Necklaces

Sea Bed - Blue porcelain necklace

East & West - Cherry bomb quartz & jade necklace

I have company for a few days and my mother's birthday celebrations over the weekend so time will be sparse. I hope to get in the bones of a new drawing and will share that when I can.

Meanwhile here are a couple of new necklaces that I have created. If anyone is interested in purchasing them, please contact me.

Broadening my horizons

Bucket o' Duck
copyright Jeanette Jobson

This image was taken a couple of years ago when one of the Pekin ducks decided she wanted to get into a bucket of water, then got stuck. The photo op was too good to pass up before she was rescued. This will be the basis of a future drawing or painting. The image was placed in the Reference Library of WetCanvas, for members so if anyone wants to use it, please do. Or click on the photo here for a larger resolution image.

After some soul searching I have decided to bow out of doing tutorials for another art forum. They do take time to produce and while I enjoy the process, there isn't enough return for my efforts, so I am rethinking ways of using these tutorials.

While it doesn't all boil down to dollars and cents, let's be realistic, it is a large part of being an artist. So what do I want in return for sharing my knowledge?

1. Exposure of my art to a wider viewing audience
2. The opportunity to share information on techniques and mediums
3. Potential sales of existing pieces
4. Attracting potential students for drawing lessons

How can I achieve any of these objectives? Let's examine each a little more.

1. Exposure of my art to a wider viewing audience.
I had that to some degree, but the audience was limited to a fairly specific demographic of the population - complete beginners. To be able to reach a wider audience, I have to go outside of a specific framework or area and show multiple options, not just one section.

2. The opportunity to share information on techniques and mediums
I want to be able to reveal the 'secrets' of drawing and take the mystique out of it. Some artists hold it close to their chest as if mentoring others in drawing or painting will diminish their own spotlight. I want to be able to watch people learn and see them grow in ability. It really is interesting to watch the process of someone go from beginner to more advanced.

3.Potential sales of existing pieces
I have a room full of art pieces, some I sell from time to time, some sit collecting dust. They need to be out in the world, being viewed. Its the old saying revised "If an art piece isn't seen, does it exist?" Prints? Galleries? Online?

I think the majority of art sales are done either through word of mouth or through a gallery. I don't have the 15 - 20 pieces for a body of work to approach a gallery at this point, so I'm limited to marketing my work locally or to a broader audience in a virtual setting.

Prints have a limited market and need research before investing money in them. The same applies to greeting cards. These also require an investment of marketing time and dollars.

4. Attracting potential students for drawing lessons
This is a double edged sword, depending on how I approach it. I can do a form of online lessons and that frees up some of my time, with but my preference is to teach in real life. It may become a a bit of both.

Reviewing this information, it is starting to point me in the direction of a website. This has been in my plans for the last year or more, but I haven't acted on. I think it is time to do so. It can be a showcase for my art and a teaching tool as well. I will have to do more research into how I can work both into a good site.

It seems I have some work to do in terms of designing the site and considering what the content will be. Does anyone have any well designed artist websites that they recommend I can review and experiences, good and bad with creating your own website?

Farm life

Its been another very warm and humid day and all the animals feel the heat and are a bit cantankerous. The pigs however, seem serene and if anything, smiling. Their pen was cleaned out and new sawdust put down so they were rolling around it, happy as ....well pigs! This is the second group of pigs that were raised and they are approaching the 200 pound mark. Off to market in a few more weeks. Yes, boys and girls, remember where your food comes from...

I visited the vegetable garden when I got home from work today to find a cow and calf moose had wandered through likely the night before, trampling several plants and munching on some beet leaves. They came in through the gate, so I guess its time to add yet more fencing to the little garden.

I also discovered that deer flies are attracted to blue, so a blue bowl plastered with a sticky fly trap and set on a pole in the field worked wonders for the horrible insects, catching 5 or 6 in the first couple of hours.

I really hate deer flies. They are so persistant in flying around your head trying to bite and if they do bite, its painful. They can easily drive me indoors while doing a dance in the field trying to get them away from me.

I've been playing with watercolours a little more, but am not pleased with my efforts. Its too washed out. I need to be bolder with watercolours but never seem to for fear of overpowering the piece. I'll keep trying. After all, I have 3 pads of watercolour paper to get through before I can buy something new....

Gina at Dogberry Hill Studio has given me a Brilliant Weblog award and I agreed to forward it. Thanks Gina! Its always lovely when someone goes to the trouble of choosing another artist or craftsperson to shine a spotlight on.

As with all awards, there is a process to keep it moving which is:

• When you receive the award, post the award image to your blog.
• Link to the blogger you received it from.
• Give the award to 7 other blogs and link to those blogs.
• Leave those seven bloggers a comment about receiving the award.

My nominees are....

Stacy Rowan
Rose Welty
Teresa Mallen
Chanan Mazal
Marsha Robinett
Steve Chipman
Laurel Neustadter

There is a variety of talent and ability in all of these artists in both artistic effort and being able to paint a picture in words in their blog.

Virtual Sketch Date image

Sunquats
Carbon pencil and white charcoal on mi-tientes 5 x 7
copyright Jeanette Jobson

* I've changed the original image here as it was a digital photo and didn't truly represent the paper colour. This is the scanner version and is much closer to the real life image.

Sunquats was the subject for the July Virtual Sketch Date and the reference was supplied by Leslie. I had never heard of sunquats before this but a llittle research shows that they are a cross between a lemon and a kumquat, with edible rind, like a kumquat. Somehow I doubt I'll ever see them here.

I have to say I struggled a bit with the image, starting out with coloured pencil then abandoning it. Still life subjects don't usually hold my interest, especially fruit and flowers, but in the spirit of the VSD I thought I'd have another try.

This time I did a tight crop of the photo then using the smooth side of an orangish toned Mi-tientes paper I used carbon pencils and a touch of white charcoal to complete the piece.

It really is good for me to go outside my usual genre. I know I can do it, I just choose not to most of the time as the subjects don't interest me as much as people or animals do. However, once I have done a piece outside my comfort zone, it is satisfying, as if I've crossed another hurdle.

We never stop learning.

The stash diet

This moose track was found in the field after some rain we'd had. The moose have been so frequently wandering across the planted field that barriers and electric fences have had to be erected to keep them from trampling/eating plants.

My art cupboard is burgeoning under the weight of art supplies. Papers that I haven't touched, well, except to fondle in passing. New sets of pencils that have barely been sharpened that sit in pretty tins waiting to be used. Canvases, paints, gesso, brushes, books, magazines, the list goes on. And I'm sure I'm not the only one in this situation.

I draw regularly - daily - and I use mostly a few sketchbooks and some larger stock paper. My main tool for drawing is a mechanical pencil (and yes, I have a half dozen of those too) yet I go to an art supply store and come out with something else. Or I see something new in an art forum or online supply store and I want to try that.

So I've decided that I'm going on a diet. A stash diet.

From now until 2009 I will not buy any new art supplies, but only use what is in my stash. The only exception will be if I run out of a staple, such as basic paper or a sketch book (like that will happen she says). I will make a dent in the supplies in my cupboard. I wonder what's in there these days? Let's see....well a quick look shows me what's there in paper.

4 pieces of smooth Illustration board
Bristol plate 500 & 400 pads
A pad of Canal paper
At least three pads of Bristol vellum and smooth
A roll of white Stonehenge paper
Somerset paper
A pack of Colourfix paper
Ampersand panels
Sanded Sabretooth paper
three watercolour pads
scads of canvas panels and stretched canvasses
and more......

I think I have some work to do - or hold a garage sale? Confession time. Do you dare reveal what's in your art supply stash?

Does anyone else want to join my stash diet? The rules are simple.

1. Work only with the supplies you currently own until December 31, 2008.
2. Do not buy ANY other art supplies between now and January 2009.
3. The only exception to rule # 2 is if you are COMPLETELY out of basic supplies such as general drawing paper (or whatever your main support is), your favourite pencil has died or the dog crunched up the last of your only Alizarin Crimson oil paint tube. (but I suspect you have another tube stuffed away somewhere don't you?)
4. You may wander in art supply stores in real life and online, but you cannot buy anything. Remember you are reducing your stash. Doing this, of course, can be a form of mental and physical torture so wander wisely.
5. As an added incentive, you can put away a little cash each week so that by the time January rolls around, you can hit the sales for new art supplies! I'm aiming for about $10 a week. That would give me about $220 to play with in January. And a much reduced art supply stash at home.

Sport and art

This is a quick line drawing of a Canadian international lifesaving sport competitor in a beach race events. I love the lines and movement sketches of athletes provide. With the Olympic Games coming up in a couple of weeks, its prime sketching time, sitting watching the competitors in various sports and trying to capture the motion.

The work I do deals with both humanitarian and sport aspects of non profit work. The sport is lifesaving. Lifesaving sport is sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee and is unique because it is the only sport in which skills are learned for humanitarian purposes and only then applied to competition.

Lifesaving sport is divided into six different disciplines including; pool events, ocean events, Simulated Emergency Response Competition (SERC), Stillwater boat competition, surf boat competition and the inflatable rescue boat (IRB) competition. With this type of diversity it is easy to understand why this sport has been deemed the most demanding multi-discipline sport in the world.

This week - July 19 - 27, 2008 - is National Drowning Prevention Week in Canada. The week is designed to draw attention to the drowning problem across the country and to encourage Canadians to stay safe in, on and around water.

Revisiting a portrait - 18 years later

Draft portrait - Robert William Barber
16 x 20, oil on panel
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Ok, I have that watercolour/self portrait thing out of my system for the moment. Now I need to concentrate on some other projects, one of which are some test illustrations for my daughter's wedding invitations.

I haven't been given a lot of direction in what they want as the backdrop for the invitations, except for ideas for an old sepia map of Newfoundland or coastal scenes in blues. I'll work on a few test pieces and see if anything appeals to them.

I found a 16 x 20 oil portrait that I started of my father before he died, which was 1990. I had the bones of it in place, but then he died and it got pushed to the back and I had more or less forgotten about the portrait until I unearthed it last weekend.

I would like to finish it, but haven't got the reference image that I used for the original piece. I'm hoping that with what I have done so far and some other photos or him, I can make it work. The background was toned with black - I need to lighten that and bring in some other colours so it won't be so stark. Its also difficult to get a good photo of the portrait with that very dark background. I'll try again tomorrow with better lighting to capture the composition and overall feel of the piece as it currently exists.

First cuppa

First Cuppa (adjusted)

I adjusted the shadows in this piece as the scan below just didn't reflect the depth of values and was washed out. These colours are now very similar to the real life version of the sketch. I also adjusted the hairline, bringing it further down the forehead. Its still not perfect, but its better.

First cuppa
watercolour pencils, 9 x 12 140lb watercolour paper
copyright Jeanette Jobson

This is the last watercolour of the early morning trio. My cup of coffee to start my day in a giant anniversary Tim Horton's mug.

I'm not happy with the scan of this and can't seem to tweak the colours into good behaviour. I've also muddied the colours a bit. I wanted pure simple colours without too many adjustments but that didn't quite happen, so this may be a do over some other time. Watercolour can be one of the most difficult mediums to master and I am definitely no expert in it, but I enjoy seeing what I can coax out of the paper.

I rushed putting this together and the proportion isn't quite correct. I don't like the hand position and the shading isn't right in a lot of areas. But its only paper and always good practice to keep on trying.

8AM

8AM
Watercolour pencils, 9 x 12 140lb watercolour paper
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Another sunny morning and another self portrait. And no, I still haven't found my set of watercolours. I used the watercolour pencils once again and added a few graphitint pencils too.

Every portrait that I do of myself seems to look entirely different but I enjoy the process, even if I am not always entirely pleased with the end result. I'm in the mood to experiment with colours in portraits and see what I can get away with but that will still be representational.

Its quite amazing how viewer's eyes 'read' unorthodox colours and accept them as representing the form they expect to see. Is it shape that is recognizable and the colours are ignored or is it the values not the colours that create the form?

6 AM

6AM

Staedtler watercolour pencils, 9 x 12 watercolour paper
copyright Jeanette Jobson

I had to a meeting for work this morning and was up early. The sun was streaming through the window and I captured the bright light and shadow in a portrait using the web cam as my 'mirror'.


Later this afternoon, I decided I'd try my hand at watercolour. I searched the house for my pan set of watercolours. Could I find it? Nooooooooo. So I settled begrudgingly for a set of 12 Staedtler watercolour pencils. I don't often use w/c pencils except for sketches. I find they don't always dissolve completely and I can still see the pencil strokes on the paper despite my efforts with water and brushes.

So my colours were limited and some colours a little unorthodox, but I kind of like that effect. The viewer's right arm isn't correct. I need to make that far line diagonal, not straight to reflect the angle of the pose, otherwise it makes the arm look artificially wide. I find that with watercolours, it isn't ise to go back and make too much in the way of changes as it can lose the freshness of the original layers.

Drawing at the end of the day

The Ravine
graphite & coloured pencil 5 x 8
copyright Jeanette Jobson

My time for drawing has been limited lately so I've started to make little sketches once I've gone to bed at night. These are of anything and everything. Some take a few minutes and some take 30 minutes if I start putting in details. Either way, I have been putting something on paper each night.

Most of these images are from things I have seen during the day or something from my imagination that I try to recreate. This sketch is a bit of both. It is partially based on a place that I've been and the colours and some features have been enhanced. This isn't the usual me as most often I need a subject in front of me or a reference image to be able to achieve detail in a drawing. I like seeing how much I remember about a subject, then check the reality of it the next day or simply see how far away I can get from the real thing in another drawing.

Its fun to let my mind run loose at the end of the day and I'll continue this exercise for awhile and see where it leads me.

Virtual Sketch Date

I can't remember if I've shared this drawing or not previously. I was looking through old drawings and found this one. I remember the drawing and the model well, even parts of the conversation of that night in the life class. The model was Pip. The setting was the studio of Tom Greenshields on the farm in Hawkchurch in Devon. The year was...I'd say 1981 or 82. Time does indeed fly.

Its that time again when we start another Virtual Sketch Date. This was the original idea of Rose Welty back in April when she contacted me to become involved in a project that would provide each other with some drawing opportunities, using the same reference image.

Well, it got very popular and now it has its own blog where the reference images are stored and the participating bloggers links are listed at the end of the event.

July's VSD reference be posted on Friday July 18th and you have one week to draw the reference image and post it on your blog. All drawings must be posted on Saturday, July 26th and the summary of all drawing links will be completed on Sunday July 27th. There isn't a limit to how many individuals participate, but you must let me know if you do, so that your drawing can be viewed and your blog listed.

About Virtual Sketch Date

The blog was set up to help administer monthly virtual sketch dates. Once a month a group of artists band together and draw from the same reference image for a week. At the end of the week, each artist posts their image on their blog. A post will be put up on the VSD with links to all participants' entries.

Want to join?
1. Once a month, when the reference image is posted, leave a comment to let us know that you are participating.
2. Sketch from the image
3. On the "date day" post your sketch on your blog.
4. The next day there will be a post here with links to all the participants entries.

Guidelines for Virtual Sketch Date Reference Images

• * All photos must be "suitable for work"
  
• * No camera phones
• * No blurry images
• * Natural light is preferred to using a flash

* Resolution must be at least 800px by 600px (higher resolutions uploaded to Flickr are greatly appreciated)

Relaxing

A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him. - William Lyon Phelps

This photo kind of makes you rethink that quote doesn't it?

Tripod loves his bed more than food almost, but when he gets too hot in it, he can't decide which is better, the floor or the bed so this is the result. He's done this 'play dead' look before on a warm day. Remember this shot last August?

Apply heat and you have a collapsible cat who sleeps so soundly that nothing wakes him except picking him up body and bones.

I've been playing around with clouds and charcoal lately. I ran out of coloured paper except for this brownish grey one. I finally went out and bought some new paper in various shades of blue on Saturday but I was too far into this one at that point to want to do it all over again. I'll try another cloud on the blue later.

Needs

Tripod snoozing
graphite sketch 11 x 14
copyright Jeanette Jobson

The cat likes nothing more than a lap to sit on and a hand to stroke him. At that point he goes into zen meditation I think, accompanied by purring loud enough to rattle the teacups.

Drawing and painting lately is a bit of an effort for me. Maybe its the heat that causes the malaise. I have the tools and the time to do this, but inclination or inspiration flags a bit. I also consider this blog and wonder what to write to fill the space. I don't want to write simply for the sake of writing, but abandoning it into its two and a half year life seems rather pointless too.

I have so many ideas whirling in my head, I need to closet myself away and make myself put things on paper. I have stepped down from an art association that I was with and am considering a couple of other options. I want to be part of a group that inspires and challenges me at the same time. I want to work towards an exhibition of my work and know that will take at least a year to produce a body of work. And I know that I need those people around me who will push me towards that goal, not impede my progress. I need, I need... The only way to meet my needs is to face them head on and just make them reality.

Shaded ducks

Shaded ducks

Rapidograph pen, Pentalic sketchbook 8 x 5
copyright Jeanette Jobson

On warm days like today, the ducks find a shady spot under a tree to have their siestas. I was sitting on the front step late this morning, having my coffee and thought I'd do a quick sketch of them resting.

I haven't used my Rapidograph for awhile and the first one I picked up didn't work. Sometimes they can be a little tempermental but it may have just dried a little and needs cleaning. The finer nibs are more prone to clogging, but I do prefer them.

I found my favourite ducks, B.D. and Buddy in a newly found shady spot. They usually lurk under the rhododendron bush or behind the steps to the house, but today they found a temporary spot.

Estate planning for artists

Jimi Hendrix
graphite , 11 x 14 on Canson
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Many visual artists joke that their work will only be valuable once they are dead. And unfortunately, that often is the case. We all seem to value something more when we know the source no longer exists.

As an artist with less years in front of me than behind, I sometimes do a little introspective thinking and wonder what will happen to my art when I am dead. That may sound morbid, but in reality its quite practical to consider this and to make plans for my art while I'm alive and have the mental faculties to think rationally. We chronical the times in which we live through our art. It would be the logical thing to do the plan what happens to those valued pieces after our death. Recent delves into family history bring home to me the need for accurate records, dates and information to enable individuals in the future to track history.

How will I manage my estate? To be honest, I'm only just seriously thinking about it now and researching exactly what I need to do to ensure it lives into the future and is not collecting dust in a basement or attic in a relative's house somewhere. I need to rewrite a will and ensure that it becomes the document that gives me a little immortality despite my mortality.

Here are a few starting points to get you thinking about your art and where you want it to go when you are no longer here.

• Create an inventory of your art works.

Some of us have that already, some have partial lists or don't keep lists up to date. It is important to have a record of your pieces, including any relevant information about them, such as size, medium, date completed, title and, if it was sold or gifted and to who and the price if sold.

• Define copyright of your art pieces

Copyright can be flexible and you may choose to leave a painting to one person and copyright to a painting to another. You may want to give a gallery copyright to reproduce your work in exhibition catalogues or make postcards from it. You can control reproduction of your work through copyright licensing.

• Make a will

Many people mistakenly believe that having a will is not a priority. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, a will is probably the most important document you will ever write.

If you die without a will, the province in which you live will decide how to distribute your estate.

You can dispose of any of your property in your will, from major assets such as buildings or trust funds to your personal possessions and, of course, your art. Specific bequests can be made to non profits, personal friends or other relations. The benefits of having a will ensure that disputes will not occur over property or personal asset distribution and that your wishes are maintained.

Suggested reading

Where There's a Will - Estate planning for artists. This is a comprehensive document (55 pages!) about planning your estate, your will, copyright etc. It is Australian, but the information is very broad based.

Visual Artist's Guide to Estate Planning - The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation

Checklist for Planning Your Art Estate - ArtBusiness

Let Professionals Manage the Art

Estate Planning for Artists - the Crafts Report

Senior Artists Initiative

Finally, do you want to know how long you'll live? Well, there are many variables including lifestyle, diet, exercise, external environment, etc.

The Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator uses the most current and carefully researched medical and scientific data in order to estimate how old you will live to be. Most people score in their late eighties... how about you?

My calculated life expectancy is 94. I guess I have 40 years of drawing left to do...

Heat

Summer heat
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Its been a very warm week here, even by Newfoundland standards with the temperature rising to 31C. I have air conditioning at work which makes it almost too cool at times so that I need to bring a sweater with me or go outside to warm up from time to time. When leaving the office, the heat hits you like walking into a sauna. However, I'm not complaining. I love heat and hate being cold, so each warm day is a bonus for me.

The heat makes all the animals cranky, especially Tripod, the cat who spends his days following people around, meowing loudly about how hot he is to anyone who will (or won't) listen. It becomes very trying at times as he has what I call his 'outdoor voice" that he uses both outdoors and indoors. At 4:30am, its not a nice sound to be woken to, so he spends the nights outside now where its cooler and he usually goes to the greenhouse and snoozes the night away in a cardboard box full of landscape fabric. So much for the mighty hunter...

I haven't done a lot of drawing this week, as I'm concentrating on getting some tutorials finished. While this involves drawing, I also have a lot of writing to put together as well. They usually go hand in hand with some overlaps when I get caught up in the drawing mode and forget to scan at critical junctures!

I've put in some more time on the Jimi Hendrix portrait and am worrying the hand right now. When someone said 'that's an interesting walking stick he's got' I knew I was on the wrong path with the hand. So I had to redo that and am now building values to bring some depth to the piece. I am considering a background, but haven't decided what or if it will be. Perhaps it should be just him floating in space. I don't know. If I have a background for a piece I usually try to put it in first and work the figure into it so the values are correct. It always looks a little odd when its added after the fact. I'll use some tracing paper and look at some options for backgrounds, but I'm not spending a lot of time on this - at least not right now.

Portrait update

Jimi Hendrix - update

graphite 11 x 14 on Canson
copyright Jeanette Jobson


It's funny how most people love the dead, once you're dead your made for life.
Jimi Hendrix

I've had the song 'Fire' in my head ALL day long after posting the video clip last night. But there could be worse things to be stuck in there.

I've done a little more on the Hendrix portrait. I've used crosshatching for most of this drawing. Hatching and crosshatching fill a lot of people wiith fear, but I just love the technique. In the initial stages it always looks odd and its not til you really start getting the values in place that you see it coming together. When its at this strange stage is when people abandon hope and bail out usually.

My Skooba Skin laptop case has arrived and I still haven't decided on a design for it yet. These bags can be decorated in any way I want, using permanent markers, paints, glued on decorations, stencils, pens, airbrush, needlework or anything else that is suitable for use on fabric. Decisions, decisions...Jimi Hendrix?? Nawwwww

Woodstock 1969

Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970)
11 x 14, graphite on Canson
copyright Jeanette Jobson

In 1969, I was fifteen and a huge Jimi Hendrix fan, much to my parents dismay. I had my bedroom walls covered in Hendrix posters and listened, enraptured to songs like All Along the Watchtower and one of my favourites, Fire. 1969 was also the year of Woodstock - "bunch of hippies..." my father would mutter, as scenes of it filtered through to the news.

I still like Jimi Hendrix music and this morning when the geese decided to do the dawn chorus at 5am, I started a portrait of him.

Here's a little trip back in time to Woodstock and one of the world's greatest guitarists. Enjoy!