Sketch 365

Most of you don't know this but I've been suffering from some pretty bad anxiety that is causing some awful artists-block. The paintings I've done over the last several years take a lot of effort for me to create because of this. The difficulty extends to drawing and sketching as well. I've been very proactive in trying to get through this and a few weeks ago my best friend and I decided to undertake one of those 365-day challenges as a way of helping me get back on the horse. 365-day challenges can be about anything: take one selfie a day, cook something new every day, write a story every day, etc. We decided to "sketch" something every day for a year.  

THE RULES:

• Minimum of 1 "sketch" must be done per day
• A "sketch" may be in any medium; a painting would count as a "sketch"
• Minimum dimension of 5"x8" taking up at least half the page
• Multiple pieces do not count toward future days of sketching
• If you miss a day, you may make it up the following day; days do not roll over.
• If you miss a day and do NOT make it up, that day gets tacked on to the end of the "year"
• Each week (Mon-Sun) a theme is picked, taking turns picking every other week from the pre-agreed upon list.
• Drawing in the theme is optional.

We decided to have rules in order for there to be accountability but not so many that it becomes daunting. The idea is to challenge ourselves to draw EVERY day, not just once a week. We are already on week 3 and the themes are helping a lot; they make it a bit more challenging, more like a game. I think having things too open-ended makes me too indecisive and nothing gets done.

I'll be attempting to post everything I've drawn a week at a time so folks can see what I'm up to. It's been a lot of fun so far!

Thrift Store Art Improvements

If you've paid any attention to some of the art memes going around the internet, you may have come across the exercise of buying "ugly" thrift-store art and "improving" it with the addition of monsters. This is usually done with Bob Ross-esque hack paintings. The paintings can be bought for fairly cheap and it's fun practice for mixing colors to match and to let yourself paint something free-form. Last month, my best friend and I decided to give it a try. We bought 3 art pieces and added monsters to them, free-style, without drawing them first. Here they are:

1) Original art by "Carter",
monster by Kara Stenberg.

2) Original art by "AY",
monster by Rachel Richards.

3) Original art by Lucy B. Roberts, 1986.
Monster by Kara Stenberg.

Abandoned Sketches

1) Lonesome Mine, Hatcher Pass, Alaska.
2) Trapdoor Ladder, Bonanza Mine tram house, Kennicott, Alaska.
3) Card Catalog box of Bird Bones, found under a shaker table in the Kennecott Mine mill building at Kennicott, Alaska. All pen sketches done totally in pen, summer 2014 based on photos I took.

23 and Wingnut

Oil on Paper • 9"x6" • August 2014
Painted in Katmai National Park

These were both quick little paintings I did in my cabin while working in Brooks Camp. "23" is one of the number placards for one of the MANY shaker tables in the Kennecott Mine Co. mill building in Kennicott, Alaska. "Wingnut" is a detail of the Atlas Imperial Diesel Engine Co. generator that I've previously done paintings of.

Dog commissions
8"x10" ea. • 2013
Oil on canvas

These were 2 of 3 dog painting commissions based on photos submitted by the client.