Creativity

Artie and the 'choke
sketch 5 x7, graphite
copyright Jeanette Jobson

I'm an artist that likes to work from a reference, either life or good photo. I can rearrange colours or light sources but have to really push myself to think outside the box when it comes to creating a combination of effects of objects that work together to form a whole.

This sketch came about as the result of a drawing challenge in WetCanvas. The subject was an artichoke. The challenge was to use it in a different way than the reference showed. No, the frog isn't being eaten, its just along for the ride. How the frog and fork and pan of water got there, who knows? Minds are mysterious things and mine scares me sometimes.

I'm posting this early today as I have a lecture to attend tonight about selling and marketing art.

Portrait update & new arrivals

The Artist's Father - in progress

11 x 14 graphite
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Since starting this yesterday, I've spent some time putting down the initial layers of graphite for shading. I don't want to go too dark and overpower the portrait, but don't want it to be a weak image either. I think I've knocked a few years off my father in this image, but won't know til its complete.

I was asked today if I use a grid to draw portraits or do it freehand. Mostly I draw freehand, but if something is complex or I am feeling unsure or just can't get something right then I use a grid - or partial grid. I use enough to get the main features in place, then find things fall into place from there. With this image, it was drawn freehand.

Meanwhile life on the farm churns into action for spring. The weather's warmed and the snow is rapidly melting, making all the animals a bit 'antsy'. Fighting among the geese and ducks has started, a sure sign that its spring.

The most recent arrival here has been six little piglets. This image isn't good as they were under a heat light, being only about 6 - 8 weeks old, and need a source of warmth, especially at night.
They managed to get loose overnight and were herding the ducks that are loose in the barn. Piglets are very, very difficult to catch. They sure can move fast!

Some of you may remember the pigs from last summer. They're quite intelligent creatures and more like dogs. Once they know your voice they come to see you and let you pat them, making funny grunting sounds as you do. I feel guilty when they go, but have come to terms with it, as I have with the other animals here that are food sources.

These little guys and girls will be lodgers for 16 weeks. During that time, they'll gain about 200 pounds in weight each. They eat pure vegetable protein, no hormones, no animal byproducts. They have space, light, heat, food, water music and companionship. I'm a firm believer in animal rights to live in an environment that is clean and comfortable and be transported to their final destination as quickly and comfortably as possible.

The majority of people never think of where their food comes from, whether meat or vegetable and the process of how it reaches your table. Take a moment and consider it. This is not meant to put you off meat, but to ensure you think about the animal and life behind the product, and how it was raised.

World Society for the Protection of Animals

Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals

The artist's father - a portrait

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
- Laurence Binyon

I have drawn or painted portraits of most people in my immediate family with the exception of my father. Well that's not entirely true. I did start a painting of him just before he died in 1990, but it was never complete and I haven't revisited that portrait since.

I did find a photo of him awhile ago and thought I'd have another try but in pencil this time. The photo was taken when he was in his 60s, I'm not sure the exact age. He was a bit timeless and had the Peter Pan gene, having barely any grey hair at all when he died at age 70. The photo was taken of him in his Korean War Veteran's distinctive blue jacket wearing his medals that he was so proud of.
I completed the line drawing this morning then made a start on the shading later today. My week is fairly full with classes and lectures and meetings most evenings, but I'll find time to add to the portrait when I can.

There is something a little unnerving about the details of a portrait starting to appear out of the paper. It is especially more so if it is someone you know or someone who has died. There is a sense of bringing a form of life back into the image again.

Horse drawing/painting

This past week has been soooooooo crazy. I've hardly had time to draw breath before yet another issue lands on my lap. But finally, its under control (touch wood) and I can start to get some serious drawing underway again.

I have lots of sketches that I've done in odd moments that teeter on the brink of chaos and that keeps me sane. There is a comfort in picking up a pencil and creating something out of a white space. I can't explain how or why it is, except that is simply 'is'.

I have a little project to work on over the next week and will reveal more about that on the 18th. But for now a horse is in my future. Horses are very sculptural creatures and lovely to draw and paint. I did the line drawing of this one early this morning and transferred it to watercolour paper. Sometimes I have a need to use watercolour. I'm not an expert in it by any means, but sometimes the paint and water is kind to me and lets me produce something recognizable. Hopefully, it will cooperate with me for this painting as well.

Keep your fingers crossed...

The good wife of 1955

How times have changed - I hope! You can click on the image below to enlarge it to read.

Prepare for snickers and lots of 'yeah, right' comments as you go through it if you're female.

Men, just don't get any ideas ok??

Jinxing it

# 3 Compressed and vine charcoal

copyright Jeanette Jobson

You know, I'm not going to mention what I'm going to do in future, as it seems to jinx it.

Ever since I posted about doing a series of drawing tools, life has taken over and decided it wants me to do other things instead. Work is outrageous in terms of quantity its throwing at me and my mother's issues continue to be a concern. But I'm trying to outwit the powers that be and get in some art when I can.

I've become more comfortable with using charcoal lately, both in its raw form or compressed charcoal , available in round chunky sticks or in pencil form. I haven't used much powdered charcoal, but it is good for covering large surfaces, if not a bit messy!

Anti-stress medication

Coloured pencil in Moleskine
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Stress is affecting eating, lack of time is affecting eating, but even bad food is good drawing fodder. Like this Boston Cream donut... Hey, I only ate half of it!

Delays

Churchyard
graphite in sketchbook
copyright Jeanette Jobson

While I've not been shirking my series obligations, after a day like today, its been physically impossible to fit in drawing time for this. I may extend my time frame by a week to allow myself time for interruptions, which seem frequent lately.

Work has been brutally busy and problems with my mother's health have caused disruptions as well today. But tomorrow should be better and I'll have something to post on my planned series I hope.

This little drawing of a churchyard has been done over several days in small bites. Landscapes are a challenge to me or at least something I don't enjoy drawing as much as other subjects. Trees are particularly challenging and its a matter of buckling down and just doing it instead of being overwhelmed by the whole subject. Breaking things down into small sections works wonders.

Mechanical pencils

# 2 Mechanical Pencil

copyright Jeanette Jobson

No, I haven't bailed out on Day 2 of the series. Yesterday was very busy for me and then drawing class in the evening so I had no time to post anything. However, I did a little drawing at lunch yesterday. This is one of my mechanical pencils. The photo of the image is awful and I'll do a scan later today and replace it.

I don't often use wood pencils since I moved over to mechanical pencils a few years ago I love their permanently sharp leads and the fact that the weight of the pencil never changes due to sharpening I have quite a few mechanical pencils ranging in size from 3mm to 9mm.

While many of the brand name mechanical pencils look and feel wonderful, I have to say that I can get the same results with a drugstore .99 cent pencil as I can with a $20 one. The only difference is in the lead softness, all the rest is packaging and has little bearing on the outcome of your image. The most expensive mechanical pencil I've found is the Porsche, made of stainless steel and calfskin at a hefty little price of 175 British pounds.

And now a little history of the mechanical pencil according to Wikipedia:

The mechanical pencil was first invented in Britain in 1822 by Sampson Mordan and Gabriel Riddle. Earliest Mordan pencils are thus hallmarked SMGR. Sampson Mordan continued manufacturing pencils and a wide range of silver objects until the second world war when their factory was bombed.

Between 1820 and 1873, more than 160 patents were registered pertaining to a variety of improvements to mechanical pencils. The first spring-loaded mechanical pencil was patented in 1877 and a twist-feed mechanism was developed in 1895. The 0.9mm lead was introduced in 1938, and later it was followed by 0.7mm, 0.5mm and 0.3mm versions. Even the 1.4mm version is available.

The mechanical pencil became successful in Japan with some improvements in 1915 by Tokuji Hayakawa, a metal worker who had just finished his apprenticeship. It was introduced as the Ever-Ready Sharp Pencil. Success was not immediate, since the metal shaft — essential for the pencil's long life — was unfamiliar to users. The Ever-Sharp began selling in huge numbers, however, after a company from Yokohama made a large order. Later Tokuji Hayakawa's company got its name from that pencil: Sharp.

At nearly the same time, in America, Charles R. Keeran was developing a similar pencil that would be the precursor of most of today's pencils. Keeran's design was ratchet-based, whereas Hayakawa's was screw-based. These two development histories are often combined into one.

The use of mechanical pencils became widespread after being popularised by Australian legal theorist Marcus Coleman who famously used one when drafting the Australian Constitution in the late 19th Century and injured himself with it in the process.

The Office Museum has a lot of information about the history of mechanical pencils.

Cult Pens Guide to Mechanical Pencils provides a wealth of information about mechanical pencils.

Tools of the trade

# 1 Kneaded eraser

charcoal 2 x 3
copyright Jeanette Jobson

I idly doodled on an envelope today with some charcoal pencils that were nearby and drew my kneaded eraser. You need to make sure you have another eraser handy when you draw your eraser as its difficult to use the one you're drawing and remember just where you placed it so the light was the same!

It made me think that it could make an interesting little series of drawings of different drawing tools. I also like the idea of drawing on unusual supports - found supports perhaps which could range from envelopes as today's drawing is, to something as organic as stone or perhaps to reuse another paper form, such as a newspaper sheet. Possibilities are endless. The implements that we use without even thinking become very different when we take time to examine them carefully as we draw.

I will try, over the next seven days, to post a new drawing each day and see if I can achieve that goal. There is no shortage of subject material to draw if my studio is anything to go by and I need the discipline of forcing myself to complete something. I've become lax about disciplining myself to complete things lately and need to get back into finalizing drawings before being sidelined.

Rose Welty's post in Rose's Art Lines about finishing a series is very timely and provides food for thought for everyone attempting a series, whether large or small.

By stating my goal here, it makes me accountable as well, if only to myself, but I hope if I slack off some of you will give me a nudge and 'remind' me to keep going. Seven days is not an inordinate amount of time so I don't set myself up for failure before I begin. The subject matter is familiar and relatively simple so I don't have to go too far outside my comfort zone unless I want to experiment. The pay off is that I gain back my ability to complete a series then move on.

Starts and ice

Icy forest at the edge of the meadow

Path to the back door

Bending under the weight of ice

Iced rosehips

Living on the edge of the world - or at least on an island in the North Atlantic - one of the heralds of spring is freezing rain. I can't begin to tell you how much I hate freezing rain. Chipping it off your car, sliding across every outdoor surface, trees bent to the ground and branches snapped with the weight of it, power disruptions, the list goes on and on.

But despite its treacherous nature, it does have a positive side which is very interesting pictures of the objects that it coats. These images were taken a week or two ago after a night of freezing rain. I had the forethought to have my car in the barn that night or it probably would have taken me 20 minutes to get the ice cleared from it.

I have a thousand ideas in my head for drawings but can't seem to settle down to one, so I end up with lots of starts. In their own right, they're good in that they keep my drawing hand in practice, but I really need to put some thoughts into action.

This sketch is of a reference image I have of a chimpanzee at a rescue sanctuary. The sadness in the animal's eyes is evident already. The eyes were what attracted me to the image and I should pursue this one. But first I must put it onto some decent paper.

New designs

I've played around with more wire and am trying to keep the organic shapes that I want and that the wire seems to find naturally. I'm considering putting some of the jewelry on Etsy and see what happens.

If anyone is interested in purchasing these, please contact me for final shipping costs which are very reasonable.

Fiddleheads - 12.00
Sterling silver, hand formed earrings, hammered and polished, these earrings are 1.5 inches long. These are a reminder of the little fiddlehead ferns that herald spring in Canada.

Copper Frost - 8.00

Polished copper coils with hammered ear wires are topped with frosted glass beads like little icy caps. The earrings measure 1.5 inches long.

Meanwhile the carrot drawing continues. I've added more colour with my Derwent Coloursofts and like the results. They're not too bright and still keep that earthy tone that I want. My complaint is the paper the drawing is on. It started out as a sketch and I got carried away and didn't transfer it to decent paper. This is in a Canson sketchpad 11 x 14. The paper has enough tooth, but leaves a fairly grainy texture to the pencil work. Its something you either like or you don't and I have mixed feelings about it.

I'll let it sit for awhile and see if I want to continue to spend time on it or not.

Carrots and seed packages

Here is an update to the carrot drawing that I started. Its at its 'ugly' stage now and I have to keep reminding myself that it will get better.

This is the point where a lot of beginners start to doubt themselves and abandon their drawings. Looking ahead, in your head, to the final piece helps keep the focus and knowing that this is just a phase to go through, all help not to trash it at this stage.

The colours in Derwent Drawing pencils are very muted, earth tones and I'm wondering if I need to add a little punch to them with some of the Derwent Coloursofts that I bought. They're in the same family as the drawing pencils, with thick, creamy cores, just not as creamy as the drawing pencils. I don't want the final image to have bright colours. I want that soft look to it, but just want to enhance the colours a bit.

Peter Henderson and Co. Plate

Jubilee Collection of Mammoth Butterfly Pansies
New York, NY
1897

The seed catalogues are still trickling in even though most orders have been placed and received for the coming season. Seed packaging these days is quite ordinary compared to the works of art that were produced on seed packages from the 1800s to early 1900s. Now there are generic photos of the plants or plain packaging with contents and instructions on them. Back in the day — before four-color photos became the standard — many seed mailers kept an artist/ engraver on staff to create fancy lithographs for the catalog and the seed packages. I guess that doesn't happen any more unfortunately. But there are a lot more varieties of flowers and vegetables around now so its likely not economical to create and print.

I'll just have to create my own packages for the heirloom vegetable seeds that I grow and restart an old tradition.

Drawing a rainbow

I'm an armchair cook most of the time. I like to watch cooking shows and read cookbooks and ferret out food blogs. It just seems it doesn't often translate into actually hauling out ingredients and pots and pans. I used to do a lot of cooking, but my days are long and incentive limited, so it only seems to happen at weekends these days.

However, it still doesn't stop me from wandering through good food sites such as Haalo's at Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. This is my kind of blog. Its full of great recipes and fabulous photos. One of Haalo's images caught my eye the other day and I knew it was a match made in heaven for my Derwent Drawing pencils. I asked Haalo if I could use it and she kindly agreed. (Thanks again Haalo!)

The image was of a bunch of rainbow coloured carrots. Last summer I had used some of these colourful carrots that come in shades varying from cream to burgundy and the regular old orange! The colour fades out of them a bit in cooking, but they are wonderful to use in salads for a real contrast. This year I have seeds for the coloured carrots and will grow them along with the regular ones in what will be my new vegetable garden (if the snow ever melts).

Last night and tonight I made a start on the drawing. Its 11 x 14 done with my full set of Derwents, as I wanted some colour to pop in this drawing, yet have it remain fairly subtle. I'll update this image over the next few days and hope to have it finished at the weekend.

Exposure

Mother Goose
Graphite 9 x 12
copyright Jeanette Jobson

This is the final image that was chosen to be used on AntiDull. This is an online art magazine that features artists & art photographers from around the world. Their aim is to provide a high quality publishing opportunity to artists and photographers who want to get more exposure to their artistic works. And who doesn't want that in the art world? The AntiDull website has received up to 650 unique visitors / day.

I was approached the other week by AntiDull (love that name!!) to ask if they could use one of my images for their Fine Art Issue # 2. I agreed and we worked out the arrangement and this is the page that was created to go into the online issue which was published today. Have a look at their magazine online. There is an amazing display of artists and art pieces in this issue.

Today I also received my first royalty cheque from an online tutorial that I did for Drawspace. Its not a huge amount, but as I did the tutorial without the expectation of receiving any money, its a bonus. Now that I have a little time back to myself again with the tri-weekly drawing classes gone, I may have a chance to produce some more tutorials.

I became friends with Brenda Hoddinott, the site owner and author of several drawing books and she convinced me to become more involved with the site initially as a moderator and now as a teacher. The site is for complete beginners to drawing and provides online lessons from the basics up to more advanced technique and subjects to a global audience.

Life session

I'm just getting time to catch my breath and regroup after a busy few days with the exhibit and a last formal teaching class, so this post will be brief.

Last night I got to the life class which I haven't been able to attend for a couple of weeks. We had a new model which turned out well and I enjoyed drawing her.

Here are a few of the sketches from last night. The first pose was 20 minutes, the second five minutes and the third 1 or 2 minute gesture sketches. All are done in charcoal on newsprint.

Charcoal and cowboys

Cowboy
Charcoal on mi-tientes
copyright Jeanette Jobson

This was one of the images in the Weekend Drawing Event at WetCanvas. The pose and the face was irresistable and I hope to do a full portrait from the image at a later date.

I'm still using up my Mi-Tientes paper and am starting to enjoy some of the lighter colours - buff and gold, even if my preferences are for the darker browns and greys.

I use a mix of willow and vine charcoal as well as charcoal pencil for finer details. Depending on the effect (and how much time I have) I may blend some areas for smoother areas, but in this case I've left most of it fairly rough.

I keep thinking about making my own charcoal. There are always pieces of charred wood left over from fires used to burn off tree limbs and clear ground, but I haven't played with them much. Once the weather warms up, I think I'll try my hand at making some. I have about 20 willow trees ringing the perimeter of the garden as well as three grape vines in the greenhouse, so finding suitable material isn't a problem. Just not reducing it to ash is the challenge.

Meanwhile, here is a great tutorial on how to make your own charcoal for the adventurous!

Varnishing

Little Heart's Ease
Oils 5 x 7
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Varnishing oil or acrylic paintings always seems to cause angst in people, me included. Why varnish, when to varnish, how dry is dry in oil painting, which varnish to use, how to apply it, etc., all provide confusion for artists.

I have put the finishing touches on this little painting for the exhibition on Sunday and tested it in a new frame today. For some reason, I can't get a decent photo of this painting, likely because the light was fading as I photographed it and I didn't want to chance the scanner at this point. The paint surface is dry to the touch and I wonder about varnish. I may get away with a retouch varnish and then an offer to do a full varnish in a few of months, when the paint is thoroughly dry, but it is recommended that even a retouch varnish is not used until the painting dries for a month.

My concern comes with the fact that if applied too soon, even the retouch varnish may mix with the paint itself. My other recourse - and I don't have the luxury of time - is to speed up the drying process. I am doing this with heat and the painting is now propped up before the woodstove with the blower on so that the paint surface has a chance to really dry before I try the retouch varnish tomorrow.

So why am I leaving this so late? This painting was a last minute fixer upper. I'd played around with a base coat for this a few months ago, then resurrected it last week to put it into the show on Sunday. By Easter Sunday I had to provide entry details and I gave those of this oil. Yes, I guess I could have eliminated it, but figured I could pull it off.

Varnish serves a couple of purposes for oils or acrylic paintings. It gives a protective coating for the paint surface against the environment and also brings out the colours in duller areas, brightening them.

Trueart gives some good information on the types of varnishes and their application as well as recipes for creating your own varnish.

Sanders Studios provides a great source on mediums, drying oils, resins, siccatives and diluents.

The Gamblin Newsletter from October 2003 is looks into the history of varnishing as well as the how to's.

Art forms

Waves

Creation of art takes many forms and I've often dabbled in most forms. Jewelry is one of those things that I like to play with and I've been creating some organic shapes in various wires lately. I don't start out with a pattern or idea as each piece is unique and no two are alike, even with earrings which are similar, but not identical.

Here is a pair of earrings created in steel and copper with sterling silver ear wires. All pieces are handmade. The photo was taken in artificial light and doesn't do them justice. They have a much brighter sheen in reality. The length of the earrings is approximately 2 inches, not including the ear wire.

There is something satisfying about creating your own work and knowing that it is unique. I make these available in small quantities to others who are interested in owning a unique, natural product. More designs, including organic materials such as natural stones and sea glass, are being developed and will be available in the near future.

Prices are reasonable for these earrings at just $10.00. Shipping within Canada is $2.00, the USA is $3.00 and $4.50 for international delivery. I believe that part of making art is to share it and use it. Making it inaccessible through pricing defeats that purpose. Pricing of course reflects materials used and semiprecious stones, when used, are more expensive than natural local stone. Packaging for these pieces will be recycled where possible in degradable materials, but beautiful as well. There is always beauty in simplicity.

Tonight I watched a news story about a huge piece of ice the size of the city of Montreal shearing loose in the Arctic. Global warming is a reality, as is our use of natural resources to make unnatural products. While sounding a bit like Revelations here, I believe there will come a time when these resources won't be available. Power and fuel will be scarce as food is in some parts of the world now and we will wonder what we've done to the world.

Advertising and farm life

Value Study - Tripod
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Comfy?

Tripod, the cat who should be out guarding the barn against predators assumes his usual level of vigilance on any available lap.

Lately I've had a few requests from companies asking to put paid advertising on my blog. I find this a little surprising as my blog doesn't generate high traffic, averaging 60 -70 people a day. I know very little about advertising and its impact so I won't even begin to speculate on the reasons why my blog was selected. Perhaps luck of the draw or perhaps there was a specific genre of blogs that were being researched.

I haven't succumbed to the lure of paid advertising for my blog but it made me wonder...So why are advertisers targeting blogs?

Robin Good in Online Advertising Strategies: Why Is Best To Invest In Blogs Rather Than On Large Traffic Sites

1. Your message is more visible.

2. Your message has greater viral potential (there are more referrers and linkers among bloggers)

3. Your message is more relevant by being highly contextual to the content of the blog you have selected (more niche equals more selling power)

4. Your message stands out more (no flooding of ads or genres)

5. Your message is less prone to go unnoticed (by displaying it in many blogs vs. displaying it only on one site)

I have however, agreed for Antidull to use one of my images in the next issue of their online magazine in return for a text link to their sponsor. Am I selling out? No, I don' t think so. I'm just gaining exposure in the least invasive way for myself and my blog readers. A large part of art is in sharing your view of the world with others. This is one way of doing it.

Today a mink was found in the barn (again) and it had killed four Khaki Campbell ducks and attacked most of the others before it was found and shot. I know animals are acting on instinct, but I sure do hate mink. Coyotes aren't high on my list either...

I guess I can only be happy that it didn't find its way upstairs in the barn to the 100 week old chicks under heat lamps there. Yes, we did have Easter chicks - the real thing - purely by accident. The feed store had ordered half a box of day old chicks for a children's Easter display, but had been sent 3 boxes instead. They were looking for a home for the chicks at the end of the day and were selling them at a very reduced rate. Well, you know the rest. These are broiler chicks which are designated for the food market.

Repeats

Easter Bunny II
Charcoal on Mi-Tientes 9 x 12
copyright Jeanette Jobson

I like my forays into oil but dry media always calls me back. Especially in the wee hours of the morning when sleep evades me. The little ceramic rabbit was still sitting on the table so at 5am, I drew it again.

Its an interesting process to draw the same subject over and over. Each time I see new things or notice subtle changes in light and shadow that I didn't notice before. Yes, the lighting has changed, but the subtleties are always there. I may try it again in coloured pencil next. Creating white using everything but white is such fun to do.

I'm enjoying using charcoal on toned paper and I must haul out some other hand made coloured papers in my art cupboard and see how they perform. I will also buy some other toned papers for charcoal when I get a chance. I'll be in Toronto and Ottawa in May and hope to do some stocking up then.