Heather Bleasdell

Week 3: "Adventure Time" complete

There may be more I do in the background, but for now, she is complete. Still investigating how process-painting and design come together. I love the freedom of process painting versus product painting, but there is something very rewarding and challenging in pushing myself to try new things.

Week 3: Color Mixing... still challenging (in-process)

Adventure Time (or my alternative mother title would be "Calgon Take Me Away")
Gouache on board,12" x 12"

This week we were asked to find colors that we wanted to work with. I dug though my "design" journal that I keep ideas in regarding color combinations I used when doing web design. In the past, I never mixed colors and used the entire rainbow - there was not a color I did not like. However, finding this new middle ground where I am consciously creating colors is an entirely new beast. For this weeks assignment I used Goauche instead of acrylics... for a whole new set of problems. However, I loved that it was so matte and flat when it dried. The colors I chose were chartreuse and deep blue for the background. As is typical with gouache, the background got muddy and it was hard to get the color right. Then everytime I tried to fix it over the next few days, it never seemed to come together - oh well. I finally discovered what I wanted to do for my subject matter - wanting to do a polar bear and a girl - so them diving in together felt like a good idea... and I loved the personal themes it evoked for me (going on a journey, trusting one's animal self & instincts, taking risks, diving in.) I'm not quite done yet, because the background is still bugging me, but I'm not sure what I will do. Perhaps I will also add some more shadows, strengthen some of the lines and take a better picture. That's my progress report for this week.

Week 2: "Steve's Happy Place" is complete

I'm not going to lie to you. It took a long time. And one thing I don't have is a lot of free time, so it was a little scary to wake up today knowing I had to find time to paint. Luckily/unluckily, I was sick so my family went to the beach without me, giving me a chunk of freedom.

Originally I had planned to do have it be simpler with graphical elements... but no. It wanted to be "painted"... every little detail. And honestly, it was a good learning experience because I am so unfamiliar with acrylic, mixing my own colors, painting glass (!!!!), painting a tshirt (!!!!)... omg, it was crazy. AND I just did one layer at a time. I really had to slow myself down. Because I couldn't ponder my next move too long, I used a hairdryer so I could put on the next layer. As far as subject matter do, the pic was originally taken in my kitchen, but when I started drawing the wine glass, I remembered finding one of steve's empty wine glasses in his compost pile in the garden. He loves his garden and spends most of his "home-time" in it. Steve is also famous for his sweat peas and often has a bunch growing out from the top of his compost pile like a wild hairy mess. So, all things being equal... I painted my husband's portrait and I'm entitling it "happy place" for now.

The artist that inspired me was Maira Kalman, though her style is much, much simpler. I hope to learn enough about mixing colors and layering so I can simplify my process (and spend way less time!) All in all, a terrific learning experience.

Week 2: In the middle of it - work in progress!

I choose artist Maira Kalman because I love how deceptively simple her painting style is and that she loves portraits. I usually draw characters, but this week I am attempting to do a portrait of my husband based off a photo I took of him last year. I don't know about the men in your life, but my guy is the happiest when spends the day outside, is covered in dirt (or paint), has a few minor scratches, and has a great story to tell about his adventure... that he will share as soon as he get's his "sippy sippy" of wine. I realized a long time ago that steve is different than me. To state the obvious, I realized that HE is a man and I am a woman, and they are simply two entirely different animals. After that, his manliness never bugged me and I rarely have the wish that he act "more like me" (with a few minor exceptions - nobody is perfect!)

As far as the painting class I am taking, I am happily learning some cool things. Even though I have been painting for a long time, I have never studied painting nor tried to paint like this. Because I am self-taught, it has been fun to learn some tips and tricks. The acrylics are still a mystery to me, but I am slowly getting the hang of making colors and adding layers and layers... not geting too attached to anything. Steve's arm is still a stump because I can't figure out what I want to do with it it. There is a part of me that wants to put it in a sling. I also haven't added all the dirt to his face. This pic (below) was taken after he torn down an old barn to salvage the wood with a friend. I'll probably depart from the photo soon because I am excited about adding other elements.... again, trying to not be attached!

Some helpful things from this week:

1. The Painting U Curve. You will like your painting when you start, go thru a period of disgust, and then slowly paint your way out of the pits of dispair until you feel great about it again.

2. Start WET & LOOSE, lots of water in your paint, no detail. You can use a hairdryer to speed up the process.

3. Slowly build to DRY DETAIL. With every layer you use less water.

4. End DRY. No water in the paint. Add lines, details, shadows at the very end.

Week 2: Inspiration - choose an Artist I love

Well that is both an easy and hard request. (You can actually see a lot of artists I love here on my blog by searching the category by the same name.) I'm going to start this assignment by LOOSELY looking at my favorite artists and seeing what/who has the most energy for my right now. Off the top of my head, these are the folks/styles/subjects I think most about. Also, my new paints came today! I am dying to start playing with them.

STYLES: Portrait, Flat/Graphic with minimal shading & some distortion, bright colors

SUBJECT MATTER: everyday life, forest, animals, portraits, people/characters, rainbows, magical creatures

ARTISTS: Two of my favorite portrait artists: Alice Neel & Maira Kalman. I also feel so attracted to the work of Betsy Walton because it connects to a lot of themes from my personal work as process-painted and intuitive consultant. I love the animals/characters of Julia Potts, as well as the feelings and simplicity of Camilla Engman. Royal Art Lodge, Rachel Bone, and Mia Christopher too.

Alice Neel - above image and below (Annie Sprinkle 1982, by Alice Neel)

Maira Kalman - check out her blog for The New York Times

Betsy Walton

Julia Potts

Camilla Engman

Royal Art Lodge

Rachel Bone

Mia Christopher

Week 1: Final Painting

1. End Result

Just to show you a little of my process. Below is the final "patchwork" (2) and the image above is the final painting (1). I had been thinking about my BigFoot, but in the end, it wanted to be a sheep graphic. Do I love it? No, not really. But I did learn a lot and experiment with things. In fact, even though I was not in love with the patchwork I was fairly petrified of ruining it by painting over it... I am so inexperineced with acrylics. I ended up making a stencil image so I could see how it would look before I painted it. Lots of learning happened. 

2. Patchwork completed

Thinking about Painting, this is good

Today as I went about my day, I was thinking about painting. Not wondering whether or not I was going to get back to it (and when)... but tossing ideas around for the painting I am commited to painting this week. The assignment is to let the Gee's Bend Quilts and Jennifer Sanchez to inspire me to make a painting. Here are so things that have captured my imagination (and some things/themes that won't let go.) It seems that I can't get away from being inspired by the Magic of the Deep woods. In particular, the Sasquatch, an old friend from childhood, has been brought back to my attention... and quite frankly, I can't keep my eyes off him. Ever since I was introduced to him through the show 6 Million Dollar Man. He makes my imagination go wild with delight. We will see where the inspiration takes me. (ooo, and I also bought more acrylic paint today. Nothing like a fresh tube to inspire some squeezing.)

Sasquatch & rainbow, stars, witch graphics

And of course, when I think sasquatch, I think Big Foot ... and the Bionic Man, Steve Austin.

 

Speaking of Steve Austin, this was my "Steve Austin look" as a child... I pulled it out at parties. My sister had a look too. She could do Hope Brady from Days of our Lives.

Palm Fronds
I don't know why, but graphically they excite me. I can't say why.

 

Michael Reafsnyder - messy color, yummy

 

Thank the Goddess, I finally got inspired!

Artist Jennifer Sanchez

So sorry, it's been awhile. So long in fact, that I thought I might not be coming back. This space is dedicated to my artistic explorations, and to be honest, I have had my mind elsewhere. Mostly, I have been completely focused on health, work and family. And because my work includes an incredible amount of art & creativity, I find that I spend little time in my own personal art world. I don't beat myself up too badly about it. From what I have seen in my work as an intuitive consultant... the easiest way to manifest, is to relax, allow and let yourself feel into what you truly have energy for. For a while there, I had no energy for my painting. In fact, I need space from "thinking about painting" because it certainly wasn't helping me to paint! ha ha, not really. So I gave it space. However, recently it has come back in again when I saw that a favorite illustrator/artist was teaching an on-line painting class (STRUCTURE - aha!) So I signed up, ordered the new paints I had been "thinking about" for a friggin year, and have been enjoying the getting ready process as I set up my painting station in my office. (It's too damn cold to paint in the studio in the winter.) I found the artist above because she is the artist/inspiration for this weeks painting topic. What I like about Miss Sanchez's work is the combo between geometric shapes and messy painting. I need to let a little more mess & experimentation into my painting. In fact, I did a painting for my Wild Woman book club project and my daughter painted on top of it! (I got mad.) But as I sat with her "marks" on the face of my carefully rendered BlueBeard (representing the psyche's predator) for a few days... I thought they were pretty perfect. And, after seeing Miss Sanchez's work, I thought I could take it to the next level. Ba-humbug to the Predator of Perfection!

So now I am starting my GET YOUR PAINT ON class. This is week one. So far, it's fun to be in another on-line creativity class. I really enjoyed the one I took last summer. I'll be posting to Flik=ckr on Sundays, and most likely I will be talking about it here. Finally, something to talk about here! What are you trying on?