#let us appreciate that this is gouache and it is amazing

[taraneeno]

All this gorgeous art is making me want to get into dungeon meshi (I know nothing about it but it looks so cool and mysterious!)

gouache falin

[sktchy]

“...let go of expectations and perfection, and just draw”

Meet Roz Stendahl, an artist on Sktchy. In this Q&A she gives some creative wisdom and a peek at her Sktchy profile.

What’s your background?

I’m a graphic designer, illustrator, and book artist. I also teach bookbinding and visual journaling. I started in publishing in editing and production but gradually moved into design and stayed there.

When you’re looking for inspiration on Sktchy, what jumps out at you?

I always stop for interesting beards, fantastical hair, quirky ears surrounded with magical negative space, interesting facial expressions that can’t be held long by live models. Strong lighting which models the forms of the face is also something that will make me stop. Birds and dogs pull my attention, typically for the same sorts of reasons: interesting expressions and negative space.

What’s your medium of choice when you’re creating art?

I work with lots of different media. I love the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen because of its bold lines. I adore gouache because of its opacity and texture. But I also use a wide range of pens in combination with watercolor.

Sometimes I’ll sit down with Sktchy because I want to get out the gouache. I’ll look for an image that speaks to me for that purpose. Other times I’ll just browse in my 1800-plus-image queue (am I the only one with that many images in a queue?) and the image I select dictates which pen and watermedia I use. 

Recently I’ve been testing a bunch of papers, so I try to rotate the materials I’m using on those papers to see whether a particular paper is something I want to keep using. (I write materials reviews on my blog that my students tell me they find helpful.)

What’s one quirk in your creative process?

I don’t know if I’m qualified to say what my quirk is. I suppose it might be that I work really fast. It’s like I’ve got a timer set and I’m trying to find out what I can do in the least amount of time. It’s like keeping your exercise log, only in pictures. I’ll go into the poultry barn at the Minnesota State Fair for three hours and actually have a quota of how many sketches I want to finish. (Finish of course being a somewhat vague term when dealing with live models.)

I’m like that about a lot of things and one might think that it comes from working for myself and my focus on time management to meet deadlines, but I was that way when I was a child. So I think it has more to do with growing up in an environment that was always shifting and a family that was always on the go. It may be that the majority of my sketching has been of live models and they move out of view so you have to work quickly.

Over the years I’ve taken steps to try to slow down (because often that means a path to improvement in some aspect of my work), but those efforts don’t last long. I simply have more fun when I have this sort of internalized speed pressure applied to the activity. It actually feels comfortable to me.

Oh, and when I’m sketching and things are going really well, or really badly, I hum. Off key.

Any words of advice for fellow artists?

I believe in practice, a little bit every day is much more valuable than a big blow out session of painting on the weekend. So I would advise fellow artists to always have their sketching kit with them so that they can sketch when they are out and about.

What are three tips you’d like to share with your fellow Sktchy artists?

I think if people have difficulty finding time to sketch and get their juices flowing, momentum builds momentum. They might need to set aside time to be in the studio—make an appointment; then keep those appointments until it becomes habit.

If the issue holding them back is that they don’t like what they produce so they don’t sit down and produce, I would suggest that they start looking at how they are letting their internal critic call the shots and keep them from working.

I would encourage them to let go of expectations and perfection, and just draw. And then when they are finished, look at their piece and even if it didn’t turn out the way they hoped, that they keep looking at it until they find one piece of the sketch that they really like. It might be that they got the likeness of the face, and that would be huge, but sometimes it’s the little things that go right, a passage of paint, one magical ink line. Look at those bits and appreciate those bits. Because in that way I believe people start to fall in love with their art in a realistic way. They can see value even if only in small areas initially, and that will increase their enjoyment and build their drawing momentum.

Next, select one thing in the sketch that didn’t work out and make a plan on how to fix it—that might simply mean slowing down and paying attention to gesture or contour, but it also might mean taking a watercolor course or reading a color theory book. That’s about identifying a positive action that you can take to change things. This is also about turning off the internal critic that cripples many artists and prevents them from creating.

These two steps actually allow you to view your art realistically in relation to your goals, and see your goals realistically in relation to the steps you take to make them happen.

And the third tip I’d give people is to stop making comparisons, e.g. “So-and-So’s work is fantastic, mine sucks, blah, blah, blah.” There’s no value or point in that. There’s only you and your experience and ability and the paper. What you put there is about where you are right now and the daily practice, the habit of finding at least one thing in your work you enjoy, and the ability to look at your work and make choices about going forward all increase your enjoyment so much that you won’t be able to stop yourself from sketching daily, and so you’ll continue to practice…

If that’s too preachy, I’d simply recommend: work in a series. Series are always great for sparking inspiration and getting us out of dead ends and looking at subjects with fresh eyes. They are also the perfect opportunity to test out new materials and find the ones that speak to us. I think it’s pretty obvious to people who look at my profile page what I love to sketch. I like asymmetry, I love the challenge of rendering hair (which includes beards), feathers, and fur.

What do you love about Sktchy?

I love the wonderful creativity and variety of the Muses. All those wonderful faces, expressions, poses. They all visually call for attention and suggest inspiration. I’m amazed at the great sense of humor so many of them express when they come up with their poses. If you’re an artist who loves faces you simply have to be amazed at what they come up with and so graciously post.

Get the Sktchy iPhone app to join Roz on Sktchy.

[doodlewash]

Hello from Texas! I’m delighted to share some thoughts (and works) with you. My name is Shirley Bland, but I sign my work S. E. Bland, because when I started showing art, I didn’t want to be identified as anything other than “artist.” I am a mother, grandma, and great grandmother, and I live in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio, Texas. I was born in Oklahoma but have lived here much longer than there, so guess I am now a Texan.

I have always loved needle art and spent some time weaving and spinning before taking some art classes at a community college. Although intimidated at first, I soon found what I had wanted to do all my life. So much for starting young – I was in my 60’s when I did my first painting. Twenty years later, I am still passionate about art in all its amazing forms.

My husband and I retired a while back (actually sixteen years ago) and moved from Houston to be near our grandchildren. We did some traveling (Alaska, Maine, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the East Coast) and I can say there is nothing I enjoy more than sitting on a beach or in the mountains painting plein air.

Sometimes the wind blows my easel down the hill and I bring home Arizona sand embedded in my work. I’ve even seen my easel sinking into the sand at the beach and washed by brushes in the ocean!

One of the great joys in my life is my School of Joyful Art. I began teaching shortly after we retired. My studio looks out over a greenbelt, and our little home is full of laughter and color. This fall I taught seven classes a week! We studied Art “Happreciation” (my combination of art history and appreciation rolled together), Beginning Acrylics, Making Faces (painting portraits in watercolor and gouache) and Special Projects. If we feel hesitant to try something new, we look up elementary classes on YouTube and learn along with the children.

I call my students the “ARTCHIX and the DUDES.”  We party together, celebrate our triumphs and share our struggles. A year ago, eight women and a dude went to Oregon to paint together, and believe me, wheelchairs did not slow these folks down.

We did lots of watercolor sketches to bring back for reference.

Bandon, Oregon from our beach house.

In September this year, several of us went to Maine to escape our August heat.  From the Canada border, we painted and enjoyed the cool air on the Bay of Fundy.

Sunrise in Prospect Harbor, ME

Lighthouse at Wilson Beach, Campobello Island, New Brunswick

and my favorite…

Schoodic Peninsula, Maine.

We have only one rule in my classroom: “You MUST have fun.”

I paint in oils, acrylics, pastels, gouache and watercolor and really enjoy the travel watercolors. My husband is mobility impaired so I do a lot of painting in my recliner next to him, watching television.

I published a book last year which features a number of my paintings. Please feel free to check it out on Amazon. I enjoy blogging, and in addition to classes, I hold several workshops every year. You can find me at the links below.

Thanks to Doodlewash challenges, I participated in the Painting a Day last year and sold nineteen paintings! What a thrill, and boy did I grow – doing something every day is a real challenge, but I highly recommend it if you want to grow your work.

I’m inclined to spend a lot of time lying down or reclining. For that reason I very much enjoy my travel sets of watercolors. With a pill bottle full of clean water, I can work in a car or plane, sitting or lying down, even with a cat in my lap!

I began years ago with my Winsor & Newton Cotman set. I love that I can buy individual half pans to replace the empties. The precious tiny traveling brush from that set currently resides deep down in a sink in Oregon, where I dropped it when cleaning. I’m treating myself to a new travel brush this Christmas, but haven’t chosen one yet. I am currently using water brushes or a tiny Grumbacher brush.

More recently I’m very much enjoying my Nomad watercolor set from Prestigify. These colors are so vivid and wonderfully portable. I’m on my second set! I make my own sketchbooks with Strathmore watercolor paper and also like the Hahnemühle brand for travel.

Thanks for letting me share with you.

S. E. Bland Website Instagram Facebook

GUEST ARTIST: "My Colorful Journey" by S. E. Bland - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolor #watercolour Hello from Texas! I’m delighted to share some thoughts (and works) with you. My name is Shirley Bland, but I sign my work S.