Portrait - Daughter on Playground

Back in the studio after a pretty long sabbatical, my first piece is a portrait of my now 4-year old playing at a local playground. I'm looking to bring more of a realistic feel than much of my other work, and started blocking it in today. I'm not sure how it will turn out but I'm looking forward to the journey.

My main concerns right now are being able to command the right values for the skin tone, and in fixing my current perspective issues. That being said, for being rusty I think I'm getting some of the feeling back!

You can see that I've worked a little more on the overhang than the rest. I am going back over the bottom third to add more of a "pull" to the foreground, and will need to do some blending and testing to try to get the skin tone right. There is a local art show in December that I would love to submit this piece to.

I chose this picture because of the life and expression in Abby's face. I absolutely love painting fleeting moments that capture happiness. Needless to say, this piece will most likely stay in my own collection if it makes it through. :-)

Katie

New Post

Just thought I'd freak y'all out a little. I'm not dead, but I've been a bit stuck in the day job (www.khboffice.com). I'll be back next week when I take stock of where my art supplies are. Above is a pic of an awesome car in New Orleans from a few years back. Thought you might think it's cool, too.

Blessings!

Poem

I am not a poet. This is just a little one I wrote this morning while drinking my coffee and trying to stretch my brain. A lot of my work is being creative and in my day job I sometimes get into an over-compartmentalized corner.When I start thinking too linearly and I have trouble spurring my imagination there are a few things I like to try...

1. Sudoku. Love this game. I have 2 puzzle books next to my bed as I write this.
2. Reading. Not just any reading...I like to mix it up with writers from many different genres. My favorite book at the moment is Stieg Larsson's Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It's on my Kindle. Reading about Lisbeth got me very interested in math, and now I'm mulling on the possibilities.
3. Poetry. It can make little to no sense but I think sometimes it's just nice to try something out of your comfort zone in order to loosen up the brain muscles... here goes this morning's effort...

A cool breeze inward comes,

Fingers of Earth touching the soul.

A gift my muse has begotten for me;

A new morning to create from inspiration's pool.

Don't laugh...it's an early effort. :-)

Katie

Lots of Stuff

Blog

Yesterday I added a new widget to the blog that pulls up the most popular posts and sticks them to the front page. Seeing my old thoughts has spurred some reflecting on how I've changed through the years. It's beautiful to see snapshots from prior years and see my family grow, as well as my craft.

Studio

Today I'm moving my studio from the room I had started to move into back into the original room I worked from. It's smaller and a little cramped but it has natural morning light (altho it's cloudy today) which I thought I could live without. I can't. I set up my easel and stuck Abby's easel right next to it. I'm not finished moving in but you can see the start. I'm ready to go back to things being simple.

Abby

I talk a lot about my daughter. Growing up my parents encouraged my creativity. Dad was an engineer and Mom worked with horses - we had a very small horse farm in Virginia. I remember being trucked back and forth to art classes but I learned a lot by myself, sitting in my bed with a sketchpad. Abby is a wellspring of inspiration to me; she reminds me to zen out when I get stressed and that there is real purpose in being able to raise her in a creative environment. She reminds me that elephants don't have to look like elephants if you are drawing them for fun - stick figures can be just as creative as portraits in realism - and that there is something really fun about paintbrushes, even if there isn't any paint on them at the time.



Abby & I yesterday waiting for a fish to bite.


-Katie