Latest iPad/ArtRage Images

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Yesterday, my husband and I got a bit lost in the wilds of Virginia after taking my cousin to the airport. (We’re Marylanders — Virginia is terra incognito to us!) While we meandered toward home, I doodled an imaginary Fall landscape, using the ArtRage chalk tool to capture the beautiful colors we saw.

the colors of Fall in Virginia

Fall Fantasy

Here are some other doodles, made last week while trying to dip a toe into the watercolor tool. As you can tell, I’m not ‘swimming’ yet. Ick.

The Belly Dancer - Back View

The Belly Dancer – Back View

The pale pears

The pale pears

Latest Landscape Paintings

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Some dear art buddies and I attended a landscape workshop at Deep Creek Lake last weekend, taught by Walt Bartman and managed by his wonderful wife Robyn. The entire group produced some lovely paintings and starts on paintings of the spectacular Fall foliage.

Here are a few of our works:

Another iPad Value Study, Followed by Color

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At my iPad art class last Thursday, the students and I worked on additional monochrome value studies, based on a still life, and then proceeded to add color. Here is my initial sketch,

Initial sketch, raku pot still life.

an interim stage,

Interim sketch, raku pot still life.

and the final product.

Finished sketch, raku pot still life.

Recent ArtRage/iPad Activities

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I’ve got 3 weeks down and 7 to go in the Intro to iPad Art class I’m teaching at the Yellow Barn Studio. We have covered some of the most basic how-to information about the ArtRage app and are now exploring/practicing various tools.

In the last week, at the suggestion of Walt Bartman, I tried simulating a traditional oil painting technique – making a monochrome value-study by rubbing out highlights in a toned canvas and then adding color at the value levels developed in the preliminary study. In the iPad framework, I used the paint roller to make a solid underpainting and then used a soft eraser to ‘rub out’ the lighter passages and then added a few darker areas using the chalk tool to capture the darks.

Here are the two stages of the first work I did with this method, painted from our lovely live model Kuniko. First, the study:

Kuniko

Kuniko in kimono, monochromatic iPad study.

And then the colored version:

iPad Kuniko

Kuniko iPad study, developed with color.

Keeping a Gouache Painting Simple

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In developing some PR for the just-ended Labor Day exhibits, I pulled out a photo of one of my earliest gouaches. Made on black paper at the suggestion of Yellow Barn teacher, Walt Bartman, I incorporated the paper’s rich black for the composition’s dark values — also his suggestion. I loved the outcome. Here it is.

Blue Girl, gouache on paper.

When I did the painting of grandson Max for yesterday’s post, I had intended to do the same thing, but wimped out in the end — not wanting a lot of black on a sweet baby’s face. I’m going to try again on my next gouache, but the restraint needed to achieve the simplicity of black shadows, etc. is hard hard hard.

Gouache of Grandboy

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I’ve been pondering making a series of gouaches about my family. As the ‘About’ section suggests, there is LOTS of material. My husband and I will head to California soon to help celebrate our grandson’s first birthday. So I decided to make Family No. 1 a study of Max on his original ‘birth day’.

Family No. 1 (Max, Day 1). Gouache on paper.

Another Reason to Use iPad or iPhone Art Apps

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I love to use art apps to record color sketches quickly, whether sitting by a lovely scene or whipping by in the passenger seat of a car. Photos just don’t ‘cut it’ for this type of use. The camera does not capture colors accurately — at least without time-consuming gyrations. Hauling out paints and nailing the right color note on the fly is also improbable.

With an art app, all you have to do is select the right color from a comprehensive array at your fingertips. Here are several palettes from which I can dial the desired color, swipe it on the screen, and adjust intensity/opacity as desired. The slideshow also includes a few color notations made to capture relative colors, instead of a specific scene.

Living Room Tour via iPad

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When I first got an iPad, I’d sit around the living room every night doodling whatever came into mind or view. After awhile, it occurred to me that I’d developed a prosaic tour of our living room from my sofa vantage, with hubby reading nearby, and a parade of accidental still lifes marching across the coffee table at my feet. None of these efforts is great art, but it was a fun way to gradually hone skills in this new medium.

Welcome to my living room!

Not to Distract You from the Weekend Shows . . . but It’s Time to Plan an Art Adventure for Fall!

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With art buddy, Eneida Somarriba, I’m going to teach a 10 week class on making art on the iPad — at the Yellow Barn Studio, Glen Echo, MD, 4 to 6:30 pm on Thursdays, starting September 20, 2012.

If you haven’t tried this fun and revelatory form of finger-painting, you’ve got to do it! David Hockney, a modern master, has focused on the iPad for several years, exhibiting his digital pictures at UK’s Royal Academy and elsewhere.

Arrival of Spring in Worldgate 1, a Hockney iPad Image from Royal Academy Show

After declining a request to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, he changed his mind on the occasion of her recent Jubilee, presenting her an iPad picture of her aboard the Royal Barge during the festive event.

Jubilee Pageant on the Thames: The End of the Regatta

So, whether you want to make colorful stick figures, high art, or anything in between, don’t miss this opportunity to learn iPad art in a structured environment.

In tomorrow’s post I’ll give you a virtual tour of my living room, painted over a couple of weeks as I worked nightly on what I could see from the vantage of my sofa.

The Third Exhibit is Kensington’s ‘Paint the Town’, with Montgomery Art Association

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The Kensington Armory/Town Hall is the site of my third show over Labor Day weekend. The hours are noon to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday, and 9:30 am to 4:30 pm on Labor Day. There will be a public reception Saturday evening from 6:00-7:30 pm.

For this exhibit, I plan to hang four framed paintings and show 10-12 matted originals and possibly prints of recent iPad images in a nearby rack. The slide show below gives a sense of these works — but they look much better ‘in person’. Come see them!