Talk To Me

I am in the mood for some small pieces! This little guy (8x8) is an experiment with the pattern in the background as well as the square format. I always avoided the square format but after having to use square photos to submit photos from my food blog I am brave enough to try some. The trick seems to be crop, crop, crop, and don't do things straight!

Talk To Me

8" x 8"

Coloursofts on Grey Pastelbord

Vintage Stirrers

My new vintage find that will hopefully find their way into a still-life. 

They were found at a garage sale that was really an estate sale after a death. They are just a sampling of a large collection of swizzle sticks that apparently the owner collected from restaurants and bars over the years. They really intrigue me as I can't really remember this being a thing. I remember my parents collecting matchbooks from places, but I can't remember my Shirley Temples being adorned with such cute accessories. I do see large collections of them often at the antique dealers and yard sales, so I know it must have been a thing. Which years they were the most popular and when these are from would be nice to know. 

Don't you love the cow, and the woman figure, and the Sea Breeze. Sigh. I need to figure out how to use them.

Here's some info I found on swizzle sticks:

A brief description from Wisegeek

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-swizzle-stick.htm

The Rum Swizzle which they may have been created for in the 30's.


http://www.caribbeantravelmag.com/articles/rum-swizzle-0

& I got my answer about the glasses from Wiki. The Collins glass is taller and thinner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highball_glass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_glass

The beginnings of a drawing

I am a member of the Colored Pencil Artists and Lovers on Facebook and they recently started talking about how to take reference photographs, so I thought I would show you the beginnings of something.

I am starting a new vending machine piece that will be 18" x 24" and have 3 machines, each with a different color fruit. My mom actually told me I should do it and I thought she was right! I only have one bubble gum machine, so I photographed the vending machines separately and will combine them on the board. Just like my other image I want very bright light with just a hint of a shadow and an all white background. I may make it look like it is on a white shelf like Wayne Thiebauld did with his bubble gum machines. As soon as my Mom suggested doing 3 I thought of his painting!

Here is one of the 3 reference photos. There IS side light, but it is subtle. All the colors are very bright. My printer always prints darker than my screen, so I will compensate by setting it lighter in photoshop and upping the color saturation when I print. 

To photograph this type of lighting I have one foam board on the bottom, and one of those tri-fold foam boards kids use for projects in the back (you can spray paint them different colors) turned a little on the lit side to let light in. I have it all set up in my garage with the set up turned to the side, so the light comes in at an angle. The rest of the garage is dark, but gives off plenty of reflected light. You can do the same setup in front of slider doors inside. Its best (I think) to do it on an overcast day or from North light, but you can't ever count on that. If it is terribly bright you can move further into the garage. 

This is just one of the ways I might light/photograph a set up. It is great for high key situations. 

Some other lighting tips can be found here:

 http://www.nicolecaulfieldfineart.blogspot.com/search/label/photography

http://www.nicolecaulfieldfineart.blogspot.com/2011/02/2-light-sources-versus-1-light-source.html

Vending Machine

I just finished a little piece - again with a healthy twist. I had to smuggle my daughter's gumball machine for this one. She had said I COULD NOT put fruit in it. What can I say - bad Mom.

Vending Machine

8" x 10" Colored Pencil on Pastelbord

Prints! Culinary Color Wheel

Prints are Ready!

I got the proofs back and am really pleased with them!

I set up prints of Culinary Color Wheel at Imagekind where you can purchase the image in a variety of formats and sizes.

I recommend having it printed in matte at 30" x 24" - which is actual size. At actual size the fruits and vegetables will be just slightly bigger than life-size.

DO NOT GO OVER 30" X 24"! I can't figure out how to block larger sizes but if you get it larger than the original size, the grains of the paper/pencil will really show and the overall print not look as good. So I really recommend getting it at 30" x 24" with your choice of paper or canvas. Although I only proofed it on matte paper.

I am offering a discount of $15 for my blog followers right now! To receive the discounted price you must follow this link.

Any teachers out there looking for it for their classroom - contact me for a teacher price! nicolecaulfield@gmail.com

Culinary Color Wheel

Culinary Color Wheel 24" x 30" Coloursofts on Fisher 400

Here is the finished piece! I decided to withdraw my first composition with the squished fruit and replace it with some puree drizzle. I will be dropping it off to the photographer who knows how to light and focus better... so when I get it back I will try and repost it with the better photograph. I plan on using the photograph to enter it in a show as well as offer poster sized prints, so if you are interested, let me know!

I had so much fun with this piece. I put the idea off for a while because of how much produce I had to buy and the daunting task of what to pick. I wanted everything recognizable and of varying shapes and sizes. I bought an 18" round platter and brought it with me to the grocery store. I placed it in the bottom of the cart so I could arrange things there - mostly because I didn't want to overbuy fruits and veggies I didn't need.


When making the drawing I decided to punch up the colors so the color wheel aspect was really evident. That part was a lot of fun too because I could stray from the photograph to get what I wanted. Besides a play in color I realized pretty quickly how it is also a play in textures. To make the produce recognizable those textures had to be right.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do. It is really a reflection of my interests right now with the blog my sister and I started www.mealpod.us. Besides art and family, our health is a big priority and a big part of my time. If you don't know the message behind this piece... I also thought about naming it "Eat a Rainbow" but hubby nixed that idea inadvertently with a big laugh when I said it, lol. 

Color Wheel - WIP 4

A-L-M-O-S-T there... well except for all that background. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I just keep on changing my mind on the squished things. I did arrange them in photoshop and I like it in that but it doesn't always turn out the same... I am also debating writing "Color" or Eat" in drizzled puree below it instead. I know - I should stop thinking. I did have this all planned out with the squished things and arranged before I started, but I always reserve the right to change my mind!

I have been altering things as I go along - changing values of things or colors, but I gave the cauliflower an overhaul. Here it is when I attacked it with sticky tac and before I applied more color. 

I did decide to use orange zest solvent on the background so it will sit back more. 

Color Wheel - WIP 3 - need advice!

I didn't have much time to work on this this weekend, but was able to sneak in a bit here and there. My regular art days are Thursday and Friday, so I hope to accomplish more on those days.

The background hasn't really been touched yet except for the upper left hand corner. I am playing around with the idea of adding squashed fruits to the white backdrop. I'd love to hear what you think about that? Would it be too much? My daughter and I dutifully squashed some berries for reference. I was thinking a nice squashed yellow tomato too?  I've played with it on photoshop with a diagonal arrangement from the right upper corner of the paper to the lower left. Please let me know your thoughts!

On another note, have you gotten Ann Kullberg's Magazine for Colored Pencil Artists this month (March 2012)? It is an awesome issue. I absolutely adored the article by Pamela Belcher on the art she did after traveling to India. It is such a good idea and something I would like to play with myself. She made a sort of grid work (a wonky one) and then drew in scenes from India in each of the boxes. I am not making it sound as cool as it is. 

Also Sheila Theodoratos' work is featured  as well as Nancy Jacey's colorful work. It is so inspiring!

Color Wheel - WIP 2

Here's Day 2! I'm having a lot of fun with this. I was worried that I might not be able to improve upon the photograph I took of the food, because I don't really see the point if I can't and the photograph turned out really good. I am finding that doing it in colored pencils however is really helping the color effect because I can "fudge" a bit on the colors to get them to flow a bit better together. 

Color Wheel - WIP 1

I am so close to finishing the book I can taste it... but I have to admit it tastes a bit foul right now. No, I am not disappointed with the book - I just need a break from  it before I go through with the first edits.

So I decided to do a still-life. All this time working on the book has allowed me to fantasize about what still-lifes to do. I really would like to do some that overlap my interests with my other blog I have with my sister: www.mealpod.blogspot.com about healthy eating.

So I went for it and started a food color wheel. It is large: 24" x 30," so the food is just ever so slightly larger than life size. To give you an idea of the size the platter in real life is 18" round and the platter on the paper is 19" round. Not much different.

Today's post is the first day... not much done yet because I had to draw my general shapes on there first and the day is now over.

It is on Fisher 400 paper mounted on Gatorboard and I am using all Coloursoft pencils.

New Sneak Peak - Hair

Another book sneak peak!  Hair! Enjoy! Getting seriously close to finishing! I have been craving some food still-lifes. Sigh. soon. very soon.

Valentines at the Caulfield House

I thought instead of a book update today (I worked on hair this week) I'd show you the valentines my girls and I are making.

My daughter REALLY wanted to get personalized candy hearts that said "Meh" like Lisa in the Simpsons. We looked at buying some online and they were so expensive that we decided to try and make our own. My husband had bought a stamp set from Staples that stamps tiny little letters that you position yourself, so we used that with a bit of food coloring on a paper towel.  Of course we didn't have blank hearts to stamp on so we used a cheese grater to grate the old words off. So sand the old letters off, then squeeze some food coloring on a paper towel folded up, and dab on the stamp. Quickly position the stamp and roll and press towards you to stamp. Oila - Your very own MEH candy hearts! You do have to remember to place the letters on the stamp backwards for printing!

We also made some chocolate treats with a chocolate mold and ring op rings I've been saving from old ring pops. I put the instructions to those on my food blog if you would like to see how to make them. I made them with dark chocolate instead of store bought candy melts.

 

 & last but not least some tea valentines. I saw how to make the sugar cubes and tea bags on Martha Stewart. com and put the two together to make the valentine. I should mention I bought the little plastic bags for these and the meh candy hearts in the chocolate molding section of Michaels, and just cut some cardstock to fold over and staple to the top.

Okay now I will get back to the book. I did all the examples for the mouth and hair sections now (btw do you know what a philtrum is?).

CP Treasures Book

I'm happy to announce that one of colored pencil pictures will be in the new CP Treasures book edited by Ann Kullberg. click the image to purchase. I love books like this - its full of hand picked colored pencil drawings to drool over. There isn't better inspiration!

I have two "art days" coming up so see you soon!

  

Funny Face

Only one art day this week (boo-hoo) but making good progress today! I got a mouth demo finished which also finishes off my funny face pin board!

Where have you been? (in your best Mrs. Weasley voice)

I had an online art friend  ask if I was okay since I have not been "around" lately, so I thought I would show what I have been doing lately. Well, besides working and going for a couple of weeks to Illinois I have been trying to get my ebook finished. Since I only get 2 partial days to work on it or any art now, it is taking a while, but I am really seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't want to give too much away so I took some screen shots of the (109) pages in Open Office.

I haven't done ANY other artwork besides the book because I have this habit of not starting a new project when I have one going. It works well for still-lifes and portraits but a book is a big job and takes a long time to finish so it does hurt a bit to not be doing any still-lifes. I am trying to finish the book by March because I will be doing a demonstration locally for the Monadnock Art Association and it would be great to have it there to show people.

Anyway enjoy the thumbnails! & if you want to see more of me don't forget to visit me and my sister  at my http://www.mealpod.blogspot.com/

Art Present Ideas for Middle School & High School:

Art Present Ideas for Middle School & High School:

1. Tie-Dye kit - a good one!  http://www.dickblick.com/products/jacquard-tie-dye-kit/
2. Adorable Manga book that starts at the beginning http://www.amazon.com/Manga-Beginner-Chibis-Everything-Super-Cute/dp/0823014886/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323007888&sr=1-26
3. I love Lee Hammond's clean style and she starts with drawing tutorials as well as shading in this BIG drawing book http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Hammonds-Big-Book-Drawing/dp/1581804733/ref=pd_sim_b_7
4. Can't learn to shade well without some good graphite pencils http://www.dickblick.com/products/derwent-graphic-pencils/
5. Late middle school I think they are old enough to take care of a good set of colored pencils (maybe they need an electric pencil sharpener too then) http://www.dickblick.com/products/derwent-coloursoft-pencils/
6. Block Printing Kit for high school kids. This kit has everything but a good book so I included one next  http://www.dickblick.com/products/speedball-deluxe-block-printing-kit/
7. & a block printing book http://www.amazon.com/Block-Printing-Techniques-Linoleum-Wood/dp/081170601X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323008271&sr=1-2

Gifts for kids

Somebody asked me what art supplies would I suggest for a Christmas present for kids, so I thought I would share my ideas with you.

Kids 7-10 Christmas Gift Idea

1. This is a simple and fun cartooning drawing step by step book. http://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-101-Animals-Green/dp/1842297406/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322957315&sr=1-2
2. a more advanced book while still being age appropriate I like the looks of this one. It takes kids to the next level – thinking in 3-d. http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-3-D-Mark-Kistler/dp/0684833727/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322950293&sr=1-2
3. Pencils... really you just need #2 pencils, a pencil sharpener and a good white eraser... but these pencils are WAY fun for anybody. You put the lead in and then use the special sharpener to sin and sharpen it really sharp. Its easy to use but feels professional. :-)the “lead holder” http://www.dickblick.com/products/alvin-pro-matic-lead-holder/the sharpener http://www.dickblick.com/products/alvin-rotary-lead-pointer/the lead in HB (#2) http://www.dickblick.com/products/koh-i-noor-duette-lead-refills/
4. Watercolor pencils. You shade with them and then take a brush with water and activate the pencil to make them bright and watercolor-y.http://www.dickblick.com/products/derwent-watercolor-pencils/
5. & then if you have watercolor pencils you need watercolor paper http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-cotman-watercolor-pads/
6. & a watercolor brush... this one is cool because you ut the water in the handle! http://www.dickblick.com/products/aqua-flow-brush-set/

I'll put more lists together for young kids,  middle school,  and high school - watch for them!

New Venture With My Sister

I recently started a new website with my sister called www.Mealpod.us. It is a recipe site that focuses on planning meals ahead and freezing them in individual portion sized packets. My husband and I have been cooking like this for years now: creating big batches of food once or twice a week and not cooking the rest of the week. The thing that makes it different is portioning it out to the individual portions. My sister has been doing something similar; cooking on Saturdays for the whole week and packing them for lunch and dinner and keeping them in the fridge. It just made sense to join forces, resources and recipes and start a website to keep us motivated for making new recipes and keep up with our healthy nutrition.

My sister lost 100 pounds over 5 years and is dedicated to keeping it off and preplanning her meals has really helped. I have lost almost 40 pounds from my highest weight and have kept it off for three years (with some minor ups and downs).

Anyway - it is not artwork but I did get to do all the design for the new website complete with its own infographic. I used all free programs or sites to do do everything:

• Google Sites for hosting and template design
• The free program Inkscape for making the logos and Infographic
• The free graphic program Picnik for editing photos
• Google Documents for holding the pdf recipes
• Open Office for documents

& I know there are more that will come to mind. I highly recommend Inkscape if you can't afford Illustrator - it was really easy to get the hang of in a weekend.

So, please stop by the website and give it a look. If you are interested in nutrition, cooking, etc maybe you will want to join our blog, follow us on twitter, like us on Facebook,  or submit a recipe! We don't have a lot of recipes yet (we just started) but we are adding 2-4 recipes or more a week.

I promise to get back to posting my art soon. I have a really good idea for a  self portrait I would like to do and am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on my digital portrait book!  For now you will have to settle for my great (haha) logo above and taking a peak at my first ever Inkscape infographic here.

p.s. you don;t want to know how long it took me to make that cute little peapod logo....

A Very Merry Christmas 2011 Greeting Card from Zazzle.com

A Very Merry Christmas 2011 Greeting Card from Zazzle.com

To celebrate the holiday season I am offering a Christmas card at cost (no profit for me)  from Zazzle.com (click above). It is notecard sized and depicts a vintage planter holding holly and some red leaves. The original done in all Coloursoft pencils will be on sale soon in my Etsy shop. 

EDIT: Zazzle is having a sale of 1/2 priced cards! Use the coupon code: CARDNPOSTAGE

If you would rather print the image yourself - click on the image above for a high resolution copy and shrink it to size. Enjoy! & let the holiday season begin!

I am posting a Christmas Shop soon with artwork priced for the holiday season so watch for it. 

My newest still-life. It was a wedding gift for my friends Becca and Jonathon Berkey - two amazing people!

Coloursofts on Pastelbord - 6" x 18"