Have You Traveled a Desert Landscape on a Long Journey?

This is not quite the experience as was in earlier days because of different forms of transportation available today. We don't have to spend days or weeks in traveling as when going some place was done by horse and stage coach. If your a western art buyer you'll like this painting depicting those days. A western art theme is what I've chosen to compose in this new artwork. Currently it is uncompleted but lets you see the artwork thus far.

Breezy white clouds of the sky gives this painting a portrayal of motion. You can feel the air movement as you travel along with the rider and his horse contemplating the place they are journeying to. Blue skies give way to thoughts of crisp clean air they will no doubt experience during their journey.

Large rock masses jutting up behind the two travelers adds to this vast landscape feeling. The rock formations in the far background convey that there is quite a large distance both the cowboy and his horse have to go. This is aided by painting rock masses in the distant background in lighter hues and increases in depicting the vastness of the terrain to travel.

More to come as "Long Journey" is completed.

Thumb Nail Sketching

 Today while watching an art show on PBS I realized a useful tool I'd been neglecting for my painting compositions. A simply little tool it is but none the less one that would keep my artworks on the right track. Before beginning the painting the artist had completed a thumbnail sketch.

 Sometimes I would hit a road block during the middle of a painting. I'd be half way brushing on the paint colors and then the question pops to my mind and asks, "Ok, where am I going with this artwork?" Oh, I hate that! What I needed is a road map to tell me what the finished artwork should look like. Then I'd know which direction to continue in before getting off the exit.

 So out of my artistic library shelving I pulled out an eleven by eight and half inch sketch diary with seventy sheets of drawing paper. With a ruler I started dividing and making square boxes about the size of four by six inches to a page. Now when an artistic idea for a composition comes to mind I can sketch it out and adjust it to my liking before beginning the actual artwork. What I now have is a reference or artistic road map to complete my paintings by.   

Got to Keep it Straight

As each days activities is so busy it seems necessary to invoke a simple little tool to keep one aware of the must do things so that they just don't slip away. A little reminder at the proper time is good to keep things in order and on tract so as not to force a comment like, "Man, that was suppose to be done a while ago and now I'm in deep water!"

Need a calendar. Yep. Organization. I've got to setup a system to remind me to make timely entries to my twitter, Facebook, blog, website and future articles? First thought that comes to mind is how many times should one make an entry to each account in a reasonable timely fashion? Second thought is how should each one be used in communicating which types of messages? This is getting pretty heavy cause one needs to use these wonderful tools in a proper way.

Any of these tools used to much or to little can be a bad thing but used at just the right way and with the right message can be great for just about anything. You know there's a lot of books on this stuff but surely there's got to be a condensed, simplified version some place compacted for easy reading. Hey, maybe after I've got it figured out I write a little summary on my findings?

Yellow Lily Sunshine

Yellow Lily Sunshine floral oil painting was created from a photograph taken of a lily growing in my backyard. Yellow conveys a warm feeling and this particular painting reminds me of my boyhood days. I'd lay in the farmers field on sunny days while watching the clouds row by. I'd try to picture in my mind the many animal images they would make as they danced across the sky.

It seemed good to paint a painting with this memory still intact from those days before it would become forgotten and lost. The sun was warm as it shined brightly and every now and then it would hide behind a cloud. I remember golden yellow blades of tall grass swaying in the slight breeze of each day.

There was no pond in this field but a river flowed by where I'd play once in a while by skipping stones across the water surface. And fishing was a pass time done now and then along it's banks.

All in all this is a warm painting with glowing colors to brighten every day forward may they be wet and rainy, cloudy and snowy or dark and stormy.

http://www.lloydthibodeau.com/

"Move Over" Harmonic Proportions/Armatures

After starting “Move Over” I learned of an artist technique referred to as Harmonic Proportions. In simple terms it is the placement of art subjects in an art composition at areas where the art viewer's natural vision rest. Artist blog of Alan Douglas Ray gives a more indepth discussion of this artist technique. I was a little surprised as to where the intersecting interest points of the viewer eye came together after having already begun this artwork.

By dividing the artist canvas from eight locations and then connecting them with pencil lines I found the highway sign I had drawn to be located where four points rest. The top right portion of the composition I find is complete and adding more art subjects in this area would cause this location to be too busy. There's no other interest points and the steel framing of the sign structure will create much interest for the art viewer.

One of the intersecting points rest at the center. I was surprised to see that the police vehicle's front portion that I penciled outlined was located at this point. As the painting is brushed in I will create contrast here enhancing this area at this point.

All the flower art subjects are located from the left side to right side and work their way to the bottom middle of the canvas. Colors of these flowers that are around each intersecting point and where they converge will be painted to standout. Artist Arleta Pech shares informative art information on this in her article about Harmonic Armatures.

Daisies Grid Drawing Puzzle

Got a pencil and like doing puzzles? An artist grid drawing puzzle is an artist tool use that helps in learning to draw. Grid puzzles let us see negative space, distance, shapes and a whole host of other arty things. After sometime with practice you can find yourself seeing art subjects in a whole different way. Drawing puzzles enable the basic art form or foundation of an artwork to be drawn with more accuracy. This then helps in making the end artwork appear as a more realistic artwork. A funny thing is that drawing puzzles lets one draw something and yet not know what it is that is being drawn. It blocks out the logical mind and opens up the creative mind of a visual artist.

The Daisies Grid Drawing Puzzle contains one hundred and six drawing pieces. In the online web version each drawing piece can be viewed by clicking on the labeled square. If you need a blank grid pattern to draw to you can download one by clicking this here Download Blank PDF File Grid Drawing Sheet.

Start drawing from the top line and work left to right until you have completed each line. If you start at the middle or bounce around to different labeled squares you may find your completed artwork to be a harsh and jagged picture. Drawing this way creates a smoother flowing drawing without having to return with an eraser to cleanup different areas.

If your an art teacher you may be interested in a slideshow version of the Daisies Grid Drawing Puzzle. From an image projecting system it can be shown as a Power Point presentation to a class of art students.

Bear in the Blueberry Bush

Bad. Really doesn't look good. Yep it's down right ugly but it does what I need it to do. It tells me where the sky, background mountains and foreground areas will be. What it is, is the underpainting. By painting this way I've learned to make an art composition complete. It helps me not to hit any bumps in the road and get stuck.

I like to let my paintings dry a few days which gives me time to think about maybe adjusting the focal point. Viewing the painting as is I like the brightness just above the bears head in the sky area. Lighter hues in the background mountains and darker hues in foreground areas helps to bring a sense of distance into the painting. The bears head and blueberries appear to standout in the composition. I think it's now ready for some detailed brushing for a second round of painting.