6 months of my creative resolution!

June 30, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

…and still going strong. In the past 6 months I have accomplished 52 watercolor paintings, 8 acrylics on canvas and 64 sketches! It is amazing to me what writing a goal down can do.

When I first typed the words, “I hope to draw, paint and create my way through 2014!” – I didn’t know what I would spend my time doing. Would I be decorating the house? drawing? painting? refinishing furniture? Imagine my surprise when the first months were filled with acrylic painting – one of the things I have the least experience in! I even pulled unfinished canvases – years old – off a shelf and finished them, like this carrot.

And one day I decided to add watercolor to my sketchbook and suddenly I was falling back in love with watercolor! I wanted to do more and more things. Each project led to ideas for 10 more! I felt joy and fulfillment.

I certainly had moments when I wavered. The unexpected connection and support from fellow bloggers pushed me on as well as the encouragement from my family who kept saying, “Don’t stop.” Six months in and I’m not stopping. I’m still not sure of my direction, but I’m “finding” myself as an artist and learning a lot along the way.

Thank you for joining me on my journey! 🙂

TV Sketching

June 18, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Can you guess what show I had on when I sketched this? lol. Last night I plopped on the couch with my sketchbook and starting flicking around. When I found something or someone I wanted to sketch, I paused the TV. (Don’t you love that you can pause live TV?) I sketched for as long as I needed/wanted. The sketch above was the last one of the night and I think best. Here are the other sketches:

Figure Drawing – the inside of the body

June 5, 2014June 6, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I know, you’re probably laughing at my picture right now, but I thought sketching the inside of the body would be a helpful exercise. I started with a skeleton sketch, then laid tracing paper over it and sketched in some of the muscles. I’m hoping this will help me next time I sketch a figure.

Currently, I’m using a book I found at the library, “Drawing Figures,” by Ray Smith. But I’m looking for others. If anyone has any recommendations on books or videos – that would be great!

I’ve done a couple of sketches of the kids this past week.

I’m already excited about my progress on my summer project (figure drawing)! To give credit where credit is due – Here is a link to a post on “A Thing Created,” which talks about understanding the skull underneath the face for portrait drawings. Thank you Erisha!

Inkblots – So much fun!

June 2, 2014June 6, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Turning inkblots into characters was so much fun. What a creative project! Thank you to Judy Watson. This was the first time I’ve tried this. It only took about ten minutes. I started making up stories about some of the characters. What a great way to get the creativity flowing.

Figure Drawing – My Summer Project

June 1, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I realized the other day that even though there are a couple of weeks left til the kids are out of school – I only have 3 days of quiet “me” time left! Ahhhh! I’ve been doing so well since I made my creative resolution. I can’t let it fall apart now. 🙂

With this in my mind, I went paper shopping and took my time looking at all the art products in the store. As soon as I saw the figure drawing books, I knew how I was going to stay motivated this summer. I needed a summer project and it was going to be figure drawing.

When I got home I took the wooden figure from my daughter’s room and started my first sketch. Later on, I took out a book from the library to help me with my project.

My weekly checklist is getting longer and longer by the minute! lol. But I’m excited to see how I can progress in figure drawing if I can keep at it over the next 13 weeks. I’ll keep you posted!

Does this count as housework? (5 minute sketches)

May 9, 2014June 6, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I pulled out the vacuum and ended up using it as the subject of my “5 minute sketch.” I have a bit of a theme going this week! Anything to avoid housework! 🙂

Warming up with watercolor

March 10, 2014March 11, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

On the mornings I have free time to paint, I try to start my day painting with watercolor in my sketchbook. I think of it as a warm up. I have to admit I am falling back in love with watercolor. I love the different options you have, depending on how wet your brush, and the paint are. Every time I do a quick watercolor “sketch” I find myself wanting to work on it more (and cursing the crappy sketchbook paper). But, I’ve spent the last two months exploring acrylic painting and I don’t want to give up on it. I do look forward to the day that I dedicate my time to watercolor. I’ll be warmed up and ready! And I promise to use the right paper.

Having fun with watercolor in my sketchbook!

February 23, 2014February 28, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Day two and I’m really enjoying painting with watercolor in my sketchbook.

This was my breakfast.

This is what I WISH my breakfast was!

And, I’m when I need to mix colors, I’m using a small piece of tinfoil, to keep my palette as clean as yesterday!

Adding Watercolor to my Sketchbook

February 22, 2014February 28, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I was sketching every other day, until recently. I was getting bored and running out of things to draw. I decided to add watercolor to my sketchbook, but first I had to do a little housekeeping. I did what I’ve wanted to do for a while – scrubbed my watercolor palette. I was starting fresh.

Keeping to the arrangement of the color wheel, I added a dollop of paint to each section. I mixed a few of the colors, that I didn’t have in tubes. It’s been a while since I’ve used watercolor. Some of my tubes would not open. The tubes twisted and paint squirted out from all sides. It was a bit of a mess!

I know the sketchbook paper isn’t ideal for watercolor. It will wrinkle, if it gets too wet. But in my mind, my sketchbook is meant to be quick, no pressure, play around, keep the creative juices flowing, and get my skills “in shape.” So, I’m not worried about the paper.

Once I got started I realized I missed watercolor! There is so much you can do! It is fun to wet sections of the page and let interesting things happen, let colors blend. Or add detail to a dry part of the paper, with a dry brush and paint that is directly from the tube. And in between these two techniques (wet on wet and dry on dry), are tons of other options! There was a time that I painted exclusively in watercolor. Here are a couple of my older paintings.

For my second watercolor sketch, I first drew (in pencil) a few flowers and leaves from the Burpee (plant and seed) catalog. There are beautiful pictures in there! I wet the background area, then added in wet paint and let it run. After the background dried, I painted the flowers and leaves, using a combination of wet painting and finally, dry details. It was fun! And “sketching” in watercolor might lead to ideas for paintings – watercolor or acrylic.