With a title like that you would expect this to be a post for Geekdom. But no... you are in the right place. The last few years without a brick and mortar art supply store in town has hurt. It hurts the community. And it hurts artists. We are stuck with the box stores that don't have the most highly informed staff. And without a car for a year getting a box store to be disappointed has been an issue. So I finally broke down and started surfing the Dick Blick website.
Dick Blick has been in business for as long as I've been a live, at least. And it is a trusted company. I just prefer to have a hands on experience rather than trust that a catalog's print shop has faithfully rendered the colors. I like to touch the thing that I am buying. I like to eyeball it so that I can tell if it is going to work in my space. But these days that is just not happening. When I needed the easel I just had to throw in the towel and swallow all of my assertions that holding out would bring a brick and mortar store back to town. And I was happy with the easel.... it is a great place to work.
Until that moment when you chose your favorite old yellow and can't open it. Not without breaking your teeth while the stuck cap is in the vice grip of your teeth. And when the vice grips fail to remove the lid without tearing the body of the tube apart you know that you have to break down and replace your favorite old yellow with a fresh tube. But the box sores don't carry it. Aureolin apparently is not a hot seller. And they apparently can not stock an adequate yellow hue of a different name for any length of time. I waited six weeks for one store to get a tube of gamboge back only to be told that the company discontinued it. Do you know how long it took me to get colors from Blick? Three days.... but I am getting ahead of myself.
The easel was great. The transfer paper that I ordered was great. And thus the slope gets slippery. One of the best things about the brick and mortar store is that when you are an artist pregnant with ideas and cravings set in at 3 a.m. no one is open. So you get to be a bit smarter about your impulse purchases and learn to make do in an art emergency. The worst part of a brick and mortar store when you are an artist pregnant with ideas and cravings set in at 3 a.m. is that no one is open. So your creativity has to wait for morning and your need to shop is tempered. Enter the internet age and the store is never closed.
And it is almost never out of stock. If it is out of stock you find out before you ever click on something. My resistance crumbled like a dry shortbread cookie.
So yesterday I picked up my order from the post box. 6 brand new tubes of color.... one that I had never heard of and one that I had been drooling over for about a decade now spilled out into my hand. With them a color that sounded intriguing as the cliffs of Dover but disappointed in reality. Another tube bearing the name of a pigment I love in maroon and stare moon-eyed at in violet. A completely utilitarian green gold that excites only when paired and a replacement for a color that I use quite a lot. Yes... color has broken down the last of my defenses against on-line shopping. And strangely it was not the color that I had been drooling over.
It was the new blue. A blue so deep and rich that you have to see it to believe it. And the first thing that I have to do with all of these colors is make a worksheet that shows me how they all blend together. Thank you college instructor for teaching me how to do this for myself. It was one of those things that I think would have made watercolor lessons in high school less stressing.
What is this new blue?
I will tell you next time.....
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Quick Sketch:Typography
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| watercolor on Strathmore paper |
Umlauts are those two little dots that appear over vowels to change their pronunciation, and only a, o, and u. The ess-set is a little tricky.
It is used in words spelled with a double S like Gross (large) which then would traditionally be spelled Große. It isn't always used in handwriting and is some times used in print for the two S spelling in modern German. Old High German is different. The ess-set was always used. And when the ess-set got into English via monarchial alliances via marriage it was simplified into a shape best described as an elongated f. And that complicates English for a modern reader who reads print from as recent as the 1700s because we see Wafhington instead of Washington... I don't know who decided to use the adapted ess-set for a single S spelling... but yikes! What a typographical nightmare.
And in German the nightmare just begins! Some German words can have more than two of a letter together. German doesn't contract either words to make a compound. It all gets crammed together. So if you were to take Gross+Stadt to mean "Big City" (because in German it would be a single word rather than two as in English) then it would be spelled "Großstadt".
Can you have four S spellings? I don't know. But I wouldn't want to try to pronounce it!
I love the shape of the ess-set. So I will probably play with it some more. No. I will play with it more. And now I kinda want to find a German scrapbooking supply company that would have a die cut for that.
hmmm.....
edited: later that evening in a studio somewhere in Northern Michigan
*** Checking with Wikipedia BEFORE writing might be helpful.
Turns out the ß is actually the ligature of a long S (the thing that looks like an f) and a single s or z. So apparently the long f-looking s is a special brand of stupidity common throughout Europe that came here and got wiped out with better typography. Thank God.... it is hard enough to read fraktur or black letter fonts on a good day. If we still had to deal with this thing on a regular basis I
Monday, February 11, 2013
Poached
Painting is a slow going process. We have had such dark days lately that I just can't manage to get more than a few minutes at the easel. The sun has been a rather dodgy character lately. It's kind of frustrating. But in the mean time I am absorbing some new music with wonderful imagery that should yield some great results.
In the meantime I do have an artistic conundrum of my own to handle. I believe a website is selling my Italian vase on Blue without my compensation or credit. if you see this around the internet... it is mine and I'd like to know.
This was one of my Gramma's things. It sat on a shelf in the dining room with some object d' arte that were prettier. I kinda hated it when I was a kid. Maybe I mentioned this before. Anyway... after the grandparents were gone it sat on mom's shelves unused, covered in dust and rather loathed. But she would not get rid of it because of her insane belief that everything old is worth money. And I hated it more as a teenager.
But when I got to college and started looking at art processes more closely, having tried a few different kinds of things, then my ideas about it changed. The technical difficulty of getting two items essentially made of mud to stick together is well... let's just say if it doesn't involve a plasma coil and multi phasic transducers Mr. Scott couldn't make it happen. Pottery is a pain in the ass.
And as for watercolor. It was the only thing that I could find in the house with enough character to make learning how to paint fun. Challenging. But fun. So when the last of the parents were gone it was mine. And it is one of the few things left that I would not be willing to get rid of ever. Partly because of Gramma. And almost entirely because this is a damn good painting for a beginner. 2003 or 2004 I want to say. When I dig it out of storage I will let you know.
On a lark I though that I would have it printed for 40.00 only to find out that the coupon was no longer valid. And not only that it was automatically generated in an add. And the add will take you to the site to by this. It doesn't credit me. But you can buy it. Talk about angry.
I've written 3 scathing letters. Apparently I haven't been a big enough bitch.
That will change.
In the meantime I do have an artistic conundrum of my own to handle. I believe a website is selling my Italian vase on Blue without my compensation or credit. if you see this around the internet... it is mine and I'd like to know.
But when I got to college and started looking at art processes more closely, having tried a few different kinds of things, then my ideas about it changed. The technical difficulty of getting two items essentially made of mud to stick together is well... let's just say if it doesn't involve a plasma coil and multi phasic transducers Mr. Scott couldn't make it happen. Pottery is a pain in the ass.
And as for watercolor. It was the only thing that I could find in the house with enough character to make learning how to paint fun. Challenging. But fun. So when the last of the parents were gone it was mine. And it is one of the few things left that I would not be willing to get rid of ever. Partly because of Gramma. And almost entirely because this is a damn good painting for a beginner. 2003 or 2004 I want to say. When I dig it out of storage I will let you know.
On a lark I though that I would have it printed for 40.00 only to find out that the coupon was no longer valid. And not only that it was automatically generated in an add. And the add will take you to the site to by this. It doesn't credit me. But you can buy it. Talk about angry.
I've written 3 scathing letters. Apparently I haven't been a big enough bitch.
That will change.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Ch.. ch..ch... Changes!
I know that I said I was looking forward to 2013 being the year of change. And I know that I said that it would be positive change. So far it's a mixed bag and we aren't even a full two months into the year. ACG is in the hospital. It will be weeks before he is able to talk to anyone. And he will spend months in rehabilitation. I do not know what his family is going to do with him. He was already talking about having to move. But I think that packing him up while he is incapacitated, while it would expedite things, would wound his soul. I don't know that would happen. It would be logical. Sad. But logical.
I knew something was wrong in my Universe. I sensed a disturbance as that of one voice calling out in the darkness in great despair. It was last Thursday. I finished my morning shift, got home before the cold settled in and started peeling my garments off. As I was unwinding my almost Dr. Who length scarf I caught a whiff of something strongly pungent, spicy and masculine. At first I thought that I was smelling Sir Knight. But his scent has a strong tobacco under note and this did not. I took of the jacket and hung it up. The scent seemed stronger. Sniffing my hands like a bloodhound from tip to wrist, front to back, I started smelling the scarf and jacket.
No scent on the clothes. And I had just washed my hands for the 5th time before leaving work. They had been in bleach, oxy clean, laundry soap and hand sanitizer for the last 15 minutes of my shift. They should not smell like men's cologne. I peeled my boots off and began sniffing my uniform. Did I get anything on me that I wasn't aware of? Nope. Lavender and laundry soap. Where the hell is the smell coming from? The more agitated I became the strong the scent. THAT should not have happened. I couldn't figure it out. I showered. The smell was still there. I dressed for bed and watched TV for 3 hours. I texted ACG to tell him about the weirdness. But the earlier text in which I asked "Are you still here?" had still gone unanswered. I fell asleep wondering which dead relative was trying to get a hold of me.
Yes I did. In the world of paranormal exploration these scents are not uncommon. Many investigators walk into empty rooms and catch a scent of roses, freshly lit cigars, old perfume with no explanation as to how that smell is there. One might say, well its still in the drapes or the chairs. Which would be a great explanation... if there was furniture in the room. And I myself will catch a scent of my Gramma, it is a particular parfum that is no longer made. It is lilac and jasmine with a spicy note of something else. It came in a tube like chap stick and had a base and cap that made it look a bit like Jeannie's bottle. No one makes it anymore. Haven't since before Gramma died. And since I am not the only one who has smelled it I know it is not an olfactory hallucination. Common belief among paranormal enthusiasts is that is when they are letting you know that they have your back. You might not know why. But they are there for you. Or they just popped in for a nip.
I am not all in on the minutia of paranormal claims. There are a lot of things they subscribe to that I can not get behind. But I do not have any other explanation for the things that happen. So I thought well, ok. Who smells like that? I couldn't think of a relative. The only one that was close was Sir Knight. But he is just fine by all accounts.
The following day I received a facebook status update that ACG is in the hospital. He had emergency surgery the evening that I smelled that scent. That scent didn't go away until after I had fallen asleep. It was very odd. And odder still that what had happened in Chicago was a medical crisis that induced coma and he has been in a medicated state since coming out of surgery.
According to the paranormal experts, the spirit wanders when the body is in a coma. He could have come to answer the text in person. He could have had nothing to do with the smell. I don't know. It is a strange set of events. I hope that it was not to tell me to get used to the idea of him being gone.
For the last 4 or 5 years we have talked several times a week. We've been angry on each others behalf. We have cheered the other along. I didn't expect to find him when I did nor that he would be a better brother in spirit than the one I have in the flesh. I am not sue that this is a change that I can embrace even if I have to accept it.
In other news: I have my key to the gym. It is a marvel of modern technology. And some of the equipment there promises to be very much the holodeck prototype I have been looking for. More on that as events unfold. The gym isn't up and running just yet. But it won't be long now.
I knew something was wrong in my Universe. I sensed a disturbance as that of one voice calling out in the darkness in great despair. It was last Thursday. I finished my morning shift, got home before the cold settled in and started peeling my garments off. As I was unwinding my almost Dr. Who length scarf I caught a whiff of something strongly pungent, spicy and masculine. At first I thought that I was smelling Sir Knight. But his scent has a strong tobacco under note and this did not. I took of the jacket and hung it up. The scent seemed stronger. Sniffing my hands like a bloodhound from tip to wrist, front to back, I started smelling the scarf and jacket.
No scent on the clothes. And I had just washed my hands for the 5th time before leaving work. They had been in bleach, oxy clean, laundry soap and hand sanitizer for the last 15 minutes of my shift. They should not smell like men's cologne. I peeled my boots off and began sniffing my uniform. Did I get anything on me that I wasn't aware of? Nope. Lavender and laundry soap. Where the hell is the smell coming from? The more agitated I became the strong the scent. THAT should not have happened. I couldn't figure it out. I showered. The smell was still there. I dressed for bed and watched TV for 3 hours. I texted ACG to tell him about the weirdness. But the earlier text in which I asked "Are you still here?" had still gone unanswered. I fell asleep wondering which dead relative was trying to get a hold of me.
Yes I did. In the world of paranormal exploration these scents are not uncommon. Many investigators walk into empty rooms and catch a scent of roses, freshly lit cigars, old perfume with no explanation as to how that smell is there. One might say, well its still in the drapes or the chairs. Which would be a great explanation... if there was furniture in the room. And I myself will catch a scent of my Gramma, it is a particular parfum that is no longer made. It is lilac and jasmine with a spicy note of something else. It came in a tube like chap stick and had a base and cap that made it look a bit like Jeannie's bottle. No one makes it anymore. Haven't since before Gramma died. And since I am not the only one who has smelled it I know it is not an olfactory hallucination. Common belief among paranormal enthusiasts is that is when they are letting you know that they have your back. You might not know why. But they are there for you. Or they just popped in for a nip.
I am not all in on the minutia of paranormal claims. There are a lot of things they subscribe to that I can not get behind. But I do not have any other explanation for the things that happen. So I thought well, ok. Who smells like that? I couldn't think of a relative. The only one that was close was Sir Knight. But he is just fine by all accounts.
The following day I received a facebook status update that ACG is in the hospital. He had emergency surgery the evening that I smelled that scent. That scent didn't go away until after I had fallen asleep. It was very odd. And odder still that what had happened in Chicago was a medical crisis that induced coma and he has been in a medicated state since coming out of surgery.
According to the paranormal experts, the spirit wanders when the body is in a coma. He could have come to answer the text in person. He could have had nothing to do with the smell. I don't know. It is a strange set of events. I hope that it was not to tell me to get used to the idea of him being gone.
For the last 4 or 5 years we have talked several times a week. We've been angry on each others behalf. We have cheered the other along. I didn't expect to find him when I did nor that he would be a better brother in spirit than the one I have in the flesh. I am not sue that this is a change that I can embrace even if I have to accept it.
In other news: I have my key to the gym. It is a marvel of modern technology. And some of the equipment there promises to be very much the holodeck prototype I have been looking for. More on that as events unfold. The gym isn't up and running just yet. But it won't be long now.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Just like Starting Over....
When it isn't working it isn't working. You just have to suck it up and start over. Take the good, ditch the bad and have faith that you learned enough last time around to do better this time. Art skills and life skills really are not that much different from concept to execution.
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| first attempt |
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| 2nd attempt |
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Doodle Seascape Poppies
Thought stained glass. Then as I stared at it long enough I was thinking that I would just play with shades of my two favorite colors in combination: green and violet. So I started laying in the poppy pods and realized that there seemed to be alien head shapes to them. For whatever reason alien head lead me to think undersea creature. The frond looked a little seaweedy so....
After the frond and poppy colors went down I needed to do something for a background. I scrapped my original stained glass blue sky idea. Which would have given me more vertical lines & I hadn't grounded the stems. So I laid in the horizontal "sand" and "waves", kept some bubbles for white areas. I seem to forget to leave white areas fairly often.
Then just laid in shades of blue, green, and the raw sienna for the sand. All told it was an easy project that would have taken me about 3 hours of normal time. But I was also making egg salad with my new microwave egg cooker. Real food! yea! With the interruptions it took about 5 hours.
Funny thing about this piece. I was just doodling. Playing with a new toy. And when it was done thought... I'll throw this up on facebook anyway. and boy is it kinda popular.
Does this mean that I am still underestimating myself? Or do I get so wrapped up in a concept that it is hard for me to see things any other way?
The great thing about this is that it is practice. The much needed practice I told my therapist that I needed because I have been so out of it with things in storage. I have shown transparency with the overlapping leaves. And that is something that was throwing off the peacock. I think that I will have to scrap that one start over again and see what I can do with the remnants of a failed concept. And I think that this one might go to cafepress... don't know what I would call it though....
hrm....
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Rememberance: poppy pods
Poppies, as I have mentioned before, symbolize remembrance. Since I have added them to the peacock theme I decided that I would get some of Michelle Ward's new stencils. I always love her stuff. And I've been waiting for these be up for sale for a while. And then... BAZINGA! They were available for pre-order around Thanksgiving. They came today. And this is the first thing that I made with them. I've had the scroll from Tim Holtz for a while... about a year.
Since I have not been in a regular studio for almost 3 years now, it's been hard to crank out the projects that I really love to do. Of course I have had the chance to improve my watercolor skills while everything else has been sitting in storage. And I do love the watercolors. But these kinds of projects go faster. And I do love fast projects.
The stencil projects that Michelle does at www.michelleward.typepad.com involve spray paints and tons of layers, sometimes with stamping and sometimes with texture paste. She even made herself a spray booth so she could go hog wild with it. I'll settle for the stipple brushes from Toybox (which, sadly, I don't think is still around) and the huge collection of dye inks that I have. Which means a trip to storage to get the rest of them!
Below you'll find a step by step tutorial for how I used the stencils.
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| STEP ONE: apply two colors of dye ink to the Tim Holtz scroll stencil. |
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| STEP TWO: lay the poppy stencil over the scroll pattern. |
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| STEP THREE: apply two colors dye ink to the poppy stencil with the stipple brush. |
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| STEP FOUR: with the poppy stencil still in place, layer the dotted stencil over the first. STEP FIVE: edge the entire page with dye ink, stencil the edges and brush the colors over the center to cover the white. |
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| STEP SIX: apply tissue tape to the edges and write message with a micron pen. |
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