Rose Welty

I've Moved!

I've moved! Come find me at rosewelty.com

Exciting Changes Ahead

 

As things are beginning to settle down again on the homefront, things on the art front are picking up again. I have some great new ideas and I'm excited to finish implementing them. I've got some ideas about where my artwork is heading and about how I'm going to share it. I'm really looking forward to the days ahead.

One of the changes ahead is that I'm going to be changing my blogging platform. If you subscribe in a reader or via email (using feedburner), you shouldn't have to do anything. If you just visit rosewelty.com, you will still be able to find me there. I think overall, it will be fairly seamless for the majority of my readers. But I just want to give you a heads up in case something does goes wrong.

I'm not moving just yet, but probably in the next week or so. I'll be sure to let you know when it happens.

Remember you can find me on Facebook and Twitter as well!

Beauty, Locals, and Subscription Tip

I've had a few things to tell you about, but I haven't had time for a sketch...so I decided to take a photo from my reference library and crop it in an abstract way. This is what you see above. I like the blend of hard and soft edges, motion with the greens and the repeating pinks and blues. 

This past weekend I did something I have never done before! I went to a meeting of the local chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America. I absolutely loved it. The group is a nice size and very active. It was great to see them showing their recent work and encouraging each other to enter the pieces in shows and competitions. The art was also very impressive. Special thanks to Jan Pope for inviting me. I'm really excited about this opportunity to be part of a group.

Finally, I have a little tidbit about Google Reader. Did you know that you can subscribe to just certain posts from a blog? As I mentioned on Facebook and Twitter last week, there is a new series about drawing starting in the New York Times that looks interesting. The posts are going to be coming weekly. I don't really want to follow another blog (I spend enough time reading as it is), but I would like to see those articles and I won't remember in between posts to check. But if you add "/category/category-name" (in this case "http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/" becomes "http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/line-by-line/") you can just subscribe to the posts with the category you name.

Of course, the above idea works both ways - you can use it as a reader seeking content, but you could also use it as a publisher promoting different content. If you wanted to give your site visitors an option to just follow a certain series or thread that you were working on, you could offer different links for them to subscribe. 

Fickle

 

Yesterday, feeling all empowered from exercising, I decided to be a bit experimental in the studio. So, after laying in a drawing with colored pencil, I grabbed a brush and smooshed it all around. I really liked the results. I felt like it gave the drawing a looseness, that I could then bring to a great conclusion with some details and refinement.

Last night I picked it up again. I went to bed very discouraged. This morning, giving it a quick look, I was thinking all was not lost. Now again, I feel like it is on the verge of failing. Above you see it. I think the problem is that one bit of it is nearly done and the rest isn't - it looks odd like that. I don't like to work that way - I prefer to work all over a piece and gradually bring it to refinement, but I was afraid of losing the whites, so I got started on the blossoms.

I think I'll go exercise and maybe unpack a box or two and let my mind work it out. Artists can be such fickle people!

Less is More Day 12

Working my through the garage, box by box. Here are another two failed organizational systems. Organizing myself electronically through the iPod and RememberTheMilk.com is clearly the answer for me! I started using it in January after getting the iPod for Christmas, here it is September and I am still going strong (and it doesn't take up space!) Actually I think the key is that my tasks and reminders are mostly auto-generated, so I don't have some big catch-up to do when I neglect it for a few days. The only problem I've had is to remember to never write anything (dates or appointments) down - just put it in the iPod.

As I go through our possessions, I am constantly reminded to just go ahead and use stuff. I have always been one to save things - save paper for a really good project, save an outfit for a special occasion, pack away the pretty dishes so they don't get broken, etc. I now have less space to store things so I have to go through stuff. I'm finding things that were spoiled in storage, now seem dated, or I have such an abundance of something it is a burden rather than a delight.

If you've got some nice paper lying around that you are waiting for that really great project to use - go ahead and use it now, you don't know when the next masterpiece is coming.

If you've got some pretty family heirloom - put it out and enjoy it. Yes, it may get broken, but it also may deteriorate in storage and then you will have never enjoyed it.

Less is More Day 11

I have not given up on my "less is more" quest - I am still decluttering. I just had a reprieve while we got settled into school, but now I am back to unpacking (and decluttering).

Today I unpacked 3 boxes and put 3 more where their owner can use them. In the first 3 boxes I found these notebooks that we aren't likely to use anytime soon. One of those I used as a housekeeping notebook (good ol' FlyLady). But, I have now switched to running my household through rememberthemilk.com. RTM is a great tool - I just decide when and how often a household job should be done and it reminds me then and then again when the next time rolls around - yay!

Today I also discovered that when I archived my images last year I also lost my images in my artwork database. I also have now noticed that I have messed up my numbering system as well. It's very frustrating when you shoot yourself in your foot and create work for yourself! Apparently I love setting up new systems, just not so much of the follow-through.

Together

 Together

colored pencil on vellum, 5in x 7in

copyright Rose Welty

This week I tried extending some of my new ideas on colored pencil, above is the result. This came out fairly close to what I had in my head. I may still tweak a few things, but for now I think I better leave it a few days.

I am still working on unpacking and decluttering (both my stuff and myself - I have begun a little exercise program). I hope to make a major effort on the remaining boxes this week, so I am not sure if I'll have a blog post for you, but I do have some ideas for my next piece!

Hope everyone is well and settling into their fall routines.

Under what? Underpainting

Last night I did some reading on color theory and colored pencils. Today, armed with new knowledge, good reminders, and fresh ideas I started this piece. I've just done the underpainting so far - the bottom layer. It's done in complementary-ish colors. In the final version the tulips will be red, the leaves green, and the background a muted gray-purple. At least that is how I'm thinking now! :D

I have Bet Borgeson and Arlene Steinberg to thank for last night's lesson. I've read both of these books before, but I think I was ready to get much more out of them this time around.

Active Waiting

 As most of you know, we just moved a few thousand miles east to North Carolina. Things have gone very well, but even so, moving 5 people and their stuff that far takes time. The whole process has been about a year so far - thinking about the possibilities and all their ramifications, deciding to move, preparing to sell our home and leave, driving east, landing in two temporary places before buying our home. Now that we are in our home, for the last month, we are still "moving in". There are still boxes to unpack, furniture to place, fix-it jobs, settling into new schools and routines, finding our way around, etc.

At several points in the last year I have felt overwhelmed. I simply just want life to be settled - no more forms, set ups, new experiences, unknowns, etc. But my husband patiently reminds me to just hang in there, one day at a time, bit by bit things will settle down and there will be time for normal life. You can look forward to some normalcy, but you wait actively - doing things here and there, taking each step and enjoying that step for all it's worth.

In the midst of this last year I have tried thinking about a direction for my art, but I keep having the same internal debates and unresolved issues creeping up. As I started thinking about it last week, I grew discouraged that in all this time I hadn't gotten more clarity. So, I decided to just wait actively. I still don't have clarity to just jump full throttle into something, so, I'm going to use this time to play. I have had some ideas that I wanted to try out for a long time, but I have just never given them long enough. So, I'm having a play.

Above is a piece that I did this weekend - trying out some of my ideas. Some of it works, some of it needs refining, but most importantly - it's a step down a path I've wanted to try. Having done this step, I have ideas for the next step. Will these steps lead ultimately to a place I want to go? Hmm, not sure. But until I have some clarity on where I want to go, steps like these will keep me moving forward.

Unpacked a bit

 I am still here dear readers. We've been busy with adjusting to the new school schedule and assembling furniture. We're getting there, but we still have a long way to go as far as getting life here organized and unpacked. But, yesterday I did unpack a few studio boxes - just threw them on a shelf, didn't really get them organized yet. It was so encouraging to see those beloved tools again, I just had to spend a bit of time last night sketching.

Several months ago, when I still lived in Texas, my neighbor took a gorgeous photo on her vacation. I did a quick watercolor of it then. Last night, as I didn't want to waste time finding a reference photo, I grabbed my watercolor and did this sketch based on that. I really enjoyed playing with the image, trying things out, moving beyond what I knew to be there. I need to try working from just my own sketches more often!

I hope to be posting again soon, but it is a bit hit and miss these days until I get things together.