The Importance of Play

Lately, I have been "playing around" with the new medium gouache and some new techniques (dripping, color mixing, and less realism).  SO, I found this paragraph in Robert Genn's Twice-Weekly Letter interesting.

Practically all the "great ones" have mentioned the value of play. "Play is the exultation of the possible," said Martin Buber. "Play is the essential feature in productive thought," said Albert Einstein. The American conceptual artist and minimalist Sol LeWitt declared, "Your work isn't a high stakes, nail-biting professional challenge. It's a form of play. Lighten up and have fun with it."

Above is one of my starts from playing around last Friday.
SO, today, I'm off to my studio to once again PLAY!

Experiments with Gouache

I spent all day yesterday and today at my studio experimenting with gouache.  It's sort of like water color, but opaque rather than transparent.....sort of like acrylic.  (I think I have this right.)   The picture at the right is one that I drew while at the Carla O'Connor workshop in Myrtle Beach.  Yesterday I painted it.  I'm sure some of you think it is really weird.....but it was fun!

 This was another one that I sketched in MB.  In this one, I did more experimenting - the gouache certainly doesn't go on the paper like anything else I've ever used.  I'm also using some cold-pressed paper which is very slick.  Next week, I'll try hot-pressed.  I think I'll like it better. 

Don't think that I don't realize that this is not that great!  However, when I started the blog I said that I would share successes and failures.  I actually started painting this one at the workshop.  The class was huge and the teacher only got to each student once during a three-hour period.  (Not a good guided practice situation.) SO, after three hours of my being frustrated with a new medium and a new technique, the teacher came over and painted a bunch of red all over it.....I will admit that it looked better than what I had done, but......anyway, I made some changes yesterday and LEARNED a lot. 

I started another painting today - we'll see!

Studio Pictures

I thought some of you might like to see where I spend a good bit of my "free" time.  Here are pictures of the studio.  I have two rooms that open into each other and a little alcove for storage and cooking.  There are a couple of empty studios available.  If you know of anyone who is interested, I believe Jack and Ruth Pentes, the owners, are listed in the phone directory! 

Studio

Here's a picture of my good friend, Nancy Beasley, and my landlady, Ruth Pentes, at my studio!  Nancy and Ruth happen to be neighbors.

Studio Visitors

On Tuesday, friends from our dinner group came to visit my studio.  I thought it would be fun to take their pictures with one or two of their favorite paintings.  Friends shown are Cindy Holley who is holding a painting I started in Angela Nesbit's workshop, Tammy Brown who is holding sketches of my son Kirk who she taught in first grade twenty years ago, Guyla Vardell, and Nancy Beasley!

More sketchbook examples

The class sketchbook assignments provided by some students were very interesting.  Since there are fifty sketches due from each student, I'd better get busy!  Here are a few more that I've completed - or almost completed.  Again, they are just sketches!

Sketchbook assignments

Draw what you would see if you looked through a keyhole

Something mechanical

Someone who is boxed in

Your favorite shoe

Being out of town for over a week resulted in no blog posts and only a little "artwork."  My time has been filled with working on sketchbook assignments for my drawing class at Queens.  The teacher asked that each student submit two assignments.  She then added several of her own to complete the semester assignment.   I'm attaching a couple of my sketches.  These are very simplistic (not very good) and some are direct "copies" of photographs.  However, they are very good learning experiences.