There's the door, Winter.

I'll be honest, I'd really rather be outside right now but before I give into temptation I just wanted to post a quick update on the ACEO I had on the go. Here it is:

"Daybreak" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

It was fun to break out the yellows and oranges again, and this little work rekindled my love of flowers as subject matter. Not that I ever really despised doing them, but (and I'm sure you other artists out there would agree), after awhile of doing the same subject matter over and over again you get a little tired. Yes, it's true, even flowers can lose their novelty.

So, on that note, I have done what I set out to do and now I must get outside and indulge in the wonderful weather we're having.

Dare I say it? Is Spring actually upon us?

Salt with my foot would be fine, thank you.

Methinks I spoke too soon.

So, apparently this week we're getting nothing but snow, snow and more snow. I guess you folks in the USA are tired of looking at the white stuff in places it shouldn't even be (no, not there... get your mind out of the gutter!)

ACEO WIP- Unnamed as of yet.
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes

That said, after the wonky weather we've been having who knows how long it'll even stay on the ground. :/

So I've started a few more ACEO's and some larger pieces. Now, if I could just get around to completing one of them that would be super. I think I'm in one of those phases where I need to start a whole whack of art, realize that I have 53 pieces on the go and not one of them is done and then go through a period where all I do is complete pieces.

Yup, that sounds about right.

"Touch of Colour" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

So, having said that I believe I should go work on some of said pieces. Back later this week with more art... providing we're not buried under 9 feet of snow.

Toodles!

Winter? What Winter?

Well, so much for Winter.

Over the past few weeks we’ve had normal or above normal temps, sunny skies and only the occasional flurry or two. Normally I wouldn’t be complaining about this but we’re only in the middle to end of February and there’s still at least a month left of Winter.

"Dynamic Duo" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

I know, you say :”Well thank goodness there’s only about a month left!” But wait, dear reader, this is a problem. Why? Because there’s hardly any snow cover (and the little snow we did get yesterday will have melted by the end of the day today) and I have Spring bulbs poking up in my front flower bed.

Spring bulbs!!!

That's right, even Mother Nature has had enough
of the piddly Winter we've been having.

I love flowers and I’m looking forward to seeing them again but they’re not going to last if they’re trying to come up now and we get a cold snap. I have yet to venture towards our larger pond where the pussy- willows live but I plan on walking that way this week-end to see if they’ve started blooming as well.


Oh, who am I kidding. Bring on Spring! Winter has gotten tired and boring (and really, what fun is Winter without snow to play in) and I’m ready to see some flowers and colour.

More art this week-end!

You know you're an artist when...

"Green Grapes and Blue Satin" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

You know you’re an artist when:

- You giggle uncontrollably after receiving a book about Rembrandt with a portrait of him on the cover (and folks, he’s no Johnny Depp, so there’s really no reason to giggle).
- You refer to well stocked art stores as “Mecca”.
- You’re hanging out with friends and the topic turns to ‘tertiary colours’.
- You spend 20 minutes in the produce section of the grocery store inspecting each and every apple to find the best possible model.
- You can explain to people, in painstaking depth (more pain for them, not you), the importance of good lighting for taking reference photos.
- If you know when the scientific element “cadmium” should come in front of the name of a basic colour like red.
- You look at works from the Baroque era that feature nudes and think you’d look better if you put on a few pounds.

After Vermeer-" Girl with a Pearl Earring" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Yes, this is when you know you’re an artist. Gotta love it! ;)

FINALLY!!

Yes, we finally got a sprinkling of snow. All I have to say is : "It's about flippin' time!"

Granted, these pics were taken quite early in the morning and the majority of this snow has since melted, but it was nice to finally see some of the white stuff on the ground. After all, it's December 1st and Christmas is slowly creeping up on us and I know I certainly wasn't the only one that was waiting on a bit of snow to add a little more to the Christmas spirit.

Heck, even the dogs were in a giddy mood:


Granted, much like people driving in the first snow of the season, they wiped out on more than one occasion but all in all they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Thankfully I did not share in their excitement of face-planting in the first dusting of snow.

Rejuvenated with a new sense of Christmas-yness (English teachers everywhere are cringing right now) I must be off to create a themed ACEO or two... which I will be more than happy to share later this week.

Until then, keep on art-ing!

The Joys of the Season...

Back again for another posting and to share some art. Before I get started though I would like to wish our neighbours South of the border and very happy Turkey Day!

"Pieces of Autumn" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

So despite the warmer weather things around here are starting to get Christmas-y. I've done some decorating outside and this week-end the tree will be going up and all the other little holiday knick-knacks will be making their yearly appearance. Even with the joy and festivity surrounding holiday decorating though there is one gripe that I simply must get out of my system: Christmas tree lights.

Why is it that from one year to the next I cannot have each strand light up again? There always has to be that one trouble-making bulb in the middle of the strand that has to go out and then I have to spend about an hour of my life that I will never get back again trying to find the little bugger and replace it.
While this is happening, the cat if watching the strand of lights wriggle around on the floor and decides that the best thing to do is attack the strand of lights (while still plugged into the outlet, I might add) at which point I am forced to drop the lights and shoo the cat away. This in turn gets the dogs wound up and as they chase the cat around the house they race close to a box of glass ornaments that teeters precariously on the edge of the sofa. They have muddy feet from being outside so, of course, now I'm yelling at them to stop chasing the cat while at the same time cursing the fact that I'm going to have to mop the floor from one end of the house to the other.

Oh, those damn Christmas tree lights. Always causing problems.

"Before and After" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Anyway, I look forward to the fun and frivolity of decorating the tree this week-end, I'm sure it will be an adventure.

On a blogger- related note I have turned the comment mods off since I'm hoping a suitable amount of time has passed to discourage people from countries I have yet to visit from posting naughty links in the comments. So feel free to comment away.

Again, a happy Thanksgiving to folks in the USA... stuff yourselves with turkey for me! :)

I Just Need A Little Nudge

How I spent my Monday Afternoon...

So it's almost Friday and when the week-end rolls around it'll be time for working on some more art and, hopefully, posting more works.

Lately it's been difficult to get art done because, as many of you know, life tends to get in the way of doing fun and enjoyable things and, as I mentioned in my previous post, because of the weather.

I hate to say this given the lousy Summer we had, but I'm kind of wishing we would have a rainy day or, even better, a snow day. While I generally enjoy getting outside in the cooler weather, for the most part this time of year always feels like a time to hibernate indoors and (for me anyway) work on oodles of art. Small pieces, big pieces, still life's, equestrian pieces or even reading some art history books. I've started on some pieces, the WIP's I'm planning on posting soon, and even started re-reading one of my art history books from university.

"Dramapple" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

It's all very good and well, but I think I need that little kick from Mother Nature where she says: "Hey! Look at what I brought you... a snowstorm! Go ahead, stay inside and drink ridiculous amounts of hot chocolate and play with your coloured pencils. Have fun!

Oh, and tell your husband to get the snowblower warmed up because this one's going to be a doozy!"

Yup, that's what I need. And to remind the Other Half to get the snowblower tuned up. :p


Back this week-end with more art!

What time of year is it anyway?

"Potential Candidates" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Hi there folks,

Well, Halloween has come and gone and we're well into November and you know what that means? We're being bombarded with commercials drilling "Jingle Bells" into our skulls and store flyers featuring images of over-indulged children surrounded by toys requiring every type of battery known to mankind and houses that look like one of the National Lampoon movie sets exploded.

Yup, as they say, "Tis' the season!"

Despite the aforementioned points, Christmas is one of my favourite seasons since I enjoy decorating the tree and making cards and eating massive amounts of butter and sugar... all of which I rarely do the rest of the year. AlthoughI suppose I could, but the neighbours would probably think I was even stranger than how I normally present myself.

This year, though, there is one thing that is greatly hindering me from getting into that Christmas-y spirit. The weather.

"Bowl of Good Taste" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

That's right. Autumn started off pretty darn chilly here in our neck of the woods and I figured that, much like last year, we would be almost knee-deep in snow by the beginning to middle of December. However, if things keep going the way they are, we'll be showing off our knees by the beginning to middle of December because it'll be so warm! The past few weeks, dare I say it, have been downright balmy and while most people seem to be enjoying it (myself included since I've been able to get caught up on my outdoor chores without dressing up like Natoonook of the North) I can't help but wonder... how do you folks in the Southern States do it!?

I mean, really, how on earth can you possibly get into the Christmas mode without cold weather and snow? Clearly you've mastered some kind of Jedi mind-control ability that the rest of us have yet to tap into.

If you wouldn't mind sharing your skills I'd greatly appreciate it because, starting this Friday, the barrage of Santa Claus parades in our area begins and I just think it's kinda odd that most kids might be in shorts and t-shirts drinking Kool-Aid rather than Winter coats and mittens drinking hot chocolate. Maybe it's just me though...

... right?

An Imperfect Match

Well howdy folks!

I hope everyone had a spooky, sugar- laden Halloween... I know I sure did! :p On top of that the clocks went back 1 hour which, although it totally screws up my eating habits, is nice for the extra shut-eye that we got. Having said that though I suspect over the next week I'll be waking up at 4:30 or so and saying to myself that I need to go back to sleep for another hour and that by the second week of this happening I'll be cursing the arse that came up with the concept of Daylight Savings Time.

Today I went grocery shopping and saw something that reminded me that I need to start bringing my camera with me again when I leave the house... because you never know what kind of oddness you'll come across in your travels.

"Glorious Gourds" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

While I was driving to the store a vehicle turned out in front of me and I couldn't help but notice the license plate that read "BAD2THBN". Sounds pretty tough, right?
Oh yeah, smack that vanity plate on a Viper or big ol' black pick-up truck with chrome grills or a vintage car that's been done up to the nines and you're rockin'. Those are cars that need a license plate that reads "BAD2THBN", especially if the guy driving it looks like Bill Gates because, really, who doesn't love a good dose of irony now and then?

"Potential Candidates" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

In this case the vehicle was a Dodge Caravan.

Yup, you read that right. A soccer wagon. I mean, it wasn't even red.

Folks, let this be a reminder that the pairing of vanity plates and vehicles is an art. You're cultivating an image and setting your level of cool. When you do something such as putting a license plate like that on a mini-van the only image you're creating is that of a person that wears a helmet... and not because you're driving fast, if you know what I mean.

I feel better now that I have delivered this Public Service Message.

Transmission over.

Back on track...

"Autumn's Warm Welcome" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne
SOLD

Hi folks, I know it's been a very long time since I posted and I do apologize. I've been insanely busy and I think that my life may stay on a similar course until about mid- December.

That said, I am at least slightly more organized now than I was 2 months ago and I'm almost done school (yay me!) so I should have more time to post and work on art. I have to admit that I let quite a few things slide by the way-side this year but I'm going to shamelessly blame that on getting married... I had no flippin' idea that it would take up so much of my time and energy. :/

So where it stands at this point is that I'm not going to commit myself to any particular posting schedule for the blog but you can be sure that I will be posting more frequently now that I have my ducks in a row, eggs counted, chickens hatched or whatever other nonsensical analogy you can apply to this situation.

"Apple-solutely Delicious" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne
SOLD

Thanks to those folks that emailed me while I was on hiatus to chit-chat about life in general and art. Oh, and to harass me into posting again. :)

For those of you that are interested, I've decided to fall into the Facebook fray so you can find me there too, although the posts are much shorter (as I'm learning is the quid pro quo for Facebook) and I have yet to share my artwork there. I'm still a newbie though so we'll see what happens...

Stay tuned for more art. I'm getting much heavier into still-lifes and I've been working on a wicked cool piece for my brother that I can't wait to share... but since he's getting it for Xmas you'll have to wait until after that to see it. ;)

Done with dimples... for now at least.

"Lusciously Lit Lemons" ACEO

Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

And there it is, my first miniature piece featuring some dimpled fruit!

Like I mentioned yesterday, considering this is the first time I've tackled lemons I'm content with how it turned out. Sure, I cheated a bit because half the darn thing is in shadow but I like to think of it as a baby- step towards including other interestingly textured produce into my artwork.

Having said that, the next WIP I have on the go is of a horse. So unless I include a carrot in the composition (highly unlikely) the only other piece I'm currently working on is another one that was left in limbo before my hiatus. It can be seen below:

Silver and Cherries WIP
Coloured pencil on Colourfix

I've actually gotten a bit more done on it than this but I'd really like to get this one wrapped up soon 1- because it's a large piece (for me) at 11x14 and would be the first large still life piece that I've completed and 2- it's been on my drawing table since the Winter and it's getting to the point where I'm almost certain that it's laughing at me every time I walk past it. Almost as if to say "Mwahaha! You'll never complete me and as such I shall inhibit your growth as an Artist for all eternity!"

Okay, so maybe that last bit was a bit over-dramatic but every once and awhile... I'm sure I can hear it snickering at me.


So, I've got a busy art, school and gardening day ahead of me and with a list of tasks lined up in front of me I feel I should get the rest of my day underway. You know, so my list of "things to do" isn't laughing at me as well.

Until later this week, keep on art-ing!

Dimpled fruit... yes, you read that right.

Hi there, dear reader!

So I'm back again with an ACEO WIP. I told you I was itching to get back into doing art; and what better way to start than with a challenging miniature piece? I say this one was a challenge because, for lack of better words, I've never done dimpled fruit before.

That doesn't really sound right, does it?

Lemon still life ACEO- WIP
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes

Anyhoo, this being my first foray into a still life with a dimpled fruit I decided on a nice reference pic featuring some lemons that I got from the artist forum WetCanvas!, although I can't recall the name of the individual that contributed the particular photo.

I think I find dimpled fruit to be a challenge because of the way I work with cp's. That is, I like to "block in" areas of colour and then start layering. When you have dimples and divets in things (not just fruit, although I can't think of anything else off the top of my head that presents the same texture) there are all kinds of considerations to make regarding lights and darks and sometimes, to be perfectly honest, that's just too much calculated planning for me.

Lemon still life ACEO- WIP
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes

That said, I was up for a challenge and since this is my first attempt I'm pleased with the results and hopefully I'll be able to start including all kinds of textured fruit now. Limes, oranges, strawberries, lychee fruit (okay, maybe not)... the possibilites are endless!!

This ACEO is complete but I'm going to leave you in suspense until tomorrow when I'll be posting again. Now if you'll be so kind as to excuse me I have a loaf of cinnamon zucchini bread that needs to make it's great escape from the oven.

Till tomorrow! :)

Here's Smirkin' At You Kid

Welcome back!

Since I'm just getting started back up I'm going to share with you one of the ACEO's I left off with before I disappeared into Never-Neverland (aka- the Bottomless Abyss of wedding planning). This was the image I had left off with waaaaay back when:

Guess who...

In case you've been living in a vacuum, it's a cropped image of the Mona Lisa. I did a rendition of Mona way back in highschool, except instead of being on a small 2.5 x 3.5 " ACEO it was on a piece of plywood about 3 x 5 feet. Try wrapping your noggin around that one.

This ACEO has long since found a new home but for those of you just squirming in anticipation to see how it came together you can see below:

Yes, that is the bottom of a pen next to Mona.

"After DaVinci- The Mona Lisa" ACEO
coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Despite not having the pleasure of seeing this piece in person, I've always loved it for the expression on Mona's face. For a little tiddly-bit of history, this piece didn't come together for DaVinci so easily. Many moons after he completed it and us crafty little humans had developed the ability to x-ray things it was discovered that there were, in fact, several layers of paint and several subtle variations on Mona's expression. The ultimate result was this fine work of art featuring a saucy brunette with a quaint little smirk on her face.

Knowing that there were so many re-dos to this piece my own personal feeling on why he finally settled/ decided upon this particular rendition came about something like this:

DaVinci: I think I've almost got it. Yes, just a few more brushstrokes...
Mona Lisa: For the love of fudge, I sure hope so! How long have I been sitting here? I'm glad you've found me so inspiring and all but I have laundry to beat by the river you know.
DaVinci: ... yes, yes. It's.... almost... damnit!! No, I think I need to re-so it again.
Mona Lisa: WHAT!?! (insert several loud expletives here and imagine the Pope's hat popping off and spinning around like a whirlygig)

At that point I like to think that after DaVinci picked his jaw up off the floor he quietly made a few subtle alterations like changing Mona's mouth to achieve the somewhat smug expression we see today.

And thus ends this edition of Storybook Theatre. Do tune in on Friday when I give my take on just what Goldilocks was in fact doing in the 3 Bears' house.

Name that tune!

"It's a mid-week day. A rainy day. Walk-a, walk-a, walk-a waaay!"

Really, bonus points for whoever can name that tune. Think waaaaay back to the decade of decadence, the 80's. That's the only clue I'm giving.

"After Boticelli- "Birth of Venus" " ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

It is, in fact, a mid-week day and although not rainy Mother Nature has granted us some warmers temps and a weird concoction of ice pellets and light snow. I don't have much to write as I've been creatively sapped for the past week and a half, although I do have a couple of ACEO's to share, one above and one below.

"After Sargent- "Madame X" " ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

I've got more of these Masters ACEO's I plan on doing since I'm really enjoying the challenge of re-creating famous works and giving them a bit of my own twist. I thought about turning it into a series titled "Tackling the Masters" but then I got a weird visual of me in a huddle with van Gogh and Mary Pratt about to take on Vermeer, Michelangelo and Emily Carr in an attempt to push them back past the 40 yard line. It was odd and yet slightly amusing.

Anyhoo, art mingled with sports aside, this week again has been filled with a ridiculous amount of running around and the Other Half and I are having guests this week-end so I'm quite sure that no art will get accomplished.
Next week might hold some promise though, but only time (and my energy level) will tell...

Yellow anyone?

Let’s talk about van Gogh, shall we?

More specifically, let’s continue with the discussion from earlier about works that can cause grief. I debated doing this one... extensively. Despite being one of his most famous works, I am really not a fan of this one. I look at it and say ‘blah’. Even for me, who likes simple composition and uncluttered images, it’s about as exciting as a loaf of bread.

Also, there’s a lot of yellow. And not even a nice kind of yellow. It’s the kind of yellow that makes you uncomfortable. However, I shoved my dislike for this piece aside and decided that I wanted to tackle it.


Normally an ACEO takes me a couple of hours to do. This one took me 4 days working on it on and off. It's progress can be seen below:

van Gogh, "Sunflowers", Part 1

van Gogh, "Sunflowers", Part 2

"After van Gogh, "Sunflowers" " ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Let's just say I can understand now why van Gogh went off his rocker. Yellow. Orange- yellow. Yellow ochre. Canary yellow. Goldenrod. Deep cadmium. I mean, really, how much yellow can one person tolerate?

About half way through this one I almost tossed it into the fireplace but I'm glad I didn't. I knew I needed to persevere and get this one done... even if it meant that I was going to go crazy and eat my cp's.


Thankfully that didn't happen and this ACEO has found a new home. Doing this ACEO reminded me of a lesson I learned when I was seriously starting out with cp's and that is that coloured pencil pieces can have a very long "ugly" stage. I had forgotten this because I've been working on ACEO's for so long and they are generally done very quickly so if there is an ugly stage it's very brief.

This one was educational and I'm glad it's done.

This week is shaping up to be a very busy one for me so I don't know that I'll get to do another post until next week-end. Hopefully I'll be able to sneak one in but if I can't, until next week-end keep on art-ing!

Keeping my sanity... kind of.

So the art is keeping me sane... who woulda thunk it?

That said, before my mini hiatus there I had mentioned that I wanted to discuss pieces that didn’t keep me so sane. More specifically, pieces that were difficult to get through for one reason or another.

To touch on this subject I’m going to use 2 ACEO’s I completed not too long ago, those being Vermeer’s “Woman Holding A Balance” and van Gogh’s infamous “Sunflowers”.

Let’s start with Vermeer, shall we?

This piece, while exciting, was fiddly in nature and also, because ACEO’s are so darn small, presented the challenge of getting the woman’s face in that space without it looking something akin to the female version of the Elephant Man.

Before I get into my ACEO trials and tribulations here’s a link to what the full original painting looks like:

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/37/76837-004-D488CF6A.jpg

Now imagine cramming even a portion of that into a space 2.5 x 3.5 inches!

I liked the challenge that the aspect of teen-weeny spaces presented to me (so much so that I’m doing more of them) but I didn’t anticipate how much it would frustrate me.

Below you can see the stages of how this ACEO progressed:

Part One.

Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes

Part Two, with some wonky lighting issues.

Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
(Yes, those are some of my cp's the ACEO is sitting on)

Done!

"After Vermeer- "Woman Holding A Balance" "
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

I think the biggest challenges I had with this one, aside from teeny-weeny faces, were making the balance obvious to the viewer and retaining that softness and dramatic value that Vermeer has in so many of his works. There was also the challenge of getting her hands to look like hands, rather than making it look like she’s wearing flesh coloured mittens, and speaking of flesh, there were issues I had with colour as well. I don’t often do portraits or works with figures so this particular piece offered up a few learning curves.

In hindsight I’m pretty happy with it but if I were to do it over again I would have given more attention to values and colour (in that order of priority) since in comparing the original with my ACEO the two main areas of focus, her face and hands, are lacking darker values in the ACEO which is part of what gives it that drama.


Since this post has already gotten quite long I’ll save van Gogh’s piece for this week-end. It’ll be a nice break for me to post again and I suspect that if I have to address two pieces that gave me trouble the sanity I’m trying to hang onto will fly right out the window. Although that would make for an interesting post, wouldn’t it?

Hectic!

Hi there!

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... at least not yet. The past 2 weeks have been very hectic as the Other Half and I had to move our wedding date from early October to June 13th. No biggie, who needs extra time to prepare anyway, right?

Needless to say, since I've lost 3 1/2 months of planning time (aka- 3 1/2 months of me being incapable of making a decision on what type of flowers to use, where the best pics will be taken, etc) this blog may only be updated sporadically for the next few months. Couple the rush on wedding stuff with the general chaos of life and that makes for a very busy Rita.

"Under Mom's Careful Watch" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

On the plus side, it means that the wedding will be done earlier and I can relax and enjoy my Summer without having to worry about dress alterations and seating arrangements and how to keep Al clean for photos and... well, you get the idea.

Guess Who...
ACEO, coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes

I've still been working on art, as you can see, but I suspect that much like updates on this blog that my output of art will slow down quite a bit too. I'm going to try and update at least once a week which may be just the thing I need to keep me same until June 14th. :D

Cherries and snow

Well, we didn’t get that much snow on the week-end and after checking the forecast it would appear that it’s actually coming overnight and throughout tomorrow. Other than a few errands I have to run tomorrow I think I’ll be spending a good chunk of time working on art since I didn’t get as much done over the week-end as I was hoping to.

Despite time constraints over the week-end I do have this little ACEO to share as well as the beginning of an 11x14 piece I started.

"Red, red and more red" ACEO- Part 1
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Red, red and more red" ACEO- Done!
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

For the larger piece it’s a re-do of an ACEO I completed last year. The original reference image is from WetCanvas! I believe. In the original photo there’s a lace tablecloth on the table and when I did the ACEO I omitted it but I’m considering including it in this piece. Since this is a larger piece it would be much easier for me to include the detail of the lace as opposed to the ACEO where I’m quite sure had I attempted to include the lace my eyeballs would’ve fallen right out of my head.

No title yet... WIP
11x14, Coloured pencil on Colourfix

Copyright Rita Woodburne

The other thing I did with this one was use solvents for the background. I really wanted that solid black and since I’m working on Colourfix for this one I knew that no amount of burnishing would get me that solid black... not without waxy consequences anyway.

I’m debating whether I want to attempt using solvents for the cherries as well since I’m pretty much a newbie when it comes to combining cp’s with solvent. I may try a few test pieces to figure out how much manipulating I can do.


So that’s what I’m up to for now. If anyone out there has suggestions for using the solvents I’m all ears!

Pearls are a girl's best friend

Since I haven’t done a post on this in awhile I thought I’d share some info on one of my Master study ACEO’s, this time with Vermeer and that saucy gal with the pearl earring.

I had contemplated doing this particular piece for awhile but because I’m not deviating from the originals in terms of colour, style, etc for this small project I wanted to do something a bit different to give it a different feel and to make it a bit more of my own.
To do this I decided against the typical portrait format of the piece being vertical and instead went for a landscape format. This meant that I had to crop the piece and this is where it got interesting because the original is pretty basic on it’s own so I didn’t have a lot to play with. Ultimately I found a crop that I was happy with and at that point the games began:

"After Vermeer- "Girl with a Pearl Earring" " ACEO
Part 1- Jeepers, someone needs to get out and get some sun!

Initially I had debated doing this piece at all because it’s a very well-known image and any discrepancies between my mini version and the original would be horribly obvious to just about anyone that hasn’t been living in a vacuum and also because I find I get bored very easily when doing “popular” images (this will be the subject of another post).

"After Vermeer- "Girl with a Pearl Earring" " ACEO
Part 2- Looking better, but some bronzer wouldn't hurt.

I think in the end it turned out pretty well and, as expected, I learned a few things from doing this one. First and foremost is that I’m finding that for any piece involving a portrait (or a piece where a human subject is prominent), regardless of the individual’s skin tone, working on a warm coloured support is best. I had a lot of difficulty achieving the warm skin tones form the original and it got to the point where I simply could not layer any more colour onto this ACEO. I also took a chance with the cropping and, if I may toot my own horn, I’m quite pleased with it. I get bored with seeing and doing conventional. Having said that, “conventional” definitely has it’s place, don’t get me wrong, but these mini studies are strictly for experimenting and finding out what I can and can’t do... and where I need more work. ;)

So here’s how she turned out:

"After Vermeer- "Girl with a Pearl Earring" " ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

I’m happy, she looks happy (I think) and I even have another ACEO portrait study lined up from another famous fellow... but you’ll have to wait to see that one.

In keeping with my plan for the year I also started a large piece, an 11x14 to warm me up for something larger, and I’m hoping to have a few progress shots to share this week-end. We’re getting more snow so what better time to work on art, right?

2009: The Plan

"After van Gogh- "Sunflowers" " ACEO
Part 1, coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes

Happy New Year, dear reader!

So 2008 came and went and now we’re into 2009. This year is going to be particularly busy for me as I have my personal artistic goals to meet as well as obligations towards helping to make the 3rd annual Lilac Tea a success. This year also sees the ‘Art For Literacy’ program expanding into another local library, the Deseronto Public Library, and that means that there will be a show held there as well, the Harvest Tea, which is slated to be held in September. Busy, busy, busy!

Also, for those of you that have been following this blog for awhile know that I got engaged last year and the Other Half and I have decided on an Autumn wedding. It’s not going to be an over the top affair (that’s definitely not my style) but as I’m sure you understand it’ll still require some planning so that’s going to be preoccupying me this year as well.


Enough nattering, you’re here for art and I just happen to be an artist so let’s find out what tomfoolery I have planned for myself in 2009:

Artistic
- Improve my photography skills to take better reference pictures and images of my artwork. This is a carry over from last year but I’d like to work on that and becoming even more familiar with Photoshop.
- Do a large piece... nay, several large pieces. I feel that this is something I really need to do. I’ve been staying in my comfort zone far too long.
- Begin my equine still life series which I would like to consist of at least 5 pieces.
- Work on my understanding of composition. I think this will develop as I do more still lifes but I'm really not familiar with all the technical aspects of composition and if I really want to do some bang-up work I need to get a better understanding.
- Purge my older “What the Hell was I thinking!?” work. Some of the really horrific stuff will see the inside of the fireplace and the other works will go to eBay so I can pay for more art supplies. I do this from time to time but my intuition tells me that now is the time to really clean house so I can move forward.

"After Vermeer- "Woman Holding a Balance" " ACEO
Part 2, coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes

Business
- Make more contacts within my local art community. This was on my list from last year but it’s a worthwhile goal and I think it deserves a place this year as well.
- Promote my studio/ gallery more via arts organizations, advertising and personal efforts.
- Prepare a portfolio for submission to a gallery. This has been in the back of my mind for awhile and I think I’d like to spend this year working on a solid portfolio to get into a gallery either later this year or early in 2010.
- Update my website. New images need to be put on and I need to do some re-shuffling to reflect what I’m currently working on and where I'm going.
- Update this blog. This one is kind of iffy because of the new format that Google has with it’s drag and drop widgets which, while convenient, is a bit buggy. This goal will be dependent on whether or not Google can get itself sorted out. If not, it's good ol' fashioned hand-coding for me.


So that's what I have lined up for this year. As always I'm enacting the "wiggle-room" policy because life is, well... unpredictable. Also, I really have no idea how much time is going to be spent planning a wedding as I'm blissfully ignorant of how much time and effort goes into this sort of thing. That said, having the guidelines above certainly helps and makes me accountable for getting everything done.

The last thing I'm toying with is doing less art fairs and instead concentrating my efforts into getting into shows held at galleries. The reason for this being that I think it helps beef up my artistic resume and, let's be honest folks, the economy is going in the pooper and to put that much time and $$'s into a show where I have no guarantee of even making my booth fee back is just plain silly. I'll still do some fairs this year but in the interest of my sanity and bank account I'm going to be very selective as to which ones I participate in.


So there's the plan for 2009. Can I do it? Only time will tell... ;)