Summer Slump?

contour drawing with watercolor in a sketchbook

Last summer I took an evening figure drawing class at UW Madison, and was very excited and engaged in working from direct observation, something I do fairly infrequently.  The only difficulty for me was that Madison is 40 miles away, which requires almost an hour driving each way.  The class got over at 10:00 PM, which is late for me, and there was lots of road construction which added to my frustration.  So, I thought I had the problems solved when I enrolled in a class called "Figurative Painting" on Sunday mornings this summer.

The timing is fine, and I like being able to drive during the day, but this class also has a couple frustrations for me.  For one thing, most people are painting in oil, a medium that I am just learning.  I did use oil one week, and liked the results well enough.  It's just that I don't want oil paintings of people reclining in chairs.  What do I DO with the darn things later?  Also, instead of there being a series of poses, this is a three hour session with one pose.  Every week someone reclines in the overstuffed chair, and sits there for the entire time.  I understand that the model needs to be comfortable, but they also look bored, and I hate to admit it, but I am too.  

ink and watercolor in my sketchbook

The way I have been trying to deal with this is by doing series of quick draws, some on paper in a medium-sized sketchbook, some on Tyvek, some on Arches watercolor paper.  This time I even moved around a little to get a different vantage point, but the studio is rather crowded, and I don't want to disturb other people who are slaving over one painting.

charcoal and watercolor on Tyvek

Of these three, the last one is the one I worked longest on, and I like it least.  It seems stiff, and perhaps a little long in the torso.  My color choices weren't too exciting either.  Looking at my efforts from Sunday and seeing what I've written makes me think I just need an attitude adjustment.  Maybe I should just go out and pull crabgrass for a while.

New Collage: Leaf Lady

6x6 inches, found and created papers, thread, leaf skeleton

I finally got upstairs to the studio this afternoon to do some cutting and pasting.  I've been preoccupied with getting ready for a couple upcoming family reunions by updating my family history information, organizing photos and so on.  Then there is the deck, which has needed scrubbing, scraping and re-staining (in between rain storms).  We won't even think about the figure painting class, which is fun but leaves me wondering what to do with the paintings, or the books I'm trying to get read before scheduled discussions.  How did I ever have time to work?

I need to go back upstairs and organize my papers and paints, since this next week I have a workshop on combining watercolor and collage at the Peninsula Art School in Fish Creek.  I adore collage, but I struggle with ways to keep the paraphernalia organized and usable.  Yesterday I made a glorious mess by soaking old pages of a National Geographic magazine with Citra Solv, an orange scented cleaner that somehow dissolves the ink on the pages.  It was great fun, and I used part of one of the resulting papers in this collage (across the top behind the lady).  I hope I can incorporate some of the new papers in the workshop.

Speaking of Door County, I was thrilled to have a painting accepted into the juried show at the Hardy Gallery in Ephraim.  That means it gets to stay until mid July, and I can go north once more later this summer.  A little plein air painting I have in a show at the Beloit Fine Arts Incubator sold, so more good news.

Strawberry(s)

5x7 inches, watercolor in Moleskine notebook, painted for a challenge at Paint and Draw Together

How did being retired get so busy?  At least in arty things, I've been scrambling.  I entered a watercolor of a fish in a juried show at the Hardy Gallery in Door County, had to deliver it two hundred miles mile last Friday, and am waiting to hear if it gets to stay there longer or if I need to have my sister-in-law collect it for me.  I also have a couple plein aire paintings from 2008 at the Beloit Fine Arts Incubator, and had to frame one and get both delivered last Thursday.  There's a reception tonight that I'm not going to make.  A good friend had a reception for her solo show at the Monroe Art Center last night, so we drove out there.  There is a little commission I have started, and need to finish, but haven't mostly because the studio has been so darned hot.  The weather has cooled down some, so it's not so bad working up there today, hence this little watercolor for an online challenge.

The strawberry puts me in the mood to make strawberry rhubarb pie.  Sister-in-law gave me a pick pile of rhubarb stalks, and I made sauce, but still have some left.  It may be time to bake.

UPDATE - I was juried into the Hardy show!  Time for pie.