I saw a bit of art, made a bit too. But mostly, I did some thinking, which is hard to show. How did you do this week? Hopefully you have more to show than me!

Viewing

After an inital, failed attempt (it’s hard to catch a bus when an important march is blocking the streets, but your map software doesn’t tell you!) I made it to Gallery Jones.

I first spotted the gallery at the Seattle Art Fair several years ago, and have followed them on social media ever since.

They have a wonderful group show up: the work I saw is only part one! For their twentieth anniversary, they are first showing local artists from their roster; next up are the farther-flung and international folks.

As a bonus, I then discovered that Paul Kyle Gallery was just upstairs! I haven’t been following them as long, but picked them up as part of tracking one of their artists, Diedre Hofer.

Both galleries were warm and welcoming, and the outing, once I could catch a bus, most appreciated.

Well, it appears I’m not out of the woods yet with grids and careful adjustments. The first part of the next lesson in watercolor was a value card.

Now, I am not particularly proud of these cards! The color wasn’t dark enough, the gradations aren’t even. I did have fun going from light to dark on one, dark to light on the other.

Did that help? Nah, not really. But it’s all helping me get a feel for how much paint to use, and when.

A nice trick that might help in general: the instructor recommends punching a hole in each rectangle, for use as a viewer. Since I normally have to convert images to B&W to see value, that might be a shortcut.

Meetings & Making

With a long weekend making for a short week, I only managed two online art meetings. But boy, are they good for occupying the squirrely part of my brain that would otherwise fuss about the art. It’s very freeing to compose while conversing!

This piece got a palette change and a new layer with some enticing scribbles right up the middle.

Everything I work on lately is being evaluated against my proposed series, based on an aerial point of view. If I add enough of a grid feel, some notation or navigation, and contain the palette a bit, does it help the piece to fit in with the rest? Many times, yes; one piece this week definitely didn’t fit the schema and shall remain unseen, to await its fate elsewhere.

I’ve now got almost 3 dozen options for this series; time to winnow down.

The question is, always, how? I think I’ll start by handing out star ratings afresh. Wish me luck!

Seeing

I’m feeling some pressure to move that large set of pieces forward (the completion urge, so strong!) so going out to capture images seems like a distraction. But sometimes, they’re just right in front of you!

As always, the camera I have with me is the best choice, but to up the game a little, I did place my serious camera on the table by the patio door, and was able to grab those amazing sunrise colors. It feels good to see a few new images coming in, distraction or not.

Revising

Between composing and viewing, I gave some more thought to my artist statement, which can range from multiple paragraphs down to just a tag line. I’m trying out some feedback on being less specific, or rather, more encompassing, than “digital collage”. What about:

Modern Mixed Media

Well, for alliteration, it’s a winner, at least? I will continue to revise, consider, and edit. How was your creative week?

Previous Week