LIve Sketching in Luzerne, PA

I haven't had all too many opportunities to live sketch as of late, but last night I decided to grab my sketchbook and head on out to a bar. The sketching was fairly decent and a few patrons offered quite a challenge.

Im sharing the best from the night.
The woman further down offered the most challenge because I just couldn't capture her at all and it frustrated me. It frustrated me so greatly that tonight I had to try and redo her image, this time with paints. I finally captured her.













Woman with a Cigarette before and after.
BEFORE: "Woman with a Cigarette"
Trying to capture her was very difficult.

AFTER: "Woman with a Cigarette"
Revisited and recaptured with paint.
This finish closely resembles her.





Nude study at the bar.
Ok, there were no nude people walking around the bar. I was just inspired to do a figure study after viewing a woman's ill fitting jeans. Actually, the jeans created very interesting shapes all about and I drew her both clothed and unclothed. Yes, I see nude people when I go out and about. If I adjust my mind's eye I can sorta see everyone unclothed and I can draw it. Shh...if you recognize her, don't tell her I drew her. lol

"Ripples Along the Shore"
Graphite and Acrylic on Bristol board.

Totilas- A Finish

CMed "Totilas" model in dappled grey.
Currently For Sale.
EM: jenndanza@gmail.com
Finally! A finish for the Totilas mold I've been working on for weeks now. I'm very excited to share him here with you. He is for sale if anyone might be interested. I'll be attending two live shows in NY soon so I can hand deliver if you are attending the shows too.

(He has been finished in a combination of pigments, acrylics and inks.)

There's a Fly In My Soup!

NOOoooooo!
There's a fly in my soup!

Well, not quite but one DID land right on the horse I had just finished spraying with fixative! He stuck pretty well too. Had to razor the poor thing off. All is back to normal with the piece now and Im happy to announce that this Totilas will be for sale very soon. He will be a direct sale off MHSP. Stay tuned.

Close up of the offender.
Hoof shot.

The Very Best Part

Descent: A trip down into or
from something; such as a mountain.
The very best part of being a parent is getting to experience childhood all over again with your child. You get to play with toys again and be silly. There is always an excuse to have ice cream on a whim and you get to revisit all those wonderful children's books. There is also, unfortunately, homework.

Yeah, you get to revisit that again too and I am very thankful that my son "gets" math cause I certainly don't. English was my subject and that is the subject he doesn't "get" at all. We make a great pair.

He reads beautifully, but seeing words and understanding meanings seems to be eluding him. So when faced with the definitions of words like: trekked, belay and decent, I came up with an idea to let my mice help out a bit. I couldn't think of a better way to explain how to remember the words except to draw how I saw them. It actually turned into a very fun illustration exercise for me and he knows the words and definitions now too.

Harness: A set of straps that can
attach to a safety rope.
Belay: being tied to a person or a
rock with a rope for safety.
Trekked: made a slow and difficult
journey on foot.
Rappel: to come down a cliff
by sliding down a rope.

The Healer

I'm afraid today's work was dominated by one heck of a headache. How appropriate was it to find this fortune in the box where I keep all the rest of the fortune cookie fortunes? Despite the headache I just had to get the image out on paper.

"The Healer"
Graphite and Watercolor on Watercolor paper.

...and into his arms she ran where it was safe.
Graphite and Watercolor on Paper.

Enamored

Very simple supplies.
In my travels I had become very enamored with repurposing old frames. I knew that if I found a few at a cheap price, or free, I'd hop on the opportunity to reuse them in some fashion. Luckily, at a local flea market I found an entire bag of old frames and put a few to use. I retained one, however, for a very special project because I wanted to display several photos in a collage-like way in one frame, and this one frame would be perfect for that project.

I thought it would be fun to share the solution.
Basically, you just use an old frame, hot glue some twine to the back, staple secure and then add some clothing pins (or small craft pins) to the twine and you have a brand new display for your photos!

The twine slips out of the staples
so I hot glued the twine down then stapled.
Finished piece which I can
change whenever I like.

On Being An Artist

"Employee of the Month" plaque
at work.
"It must be so much fun to be an artist!"

Yes, some days it most certainly is, but other days it's lonely and frustrating just sitting working on projects for hours and hours without human contact. Mostly, it's strange being an artist. Ten hours can go by in the blink of an eye. Some days, when my son is visiting his father, I work all day and sometimes most of the night on as little as four hours of sleep. I try and avoid such habits though cause it seems out of place with the rest of the world and bringing a bit of normalcy to my strange life is a refreshing, welcoming thing.

When I was faced with the opportunity to take a part time day job at a local hotel last year, I jumped on it. It offered me time away from my studio, extra security, and a chance to be with people during the day, which I desperately needed. It would bring a sense of normalcy to an odd way of living.

Last week marked my first year anniversary working for the local hotel and I took a moment to take a quick snapshot of my little accomplishment I earned there recently. For many reasons I'm quite proud of this little accolade.

My day job and my art go hand in hand now. They feed and inspire each other in strange ways. I'm glad for both and I was really glad to stumble upon this article online. It seemed to show up just when I was having trouble explaining to people why I enjoy cleaning the lobby of the hotel. I was glad to read that many other artists who have come before me also found inspiration in keeping their mundane day jobs too.

Like I said, being an artist is strange.