Twist and Twirl

tree practice with rigger brush

watercolor 7" x 11"

Stacy L. Rowan

This past Tuesday, the art ladies and I didn’t get a whole lot of painting done. You see, we had a holiday luncheon instead of our normal brown bag lunch. (Does anyone actually use those brown bags for lunch anymore?) Everyone brought something yummy to share, and we took our time chatting and eating.

After a filling lunch, I was more motivated for a nap than for serious painting. So I was happy when one of the ladies offered to show us how to use our new rigger brush to paint realistic tree branches.

The trick is to lightly place the tip of the brush on the paper. Hold the brush loosely between your thumb and index finger near the top of the brush. Now as you move the brush in the direction of the branch, use your finger to gently and slowly twist the brush back and forth. The twisting motion is what gives the branch a realistic shape.

I'm not actually a lefty. I just had to hold the camera with my right hand to take the picture. :)

As you practice and get more skilled with the technique, try to apply more pressure at the beginning of the brush stroke and decrease the pressure toward the end of the stroke. This will make the branch thicker at the start and thinner at the tip.

You can also use different sized rigger brushes to create different line widths. I used a size 6, a size 4 and another smaller brush for this practice (see picture).

This technique was really helpful to me. I am always challenged when I need to recreate the random nature of things like tree branches. My analytical side fights to create order instead. But the twisting motion of the brush made it much easier.

So next time you want to paint a tree, give this method a try. You might be pleasantly surprised!

You Know You're an Artist If...

...you wander the produce section of your local grocery store looking for something to paint.

3.25" x 3.25" watercolor

Stacy L. Rowan

I painted this little pomegranate last year. I distinctly remember seeing them on sale for $2.50 a piece and thinking that was a bit steep for a fruit that is a lot of work to eat and not very filling. But as I took a closer look, I noticed its not quite round shape and I began to admire its nice red color. Hmm...maybe $2.50 wasn't that much after all. Just think of all the money I'm saving by not painting silver and crystal! A couple of dollars for reference material is a down-right bargain, don't ya think?!

Extrovert

3" x 2"

watercolor thumbnail

Stacy L. Rowan

If seasons have a personality, autumn is definitely an extrovert. With its clear, golden light and bright colors it shouts, "Look at me!! I'm stunning, don't you agree!"

This arrangement of berries and fall leaves was definitely calling for my attention. It sparkled as it enjoyed the sunny spotlight and invited me to relish its blazing colors. So I accepted the invitation and quickly captured its brilliance on paper. Now I can enjoy a date with fall even as introverted winter comes to town.

(Just to clarify, a thumbnail is a miniature size drawing or painting - in my case mostly 3 inches by 2 inches - which is quickly done to test a concept. I learned to use this tool in my mentorship with Michael Newberry. You can find his excellent tutorial on thumbnails here.)

Happy Thanksgiving

Micron pen on paper

Stacy L. Rowan

On this day of Thanksgiving, I'd like to say thank you to all the readers of this blog. I truly appreciate the time you take to look at my art, read my thoughts and leave comments.

Have a wonderful day!

Good News!

We had a lovely time at the art reception last night. Turn out was very good, as were the snacks. And the box of food donations was full to the brim.

But the best news of the night was that my painting Seasons' Reflections (shown in the last post) won second place in the watercolor category. What a nice surprise!

Paint Box Art Club Member Show

Seasons' Reflections

12" x 10" watercolor on paper

Stacy L. Rowan

This post is for anyone within driving distance to the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. This Tuesday, November 20th is the opening reception for the Paint Box Art Club Member Show. The show is being held in the Nazareth High School Art Gallery in Nazareth, PA. The hours for the reception are 7 - 9pm. Light refreshments will be served. The club will also be collecting non-perishable food donations for the local food pantry.

All visitors are welcome to attend the reception. It is a good time to come to the show, because the artists will be there and the winners of the awards will be announced. So please come join us if you are in town.

Directions to the high school can be found here.

I have two paintings entered in the show. Seasons' Reflections which is shown above, and Sacrifice which can be found in this post with close ups here.

The show runs until December 13th. If you wish to check out the show during school hours, you must enter through the office and sign in on the visitor's log.

The Veil

untitled rose value study (WIP)

Stacy L. Rowan

The gray veil of winter has descended on eastern Pennsylvania. October is full of bright, endlessly blue skies, brilliant red and gold leaves and joyful orange pumpkins. November rolls in and replaces this celebration with a low gray ceiling, misty, rainy days and gutters full of leaves past their prime. Is it any wonder that I just ordered five tubes of colorful watercolor paints? Two oranges, a turquoise blue, a deep gold and a bright yellow. The perfect antidote to gray November days.

Gifts

3" x 2"

watercolor thumbnail
Stacy L. Rowan

Being a mom of young children, I often receive special gifts which they find for me when they are outside playing. I love these gifts and wanted to encourage the gift giving. So I decided to find appropriate vases to display them. This allows us all to enjoy their finds as long as possible.

The painting above shows some of the mini vases that I use expressly for this purpose. They are the perfect size to hold dandelions or clover flowers or grass that has gone to seed. They have also been known to contain fall leaves, flowers that have already fallen off their plants or other treasures that the uninformed might call weeds.

I love that my children are so excited to share nature's beauty with me, and I want them to know I appreciate their thoughtfulness. That's why my collection of mini vases will continue to grow. At least until they grow too old to bring me gifts from the yard.

(I'm working on a title for this. Before writing this post I was thinking about "Signs of Appreciation", but now I'm wondering if "Gifts" isn't better. Anyone want to cast their vote? If so, leave me a comment with the title you like best. Or if you have an even better one, I'm open to that too!)

Meditiation

Work in process

colored pencils on Ampersand Pastelbord

Stacy L. Rowan

Working on pencil drawings can produce a very meditative feeling for me. This is true whether I am working with graphite or colored pencils. Since the drawings build rather slowly and changes are only an eraser stroke away, I find it easy to get "in the zone". I can shut down the rather incessant analytical chatter that normally rambles on in my brain and enjoy the process. I have been appreciating these meditative mediums lately because I find they are a good balance to an otherwise busy schedule.

Graphite drawings are great for investigating and focusing on values. They reinforce the importance of working with the full value range.

Colored pencil drawings are obviously good for learning to work comfortably with color. I am using the drawing above to immerse myself in a subject that is yellow. I've drawn and painted yellow objects before, but still feel it is the most challenging hue for me.

What's in a Name

Lately I have been finding myself with short snippets of time to work on my art, instead of hour long blocks. I have been using these snippets to work on several different projects. I'm finding it fun to jump around and work on the piece that speaks to me in the moment, but it doesn't really give me much to share in terms of progress images.

So instead I will share a little of my process for naming this piece.

watercolor 3" x 2"

Stacy L. Rowan

I have been trying to come up with titles for my watercolor thumbnails because the title "Watercolor Thumbnail 8" is neither informative nor inspiring. However, I was struggling a bit to name this piece and didn't know why. After trying a bunch of different titles in my mind and not liking any of them, I decided that, instead of trying to find a good title, I would try to find out why all of the current titles didn't work. Once I looked at the problem from this angle, I realized that my struggle with a title originated from my feeling that the pear and blueberries shouldn't really be together. This summer I started shopping at a local farmers' market and, as a result, have been learning about harvest times for fruits and vegetables. So I now know that blueberries ripen in summer and pears are a fall fruit. Because of that, in my mind, these fruits don't really go together.

Once I figured out what had me stuck, a title came to mind quite easily... "Untimely Companions." They are untimely companions because if I buy fruit according to the local growing season I wouldn't be able to buy them together. The title gives a nod to a topic (buying local produce) that is becoming more important to me. And I like the touch of humor in it too. Their companionship is also untimely because they are going to be made into fruit salad and devoured! YUM!

If I Weren't a Painter...

...I'd be a tap dancer!!


I love tap - as a spectator or a dancer. It is so much fun! I have taken, all told, about 12 or 13 years of tap lessons since my first class way back in 6th grade. My favorite style of tap is rhythm tap - think Gregory Hines or Savion Glover. It's all about the footwork! I'd really like to start tapping again. I think it would feed my creative side.

In the meantime, I plan to get my fill of tap tonight by going to see a show by the Shelley Oliver Tap Dancers. Here is a fabulous video of one of their performances. WOW! I bet you can't watch the whole thing without some toe tapping of your own.

A Partial Plan

untitled rose value study

Here is another update on my value study for the rose painting. As you can see, I completed the initial shading on the main rose and started working on the rose bud. I decided to flesh out the form on both roses, the leaves and the stems on my first pass. Then I will come back and work on my hierarchy of lights and darks.

As I am working on this, I have realized that I think of this drawing as being tall and thin with the roses standing up (like it is posted here). But it needs to be long and thin, as if the roses are laying flat, to fit the space in my mother-in-laws dining room. Hmmmmm... That part of the plan I am still working on. My current thinking is to finish this drawing, because I like it in it's own right, then do some tweaking in Photoshop for the painting. Or I may try some thumbnails to get a feel for the changes. I'll keep you posted.