Sketchbook

This was the most fun I’ve had in awhile. Is that sad? Probably. I really fell in love with giraffes.  What a cool animal. Have you seen that commercial where the guy is surrounded by gold and then at the end he kisses a mini giraffe? I want a mini giraffe.

The last image (with the orange) is the “take it further step” in which you are supposed to do several contours on top of one another and make an image with them.  One thing I used to do when I was little was take a pencil or pen and scribble in big loops around a piece of paper and then color it in with crayons. The rule was to not let a color touch itself. I would always get crazy images. This exercise really reminded me of that. I am probably going to do this one a bunch of times.  My favorite is the last contour. I freakin’ love giraffes.

Do you remember this guy?

The painting I am doing for Annie on clay board? I thought I should just give up on this one right away.

Well this is what ol’ Dr. Redgy looks like so far.

I’m still working on this one, but I really like it now. It’s looking better than I ever thought it would after that start. I also really like clay board now that I have learned a few ways to manipulate the paint on it.  I went back to this after I already redrew and started painting it again on paper.  I think I will be using clay board for some experimenting in the future.

I have gotten a few books that were suggested by the very creative Myrna Wacknov.  She is always experimenting and playing around with many different ideas.  One of the books I already love is Drawing Labs for Mixed Media Artists. So with out further ado here are the results from my first lab.

My first set of Cats.

These cats are from my imagination. I am not comfortable drawing from an image in my head. I am impressed with all of them. They all turned out better than I thought. Although there are a few that clearly are much better than others.

Cats With Color

This is me taking it further. I wanted to experiment and go to the next step so I went out and bought a set of markers. I have no idea how to use them, but I am sure I will have fun learning.

I had a lot of fun and it really helped motivate me for the rest of the week. So much fun.

Copyright Elisha Dasenbrock 2010.

This is one of the 3 paintings I am currently working on. She is on a full sheet and she is from my Thailand series. I want to make most of her body look like a statue because statues are everywhere in Thailand. Buddha statues are all over the place.  Although I want most of her body to resemble that specific part of the culture I want her face and hands to be warmer and show the live and exuberance of such a precocious child.

The other two paintings are dog portraits. One is for Joe’s sister. I forget why, but I know it’s a “if you do this I will paint a picture of Redgy” deal. The second is a commissioned portrait for someone as a gift.

I just decided the other day that I was not going to worry about selling my art any more.  I’m just going to paint. I want to paint as much as I possibly can.  If I concentrate too much on selling then the pressure eats away at me. I also feel that I’m just not ready to sell. I think I need to be better.

I’m not saying I don’t have talent or that some people wouldn’t buy my art now. What I am saying is that I want to grow and I can’t concentrate on that growth if I am too worried about making money.

I’m also not saying I wouldn’t sell a piece if someone offered to buy it.

I want to fall back in love with painting and wrap myself up in it.

Then I came across this awesome blog post. The list is going on my wall of inspiration. I need to tell myself this every day.

These are my two favorite sketches from Savannah. (You can see the rest here.) I like these because it is very rare that I get a nice watercolor sketch. I also had a pretty good time doing them as well. I think the shrimp boat day was by far my favorite.  The weather was beautiful, I seemed to be on a roll sketch wise, and the company couldn’t have been better.

I did maybe 3 times as many sketches in Savannah then I did in Santa Fe. The sketchbook that Katie Fowler (soon Bernhard) is a dream.  It makes me very happy.

Savannah really gave me hope for one day having a nice sketchbook filled with decent to beautiful sketches. I am inspired to go out and sketch more.

I hope to have photoshop next week.  Very exciting stuff.

I know I’ve been away, let me just say that it has been a little crazy here. As soon as I returned from Savannah I had to get the whole house packed up and cleaned. Luckily a couple of awesome ladies helped me out as well as Joe of course. Although one can only do so much when working a full-time job.

Before I left for Savannah my computer freaked out and needed to be rebooted so I no longer have photoshop. I am hoping to upgrade to CS4 in a week or 2. I know, I’m a little behind the times. I do still plan on posting, but it will probably be sub-par quality photos and scans.

I am working on my entry for the National Watercolor Society in between unpacking and straightening the new apartment. I will be very busy until the 15th when I mail that off.

Last year was Santa Fe, this year is Savannah 

These first few photos are of the bathroom attached to the bedroom Gabriela and I are sharing.  It’s so big, there is even a kitchenette around the corner.  There are more photos, but I will just send you to the link of the place. Luxury Living

This is The Tub. There are jets in it.

Our balcony off the bathroom.

Part of our backyard. There is a wall of bamboo, a fountain and several verandas for sitting.

The amazing  Kristen Kernats in her fabulous hat. The first day here we found a hat store and loaded up.

I may go back and buy this. It’s a blow fish!

The Katie Fowler in her fabulous hat and her beautiful yellow bedroom, shared with KK.

Today we went to Bonaventure Cemetery. It was very pretty and as far as cemeteries are concerned I think this one is worth the property used.  After the cemetery we went to Wiley’s Championship BBQ. Unreal. The banana pudding was tasty.

Yesterday we went to Vinnie Van Go-Go’s for pizza. Delicious and cheap. That was after sketching at the river front for the morning.

Tomorrow we are going to SCAD for a tour. I can not wait to see that school.

When a person creates something, by law, it is automatically protected under the copyright law. While it is always better to copyright images, even if an artist does not the work is still protected. The artist can then sue the “borrower” for any profit made on the image.

Artists work very hard on their work. We have spent considerable time, resources, energy, and emotions in developing our style and “language.” It is ours and it is personal.

In order to be up to date we need to be online. We have to market ourselves and have a web page. If we want to reach out and expand our community we need blogs and Twitter accounts, Facebook fan pages and more.  It’s bad enough when sites like Facebook claim the rights to our images if we post them, but at least we have a choice there.

Many artists do not like to watermark their work because it obscures the image and makes selling online difficult. Watermarks can also look unprofessional.

If you find that you took someone’s work and they contact you, usually removal of said work and a sincere apology is enough.  If the artist took the time to contact you before going to their lawyer then you should be very happy as well as humbled.  Do not behave like this guy http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/rethinking-healthcare/big-mother-gets-her-shot-at-cutting-health-costs/1023/#comments and respond with arrogance and condescension, trying to rewrite the law. Also don’t then write an eye roll worthy article acting as though the guy you stole from is an out of touch jerk like this…http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/thinking-tech/how-to-protect-your-copyrighted-images-on-the-web/3684/.

I don’t know how to get it through to this guy that an illustrator makes money by creating illustrations for articles just like his and ethical professionals pay for those illustrations. As others in those comments said, it devalues the artist’s work because the clients that paid for the work then wonder why they bothered.

Just because something is easy to do does not mean it’s okay. Although now it is very easy to just click and grab a piece of artwork does not mean that artists should not get paid for someone to use it. It means that artists need to be even more vigilant. It means that it is even more important to get permission before using the work of someone else.

If you would like to see more about this particular situation you can find the artist’s reply here…http://drawger.com/buzelli/?section=articles&article_id=10164

Please don’t steal from people and for artists, copyright your work. Better safe than sorry.

P.S By law all my images are copyright. If you want to use my work, ask me.  I’m nice…unless you steal from me. Then I’m mean, very very mean. And while I may be poor (and would love the opportunity to take your money) I do have a lawyer in the family who would love to help me take your money.  Have a nice day.

These are the very first sketches for a children’s book I am working on. More details to come, I just wanted to show what I have been up to besides working at a bookstore and getting ready to move.

I am not the best sketcher, but I think by the time the book is finished I will be much improved. I am also not an illustrator, luckily the author wants what I do instead of illustrations.

Sorry for the very poor photo quality. I am having an issue with my computer. I have to open everything up as an administrator and I can not open up my scanner that way. I had to take the photos with my cell phone. One day soon I will figure out what the problem is and have it fixed.