The Art Room

Friday's Drawing-Cats

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:57:00 +0000

In an effort to draw in a more imaginative style I decided to do some of the exercises in Carla Sonheim"s Drawing Lab book, (you can find it through my Amazon link to the left.) I bought the book after a friend introduced it to me, this are my favorites from the first exercise "cats in bed." The idea was to draw forty or so cats, while laying in bed, (I love that part.)

I really liked her simplified approach to teaching beginners, and thought it might especially help me with my ten year old son, who loves to draw but is going through that "I suck at art" phase. It was definitely good to shake off the "art school" or more serious approach to drawing for him. It has to be fun or he won't persevere when he gets frustrated.

So for this Friday's drawing post I give you a page of Cats, which I tried to render in a much different style than I usually do, and Zackery's drawing of our cat. I think he did a great job!

"Meera" By Zackery

Unfinished Wednesday-January Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:51:00 +0000

Unfinished Acrylic on 20 by 24 canvas

A new painting to show you this week, another acrylic on canvas, this one an ocean scene which shows promise. I flowed, dripped and spattered some fluid acrylic washes across the surface to add some interest. At this point I cant decide whether I want to stay a little more abstract or go a more realistic route. The seascape themed paintings I've done so far have been well received and as a born and raised Vancouver Islander the ocean is one of my favorite subjects and one of my stronger creative themes. Expect to see more of this series in the future.
I've been giving a lot of thought to my plan this year and the type of work I desire to make. It's been counter productive dwelling on paintings that have been started for no other reason but to show other people how to paint. The subject matter, choice of pigments, techniques have been so strongly influenced by someone elses preferences and a desire to please everyone I dont know how I would work if I didnt have that distraction. With that in mind I've decided to stop trying to finish so many of the paintings that have begun as demonstration peices. There are a still a few that I would still like to complete, but the rest are getting the Gesso treatment or are going to the classroom and being donated to my students.
Instead of seeing a new painting every week I'll linger a little and show you more of the work-in progress. I'll be focusing on my own work from now on and vow to stop being diverted by the old ways.
Here is an update on January's posts, Click on the numbers to view the original posts

#1- I finished it! (before starting teaching again)

#2- Still working on this cityscape. Inspired by the recent snowfall and the subtle colour palette of greys and whites; the colour palette has changed quite a bit. I hope to have something to show you soon.

#3- Should have left this one alone, it was much better before I overdid it, it's going into the discard bin. The good thing about this painting was that I got a really good idea for something new while I was working on it, something that would be better approached on a different scale or medium.

#4 I've had some fun with this piece but it isnt really in line with my plan, I've added a bunch more texture and modelling paste as well as a few glazes. Lets keep it around to see if inspiration strikes. If it doesn't in a couple of months we'll pass it along or toss it.

#5 After posting this I've come to the conclusion it is finished, Ive learned my lesson and I am moving on. I've signed it and will be posting it for sale on my website shortly.

Drawing With Children

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:19:00 +0000

These are some drawings from a 8-12 year old kids art class I taught today. I told them to paint loose and abstractly on a few sheets of wet paper. I know sometimes kids get carried away with paint layers so I prepared a bunch of "starts" with two or three colours so they would have lots to work with. This came in handy later as I could clean up the watercolours a little early and there was still painted paper on hand. They also had the option of painting whatever they wanted, I like to always give them room to explore even if there is a set project or assignment. We looked at various examples of how artists looked at real animals and created new fantastical versions out of their imaginations. The most popular example was the binder of Pokemon cards, and I had artist trading card paper on hand for anyone who wanted to make thier own as well as pre-cut 5 by 7 watercolour paper. They were instructed to look at their loose watercolour starts and look for creatures or pictures in the marks. Just in case, I had brought lots of photos of animals along if photo reference was needed but this group had no trouble activating thier imaginations and produced several fabulous paintings each using watercolour, inktense watercolour pencils, and sharpie markers.

I have to say this was the kick in the butt I needed to loosen up my drawing style, I came home from class, picked up my pen and paper and found myself much more inspired and enthused about drawing than I have been. Its a good lesson for all of us, if you want to be a better artist spend some time making art with a child.

365 Drawings-Week One

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:10:00 +0000

In a post from last week I spoke of trying to recapture my love of drawing and to try and infuse my work with new life by spending less time with a paintbrush and more time with a sketchbook. I have since become inspired by the group of artists on twitter that aim for 365 drawings completed before the year is out, (look for hashtag #draw365) I decided not to tweet my own drawings figuring many of them I wouldn't want to share. I want to push myself out of my comfort zone by experimenting with new styles and subject matter and if I know I have to show them to people that wont happen.

Instead I figured I would post one drawing on Fridays here on the old blog.

God its hard to change old habits, Ive been drawing every day except yesterday. I painted in a demo for my art class but was too tired to do my daily sketch yesterday so I figured I would double up another day. Mostly this new practice has been executed with a fine tipped pigma pen of common household objects and of course the Cat.

Today I took my son to the pool and did what I thought was a nice drawing while he swam with a friend. At some point I realized it was a familiar subject matter, composition, technique, and that I was not exploring anything new with it. In my attempt to be a little braver I managed to completely ruin it. One of the drawbacks of being brave, it sometimes doesn't work out. I spent the evening trying to fix it with paint and hocus pocus but eventually gave it up as hopeless, I numbered it and filed it away and there is no way I am posting it here. In it's place I am putting up a pencil crayon drawing I started last year based on an old photo. The pose and head scarf was similar to the women in the picture but the face and colour palette are completely out of my head, (which is probably why she kind of looks like me.) I cheated a bit...by adding some more colour I'll call it a new drawing and post it but I wont count it as one of my 365. Next week I think I'll do less of the little sketches and work on fitting multiple drawings on one page. And I will try to keep the paint out of the drawings this time!

Unfinished Wednesday-Tornado

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:56:00 +0000


Unfinished Acrylic 16 by 20

I am soooo close to finishing two of my previous weeks Unfinished Wednesday Paintings and I have completely ruined another, (it happens sometimes unfortunately.) I have a new start on the failure though so maybe I can successfully bring it back from awful eventually. Not my best week for this project I'm sad to say, but I'm optimistic next week will be better.

This one is close too, maybe I'll even sign it and leave it alone, I quite like the way the Tornado turned out and it goes well with some of my other storm paintings.

I started on a canvas primed with Absorbent Ground Medium which I flowed acrylic washes over, wiping colour off periodically with a rag to create some of the interesting cloud effects . At some point I got tired of the absorbent surface and sealed it with a couple of coats of gloss acrylic medium which gave it a completely different smooth surface that I was able to blend the paint on.

Do you think its finished? My daughter thinks the painting needs a flying cow.....

My Happiness Project-Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:41:00 +0000

The picture above is a self-portrait I did with ink in 1987. An old friend came across it packed away and sent it back to me recently. I kind of like the fold marks and wear and tear on the paper, it's kind of symbolic of how time has affected the subject of this portrait.
I used to like to draw and I wasn't bad at it. Sometimes I would get discouraged with my skills but from an early age I wanted to be an artist and happily spent many an hour with my pens and pencils. When I got to high school I had a sketchbook but I really preferred to paint. Art school demanded we keep sketchbooks and hand them in, and that is where I first encountered the concept that a sketchbook could be more than just a book of drawings, but also a journal or diary. I liked that idea but never kept one after school despite various attempts to create the habit. My house is full of half full and quarter full books, most of them now full of children's drawings thanks to my daughter and son.
I think drawing and painting are kind of the same thing though, particularily when you work in watermedia as I do. Most of the time I start the drawing right on the watercolour paper then draw again later on the paper with coloured pencils. Drawing is part of the process and I think I've been exercising that particular creative muscle despite not keeping a regular sketchbook.
But....lately I've been working on canvas with acrylic and a lot of my work in that media tends to be process-based and more abstract. Ive always enjoyed painting that way, especially the way the meaning unfolds un-consciously and the painting guides me along. Its almost like I am channelling some kind of guide, my own kind of spiritual quest. Unfortunately I sometimes am not in a good place for that, and spend hours painting only to find I've painted over the best parts of the piece and basically ruined it. The whole day feels wasted and I find myself frustrated and feeling like I should have cleaned the house instead.
Lately have feeling like I want to work in a different way, with more intent. The planning and research of the work used to be one of my favorite parts of the process, somehow with the arrival of children and the increase of teaching jobs, that part has been tossed aside. It seemed more important to just get to the painting part and there were too many pieces started for demonstrations, always in the traditional subjects that my students were interested in.
It seems to me that making drawing part of my regular routine again is the answer to the problem. Before I hit a fully formed slump I need to take the time to draw in my sketchbook, purely for joy of it and take the time to reevaluate the creative themes that drive my work. If I can do that and keep my emotional connection to the work I'll be quite happy.
I considered joining the Sketchbook Project, with the thought that a deadline and project might keep me on track but that would be still be doing for someone else, (the books go on display) and that isn't my purpose. I have an almost empty beautiful Moleskine watercolour sketchbook and a few others Ive accumulated over the years, not to mention loose scraps of art paper of every description, texture and colour. Spending $30 to have a blank sketchbook mailed to me right now only to mail it away a few months later, isn't a good idea right now, (but I think I would like to participate next year.)
So as part of my Happiness project Ive decided to DRAW MORE. Ideally every day, even if it is just a little thumbnail sketch or doodle I will change the way I work in 2012. Look for a drawing every Friday on the blog, I wont post them all because some of them will not be great I'm sure but every week you will see a drawing from me.

Unfinished Wednesday #4

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:56:00 +0000


Unfinished Acrylic on Canvas 16 by 20

This is going to be a short post as Ive been on the computer all day catching up on lesson plans and various other tasks. Both kids are home for a snow day and Ive also been trying to paint a little bit between my duties making hashbrowns and hot chocolate and finding dry socks and mittens. My previous Unfinished Wednesday paintings from the last two weeks are coming along nicely and hopefully both will be finished by next week.
This was an acrylic work done for a class demonstration on texture techniques.. I have applied tissue paper collage, modelling paste, gel medium and stamped with plastic wrap in wet paint. The peice was inspired by the work of Paul Klee, specifically the ones inspired by Tunisia. See some of that work here

Happiness is Completion

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:16:00 +0000

My first step in my own happiness project is to finish the huge stack of paintings that I've accumulated over the last few years. I find it difficult to concentrate on new work when there are so many surfaces that have promising starts. All this unfinished work has led me to feel trapped creatively. As I mentioned in this post , in the last few months I've taken steps to change my teaching style to limit the amount of paintings started in demonstrations and will be posting a new unfinished work every Wednesday, (or progress on one from a previous post.)

Pictured is Painting #2 which I'm working on by adding stamping and stenciled details and creating interesting shapes with masking tape. If you are trying something similar, make sure you seal the edge of the tape with clear acrylic medium to keep the paint from seeping under, (unless you like that effect as I sometimes do.) Ive also re-painted some areas with Absorbent ground medium so I can flow some more fluid washes over later. Hopefully I'll have that done by the end of the week. You can see me stamp paint with an old rewards card in one of the photos, later I'll also print with little handcarved stamps of patterns I made using Speedy-cut. I also use various objects to stencil paint through for interesting shapes: drafting templates, plastic needlepoint canvas, and a metal plate with circles that I rescued from a broken expresso machine. I like to depart from the paintbrush sometimes for a less self-conscious mark.

In my personal life I am trying something similar by clearing clutter, and cleaning closets and cupboards to reduce the chaos. There are years of that chaos accumulated so this is taking some time. It is important not to devote too much of my day to it by limiting myself to one or two drawers or other little clutter clearing activity per day. Othewise I"m probably just using the cleaning as another form of procrastination!

Painting #1 Finished

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:03:00 +0000

White Feather- Acrylic On Canvas 11 by 14

I am happy to report that I've finished my first Unfinished Wednesday painting! For the most part anyway, there always the possibility I might tinker with it later but I'm going to try not to.
First thing I did was make a print of the old painting, many people liked it as it was and I wanted to preserve it so I could feel free to make radical changes if I felt I needed to. I shrunk it a bit and printed it on watercolour paper and I plan on drawing into it at some point in the future. I also shrank and repeated the image and loved the way that looked, almost like a sheet of stamps. This put me in mind of some stamps that were given to me, produced from the work of Jean-Paul Riopelle.
The series was called L'Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg and I hope to view it in person one day.
The first change I made was re-painting the feather in white, although I liked the black feather image, I felt strongly the image of a white feather would be more along the lines of the idea that was forming in my creative consciousness. White feathers in the past symbolized cowardice but more recently they have represented pacifism, bravery, or even a message brought by angels from loved ones passed away.
After painting the white feather, I applied some small circular marks with a squeeze bottle filled with bronze acrylic then glazed parts of the surface with phthalo blue mixed with a little napthol red light and Golden gloss glazing medium. After adding more marks with liquid black acrylic applied with string and a feather, I worked more light modelling paste onto the surface, glazed parts of the painting again and added some collage elements with a rice paper feather print from gelatin plate monoprinting workshops. I increased the contrast by lightening some areas, darkened others, then felt the piece was done.

I know what the painting means to me but I think each person who views it will see a different meaning and I like that.

Unfinished Wednesday- Painting #3

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:41:00 +0000

11 by 14 Acrylic On Canvas Unfinished Tree

I've been working on the paintings from my previous Unfinished Wednesday paintings and will post one of them finished on Friday, In the meantime here is another acrylic painting in progress for you to ponder.
As I mentioned in my previous post, my studio is surrounded by Garry Oak trees,(my neighborhood is even called Oaklands.)This painting is just one of a few I have on the go with that subject matter and was created as a demonstration piece about painting on a black gesso ground. Black gesso has a rich matte opaque quality which is has a quite different effect than just coating your canvas with black acrylic paint. If you have trouble creating rich darks in your paintings this is definitely something you may want to try. Unlike some of my other tree paintings, I am moving in a more abstract direction. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions.
Join the Paintings in Progress flickr group here

Studio Window Views

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:02:00 +0000

The last one with the shadows isnt really a studio view as I would have to go outside and walk around the corner, ( I do that sometimes to clear my head.) This should give you a good idea of why I often paint trees and cityscapes and what the subject of my Unfinished Wednesday post later will be...

My Happiness Project

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000

"Flight" Watercolour and Gesso copyright Alesha Davies Fowlie 2011

Last year I read a blog post mentioning the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and was intrigued enough to order it from the library and later bought it as a gift for my Mom. What struck me most about the book was the concept of a person having everything they want, basically having a good life, but not really being happy, or happier in their day to day lives. Gretchen pointed out that we didn't really take the time to appreciate or value what made us happy and tended to get bogged down with little negative things that distracted us from that state, (in a nutshell that's it but I am oversimplifying quite a bit.) This doesn't apply to anyone with any kind of depressive illness, a chemical imbalance that requires medical intervention. This is for people who are basically not taking the time to consider what makes them happy and how they could be happier.
Ive had friends and relatives dealing with chronic pain and radical medical procedures for cancer and other major illnesses. Ive noticed the people with the positive attitude seem to fare better, coping with the treatments and maintaining the strength and belief they will make it through okay. These people often can stay very positive until after they hit remission, its like the body needs the will to fight to deal with the illness but when everything is okay they have the permission to melt down. So without any scientific background or back up for this argument Ive come to the conclusion that it is important to keep a good attitude. I may change my mind when I encounter such adversity in my own life though, so far Ive been so fortunate.
Ive given a lot of thought to how I can specifically apply this to my own life, mostly as it applies to my work as an artist but also how I interact with my family and friends and deal with the stress of keeping our head afloat in these stressful and complicated times. I thought I would do a weekly post about my own version of a Happiness project, but hadn't quite figured out exactly how to do it, should I mirror her project or come up with something completely different? I liked the thought of applying different topics to each month but I wasn't sure, maybe I should be a little more creative with mine? In the end I decided to do a little of both and was pleased to see Gretchen had a section on her website about starting your own project: Read about the 2012 Happiness challenge here.
The first chapter in the book deals with infusing more energy into your life and I have lately begun trying to go to bed earlier,exercising more and tonight went to my first Yoga class, that's a start! Last week I started to tackle one of my biggest problems: my stack of unfinished paintings,(by starting my Unfinished Wednesday project.) Next week I will outline how I am planning to proceed with the challenge and what my next step will be.

Unfinished Wednesday- Painting #2

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:18:00 +0000


Unfinished Cityscape 16 by 20 Acrylic on Canvas

Last weeks painting is coming along well and I am looking forward to showing you its progress. I'm not quite ready to share but will aim to do that in a separate post next week. In the meantime may I present this weeks offering; "Cityscape" I started this painting in an acrylic class demonstration of acrylic "watercolour" technique. The canvas was primed with two coats of Golden Absorbent Ground Medium, (read about that here.) If you're going to try this, make sure you allow each coat to dry between coats and that the primer is dry before applying the acrylic washes. I used Golden fluid acrylics diluted with water and airbrush medium to increase the flow. A spray bottle was utilized to get the washes really fluid and watercolour-like and I kept rags handy to mop up any really runny areas while allowing some puddles and drips to form for a textural element. After this layer was dry there were a few strange marks formed from the puddles I didn't love so I went over with more absorbent ground to cover those areas up and create more absorbency. The Ground is white like gesso and but creates a porous surface reminiscent of paper. On a side note I like to prime small canvases or cradle panels with this substance making them very much like the expensive "watercolour canvas" that you can buy in art stores which has the drawback of being expensive and only available in certain sizes. If you're going to paint watercolour on canvas keep in mind that you should spray varnish or spray fix, then varnish to protect the watercolour layers afterward. This is one of two unfinished cityscape canvases I have on the go; Ive done a few watercolours on this subject, especially this particular cityview which is inspired by the view of downtown Victoria visible from my studio window, (I can see two church steeples.) For some reason I hadnt been able to quite connect with the subject in acrylic the same way but I have been looking at this one quite a bit and am inspired to work on it some more after a year or so of being left untouched. I think I need to move away from the monochramatic colour scheme and I have a few more ideas that are percolating. Any thoughts? If you would like to share your own unfinished works I have started a flickr group here or you can post a link to your own blog or other fixed link in the comment section below.

Unfinished Wednesday- Painting #1

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:39:00 +0000

11 by 14 Canvas Work in Progress (horizontal view)

Work In Progress-Vertical View

Those of you who know me are aware that I am always complaining about my big stack of unfinished paintings.

I cant remember the exact project I started this one in...I think it was an abstract exploration of a still life object in one of my acrylic classes. I chose the crow feather as my subject and was pleased with the way it turned out but had no real inspiration for what to do next. Later I dipped some string in some diluted fluid acrylic and dragged it across the surface,creating some lovely natural looking marks. I then took one of my favorite specialty mediums- Golden light modelling paste, which has a unique porous sponge-like texture and mixed it with my paint. I enjoy painting in the "negative space" so I took this mixture and worked around the string marks and feather image, covering up the areas I didn't need and enhancing other passages as I painted around them. I like the way the light modelling paste dries, very absorbent like a piece of rough handmade paper and the light version behaves very differently than the heavier modelling paste which is made with marble dust, (you could probably knock someone out with a jar of that!)

So I am thinking, either adding some text somewhere, or a bird flying in the background, (which doesn't seem too original) Or changing it up entirely and making some kind of abstracted landscape or.......?

At any rate it needs more colour.

I cant promise I will finish it, inspiration may lead me elsewhere but I'll give it some serious thought and aim to decide its fate in the next couple of weeks, I'll post the results if I dont gesso over it.

Every Wednesday I'll post a different picture of an unfinished painting and talk about what I'll do next or whether or not it is actually finished, and I just haven't realized it. If you have any suggestions as to what should happen to the painting please feel free to comment.

Why do I have so many unfinished paintings you ask?

For years I would teach two or more painting classes a week and until I wised up I would start a new piece in every class as part of my demonstration. My students told me they appreciated a new demo every week but neither they or I would usually get to finish more than one or two per session. Over time I realized that I wasn't doing anyone any favours with this routine. The most common reason I have been given for signing up for an art course is "I don't do anything if I'm not in a class." If I truly wanted to get the point across I had get students to spend more time with their work, and as many of them only painted for an hour or two between classes; a new project every class every week wasn't going to cut it. So I started trying to extend the projects over a a few weeks and do less demonstrations, focusing on working with each student individually instead. I am always looking for better ways of teaching, but overall I feel good about this turn of events and plan on taking it even further in January by linking each class with a blog that will contain projects and online support.

Some of my longtime regular students speak wistfully of my weekly demonstrations but Ive noticed they've finished more and made great progress since we changed things so I'm sticking with it, (they often weren't paying attention anyway!)

Haunting My Past

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:04:00 +0000

A friend sent me some of my old work recently, (thanks Sean!) He found them packed away during a recent move and thought I might like them back. It actually was a very meaningful gesture for to me as I never documented or saved a lot of my early work. I used to move a lot and lived quite a transient lifestyle, giving away or abandoning a lot of my drawings and paintings along the way. Before the advent of digital cameras and scanners I was too lazy to document my work properly before I let it go...which I keenly regret. These are a couple of little acrylics from about 1988 I painted as part of a series that documented some items from my childhood. Not the greatest work I've ever done and a little creepy, (seriously what is my deal with rabbits!) But I was happy to see them again,there is an ink self portrait he sent as well, maybe I'll post that
later, its a little crumpled and too large for my scanner.
Sometimes when I encounter old work, I cant even remember the physical act of creating it and I find that interesting, where was my head when I made it? Somewhere out there are many drawings and paintings I've given away over the years, I know a few of them are on walls and are still making people happy, maybe I'll meet some more of them again in time.

Happy December

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:34:00 +0000

Saturday was my last workshop/class for a month and I now have almost five weeks to re-energize and catch up, (as much as anyone can do that at this time of year!) Ive been reviewing my Blast-Off class lessons as my own classes started to wind down and I am happily realizing what I really want from my art career and am finally feeling like I am able to move forward with a plan.
As an artist your focus should always be on the art first, and I think for the last few years as the kids have gotten older that has been true for me. But I really would like to be able to stay home and work more in the studio and the only way that is going to happen is by turning some energy towards the business side of things. This type of thing doesn't come easily to most artists but I have to say Ive become quite interested in the hows and whys of running an art related business.
I have a clear idea of the type of work I want to be concentrating on, and how to meet the deadlines and goals I have set for myself,( I'll talk more about the artwork later I promise.)
The plan is pretty much the same as Ive had since May when I made my presentation to the Entrepreneurship class, but Alyson Stanfield's class Blast Off Class, which focused on Art Business, has helped me to focus on how to approach my business plan from an artists point of view. It has taken a second go through with the class materials to narrow it down, ( I have a lot of distractions in my life and as you may have gathered if you have been reading my blog I am so easily distracted)
I've also been reading Jennifer Lee's Right Brain Business Plan book which has been a great review of the business plan concept laid out in a way us right brainers can read without our eyes glazing over. My biggest problem so far is the energy and time expelled in teaching and how to balance it out with my own art practice, I always felt my art work was being held back because of it. And if you are any of my current or former students reading this, dont get me wrong-I do not want to give you up, just find a way of making it all work better!

I've started putting all my class materials on a blog and talked today with someone who works with tutorial software who is game to give me a hand. I'm going to start using online learning tools initially as a support for my scheduled weekly classes, and eventually plan on branching out into online classes. This will hopefully cut down on the amount of energy expelled creating multiple demonstration paintings I'm usually not very interested in finishing, and help me to concentrate more on the the type of art I really want to do. It will also cut down on explaining the same concepts over and over again, and create an online resource students can find without rifling through unorganized notes. All in all I'm pretty excited about it and instead of worrying I have too many classes coming up in January I am looking forward to testing out my new ideas.
A couple of Alyson's lessons Ive been reviewing are all about Visualizing what you want out of life and career and two of the exercises were to create a Vision Board to help you visualize your life and artistic Affirmation cards which you read daily to help keep you in the right frame of mind and attract what you are searching for. I didn't bother with the Vision board because wasn't attracted to the cutting and pasting on poster board but it did give me a great idea for an acrylic painting project,( I also believe Ive been accomplishing almost the same result by making virtual boards on Pinterest.) I DID have great fun creating the Affirmation cards with watercolour and brush calligraphy and as I looked at them tonight,(after a month or so of not doing so) I realized the value of reading them everyday to remind me of what I'm striving for. I've tumbled completely off the wagon on a couple of them!

Blast Off Class Revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:03:00 +0000

I am fortunate enough to to have a month off in December, no classes,shows or special events planned for a change. It may not be so fortunate for my bank account but hopefully the sales I make over Christmas will make up for it, ( I will have some work at She Said Gallery and some commissioned sales money coming in.) It would be nice to do some painting but I'm more excited about digging myself out of the chaos I"ve managed to surround myself with the last couple of months and focus on new ideas. During my more intensive teaching periods I neglect my own work and never draw in my sketchbook or take the time to explore new directions for my work. This month will fly by but I am hoping to do at least a little bit of that before I start teaching again.

In the meantime Ive started reviewing the lessons from the Blast Off class I took with Alyson B Stanfield back in September. Hopefully that will get me back on track. Today as I was reading over the material again I renewed my commitment to work on my art business and write down five things I am grateful for everyday, (very important.)
Tomorrow I will work on my plan and see if I can re-capture my vision!
Pictured is my latest finished commission, Pink Poppies which I did with my special combination of watercolour and acrylic on paper.

Watercolour Abstractions-Lesson Three

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 04:39:00 +0000

Demonstration Sample In Progress

Today we worked on an abstract painting based on still life objects. I asked the students to bring a few objects like fruit, leaves, etc. and directed them to lay them out in an unconventional way. The point was not to make a tidy little arrangement in the middle but have the composition spill off the paper based on a random placement of their still life objects.
We started by drawing out the images on dry paper with watercolour pencils, ( also gave a short little talk about how to use those.) I directed them to focus more on the negative spaces, use a "lost and found" line by lifting the pencil, and to vary the thickness of the line. During the demonstration I wet the pencil lines then filled in some of the negative shapes with paint washes.

My student Dawn draws out her composition

We discussed the benefits of using a sable brush on dry paper (holds paint and water longer so you don't have to keep going back to the palette.) It is important to let a painted area dry before putting another paint wash on top, (glazing.) or you will get that "scrubbed" look and erratic "bloom" marks.
Personally I am fond of the bloom marks and often try to create that effect by deliberately flowing wet washes into a drying area of painted colour. The marks are unpredictable but can be easily lifted out later if you dont like them.
I demonstrated how to fill in an area with clear water first then touch paint colour to the wet paper, allowing it to flow into the wet areas and stop when it reached the dry paper. My demonstration sample was inspired by a couple of decaying leaves, a mandarin orange, and a bulb of garlic. The colour palette was Maimeri Permanent Red Light, Golden Lake, Phthalo Blue(Daniel Smith) Aureleon(Winsor &Newton) and a little Faience Blue. Thats a lot of different pigments for me!

Adding Water

At this point I took a damp brush and washed water over areas of the painting to soften lines and unify the paint colours. After I dried it i went in with more paint and added more areas of colour and punched up my lights and darks. The shapes of the objects started to repeat in the background and I stopped looking at my still life and completely focused on the painting.
With an abstract work you want a variation of different kinds of marks, so I added some little calligraphic style marks with my liner and my small round brush. I instructed my group to try to create an open composition with the foreground colour working its way into the background and vice versa. They were also encouraged to depart from the defined shape of the objects into a less representational depiction. This was challenging for many of the students and during the group critique many of them expressed their paintings were not as abstract as they would like. Its amazing how difficult it can be to depart from realism sometimes.
My painting isn't finished but its got a good start I think, I'll post it when its finished so you can see my progress.

Projects for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:26:00 +0000

Pendant Tray Kit with Circle Designs

Glass Art Magnet or Pendant Kit

Scrabble Tile Pendant or Magnet Kit

If you are looking for fun ideas for making gifts or want to pick up a few stocking stuffers, I'll be selling Pendants and Magnet Making kits at the upcoming Owl Designer Fair on Dec 3rd (while the fair runs two days I will only be there on Saturday) Shown are examples of pendants made with my artwork, I'll have some of these designs available as well as kits with chiyogami and other decorative papers. And of course there will be original art, prints and art cards too!
See more finished examples in my Etsy Shop by clicking on the link to the left.

New Houseboat Painting In Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:01:00 +0000

I've always been inspired by the houseboat communities in my city, (Victoria, B.C.)The quirky little float homes in James Bay are my favorite, much more interesting to me than the floating mansions over in Esquimalt. I felt I needed to explore the subject further after completing my first houseboat inspired painting a few months ago, ( a little acrylic on Yupo peice you can see here.) That painting was mostly from my imagination, using pictures from references found on the internet. With that in mind, I grabbed my talented photographer daughter and went for a walk around the two marinas in town that have floating home communities, you can see some of her photos here. I didn't want to do something extremely realistic or exactly accurate, my short attention span makes really detailed work a chore. My interest leans more toward using colour, interesting shapes and textures using my own or Rhia's photos for inspiration.

I started the new painting by sketching the boats with watercolour pencil and adding white acrylic ink to the sky and some details in the foreground. The ink acts as a light resist and gives a smoother surface to some areas of the Arches 140lb cold press paper. This became my start for my demonstration in September for the Winsor Park Art Group. You can see some of that demo in this post

Luckily they called me back after a few weeks for a second demo or I wouldn't have had an excuse to continue with the painting for awhile, (they wanted to see my progress.) I have other projects on the go and deadlines to meet but my schedule is going to lighten up after a few weeks and I have almost finished the commission Ive been laboring over. I'm really looking forward to getting back at it, in the meantime here is what I have so far:

I went into the sky and the foreground adding acrylic ink and gesso. The added texture and the way the watercolour lifts right off and puddles on the non-pourous acrylic surface appeals to me. After those layers dried, I added more detail with watercolour. I'll keep updating you on its progress as I go along.

Windsor Park Art Group Demo Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:54:00 +0000

At the beginning of the month I was fortunate to be able to return to the clubhouse in Windsor Park and demo for the fine folks at the Windsor Park Art Club once again. They wanted to re-cap what I had shown them in September and see what I had been up to with the houseboat painting, ( which gave me a really good excuse to work on it.) They also requested I do some painting from a fall themed still life which I was happy to oblige. The following is an excerpt from programmer Bev Lenihan's re-cap email to the members.

Demonstrating the pulled edge method

Showing pictures from the Jim Dine book

Demonstration Samples

The show and tell of members work at the end of the session

Hello Members,
Alesha Davies Fowlie returned to the Windsor Park Art Club on Monday October 3rd to conduct another involving session on painting a Fall Still Life, using water media, and our own Fall subject matter. She thinks that watercolour is a beautiful medium for still life. Fall is all around us, suggesting the use of a Fall colour palette. Alesha shared the art book "Jim Dine. flowers and plants / essay by Marco Livingstone" published by Abrams New York, 1994 to show us the variety of mixed media American contemporary artist Jim Dine used in his botanical paintings, some huge, some on just joined paper. She also shared still life paintings by Impressionists Monet, Renoir and Cezanne.Alesha likes BFK printing paper for its smooth forgiving surface for these paintings. She drew her fruit shapes with watercolour pencil, because it can be lifted off with water if mistaken, not harsh erasing. She then used watered, mixed FW acrylic yellow and green ink to go over some lines. (Alesha has lots of tips, like having a very small squeeze bottle of clean water, to use to add to the inks, rather than dragging dirty water from the water jar across your painting.) The drawn shapes were filled in with light watercolour, minding not to paint adjacent shapes so the paint mixed unnecessarily, sometimes dropping paint into wet areas. Watercolour can be lifted off if not wanted in that area, rather than the more staining inks. Added layers can deepen and brighten colour once the first layer is dry in watercolour. Alesha uses different brushes for watercolour (good sable brushes, they hold water and stay with a point) and for acrylics (use synthetic brushes, good for pulling.) Use negative painting where possible - painting around the object, to make the shape pop, using two brushes, one to lay the paint down around the shape, and one to soften the outside edge. Alesha demonstrated how to work on paintings that have been abandoned - using pastels, coloured pencils, just working around the shapes to bring them out. You could work with acrylic mediums, gesso, any combinations.

We finished the session with a sharing of the day's paintings in the short working time we had, and also some from Alesha's first visit.

Thank you Alesha for stepping in to the breech, and continuing us on with our watermedia learning. We look forward to working with you again. Cheers, the Program committee

Art and Business And Me

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 05:46:00 +0000

Houseboats 2011 Acrylic On Yupo

Today my husband and I saw his financial adviser and she gently suggested I get a real job, preferable with in the Government sector. This would help me build a pension and give us some financial security. That might work except that I have no office skills, no real computer training, no job experience in that area and no heart for it.
Don't get me wrong, I would make sacrifices to help my family have a better life, I would even get a real job full time to make it happen and I have been looking but frankly I am pretty useless for anything but teaching art, painting pictures, and being a Mom. There aren't a lot of opportunities for a 40 something year old woman with an art school diploma, (shocking isnt it?) I dont even think I could go back to my old side career as a server, I was pretty good at it then but its been over 17 years since I picked up a tray and I don't think I could do it anymore with any efficiency.

Over the years I've taken a fair number of business and marketing classes. I've written plans and made presentations, calculated finances, (usually quite badly) and tried to get my scattered head around the concept of making a living as an artist.
Its been difficult for a variety of reasons, my ADHD,(only diagnosed in the last couple of years}my kids, the distracting little creatures that they are, and my multiple income streams to name a few. But recently I have been knuckling down trying to change my routines, and re-doubling my efforts to make more of a success of the career that I already have. Because you know I really like what I do and I really would like to keep doing it.
Have you heard of Alyson B Stanfield? She offers courses specifically designed for artists who want to achieve financial success. I bought her book "I'd rather be in the Studio" a couple of years ago and found it very helpful, (you can find it in my Amazon bookstore link at the top left of my blog in the Art Business section.) Last September I noticed she was offering a class called Blast Off which was designed to help an artist define their vision of success and commit to making it happen with good creative habits, financial planning and other personalized strategies. I wanted to take it really badly but I thought the timing was bad with the kids heading back to school and all the extra fees they incur, could I really justify it? Not to mention I probably teach more art classes myself in September than any other time of year. Reluctantly I decided to pass.
This year I hit a slump financially .More art classes were cancelled than I have had in years plus a couple of opportunities I had lined up were disappointing....I just didnt want to pass it up again. So when I saw it offered again this September I took the plunge and I must say I haven't regretted it. Much of it is familiar to me from other business classes but the fact that the lessons are designs for artists has been really helpful,(as is the online interaction with other students). I highly recommend the class for artists looking to Blast Off their careers, ( and it is very reasonable priced!)
I have been too swamped with everything to post my progress,but after everything is said and done I intend to do a little recap on the blog detailing my journey.

Windsor Park Art Group Demo

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:51:00 +0000

I always have a great time with this art group, one of the few in town that actively engages in their own work after watching the demonstration. The following is taken from an email sent out by programmer, organizer extraordinaire Beverley Lenihan after the session today. I think she did a great job documenting the process and summarizing what I had to say. I think I should take Bev along to all my classes and workshops.

I will blog about the process of working on the houseboat painting as I go along, keeping you updated on its progress.

"Alesha gave us many new ideas, new ways to find joy in painting. For her, that is what painting is all about. Painting cityscapes or buildings using all kinds of water media allows for lots of experimentation, unexpected results.

Alesha drew a quick sketch of her houseboat scene with watercolour pencils on Arches paper, soaked her paper in water to get it thoroughly wet through, then stapled it onto a piece of gator board. She blotted it a bit with paper, but wanted it to remain wet so she could play with soft atmospheric background ideas first. When Alesha leads sessions, she always stretches members' thinking by sharing with us new products and ideas she has discovered. She also wants us to have time painting.

She told us about Inktense Pencils, that give a brighter and more intense colour than watercolour pencils. She demonstrated with using acrylic inks, particularly the white and blue to get intense colours. She showed us how watercolour paint behaves on gessoed watercolour paper. As she suggested, if you google Gesso and Watercolour, you will come up with sites where artists have used white gesso with watercolour. One I found was paulbaileyart.blogspot.com where Paul explains how he gets texture into his landscapes. Worth a look.

Alesha talked to us about combining fluid acrylic paints with watercolour, acrylic inks, acrylic matte medium, gesso, other water media, or pastels - anything goes when you are having fun learning about your art.

Alesha shared many techniques that work for her, all along encouraging us to get painting, experimenting, finding our own joy in painting "

Paint Sculpt Collage!

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 03:34:00 +0000

Paint Sculpt Collage! | Opus Framing & Art Supplies

Most people just know me as a painter and that is certainly my first love but I also love to sculpt with clays and work with assemblage almost as much. This was a piece I made for a show a couple of years ago which utilizes a wooden cigar box as a base for a tribute to one of my favorite books from my childhood : Watership Down by Richard Adams. My old copy was falling apart and missing pages so I utilized it as collage material and added both a painting of Fiver and a sculpture I made of him using paperclay. Andrea Soos and I are teaching a class at Island Blue on techniques similar to this, click on the link above or the one for my classes and workshops to your right to get more information.

Tutorials

noreply@blogger.com (Alesha Davies Fowlie) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:27:00 +0000

I've posted the first tutorials on my class/workshop blog.The first two I am putting up are kind of craft oriented, glass magnets and scrabble tile pendants.I make them with my own artwork but if you dont have images of your own you can find them on the internet or use decorative paper like Japanese Chiyogami. I do plan on putting some painting tutorials up in the future,[just need to remember to stop and take pictures when I am painting!]
If you are interested in seeing examples in person I have some of these pendants and magnets for sale in Dales Gallery until the end of August, [see previous post for more info.] I dont make the magnets at all anymore, and the pendants, only occasionally but am happy to share how I make them and where to find the supplies.
Click Here to find them, and feel free to email with questions if you need to!