Don't Carpet Your Rut #2

Any form of repetition can be a rut: technique, subject matter, perspective, lighting or paint colors.  The quote, “Don’t carpet your rut”, reminds me not to get too comfortable doing the same thing. Painter’s can get in a rut because we want a successful outcome every time. Anything that’s repetitive is playing it safe. If you want to grow it means you have to take a risk. The risk can be large or small. 

If you find yourself in a creative rut…start climbing out! I begin by thinking, What if? How many ways can I sketch or paint a subject differently? The answer is countless.

The more effort and imagination I put into exploring a new approach the better the experience will be. The object can be quite simple.  The images don't need to be very big, 4x6 or 5x7 inches will do. I sketch the subject numerous times mixing drawing and painting techniques. This is a great way to explore new ideas by investing a small amount of time.

Pens: Bamboo Reed, Fountain, Disposable, Ballpoint…

Ink: waterproof , soluble, colored…

Drawing Tools: Pencil, Charcoal, Markers, Brush…

Papers: Watercolor (cold or hot press, rough) pastel paper, Japanese papers…

Paint Colors: Regular Palette, Triads, Tonal, Warm or Cool… 

Painting Techniques: wet-into-wet, flat or graduated washes, glazing…

The examples are numbered in order completed. Each drawing took less than 3 minutes and were painted in 10 minutes or less. For me it is important to keep the exercises quick and fun.

#1 Drawn with a bamboo reed pen dipped in liquid watercolors. Painted with regular palette of Daniel Smith Watercolors.

#2 Drawn with a fountain pen dipped in sepia waterproof ink. Value study with sepia pencil and painted with Lunar Black.

#3 Drawn with pencil. Painted with regular palette and Payne’s Blue Gray. The new Payne’s Blue Gray mixed beautifully to create rich glowing darks in the background.

#4 Drawn with a fountain pen with blue waterproof ink. Painted with the 8 new colors from Daniel Smith.  I love putting these new colors to work!

Now it’s your turn. Once you start, you’ll see endless possibilities. I’m sure you can add a few of your favorites to the list! See more examples here.

Happy Sketching! 

Brenda

Fear of Failure

It's easy to fall into a creative rut. It happens when you do the same thing over and over, and over, and over…  Any form of repetition (subject matter, technique, color…) can be the kiss of death to creativity. If you're worried about painting a “winner” every time you’ll quit If you quit stretching you’ll quit growing. Life is too short not to get a few stretch marks! 

If you want to grow it means you have to take a risk. The risk can be large or small but without the risk there is no challenge, without a challenge you become bored, and your work lacks excitement. Before too long you’ll lose interest in your own work because….YOU ARE BORED! If you find yourself in a rut, GET OUT! The fastest way to pull yourself out of a rut is shake things up! This week do something that  #!*!#+ scares you. Do it for you. Find out what you're capable of. Push the limits of your ability. Did you know adrenaline heightens your senses?

Does working through fear come easy for me…nope! I know more about fear than I’d like to admit. Unfortunately, I let fear rob me of my life for too many years…it paralyzed me! It robbed me of my potential personally and creatively. It’s okay to be afraid but don’t let the fear control you…DO IT ANYWAY! 

Try something this week that takes you out of your comfort zone. Here a few suggestions: 

Drawing Tools: pencil, bamboo pen, soluble ink, waterproof ink, markers

Brushes:  Flat, LARGE round

Technique: watercolor, collage, pen & ink

Surfaces: tinted paper, Japanese paper, slick paper, rough paper

Size: Do something BIG, miniature

Subject: landscape, nudes, old trucks, portraits, street scenes

View: from above (birds view), from below (worms view)

Atmosphere: sunny, foggy, rainy

Lighting: soft or sharp, warm or cool

Plein Air: Working outdoors

Recently I challenged myself. I wanted to see if I could do a pen and ink with watercolor on a larger scale, 22x30. I knew my ink lines had to be bigger. How was I going to do it? I started looking around and decided my largest Bamboo pens were perfect. I liked the width and slight irregularity of the lines would add to the sketchy feeling. No pre-drawing with pencil. It was wonderfully freeing to let the ink lines wiggle, blob and splatter ink. I wasn't out to create perfection I was having fun...and it wasn't so scary after all. 

I used Noodler’s Ink, Polar Brown (waterproof), Bockingford watercolor paper 22x30, 140lbs cold press and Daniel Smith Watercolor.

 I wanted the finished piece to feel "sketchy". I resisted the temptation to refine things too much.  I wanted the look of a large sketch. Which brings up a good question...what exactly is a sketch? Is it the size? The approach? The materials used? I don't have a good answer. I love to play and push the boundaries of ink and watercolor and that's all that matters to me. I'll let others worry about definitions and I'll keep sketching and painting.

Happy Painting!

Brenda

Man of Volterra, Italy

Sketching Rose Parade Floats 2016

Rose Parade 2016 has 44 floats this year. Each one is completely covered with flowers, seeds, plants, bark... Most of the floats are build in Pasadena or near by cities.

It's been a long tradition for me to sketch at the Rose Parade Float Barns in Pasadena. It's my way to record the end of a year and the start of a new one. Some people love to glue flowers on the floats and they travel from all over the country to do so. Not me!!! I'd rather sketch. The biggest dilemma is getting permission to being on the float building floor. Once inside it's tricky to finding a float I can see without getting in the way. It's always a challenge to sketch through the scaffolding, workers, volunteers, camera crews... 

This year it was really chilly with temps in the 30's. Southern California does get cold...okay not as cold as other parts of the country but cold for for me! You'd be surprised how noisy it gets in the barn, too. Crew chief's shouting, P.A. system, power tools, blenders, scaffolding being moved... But it does smell good.

  

"Along for the Ride" by State Farm

I like the tile of this float, Along for the Ride". Isn't that what life is all about? So...climb on board, enjoy all the sites and experiences along the way. Wherever you go and whatever you do make 2016 a great year!

Happy New Year!

Brenda

Sketches of France

Remembering the beauty of France...the history, art, sites, people, food and so much more! Let us focus on the beauty of a country and all it holds.  
~Brenda 

Video is a selection of watercolor sketches I did while traveling and teaching in France. If the video doesn't play you can view it by clicking this link.  https://youtu.be/c1oee3nYEQY

Home Again, Home Again!

Room with a view!

Seems like I am either coming or going these days.  I just returned from Tuscany after teaching two workshops in 25 days. I got home just in the nick of time, too! I was blessed with the arrival of a new grandson named Caleb only 8 hours after I got home...Life is good! Everyone is healthy and doing fine.

Tuscany was beautiful, the weather was...exciting! My home base for the workshops was Lucca. We stayed in a beautifully restored Tuscan farmhouse in the hills. The first couple weeks we had thunder and lightning storms that made the earth shake and the sky come alive. I loved it! The end of October was clear, crisp and lovely. I could see and feel the change of seasons.

Our Chef Karolina

 Some people live to eat, other eat to live. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not overly motived by food. All that changed!!! We were treated to some of the best meals I've EVER had. The food was delicious, unique, varied, tasty, relaxing, and entertaining. The evening the group had a cooking lesson was a hit, too. I've never looked forward to meals like this before. I'm sure gonna miss Karolina and her cooking!

Every adventure comes its down falls (pun intended). I made the mistake of not turning on the lights and missed a step. I had the opportunity to sit on the floor a while and survey the error of my ways. I sprained my ankle and bruised my knee when I fell. I was very lucky not to  break a bone. The good thing is, if I had to be laid up for a couple days, my timing was perfect. I had two days off before my next workshop started. I moved a little slower for a few days but the accident didn't effect the remainder of my time in Tuscany. I can't express how grateful I feel. I could have seriously hurt myself or ruined the workshop for others. Attitude of gratitude!

Group in Volterra

In Volterra we had lots of opportunities to sketch and paint. It was my first visit to the hill town. The town is charming, small, perched on a hill and  with amazing views from within the walls and looking out over the valley below. 

In Lucca was attended a Puccini concert in an old church, sketched in the Palazzo Pfanner Garden and Villa, shopped, ate gelato, walked around the wall and wandered the city.

Lerici is a charming little fishing village just below the Cinque Terres, but it's not touristy or crowded! From the shoreline the view is wide and amazing...an old fortress, pastel colored houses, fishing boats, villas perched on the hills... So many lovely sights filled with beauty, history, color, texture and friendly people. 

Volterra

I love to sketch, paint and explore the beautiful locations of our world, be with fellow artists, experience new cultures, try new food...but it is good to be home and with my family. It's time to recharge, relax, finish paintings and spend time with those I love. The addition of our new grandson reminds me how precious life is and how quickly it passes.

Blessings,
Brenda

Don't Give Up!

Thursday mornings I meet with a group of painters on location. Recently the location did nothing for me. The morning was brutally cold (yes it does get cold in California), the sky was gray and the trees were brown. The fact that I had a sore throat dulled my enthusiasm, too. I tried to be positive and stick it out. We'll it comes as no surprise my sketch bombed! I felt defeated. When I got to feeling better I took another look at the sketch. My first impression was correct...it was awful.

I knew the sketch wasn't worth saving but I didn't want to see it every time I opened my book either. Tearing pages out isn't an option for many reasons. For one it's admitting defeat, two it's an opportunity to learn something, third I'm stubborn. I dislike the idea that a piece of paper got the best of me (grin).

Don't walk away when something doesn't go your way...be a problem solver. When you have nothing to lose great things can happen. I decided to try something I hadn't done before. Using clips to hold the sketchbook (Stillman & Birn,Beta) open I used a flat soft brush and water to wash off the image and let dry completely. In a small dish I mixed white gesso with burnt sienna watercolor. With a flat brush I painted the surface leaving white paper exposed at the edges. Now I had a nicely tinted page waiting for the perfect subject to present itself.

Recently I was sketching at Travel Town, a train museum in Griffith Park. A little locomotive named "Charlie Atkins, #1" caught my eye.  Painting on a gessoed surface is different than watercolor paper.  It took me a few minutes to figure it out but in no time I was happily painting away.

What was a defeat in my eyes is now a success. Why is that?...Because I didn’t give up, I tried something new, and I learned something.

Don't give up...Be a problem solver!

Happy Painting! 
Brenda

Plein Air Magazine

Plein Air Magazine Dec-Jan issue

My sketchbag

I am excited to share I am  featured in the current edition of Plein Air Magazine!
A few months ago I was contacted by the editor Steve Doherty and asked if I would like to share how I work on location with watercolor? Of course, my answer was YES! After a few email back and forth we arranged a time for the phone interview. A week later I received the draft of the article. I made additional comments, and sent digital images of my sketches from Praque, Germany, France and Italy.

A selection of my many sketchbooks

A few days ago I received the printed version of the magazine. It is top rate: high quality paper, good color... Steve is also a painter so he has a good approach to writing that is clear, informative and interesting. When I read the article I felt he kept my "voice" in it. Not a bunch of that gibberish you often see.

What a treat it is to share my watercolor sketches and illustrated travel journals. In the printed version of Plein Air Magazine I have four pages, but the digital version is expanded to have two additional pages of my sketches. If you are interested in a copy you can purchase it at Barnes & Nobles, or subscribe to the Plein Air Magazine.

Happy Sketching!
Brenda

Sketching Technique with Watercolor, DVD

Great news...my long awaited DVD is here. The response has been wonderful and I am more than excited to have this new teaching tool. 

Here is the description of the DVD:  Sketching Techniques with Watercolors DVD with Brenda Swenson. "There is a very playful element to sketching," Brenda Swenson says in the introduction to her latest DVD entitled Sketching Techniques With Watercolor. "When I start a large painting I tend to get serious…so sketching with watercolor to me is a lot lighter and fun filled".

 
Sketching Techniques With Watercolor is comprised of nine chapters beginning with sketching tools and techniques and continuing through to sketching and painting a vignette, a flower bouquet and a church landscape. Learn how a sketch can be complete in itself, or a road map to larger studio paintings. Whether you want to improve your skills, create travel journals or take that next step as an artist, you will come away excited and inspired. This 126 minute DVD is loads of fun for a beginning artists, as well as, a great refresher course for the intermediate painter.

Brenda Swenson, a popular instructor and author, has compiled many sketchbooks that she continues to use as reference material. "I discovered early on in life, that I didn’t really see something until I drew it. The more I sketched and painted, the more I became aware of the world around me. I found that even the simple things in life took on a new importance and beauty."

If you like a copy it is available at Cheap Joe's Art Stuff. 

Here's the title and link: "Sketching Techniques with Watercolor".

Happy Sketching!

Brenda

Sketching in Paris

In June I departed for three weeks in France. The first part of my adventure was in Paris.

Our first day we flew from Los Angeles directly to Paris. We arrived at 10:30 a.m., took a taxi to our apartment, went grocery shopping, set up house...Each day we explored a different district in Paris. Here is a selection of my sketches from my time in Paris.

By our second day we were getting tired. We had kept a pretty steady pace since we got off the air plane. Today we covered over 6 miles on foot by lunch time. We both prefer to explore cities on foot. When I think of all the places I saw in one day...wow!

One of the most beautiful sights in the center of Paris is the Pont Alexander III Bridge. The gold gilded sculptures were brilliant in the sunshine. It is also a great place to people watch. A couple dressed in their wedding attire being photographed, gypsies trying to con tourists, artists...

On Saturday I said good-bye to Paris and flew on to the South of France. My workshop was located in the small village of Limoux located along the Aude river.
Participants in the workshop stayed in the beautifully restored residence of Montfaucon. It is located along the Aude River, only 5 minutes from the center of the village.  

I unpacked my art supplies, went grocery shopping, and set up house (again). Once settled in my new apartment I met up with participants in my workshop. 

Dinner was prepared by chef, Jean-Francois. The food was as beautiful as delicious. As they say food is meant to delight the eyes and palette!

Stay tuned...

Happy Sketching!

Brenda

Windstorm

In the early morning hours of December 1st we experienced what is called a “Windstorm”. It turned out to be the biggest windstorm to hit Southern California in 35 years. Only a few miles from my home was the epicenter. We had constant winds ranging from 40-60mph with gusts clocked at 97mph. All night long we saw burst of light fill the sky from transformers exploding and terrible sounds as my 107 year old house groaned and shook from the strain of the winds. The morning light revealed what looked like a tornado-trees on
houses and cars, broken windows, power lines down and debris everywhere.
High winds forced Pasadena officials to close public schools and declare a state of emergency. Most of the nearby communities are overwhelmed and can't remove all the debris from the streets. City workers cut up the trees just enough to push the debris to the side of the road. The private tree trimming companies can't keep up either, just not enough equipment. Almost every block has trees down and tons of broken branches, leaves, and houses and cars under massive trees. We had 4 crushed cars within a block of our house. We are very lucky to have power restored, as most people don't.

Sunday morning we attended worship at 9:15. As I expected there wasn't power there either. The inside of the sanctuary was dimly lit with candles, and the air was cool and crisp (around 48 degrees). The air may have been cool but the atmosphere was warm and friendly. The feeling in the room was that of joy and gratitude. We had all been through the storm together.

We are among the lucky ones who sustained no damage. We have much to be grateful for.

Brenda