Bonus Day... otherwise known as Snow Day!

I know, I only work two days a week so a snow day isn't that big of a deal, but I did sneak in a little work. My husband and kids had a snow day too so it is pretty energetic around the house. I usually spend snow days out in the snow shoveling, snow blowing, sledding etc, but with my injured knee the family had to do that without me, leaving my tasks to filling the crock pot (with butternut squash soup) and readying the hot chocolate.

I also had some bonus time for my drawing. Before you say there isn't much more finished, keep in mind the size of this puppy (and please try to not notice the falling duct tape on the side of my paper). I started the girl in the back's pants and had to go back in and deepen the shadows on the shirt to work with the pants.

This had me thinking about the debate between people who work their picture's "as a whole" and people who work piece by piece like me until they are finished. The thing is... I think we are both really doing the same thing. If you work on all parts as a whole you put in basic color shades in large shapes around the paper then go back in and refine until you get to details. I would imagine as an artist put down those large shapes of color in the first step they may have to adjust a shape/color somewhere else on the page to work together (or maybe that is done in the refining steps).

When you work piece by piece its not that you work each part to conclusion and move to the next... you are always refining the parts you  put down to work with the rest. Just like in this instance where I put in the pants leg and had to deepen the shadows in the shirt.

I just trudged out into the snow to get the mail and found out that I did not get into the Thorne Sagendorph show this year. This is a regional biennial show that is a big deal in my area. At the last one my piece Zen won Best of Show and People's Choice. I was nervous this time about my piece getting in... I entered the ballerina from my Norman Rockwell series. I'm not sure how I feel about that... it does make me question this series... is it not "artistic" enough? Is there a place for humor in the gallery world? Maybe I need to use polychromos like in my Zen piece because it comes out more painterly and less illustration-like? Not sure.....

Final Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Its finally finished! I am going to get my references ready for the second of the series asap, but in the meantime look for some still-lifes from me for the holiday season!

Update on "Wrong Place, Wrong Time"

Almost finished! I'll try and take a better photo when it is finished. Just the right event bubble to do... and then going over the whole and getting things to work better together.

For an explanation of this piece... and what those bubbles are for see my original post: http://nicolecaulfieldfineart.blogspot.com/2010/10/beginning-of-norman-rockwell-series.html

Update Friday

Painfully slow progress, isn't it?

I would like to invite you all to an open studio event I am participating in this weekend: the Fall Foliage Art Studio Tour in the Monadnock region which coincides with the Dublin Art Tour.

You may remember that I moved from my studio downtown at the beginning of the summer? So instead of everyone looking behind the sofa at my cubby... I will be in my friend Luann Udell's art studio. She makes fabulous fiber art and jewelry art and she's a lot of fun, so I am excited to hang out with her for two days. If you are near Keene, she is on Roxbury Street, East of Main Street about a half mile. Just look for the signs. :-)

I will be bringing this work in progress along so if you would like to see me working on it come on by this weekend!

Update on Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Here's a very warped update!  I took away the hairs that were on her face for a cleaner look and have started all that grass!

I really wish I could buy open stock pencils locally that are not Prismacolors! Coloursofts are my workhorses but I don't want to wait for them to be shipped to keep going, so the pencils here will be very mixed. Good thing they play nice together: its a mixture of Coloursofts, Prismas, and Luminance pencils. 

Beginning of Norman Rockwell Series

I've been wanting to do a series inspired by Norman Rockwell for a long time (ask my friends, they are tired of hearing about it) and I am finally diving in. The idea of the series is to combine the sense of humor of Rockwell but apply it to today's social environment. I want them to say something about family life TODAY and all the wonderful weirdness of it. Issues I am thinking of is the plethora of extracurricular activities kids are in, the infusion of gadgets in our daily lives, working Moms, Dad's new roles, etc. etc.

The reason why I haven't started yet is because the set up on them is more than I am used to and I am not sure how I will market them... or if I will.   I just feel like I have to do them and after just having my 38th birthday I am ready to risk it and to do the series, before I hit 40, lol. That is what you do right? Hit 40?

So I started my first one... its a simple one, in that it only has one model. The next one will have multiple models, props etc so I decided to do my first one with just one model (even if she [my daughter] made me pay her $20 for the honor of portraying her).

I think the title will be "Wrong Place or Wrong Time." A little girl stands on an empty soccer field, ball in hand, cleats and pads on, but also dressed in her ballet outfit and bunned hair. Did her mom drop her off at soccer when she is supposed to be at ballet? The viewer can guess, but down near her feet will be two google calendar event bubbles for "Soccer Practice on Thursday" and "Ballet Class" on Wednesday. I wonder if she looked at the calendar before she drove off in the SUV?

It is 24" x 36" - which is huge for me. I plan on getting these photographed after and if I frame them, framing them open air (no glass) &varnished to cut framing costs and to keep the weight down - glass is heavy. If I varnish I can't use Polychromos like I usually do with my portraits, so I am using Coloursofts and Prismacolors like I do on my still-lifes. The paper is my favorite Fisher 400, which I am running low on now! Varnishing these may backfire. Whenever you varnish a colored pencil drawing the darks will deepen and some colors will change a bit. That's why I will be having them photographed professionally first and then trying the varnish. Hopefully the varnish won't change them much!

What I Did OverSpring Break & What I am Doing Now.

I know, I just got back to work from helping my husband with his eye condition and then I had another hiatus for the kids' Spring Break. My mom flew in from Chicago and had a visit while the kids were off - so I was busy busy busy - just not with drawing. I did take the family to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA which is art blog worthy. I had wanted to go since I found out about it and finally I had the excuse of going with someone (my mom) who would also appreciate it. The kids actually loved it too - they had a fabulous scavenger hunt for the kids to do which lessened the "I'm bored" factor.

The paintings were as fabulous as I thought they would be, if not more. Its always fun to see famous work in person and since I grew up with Norman Rockwell prints throughout my house - his work  is up there with the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The things I was most surprised about were the size of his paintings - which I knew about about but to see them large in person made that fact real. It was reassuring too - since I had decided recently when working on my portraits I would only do them life-size or right around life-size. Every minute detail in a small portrait can make or break a likeness or the emotion of the sitter. 

Another thing I noticed throughout many of his paintings was how much he pushed back lesser significant details into the background using low contrast values or desaturated colors. Take a look at the famous Thanksgiving painting by Rockwell and really look at the objects on the table and how low contrast the values are. The low contrast on the table really lets the faces pop out around it - which are the important bits. He uses this throughout his paintings with the backgrounds as well as objects. I wish I could find the boxing painting which is a really great example of desaturating the colors as well as lessening the contrast - but I can't seem to find it on the net. 

Another surprise was how on certain paintings Rockwell added an overall texture t the paint for effect. Not on certain objects - but over the entire painting. They even had a photograph of him adding this texture to a top layer of paint using a broom! 

Since my visit I am a bit obsessed with the idea of doing a modern version of the painting below complete with all the modern toys kids seem to bring along with them on car trips... I'm amassing the props now - I've got my friends car that would be perfect complete with kayak on top, my kids of course... but I need to borrow a dog from someone??? Anyway - I greatly recommend going to the NR Museum if you get a chance. 

As far as what I am doing now... I have started a still-life and should be doing several as I need to bring some to the Monadnock Gallery in Keene. I bought a bunch of produce and various items today and had a photo shoot. I'll be bringing them (washed) to class tonight... to eat not to draw. :-)