser).

That's about it. If you are transferring to canvas, you will want to secure your tracing to it with canvas tape (tape for use with canvas), because the others won't hold. If you have canvas on stretcher bars, you will want to put a book or some other filler under the canvas to keep it rigid while you transfer your lines.

Getting ready to paint?

After a lot of fussing over how wide I wanted my borders to be, I cut out some watercolor paper. I don't know what's gnawing at me, but something is. It may just be that nervousness you get when you are about to start a painting, or maybe it is something more. Last night, I started thinking the little animals in my recent drawings looked uncomfortable, or restricted, in their clothes, and then I started thinking that was a metaphor for my own discomfort. Or perhaps I was just reading something into the drawings based on my own feelings. Art is a tricky two-way street, of sorts. It is, in one part, contrived by the artist to create an effect, while at the same time, it often reveals things about the artist, even to the artist herself (or himself). I say this realizing it is a bit humorous since I am in a quandary over pictures of animals wearing dresses. But the weird thing is that this is always true.

So, on some level, I am feeling constricted, whether it is by painting medium, subject, marketability issues, or just in general. I'm having some trouble getting to the heart of what it is that I want to do that I'm not doing. I can't decide if I am stymied by wanting to do more things than I can possibly do all at once, or if there is something, some idea, that wants to be expressed that isn't being expressed. I could suggest many possibilities, but I just don't know which one is the answer, if there is one answer. All I can do is try different things on for size and see if any fit.

Lop-eared Bunny

I have added a lop rabbit to my sketchbook menagerie. I am trying to stay the course and make them into watercolor paintings. I have a terrible time trying to make decisions about "how" to do things. There are sooooo many options. I am always trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all solution, something everyone would like. And that's just crazy.

My current distraction has been that people seem to have a preference for paintings on canvas, at least when collecting originals, but I know that my work will be of better quality at this size if I work in watercolor. I'd like to expand my portfolio of artwork, for licensing and for printmaking, and quality is important to me. Things just get twisted up in my mind when I try to incorporate marketing everything into what I am doing. But, then, do you ever know your market? Opportunities come along that you never anticipated, and it seems that you should have been doing that other thing you came up with last year. Or someone wants that painting for which you never thought you'd find a use.

Underneath the tranquil, pretty, or whimsical exterior of all your work, lies a long sequence of risks. Maybe it's called "art" in recognition of the skill you exhibit in choosing what to let show in your work.

"Love is the Sweetest Thing" Treasury on Etsy

Deidre at dedesbeads included my "Angels' Kiss", also know as "Peace and Love", in her Etsy treasury "Love is the Sweetest Thing". Thanks Deidre!

The print is available on our Ruffing's site here, and in my Etsy shop. I imagined it as a heavenly reunion when I painted the original watercolor, and even when I've posted it as "Peace and Love" (white lilies for peace and red roses for love), I've been told it represented a heavenly reunion to someone else. It's one of those paintings that touches some people on a very personal and private level, when they have a story of their own that ties into it. So I feel, in regard to the painting, saying less is more when talking about it.

Coffee with Tea

The very talented and creative Jo James invited me to join "Coffee with Tea", an eBay group "Where Yesterday's Dolls & Today's Doll Artists Meet." Thanks Joee!

I am just reading..."The goal of the Coffee with Tea group is to bring together a small gathering of kindred spirit doll artists for the sole purpose of sharing ideas, information, tips & techniques as they relate to the art of doll making. Group membership is by invitation only." This should be fun :)

Thanks to everyone there for the warm welcome and all the nice compliments too!

Cats On Bikes

I'm so glad I found these bikes. I had no idea how much kitten dolls enjoyed bikes until I got them. They actually got a bit rowdy.

They had a game of Chicken.

Their mama managed to redirect them.

Then they rode tandem. No hands! Er, paws.

Then they rode off on their own.

I'm not sure where they went.

If you see them, let me know.

They're about, well, kitten-sized...several inches tall, and not considered dangerous.

Special thanks to Max Bailey's cat Hedda for minding them as best she could.

From left to right, "Fiona", "Ziggy", and "Hedda". Please visit our online doll gallery to see more of our original, one-of-a-kind, folk art dolls.

"Fiona" the Calico Kitten

Here is "Fiona" my one-of-a-kind, original folk art kitten doll, finally all painted and dressed and photographed!

She looks very alert, mischievous, and ready to play, as a kitten should.

I put her with "Ziggy", her little brother, on the handmade doll quilt I made for her. They played with Ziggy's toy car.

Then they had a game of Patty-cake.

Fiona modeled her dress. Three-quarter view...

Front...

And back.

I took a better photo of her butterfly quilt.

And got a closeup of the hand embroidered butterfly I designed for the center block.

Please visit Fiona's webpage by clicking here.

Sick Days and Ducks in the Rain

In between sketching and resting, I watched the goings-on in our backyard. This is one of the first iris of the season. I ran out and got a photo just before the rain started here. It blooms faithfully, but I cannot remember its name. I will have to look it up sometime. I took some artistic license with the color of this iris for my "Jubilee" watercolor.

"Jubilee" was one of many paintings (and other projects) that I started and finished years later. I believe I had painted the iris in the upper left, and most everything else, except for the remaining matching two iris. There was something I didn't like about the already painted iris, like the direction the light was coming in from, and so I intensified its color so I could move the shadows. The existing dark areas became the new light areas. With watercolor, you can't just paint over what you've done, and so you have to get creative when you want to change something. That's how all the iris ended up much richer in color than my model. I thought it looked quite joyous when I was done, which is why I named it "Jubilee".

Once the rain started, we got some visitors. We used to have geese wandering through, and I was sad when they disappeared. This year, we have ducks on the pond down the hill, and they wandered up in the pouring rain to nibble on our unmowed grass.

I got a little wet photographing them, and my zoom lens doesn't zoom as much as I might like. Still, they are awfully cute.

Not long after the ducks showed up, a pair of rabbits came to play leap frog, or leap bunny? I didn't manage to get a picture of them, but they were very amusing, running and leaping over each other. At one point they each anticipated a charge by the other and leapt, simultaneously, straight up in the air.

"Afternoon Delight"! That's the name of the iris. It just came to me!

And One Little Hedgehog

I drew one more animal portrait this evening, a sweet little hedgehog :)

Off to rest some more, or that's the plan anyway.

The Owl and The Pussycat

I have a cold, but I am trying to be productive while sitting in bed. These are my first two entries in my new sketchbook, an owl and a pussycat. He is a Northern Saw-whet Owl and she is a Persian kitten. Both are dressed in vintage clothing. They are tiny pencil drawings, four by five inches.

I have been scouting around for mini canvases and found some at Michaels (in their store...again, can't seem to find the same thing on their site) that are four by five. Of course after buying a couple of canvases, I'm now thinking I'll do the paintings in watercolor on paper instead. It's always a good idea not to get a bunch of things before trying one out. This time I only bought one each in two sizes, but I've made the mistake of being too sure about what I wanted to do before. Somehow, certain artwork tells you how it wants to be done as you are working on it. So, you can't always plan in advance. These just seem to want to be paler and more delicate in a way that watercolor would work best.

Emerging Art

I think I painted about eight million hairs on this kitten doll, when two million might have done just as well. I have her shoes, socks, and pantaloons left to paint and I'm feeling terribly slow. I may be coming down with a cold. It's gotten everyone else here so far. I really want to get my doll done so I can photograph her with Ziggy. They look great together.

I don't think that I believed how labor-intensive this kitten-making would be. Max had moved on, at least temporarily, from making the sewn, stuffed, and dressed dolls because, with all the sewing, they were extra involved and time consuming to make, and because Max prefers the sculpting and painting end of things to the sewing and stuffing end. I thought since I enjoy sewing, it would be right up my alley, which it may be. Oh, but all these hairs...I think I went a little nuts.