And So It Begins...

"End of the Day" can be bid on here.
5x7, coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Looky Lemur" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Today’s the day! That’s right, today’s the day I’m starting my Van Gogh project and I’ll be up front in stating that I don’t have a solid set of goals for this project because 1- I’m more of a ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ kinda person (although my New Year's resolutions would belie that) and 2- I’ve found that the best growth I’ve experienced comes when I let the universe unfold as it will instead of bogging myself down with checklists and criteria.

That said, what I do have a list for are the things I’d like to cover/ address over the next couple of months based on VG’s artwork. First and foremost is colour as this was a major issue for me last year when I did the project. Second is sketching ( have a gander at Monday’s post so you know where I’m going with this). Thirdly I’d like to touch on still-life's as this was part of my New year’s resolution and since still-life was a popular subject with VG I suspect I’ll be able to find some decent material to look at and analyze. I’m also going to leave it open-ended in that I’d like to give myself the freedom to explore other possible subjects pertaining to VG as they come up throughout the project.


So, to get started I’m going to dedicate this post to giving you, dear reader, a background on Van Gogh and why he liked to eat his paint so much.

Van Gogh was born on March, 30th of 1853 to parents Anna Cornelia, who was the daughter of a book-binder and Theodorus who was a Dutch Reformed Church pastor. Only a year earlier, on the same day to be exact, an elder sibling passed away (was still-born) whom Van Gogh’s parents had also named Vincent. The baby was buried on their property and Van Gogh was privy to having to see that grave everyday which, and I’m just speculating here, may have given him a smidgen of a complex.

Van Gogh had several siblings but was closest to his sister Willemina (more affectionately known simply as ‘Wil’) and, more well-known, his brother Theo who would ultimately financially support Vincent for most of his adult life. Both were employed by Goupil and Co., a prominent art dealership, but it was Theo who made his mark in that company whereas Van Gogh left a rather bitter taste in their mouths with his out-spoken nature and critique of patrons’ art choices and the business dealings of Goupil.

Over the course of his art career he lived in both Belgium, England and France and the majority of his more notorious works come from his time in France when he not only lived with Gauguin, another well-known Post-Impressionist painter, but also spent some time living with a prostitute and spending a good amount of time living in mental institutions where, ironically enough, he created some of his most serene works. It was in July of 1890 that Van Gogh shot himself in the chest in an attempt at suicide. Unfortunately he did not die instantly and it was ultimately where the bullet was lodged, just below his heart, that did him in. The only consolation that Van Gogh may have had in his final hours was that his beloved brother, Theo, was at his bedside to see him off.

In his brief 37 years he managed to create hundreds of paintings and drawings, although there may have been many more as his mother had disposed of many of his works as she neared her own death. Today, his paintings easily fetch in the millions of dollars but for an artist the real perk from his works comes not from their monetary value (although who wouldn’t love to have one of those hanging in their living room to show off?) but from the scores and scores of work left behind and the letters and journals to explain what was going on in Van Gogh’s mind as he was creating his works. With all that information at hand it really is like having a master right there studying with you, but without the rapping on the knuckles with a ruler when you screw up.


So this is part one of...well, I don’t know how many parts. I’d like to make a point of touching on this project at least once a week over the next 2 months and barring any cataclysmic events of earth-shattering proportion I can’t see why that’s not possible.
Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed the brief intro to Van Gogh and below I've included some links to a few sites that have oodles and doodles of info on him if you'd like to read more on him:

The Vincent Van Gogh Gallery

Artcyclopedia article on Van Gogh

Wikipedia article on Van Gogh- a neat one because they also have an audio file of the proper pronunciation of his last name.

And if you're interested in seeing how I fared last year and to see the landscape I dubbed as 'horrific' (and some other doozy earlier artwork of mine) you can find my posts from February 2007 here. You'll have to start at the bottom and work up.


Back on Friday with some info on me 'cause...I've been tagged!

Another Sketchy Monday

"Eye Spy" ACEO can be bid on here.

Copyright Rita Woodburne
Colourful, aint' it?

Welcome back dear reader to the last week of January! Wow, where did the month go??

So today I wanted to do kind of a warm-up to Van Gogh before "officially" starting on Wednesday. While he's best known for his paintings it's also worth mentioning that Van Gogh was quite an avid sketcher and there are reams of his drafts, sketches and doodles to attest to that fact.
To be honest I've never been much of a sketcher and I can count on one hand (and still have fingers left over) how many times I've sketched out a larger piece before actually starting it. I guess I'm a spontaneous artist that way and, up until this point in my artistic development, I can't say that it's hurt me in any way... but I'll cover that issue more on Wednesday.

Below I've posted a couple of sketches I did over the week-end. They didn't take me terribly long, 20 minutes tops per subject, but it's a start:

Copyright Rita Woodburne

This page features an old Black & Tan beer bottle/ jug that my parents acquired when they bought their cottage and I thought it was neat looking and figured I'd take a stab at it.
The other sketch is a Sumba pony, a pony that is native to India with an elongated face much like an Arabian. These horses are rarely seen outside India and, as far as I know, there aren't any in North America...yet.

Copyright Rita Woodburne

On the back of the Sumba pony and beer page I did this one, a profile of a Freisan horse. I love these horses, they're huge (usually topping out at 17 hands, if not more) and their manes are gorgeous!

Two other artists blogs that are part of my regular blog reading are those of Jennifer Rose Philip (Fuzzy Dragons) and Ann Nemcosky (Nemcosky Art), both of whom have been participating in the Everyday Matters Challenge. With this challenge they are required to whip out their sketchbook and draw on a daily basis in an effort to improve their drawing skills. To find out more about the challenge and to have a look at what they've been up to in relation to it pop over to their respective blogs and have a gander.


Although I don't dedicate much time to it myself, I really feel that sketching, even if it's only for a brief moment, is an important part of developing one's artistic skills. So with that in mind, and with my Van Gogh project approaching, I suspect I'll be adding another resolution to my list. Can you guess what it'll be?

Indulging in Frivolity

"Just Right" ACEO can be bid on here.

Copyright Rita Woodburne

Our story begins with King Billy dubbing his reliably squishy aide Spots-A-Lot henceforth to be known as Sir Spots-A-Lot and in doing so forever changing the way the Kingdom would view a dog with a floppy body.

King Billy and Sir Spots-A-Lot

Rumours had been flying around the Kingdom that it would happen but now that it was official the joy of King Billy's subjects couldn't be hidden. The news had to be spread and it was Lady in the Cookie Bin, Rosebud, that travelled high and low (but mostly high) to let everyone know of the fortunate news.

Lady in the Cookie Bin Rosebud so excited with the news
flying over the icy cold River Soggy-Pants

Lady Rosebud told everyone she could. The gnomes of Back Forty were so pleased they even emerged from their homes into the cold Winter air to cheer over the good news.

...to be continued?...



See what happens when I drink coffee in the afternoon?

All zested out

"Upping the Ante" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Go Forward" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Today’s the day when I wrap up my solvent experiment so let's get to it, shall we?

To catch folks up on what the heck I’m talking about (in case you’re just reading this blog for the first time) a few weeks ago I decided to take on a small project involving using solvents with my coloured pencil work. The beginning of it can be found here.

There, now that you’re up to speed I’ll continue. You can find the follow up post to that one here.

Here is the final piece. Please, feel free to comment and crit as much as you’d like. Good or bad, no worries, I have thick skin for this kinda thing.

Untitled solvent horse. Open to suggestions...anyone?
5x7, coloured pencil and solvent on pastelbord
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Looking at it now I can see lots of things I would've done differently and, because of my energy sapping cold, I really could've come up with something much more interesting for the background. However, considering this was an experiment I'm okay with it.
So how do I feel about the Zest-It solvent? I’m underwhelmed. It cost me a fair bit to get this stuff and while I do enjoy a citrus scent, I could just as easily cut an orange in half and place it next to me while I’m working...and then eat it when I’m done. I can’t eat or drink Zest-It... well, I could, but I’d get sick and... nevermind, you get the idea.
Also, having worked a bit with my watercolour pencils last year in conjunction with some of my cp pieces, I can’t really say that the solvent gave me any effects that were more desirable than what I can get with the watercolour pencils.

Okay, so was there anything that I did like about it? Not specifically about the product but what I did enjoy was the fun I had smooshing colour around with a paintbrush on the pastelbord (and Meg, if you’re reading this, your softer bristle brushes will meet a similar fate as your other brush, I’m sorry to say) and a good old colour smooshing was just the thing I needed. This little experiment also revived my interest in pastelbord. I still have a few pieces lying around and I’m already conjuring up ideas for projects to use it with!

Deja vu... all over again

"Thoughtful" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Apples, Silver & Pomegranate" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Hey! Speaking of projects I guess that’s partly why you came back today, isn't it? Last year, February to be exact, a group of artists by the name of Fine Line Artists decided that for 2007 they would create a monthly project for themselves, and anyone else interested in participating, and each month that would involve studying one of the Masters. The only one I participated in was the artist for February, that Master artist being Van Gogh, a personal favourite of mine. Why? Because I admire his use of colour, he was incredibly prolific in his very short artistic career (and life), was very expressive and open-minded in his approach to looking at and creating art and, lastly, because he was crazy. Crazy people are always interesting.
Most importantly for me though was the colour issue. It’s not that I was doing “bland” work (okay, some of it was, but not all of it) but I wasn’t pushing beyond what I was capable of doing and also what I was capable of seeing. Black isn’t just black and white isn’t just white, y’know?

During this project from last year I decided to do a landscape, which came out quite horrifically by the way, but I was also working on a horse piece at the time. Much like the solvent experiment that I just wrapped up, with the horse piece from last year I gave myself permission to screw up and I made myself see some colour. I struggled with it, to be honest, but in the end I was so very pleased at how it turned out. I named him “Peat” and wouldn’t you know it? I took him to the first big art show I had last year and he sold on the first day. I was sad to see him go but there really was something about that piece that smacked of a breakthrough for me. “Peat” can be seen below:

"Peat", 8x10, coloured pencil on Colourfix
A very crummy photo, I might add
Copyright Rita Woodburne
Private Collection

After “Peat” I never looked at colour the same, and I have the project from last year and Van Gogh to thank for that.

So, for the next 2 months I’m going to return to studying Van Gogh. Last year for my birthday my brother bought me an awesome book on the absinthe- imbibing artistic wonder and there are some excellent sketches in there as well as an abundance of letters written to his brother Theo.
One month simply wasn’t enough time to cover an artist as prolific as Van Gogh, nor to go over all the documentation associated with him. I suspect that 2 months isn’t enough either but in the interest of keeping things fresh that’s about as long as I can go with in-depth study...that and gardening season will be starting by end of March! :D
I’m sure my study of him will extend throughout the year as relevant artistic issues pop up, but I’ll just dedicate the next 2 months. And after all, I still have another Master study planned for later in the year, so I can’t let Van Gogh have all the glory.

So that’s what’s happening on the project scene. Again, this is open to anyone out there, professional or hobbyist so if you’re interested in joining drop me a line or leave a comment. The whole thing will “formally” start next week when I’ll post a few goals I have for myself related to doing this and what I hope I’ll accomplish over the next two months. So, are you game?

Back on Friday!

ACHOO!!!

"Gold Rush" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Nutty Critter" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Hi...*cough*...dear reader.

I'm just popping in...*sniffle*...to say that I haven't forgot about posting today. Due to some circumstances beyond my control and the onset of a cold (confounded airborne germs) I'm passing on a post today, as you can see it's much later than I normally post. *wheeze*


But fear not!! I'm still posting my exciting project plans on Wednesday and...*achoo!*...if I can manage to breathe out my nose tomorrow, as opposed to breathing out my mouth, I'll do a post tomorrow to make up for today.

In more unusual news, in today's "Impossible Trivia" question, featured on my local radio station's morning show, the questions was: "When picturing the perfect man, what do 21% of women say is essential?"


Go on, just guess.


The answer? Apparently 21% of women say their ideal man is sporting facial hair, more specifically a mustache.

Their ideal man is the Marlboro man? I don't get it...but then again, I don't get a lot of things.

Maybe I do have an evil twin...

"Spot of Confidence" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"What's Up?" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Happy Friday, dear reader!

Over on her blog, Crash Octopus, Meg Lyman has been sharing with us her experiences of attending shows and selling her art, showing being both an exciting and scary venture for any new artist. I should know, I'm still new myself!

I had made a comment on her latest art post and in her response she implied that I should share a story of my own about my show experiences. I don't need much coaxing, so gather 'round the campfire boys and girls because the art show circuit can be an interesting one...

I started doing shows two years ago (see? I am still relatively new) and was like the majority of other artists in that I find social interaction, especially for extended periods of time, to cause indigestion. Over the past two years it's gotten easier and I have to admit that I actually look forward to going to certain shows because I know I'll get to see friends and because, despite the saying, familiarity doesn't always breed contempt. In fact, sometimes it's nice to get that "coming home" feeling after spending lots of time venturing out of one's comfort zone.

Regardless of whether the show is old or new, the one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the number of intersting people I meet and the interesting things that come out of their mouths. One of my favourite things to hear when people come into my booth and look at my art is: "You did this?" To which I politely respond: "Yes." Although what I'd like to say is: "No, it was my evil twin, but because of her potty mouth and tendancy towards violence I have to keep her locked in the basement while I go out and sell her art. You know, to buy her medication and restraints."

I don't say that, but sometimes I'd like to. Especially to the people who suspiciously eyeball me up and down after I tell them that I am, in fact, the artist.

The other thing that I've found amusing at outdoor art shows is the critiquing that happens at the most unexpected times. You know, when someone's dog pees on an artist's work. I've seen this happen more times than I care to recount and while I've always felt that placing artwork on the ground or very close to the ground is a bad idea, apparently it's not a widely shared notion. I've been around dogs my entire life and know that anything valuable or breakable must pass the peeing range and tail wagging height criteria before being secured. As a side note, this is also a useful guideline for avoiding damage from high-speed, ice-cream wielding children.

Another amusing art show experience is the random person you get that 1- wants to talk to everyone and 2- is visibly intoxicated. I've met this random person at almost every outdoor art show I've done and while I'd like to think that they're just really social it's the tell-tale whiff of rum, scotch or beer (maybe all three??) that always gives them away. The most interesting one I've met so far was the fellow who I had the pleasure of speaking with for about an hour and who, despite being very tipsy, managed to pull off successful conversation segways between the Group of Seven, Sesame Street and the politics of the current Canadian government. I'll just let you try and imagine how that conversation went, although in hindsight I can see how he pulled off the segway between a show featuring muppets and the government.


These are only a few tidbits of the fun and frivolity I've experienced at art shows and I suspect there's more to come...at least, I sure hope so! There are lots of interesting experiences and people that can be found at art shows and sometimes you just have to go find them. Then again, sometimes they find you.

Back next week, keep on art-ing!

More Zest!

"Caught in the Breeze" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Well, howdy doody, dear reader!

Today I'm going to resume my solvent experiment. If you want to refer back to the first image before we begin just head over here to refresh your memory.

Pretty ugly, eh?

Well, like I mentioned before, that's okay because all coloured pencil pieces are subject to an ugly stage at one point or another. Fortunately, because this is a small piece and because I'm infatuated with horses, I can see past the ugly stage and onto something a bit less aesthetically revolting.

I decided that while I hadn't done enough smooshing (<--- that's a technical term...really) with colour and solvent I still wanted to go ahead and start on some "modeling" of my subject. This included pumping up some of the highlights and shaping the face a bit and blocking in some of the shadows by blocking in a colour as an under painting. It also included some fiddling with the hair because, well, I love flowy hair on horses and I just couldn't help myself.

Untitled WIP with bad lighting, 5x7 coloured pencil on pastelboard
Copyright Rita Woodburne

You, hopefully, can also see that I've thrown in some of the colours I'm planning on using throughout the body and face to establish warm spots and cool spots.

In the next picture I've gone over the mane some more and applied more solvent to the pink/ salmon coloured areas and I've also started working the face and neck areas by adding in more lights and other lighter colours such as Light Peach, Putty Beige and Ginger Root.

Untitled WIP, 5x7 coloured pencil on pastelboard
Copyright Rita Woodburne

My next steps will include more shaping in the face, such as including in the fiddly bits that can be found on a horse face, as well as establishing the shadows on the body and focusing more on getting the nose area the correct value.
While I'm working on those things I'll also be rolling around in my head what I'd like to do with the background. Because this is an experimental piece I didn't really give it too much thought but I do know that I'd like to stick with a fantasy feel or something very simple, no scenery.


So there you have it, another step forward in the solvent experiment. I'd like to have this one wrapped up for next week because it ties in nicely with a project that I'm undertaking next month (I mentioned it in my Plans for 2008- in the artsy section) and I'd like to mention what it is next week as well as extend an invitation to any other artists, or hobby-artists, out there in bloggerdom who would like to participate.

Curious? Well, stay tuned...

Do You See What I See?

"Captive Look" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Silver and Cherries" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Welcome back to a new week, dear reader!

Well, I was going to continue with my solvent experiment today but the week-end was a total write off in terms of getting any artwork done because, as they say, life got in the way. So, instead what I'd like to do is direct you to a post on James Gurney's blog about how people see artwork and that, for all the technical planning in the world, not everyone sees every piece in the same way. His post on this subject can be found here.

I found his post terribly interesting because I can recall doing a similar exercise in high-school in art class (my art teacher was awesome!!) and after doing the exercise she asked each of us why our eyes were drawn to a particular section/ area of an image. Was it the lighting? Was it the colour? Was it a sharp value change? Was there a particular object of interest there? And so on.
The exercise was fun and this past week-end the Other Half and I had another couple over, who admittedly knew little about art, and we whipped out an abstract painting that my Grandmother gave to us that was painted by one of her friends many, many years ago so we could try the same thing. With abstract art the results of such an experiment, in my mind anyway, are much more interesting...or at the very least amusing.

Initially when the Other Half saw the painting in question, about 3 or 4 years ago, he almost instantly saw what it was (to him). I believe his exact words were: "Well, any idiot can see that it's a campfire."

Well. Paint me yellow and call me stupid.

However, when he said that the lightbulb went off for me because I could see the fire almost instantly. I had seen this painting almost my entire life and every time I saw it all I could really think to myself is: "Looks like someone got a little out of control with the ol' paintbrush." This is why I'm not an abstract artist, nor can I critique it.
When we asked this other couple what they saw one of them offered up a suggestion of a modern landscape image with sky-rise buildings while the other saw a deer emerging from a forest. Go figure?

We didn't get into the whole over-analysis of their suggestions but it did get me to thinking about how folks look at art and how they interpret what they see, whether the piece is abstract or hyper-realism. How much does composition really influence those who don't know a whole lot about it? How do colour choices affect the person that knows nothing about complementaries?

So, would you be game to showing your work to a complete stranger and asking them what they really focus on in your work? I may just have to start doing that when show season starts up again. :)

Ouch

"A Sunny Disposition" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Ibn Azraff" ACEO can be bid on here.
Study for larger commission.

Copyright Rita Woodburne

To find out more about having a commission done head here or
e-mail me at rita @ ritawoodburne.com for more info.

Happy Friday?

Okay, so I know that Friday's are supposed to be jovial and full of hilarity but in the past hour I've developed a splitting headache thanks to a wisdom tooth I have coming in. I don't know how long it's going to last so I'm going to forego a "real" post for today. I want my tooth to stop hurting my head.

Maybe I should just have them all pulled and get dentures? Heck, it would save me money on trips to the dentist.

Zesty!

"Look Up, Way Up" ACEO can be bid on here.

Copyright Rita Woodburne

Hi there, dear reader!

So in my quest to find what works for me artistically and what doesn't I decided that in today's post I'd share with you a little experiment I have going on.

Last year, I can't recall when, over at WetCanvas! in the coloured pencil forum there was much ado about solvents. What could one accomplish by using solvents? Who was using them? What types were there? And so on.
One of the solvents that came up was one called "Zest-It" that boasted a delightful orange-y scent and was non-toxic to boot. I saw what several people were doing with this stuff and I had to bite. What can I say? I'm a sucker for new artsy knick-knacks and doo-dads, so I ordered some.

A week or so later my Zest-It arrived and there it sat. I was at a loss as to what I should try it with, in terms of a subject, much less on what type of support. Ultimately I think what I wound up doing was doing a bunch of scribbles on a piece of Colourfix and then smearing some Zest-It on the scribbles to see what effects I could get.

Fast forward to this week.

I decided that if I'd spent the money on the darn stuff then I might as well use it and so I whipped out a piece of pastelbord (again, another artsy knick-knack/ doo-dad) and did a quick line drawing of a horse and started blocking in some colours. After I got the colours down, and there really weren't many, I applied the Zest-It. Here's where it is right now:

5x7, coloured pencil on Pastelbord.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Looks pretty darn ugly, eh? That's okay, all cp pieces go through an ugly stage and I'm certainly no whiz with a paintbrush.

The reason I'm doing this is because I wanted to work on a piece "for fun" and because I want to know if the Zest-It is worth my time as opposed to my watercolour pencils. After all, I have to order this stuff from the UK and the shipping is almost as much as the solvent itself! I can go pick up watercolour pencils at my local art store.

I'm going to be playing with this one on and off for the remainder of the week and, provided I don't become too distracted, I suspect it should be finished off this week-end.

I may do another piece, a floral, using this stuff since florals seem to have less fiddly bits than a horse. I tend to be a bit looser with floral works, which will help because like I mentioned before, I'm no whiz with the paintbrush so I'll just be able to slap the stuff on and have at it.

So I hope you'll stick around and find out if this little solvent experiment works. If not, I'll be advertising a bottle of Zest-It for sale on this blog in due time. :p

Second Chances

"Colourful Corvid" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Welcome back, dear reader, to the first full week of the New Year!

In the interest of getting myself organized for the year one of the things I like to do is go through all my old unframed work and burn it (very therapeutic, you should try it sometime) or if I happen to like it I'll keep it for another year. This year was a smidgen different.

I found this work that I had done, at best guess, either late 2005 or early 2006:

Copyright Rita Woodburne

I know later in 2005 I decided to stop dating my work when I signed it and I say that it might have been early 2006 because I know that in Winter I tend to get the urge to draw flowers. Call it wishful thinking for the season to come.

At the time I was quite pleased with my efforts. I was just starting to use coloured paper and a green support can be difficult to work on even for seasoned artists. I was also experimenting with images using forced perspective and seeing the other colours that make up white. All in all, my efforts with this piece were satisfactory...at the time.

The other day when I found this piece I believe my first reaction was "Why the heck didn't I finish this?" So, realizing that I hadn't even sprayed the darn thing with fixative, I decided that what better time than now to finish it.

Before I post the finished piece I feel I should point out what the glaring ommissions were that prompted me to have a go at working on this one again. First was the value range in the piece, as in, it was totally lacking. Where are my shadows? Where are my bright highlights? I also wanted to do something more with the background, just to make it a bit more dynamic.

Here's what happened:

Untitled (and open to suggestions)
8x10- coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

I'm happy with it now. There were limitations to me taking this even further since I had already gone over the bg with an undecipherable colour which, in turn, left a waxy film over the paper. And, speaking of wax, because I hadn't sprayed it and it had been sitting in a drawer for some two-odd years there was some minor wax bloom that is a common problem with coloured pencil.

Other cp artists can perhaps get nostalgic with me for a moment. Working on this piece also made me wish that Prismacolour hadn't discontinued the "deco" series of colours as I realized that I had apparently used quite a bit of Deco Blue on this piece the first time around. Alas, love lost...


Anyhoo, that's how I spent my week-end. That and taking down the Christmas tree. I know, the excitement just never ends in the life of an artist. Back on Wednesday!

Just one more thing...

"Curious Calico" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Proud & Powerful" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Hi there, dear reader!

So over the past week since I've thrown my 2008 plan out there for all to see I've also been thinking quite a bit about quality. While I've always admired those who obviously have standards of quality that they strive to meet in their artwork I found it funny that I didn't mention that in my goals for this year. I suppose in the back of my mind I assumed that quality would come naturally or that it would just be a knee jerk response when creating.

However, in thinking and looking back at some of the pieces I did last year, commissions excepted (because I always seem to labour over them), I can clearly see in a few pieces not only things that I would change, a natural response as one gets better and better, but also pieces where I just plain ol' rushed through it. I'm smacking my hand with a ruler as we speak. It irks me because I let the quality of the work fall behind in favour of creating more pieces, and that's never a good thing. I suppose it's the old "quality versus quantity" issue and when you're starting out as a professional artist sometimes the need for beefing up a portfolio causes one to push common sense aside. Again, I'm smacking my hand with a ruler. That said, in looking back I can also say that some of my favourite pieces also came to me so easily that they didn't take a long time to complete either. So is it that time spent doesn't dictate quality either?

I guess what it boils down to is that I'm also going to amend my plan for 2008 to include a solid commitment to quality...and I do mean solid. Already with the few pieces I've done and started this year I've repeated to myself that "it takes as long as it takes" and wouldn't ya know it? I'm actually quite happy with what's come of it so far.


So that's where I stand on this 4th day of the New Year. I've already exercised my right to "wiggle room" and added another thing to my plan. I'm going to head off now and work more on quality, whether it takes me 15 minutes or 15 hours.

Happy Friday and keep on art-ing!

2008: It's Time for a Plan

"Statuesque" ACEO can be bid on here.
Copyright Rita Woodburne

In coming up with a plan for 2008 the first thing I promised myself is that I would allow myself some wiggle room within my plan. There are always things popping up and in staying true to my nature I like the freedom to add things to an existing idea or to venture off into something completely unplanned for. For me that’s part of what makes artistic exploration and development so exciting.
My plans as outlined below are comprised of things that are very important to me to complete as well as some goals that have been carried over from last year. A lot of the artistic goals, as with any skill that requires developing, are going to be works in progress. Many of the business goals, on the other hand, are going to fall into the “either it gets done or it doesn’t” category. I think it’s important to have a plan that includes a combination of solid goals that can be seen to completion as well as more open ended goals that can be carried over into coming years.


The Main Thing: It’s All About the Art

This section is first and foremost because you can’t really call yourself an artist without the art. Nor can you, in my humble opinion, call yourself a serious artist without committing yourself to artistic development. Whether this comes in the form of mastering a medium, trying a new medium, tackling new subject matter, polishing your technical skills, studying the masters, etc. it’s imperative that an artist commit themselves to being the best they can be. Sometimes it happens in leaps and bounds and sometimes it’s just baby-steps, but any progress is better than none, right?
Below is what I’d like to do this year to further myself as an artist:

- Continue my focus on incorporating more colour into my work
- Continue my focus on pushing values
- Have two separate projects involving studying one of the Masters. I’ve already picked out the two I’d like to study and when I’d like to do them so stay tuned for more info!
- Do a really large piece (large for cp and myself anyway), something 16x20 inches or larger
- Concentrate on creating pieces with more dynamic composition
- I had fun in 2007 with using watercolour pencils in some of my pieces and the effects it gave me so I’d like to try and work them into more of my pieces for 2008 so I can become more comfortable with using them. That said, getting my hands on some Neocolours would also be a viable alternative.
- I also had oodles of fun doing still-lifes, presumably because they were a nice break for me from doing animal pieces and commissions. I’d like to make a point of doing more of them in 2008 with the intent to create a series of equine based still-lifes (the series goal may carry over into 2009).
- Improve my photography skills to take better reference pictures and images of my artwork



“But I Need To Buy Supplies!”: The Business Stuff

The artist that would like to make a living at this wacky thing called ‘art’ has to resolve that in order to do so they need to set aside the artist persona sometimes and become the businessperson. This means being a marketer, a salesperson, an accountant, a handyman/ woman, an inventory controller and a whole host of other things that have little or nothing to do with living creatively. This sometimes unpleasant chore of being “all business-like and stuff” is necessary and any time I get grumpy about doing these things I remind myself that I’m extremely fortunate to be doing something I love...book-keeping and all.
Below is the nitty-gritty business stuff I’d like to focus on this year:

- Make more contacts within my local art community
- Become more active in the local arts organizations I am a member of which will include attending meetings, gallery sittings, etc.
- Be more organized in my book-keeping (remember, I said it makes me grumpy)
- Be more disciplined in my use of time
- Make my art fair booth more professional looking and start to keep a journal of viewers comments and what other artists are doing in their booths in terms of set-up, display, functionality, etc.
- Set up a daily checklist for myself during the work week with daily goals (a small white-board will be a wise investment)



Above all, in catering to my “jump in head first” nature, I’m leaving myself the right to alter things as I go. Like I mentioned before, while I do enjoy having a plan to work I also enjoy having the freedom to throw caution to the wind and try something new or unplanned. The above mentioned goals are the things that have priority because I feel that, at this point in my artistic and business life, these are the things that need my focus the most.

So there you have it folks, my plan for 2008. Let's see how it all unfolds, shall we?