Creating Challenge Days 211 & 212--Perspective

Over the past two days I've watched a video from my Wildflowers art class (an online class taught by Junelle Jacobsen; you can still sign up for it if you'd like!) and begun to complete the project assigned in the video. The assignment challenges us to take photographs from various perspectives. We'll use some of these photographs in upcoming artwork. Below are some of my pictures; read the captions to understand the types of shots I took:

I need to take the same picture with different lighting. I took this picture this morning.

I took this picture this evening.

We are to play with composition, so this morning I took another picture of the tree above and added other greenery in the foreground.

This is a macro shot of a potentilla bloom. They are quite tiny. I love to photograph flowers, so this picture wasn't a big stretch for me. I am thankful for the encouragement to get out of my comfort zone to take other kinds of pictures. I'm also grateful for shots like these that hit the bull's-eye of my comfort zone!

This shot fulfills the direction to photograph something from above.

Last night at around 10 p.m. we had a bit of excitement. Someone threw many rounds of firecrackers onto our next-door neighbors' driveway. The noise was loud and long; sounded like a war zone. This morning when I went outside to take photographs, I saw the firecracker remains strewn all over our neighbors' driveway. I found the scraps interesting, so I used them for my assignment. The first four  photos fulfill the composition assignment mentioned above.

I photographed this using my macro setting.

This assignment required taking a photograph from ground level.

I've made great progress on this project, yet still have pictures to take. Tomorrow I plan on shooting photographs of wide open spaces and of looking up at something. I'm grateful for the challenge. I'm enjoying shifting my perspective, and I anticipate how these photographs will inform coming art projects.

Creating Challenge Day 210--Completed Block Painting

She's finished! My little beauty! I completed the pen work, and that makes her all grown up. (You can see her in her adolescent phase here. Notice the difference!)

Front

Side 1

Back

Side 2

Creating Challenge Day 209--Art Journal Wildflower Completed!

Today I completed the pen work on this art journal page using a white Sharpie paint pen. 

And now you know what this wildflower is: a larkspur.

Creating Challenge Day 208--Art Journal Wildflower

She's in her adolescent phase. Finishing touches to come soon.

I hope she looks more like a flower and less like seafood at this point...;-)

Creating Challenge Day 207--Mixed Media Wildflower

I continue to develop this wildflower in my art journal. The only guess I've received as to its identity is "oysters on the half shell." That does not bode well for my ability to portray plants! So I've added leaves. Anyone else want to guess?

Creating Challenge Day 206--Continued Block Painting

Getting closer to finishing my block painting. Today I painted in more detail.

Front

Side 1

Back

Side 2

Creating Challenge Day 205--Art Journal Page

I continued to play with the art journal page I began earlier this week: 

I enjoy just letting something emerge instead of having a plan in mind. In fact, I think I'm most in my element when improvising like this.

Creating Challenge Day 204--Plein Air Sketching

This clump of prairie sunflowers delighted me, so I decided to sketch it.

I drew these in a plein air setting. With the wind blowing, what I saw was slightly different than the image my camera phone captured. This is the adventure of plein air art, something I've wanted to explore but have, until now, avoided. Plein air means "the open air," and plein air art is done outside.

Creating Challenge Day 203--Processing

Today I found myself feeling out of sorts and not at all motivated to work on any of my current projects. I didn't know how I'd meet my Creating Challenge commitment. As I discussed this with my Creating Challenge partner, Wendy Balman, I decided that perhaps making art would help me process my feelings. With that as my inspiration, I began painting this art journal page:

I'm not over what I've been feeling, but I enjoyed getting my hands messy and putting color onto a white page. We'll see how things proceed from here.

Creating Challenge Day 202--Mixed Media Wildflower

I continue to chip away at the art journal page I began yesterday. Today I painted light modeling paste onto the blooms of this flower. I need to wait for the paste to dry before I can paint over it.

Want to guess which wildflower this will become?

Creating Challenge Day 201--Mixed Media Wildflower

I've begun the process of creating a mixed media art journal page. I painted the background with acrylics, and created a collage using book paper and decoupage. This will be a wildflower. Can you guess which one it will be?

Creating Challenge Day 200--Pen Work

Two hundred days of creating and counting! How quickly this Challenge is going! Today I completed the pen work for the dandelion watercolors I've been working on. I'm not thrilled with the seed phase. It's difficult to watercolor paint something that is white. I look forward to experimenting with that more. I am, however, pleased with the flowering phase. I also like the individual seeds floating in the breeze. I just read that the seeds can travel for miles--what a wonder!

Creating Challenge Day 199--Background Watercolor Wash

All I had time for today was  painting a wash onto these dandelion pictures, a quick yet important step:

Creating Challenge Day 198--Watercolor Wildflowers

Today I dropped watercolor into the dandelion sketches I made awhile ago:

Creating Challenge Day 197--Sketching

A preparatory sketch for an upcoming art journal page:

Creating Challenge Day 196--Pen Work

Finishing touches on the artwork I've done over the past few days:

Creating Challenge Day 195--Watercolor

Watercolors based off yesterday's sketches. A little summer scenery: old-fashioned campers.