Comfort Zone? Yeah, get out of there!
Experimenting. Learning. Not being afraid to make something that doesn’t look as good in the pursuit of learning new things, new mediums and growing as an artist.
I am very line driven in my art. I don’t know if that is from tattooing for so long or it is just in my nature, it doesn’t really matter. What this means is that I find the edges of things first and try to lay those down and get those right and then start working on values after. There are artists out there who work the other way – they establish the dark light patterns in a vague way and then pull the details out after. This is foreign to me and I want to understand it better. In the pursuit of that and my constant battle with the ickiness of charcoal I experimented with some this week. It’s completely backwards to my thinking and my “comfort zone”.
There are things that I am happy with about them and things that I really dislike about them – but there is learning and that was the point of the exercise.
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The AYU Art Group had planned a little revival this Monday. Weather decided to try and thwart us, but a few hearties braved the elements and showed up. I was really glad. We had fun and I am hoping that we will be able to go back to making it a more regular event again. I like learning from other artists and making art in a group setting really helps everyone stretch and grow. Plus it helps overcome the troll like nature that many of us can develop (okay me. I’m talking about me. Left to my own decides I would be a hermit.)
Many thanks to Stephen, Dusty, Randall and Joe for braving the weather and coming out to play.
Nothing new and groundbreaking here. Much more firmly inside the comfort zone. This one isn’t finished, but it felt good to paint.
Figure drawing was cancelled due to the weather. So nothing from that to show you. I am scheduled to make the Bernini piece that I was denied last week. So barring anymore unexpected illnesses or disasters, I get to make that today. Woohoo! Pictures soon.
Just TeeJay's Blog 
I love your portrait work – Marissa still proudly displays that sketch you did of your daughter in their home. Meredith
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