Sketchbook

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 finally finished this painting. I am very happy to have it off my board because now I get to focus on my Thailand paintings. It did not turn out how I expected, the great thing about the unexpected though is that you learn a few new things. For instance, did you know hair makes an interesting resist? I did not until this week.  Joe loves this painting and keeps giving me the puppy dog eyes in hopes that I will cave and give it to him.

I am now offering 5 and 10 pks of postcards on my Etsy shop.  I uploaded this painting as well as one new abstract that I did not add on Monday.

In very exciting news: I found out that I am going to be featured next week at Empty Easel. I am thrilled that they picked my work. This week has been a little rough. Work was tough for me and left me with very little energy the last couple of days and that in turn allowed doubts and other things to creep in. The week started off very well though and I did get quite a bit accomplished. I mean, I did finally finish this painting.  The email I received from Lisa at Empty Easel was a perfect book end to this week.

Next week is going to be a bit hectic due to the holiday and my work schedule.

These are the three newest paintings in my Etsy shop.  I will mainly be posting new paintings on Fridays, I just couldn’t wait this week. The format for these posts will include a small “teaser” thumbnail and a link to the store instead of all the paintings I add.  Also Etsy has their site set up so that for every item a store sells the store must pay a small fee. This allows the item to be active for 4 months, then Etsy takes down the item and charges another small fee to put it back up. Because of this I will only be offering my paintings on here for 1 cycle.  If they don’t sell then I will be moving them over to Ebay or at the very least keeping them on my Flickr account under Originals For Sale.  Any postcards or prints will most likely be up for multiple cycles, but I won’t necessarily renew them right away.

Week 2 I decided to change things up a bit, out of necessity and to try something different. I love Sharon’s style so I decided to take a small tip from her work. While Sharon does do the full figure, I wanted to work as fast as she does. I was very distracted this week with getting a new blog (thanks to Nick for helping me figure it out) and a few minor house hold issues that took a lot of time.  I also have been very curious about the differences between how illustrators work as opposed to fine artists.  The first 4 days I just concentrated on getting a line of action and trying to express the movement. I think doing fast, stick-figure drawings really helped me see a bit of the difference in the approach. I loved seeing the motion and the movement. It helped me get a sense of the slight weight adjustments the body makes.  By the 5th day I was bored with the stick-figures. They are very fun and I will most likely go back to them, maybe start to develope them a bit more as I get faster. To keep myself interested in the project though I went and bought another reference book by Mark Edward Smith. This is The Nude Figure: A Visual Reference for the Artist. I will try to add a link on the side bar.

I remember once in a class I was in where there was an illustrator w/ a bunch of fine artists, the question came up what’s the difference between the two and is there a difference? The disappointing point was that the illustrator wouldn’t participate. She would say we were wrong about something but not actually give her reasons.  I think that there are and there are not differences. It’s also a question that will  most likely never be answered or could be answered.  I also understand her frustration at having to defend her art for what was probably the millionth time, but I was more interested in hearing her discuss it than actually figuring out if illustration was the same as fine art.  Any thoughts?

Premise:
Sharon over at ArtBySaw just finished a project she titled 50 Cars/50 Days. I know, her title creativity is genius. Anyway, she wanted to start something else and she came up with 30 Days/300 Figures. I believe she changed the title of it, but whatever. I jumped on the bandwagon and here we go….

Day 1.
It’s taking me a bit to get into the groove of gestures. I started out doing 5 minute gestures, but it seems a bit much. Maybe if I was doing watercolor because then I would need time for the painting to dry. As it is I am using a smallish notebook (one that I bought in Santa Fe, it’s pretty) and I am using pencil. I am relearning everything my life drawing 101 teacher told us as I go.

I started a day late so this week I only have 4 days, but I am doing 12 gestures a day instead of 10. (10 gestures 5 days a week x 30 days = 300 figures)

Day 2
The first day I used an ebook, but I quickly became bored so I switched to the book that I have. I am continuing to loosen up.

Day 3
If a gesture is not going to go the way I want it I do erase it and start over. I know I should get rid of the eraser, but my sketchbook is so nice that I don’t want really ugly sketches in it…just slightly ugly.

Day 4
I was really able to loosen up on the fourth day. I was always told that for gestures, because they are so fast, you need to get to the important part of the pose right away. On these two pages I was able to let myself leave a good chunk of the figure out in order to focus on the important parts and to do it much faster than the other 3 days.

If you want to join along leave a link to your site in the comments after your first post.

Note: Originally posted on 10/9/09 at blog.limitedpalette.com

I took a break from finishing my landscape painting to knock this little sketch out.  I am planning on doing two small figure/portraits and one larger one as well as thinking about two smaller midwest themed paintings.  I am also working on the post that shows the process of the landscape painting.

Note: Originally posted on 8/22/09 at blog.limitedpalette.com

I wish I could say this was a quick sketch, but I worked on it for about 45 minutes. I took a break from organizing my office and writing my artist statement and I got lost in the curve of the waist, weight of the breast, etc.  There’s a reason the female form has been drawn and painted so much over the centuries, there’s a captivating quality in how all the pieces are put together. The shapes that the body makes and the lines that form are intriguing and beautiful. And the most perfect thing about it all is that every woman embodies this trait. It is inherent in all of us. It’s just how we are made and I love honoring that and spreading that message, even if it is just for 45 minutes in between mundane chores.

Before the end of school I bought a book to use for sketching when I did not have a model handy, which unfortunately is the case more often than not now that I am not in school. The book is The Nude Female Figure: A Visual Reference for the Artist by: Mark Edward Smith. He has a few more books out as well. They are filled with all kinds of poses and different body types. His other books contain men and women. I hope to acquire them all in the future, but for now this one is more than sufficient.

News:

I am currently working on a series from my recent travels. I am going to have roughly six pieces finished for an art festival in southern Illinois held in September. I hope to have the first piece finished by early next week. I am taking photos of the process and will post them to give everyone a better sense of what it is exactly that I do.

My BFA show is August 6th Again I will be sure to have a few photographs to share.

My website will be debuting very shortly. Definitely before the September show, but perhaps even sooner.

Note: Originally posted 7/15/09 on blog.limitedpalette.com

This Too Shall Pass

Explanation: The last few months I have felt the loss of my mom more strongly than I ever have. It’s been a knot in my chest. The depression that has accompanied that has been very difficult to shake.  While I was much more productive the last semester of school than I had been since I was diagnosed with severe depression almost three years ago, many people did not see that. These people focused on the surface. These people do not really know me and they judged me by their own standards and just what was obvious.
Many times when I am depressed people will try to cheer me up and say, “Just do it,” or “Let that stuff go,” “You are only focusing on the negative.” Sometimes while trying to motivate me they will add, “Everyone else can do it, why can’t you?” None of these help. I say things just like that to myself all the time. Being depressed makes me really angry. I just want to work on my paintings and live up to “my full potential.”  When I try to take care of myself, i.e. make sure I get enough sleep, people think I am just being lazy. People think I am just being lazy quite a bit actually. That is the most common judgment.
I chose the bright white light on my should to represent these accusations and judgments. I wanted the light to be harsh, unrelenting, and biased.  I wanted to show that by being in the dark of depression that the harshness of these allegations is painful, a shock to the system, and impossible to accept. I have to pull away from that light because the judgments are not fair and they are being brought on by people who do not understand.
The bare chest is to show vulnerbility.
The shadows represent depression and grief.
The painting as a whole shows these emotions and public reactions to it.
I chose this subject because it has been a huge part of me for the past few months and also because it’s really the only way I can express the depression to other people. I may try to tell someone, if I am close with them, but even then I can not fully explain how I feel. I know that the depression will pass, just as it always has in the passed. Art is nothing if not a way to express one’s self.

Note: This was originally posted on 5/5/09 on blog.limitedpalette.com.  Recently I read a quote by Edward Hopper, “If I could express it in words, I wouldn’t need to paint.” That is exactly how I feel about this painting and the emotion behind it.