That's Gneiss! #177 ~ Art Explosion!
Plus: Alien Quaranteen Creeps from Mars, and Icelandic disco
Have you ever listened to The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion? You know how in a lot of the songs he yells BLUES EXPLOSION?
This week I’m running around the house yelling ART EXPLOSION!
Okay. Maybe I’m just doing that in my head, and not really shouting it out loud. I am however experiencing an explosion of artistic expansion as I begin the workshops in Sketchbook Revival 2021. Last week I posted this in the tidbits section, and I’m having so much fun with it I want to share more and encourage you - yes, YOU, to give this a try.
You say you aren’t an artist? Yes you are. Most of us probably had the joy of artistic creation schooled out of us when we were young. This is sadly way too common, and here we are as adults thinking we don’t have any artistic talent. I am here to tell you that artistic talent takes practice, and you don’t need talent to have fun. And frankly, at this point in our lives we could all use some fun.
Each day for two weeks I’m receiving an email with two video links to short workshops from the instructors (28 in all). The videos will be available until April 18th, which gives two extra weeks to work through them. There’s a Facebook group to join if you’re interested, but one can join in and do these workshops privately too. The instructors are all accomplished artists who normally charge for their classes - but this month of access is completely free. I imagine it’s worth their time as they likely generate a lot of new traffic to their websites and classes. It’s a win-win for everyone!
Some of the workshops require art supplies that you might not have, and that’s okay. You can skip it, or improvise. The 4th workshop was stamp carving (yay!) and a lot of people in the FB group were improvising with potatoes and carrots. I lucked out on that one because it’s something I already love to do and I have the tools. I’ve got my tiny stamps (1" square) ready to carve when I finish today’s newsletter.
The stamps are sitting on the page of a sketchbook I made with instructions sent in an email a couple of days before the official start of the series. I made two of these books with watercolor paper and card stock that I had on hand (I may be a paper hoarder). I had to improvise an awl…
It worked, but wasn’t great on the hand. However - the important thing was I learned that I really enjoyed the bookbinding process, and want to do this more! The affordable bookbinding kit I purchased will make the next ones much easier. This book is fairly small, 6” x 4.5”. Now I have what I need to make a larger sketchbook. Huzzah! I see a lot of bookbinding in my future.
The first two official workshops were great fun and really encourage stepping outside of your comfort zone. I’ve been working on a lot of art from Amy Maricle at Mindful Art Studio and love it, but was starting to feel the sameness of it. I’ve developed some skills using pens but have also learned I have an aversion to crossing lines! Heh. These workshops are already breaking me out of my rut and I’ve had no choice but to cross A LOT of lines. I’m going to tell you about the first two, and you’ll be able to do these on your own without signing up. They’re super easy. That said, the instructors were both delightful and fun to listen to.
Art Supply Relay - Danny Gregory
If you can gather 6-10 different art supplies, a timer and a shoe you can do this exercise. Even if you don’t have any shoes, you can do this with any other common object laying around your house.
6-10 mark-making supplies: pens, pencils, crayons, paint, lipstick (j/k - but why not?!)
Paper - any that you can see your supplies on will do (seriously, ANYTHING will do, you’re not selling this to the Louvre)
Timer/phone with clock
Shoe
Set you timer for one minute. Use each thing you’ve gathered for one minute, then move on to the next. Work fast and when you’re finished you’ll be totally surprised at the masterpiece in front of you. It may not resemble the actual shoe, but that’s not the goal (though you can aim for that if you want). This is a perfect exercise to try art supplies to see how they behave, and to use those things you’ve put away for the “perfect” moment.
This could be really fun with two or more people (GATHERED SAFELY OF COURSE). Each brings a few things to the table, and you round-robin the supplies as you go. Draw the same shoe and see how different the results are!
One-liner Drawings - Carla Sonheim
I’ve been a fan of Carla’s work for a long time, so the opportunity to learn from her was a big draw for me. Her exercise requires even less to get going than Danny’s - a pen or pencil, paper, and your hand. That’s it! NO EXCUSES.
The first part consists of “one-liner” drawings, where you draw something familiar without lifting your pen or pencil from the paper. Draw a little faster than is comfortable - don’t think too hard! She had us draw cats, a vase of flowers, elephants, and toilets. You’re laughing, but YOU try to remember what a toilet looks like! The only rule besides drawing in one line is if you’re drawing an animal you MUST include the eyes.
You can stop there, and use this as a quick daily drawing exercise or a way to warm up. But there is a second step if you’re so inclined. Choose a couple of your drawings and rework them in a new way for a more finished piece. Carla works a lot in colored pencil and collage. I decided to go with collage, and also used colored pencils and some really nifty watercolor graphite pencils that came in a recent Sketchbox delivery. If nothing else, these workshops are going to get me using all of the amazing supplies I’ve received but have been feeling a bit intimidated to use.
When you draw quickly EVERYTHING looks wonky, and it’s hard to take yourself too seriously. Don’t even try. One of my drawings looked more like a fork in a vase than flowers, so I ran with it for another collage. And here’s the thing - when I’ve done collages in the past, I often spend a long time looking through books and magazines for the perfect elements and I don’t really have an idea in mind. This technique sped up the process through giving me a sense of the finished picture before I went off searching for a fork. Voila!
I guess what I’m getting at today is to encourage every one of you to stop listening to the voices in your head that say you’re too busy, or don’t have any talent. The skills take time to build up, and these exercises take just a few minutes of your time. Making time for art every day, even if it’s just a few minutes has made such a big difference and especially helped me get through the last year. I encourage you to join me in having a bit of fun. No pressure to produce a museum piece or even share what you’ve done with the world. Just treat yourself to some time for creative expression.
I’ve got one more art adventure later tonight, when I attempt to paint Metallic Watercolor Bubbles during a Zoom hangout with a dear friend. Fun!!!
Cheers!
Tidbits
Do you love Gang of Four? Eugene Robinson does. If you answered “no,” you might want to go sit somewhere and rethink your position.
Lynda Barry leads a two-hour graphic medicine drawing class (who cares what the subject is IT’S TWO HOURS WITH LYNDA BARRY!)
What demoralization does to teachers - if you know any teachers this is a must-read to understand the crisis happening now in public education.
“But many days I find myself unable to move through the rage I feel, my anger rising as our nation’s teachers are blamed for the failings of the downright cruel society we’ve built. Teachers are once again a scapegoat for all of the failures of all the systems in America. No matter what changes we make in our teaching, whether it’s our curriculum or our pedagogical methods, we cannot change the structure of a larger society that does not prioritize safety and the needs of families.” (Violet, Public High School outside of Portland, 20+ years as a Visual Arts Teacher)
Live feed from Iceland volcano - ooooh, ahhhh…
Making: see above
Reading: I’ve got loads of ebooks checked out right now, but am really just reading one thing - Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. You’re invited to join our library on April 13th when we host Imbolo for a virtual event.
Art Zone
I love this art.
Michael alerted me to the work of one of his old friends with the email subject line “spring breakers.” I expected a news article of the stupidity in Florida, but was pleasantly surprise with this instead!
Hee hee.
Click through for more Alien Quaranteen Creeps from Mars.
Click through for more disturbing Silly Boys.
These make me giggle. That’s it.
Video of the Week
Iceland’s contribution to Eurovision 2021… disco! Blue jumpsuits! No volcanos.
BLUES EXPLOSION!
Current Temperature: 43.0 F (6.1 C)
Current Humidity: 91%
Wind (max gust): 11.4 mph
Precipitation: 0.06 inches
I love the idea of a round robin relay drawing! Lynda Barry is amazing and I was watching part of her lesson the other day - she has such a fun energy. Chomberton is my new art obsession - thank you, Anne! Oh, and I loved the bubbles you painted and shared on your socials - they look so realistically poppable! xoxo
Chomberton is great, then I saw the clown behind the facade piece and I have to say -“hard pass” on that one. I love the Swamp Thing though and after I spent time growing up around Spring Breakers in Florida... “accurate”.