Art by Wendy: November 2020

Nov 26, 2020

Looking to BUILD Confidence and Skill in Drawing - Painting & Drawing Tips

Are you hesitant when you go to draw?

Do you find yourself doing sketchy, broken lines rather than clean swooping stroke?

Do you have to do everything in pencil first before committing to ink or paint?

Does your confidence sag when you’re faced with drawing something?

Creating Christmas Cards: Fun. Skill builder. Confidence Booster. Best of All "Friends Dazzeler".

Well doesn’t have to be that way. . . .
Of course everyone will tell you, just practice. That’s the problem, it is hard to practice when your Inner voice is screaming at you. I know. I have been there. I am a self taught artist. I know how hard it is to draw something when you are constantly criticizing yourself because it looks AWFUL. Well, I can tell you, me and my inner voice always agreed on that!!

I found practice was way easier if I was doing something interesting and I felt it was successful. It made me want to try more. Do more.

I know we are trapped at home right now but this is a perfect time to try something new. I guarantee this will perk you up, build confidence in your drawing skills and totally dazzle your family and friends.

Make your own Christmas Cards . . . .

These are not just any Christmas Cards, these are cards to help with your drawing. I have lots of things to ensure your success. See my video DIY Awesome Christmas Cards for ideas, examples, and more.

Materials:

1.Permanent Fine Tip Pens- Micron or Staedler Size 03 & 05. This allows you to colour with felts, watercolour, and other wet media without ink running. They also come in a variety of colours.

Micron and Staedler pigment pens are permanent so won't run if you add a wet media. They come in different sizes and colours.

2. Cardstock/Watercolour Paper for Cards: I use cardstock if colouring with dry media otherwise I get Strathmore Watercolour Cards. They are creased, cut to size and have matching envelopes. They come in packs of 10, 25 or 50. A scrapbooking store has great cardstock in lots of colours and different size envelopes if you want only a small number. Art Stores & Amazon will carry the Strathmore Cards.

These come in mixed media as well.

3. Pencil, putty eraser, vinyl eraser, and colouring materials. Coloured pencils, watercolour pencils, felts or watercolours. Both Watercolour Cards and Mixed Media Card papers will work for your wet mediums. Don't forget a few glitter bits from the Dollar Store. They are even self sticking!!

This card gives me a Happy feeling - The red strip on the side just adds extra pazazz (See my video to learn about this)

4. Inspiration - Christmas Card Activity Sheet - this a FREE Activity Sheet to get you started. I have mixed candles, poinsettias, holly and doodle patterns to make my cards. You are welcome to download it and get drawing. I am sure once you create a few cards you will be inspired to try other things.

My FREE Christmas Card Activity Sheet is full of ideas to get you started.

Things to think about as you draw:

1. Work towards drawing freehand. I know at first you will want to do pencil first and then ink. No problem. But as you work stretch yourself by leaving more and more of the detail to freehand drawing.

Being aware of your working space makes for better compositions

2. Frame your space. You will be working with your card flat. It is important to understand your space so use a coloured sheet to block out the back of the card.

3. Try a few doodle patterns. Doodle patterns are made from small parts that work together to make a pattern. Drawing them freehand goes a long way to build confidence. Try scallops on edges, little open circles, simple three petal flowers. They can be powerful in perking up an empty space. I live the power of a simple line or dot.

4. Sign them. Be sure and own your work. Add a signature. I have my own Doodle Signature for my Doodle work and another for my other work.

Get more information on my video: DIY Awesome Christmas Cards and be sure and download the FREE Christmas Card Activity Sheet . Now get ready to have some fun!

Christmas Shopping Online with FREE Shipping in Canada!!

HOLIDAY SPECIAL - 15% on all sales

FREE SHIPPING IN CANADA TIL DEC 15

Lots of One-of-a-Kind items, original art, art prints, art cards, jewelry, pottery, painted scarves, and more. Anything that inspires an artist to create.
Get your Christmas Shopping Done and Shipped Free

Art by Wendy Original Work, Art Cards & Prints, Memo Pads and Doodle Cards will be available

Looking to Move your work to NEW LEVELS?

Online Coaching/Teaching (3 sessions 30 minutes each $75)

Are You and Your Inner Critic looking to expand your discussions. Here's how it works: Send me a few pictures of your paintings. I will prepare material to facilitate a discussion. We meet on Zoom for our sessions and discuss your work. I am a sounding board and coach with suggestions, techniques and tips to help you meet your goals and move your art forward. More info here. Looking forward to working with you.

Many find this post helpful: Turn your Inner Critic into your BFF

Be sure to like and share my posts. You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

Nov 19, 2020

How to Write an Artist Statement - What the heck are you doing??? - Painting & Drawing Tips

AWESOME OPPORTUNITY!!!

We would like you to be our featured artist for our newsletter next month. Please send 2 pictures and 250 words about you and your art.

PEPPER - WIP Commission Piece - 16 x 20 Graphite Drawing

But now wait a minute . . . .

What pictures should I send? What should I say? OMG!! (Read, breaking out in cold sweat)

Do you feel like that?

You start writing. You have only 40 words or suddenly 500. You are feeling so happy to have the opportunity and yet overwhelmed by what to write. I use to feel this way. I would agonize over what to write. Doubting myself. Editing forever. But I have found ways to deal with it. Now I proceed with more confidence. (Although I still edit like crazy and fuss a bit).

What is an Artist Statement/Biography?

I find these terms are usually blended and mixed. Unless you are making a formal application for a major project/grant/residency they are usually looking for information about you and your work. It is your option to include a bit of your Artist Journey(Biography) on the way. It really depends on the length. If they want 25 words, few sentences or 50 words - stick to the important stuff. Your work. Once you get into 200 words or more you can expand on a bit of your Artist Journey.

Remember this is a Marketing Opportunity. . . .

Here I go again, right. Talking about Marketing. I know as an artist it is annoying to worry about marketing rather than creating, but paint isn't cheap. Before you start to write, think about who is going to read it. Why are they going to read it? What do you want them to take away? What do you want them to do when they are finished? Now picture one of those readers, now known as THE READER. Talk to him, tell him what you want him to know about your work.

Painting Outdoors is an important part of my creative process, whether in camp or on the trail.

What Should be in your Artist Statement/Biography

Of course everyone's is different, it does need to reflect you and your personality. But there is a lot of commonality as well. If you are going to talk to THE READER, then you first need to answer some hard questions. Please remember this is not written in stone. Your ideas and direction can change. This is about the here and now.

1. What do you do? - What do you really like to paint/draw? Never mind the mediums, what really gets your heart pumping and fingers twitching. Clouds? Figures? Colours? Textures? Shapes?

Myself, I like to work with nature. I use to feel that my nature always needed to have a bird or something in it. I still do but I do like to focus on leaves, trees, even mossy rocks too.

2. Why do you like to do it? - What really draws you to create? I really enjoy: the peace, the challenge, the texture, the sleek line of ink, the blends of watercolour, the magic of the creative process, the soft touch of pencil, the breeze on my face. It is an innate need within me. It has always been there. The mediums have changed but the desire hasn't.

EARLY SNOWFALL - Newest Piece to my Deep in the Forest Series.
Matted 14 x 11 $225

3. Do you have a message/passion/mission? - I find I like to think of it as a mission. I want to connect people with nature and wildlife but in a certain way. I want them to feel like they are in the wild. I want my animals real, their environment can be loose but they are real. I love to walk in a forest and 'catch an animal'. I was thrilled to see 3 young barred owls on my walk this spring. How do you feel about your work? What do you want THE READER to take away from your work? How do you want him to feel? What is your message to him.

These are hard questions but if you answer them you have the basis for your Statement. Spend some time here. Map it. Write things down. This is your fodder for those statements. Keep a folder and add to it. Keep copies of your statements to refer to and build on.

When the opportunity comes to be that featured Artist, you will be ready!! With Confidence.

Nov 12, 2020

5 Key Tips for Creating a Virtual Art Talk - Painting & Drawing Tips

OMG!! I have to do an Art Talk as a 15 minute Video!

It was suppose to be a live event! Now, of course, it is Virtual. Not just Virtual but Live Streaming on Facebook. Are you ready for something like that?

CASCADING - Part of my newest series 'Deep in the Forest' - Pen Art in Action

Deep Breathe. Don’t panic. You can do this.

Well that is my mantra. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Last year, when the world was a different place, I was asked to give an Art Talk on my Art. I had really started to do a lot more work with my pens and decided to focus the Talk on my Pen Art. An In-Person talk is doable. I know you might think otherwise but you would be surprised. If your work is in front of you it is easy to tell the inspiration stories and talk about the process. Then People ask a few questions and before you know it, your time is up.

Now suddenly it is taking that information, talking about it, and creating a video with it. A video that will be thoughtful and interesting for viewers to watch. For 12-15 minutes. A daunting task.

Welcome to the new reality. . . .

Virtual. Online. Streaming. Podcasts. All the new parts of marketing for Artists. The learning curve is back with a vengeance.

As many of you know, I have been working on making videos since Covid started. It has proved to be a good time to ‘learn a new skill’. It has been interesting, fun and an amazing road of discovery. I urge you to start down the road.

Working with Ink & Watercolour on location

My Art talk was Nov 5, 2020. It was hosted by SAGA (Surrey Art Gallery Association). It is now on Facebook where you can see the whole presentation including the Q & A. @SurreyArtgGalleryAssociation Or see the video on YouTube: Chuck Your Brushes & Grab a Pen.

I am learning stuff all the time on this road and thought you would like a few ideas.
Here are 5 Key Tips to get your journey underway.

1. Get the IMovie App: There is more to doing an Art Talk video than making stories on Instagram. To prepare an Art Talk you need to do editing: joining videos clips; voice overs; chopping things out; integrating still pictures with videos; titling slides ..... Don’t panic. You can do all this and more with IMovie and it is free for IPads, Mac’s, IPhones. (No, I don’t get a commission for suggesting it.) Get the App and watch a few tutorials. You will be amazed at what you can do. It is very user friendly.

Tripod, phone clamp and remote - Get one that is light weight, folds up and allows phone to tilt and turn in a full circle. They are very inexpensive

2. Get a Tripod: You can not always be holding your phone/camera to take the pictures. You shake too much. 12-15 minutes of a shaking video is not going to show your work off well. Amazon has lots of lightweight tripods with a clamp for your phone. Some offer a remote too. Get the remote. It is very handy.

Outdoor Sketching at Tynehead Park - It is makes for a more interesting talk if you have clips showing your process at different locations/and times.

3. Take little clips: As you work on a project, take little video clips of the process. Regular speed and Time Lapse. Close ups. Stepping Back. A bit of variety is great. I had several months warning so I took clips from a variety of locations.

4. Prepare a Script: For a 1 or 2 minute video you can wing it. But to entertain someone for longer you need some plans. Your script does not need to be word for word script that you read, it can be notes as to ideas, key phrases and directions you want to go. Voice overs are easy to do. Don’t feel you have to record the ‘whole’ video at once. I did mine in sections and found it was more interesting to have my voice changing with each section. I can’t take credit for thinking of that, it just happened. I worked on different sections at different times so my voice just ended up being different.

5. Buy some ICloud Storage: As soon as you start taking all these video clips you are going to run into storage problems on your phone. A 12-15 minutes video is 1.5 - 2 G and all those little clips you took add up to way more. I like having ICloud Storage as I can use ICloud to easily move things back and forth between my IPad and computer. I also have separate drives on my computer to store all those clips for future productions. One problem with IMovie is it does not work on a PC and there is really no reasonably priced, user friendly alternative for a PC. So all my editing is done on my IPad and then final storage is on my computer.

Have a look at my Art Talk “Chuck Your Brushesand Grab a Pen”. Find out why I turned to Pen Art, the struggles and joys in my journey, some of the crazy directions it took me to, and where it is at now. At the same time, check out some of the tips I have been talking about.

If after watching my video, you decide you DON’T want to do a Virtual Art Talk you might decide to pick up a pen and try some pen art. It's all good.

You might also like: Staging a Virtual Art Show
You will find more of my videos on Youtube - Search Wendy Mould

Christmas Show coming SATURDAY

Heart to Home - A Holiday Market

is Coming to You Online

Nov 15 - Dec 15

www.sagabc.com

HOLIDAY SPECIAL - 15% on all sales

FREE SHIPPING IN CANADA TIL DEC 15

Lots of One-of-a-Kind items, original art, art prints, art cards, jewelry, pottery, painted scarves, and more. Anything that inspires an artist to create.
Get your Christmas Shopping Done and Shipped Free

Art by Wendy Original Work, Art Cards & Prints, Memo Pads and Doodle Cards will be available
Do you have big/small projects on the go?

Online Coaching/Teaching (3 sessions 30 minutes each $75)

Many find this post helpful: Turn your Inner Critic into your BFF

Be sure to like and share my posts. You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

Nov 5, 2020

Finding Your Way in the Colour Mixing World of Paint - Painting & Drawing Tips

Do you have a favourite Colour?
Does it vary with the seasons? Has you always favoured the same colour?

As you may have guessed, my favourite colour is Purple. Not just any purple. It is one that leans more to Fuchsia than the deep dark royal purple.

EARLY SNOWFALL - Newest Piece to my Deep in the Forest Series.
Matted 14 x 11 $225

Do you struggle with the whole Colour Mixing Thing with your Paints? One day your feel you haven't and then suddenly your in trouble again. That's how I feel.

I have worked on colour mixing, read books, watched tutourials and done samples. Still at times I feel a little lost.

Wendy - My kind of Purples!!

My new series "Deep in the Forest" has sparked some new discoveries for me and helped to cement some ideas. The whole "Purple Thing" turned into a bit of a battle. I did my practice pieces with different pinks, blues and reds to find the purple I wanted. I finally settled on a combination of Ultramarine Blue and Permanent Rose. I was feeling good again.

Much later, I found out why those colours worked for me.

I get a regular e-newsletter from Carol McIntyre, of Colorado. She does amazing things with colour and has written a book I Just Want to Paint: Mixing the Colors You Want! I think her title does recognize the problems with mixing colours. Her discussions resonate with me and have been very helpful in my journey into mixing colours.

Close Up of EARLY SNOWFALL - Note the colours and the depth they give on the left side of the squirrel. (See the original)

She looks at colours as having a colour bias. So for example my Ultramarine Blue has a blue red bias as opposed to Phalo Blue which has a blue yellow bias. Therefore since I was looking for a clean bright purple I needed to mix it with a blue with a red bias and a red with a blue bias. Which is exactly what my tests told me. When I mixed my Ultramarine (blue red bias) with Quin Red ( Red Orange bias) I was not happy with the colour I got. The Orange bias in the red moved it away from the mauvy purple I wanted. (See Carol's post here for more information.)

Using her method also means you are not trying to memorize a lot of different colour recipes. You just need to look at the colour, decide on its bias and work with it. It just seems to make more sense to me.

When you look at my Close Up of Early Snowfall you can see why I love that combination of colour for my purple. Not only does it give you a clean warm glow, But look at the depth of colour and all the variations it breaks into, when you let it. I find that very interesting and a great background to compliment my subject.

Hope this moves you along in your Colour Mixing Journey.

Christmas Show coming Next Week -

Heart to Home - A Holiday Market

is Coming to You Online

Nov 15 - Dec 15

www.sagabc.com

HOLIDAY SPECIAL - 15% on all sales

FREE SHIPPING IN CANADA TIL DEC 15

Art by Wendy Original Work, Art Cards & Prints, Memo Pads and Doodle Cards will be available

Be sure to like and share my posts. You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

INDEX

Nov 26, 2020

Looking to BUILD Confidence and Skill in Drawing - Painting & Drawing Tips

Nov 19, 2020

How to Write an Artist Statement - What the heck are you doing??? - Painting & Drawing Tips

Nov 12, 2020

5 Key Tips for Creating a Virtual Art Talk - Painting & Drawing Tips

Nov 5, 2020

Finding Your Way in the Colour Mixing World of Paint - Painting & Drawing Tips