Thawing Out

My goodness, I certainly slacked off on my blog! I didn't realize that the last time I had posted was New Year's. Today, I spent time getting my website back together, because I was told I needed to get my "public face back in place." I had been avoiding my website for quite some time, as it never seemed like the right time to work on it. I could always find something I'd rather do... like advance mathematics or scrubbing the bathroom.

Still, my site, www.KWilsonStudio.com, is finally done!

Life, well, life is about the same as it was around New Year's. We are still waiting on an offer for our house. While we didn't get slammed with snow like the folks in Boston did, we got plenty along with just awful temperatures. There were mornings it was -33F with -60F windchill. One such morning, I had to go out and use the snowblower on the driveway at 4AM. Within minutes, even through thick gloves, my fingers started burning and aching! That kind of cold is a whole other kettle of fish when it comes to winter. So, with the weather being so hostile, it's not really a shock that people haven't been looking at houses for sale. No one was. Heck, going to the grocery store was tough!

We finally had a showing last weekend, but they wanted a one-level house. *sigh* Oh well, Spring is around the corner and people WILL be out and about again! We've also signed a contract to build a house, which means I know where I'll be living in August! Yay! (plus it didn't require that we sell this one yet, so we have time.)

My husband had been gone since New Year's also, but he flew back to surprise me for my 40th birthday at the end of February. I took this picture on my birthday, because I took one last year too:

me, 40!

But you know, while I like the picture... I'm a lot goofier (and more wrinkled) in person. I think these "selfies" really don't represent how we really are (translation: I can be kind of pretty if I'm not breathing and the camera is juuuuust right - but that's not real life.) My daughter takes pictures of herself all the time, and I just don't get it (but she's goofier in real life too, so that makes me feel a little better!)

Well, at least I've been getting some work done in the studio.

"Barry" 3x3 inches

I gave this one to my son.

"Hush" based off the Grimm tale, the Six Swans (12x18 inches)

My valentine's day, digital painting

I'm also working on the White Queen from Through the Looking Glass, a commission piece for a client. I admit, I've been struggling with a touch of avoidance here too, but it's finally going.

All sketched out (16x20):

Where I was at as of last night:

I'm really looking forward to my new studio in our next house, rather than working wherever I can here because my studio is filled to the brim with supplies and NO room for me. I think it'll help my productivity to have it all sorted like that, rather than my easel next to my bed, or a painting on the kitchen table and always in the way. Life gets in the way, true, but the way things are now I seem to be getting in Life's way as well!

I hope everyone is well!

Year-end Wrap-up

Per my tradition that I started a few years ago, I have constructed my Painting Quilt for 2014. This is simply creating a big square space and plugging in all the paintings from the year into one spot. It's a nice way to see what I have completed in a year's time, not to mention to be able to see some growth.

It might look like a lot to some, but I fear it's actually far below what I had hoped for this year. Oh, and I realize it's got this one in it that I forgot to mention that I finally finished by request right before Christmas:

Eye Spy, 9x12 chalk pastel on pastel paper. Original sold, prints available.

This and the little dwarf with the spoons represents my experimentation with chalk pastels. Chalk was something I did a lot with in high school, but not professionally. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with this medium, or if I'm going to abandon it. I imagine I'll work a bit more with it here and there, likely for the auction groups I work with on Facebook now and again.

Looking at my quilt, I can honestly say that I didn't complete anywhere near what I had set out to do. I looked up my post for last year and my big plan was to work on more large and in-depth paintings. I had such plans! ARGH! Instead, while I did finish the Queen of Hearts, as far as any large and in-depth paintings... I didn't do anything else. I'm pretty disappointed in myself on that level.

However, what I do see in my quilt, beyond experimenting with pastels, is a foray into digital art (bottom left corner) that I had been tiptoeing around for a long time. I had been thinking a lot about buying a real tablet (like a Cintiq) and trying my hand at digital art. To test out how I would do with that, I bought myself a Waccom pen for my ipad and the Art Studio app, which works a lot like photoshop. Those digital paintings resulted in a few that I really ended up loving like this one:

"Star Gazing" prints available

But I also realized that dropping major money on a high end tablet for digital art just isn't for me. I know that digital art always looks crisper on merchandise, and I'll probably create a few a year just for fun (and probably all having a bunny, rabbit, or bumblebee in them), but that I don't need to invest money in a big-time piece of equipment. The main reason is that I'm simply an artist who likes to get her hands dirty.

I like being able to see what I can create digitally, but I'm not drawn to it like I am a rack of paint on the wall and a stack of canvases. There's something about having the actual material beneath my fingers that I just need. So, I'll create my silly and fun digital work here and there (especially if I'm traveling or stuck somewhere), but my main focus will still be traditional work. I think realizing that about the digital artwork was a big accomplishment for 2014. It ticked one of those major questions off my artist bucket-list.

What I also see is a resurgence in my surreal side. I initially started professionally selling as a surreal and abstract artist, and then I kind of abandoned it for the fairy tale work. I realized a while ago that I need both, and I have begun to embrace that whole-heartedly. One of my very favorite paintings from 2014 is this one:

"Sail Away" 8x10 acrylic on canvas (original and prints available)

I had long been dreaming about a figure series where the character brings night with her. Honestly, I think I have been dreaming about this series since I was in high school. Finally, it just bubbled to the surface for a prompt, and I've completed two this year (the other being the black and white "Forward" painting.) Those two are the tiniest tip of the iceberg for me, and there will be many (MANY) more coming.

Looking forward to 2015 I see (and hope and plan):

• The Nyx series (night bringer) in both acrylic and oils
• Finishing out Alice if I can, I've been commissioned do many more paintings including the White Queen and Queen Alice which I am already started on and will be sharing that shortly. These are exclusively acrylic
• Red Riding Hood (and possibly others), and a return to oils
• A few more minis here and there because they're fun, in acrylic, watercolor, and possibly oils - but trying to not get sucked into them and have them take away from the larger pieces
• An Alice in Wonderland Calendar, and possibly a surreal one for 2016
• Creating a yearly Christmas painting that I offer as Christmas cards, as I did this year

I think if by the time I am putting together next year's quilt, I have less work but more in-depth pieces, I will be satisfied with that. So, here's to a very illuminating 2014, and I hope a more satisfying 2015!

Summer Break Is Here!

Happy Monday, and yay for my second on-time post! (I almost forgot, it's the first real day of summer vacation here for the kids, and my brain is all off schedule!)

I did a few more digital drawings, and I have decided the dragon and the bumblebee are permanent fixtures:

But then I got a request for a rabbit and a duckling. I started working, and got all messed up with a physical watercolor and had to walk away from it.

And then did this quickly:

I really, REALLY did NOT like how this bunny came out at all. So the next day I made it a mission to make a cuter bunny. I'm happy with the results:

I LOVE this one... I'll be making prints of this one

Isn't that SOOOOO much better? Also, I really love the moon and stars. I find daytime paintings tougher.

Then I took a couple days because I burned out. I also couldn't figure out what my bunny would fly off in, and that held things up too. I had originally envisioned a soup can, but then realized that would be far too small. Then I thought it would have to be a coffee can, but that would look stupid. And then I thought... popcorn!

Popcorn just works, doesn't it? So I plan on doing more with the popcorn balloon adventure, but it was Father's Day the next day, so I did this:

Which I also ended up loving. I didn't know how it would turn out, but it came out nicely. I am doing all of these large enough and in high enough resolutions that I can actually have prints made, and so I'm picking the best of the bunch and getting some made of those in a week or two. So far, I like this one, the bunny on the moon and two others I think. The rest? Eh, not so much.

Anyway, while I had fun doing these and I plan on doing more, I realize I have completely lost sight of my original intention to make these fast sketches so I can jump into the studio on my other work. Part of that is a natural obsessiveness that comes with learning something new - and learning how to work digitally is definitely new! Another part comes from just spending far too much time on what were supposed to have been fast sketches. These digital pieces took a whole working day in some cases, just like a traditional painting. When that happens, I don't have much time or energy left for the stuff I was actually supposed to have been getting to.

So, if I can't lighten it up? I don't know how I'll do a daily sketch or illustration. My thinking is that if I force it onto paper, I'll have to lighten it up. Paper that I can't paint on or use pastels or something effectively. Just pencil. Quick, cute, and to the point is what I need to do! I also think I need to get a sketch-day ahead of myself so I can post on time.

Anyway... I've been in digital land all week! This week, I have to go back to the basics because I have deadlines.

In other news, my children are home and already concerned about being bored. It's been... two hours since they would have been in school. This could be a long summer!

Going Digital... A little bit

Yay, my first on-time Monday post!

I started using my iPad to start off with the daily sketches goal. I'm alternating between ArtRage and ArtStudio, and I'm finding there are benefits to each. But I'm sticking more with ArtStudio. I have also found that I love layers. Layers always bothered me before, because as traditional artists we work with one surface and pile it on (in layers or not, but that's the way it works.) Digitally, if you do that it becomes like finishing a painting in one solid go without letting anything dry (which can get muddy.) Thus, layers is like letting the layers of paint dry so you don't mess them up! I suddenly LOVE layers! Plus, you can go back and add things later, and you certainly cannot do that in the real world!

Anyway, I think I finally hit on a good exercise for me to get my art brain cells up-n-at-'em! So, I'm definitely going to be shooting for a daily sketch. That being said, I'm casting about trying to figure out a character. I was leaning towards a griffin, but then I ended up with a dragon for my first one:

"Hanging"

I really like the way he came out, but I'm not certain that this is going to be my main little character. We'll see what develops of course...

Another dragon for the second, but different:

"Little Spring Shower"

I'm not too thrilled with the dragon in this one, but I love how the water all came out. It was SO easy to draw it, and I actually thought it was going to be trickier for some reason. I'm not sure why.

I'm noticing that everything is brighter on my iPad, but the finished image comes out darker online. I have this problem with my paintings too. I'll paint them so they're great under a light, but far too dark in normal lighting conditions. I was surprised to have this same problem in the digital world.

Third day:

"New Neighbor"

I fell in LOVE with the bumblebee. I don't know why, but I just love him. Maybe it's because they're outside in droves right now:

My lilac bush. Butterfly and Bumble hanging out.

So, I did another with a bumblebee!

I'm calling this one "...What?"

I think it's clear I'm doing a dragon character. But now, I know I'm definitely doing a bumblebee too!

I guess I need names for the two of them...

Anyway, for my first digital paintings/drawings, I think they came out pretty good! I think I'm going to switch to paper for a bit to see if I can't get myself to move faster. I've spent hours and hours on each of these, and the real intention was to really spend a maximum of up to two.  Ooops. But I learned a lot!

I hope everyone has a great week!