Or...

...if you're feeling sufficiently motivated to make art anyway, you can give up your after-dinner television and also stay up a little late!

This gal was kind of a surprise. I actually came into the studio planning a redo of a picture with which I was unhappy, but I was inspired by one of the other students on Deb Weiers's site who used this killer combination of scarlet and turquoise Daler Rowney inks in beautiful combination, and made me want to do something with it too.

I found a reference, and did a little more controlled piece, in which I drew first and painted after instead of letting the ink have its way with the background. But I did add a lot of texture and some splatter, and had some fun with layering colors (like the light brown I layered on the book cover under the scarlet to make it stand out from the rest.

I particularly admire the way many people have imaginatively made the eyes on their characters markedly different one from another, and although I wasn't overly brave (comparatively speaking), these two were focused in different directions, which led directly to the title for the book she's reading. (It is an actual title, which I discovered when I looked it up after on Goodreads, so I put the author's last name on the spine as a courtesy.) The only regret I have with this one is that the book obscures half her face, so I couldn't add some luscious scarlet lips. I'll have to do another with this color combo.

This will make a nice addition to my reading series. Pencil, Daler Rowney acrylic inks, white and black gesso, Uniball pen and gel pen, on Strathmore 140-lb. watercolor paper, approx. 7x10 inches.

Output, shift in focus

I'm quite pleased with myself for the diligence (and excitement) with which I have embraced making artwork for Deb Weiers's class, "Wonky Friends and Critters." I counted up, and I have made 20 pieces of artwork in 37 days (three of which were not for the class), so that's about one every other day, a number far more prolific than I have ever been except in the case of a 30-day challenge. But 30-day challenges can be dashed off, if need be, in 10 or 15 minutes per day, while 17 of these 20 were projects that took me between two and five hours to complete.

Here is a group of my favorites (in no particular order):

  

   

    

As much as I would love to keep going, it's now time to hunker down and prepare for my readers' advisory class at UCLA, which begins on Tuesday, September 29th. I have the syllabus, assignments, and lectures all in place from the last time I taught it, two years ago, but I have learned a lot more about my subject in the interim and want to include that knowledge in my lesson plans; also, this is the first time I will be teaching via Zoom, and I not only have to learn the physical software and techno-tricks, I also need to figure out how to make palatable a 3.5-hour class when it takes place online! It doesn't seem like there should be a difference between sitting in a classroom for that length of time or sitting in front of your computer screen, but I am assured by one and all who have experienced it that it is necessary to break up that time in different ways when it takes place online.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that when we are online, we are there primarily to be distracted, and so we flit from site to site, from gif to video to photo display to long political post, sampling here and there but not necessarily concentrating our focus. Also, I'm sure it's different when you can turn to the classmate seated beside you and mutter something under your breath about the person who is speaking, or share part of your breakfast bagel with a friend, or trade books based on mutual recommendations. I'm hoping to hear from a few friends who taught during the summer to give me some inspiration. Otherwise, I'll just have to wing it like they did.

In addition to class prep, there's room prep! When one starts talking to others via one's computer screen, one suddenly looks behind the image to the background and realizes, Sheesh! what a mess! For my class this summer, I solved this problem quickly by simply turning my computer around and sitting with my back to the wall of my studio so that no mess could be seen, but it was a cramped situation that was impossible to get out of without a lot of effort, and I need to be more flexible for the class. Also, one of the tips another professor offered in an email to the rest of us was that allowing the students to see a tiny bit into your background—to notice what books are on your shelves or pictures are on your walls, to allow them a slight acquaintance with your children or pets (as long as it doesn't become excessive) is another way to humanize the process of online learning.

I'm revealing all this to say, Don't expect to see too much art output for the next three weeks, while I navigate through all of this. I hope that once the class is up and running and I have a few weeks' worth of ideas and plans under my belt, I can return to arting at least a few days per week. Until then...

I prefer reading

This one started out as a replacement for the pink one I made a few days ago, with the gesso background that stymied me in every direction. But I picked a different  color palette, and then decided to use a different "model" (reference photo), so the only thing that is really the same is the cat, and the fact that she's reading a book. Then I decided, since it was no longer a straight replacement, to use a different reading quote.

I finished the painting (I thought) midafternoon. It didn't have too many "wonky" qualities, and I actually thought it was a teensy bit boring, but I didn't really want to introduce stripes or dots or collage, so I decided that the fact she has a cat on her head and one pink eyebrow would have to be enough. I'm not happy with the way her teacup turned out (I misjudged the angle, so it doesn't really "read" as a cup), but I've done what I could do to fix it and I'm letting it go.

Then, as I looked at the painting, I realized that in the upper left corner there was the almost-perfect outline of a flying crow or raven emerging from the background. I was going to leave it be, but it insisted on becoming corporeal. And once it did, I saw the cloud trailing from its tail to her head and thought, Oh, it's an image that has emerged from the book! That made the book easy to name. I briefly considered something tongue in cheek, like "For the Birds," but decided that would interfere with the dignity of the psychopomp. So here it is, my latest "reading girl" painting.

Pencil, Daler Rowney inks, watercolors, Uniball pen, gesso, white gel pen, on 140-lb. Strathmore watercolor paper, approx. 7x10 inches.