Dee's Art Journal

Attitude of Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:48:00 +0000

We've just passed through my favorite "holiday" of all the declared holidays on the calendar.

To take a day and reflect on all the things in this life that we have to be thankful for is the best thing that anyone can do. We so often need reminders that good things come to those who live with an attitude of gratitude.

And Thanksgiving Day is a wonderful booster shot to keep us thinking that way.

This is Silhouette Sky #79, Thankfulness, Colored Pencil, 3.5 x 2.5."

Thank you for reading!

Getting Balance

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:56:00 +0000

No, I don't do Yoga. I'm a wimp. I admire those dedicated souls who commune with their bodies with this form of exercise.

I'm still working on my Silhouette Sky series. The last few I've added the human figure. My thoughts were on balance when doing this piece. I'm a lover of balance. Life is all about balance.

Fortune and fate, justice and power, debit and credit, mental and emotional, proportional, equilibrium, harmony.... these thoughts all come to mind when thinking about keeping balance in the matters of life.

As artists, we use balance in our designs and paintings to bring about harmonious compositions. Ah, to compose our lives the same way....

Have a grand day!

Back to the Sketchbook

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:56:00 +0000

As many of you know, I'm a sketchbook lover and generally carry one around with me most of the time. I'd gotten a bit out of the habit the last few months because of the multitude of other things going on.

Yesterday I participated in a wonderful little Sketchbook workshop that Patti Casteel held down in the Kerrytown area of Ann Arbor. It was an absolute delight. A perfect day to get me back on track with my sketchbook adventures.

It was so inspiring to ponder through other artists' sketchbooks and share ideas and purposes. Then we were turned loose onto Kerrytown and the Farmers Market to find a spot to plop and sketch away.

If you've cruised that area at all, then you probably know where this orange staircase is located. It was like heaven to sit with my little book, some pens and colored pencils, and sip on a cup of latte. It is indeed like meditation for me. Life doesn't get any better.

Our Diversity: Chelsea Painters Group Show

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:38:00 +0000

I'm part of the Chelsea Painters, a group of 25 men and women who work in a variety of mediums. We meet weekly in Chelsea, Michigan, and are actively involved in art on local, regional, and national levels.

We have an exhibit in the Gifts of Art series. One of my pieces in the show is Seasonal Compliments, done in colored pencil on sand paper.

Gifts of Art Gallery – Taubman Health Center South Lobby, Floor 1.

Open daily from 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

Exhibit runs through October 12, 2009.

International Colored Pencil Exhibit

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:44:00 +0000

17th CPSA International Exhibition
Jacqueline C. Hudgens Center for the Arts
Duluth, GA
July 9 - August 29, 2009

That's me, standing underneath "Crossing the Elements." It is such an honor to get accepted into this CPSA exhibit. I feel so blessed. This show is getting more difficult all the time.

This year there were nearly 700 pieces entered with only 122 chosen. During one evening of the convention, we watched a slide show of all the entries. There was so much amazing artwork; the choosing process must have been mind boggling.

There was a five day convention that ended with an artist reception at the gallery in Duluth. We had workshops, meetings, a banquet and lots of interaction and getting to know other artists. Very fun time. I plan on going to another one. Thanks for reading. Have a grand day!

Another Obama Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:41:00 +0000

More ink pen scribbles. I'm using a set of Prismacolor pens, the finest point they make. (.005) Since the set only has eight pens, this is an obvious series using the same colors.

I've discovered there are sites out there dedicated to artwork of the President. Check out this popular one, ArtOfObama.com. They have added my work to their collection.

Thanks for stopping by.
Have a grand day!

A Guide for Posing for Fine Artists and Art Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:47:00 +0000

If you've read my blog at all, you know that I'm a big fan of figure drawing. I go to life drawing sessions when I can and belong to online figure drawing groups. If this is a topic that interests you at all than you need to check out this new read.

This is quite a unique book. At first glance it's obvious it should be read by anyone who is thinking about modeling for artists. It certainly covers every aspect of what a model should know in order to properly function in this specialized business.

But it's even bigger than that. This 141 page paperback guide is written through the eyes of a model. An unusual perspective in comparison with what has been available on the topic. And it contains valuable information for everyone involved with this art process.

Drawing the nude figure has been a subject for artists for centuries. And it will always be so. If you are an art student, an art model, an art instructor, a nude photographer, or a working artist and love life drawing, you will find value in this wonderful resource book.

Learn more about it on the Art Model's Handbook website.

Ann Arbor Women Artists Summer Juried Exhibit

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:53:00 +0000

This art exhibit is showing through the month of June at the Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron, Ypsilanti, MI. Lynda Schumacher had a camera ready to take my pic with my colored pencil piece "Griffith Park in 1944." There is some fabulous work in this exhibit, so if you are in the area, do stop by.

Congrats to the award winners: 1st place went to "Butter and Margarine" by Kristen Letts Kovak, 2nd place to "Catching Air" by Bill Knudstrup, and 3rd place to "Hands over Time" by Joan Miller. The juror, Beth Steinkellner, also choice Honorable Mentions for the artwork of Barbara Melnick Carson, Marie Glysson, Marilyn Marsh, Sandi Miller, Vickie Peterson-Michalak, and Marty Walker.

Chelsea Painters Art Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:01:00 +0000

Chelsea PaintersArt Fair
JUNE 6th & 7th, 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On the Grounds of the Chelsea Community Hospital

Help Us Celebrate Our 36th Year!
The Chelsea Painters 36th Annual Art Fair will be held Saturday, June 6th and Sunday, June 7th, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the grounds of the Chelsea Community Hospital. The Hospital is located at 775 S. Main St. (M-52), Chelsea, MI.

The event is free and open to the public and will be held in a comfortable, wooded setting.

A percentage of proceeds will be donated to the Chelsea Center for the Arts (CCA) and to the Chelsea Community Hospital Auxiliary Scholarship Fund.

Children's activities sponsored by theChelsea Center for the Arts

The Chelsea Center for the Arts (CCA) will offer hands-on art activities for children during the Art Fair. This event is also free of charge.

For more information, including a map, driving directions and a picture gallery, please visit:
http://www.ChelseaPainters.com/artfair.htm
We Hope to See You There!

CPSA 17th Annual International Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:12:00 +0000

Learned today that this piece, Crossing the Elements, made it into the Annual International Exhibit of the Colored Pencil Society of America. It runs July 9 - August 29, 2009 at the Jacqueline C. Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth, Georgia. The Artists' Reception is Saturday, August 1, 2009, 3-5 pm.

This is my second CPSA International exhibit, one more and I will become a signature member. Wonderful goal to work toward! Congratulations to the other six Michigan colored pencil artists who were also accepted;
Bonnie Auten, Sherry Eid, Amanda Keithley, Dean Rogers, Lynda Schumacher and Paul Van Heest.

Feeling Moody

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:21:00 +0000

It's been raining here for a couple days now. But today is the tomorrow for the sun to come out. I'm a lousy singer, but I've caught myself singing the tomorrow song a few times in the last day or two.

It's amazing what the thoughts of sunshine, warm weather and spring can do for a soul. It can lighten a person's step, get them focused on goals again, and look toward better times. For me, it washes away many of those moody feelings that come creeping in during the tail end of the cold winter months. At last, spring is here. It's time to grow things and start anew.

It may be too tiny for you see in this moody sky, but there is a bird flying high in the darkness. I put it there as a symbol of the search, the flying through the storm, moving through the darkness. We are always seeking the light.

Have a grand day!

A Trip to the Sisteen Chapel

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:38:00 +0000

I love it that technology and the Internet realm can bring such wonderful artistic wonders right into our own homes. I have never been to the Sisteen Chapel. I believe it's a given that there are more have-nots than haves.

But now everyone can see it close-up. This is amazing. You can walk into the middle of the chapel and turn around 360 degrees to take it all in. You can zoom-in to take a closer look at the architecture, sculptures and paintings.

And don't forget to move the arrow all the way down and exam the floor. It contains an interesting feature. Take your Sisteen Chapel trip with this link.

Have a grand day!

Sketching Portraits of Political Guys

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:24:00 +0000

Although I mostly work in colored pencil these day, I love to push around drawing sticks of various natures.

This Obama drawing was done with a set of Primsacolor Fine Line Markers. It's a scribble drawing of mostly circles and figure eights to build layers of ink. No hatch lines in this sketch, just curve doodles.

Obama is going to be a fun political figure to sketch, he has a great face.

Just for yucks, I've pulled out a sketchbook from 2004 with a couple sketches I did during that presidential campaign.

These were done with Micron Pens and lots of loose hatch lines. It's a much faster sketching method and definitely looks very much like sketching.

Of course, this is five years later and I don't do everything the same way I did then. I still use cross-hatching for faster sketches, but I do lots more these days with circle type scribbles.

It's most likely a rub-off from working with colored pencil. I do lots and lots of tiny circles with colored pencils to build layers of color. And I've discovered that the technique can work nicely with ink pens as well.

So artists, grab your pens and sketch away. No erasers allowed, just move those writing sticks around.

Have a grand day!

Oh Yes, It's Cold Outside

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:48:00 +0000

Got up this morning to a 15 below zero winter's day. With a windchill factor of 30 below. Massive school closings and rightfully so. I'm certainly not going outside.

So, I found my one and only winter Silhouette Sky miniature drawing. Hmmm, need to do some more. Something else to add to my "do" list.

Been working overtime these days with workshop materials and presentation things. My next workshop for "Your Art Web Presence" is around the corner on Jan.24th in Ypsilanti, MI. You can learn more about it on my website.

Then hop on over to Lily Lafollette's new blog. She attended the last workshop and got all enthused about starting her Art
Web Presence.

Have a grand day! Stay warm.

Artwork on Royal & Langnickel Art Sets

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:55:00 +0000

Royal & Langnickel just came out with a new line of artist drawing sets. Five of the sets, three tins and two boxs, have my artwork featured on the covers.

Most artists know Royal via their brushes. They produce all ranges of brushes from student grade through professional. These new drawing sets fall into the student grade category. And I'm also finding them to be quite nice for my own sketching.

Royal & Langnickel are dedicated to producing art materials for aspiring young artists. And I'm tickled pink that they've asked me to be a part of it. I've even created a page for them on my website. Stop over and check them out.

Holiday Art Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:12:00 +0000

Riverside Arts Center

Holiday Art Fair

Ypsilanti, MI

Nov. 7-9, 2008

Friday & Saturday 12-9 PM

Sunday 1-5 PM

It's getting that time of year. So for you local area folks, if you don't know what to do with yourselves this weekend, come check things out at the gallery. A great place to find gifts for the holiday season.

We have 15 artists participating in the art fair this year. 2D, 3D, paintings, pottery, jewelery, notecards, etc....

I'll be hanging out there most of the weekend. Looking forward to seeing you!

Elements Theme Show

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:06:00 +0000

"Crossing the Elements", Colored Pencil on Stonehenge Paper, 11.5x15" by Dee Overly

The Chelsea Painters are exhibiting at the Power Center for the Preforming Arts in Ann Arbor, MI, this month. The theme for the show is the Elements. Some artists did paintings that focus on just one of the elements, others did a combination.

When you think of the Elements, of course you think about nature. That naturally renders landscape type paintings. I wanted to do something different and veer away from that path, so I decided to do a still life. And as you can see, I set up my scrabble board.

This turned out to be a difficult piece for me. I quickly came to the conclusion that I'm not a fan of drawing letters, which you have to do if you're doing an art piece with words in it. This piece was on my drawing board for two months. I'm pretty darn sure it'll be a very long time before I even think about doing words again.

Changing Seasons

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:14:00 +0000

Students are returning to the area. The seasons first football games have been played already at the local universities of EMU and UofM.

Road traffic will triple. The place will be busting at the seams with activity. I love the Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti area. We are booming with the arts. There are so many artists, musicians, writers and performers around here that it makes your head spin. There is always some art event to attend.

At the Riverside Art Center, where I docent, we are preparing for two September art exhibits: It Grows on Trees -II and Trumpets for Democracy:Blood for Oil. We'll also have a September theatre production called The Foreigner.

For you local artists, we'll be holding our annual Holiday Art Show in November. It's like a weekend art fair and you can download the prospectus at the website. http://www.riversidearts.org/.

My personal art happenings: You can see some of my miniatures at the Daisy Lake Art Gallery in Dexter, MI. I'll have work in two September exhibits, one is a theme show called Elements at the Power Center in Ann Arbor with the Chelsea Painters. The other one is Midwest Color 2008 in Dearborn, MI at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center.

I slowed down a bit the last couple months with my art. Tis the season to get back to pushing the pencils....

Have a grand day!

Some Favorite Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:02:00 +0000

Vidhya has bestowed upon me the Brillante Weblog award. It's one of these great ways to announce some favorite blogs and build network linking all at the same time. I am very honored, Vidhya. Thank you!!

And now I get the added honor of passing this award onto others. So, here's my list:

Belinda Del Pesco Fine Art
Corinne's Darshan
Debbie Friedman's Blog
Helen Percy Lystra
Holly Bedrosian Fine Art
Laurelines
The Extraordinary Pencil

Congratulations! And here are the Brillante Weblog award rules.

Put the logo on your blog.
Add a link to the person who awarded you.
Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
Add links to those blogs on your blog.
Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.
Participation is entirely voluntary (of course!).
Have fun with this!

A Passed By Art Exhibit

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:59:00 +0000

We're almost to the end of July already. Where is summer going? It took so long to get here and I'm thinking it won't be around long enough for us to enjoy.

The days are too busy. Too much "in the office" work to be done. Must get out and enjoy the sun!!

Another miniature Silhouette Sky for today. This little piece received an Honorable Mention in the Ann Arbor Women Artists Summer Show last month.

I went a little nuts with this piece and put every color into I could think of. I made the bulk of the colors more pastel to give it a real mellow and soothing feel.

Thanks for stopping by and have a grand day!

CPSA 16th Annual International Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:03:00 +0000

I made it in this year!!

The Washington State Convention and Trade Center

800 Convention Place

Seattle, WA 98101

July 2 - September 29, 2008

CPSA is the Colored Pencil Society of America. All work submitted must be 100% colored pencil. "Ray at the Window" was done with Prismacolor pencil on Ersta sandpaper.

I am so not a fan of flying. But I'm giving great thought to going out to Seattle this year to see this exhibit in person.

Have a grand day!

Art Exhibit

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:18:00 +0000

Riverside Arts Center
76 North Huron Street
Ypsilanti, MI 4819
7734-480-2787

May 8-31
Artists Reception
May 10, 5-7pm

This is the 4th Annual Docent Exhibit. This art center is ran by volunteers. Each year, those among of us who are artists, are given the gallery for our own exhibit.

We put on a grand reception and have loads of fun! This year I'm including several of my Silhouette Sky series in the show.

If you're in the area, stop by and join us! There are thirteen artists sharing their work this year.

Have a grand day!

American Artist Drawing Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:52:00 +0000

The Drawing Magazine is my all time favorite art magazine. When it arrives in my mailbox, the world around me completely stops while I leaf through it and decide which article I'm going to read first.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when they asked me for an interview. But I had no clue they were going to give me the spread that appears in this issue. I'm tickled to my bones!!

It's the Spring 2008 Issue, arriving in mailboxes today for subscribers. It should be on the news stands around the 13th of May. They also put some images on the American Artist Website.

Thanks for stopping by.
Have a grand day!

Another Silhouette Sky Art Piece

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:09:00 +0000

Yep, another one. And many more to come. I have a goal. And I'm soooo not there yet.

I'm looking forward to more warm skies like this one. Our southern Michigan sky is a bit grey today and things are on the "cool" side.

You ever have days where it seems like no matter what you do, you're falling on your head. (Figuratively or literally) I literally tripped over a box in my own house last night. Landed hard on an already messed up knee.

Well.... I came across this little ditty this morning that summed it up for me and gave me a heck of good laugh. So, if you're having one of those days.....

Check out Falling.

More Scribbles From Saturday Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:50:00 +0000

I'm enjoying the Saturday Life Model sessions these days. The ink scribbling is very freeing for me. It's a bit looser than the way I generally work. And it's faster.

I came across this cool blog with pictures of scribbles and graffiti in lights. I haven't a clue how it's done but imagine it has to do with camera settings. Check it out sometime. Not that it has a whole lot to do with today's entry, but it just came to mind. So thought I'd share.

The scribble sketch above was done in ten minutes. The one on the left in twenty.

Have a grand day!