Teresa Mallen Studio

Still drawing and colouring!

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 03:19:00 +0000

It has been years since I posted.

So what happened?

Well, art blogs started to fall out of fashion. My peers started moving to Instagram and Facebook. It seemed artists preferred a visual platform like Instagram, and it meant they didn't have to be writing a blog...

That was part of it and I also really wanted to pause my art career. I decided to reduce the amount of classes I taught. I stopped offering a how-to newsletter. I took a break from exhibitions.

I wanted to focus on art making, so I did.

I also wanted to focus on our life on our hobby farm - growing food, and raising chickens and enjoying our goats. There were also other things going on during those years that needed my time and attention.

Finally in 2019, I started thinking about venturing out from my studio hibernation...maybe, just maybe it was time to build a new website and get back into teaching classes. I began checking out venues other than my studio for classes, so I could teach larger groups.

And then Covid happened. The reality of living in a pandemic made it clear that studio tours, exhibitions and in-person teaching were going to paused for a couple of years.

At least I had lots of studio time. As an introvert, I enjoyed the quiet lifestyle that was forced upon us. Maybe this was something to consider - early retirement!?!

Or maybe not.😏

Here I am in 2024, itching to get back in the game. 😲 Early retirement turned out to be a bit boring!

So...I am blowing the dust off my FB page AND I have just created an Instagram site. instagram.com/teresamallenstudio_

I am also creating a new website.

My intention is to move blogging to my new website. I hope if anyone finds there way here, from back in the day, that they will be keen to move to my new art/life journal.

I will post the link here once that site is ready. In the meantime, it feels very good to be back in action on the internet. I have art and words to share.

If you are one of my followers, well God Bless! How the heck are you? How have you been these past years? Anyone else been busy making art?

Thanks for stopping by and reading.🧡

December already?

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 19:13:00 +0000

our meadow a month ago, the leaves have fallen now...sigh...

While we are enjoying a very mild late autumn, the leaves had to fall. I miss the glorious colour. The crazy harvest season is over (I store up a lot of our garden produce for the winter) and I am getting more hours in the studio now.

I have been getting lots of inquiries about classes so I thought I would give an update here. I am not offering classes this winter. Seriously folks, it gets darn near impossible to schedule dates when people get busy with their holiday events and right after that, they are planning their winter get-aways. The people who stay in Ottawa for the winter often worry about missing classes due to bad weather...on and on it goes.

So I shall be working full time in my studio over the coming months working on a new series of botanicals.

AND if you are wondering about my newsletters, I am not publishing anything at the moment. I will write more about that later but for now, I am simply colouring. :-)

Hope everyone reading this is well! Thanks for stopping by.

back at it...

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 19:39:00 +0000

spring, in my garden

My last post back in February was telling you about upcoming classes. Well hey, after 10 years of teaching coloured pencil classes and workshops of all sorts - for example beginner drawing, coloured pencil portraits, cps and mixed media and of course coloured pencil basics and the Beyond the Basics course, I have finally had a male student!

Isn't it odd that no man has registered before??? Over the years, I have met lots of male artists and some of them are professional coloured pencil artists.

I have chatted with lots of keen fellows during my studio tours. There are men in the coloured pencil organizations around the world...and yet my classes always filled with ladies.

Mick (the first TMS male student!) actually came for some one on one cp instruction as he is creating portraits in graphite and he now wants to explore adding colour.

Was it any different teaching a male? Of course not, people are people. I have taught various ethnicities and ages of women and none of it matters. Still, I had come to expect that only women would sign up, after all of these years. :-)

Spring has raced past. I am sitting here sorting pictures off of our camera into various flower files.

Now the early summer blossoms are wowing us. My poppies are open and I need to snap some pics of my irises before they are spent.

I have been busy getting my massive vegetable garden planted. This is done and now I can get back to my drafting table - where I shall be for the wonderful summer months ahead.

I hope you have had a wonderful spring!!!!

Coloured Pencil Classes, Ottawa studio

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 20:37:00 +0000

Plum project, CP Basics, copyright Teresa Mallen

If you live in the Ottawa area and you are eager to learn how to use coloured pencils, now is your chance. This spring I am offered a super duper, content packed, two day workshop.

Come and get all the info and practice you need to master the basics (and even more than the basics). You will be working like a pro in just two days. It's all about the content we cover...

I am posting a few of the course projects here. And yes you will be able to pull these off with no previous experience!!!!

I have never had a student unable to create the art shown here. Trust me, you won't be the exception! :-) I give tons of detailed instructions and you get to keep them. How cool is that?

I have created this course to give you everything you need to know so you can work with confidence and get amazing results.

Impressed Line Technique, Leaf Project, copyright Teresa Mallen

I'll bet all of these leaf veins look daunting! I assure you they are not. In fact, this is a super fast and easy project.

I provide a line drawing and you actually impress the veins into your paper. This is a fun technique that always thrills my students. Once you learn how, you can apply this to creating cat whiskers, or to rendering tree trunk bark or rock texture, hairs on plants or lace details.

Red Pepper Project, copyright Teresa Mallen

This photo gives you an idea of how we work. I give you a reference photo, a line drawing, tons of step by step instructions as well as work in progress how to pictures. If you don't finish in class, no problem. You get to take all of the instructions (for each and every project) home with you.

Unlike most classes which leave you hanging and unable to complete your art, I set you up for success. You will be able to create a work of art that is worthy of slipping into a frame! :-)

What you need to know: course dates are Saturday May 16th and Saturday May 23rd, 2015.

Registration is now open and spaces are very limited. We meet in my gorgeous studio, located on the west end of Ottawa, on the Carp Ridge (between Dunrobin and Carp).

Please visit the classes page of my website by clicking here. I have written out a very detailed description of the course and you can read all about YOUR BONUS ITEMS. You can register with your credit card right from my website.

If you bring a friend with you, you will also receive a GIFT BONUS of Derwent pencils!

Come learn in a relaxed, supportive and stimulating environment. The music is on, there are drinks and nibblies, a fountain bubbles away, candles are lit and the emphasis is on creativity and fun.

As your instructor and mentor, I am all about giving you the info you need in a very easy to handle fashion and we work at a pace that is super comfortable and respectful of beginners.

All line drawings are included so if you draw slowly like I do, I've got you covered.

If you have read the info on my website and you still want to confirm that this course is right for you, let's set up a 'get acquainted call' (which I mention in the course description). I would love to answer any questions you may have.

I look forward to meeting you.

P.S. Please don't wait to register. You don't want to miss out on getting a seat.

Finally, if you don't live in Ottawa, on-line courses are coming!!!!!

forgotten art and Downton Abbey

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 18:11:00 +0000

small rose, cps on Stonehenge, copyright Teresa Mallen

Hey, a non-newsletter post! :-)

I was looking through some images of my artwork and I came across this small rose. I sold it over a year ago and I rather forgot about it. I liked coming across my photo of it. Rather like seeing an old friend. I don't actually remember working on this one, it must have come together quickly and easily.

I remember the challenging ones!

I mentioned Downton in the title of the post. Here in North America, lots of us are glued to our tellies on Sunday nights, getting our fix of this upstairs/downstairs series.

If you are a fan of such shows and you love cats, I suggest you check out artist Paula Pertile's new work. Paula is a very talented illustrator and coloured pencil artist and she is currently creating images of kitties 'in service'.

Here is my personal favourite, the valet...

Art created by Paula Pertile, copyright Paula Pertile, used with permission

To see more wonderful working cats, visit Paula' ArCATecture site, as well as her Etsy shop. To see Paula's non kitty art, check out her website: www.paulapertile.com.

Here in Ottawa, it has been nasty cold for days. The goats and chickens don't like this weather and slippers are a must in the studio. The floor is cold because my studio is over top of an unheated garage. Hope everyone reading this is staying warm!

running with wolves and creating art

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:40:00 +0000

Have you ever read Women Who Run with the Wolves, by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes?

It was first published back in 1992 and your local library will have a copy. I loved it and I still pull out my copy every now and again.

Clarissa writes about the myths and stories of the wild woman archetype. Her analysis of these stories, from different cultures, is aimed at getting women to honour their creative selves.

My old and yellowed paperback edition is filled with notes, much underlining and stars on important bits. Back then I really needed her message.

Do you have trouble giving yourself permission to just flat out go for it and honour your artsy needs? I suggest you have a look at this book.

Anyway, if you are familiar with Women Who Run with the Wolves, you will know what I mean when I say that the time has come for me to bare my fangs and to do some running with the wolves.

I am donning my artist hat for a while and my mentoring hat is getting shelved to gather a bit of dust. I am immersing myself in art creation and I am setting myself free from most things computer related.

This means I am taking a break from writing a weekly newsletter.

I am going to practice what I preach and I am going to start getting snarly about my studio time. Mid-winter seems like a good time to disappear as many of you are on cruises or on other sorts of vacations.

“Wolves lead immensely creative lives. They make dozens of choices every day, decide this way or that, estimate how far, concentrate on their prey, calculate the chances, seize opportunity, react powerfully to accomplish their goals. Their abilities to find the hidden, to coalesce intention, to focus on the desired outcome and to act in their own behalf to gain it, are the exact characteristics required for creative follow-through in humans.” (Pg. 316, Women You Run with the Wolves) Amen Dr. Estes!

During my absence I plan on posting a few fun things on my blog and probably some work in progress updates. Some of this will wind up on my FB biz page but I confess I really like blogs and I am not keen on facebook J. (check out my info on the blog sidebar to sign up to receive updates in your inbox or make a bookmark, saves you having to remember the address)

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I haven’t had much artwork to share lately so I am showing an oldie and I think a goodie. I like this one so much that I didn’t wish to sell it. J It is hanging on a wall in our dining room.

copyright Teresa Mallen

The sunflower was done in coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper and is 14 ½ inches wide and 10 inches high. I was captivated by the underside of the plant and that was the ‘story’ I wished to tell.

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I hope you have some wonderful art making time planned for the weeks ahead. Why not give Women Who Run with the Wolves a read?

If you hear an eerie, weird human sound at night, it is probably just me, howling with the wolves. My pencils are sharpened and I am ready to join my pack in the woods!

Take care everyone, stay warm and may you run a wee bit on the wild side yourself.

the after image phenomenon

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 21:00:00 +0000

TMS Newsletter Excerpt, Friday January 23rd, 2015

I hope everyone is having a great mid-January. Might be a good time to mention spring J - if you are in the Ottawa area, I have just posted info about my spring classes on my website. Registration is now open. I will give some details after I answer this week’s question. I can’t wait to meet you!

This week I have a really interesting question to answer. Loni from Seattle writes:

“Hi Teresa. I hope this isn’t a dumb question. I took an art class several years ago. It was mainly a drawing class but we did get into some color theory at the end of the course. I was looking through my notes from that class and I came across something the teacher called the “phenomenon of after image”. I can’t make sense of my notes and I am wondering what this phenomenon is and how do I use it in my art or maybe I should I avoid it (not sure if after image is a bad thing). Thanks for any information you have time to share.”

This is a very cool question Loni (certainly not a dumb one J). I haven’t heard of after image in years.

Readers, if I asked you to define ‘after image’, what would your answer be?

If you need a refresher or if you haven’t actually ever heard of ‘after image’ then listen up cause here is the dish...

The phenomenon of ‘after image’ is said to be a demonstration of our brain’s ‘need’ for the complement of a particular colour. This comes from studies of the brain (for example what the left part of the brain controls and the right part of the brain etc.)

I won’t get into science speak about this but here is an example that will let you experience the phenomenon first hand (read the instructions through first).

How to Experience an After Image

· Take a piece of paper and draw a circle of about an inch or so in diameter. Colour/paint the circle a rich, intense red colour. Next make a tiny back dot in the center of the red circle.

· Take a second piece of paper. Place a similar black dot in the center of the page.

· Hold the two sheets side by side. Gaze at the red coloured circle for about a minute.

· Next, quickly shift your gaze to the dot on the second blank sheet. (This is why you need to read the instructions through first. Stopping to read this after gazing at the circle will ruin the effect.)

· As you gaze at the black dot on the second blank sheet of paper, you will “see” the complement to red (which is green) emerge on the blank paper - the same shape, the same size as the original red circle.

Try this with any colour. Your brain will produce the exact complement of any hue. This is termed the negative after image.

Apparently if you experiment with two colours, both complementary colours will appear. (I haven’t tried this)

As an odd twist, for some people, the original colour will appear as an after image, but in the negative spaces of the original shapes, which are the uncoloured areas. This is called a positive after image.

So our brains are tricky things, making us see things that aren’t on the page!

Wonder what else in our lives gets skewed? J

This is a great little project to get up to with kids or grandkids. They love magic and illusion.

Why would our brains, need the complement? I have no idea. I am sure there is some sort of theory on the internet if you are curious enough to look.

Loni also asked how this applied to her art.

I honestly don’t think it does!

Understanding complementary colours and how you can use this knowledge in colour mixing or in creating interesting darker values (say in shadows) is fun to learn and is of value but I don’t concern myself with the after image phenomenon.

If any of you do create art being mindful of this after image phenomenon please write and tell us why. Then tell us how you compensate for this effect.

Personally, I think it is neat to know about how our brains process colour images but I don’t use this particular bit of info in my everyday art making.

Art Newbies:

Maybe you are new to all of this art stuff and you don’t have a clue what a complementary colour is. I am guessing you have heard of something called a colour wheel or a colour circle. Colours are arranged around a wheel based on their relationships with other colours. If you become familiar with how colours are arranged around a colour wheel, then a complementary colour will be easy to determine. It is the colour that is directly opposite any given colour.

Referring back to our example above, the colour across from red on the colour wheel is green. Therefore the complementary colour of red is green. Easy peesy. If you would like to learn more, have a look at the art how-to books in your local library or look up info on the colour wheel on-line.

I hasten to add that you don’t need to know this to get started drawing or colouring! If you are a newbie, stay within your comfort zone and don’t overload yourself with stuff you think you should know. Keep it fun and simple. There will be a time for all of this stuff when you are ready.

Thanks for the interesting question Loni!

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Spring 2015 In-Studio Classes, Coloured Pencil Basics and Beyond the Basics

Coloured Pencil Basics: May16th and 23^rd, 2015

Is 2015 your year? Is it time to seek out vast possibilities and to discover magic? Have you always wanted to really dive in and explore the world of coloured pencils?

Maybe you are thinking it would take a miracle for you to be the artist you dream of being. If so, then you are in the right place because here at TMS, delicious alchemy happens. You bring your doubts, your fears and your insecurities and I wave my magic wand and poof, at the end of our time together, you are transformed into a confident, pencil savvy diva. I have seen it happen over and over and over again. Let me assure you, you are not the exception! J (okay the bit about the magic wand is a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea)

If you are ready to ditch your fears and sharpen some pencils, I am offering Coloured Pencil Basics, a course consisting of two full days on Saturday May 16^th and 23^rd, 2015.

This course is jam packed with fun projects and tons of how-tos plus an incredible Bonus Package. You will go from a total newbie to someone that can create this:

Plum Project, step by step, CP Basics, copyright Teresa Mallen

You will also create your own version of this leaf. The veins are super simple to do but you have to experience it to believe me... (line drawings are included, plus full instructions and you also get a drawing of the veins to ‘impress’)

Impressed line technique, leaf project, CP Basics, copyright Teresa Mallen

We work on lots of other stuff too!

Have I mentioned that we have lots of fun?

To read all of the details, please visit the classes page of my website, (click here to get there). Scroll down past the glowing testimonials until you see Coloured Pencils Basics.

I have spent quite a bit of time describing the course and the Bonus Package so please do yourself a favour and make sure you take in all of the super helpful info.

You can register via your credit card right from that page.

Need more help deciding?

If have read the course description and something inside of you is excitedly saying ‘yes’ and you really want to hit the cart button but you also have a few butterflies in your stomach, I get it. This is just a message from that tiny part of you that still wonders if you can really do this.

Why not drop me a line? Click here for my email address.

We can set up a time for a quick get acquainted call. Together we can determine if this course is the right fit for you. And you can get to know me. Studying with someone you haven’t met can be intimidating but I can assure you, once we have chatted you will know that I am not the least bit scary. J There will be no pressure. Whether or not you register is entirely up to you. I simply want to give you any info that will help you make the decision that you feel is best.

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Beyond the Basics April 25^th, May 2^nd 2015

As the title suggests, this content packed two day course is all about launching into more artsy info that takes you beyond the basics of working in coloured pencil.

This course is perfect for someone who has already taken my CP Basics course or someone that is self taught and has been practicing on their own or someone who has studied with someone else and who wishes to explore the world of coloured pencil further.

We will cover a lot in this course but it won’t be overwhelming. I firmly believe that learning should be fun and we will take it all at a manageable pace. We will spend quite a bit of our time on learning how to see and create colour with greater mastery, we will explore the rich world of working with complementary colours, we will practice the different ways to create darker values and there will be fun bits of info on colour harmony and composition.

I won’t write out all of the course details because I have carefully described it all on my classes page. You need to scroll down the page to the Beyond the Basics section. You can register right from that page.

Please read the Need More Help Deciding? section just up above. The same applies for this course. If you would like to have a quick chat about this course, please email to set up a time for the call. I would love to hear from you.

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On-Line Course Bonus

By now you know that I will be offering my first on-line course later this year. Perhaps you are trying to decide between coming to in-studio classes or waiting and taking something on-line.

The easy answer is that you should do both. BUT you won’t have to shell out tons of money for both.

As a thank you to everyone that has studied with me over the past decade, I shall be offering my on-line course to former students at a super duper special price.

The on-line course will run over many weeks and as a result it will contain a lot more content. Please don’t feel that you will miss out by taking the in-studio session.

You will have the best of both worlds – you will be able to get started working with your pencils this spring AND you can sign up at a crazy bonus price to get all of the extra projects, on-line. I really do value and appreciate all the support I have received over the years and I want to thank you.

So just to be clear, you won’t have to pay the full price twice. It is not better to wait. It is a much better deal money wise, to take the in-studio session and then add on the on-line course when it becomes available.

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Finally, if you know of someone that might be interested in these courses, please do them a favour and let them know.

Spaces are very limited and seats are filled on a first come first served basis.

I don’t plan on offering these classes again in 2015 so if you are keen, please don’t miss out.

Have a great week everyone!

a gritty pencil problem and some thoughts from a fellow reader

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 18:49:00 +0000

Excerpt from my TMS January 16th, 2015 newsletter...

Have you ever had a problem with a gritty pencil core? Newsletter Group Member Daphne L. from Toronto has the following question for me...

“I have a quick question. I sharpened a pencil recently and started working with it. There was a scratchy feel as I was applying the colour to the paper. I didn’t think much of it and kept going. Suddenly I laid down a dark streak of colour, much darker than the pencil’s actual shade. I was able to remove the dark streak of colour but then I realized that the scratching of the pencil over the paper had actually left an indent in the paper. I haven’t had this happen before. Is this common? I am using Prismacolor pencils and I thought they were a good brand. Thanks for your time.”

Thanks for the question Daphne. First up, Prismacolor is a very good brand of pencil. What you experienced isn’t common when using coloured pencils but it does happen. I suspect this bit of hard ‘something’ is simply a tiny bit of undissolved pigment or binder that has been formed into the core. Considering you actually laid down a dark streak of colour, I am guessing it is a bit of pigment.

I have had this happen to me. Here is how I deal with it...

When I feel that obvious scratching that you described, when applying the colour to my paper, I stop working and I break the point off completely. I then re-sharpen. This should take care of it. I have only had one pencil that I had to break the lead a few times as the core had something really weird in the mix. It really doesn’t happen very often though and getting rid of just one sharpened tip should do it. You do want to get rid of it though because (as you found) it can scratch your paper.

Try going over your scratch with a colorless blender pencil (Prismacolor makes one). This pencil is waxy and you should be able to fill in the scratch with the colourless wax. Then lightly apply the colour you wish to have in that area. If the area is dark in value, keep going over it. By using light pressure, there is less chance that your stroke will end up leaving deposits on the edges of the scratch’s tunnel, which would end up outlining the very scratch that you are trying to hide.

I hope this info helps Daphne.

If you have a question you would like me to tackle, send it in. It just might make it into a newsletter.

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Now about last week’s questions regarding 2014 – did you read them over and then go on to something else?

If so, here is some feedback from a Newsletter Group Member whose name is Janice. She has a message for you.

“Hi Teresa. Thanks for the list of questions in last week’s newsletter. I wanted to share my experience in case it helps someone else get more value out of the questions than I first did.

When I first opened the newsletter, I just skimmed the questions. I answered some of the ones that were obvious to me. I just answered them in my head. I could easily remember the exhibit I attend last July and I remembered that I had renewed my membership with my local art club. But I confess I didn’t actually think much about most of it. I considered doing what you suggested, that is writing out my answers but I was too lazy to go get a pen and paper and I didn’t want to go dig out a calendar from last year to help me remember stuff.

On Sunday I met a friend for coffee. She started telling me about how at work last week her manager had put her team through a similar year in review sort of process. My friend was astonished by just how much her department had accomplished. She could see the targets they reached, the goals they met over the year and she also saw how much her work had contributed to this.

This conversation made me think of your questions. That night I went home, opened up your email again and this time I had my 2014 calendar and some paper and my favourite coloured pens. Might as well make it pretty right? J

Well I couldn’t believe the results. I really thought about the parts of the questions that asked me things like what I learned and what impacted me the most. I ended up with pages of notes. You said it would be “powerful stuff” and you were right!

I am so glad I decided to answer the questions properly.

I got so much out of doing this that I have decided to put this to use in 2015. Instead of waiting until next January, I am going to write down what I got out of an art show (or whatever) right after it happens. That way I won’t forget.

Is there any way my story could be used to help someone else that didn’t answer the questions?

Thank you for writing them out for us.”

Thank you very much Janice for taking the time to write such a thoughtful email. I am delighted that you went through the questions a second time.

As you all can see, I am publishing her email in the hopes that Janice’s experience will help

I am so delighted that Janice found the process powerful.

Living life with awareness is always powerful stuff but we usually need a poke or a prod to ‘do the work’. Her chat over coffee fortunately gave her a prod!

Please let Janice’s email, be a prod for you!

And Janice has a great idea. Why not grab your journal and write out your thoughts immediately following something – write out what you got out of that art seminar or presentation, what you liked about the exhibit. Think about what you learned, what moved you or inspired you. Think about how these insights can be used to improve your art making or your art habits.

Perhaps set aside time every month to review what happened in the past four weeks.

If you have nothing to make note of, then this could be a good reminder for you schedule in some artsy experiences.

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In-Studio Classes

Dates for my spring classes will be announced in next week’s Newsletter. Registration opens on January 23(next Friday). Spaces are limited so I always encourage early registration in order to avoid disappointment.

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The further up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it’s considered to be your style. (Fred Astaire)

excavating your 2014 gold and celebrating your wonderful groovy self

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 20:25:00 +0000

TMS January 9th, 2015, Newsletter excerpt...

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all had a safe and wonderful holiday. Seems like a long time ago doesn’t it?!

For many of us, the arrival of a new year is a delicious time of refining our goals and dreams. Personally, I enjoy mapping out the coming year with plans that will fulfill my intentions.

But before I go into my planning, scheming and dreaming I make sure I pause and consider the gifts and gains of the previous year.

I do so much more and accomplish so much more than I remember or give myself credit for. I suspect this is the same for you.

This week I would like to encourage you to pause and take stock of your artistic accomplishments in 2014. At the end of a year, our tendency is to think we didn’t do that much in the past twelve months, or at least not the stuff that was meaningful to us. But before you assume that, read over my list of questions below.

Honour yourself by celebrating what you did and what you learned. You have more to be delighted with and proud of than you might initially imagine.

My list of questions is intended to take you down a path of personal awareness and celebration. I encourage you to write your answers down. This is powerful stuff...just wait and see. J

TIP: Before we get started, you may find it helpful to grab your day planner from 2014, or your family organizing calendar or your journal. Hopefully you have something on hand that will help you remember what you did 10 or 12 months ago. Also, you may find it helpful to review your sketchbook or your paintings to help you get a sense of your progress.

Here we go...

Celebrating Your Artistic Journey in 2014

· Did you read any art related books in 2014 and if so, what did you learn from them?

· Did you watch any movies about artists you admire or did you read any biographies? If so, what did you take away from learning about the artist’s work and life?

· Did you add new images to your sketchbook over the year? If so, did this change and/or improve your drawing skills?

· Did you complete any drawings and/or paintings this past year (count the unframed ones too)? If so, how many? Make a good guess if you don’t know for sure.

· Did you visit any art exhibits, art museums, attend any solo or group shows? If so, review what you enjoyed about your experiences and what you may have learned from these events.

· Did you discover any new artists that inspire you? This could be someone you discovered from reading an art magazine, or from finding their website or discovering them on a studio tour. What exactly is it about them that inspired you? You may have been influenced by their use of colour, their mastery of their chosen medium, their work ethic, their success...jot down anything and everything that comes to mind.

· Were you involved in any art organizations? Did you renew an existing membership? Did you attend meetings to socialize and network with other artists? Perhaps you volunteered your time and talents.

· Did you connect with fellow artists in some other way (other than the art groups referred to above)? Write out if or how these experiences were helpful to you.

· Did you take a workshop or an art course? How did this help you grow as an artist?

· Did you explore a new medium? What did you gain from this experience?

· Did you try new methods or techniques with your favourite medium?

· Did you master a new skill? Give yourself credit for even attempting a new skill.

· Did you attend any art lectures or seminars?

· Did you improve your art making space/studio? Perhaps you sorted things or added a more comfortable chair or invested in better lighting.

· Did you establish a regular art making routine or did you in some way improve upon your studio habits? If so, how is this routine working for you?

· Did you mentor anyone or share your art making knowledge with someone? (making art with children definitely counts here)

· Did you invest in yourself and your passion for art, i.e. did you buy some new supplies, or did you take a class?

· Finally, if you exhibit your work, review what shows you participated in. Consider how well your displays worked, what sales you made, what the feedback from the public was like and how well your promotional material worked for you. What did you gain from these experiences?

After pondering these questions and reviewing your calendars and sketchbooks, consider what might be the absolute best thing that happened with regards to your art making in 2014. Write this down.

Pause, look at your notes and soak in the wow of how much art related stuff you accomplished...go ahead and squeal woo-hoo! J

A lot can happen in a year and yet it can be so easy to forget the various events. I hope my questions have helped you unearth some activities you are proud of. I’ll bet you were rocking it and I’ll bet were more amazing than you thought!

If you are reading this newsletter, you are doing something to add fuel to your artistic spark that you didn’t do a year ago. Congratulations. (and thank you for reading and while I am at it, thanks for the feedback and the questions too)

Maybe these questions are revealing to you areas that could use some improvement. The gift of a new year is a perfect time to start making plans for better outcomes.

Ask yourself what sort of art experiences you would like to have this year. Then brainstorm some ideas.

Perhaps plan to set aside some money to attend a workshop or to buy some new pencils or paper. Review your weekly schedule and see where you can add colouring or painting into it. Do you already have a business trip lined up or maybe a trip during March break planned? Check out the city you are visiting and see what galleries they have. Consider ways to slip a visit into your schedule. Have some fun looking for new ways to take your art further this year.

I encourage you to start marking up your brand new 2015 calendars with some super exciting intentions!

Everything is white outside my windows, but not this kind of white. Here is a lovely remembrance of summer.

Best artists of 2014?

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 20:15:00 +0000

Here I am on Christmas Day morning handing out goat treats – carrot and apple chunks before the gang went out for the day. Goats are great. J

It is newsletter day but... I took a break from the computer this week.I wanted to spend time with loved ones (including the goats above J) and I needed to be in the kitchen preparing a Christmas feast.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday with your family and/or friends.

While there isn’t a newsletter I have a couple of links you may like...

The Huffington Post published an article recently in which the writer revealed his list of the top ten artists of 2014, here is the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seed/ten-memorable-paintings-f_b_6362954.html

It is an interesting list!

I don’t understand what makes some of the selections the ‘best’. Of course this just shows the subjective nature of art appreciation. I confess to liking detailed botanicals so Krista Schoening’s ‘Chrysanthemum’ is a favourite of mine.

David Kassan’s ‘Dorothy’ is a stunning, masterful piece.

On a light hearted note, this link will take you to some funny Christmas photos that folks submitted to Ellen Degeneres...just click through the few ads that appear amongst the photos. After seeing these pictures, I am thinking matching holiday sweaters should be banned. LOL

http://photos.ellen.warnerbros.com/galleries/bad_holiday_photos#338243

My Christmas break continues on for another week. If you are a Newsletter Group Member, I shall be back in your in-box on Friday January 9^th, 2015.

May You Have A Very Happy New Year!!!!

A gift for the holidays and goats!

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 19:38:00 +0000

The next time I write, December 25^th will have come and gone - so this is my Christmas Newsletter issue.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays and happy Hanukkah everyone!!!!!!

Big hugs and lots of love going out to all of you.

Me, the reindeer feeding our goats some yummy treats.

I know you are busy so shall keep my note short today. I simply want to give you a gift. Now keep in mind that as a teacher and mentor, I care about the entire you, not just the parts of you that create art. J

And while the world focuses on love and peace on earth at this time of year (or at least pays lip service to it)...I would like to encourage you to give yourself the gifts of love and peace – this would be my gift for you.

This is a wonderful time of year, from the decorations to the fabulous food, to spending time with loved ones. We get that part...

But this can also be a time of year when we feel like we have fallen short of our hopes and expectations.

Perhaps you have found yourself thinking that you should have had a nicer outfit for the office holiday party, you should have lost weight this year, you should have made time to write out Christmas cards, you should have done more baking, you should have spent more money on the gifts (or you should have spent less), you should have upgraded the tired holiday decorations, you should have planned to visit Aunt Ida and Uncle Fred, you should have got things done earlier...

Does any of this negative self talk sound familiar?

I am asking you to embrace your performance this season with love. Just do the best you can and let the rest go. Pause to acknowledge that you have done your best.

Make peace with yourself. Recognize all that you are doing and accomplishing so that your loved ones will have a terrific holiday. Pat yourself on the back and then practice some loving self care – go for a walk in nature, enjoy a hot bath, tuck in early one night with some hot chocolate and a book.

And while the holidays are wonderful they can also be a difficult time for many of us. It can be painful to go through a season so filled with memories once we have lost loved ones. Perhaps you or someone you love is sick at this time of year.

Please know that my thoughts are with you. You more than anyone will need the peace and love that is so talked about. Hopefully my suggestion to make loving self care a priority will help you transition through the weeks ahead.

And remember there are many wonderful times of the year. Every time I go hiking in the woods with my dog, is a wonder filled time for me. Wonder is about your delight and how you feel inside. If this is a challenging time, focus on what would bring you delight.

Take care of yourselves okay? Choose peace and love for your fine shiny self, not just for others.

Regardless of your faith or cultural traditions at this time of year, I send you love and many best wishes for a healthy, safe, joy filled holiday.

Oh, and I can’t resist giving a final tip for soaking up a bit of art during this busy season – please get out your favourite illustrated Christmas story books. Even if your kids are grown, go find the books you used to read to them. Look for some new ones at your library. If you haven’t looked at books for kids in years, you will be very pleasantly surprised at the impressive quality of the illustrations. Many books are beautifully produced with amazing art to go with the stories. This is a great way to enjoy a quiet break in the festivities and if you have a child in your life to read to, all the better. Even big kids would love some time looking at these books with you. J I believe we are never too old to enjoy a beautiful story book.

Ella is checking out my new antlers. :-)

the truth about being an artist

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 20:21:00 +0000

TMS Newsletter excerpt for Friday December 12, 2014

This week’s newsletter is a fun little chat about keeping it real.

Over the years, as I have talked to people visiting during studio tours, I have come to realize that many have ideas about artists that are simply false.

These myths are so strong that they can keep wanna-be artists from actually creating.

Perhaps you have ideas about being an artist that might be stopping your progress.

If so, please let me give you the real deal on being an artist...

· Starvation is not a requirement to being an artist. Many successful painters, potters, weavers etc. are not ‘starving artists’. So if you are rather partial to eating, be reassured. Not all artists are poor or destitute and some of us are very well fed indeed. J

· Being creatively obsessed is not required. It is a myth that artists create every waking moment. We do take time to wash ourselves and eat! In fact, let me reassure you that you can be an artist even if, gasp – you don’t draw or paint every single day. Gaps of weeks, months or even years can occur and they do not matter. If you have held a demanding day job or raised a family or looked after elderly parents and you have not made art during this time, so be it. This does not disqualify you from being an artist.

· You do not need to be mentally or physically ill to make art. Yes many great authors, composers and artists throughout history have struggled with mental health problems and with things like lead poisoning and venereal diseases. These people created art despite these conditions not because of them. So if you are middle class and healthy and not hearing voices in your head, you can still be an artist. And if you are rich and not healthy and you do hear voices, well you can get an ‘artist card’ in your deck too. Art is equal opportunity employer!

· You do not need a studio garret in order to be an artist. In fact you don’t need a converted garage or garden shed or a studio addition on your house. You can be an artist in a back bedroom or in a corner of the basement or at the kitchen table.

The title of the art below describes this chap as a poor poet. I rather think this looks like a lovely place to create. Love that light coming in the window. So if you have an attic garret, go for it.

Carl Spitzweg, Der arme Poet, The Poor Poet, 1839

· You do not have to be young nor do you have to have been talented from your youth to be a real artist. Many artists really get going with their art making following retirement. Many of us develop our talents as adults not as children. It is never too late to pick up a pencil or a paint brush. I repeat – never.

· You do not need to have a fine art degree. There are people with fine art degrees who are lousy artists and lots of self taught artists that are brilliant. Education is fantastic but there are many ways to obtain it. Besides, keep in mind that university fine art programs don’t often recognize coloured pencil as a fine art medium worthy of deep study. And you can graduate with a fine art degree and have never mastered the fundamentals of drawing. So if you haven’t yet got your fine art degree, relax. There are many ways to learn what you need to know.

· Here is another myth - you are a real artist once you have sold work to the public. Hogwash. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his entire life. He was very much an artist before that sale occurred. You do not need to be a professional artist, making your living off the sale of your art in order to think of yourself as an artist. And just because something was painted on a canvas and money was exchanged, well this doesn’t make it good art either. J Just saying...

So do any of these busted myths set you free? A new year is just around the corner. Now is the time to give yourself permission to let your artistic self shine. Set art goals for 2015 not resolutions!

simple tip that ends studio distractions

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 19:49:00 +0000

Time for the December 5th, 2014, TMS Newsletter excerpt...

This week I have a great tip on how to deal with distractions while you are in your studio (or wherever you create).

I am not talking about the obvious stuff, like how you should turn off your phones or how you should not have your email open on your laptop (waiting for that lovely ding that tells you that a new email has popped in) or how you shouldn’t be checking your Facebook account.

I am talking about managing your distracting brain chatter.

This happens to all of us: You are all settled in, music is playing, you are in a zone happily painting or drawing and suddenly an idea pops into your head. You remember that you didn’t call that woman back about watching your cats while you are away or you remember the name of that plumber your friend was asking about, or you get an idea for another art project. You know the stuff I am talking about.

This happens all of the time doesn’t it? Sheesh. Maybe it is because we are relaxed and in a creative mode. An awful lot of ‘important’ stuff takes this opportunity to come bouncing through our brain. Our tendency is to drop what we are doing and we rush to make that phone call or we go to our computer to start Googling something we wanted to check on – like what was that actor’s name in that movie we were trying to remember at dinner last night? Ha. It’s a slippery slope...

Cause we all know what happens next don’t we? We lose precious art making time. AND, we return to our work only to find that we can’t get back into our groovy flow. Arrrgh!

Here is the solution...

Go buy yourself some brightly coloured index cards.

mine are 3 inches by 5 inches in size

Keep them right beside you while you work.

When that out of no-where thought pops up, to call the cat sitter or you remember the name of the plumber pause for a brief moment and write a quick note to yourself. Get it on the card. Then go back to work!

This little life management trick works like a charm. The benefit of these sturdy, brightly coloured cards is that you won’t lose track of them. I used to write myself notes on scrap pieces of paper, whatever I could grab, and then I would lose these bits of paper amidst the stuff on my work tables. Of course these silly scraps of paper didn’t stand out at all when I tried to find them.

Using my bright index card system has made a huge difference in how I work. I don’t lose my ideas, (I don’t have to try to remember them either) and they are there waiting for me to follow up on at a much more appropriate time.

I encourage you to give this a try.

I know it will work to keep you distraction free and super focused as you create your masterpieces.

healing your shopping woes

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 18:49:00 +0000

Friday November 28th, 2014 Newsletter excerpt...

I would like to take this moment to sincerely wish all of my American readers a heartfelt Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday and I hope you are enjoying a blessed weekend with your family and friends.

This week’s newsletter is all about shopping - because the crazy shopping season is here.

How are your gift lists coming along? Did you remember to create a juicy ‘I want’ list for yourself?!!

You do have a Christmas wish list right?

I bet that your loved ones would really like to know what gift would light you up on Christmas morning. So help them out. Tell them what you want.

Of course I suggest you start your list off with art supplies! J

This is important because I know a lot of you feel reluctant to indulge in art supplies. Maybe you are raising a family or perhaps you are retired. Whatever the reason, perhaps money is a bit tight during the year. The cost of art supplies can add up. For some of you, it isn’t about the money. It is simply because you don’t normally treat yourself to hobby purchases.

If this is you, now is the perfect time to get what you would like. And remember, you are sparing your loved ones the agony of having to come up with a gift idea on their own. That is a very loving thing for you to do.

If you haven’t crafted your list yet, go through your art making work space and think of things you might be able to use.

Could your studio set up use a desk lamp or perhaps some plastic bins to hold pencils and pastels? How about a new sketch book or some new paints and brushes? Maybe a desk top easel or a pad of your favourite paper?

If your loved ones don’t have a clue about what to shop for in an art supply store get very specific. Write out the brand name of the must have pencil or paint set you want. Give lots of descriptive detail. Or go buy your goodies yourself and hand them over for your loved ones to wrap and offer up on the 25^th.

You could also see if your favourite art store offers gift certificates.

Okay, I shall assume that you will give this some thought and you will put some arty things on your list. Yeehaw!

Now, what are you going to buy for people?

Christmas is the perfect time to support the artists in your local community. Give handmade, artisan gifts of pottery, woven items, jewelry, hand crafted children’s toys and games, soaps and lotions. Visit craft fairs and any events put on by your local Farmer’s Market – think locally made salsas, jams and other condiments.

I know this message of ‘shop local’ gets old and I hope you will forgive me for writing something of a Public Service Announcement, it is just that I see an awful lot of art loving folks forgetting to support artists with their dollars at this time of year. An awful lot of folks, seriously...

Remembering those in need:

If you really want to brighten up your Christmas (cause this sort of giving feels soooo good) all while making a stranger’s holiday super bright as well, extend your giving to people who need some help.

Purchase some colouring books, crayons, markers, or pens and colourful pads of paper. Then consider who could use them. Perhaps the organizers of the local toy drive would like such items as gifts for children. How about your local homeless shelter? Entire families can find themselves needing the services of shelters and basic art supplies are a great way for kids to have fun in a disturbing situation.

Check to see if your local hospital could use some art making supplies for their children’s wing. How about your local seniors home? Sketch books, pens and coloured pencils are terrific, no mess items. Users don’t need access to sinks and water for clean up and they are easy for people in wheel chairs to use, people who might find working at an easel difficult.

Spread the word to your friends, neighbours and family and get them involved in this sharing of love.

___________________________________________________

So maybe you are like me and you are totally fed up with Black Friday and busy malls and shopping for meaningless stuff. If so, I shall present my radical, life changing Christmas gift giving idea.

At first reading it may not seem feasible but hang in with me...see if the idea starts to grow on you.

You see several years ago I declared I had had enough.

I just never looked as happy as this lady after shopping for oodles of gifts, never mind spending hours doing all of that neat wrapping.

I was fed up with spending money and life energy on buying gifts for people that had so much. You know who I mean, the people that ‘have everything’ so you fuss and fret trying to come up with gift ideas.

I was also overwhelmed with the stuff just for stuff’s sake that was coming into our home over the holidays. Every first week of January, I would stare at these gifts that I didn’t need nor want wondering what to do with them. I was also pretty certain that most of the folks buying us these things were doing so out of a sense of obligation, caught in the same trap as we were, because tis the season after all.

So I talked it over with my husband and then I cancelled Christmas – well gift giving anyway. We announced our plans to family and friends. We would no longer be accepting gifts nor would we be buying gifts. INSTEAD we would be donating money to various charities in honour of our loved ones. If people wished to, they could do the same on our behalf, in lieu of ‘stuff’.

Not everyone understood at first. For example, my mother-in-law donated to a charity AND got us a gift for a few years. We persisted. We didn’t buy her a gift but instead we asked her to tell us what she would like as a donation. She asked if we would stock a medical clinic in Africa via World Vision in her honour, so we did and we continue to do so.

Over the years we have bought winter coats for children in Romania, bought hens and a rooster for families in developing countries, sent money to assist in getting young girls out of the sex trade etc.

This all feels absolutely wonderful and for me it is in keeping with the true spirit of Christmas.

Now you don’t have to cancel all gift giving. You may want to buy gifts for your grandkids or your spouse or your mom and dad. My husband and I still exchange gifts. Simply consider if there is some way this might work for you.

If this sounds at all appealing, I encourage you to look up charities on line. There are lots of reputable groups doing fabulous work and your donations go where they are supposed to.

Organizations like World Vision have a gift giving catalogue on-line and you can donate in a couple of clicks:

https://catalogue.worldvision.ca/gifts/Forms/Home.aspx?mc=4202859&lang=en

You can check out this organization that builds schools in developing countries, Pencils Of Promise, http://pencilsofpromise.org/

If your loved ones are into environmental causes, there are lots of environmental organizations that would love a donation.

Do you have a local animal sanctuary that you could support?

All major cities have homeless shelters. If you live in Ottawa, consider supporting The Mission: http://ottawamission.com/. This is a great organization. You can give money to provide daily meals or you can check out their website for most needed items – things like warm socks and hats and mitts - great if you enjoy shopping, and you want to give something physical and not cash.

The problems of the world seem so overwhelming at times but we really can help make a difference. Even small donations impact lives in incredible ways.

____________________________________________________________

Here is an update on Suzanne’s stained art work – she managed to get them out. Phew. She used my bleach idea. Because her stains were splotchy, she says she decided to dampen a cotton make up remover pad. Using light pressure she dabbed the bleach onto the paper. The stains weren’t deep and the colour bleached out beautifully. Yay Suzanne!

____________________________________________________________

Have a great weekend everyone!

how to remove stains from your art

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:29:00 +0000

The latest issue of the TMS Newsletter has just been mailed out. Here is my usual Friday excerpt...

Winter weather hit this week. We have gone from a lovely autumn with above normal temperatures to snow and strong winds. I have scrambled to find my warm winter boots and dressing in many layers suddenly became a necessity. The animals are not happy about this abrupt change in the weather. Chickens love to spend their days scratching around in dirt and leaves looking for yummy worms and bugs. They don’t even like to walk across snow. This morning I swept some paths for them. J It has become time to hook up the heated water buckets! Frozen pails of water already?! Sheesh...

This week our topic is what to when our art gets damaged. Suzanne P. from Toronto wrote me with an urgent call for help. Her art had met with an accident and she was wondering if there was anything she could do to fix it.

Suzanne’s almost finished artwork was lying on a table. Her young son was walking around the room, eating some fruit and he was telling his mother about something exciting that had happened at school. Suddenly the plate tipped a bit and his fruit plopped down onto the drawing!

Suzanne quickly removed the few of chunks of watermelon and a strawberry off of her art. She dabbed at the paper with a piece of paper towel.

What was left on the paper were a few small blotches of stain, pale peach ones where the watermelon had landed and a brighter pink one where the strawberry had been.

To make matters worse, the fruit landed on a part of the drawing that will not be covered by dark pigment. The art work is almost done so it is too late to change the drawing. The white tablecloth in her still life is the area that got hit. So, hoping to cover up the stains isn’t much of an option.

Suzanne has tried to remove the colour by gently erasing with an ink eraser but the stain has penetrated the fibers. Now she is concerned that she might damage the paper if she continues to try to rub it out.

My suggestion for stains like this is to try applying bleach. I have used this a few times with much success.

Accidents do happen.

A tiny bug can land on your paper – and even a teeny weeny insect can leave behind body fluids of some kind. Goodness, a fly can poop a small dark dot onto your paper. Ever had a pencil slip from your fingers? Of course the pencil falls with the point facing downward. Suddenly you have a dot of strong pigment placed somewhere you didn’t want it that won’t completely lift off.

My advice is to pour a very small amount of household bleach into a container. I use the bleach bottle cap. Next I dip the tip of a cotton ear swab into the bleach. Soak up a very small amount. Then dab this onto your paper. Let the bleach sit for a moment and then lift it off by pressing the area with a bit of tissue. If the stain is still there, re-apply and let the bleach sit for a little longer. Have patience and be gentle.

Of course this probably only works on white paper. I would assume that you would bleach the dye in a coloured piece of paper and you don’t want to go from a coloured stain to a pure white/bleached spot. Having said that, stains would be easier to cover on coloured paper as you need to add your whites. For example, on a dark sheet of paper, Suzanne would have to draw her white table cloth versus leaving it the white of the paper.

While we can’t prevent all accidents here are a few tips that will help:

· Cover your art when you are finished working. A simple sheet of paper or tracing vellum would suffice. If you have a cat that might jump up onto your table, go further and store your art somewhere that your cat will not be able to get to – lie it flat in a cupboard – and make sure this is a safe place, i.e. no one will come along and set something down on top of your art.

· Have a no food or drink rule. I don’t eat in my studio and I am very disciplined with my beverages. I never place a cup of anything on a table where I have unframed art, no matter how far apart the art and the drink might be. When I am working at my drafting table (which is slanted, positioned on an angle), I place my water, tea, or glass of wine J, on a table nearby. I sip while working but my sipping doesn’t take place over top of the art. I may spill coffee down my shirt front but it won’t hit my paper.

· Close all windows at the end of the day. I have a habit of shutting all of my studio windows in the summer or if it is really warm out, I leave them open just a wee bit. I do this to control the dampness that can get into the room (dampness isn’t good for fine art paper) not to mention any rain that may blow in during an unexpected storm overnight.

· Don’t feed your children fresh fruit. Just kidding...

Does anyone have a different solution on how to remove stains? I would love to hear your remedies.

Winter Scene in New Haven, Connecticut circa 1858, oil on canvas, by George Henry Durrie 1820 – 1863, (image now public domain)

Isn't this painting gorgeous? I love all of the detail. I keep seeing something new every time I look at it.

If you are enjoying my newsletter excerpts and you would like to become a member of the Newsletter Group, simply click here to let me know. The newsletter subscription is free and you may unsubscribe at any time - no questions asked.

a gift you must give your loved ones

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 19:05:00 +0000

Hey it's Friday and time for my newsletter..

I would like to share an update regarding Jackie whose story was featured in last week’s newsletter. Jackie took my advice and did some domestic art this week. She decided to have some fun with the theme and she dashed off a quick sketch of a toilet bowl brush as a warm up. J After that she settled in to some serious drawing choosing a favourite tea pot as her subject, one which had belonged to her grandmother. Yeah Jackie!!! You go girl!

I like tea pots and having one that was from my grandmother’s kitchen would make it even more special.

This brings me to the topic of this week’s newsletter...what the dead leave behind...

Have you ever inherited something?

Perhaps after an estate was settled you found yourself having to deal with your mother’s old sofa or your aunt’s huge chest of drawers that was so heavy no one could move the darn thing. Sometimes inheriting someone’s stuff isn’t what we want or need.

BUT what if you discovered something in that chest of drawers – like a hand written book of poems your aunt had laboured over, or perhaps a never before read play that your uncle had dreamed of seeing performed on stage.

Wouldn’t you pounce on that thing like it was a treasure and wouldn’t you sit and savour it?

What if you came upon a sketchbook that belonged to your grandmother or you discovered a little oil painting that your great grandfather did – and no one knew he had ever tried to paint!

Our passions and hobbies reveal something special and unique about ourselves. That is why it is so wonderful to discover something that is left behind by someone we loved or perhaps someone we never got the chance to know.

The thing is, you probably think that not many people care or even notice your passion for art.

Perhaps your spouse seems indifferent. Perhaps your children don’t pay much attention when you tell them about an art course you just took or they don’t really listen when you talk about something new that you are working on.

But that would all change if something happened to you. And something is going to happen to all of us some day.

So here is what I want you to consider...someday someone will care about those sketchbooks of yours, those sheets of unframed drawings or the paintings you have stashed under the bed or in a closet. They will care and you can leave them a greater gift by the actions you take now.

Leave behind notes. Document your efforts. Scribble your thoughts in the margins or the borders of a piece. At least record the year in the front of your sketchbook. Sign your work. If your signature on your art is difficult to read, print your name on the back.

I have inherited a painting which depicts my grandfather, done when he was a toddler. Unfortunately the work is unsigned. The portrait is very good and was obviously done by an experienced painter. It must have been a gift as I doubt my great grandparents would have paid someone to paint their young son. They wouldn’t have had the extra income. This would have taken place in the late 1800s and the story around this piece of art is no longer known. It all remains a mystery which I feel is a loss for the generations that have followed.

So again, sign your work. And why not leave a paper trail of some kind?

Need more convincing?

Well, have you ever gone through a stack of old photos and wished someone had taken the time to write down on the back who exactly is in the picture or where this holiday trip took place and when? This sort of knowledge is the gift you can consciously choose to give your future grand children or great nieces and nephews.

Write down what inspired you to draw that flower or what it was about that view that you simply had to turn into your next landscape painting. Consider keeping a creativity diary to help those that will read it someday to understand who you were and why you attempted to capture what you did with your pencils or brushes.

Our art is permanent and it lives on after us. It can and probably will be handed down through generations. It also tells a bit of our story. I write this today to encourage you to be part of telling a better, fuller story. Help those that come after you. They will be so grateful.

There is no time like the present. If you put this off you will probably forget. Why not spend a couple of hours this weekend going through your sketchbooks and your art. Make sure you have things signed and dated. Start writing some notes.

Another idea would be to invite family members to join you. Plan a date when you can get together to have a fun time going through your stash of stuff. Bake some cookies, brew some tea and then go through your art memorabilia together – and don’t forget to make those notes. Don’t expect the people you show your art to, to remember all of the stories you share.

And once you have documented all of your art perhaps you should move on to those old family photos...might have to brew more tea and bake more cookies first!

______________________________________________________

Here is a painting by one of my favourite painters:

Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Tea Pot (copyright public domain) painted between 1902 and 1905.

A simple tea pot, some fruit and a lovely cloth make great subject matter.

Stuck and don't know what to work on next?

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Sat, 08 Nov 2014 00:46:00 +0000

November 7th, newsletter excerpt:

This week’s topic because it touches on something that probably most artists deal with at some point – the uncertainty of what to work on next.

Jackie, from somewhere out in internet land, wrote me an email detailing her situation. Here is an excerpt that reveals where she is at right now:

“Back in September I got real excited about setting aside time for my art. You wrote about this in the newsletter and I decided to go for it. So Wednesday night is my night. At first everything was terrific. I told people that Wednesday night was my art night and I scheduled it in. I looked forward to Wednesdays a lot.

The first few weeks I was busy settling in, organizing my work space, getting my stuff out from storage. Everything felt great. That didn’t last. My problem is I don’t know what to draw. I come up blank every week.

At first, I just avoided this by sorting and organizing some more. I have a very tidy work space now.

I picked up a book at the library and it freaked me out. I realized I really don’t know much about composition. I bought an art magazine and now I am even more confused. When I look at the art, I just can’t relate. The subject matter is either bizarre or so loaded with hidden meaning that I just don’t get it.

I used to really like drawing and want to get back into it but I am completely stuck. I don’t have any idea on how to come up with art like I saw in the magazine. I know I need to practice my skills but I just don’t know what to draw. Maybe I don’t think like real artists do.”

Gosh we are so hard on ourselves aren’t we? Don’t you just want to give this woman a hug?! Consider yourself hugged Jackie. Seriously, receive a large dose of compassion here.

So maybe you are a bit like Jackie. You have hit a wall or you are feeling confused and maybe even a little down because you are sure you are not made of the stuff that ‘real’ artists are. Can I just say that we have all been there? Because we have. Welcome to the club! :-)

So first up, be really kind to yourself. Brew up your favourite tea and take a few deep breaths. Put on some lovely music. Everything is going to be okay...

Next, pat yourself on the back for giving this art thing a go. Jackie deserves lots of hefty pats as she not only made a terrific plan back in September, she executed it and she is still hanging in there despite hitting a serious rough patch. Here we are in November and rather than throw in the towel, Jackie is reaching out for some help.

I can often predict when a person is going to reach their art making goals simply by assessing their determination. One woman described it to me as being too stubborn to give up. Call it whatever you want, determination, perseverance or stubbornness, if you want it bad and you are willing to keep at it, you will be amazed at what is possible. I believe Jackie is someone who is going to make it!

So, what to draw??? Jackie, draw anything! Seriously, it is that simple. Get out of your head. Stop over thinking this. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself. Composition is something that you can worry about down the road. In the mean time just get back in the saddle and pick up your pencils. (I can tell you that you will naturally get better at composing pictures as you hone your drawing skills and you create drawings. It will come, just be patient. And the book knowledge that is scaring you will be there when you are ready to tackle it.)

The important thing here is that you spend your Wednesday nights re-connecting with what you find joyful in art making. Let’s get you back into drawing.

Subject matter – To get your feet wet, why not work fairly small, quick and simple?

I repeat, simple. Keep this simple.

Go to your kitchen, grab anything, an onion, a banana, an apple, a head of garlic, the salt and pepper shakers, a coffee mug, grab a fork.

How about a cherry and a spoon? :-)

Grab the candle and candle holder off of the dining room table. How about the cat’s favourite squeaky toy?

Want to draw fur? No problem, snap a pic of the cat’s leg and go practice fur and a paw (you don’t need to do the whole cat right now if you don’t want to).

Go to your closet and grab your favourite high heeled pumps or if you hate high heels, grab your running shoes instead or your favourite boots. Draw your watch, draw a lamp.

Grab a few marbles from the children’s play area (Ever notice how many coloured pencil artists draw marbles? Oodles do.) Grab some building blocks or some other toys.

Want to practice fabric folds? Go grab a bath towel and hang it from a hook or the back of a chair. Go for a walk and find a couple of leaves to draw.

If you think I am kidding with this list, I am not. This is how I started drawing. One Christmas holiday I drew the candle and candle holder that sat on my coffee table. I really enjoyed the experience. Of course I used my eraser lots but at the end of the evening it actually looked like a candle in a candle holder. The next morning I drew my favourite coffee mug. The next morning, another mug...if I can do this, anyone can!

Allow me to state the obvious here: There is beauty in simplicity and in the stuff of everyday life.

I suggest simply drawing what is in your home.

Don’t fret about the conceptual art that seems bizarre or not relatable to you. Forget about it. Human expression runs the entire spectrum from hyper realism to the surreal and everything beautiful and twisted in between. A lot of the art that gets into art magazines and wins in competitions is hard to imagine in a ‘regular’ home. Don’t let that be your only standard of greatness or relevance.

Let loose and have fun. Try it all. Perhaps the only way to know you don’t want to draw animals is to spend a night trying to draw the cat. If you are too locked into perfectionism, work in a sketch book at first.

The goal is to get drawing. You are not trying to create finished pieces for a solo show in six months. (and if you are reading this and your goal is to get finished pieces ready for an upcoming show, well ignore that bit, keep doing your thing :-))

Over the centuries many artists have painted everyday subject matter. I personally love Flemish still lifes from the 16^th and 17^th centuries which depict items such as pewter beer tankards, cheese, fruit and bread.

Below I include a banner from one of Mary Pratt’s retrospective exhibitions this year, this one at the McMichael Collection. At the beginning of her career she was a busy wife and mother of four children. Over the next fifty years, she became one of Canada’s most distinguished painters. She has carved out an incredible art career all while painting subject matter from her everyday life – cold cream on her face, jars of preserves, basting a turkey, bathing a baby, the supper dishes on the table.

Why not grab the cold cream and take a selfie? Get out your paints or pencils and make some art. Now I didn’t say depicting cold cream over top of skin was going to be easy! Ha. If your skills are rusty or you are a beginner, it might be best to stick to the jam jars. :-)

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Thanks Jackie for a super question. I hope my advice to just draw anything and everything helps. Please take time to celebrate what IS working. You set an intention, you are keeping to your schedule and you are showing up. All of this is huge by the way. You just need to give yourself permission to not make high-falutin’, highbrow art.

You can so do this. Congratulations on your determination! :-) Let me know how things go!

Guilty of garish colour?

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 20:46:00 +0000

I was teaching a class here, in my studio, on Halloween a few years ago. I donned a special hat to greet my students. J I remember that the pumpkin was surprisingly heavy – hurry up and take the picture. LOL

The Challenges of Colourful Art

This week I am responding to a question from a reader that is struggling with super colourful subject matter (she wishes to remain anonymous).

Specifically, she has been working on some landscape sketches and drawings this fall and she is feeling a bit overwhelmed by the foliage colours. She thinks her efforts are garish.

Her question was if I had any advice on how she could approach fall foliage.

This is a great question and it doesn't just apply to fall foliage. Colourful subject matter, whether depicting a busy market of vendors selling astonishing fabrics, rugs and colourful jewelry or perhaps a garden scene filled with brightly coloured flowers offers up some unique challenges.

Here are my suggestions for embracing colourful challenges:

1) Simply embrace the colour, in all of its boldness and brightness. Just go ahead and depict it. Turn off the voice in your head that judges the work as garish. Sit with the piece for a while. Before making any changes, see if the colours might start to grow on you.

2) If you think that all of the bright colour is creating a chaotic mess, make sure you have established a focal point. Give the viewer’s eyes a place to enter the picture and compose it in such a way that there is a path to visually travel around the scene. For example, if creating a landscape, chose a particular tree or small grove of colourful trees as your focal point. Place your brightest colours here. Subdue other areas as needed or soften the edges of adjacent trees.

3) You can adjust the intensity of the piece by deliberately toning down the bright areas. Try dulling down some of the super bright areas that are not your focal point. Fortunately it is always easier to dull down a bright area rather than brighten up something you have already made dull, so work bright first.

4) You can make the areas that are in strong light the brightest and dull down the areas in shadow. When viewing a scene, it is harder for our eyes to see bright colour in shaded areas so simply reflect this fact in your art.

5) Limit your palette. If you are feeling compelled to throw in every colour in your pencil box, rethink this. A great way to get control of your colour is to limit yourself to fewer pencils or pastel sticks, etc. You will create with better colour harmony and the piece will have a more natural flow.

6) You do not have to depict everything you see. Edit out some of the colour variations (there are an awful lot of them in fall foliage). Try limiting the colours you create and not just the pencils you use.

7) Have a look at how other artists handle brightly coloured scenes. You may be surprised at what you see. Many contemporary artists work very bright and bold, unapologetically so. Years ago their work would have seemed unskilled and ugly. Today our minds are more used to busy images.

Below is a picture of one of my favourite paintings, Tangled Garden by J.E.H. MacDonald completed in 1916, (if you are ever in Ottawa, the original is hanging in our National Gallery. I urge you to go see it, as well as all other works by the Group of Seven).

At first glance it can seem a busy, chaotic garden mess but look at it long enough and it becomes a visual feast.

This is an example of a painting that can be immediately overwhelming, creating a desire to look elsewhere. But, if you really examine the image you can start to make sense of it all.

Obviously there is a lot going on with regards to all of the blossoms and plants but you can see that MacDonald has controlled his use of colour carefully. There is an amazing amount of colour harmony going on here.

Try and imagine the impact of Tangled Garden if you could see it full size – 47.8 inches x 60 inches (121.4 cm x 152.4 cm).

(with regards to copyright, this image is now in the public domain)

Bottom line, don’t be afraid of colour. Explore. Experiment.

As long as you are drawing or painting, it is all good! :-)

This was a great question and I hope my ideas are helpful.

If you have something that you would like my ‘two cents’ on, just send me an email.

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Anyone else out there love the spooky art of illustration legend Arthur Rackham?!!! I have a book on his life and this week I have been delighting in revisiting his brilliant work. Such a master of drawing and such gorgeous use of line! His work is definitely appropriate for Halloween.

Rackham, Fairy Ring, public domain

You are going to have to look closely in order to see the faces and fairies. I suggest you look for examples of his work on the internet or look for work he illustrated at your local library. I am a huge fan of Rackham trees! :-)

How does your art look on the wall?

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 02:59:00 +0000

In my newsletter today, I talked about the events in Ottawa this week and I shared a bit of my personal perspective. Here I shall continue on with some of the contents of that newsletter and the topic is lighting.

Lighting can be a big concern for artists. When we are seeing colour, we are actually seeing light waves being reflected off of a surface.

Imagine how yellow sunlight warms up the colours in a room. Think about how it affects the subject matter being painted as well as the colour of the paper or canvas. Now imagine the effect if the studio were lit only by fluorescent bulbs.

Admittedly this can be a complicated subject. An in depth discussion would take into account how the colour temperature of light bulbs is measured in Kelvin units, how brightness is measured in lumens and how there are colour rendering index ranges to consider. BUT we aren’t going to go there! J

Let’s keep this simple...

First up, diffused natural light is considered the best light for an artist to work under. For many centuries, large windows that face north have been considered the ideal studio environment. This is the direction from which sunlight is always indirect, regardless of the season or time of day. This constant, relatively cool light prevents changes in the light-dark patterns on your subject matter (whether a still life or a studio model).

Imagine how important light entering from windows was for artists prior to electric lighting. Ever tried to do anything by candles in a power outage? In Rembrandt’s day, you would need an awful lot of candles and lanterns to properly light up a studio in non-daylight hours!

Of course not all artists are fortunate enough to have large north light windows. Perhaps the light is blocked by a tall building close by or perhaps light from a north window is competing with strong afternoon light from a west window (you can use heavy drapes to block this light but not everyone wants to do this). Or maybe you have carved out a space to work in the basement and large windows are not an option. Perhaps your only hours to create art are in the evenings, after the sun has set. Don’t despair...

A great way to achieve consistent lighting is through artificial light.

Artists can choose to use light bulbs that emit a warm light or a cool light. Light bulbs can also be purchased that emit a spectrum of light similar to daylight.

A combination of lighting is the easiest way to go and is often the most effective. For example, you can use one type of bulb in overhead lights and then use a different type of bulb, for balance, in a desk or floor lamp.

But here is something else to consider...

I suggest that a very important issue is location, location, location.

Where will the artwork hang once it is finished?

Have you ever noticed how artwork created under bright lights seems to lose its intensity when hung on a wall in a room with low lighting?

Take whatever you are working on right now and test this. Move around the house holding your art up against various walls. Can you see how the different lighting arrangements in your house changes how much detail you can see in your art? Perhaps the colours don’t glow as much.

Living rooms and dining rooms are usually a lot less bright when compared to our studios. Hallways often have no source of natural light.

See how your art work looks in the evening, after dark, when artificial light is all that we have. You may be quite surprised to see how much your art changes.

Most art collectors hang art in homes that are not lit like professional art galleries or studios.

Also, to preserve the integrity of the pigment colours, remember that fine art should not be hung in areas of direct bright light.

Therefore, keep in mind that you art work needs to look great under normal circumstances not just in a fabulously lit studio.

My own studio makes us of a combination of lighting sources. I have many windows in my studio and they face south, west and north. I have halogen track lights overhead and I also have a desk light clipped to my drafting table that has a daylight spectrum bulb in it. I find this bulb really helps create a nice light in the room when I am working after dark. Sometimes during the day I have to keep this light off as it can skew how I see my work. I also have a floor lamp and a table lamp so my studio offers lots of lighting options.

This is a picture of me during a studio tour and I am holding up a work in progress. I chose this picture as you can see the west facing window behind me (one of two) and my drafting table is facing a south facing window. I position my table here as I love the view of the forest, not because of the light. J

There is another south window on that side of the room and two north facing windows across from where I am sitting. You can see one of my track lights in the ceiling. I have eight moveable lights on two strips down the center of the room and finally you can see my desk lamp which as I said above has the daylight spectrum bulb in it. My laptop is on my drafting table so I could work from my reference photo of peas in a pod. The pillow dangling over a lower bar of my table is a cushion for my feet while I work – in case you were wondering!

Once you have a handle on your lighting requirements, you might want to consider the colours of your studio walls and how they change the light in the room. Artists familiar with the concept of bounce light – reflected light that is bounced off of coloured surfaces – choose to paint their walls specific colours. For example some choose neutrals like a gray-green. Others go for a neutral white to accurately reflect the hue of the light onto the contents of the room.

My studio was very dark when we moved in so I painted all of the dark woodwork trim, including my dark brown, stained plywood floors a specific shade of white. It was a lot of work but it made a huge difference. I also had to install the overhead track lighting as the room had no overhead lights.

If you need more convincing of the power of light to change the look of your art, take one of your pieces outside and snap a photo in natural light (a lightly shaded area works better than strong direct sunlight). Next, take the same piece of art and photograph it while lit by an incandescent bulb. Finally, photograph your art being lit by a florescent light. Now compare your photos. You will be amazed.

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A bit of trivia for you:

Light changes from warm to cool depending on the time of day and where on the planet you are located.

Sunrise and sunset light is warmer because it goes through more of the earth’s atmosphere as it skims the horizon and the atmosphere changes the temperature of the light.

Sunlight at noon is cool.

Locations with intensely blue skies can create the effect of even cooler light because light is bouncing off of the blue sky and mixing with the pure sunlight.

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If you would like to conveniently receive the entire newsletter, I invite you to become a Newsletter Group Member (no spam, I promise), click here: Teresa Mallen Studio Newsletter

Productive like Picasso?

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 18:50:00 +0000

October 17th, TMS Newsletter excerpt:

This week I have a free ebook to tell you about. If you are interested in cp techniques or doing portraits, stay tuned. I also have a complimentary kick in the pants for you. J If you have been reading my newsletter these past months you will have noticed that I am rather fond of offering taps to your rear – done with love and good intentions of course.

Rather than a kick, let’s think of it as a gentle nudge – a gentle nudge to not get complacent.

We all do.

Let’s assume you have been carving out time for art this fall. Perhaps you have been making progress but art making has still been a bit more hit and miss than you would like.

Just how much art could you churn out anyway? Ever thought about it?

Sometimes it crosses my mind when I see someone I consider super prolific.

I think the following numbers put Pablo Picasso in the super prolific category.

Consider this:

It is estimated that Pablo Picasso made over 1,885 paintings, 1,228 sculptures, 2,880 ceramics, 18,095 engravings, 6,112 lithographs, 3,181 linocuts, 7,089 drawings plus 4,669 drawings and sketches in 149 notebooks, 11 tapestries and 8 rugs.

Does this seem humanly impossible to you?

Heck, I would be stunned to churn out a couple hundred sculptures, one or two rugs, just 1000 lithographs, and a few hundred ceramics.

Picasso said "What one does is what counts, not what one had the intention of doing." Ouch.

Having all of the best intentions in the world doesn’t yield art, not if we don’t act on those intentions.

I do not have goals to master carving or to create sculptures. Nor do I wish to invest the time required to become an accomplished potter or rug maker. I am content to stick to my fine art. But what about filling 149 notebooks like Picasso did, with well over 4000 drawings and sketches?

Obviously it isn’t about the exact numbers. What speaks to me here is that incredible productivity is possible – at least more output than I am currently producing.

This week I have looked back over the past twelve months and I have examined what art I have produced. I looked at the number of pieces, the style, the size and the complexity of the work. Following this assessment, I set new goals for the upcoming year. I set a number that stretches me, especially when I take into consideration the hours that I invest in the business side of things. I won’t be in Picasso’s league but I really like how having this new number feels.

I invite you to do the same.

Have a look at your sketchbooks, your stack of canvases or other finished pieces. Are you amazed at how much you have accomplished or are you perhaps a bit disappointed? Don’t despair. The gift of the next twelve months can bring many new accomplishments.

Set some goals and post them (so you don’t forget).

May Picasso inspire us all...

"A jug fills drop by drop." (Gautama Buddha)
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Now for the ebook I mentioned. The author of the ebook is coloured pencil artist Nicole Caulfield and here is the link: http://www.nicolecaulfieldfineart.com/zen-series.

At this stage of her career, Nicole is choosing other subject matter for her art and as a result she didn’t finish her portrait book (see her comment regarding it not being edited etc.). Still, I share the link here as there is a lot of great content in the ebook and if you are interested in doing portraits, this is worth checking out. Nicole’s section on creating the right lighting for a person’s pose is very helpful.

Even if you are not keen to do portraits, I think you will find her personal coloured pencil technique interesting to learn about. You can also have a look around her website and visit her facebook page for her latest kitsch work.

our meadow at sunset

happy Thanksgiving and your weekend plans

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 17:27:00 +0000

October 10th, 2014 Newsletter excerpt...

First up, I want to wish all of my fellow Canadians a very happy Thanksgiving. (It is our Thanksgiving holiday weekend here in Canada if you didn’t know.) And as my American readers are celebrating Columbus Day, I think many of us are planning busy long weekends!

A very small, quick study of the Carp Ridge in autumn, coloured pencil on Colourfix paper, copyright Teresa Mallen

Because many of you are planning family get togethers (or making pumpkin pies and stuffing a turkey) I shall keep this newsletter rather short.

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As this is an important holiday weekend in both Canada and the U.S.A. I have an invitation to extend to you –

I invite you to spend some time this weekend visiting artists! I know you are busy but seriously this would be a huge amount of fun so keep reading...

Here is how: look around for a local studio tour or for open studio events. If you don’t know of one, see what you can find on Google.

This holiday weekend is seen by many artists (in both Canada and the U.S.) as the perfect time to invite the public into their homes and studios. For those of us who live in areas where the foliage is changing colour, taking advantage of the leaf peepers driving around makes perfect sense.

What’s in it for you? Well, visiting artists gives you inspiration, fuels your creative ideas and many artists will share their know-how by offering demonstrations. How cool is that? They are also happy to answer questions. You might even decide to sign up for some classes!

You might find a gorgeous hand painted silk scarf, some ear rings made by a local metal smith, a new coffee mug from a fabulous potter or perhaps a must-have painting. And it is never too early to find something to tuck into a stocking – cause yes that season is coming.

Artists would really appreciate your support even if you don’t buy. Please remember that working tucked away in a studio can be a rather isolating experience. Offer feedback, tell them how great their work is, let them know what you like and why. Artists have done all of the prepping, now they are just waiting to meet you. J

As someone who has done her share of studio tours, I am very familiar with the work involved. Please keep in mind that these people advertise, turn their homes or studios into galleries, they arrange for parking, they set up merchant accounts so they can accept credit cards, they find someone to take care of their cats, dogs and children for days, they invest in display racks, they price and tag everything, they often buy apple cider and food goodies to offer guests, they buy additional insurance so they are covered to host the buying public at their home and they paint, frame, throw pots, etc. like mad in order for you to have something to see.

So this weekend, give yourself the gift of a road trip. Look for a studio tour or for some open studios within driving distance of your home. Take a friend or plan a family event. Make a day of it. Do some sightseeing along the way. I promise you won’t regret it!

For those of you in the Ottawa area, here are three studio tours for you to check out this weekend:

Crown and Pumpkin Studio Tour – Mississippi Mills (Almonte, Clayton)

www.crownandpumpkin.com

Perth Autumn Studio Tour www.perthstudiotour.com

Fall Colours Studio Tour – Westport area, www.westportstudiotour.com

See you on the gorgeous tree lined back roads! J

some of our autumn coloured hennies (we also have white ones, barred ones and black ones)

essential creativity practices

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 02:20:00 +0000

Newsletter excerpt for October 3rd:

This week’s newsletter is about a two step practice that is foundational to the success of a lot of creative people - from authors, to film makers to song writers to painters.

If you are not doing this, then implementing these two steps will be huge for you.

Step One: Determine how and when you get your best ideas.

Step Two: Find a way to keep track of your creative ideas.

The second step is the easy part. You don’t need fancy software or special apps. A simple small notebook and a pencil will do.

The tricky part is fostering the right environment for you to receive these great ideas. This environment or situation varies from person to person and your job is to determine which one works for you.

Some of us get our best ideas from visiting art galleries, special exhibitions or brainstorming with artsy friends.

Other people find that ideas flow when they are cycling or jogging or when they are scrubbing up in the shower. Some folks get their best ideas when walking in nature, napping on a dock or sitting in silence with the lights low.

Maybe your idea ‘fairy’ shows up quite regularly, like first thing in the morning or just as you are drifting off to sleep.

If you can determine when your inspiring thoughts are most likely to flow, you can intentionally set the stage for their appearance.

Make a regular practice of doing those activities that foster inspiration.

Once you find the way to prime your idea pump, keep pumping! Don’t let your idea well get stagnant or dry. For example If you are feeling dry and uninspired and you know that time in nature usually gets your creative juices ramped up, then book some quality time in nature into your schedule.

AND for art’s sake, don’t forget step two - keep track of those ideas!!!! This is often the part that people do not do. Seriously, ignoring your inspiring ideas is a creativity killer.

Grab your phone and leave yourself a voice message if you don’t have pen and paper handy. Thoughts float in and float out so quickly that you need to have a way to capture them.

Don’t assume your best ideas will come back to you. Usually they don’t.

I keep idea files. These are simple file folders in which I tuck inspiring images, photos, colour combination ideas, and biz ideas. I have several full folders and every time I look through them I am reminded of how much I would have forgotten if I hadn’t made the effort to store up my ideas. Perhaps a special binder or a creativity journal would work for you.

Do give this some thought. Ask yourself when it is that you get your best ideas. Ask yourself what you are doing. Make these activities part of your regular routine – lucky you if you get great ideas in the shower, cause hey, you are doing that anyway.

And then keep bits of paper and a pen handy. Stash some in your purse, your car, by your favourite armchair, and in your jogging suit pocket (they make mini-pens and mini pads of paper J). I have even heard of waterproof writing boards with special markers that you can use in the shower!

We have all heard of song writers getting the all important riff or chorus tune seemingly out of nowhere. Or the author that gets an idea for a twist in their story line that is just the thing that the novel was missing. This applies to painters as well. That perfect vista with the sun positioned just right, the eggplant with the quirky stem at the farmer’s market – make note of the idea, sketch it out, take a snapshot. Trust me, you are busy, your life is full of things and you won’t remember.

Next time you see your artsy friends, ask them how and where they get their great ideas. When does inspiration strike them? I am sure you will be fascinated by the stories you share.

I had a nudge of inspiration this past week and you can bet I made myself a note. But I almost missed it...I was visiting a craft gallery and I saw some delightful, very well done, small ink and watercolour pieces tucked away in a corner. As I looked at them, I felt a longing to get my own ink pens out. It has been a long time since I have done an ink and cp drawing and yet I love the pen and ink medium.

I continued to browse around some shops and walking back to our car I stopped. I knew I had wanted to remember something. Fortunately, I recalled the artwork I had seen. Obviously I should have written a note while still in the shop. I quickly wrote this moment of inspiration down. If I hadn’t, I would have made the trip home, got caught up in the stuff of life and this whisper of a calling to ‘do this, you love this, remember?’ would have been lost.

So go forth this week expecting to be visited by your muse of inspiration and be ready with pencil and paper. And watch the visitations increase in frequency! No guff - studies show that the more we pay attention to these sorts of nudges of inspiration, the more often we seem to receive them. Perhaps we are just training ourselves to notice them. Doesn’t matter, bottom line, this stuff works.

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I am so proud of my latest Coloured Pencil Basics graduates. They all did such an amazing job. I knew they could do it! J

They went from total coloured pencil newbies (most didn’t even own pencils before this course started) to women that were confidently wielding pencils like pros.

Here are some pics of these talented ladies hard at work...

We sure packed a lot into our time together. We started with basic info such as how to properly sharpen pencils, how to transfer drawings as well as the importance of good paper.

Here Cheryl is working her brush, keeping her paper nice and clean.

By our last afternoon together these gals were working some serious magic with their Prismacolor wands.

These former newbies had mastered burnishing techniques and had tried working with solvent. They had learned different stroke techniques and were doing some incredible backgrounds on their projects. They were confidently working with the impressed line technique to create leaf veins, and speckles in a plum. On the last day, they worked on projects – everything from a tulip, to a still life of pears to a red pepper that started off green - using a coloured pencil underpainting in a grisaille method.

Did I mention that they were charming, very friendly and enthusiastic? J

And this is me, the unhappy instructor, not having a bit of fun...LOL

Cheers ladies!!! I enjoyed every minute and congratulations on all of your beautiful art!

Until next Friday, happy colouring everyone.

P.S. If you would like to receive the entire newsletter in your email inbox every Friday it's super easy. Just join the TMS Newsletter Group - click here for how. I can't wait to welcome you aboard! (no spam, I promise)

wip update, yay for scribbling and boo to Prismacolor

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 17:56:00 +0000

Newsletter day for my TMS Newsletter Group...here is my usual Friday post offering up an excerpt:

I can’t believe it is Friday already! Tomorrow my CP Basics students return for another day of working their pencils. We had so much fun last Saturday that I can’t wait to have them here again.

This week I am sharing an update on my work in progress and I am sharing some of my dissatisfaction with Prismacolor. (Don’t you hate it when companies change things and not for the better?) I also have a great link to some awesome and very different coloured pencil art. You are going to want to check this out.

First up, I am going to show you how my mixed media piece turned out. In case you missed last week’s newsletter, here is how it looked in the beginning:

I worked on a sanded, coloured paper and along with my coloured pencils I also used Caran d’Ache’s Neocolors II, which are water soluble wax pastels (I used them dry and don’t be confused by the word pastel, they behave like oil pastels, not like chalky pastels - not trying to offend pastel users, I know they aren’t ‘chalk’ LOL and if you haven’t tried oil pastels, think of the crayons you used as a kid – that will give you the idea.)
Here is how it looks now.

Coloured Pencil and Neocolors II, 6 ¾ inches x 7 ¼ inches, on Mi-Teintes Touch paper, copyright Teresa Mallen

As I mentioned last week, this sort of piece is just out and out fun. I play with simple shapes and lines, I use my favourite colours and I get to work quickly.

And now I am bored and I am craving a drawing challenge!

I know coloured pencil artists can get a tad militant about their favourite brand of pencil yet I like all sorts of brands. For working on sanded papers, I really like
Derwent Colorsoft pencils.Their leads are a bit thicker which works well for the sort of art that I tend to do on sanded paper, i.e. there is usually less depiction of detail. They are a ‘soft’ pencil yet they stand up well to a sanded surface (the pigment doesn’t flake off) and the colours look absolutely yummy, very rich. I used Derwent Colorsofts in this piece, along with the Neocolor II pastels.

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Boo to Prismacolor:When teaching, I ask my students to bring Prismacolor pencils. They are readily available in North America which makes them easier for beginners to purchase. Ottawa doesn’t have a lot of selection when it comes to art supply stores so for other pencil brands such as Caran d’Ache’s Luminance, we have shop on-line.

Anyway, after last Saturday’s class, I have discovered a couple of unpleasant things about Prismacolor. First up, they are now selling their sets with already sharpened pencils. And yuck, they are doing a horrible job of sharpening. If you work in cps, you know how important the right pencil point is to achieving the best effects possible.

Prior to our first class, I sent my students an article I had written about how to care for their new pencils. I talked quite a bit about how important sharpeners were, what blades to look for etc. After all of that prep, these folks got saddled with badly sharpened pencils in their new pencil sets.

Prismacolor took off the cedar casing but they left a fat stub of a tip, pretty much a dull pencil. Very weird looking. What if you didn’t have someone to tell you that such a stub is just not the way to work? Sheesh...

I thought it was bad back when Prismacolor included a pathetic little hand sharpener – which my students would unwittingly use, thinking that if the manufacturer included it, it must be the best sharpener for their new pencils. The right sharpener is soooo important! I could seriously start to rant here...

Second problem with Prismacolor, their 60 pencil set no longer contains the 48!
What???!!! How silly is this? To keep things as economical as possible, I only require the 48 pencil set for my CP Basics course. One student bought a larger set only to find that she was missing some of the 48 set pencils. Since when did Prismacolor decide that the larger sets should no longer build on the smaller sets? The 24 used to have the 12 set of pencils plus 12 more. The 48 used to contain the 24 set and then even more pencils and so on.

As we worked on our exercises, this student found that she didn’t have all of the pencils that were required yet she had a set that included 12 more pencils than the other students who had the 48 set. Grrrrr...

I shall be writing Prismacolor a letter of complaint.

Perhaps I should mention their ‘improved’ website. It is harder to navigate and you can no longer print off a simple colour chart of your pencil set which was handy for when you wanted to buy more pencils from open stock. You could see which pencils you already owned and then buy colours you didn’t have. I noticed Derwent provides a downloadable PDF colour chart!

Seriously folks, how hard can it be for corporations to actually think of their customer’s needs? As a small biz owner, it is a major focus of my time and attention!

It can be so frustrating when changes like the ones mentioned above occur. I am still disappointed that my local art supply store decided to no longer carry Art Spectrum’s Colourfix paper – which is my favourite brand of sanded pastel paper.

So what do you do when your favourite art materials get changed on you and not for the better? FYI, stomping around the studio and muttering curse words under your breath doesn’t accomplish much. :-)

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On a more cheery note, here is some art that will inspire you...

It is fresh and bright and how could anyone resist squiggly lines and oodles of scribbling?

In last week’s newsletter, I encouraged you to push the boundaries of what you comfortably do in your medium. This chap definitely works on the edge of what most people would be comfortable attempting with cps.

Here is a link to some seriously unique scribbling done in cps, by artist John Smolko: http://www.smolkoart.com/ Do have a look around his gallery page. I think you will be impressed.

I was delighted to see an article John wrote about his process published in the October 2014 issue of ‘the Artist’s Magazine’. You can find it on newsstands now.

Here is a photo I took of art done by John Smolko at the Colored Pencil Society of America’s International Exhibition, held in Atlanta, Georgia back in 2009.

This grainy pic gives you a sense of scale, of just how big John works. And (insert squeal) the picture on the top right is my Swiss Chard Mosaic. Yup, somebody pinch me.

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." Thomas Merton

Until next Friday, I hope you are super busy making some fun art – why not try scribbling?!

pushing past your boundaries

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 14:03:00 +0000

It's time for another newsletter! Woo-hoo :-) If you would like to join my newsletter group, just click here for a free subscription, no spam, I promise!

It has been a full week here in the studio. I have been cleaning and sorting the place, rearranging furniture and doing what is required to turn this awesome ‘room of my own’ into a teaching space. My jungle of plants had to temporarily go, as well as my funky hanging basket chair.

I have wonderful cp enthusiasts arriving tomorrow morning to start my sweat shop/boot camp - Coloured Pencil Basics. (just a test to see if they are actually reading my newsletter, ha ha)

All I know is that when I am done this season of teaching, I am going to be wandering around wondering where I stored everything!

In the midst of all this, as I was procrastinating, I started a small mixed media piece. As I worked, I was thinking about how surprised people are when they see what can be done with coloured pencils.

That is the topic of this week’s newsletter, this notion of our mediums having limits and boundaries.

Have you pushed the limits and boundaries of your favourite medium? If you haven’t, maybe this should become a part of your regular art making time!

If you work in acrylic you know that it can be used in ways such that the results resemble oil paintings or watercolours. But did you know that there are all sorts of various media – from gels, pastes to crushed stone etc. that can be added into your art? Just check out Golden’s website to have a look at the goodies they offer, www.goldenpaints.com.

If you love watercolour paint, have you tried working with YUPO (a very unique, synthetic, waterproof, artist grade paper)? Google YUPO and be wowed by the fabulous images that come up. You can also use gouache and inks on it.

I am not suggesting that traditional ways of working have to get chucked. I would never advocate that. In fact I love the simplicity of working pure (just pencil and paper). So, of course you don’t have to work all of the time with gels and YUPO paper or move into adding markers, or work in collage.

BUT, what I am saying is that stretching past the boundaries you have with your medium will give you some fun thrills, seriously. Besides, exploration is a vital part of making sure our creative waters don’t become stagnant.

As for coloured pencils, well they can do an awful lot that most people don’t expect. You can dissolve or melt the wax binders (wax based pencils vs. oil) with solvents or heat to create art that looks it was done with oil paint. You can work on coloured sanded pastel paper to create art that resembles pastel. You can work over watercolour, on canvas, on wood, even gourds.

Down below is a sneak peek at my current work in progress. The colours are a bit off due to the lighting. It was raining outside so I made due with snapping a pic in the studio. The colours are brighter and more intense in real life.

This is a departure for me in that I almost always (like 99% of the time) choose to work exclusively in cps. This time I am also using Caran D’Ache’s Neocolors II. Woo-hoo!

You can see them on the right hand side of the photo. These are water soluble wax pastels if you aren’t familiar with them. I am using them dry.

As you can also see, I am working on a coloured piece of paper, a sanded pastel paper.

I am using the pencils and the wax pastels interchangeably, as I build up my colours. They work very well together, one on top of the other. The image is about 7 inches by 8 inches.

You might be asking what the heck is this?

It is an abstract exploration of line, colour and pattern inspired in some way by the juncture of flower petals (hydrangea leaves). Also, as I work, I am ‘seeing’ something that makes me think of butter fly wings. In the end it isn’t meant to represent either petals or wings but this is my mental hook up at the moment.

For those of you who are familiar with my realistic botanicals, this is what I do in between those works. These sorts of pieces can get finished faster, are very creative for me and are a bit of a palate cleanse. I don’t have the time right now to dedicate myself to a large, detailed drawing and something like this is just out and out fun.

At this point I already know that some of this isn’t working well and a section was later erased and some lines changed direction. When I reached this stage, I hit the pause button. I was working very quickly and I needed to step back and actually look at the work critically. It was time to assess the composition and my intent for the patterns and colours.

I love this stage. I will post a work in my studio, somewhere where I can see it easily. I look at it, study it, analyze it, and I also set it free in my subconscious for my brain to keep on musing upon it even while I do other things.

I have worked on it a bit more and I shall continue to keep you posted on what becomes of this mixed media piece.

If you would like to view coloured pencil art in which other media is used, check out this link: http://www.cpsa.org/view-explore-this-10.

The Coloured Pencil Society of America (a fabulous organization by the way, and did you know I earned signature status with the CPSA some years ago? Toot, toot! – that’s me tooting my own horn J) holds an annual on-line exhibition in which artists can submit mixed media work. (I haven’t entered this one yet, I have only entered their exclusively cp exhibitions.)

The works juried into the mixed media exhibition are posted in an on-line gallery – which is what the link I gave you above shows. (The cp only exhibition is hosted in a physical gallery and is not posted on-line, so you won’t find it on the website).

If you need to bust some of your assumptions about the limits of your medium, look around to see what others are doing. Look on-line, in art magazines and in galleries. Stretch yourself. Dare to try something you haven’t done before. You can always go back to your regular way of working later. This isn’t about forcing you to give up what you love. In fact, whenever I wander off to play in any other medium besides cps, I get fed up quite quickly and I go running back to my cps. That is why my adventures usually include cps! J

This exploration would make a fun artist’s date. Nudge, nudge...Are you ready to step outside your comfort zone and your limitations? Let loose a bit, play. If your new work looks goofy, no one has to see it. The point is to push those boundaries out, even just a bit. Come on...you can do it...

signs of autumn in the forest

simple, easy, DIY light box substitute

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Mallen) — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 20:05:00 +0000

Excerpt from my September 13, 2014 Friday Newsletter, sent out to my Newsletter Group peeps :-)

It has been a week of highlights and being high, high on inspiration that is! My husband and I were in our usual seats on Monday night, front row, center, for Opera Lyra’s production of Puccini’s Tosca. It was spectacular and then some. I could go on and on about how amazing this particular tenor was (davidpomeroy.com) but in case you aren’t a fan of live opera, I will go back to the inspiration bit – excellence of any kind gives me chills.

When I am confronted with what a human can do it fires me up like not much else. These highly trained singers and the members of the National Arts Centre Orchestra have spent years practicing, studying and honing their skills.

We are capable of so much when we dedicate ourselves to something.

I so look forward to events like this as I always come home energized and more motivated to become the best artist I can be. Woo-hoo!

Another highlight of my week (and there have been several unexpected blessings in recent days) is that my tomato plants are ripening! J I declared it quitting time yesterday at 4:00. I couldn’t stay indoors any longer. We had a strong, cool breeze which meant no bugs. I poured a large glass of red wine and headed for the garden.

The abundance of the harvest is enough to make me swoon this time of year. (Could also be all of that wine my husband makes LOL, he has an Autumn ritual of crushing and pressing ripe grapes shipped from California to Ottawa’s “Little Italy” and eventually our root cellar becomes a wine cellar, I rush to add I am drinking last year’s aged wine. J)

In about 10 minutes I had my first large basket picked. All of my plants were started from seed and put under grow lights last February, deep in the midst of winter. Patience is eventually rewarded!

I hope you all have had an incredible week – wasn’t the moonlight a few days ago incredible?! Wow.

Well I could go on but I had better get down to business here and make good on my promise. Last week I shared that this issue would give you instructions on how to make a simple DIY light box – no nails, screws, carpenter’s glue and no power tools.

Backing up a bit, you might remember that a couple of weeks ago I described the various methods used to transfer a drawing to ‘good’ paper. One of the methods, the illumination method, involves using a window or a light box. This is my preferred transfer method.

A window works very well, but tracing a detailed drawing standing up, working completely vertical on your paper, can be tiring for your hands, arms and legs.

Yet a decent sized light box can be difficult to find and they cost quite a bit.

So here is something that is not really a light box, but works very well.

My Light Box Substitute:

You need just two items!

My ‘light box’ (which doesn’t actually have a box) consists of a length of fluorescent tubing and a large sheet of acrylic ‘glass’ (perhaps you are familiar with the brand name Plexiglas, that is the sort of thing I mean).

You can put this together for as little as $25.00 or $30.00, depending on the size of the acrylic you buy. I bought my acrylic sheeting at Home Depot. They have a variety of sizes and I understand they will even cut a size for you. Ask a salesperson at your local hardware store for help.

Please note that some acrylic ‘glass’ is sturdier that others and will cost a bit more. For example I saw some very stiff stuff labeled high impact glass.

I recommend paying a bit more. You don’t want a sheet that is too flexible. Buy one that is stiff enough to take the pressure of you transferring the drawing. Remember that you might be leaning your arms on it while you work. You don’t want it so flexible that it moves up and down easily.

Even though the product is referred to as glass, please note that this is a plastic product. The edges are not sharp like glass, it isn't heavy like glass and it isn't fragile like glass either. Just be mindful that it does scratch pretty easily.

Here is a picture of my set up:

When I want to use the ‘light box’, I place the fluorescent tubing on a table and then I place the sheet of thick acrylic over top of it. I rest the acrylic sheet right on top of the tubing.

My drawing is positioned over the light. I tape my sketch onto the acrylic glass, I cover it with my paper, turn on my light and I am good to go.

Advantages of this light box:

This 'light box' is custom made to suit your needs - you choose the length of light tubing and acrylic that works best for you.
It is super easy to store as it consists of just two parts and each can be stored upright in a closet.
It is much, much cheaper than buying a regular light box.
You can use the acrylic glass for other purposes. I use mine as a work surface when I am on the road with my art and also as a lap table for when I leave my studio and choose to work in a chair in the living room...sometimes it is nice to sit by the fire on a cold winter's night. J

Of course if you would like a woodworking project, you could create a frame, i.e. an actual box.

You could also buy another light tube to add further light which would be helpful if your drawings are large. Simply place the acrylic overtop of both tubes. When I worked on large drawing, I simply moved my drawing around.

TIP: Do you know any health care workers, lab technicians or hospital custodians?

It wouldn’t have occurred to me that this might be a source for getting a free light box but here is my story. Last year I was given a proper light box! (Actually I was given two but one has a cord that needs rewiring so it doesn’t work at the moment.)

They were destined for land fill. My sister in law’s husband is a medical photographer and works in a hospital. These old light boxes were used by doctors to view x rays. Photographers also used them to view slides and negatives. Of course technology has changed a lot and these light boxes were no longer being used. They were getting disposed of. Why not get the word out to someone working in a hospital or clinic to see if they have some unwanted light boxes gathering dust in a storage room? You might get very lucky!

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CLASSES UPDATE:

The Coloured Pencil Basics course that starts on the 20^th is full. In fact registration is now closed on all of my fall courses/workshops. A huge thank you goes out to all of you that signed up!

If you would like to be put on a waiting list, should a cancellation occur, simply email me. Thank you for your interest!

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Go soak up some inspiration of your own this coming week and perhaps pause to enjoy a glass of wine. Ponder growing some tomatoes next summer (they can grow in containers on a patio or balcony). Nothing tastes like ‘em!

But most importantly, make some art, go on an artist’s date, visit an exhibit...