April/May Update

Here I thought I had nothing to really write about but when I sat down and started I began to realize a lot more happened in April than I thought. It happened in such small pieces each week that it felt like I had nothing going on. That’s all the time I’ve really had for my artwork for the past month is small amounts of time here and there. The kids keep me pretty busy and with warmer weather I have a lot of spring cleaning to get done in and outside the house. Let’s not forget the spring colds that circulate!

I decided not to focus on posting my blog every week for the time being because I just don’t have time for it. It usually takes me about 3-5 days to put together a blog post and I don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to it every week, right now.

For the first time ever my bookmarks are available in a real brick and mortar store! I’ve contemplated it many times but in the end always concluded it wasn’t really worth it or I didn’t have the time to get stock together etc. So I spent a good few months slowly building my stock and carefully curated an inventory I felt reflected the types of people who shop locally in our town. Many of the bookmarks can be found online on my Etsy Shop or Square Shop but there’s a bunch that are exclusive to So Divine Artisan Boutique. You can find them in her shop on the corner behind Pharmasave (across from the Library). Also known as 470 Stuart Drive West Unit #15 if you don’t understand small town directions. Not only that but you can also find them in the So Divine Artisan Boutique Website! Below are the bookmarks exclusively sold at So Divine.

While curating an inventory I was also working on a commission which ended up taking me way longer than a bookmark usually takes me to draw. I kept having to restart the face and struggled so much that at one point I thought about starting all over from scratch. I persevered and in the end had something that I didn’t feel horrible about. I felt okay taking money for it. I kept wondering why did I struggled so bad? I decided I needed to take some time to focus on relearning and brushing up on some drawing fundamentals. I thought for sure the struggle was just I’m out of practice and don’t do it enough.

When I was filling out the authentication card I realized I didn’t even know the dogs name. I always ask for extra info about the pets I draw. I ask for their name, how old they are, breeds as well as more information about their personality. I request any stories that the owner loves to tell. I want to know more about who they are as individuals because, while I can’t explain why, it just helps me capture who they are better. I didn’t ask for any of that because the woman who commissioned me sent a LOT of really good photos to choose from. I was instantly inspired by one in particular and was excited about drawing it. I really didn’t think much more about it and just assumed I was ready to draw it no problem. When I didn’t even have a name to put on the authentication card I realized my mistake right away. When she picked it up I asked what the dogs name was and she told me “Elsa”. It felt so good to put a name to the face I’d spent hours staring at. Later on she sent me this message that brought me to absolute tears. It made the whole struggle worth-while to know this story behind Elsa and my heart broke for her owner (and friends who cared about her) because I too lost my old dog very suddenly. His name was Coal and I had him from the time I was 15 until my late 20’s. Like Elsa, he was in his senior years but his death was still unexpected and heartbreaking. Below is Elsa’s story. I’ve removed names except the dear beloved Elsa’s.

While I’m sure that not having enough info about Elsa led to my struggle to draw her I still feel like it wouldn’t hurt to brush up on my drawing skills. I have, on occasion in the past, taken online art classes but it had been quite a few years now. I found a course on Udemy (The Ultimate Drawing Course) and this isn’t an ad or anything but it’s currently on sale for $25 – originally well over $100, I don’t remember and can’t seem to find the original price now. At any rate, it’s a good deal and affordable for me. It covers all the basic principals of drawing that I wanted to brush up on, and hopefully I’ll learn something new too.

I’ve accomplished one lesson so far and had posted it in my Instagram stories. I think I will continue to post the drawings from each lesson on my Insta stories, so make sure to give me a follow @slsartistry if you want to follow along with me.

I was surprised to realize I really struggle with following instructions now. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a class of any kind. It felt really weird and was oddly stressful just trying to follow along. I kept finding I would just do my own thing and then I’d realize the guy was talking and giving instructions and I’d already been doing my own thing way ahead of him. I had to slow myself down. Take my time and listen. It was surprising how that was such a struggle to do.

So far I’m enjoying it. The trouble is finding the uninterrupted time to work on it. The first lesson had me draw an eye and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. At the end of the whole course I will have to draw it again and will be able to see any improvement. I’m looking forward to really sinking my teeth in and enjoying the whole process of this course. I want to get the most out of it that I can.

Prepare a Canvas for Hanging

I should do this every time I finish a painting, but it’s not my favorite thing to do so I usually end up putting it off until I HAVE to do it and then I have a whole bunch to do at once. This was the case when I realized I needed to get most of my paintings hang ready to display at Pope Mountain Arts for November. Don’t be like me and make sure to have your paintings ready to hang as soon as you finish them! That is my number one advice.

Since most of my paintings were sitting in my studio collecting dust the first thing I had to do was clean them. I used the bread method, which I’ve raved about in the past and swear by.

Please note that I have only tried this method with acrylic paintings and don’t recommend it for other types of painting. Since I’ve never tried it on other types of paintings I can’t vouch for it’s validity.

Step 1: Have a Clean Painting

A dirty painting will scratch and smear when flipped onto it’s face to attach the hardware on the back. Make sure your table is clean and your painting is clean before you start. If your painting is fresh and brand new this may not be necessary and you can skip to Step 2. But if those paintings are needing a little TLC all you need is a piece of white bread. It is soft, porous and absorbs dirt and oil.

Our hot dog buns were getting stale so I decided to use them. It was just as effective and I think they were a bit tougher and didn’t fall apart as fast as a slice of bread does. If you’re using sliced bread I recommend using the end pieces. They are tough enough to last a few paintings and I know (at least in my family) nobody wants to eat the end pieces. Full disclaimer: it gets really messy but it is fairly easy to clean up (just sweep it up with your hand).

After watching the video you might be thinking “couldn’t you have just used the Swiffer duster to dust the painting?”. I did try that but I found it just snagged on the painting when it was dirty (but didn’t when it was cleaned) and it left streaks in the dust rather than actually removing it. The bread also absorbs dirt and oil off the painting while the duster just sort of scraped at it in a half attempt to remove the dust only. It did work great to remove the bread crumbs though.

Step 2: Measure Twice

Measure your painting from the top to figure out where to place your hardware. I have learned these things through trial and error:

Don’t measure at or below halfway. If your hardware is installed below the halfway mark your painting will hang off the wall funny. It will stick out instead of laying flat against the wall.

Make sure both sides are installed at the same height. You don’t want your painting hanging crooked either so make sure both sides are level.

Install your eye hook inside the painting frame not on the back. If it sticks out the back your painting will not lay flat against the wall.

Step 3: Attach Your Hardware

There are several different kinds of hardware you can use to string a canvas painting. I like to use a nice quality closed eye hook. There’s no chance of the wire slipping off with a closed eye hook.

You can use a drill bit to create a small hole to twist the eye hook into. I find our drill is never charged when I need it (or I can’t find it) so I usually just use a hammer to get the eye hook started and then I screw it in by hand.

Whether you leave the eye hook turned downward (like in the photo below) or facing outwards it doesn’t really matter. If you find your hook sticks out too far and compromises how the painting lays flat against the wall then you may want to turn it to face outwards so that it is flush within the frame of the canvas.

Step 4: String Your Wire

The gauge (thickness) of the wire you use will depend on what your personal preferences are and how big your painting is. I’m not sure what gauge the wire I am using is but it’s thin enough to easily bend and twist but thick enough to withstand that twisting without breaking.

Roughly measure your wire (I eyeball it) so that you have enough wire to string between both hooks without leaving the frame of the canvas. You will want to leave 1/2 – 1″ of space between the top of the wire and the top of the canvas frame. If you don’t leave that space you’ll find that your wire sticks out the top and/or the hook you are using to hang from the wall will stick out the top or push the painting forward so that it is not flush with the wall. You’ll also want to leave about an inch or so of extra wire on either end of the hook. When you string the wire through bend it backwards and wrap around itself up the wire. Before you come to the end bend it back down and wrap the rest of the way around itself going the opposite direction. This might be overkill but it’s how I like to make sure my paintings will stay hung up securely.

Once both ends are attached you can hang your painting on the wall. With this method it should hang flush against the wall. A regular picture hanging hook should do the trick to hang on a wall. You want to hang it on a hook that bends upward so that the wire doesn’t slide off.

I was getting my paintings ready to hang in a gallery which hang from a wire that comes down from near the top of the wall. This makes the paintings stick out a bit and so where the wire is placed is even more important to try to hang the painting as straight and flush as possible.

Current Project: Stephen King Bookmarks

MENU: | Available King Bookmarks | King Bookmark Portfolio |

The Stephen King bookmarks are an on-going current project. I began creating them in 2020 when I felt inspired by the Pet Sematary (2019) film poster and having read the book the summer before the book was still fresh in my mind. I knew what elements I wanted to combine from the two. After Pet Sematary had me feeling excited and accomplished I moved onto the book I had just finished which was King’s Needful Things. I knew exactly what imagery I wanted to throw into this bookmark with the significance of the sign on the door and the reflection of the fire in the glass.

After Pet Sematary and Needful Things I felt the spark to do more. Creating the bookmarks of King books I’d already read became a full on passion project. Soon I created more such as Gerald’s Game, Cell, Misery, The Dark Half, Under the Dome, The Shining, Christine, Carrie, IT (two of them, actually), Cujo, The Outsider, Thinner, The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon, Duma Key, Lisey’s Story, Revival, Rose Madder, ‘Salem’s Lot, The Stand, The Long Walk, Insomnia and two very different version of The Eyes of the Dragon. I also created a whole series of The Dark Tower bookmarks, which you’ll find more information about below.

I started reading King in my teens but I wasn’t a huge fan of his lengthy descriptions that seemed to go on forever with no point. I put King’s books down for a lot of years until 2018 when I found myself in possession of a large collection of his books that were given to me. I decided if I was going to have 60+ copies of his books I’d better start reading them. I started with some of his old classic horror like Carrie, Gerald’s Game and Cell. The further I made my way through his work the more I enjoyed it. Yeah, he still gets a bit long-winded sometimes but I’ve come to expect it and recognize it as just part of his style.

I had a lot of positive feedback on the King bookmarks I was making and it only fueled my passion for the project. The problem was I’m a really slow reader and I’ve only read a small fraction of his work. I keep collecting them and now have over 70 Stephen King books on my shelves. But I can buy them faster than I can read them. I’ve had several requests for me to make specific King bookmarks and with the exception of a few I have mostly declined if I haven’t read the book. It’s really hard to create an image about something you don’t really know anything about. The most I could do was copy something significant off the covers, Google images from the books or movies, and in the end I just didn’t like doing that. I don’t want to copy someone else’s work but I love being inspired by it.

In early 2020 I joined the Bookstagram community to help me learn more about my King books, keep track of my reading goals and meet like-minded people. I started my journey to the Dark Tower but took a break for a while to recover from how much I didn’t enjoy Wolves of the Calla. This is why you’ll find my bookmarks for the Dark Tower only go up to Wolves of the Calla.

The Gunslinger is the first book in the Dark Tower series and probably my most popular bookmark (especially when looking at the Dark Tower bookmarks).

The Drawing of the Three only made sense to create three bookmarks that each featured the unique doors the travelers go through. There have never been prints made of them and the originals reside in a private collectors home.

The Waste Lands is another set within the set and one of my personal favorites. I did make prints of this set but they are limited edition and I likely won’t make more any time soon. Put together they create one scene. On one bookmark features Engineer Bob and the other features Charlie the Choo Choo.

Wizard and Glass was a commission by a reading group called “Follow the Beam to May 2021”. About the same time I was also commissioned to create a unifying bookmark of the Dark Tower itself. While this bookmark could easily be my official Dark Tower book bookmark I consider it part of the series but it is it’s own entity and not tied directly to any specific book but rather the series as a whole.

Wolves of the Calla was the last one I read and the last bookmark I created. I love the bookmark and instantly felt inspired and knew exactly what I wanted to draw but unfortunately I wasn’t a big fan of the book.

The Stephen King bookmarks will continue to be an ongoing project until I read through all of his books or get sick of making bookmarks. Whichever comes first. To know when new SK bookmarks have been made or when prints are released keep an eye on my Instagram first (@slsartistry) and my blog second. Both of these places will announce new designs.

credit for header image: @morelikelibrarybooked

Website Launch

Scavenger Hunt Clue #2

Scavenger Hunt Closed

I’ve officially (finally) finished revamping my website! About 2 years ago I decided to overhaul the whole thing. I deleted almost all of the pages (kept my blog intact, of course!) and redid the whole concept of my portfolio (formerly known as the gallery). Every single page has been overhauled. The portfolio is what I’m most proud of. It was definitely the most work and took the longest to complete.

I never wrote my New Years goals on here this year, but one of my goals for 2022 was to finish my website so I’m pretty excited I was able to accomplish that goal only 3 months into the year! Every spare minute I had to put my laptop in front of me I’ve spent on this thing.

To celebrate (and since Easter is coming up!) I decided to do a little scavenger hunt for 20% off your total order (over $5) on my Etsy Bookmark Shop. Clue #1 starts on the welcome page but if you’re just starting here that is fine too! I hope you enjoy it, have fun, and don’t get mad at me for putting you through this!

I had so much fun putting together the scavenger hunt so please do let me know if it was something you enjoyed or if you hated it! If it’s well-received I’ll do another one in the future but if you guys didn’t have fun with it I won’t bother.

I don’t have much new art to share right now. One bookmark that I made is for Art for Ukraine. It is currently (as I write this) available and 100% of it’s sale go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. It is not currently available on my Etsy shop but you can email or direct message me on Instagram/Facebook to arrange payment and shipping if you’re interested.

The only bookmark I’ve created recently that wasn’t for Ukraine was the one for Stephen King’s Insomnia. I’ve been reading Insomnia since last July. I’m super close to finishing it but it’s been a slow process. It’s not as if I’m not enjoying the book it’s just kind of one of those King books that takes forever to get to the point and I haven’t had as much time for it since having a baby. The idea for it popped into my head one day and I knew it was exactly what I wanted for it so decided to create the bookmark before finishing the book (usually I wait).

I didn’t even get a chance to list the Insomnia bookmark on my Etsy shop before it sold to the lovely Christina (@bozzi1) who has been such a huge support since I started my shop. Thank you so much Christina for all your continued support (including listening to my mother woes haha). I truly have some of the best collectors!

How To Art: It Starts With a Sketch

How To Art

Part 1: It Starts With a Sketch

After much searching this is the earliest photo of this piece that I could find. Quite often I share my process from start to end in real-time on Instagram (follow me @sLsArtistry if you’d like to see these!) but originally I wasn’t going to share this piece because it was my first attempt at a large painting. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it. It’s difficult for me to write a “how to art” article about my process because a lot of what I do happens on a whim without much planning or thought. Some paintings I plan out more than others and I touch on this at the end of this post. This is mostly a view into my more creative process of painting. So keep in mind that this isn’t how I always paint and it doesn’t mean that this is how you should paint either. You should paint however it helps your process to create works of art!

I gather my reference photos in a variety of ways. I don’t always remember where they came from. After much searching I can’t seem to find it on their page, but I’m pretty sure this one came from Ironwood Wolves photographer Rachel Lauren. Amazing photos and an amazing sanctuary for wolves! They do fantastic work in education and I highly recommend checking out their page. All that said, I don’t use reference photos to copy the photo, I use them to guide myself on pose, texture, colours, and other details I don’t always remember from mind. I’m not copying the photo or trying to recreate their work. In the end my piece generally bares little-to-no resemblance to the original reference. If you want to take someone elses work and reproduce it as is (a landscape, for example, is something I’ve done in the past) you need to get written permission from the artist to use their photo as a reference. Most will give permission gladly, if it is something you are doing as a study. If it is something you intend to sell you need to discuss that with the original photographer, as it is their copyrighted work that you are reproducing.

Now that we’ve touched on references and copyrights a bit, let’s move on to the actual process!

For this painting I sketched my figure in paint. This isn’t something I usually do, and I had to paint over and redo a lot of it several times. This is the beauty of paint; you can always paint over it (unless you’re using watercolours, that is). I chose a quite challenging pose and it took me a while to get the front legs right.

Once I had my sketch I began to black out the background. I did this in pieces and started in the area I needed to cover up mistakes the most to focus on my final sketch of my figure. I used shades of blue as an underpaint to determine value on my wolf. This is also I process I had never tried before but have seen many times by other artists. I quickly learned I had no idea what I was doing and that maybe this is something I should try on an easier, smaller painting first. I am glad I tried it though, as I loved the way the blue looked showing through my wolf and I decided to leave several parts with blue showing through. You can learn more about this method of underpainting here: Underpainting: Why You Need To Do It. You may notice that in these posts about how I create, that my method is a little different every time. This is part of growing as an artist. It may take you years, decades or even a life-time to figure out what your style and method is. You may never figure it out! The most important thing is that you keep trying new things, keep learning and keep growing as an artist. This is something you should strive for with every single new piece.

 

Another method of sketching a painting is to paint your background and then use charcoal or pastel to sketch your figure (or in the case of landscapes; sketch your basic shapes of mountains, trees etc.). The charcoal and pastel erase easily and can even be painted over easily enough. Unless you are using charcoal or a coloured pastel and trying to paint white over top, you may find the colour blends into your paint. Take note of your colour use before you decide to paint over your sketch lines and whether they should be erased or not. I usually use white pastel on a dark background or charcoal on a light background to keep it simple and easy. I started as a graphite pencil and charcoal artist; so sketching feels more natural for me this way and this is how I usually start my paintings.

As you can see, I lightly sketched in the basic shape of the wolf as well as details such as fur, nose, eyes, the smoke and lava coming from it’s mouth. You can also sketch in shadows and highlights at this stage. Don’t over-do it though. You are not sketching your final piece at this stage and your lines should be simple and neat. You can even use different coloured pastels in order to keep track of what the different lines are for. For example, I could have sketched the fur and wolf details in white and then add the shadows with blue and highlights with pink, and use other colours such as yellow and orange to create the lava and smoke. Since I knew I’d be adding paint to canvas right away I didn’t bother with any of this because I could picture in my head what colours I was going to use next and where they would go.

 

The final method of sketching that I use is to create an original concept, make a stencil from it and then transfer the pencil to the final surface (whether it’s on specialty paper for a drawing or on canvas for a painting). This is a method that is commonly used among artists and one that I save mostly for commissions or pieces that I feel need a bit of pre-work to get them right. This method allows you to create your concept through trial and error and without ruining your good quality materials in the learning process. Once you have your final sketch it is hard to redraw it exactly the same, so transferring it using a stencil helps you keep most of those details in tact. You can find my simple method to transfer a photo HERE.

 

There are many ways to start a new painting or drawing. The methods used are as unique as the artists who create them, especially when it comes to self-taught artists like myself! My biggest piece of advice that I can offer is to keep practicing and follow other artists on social media. Instagram is a great place to find artists who post works in progress and more insight into how they create their work.

 

 

Up Next in this blog series ==> How To Art: Light and Dark