Website Jo Castillo Art




Back to my website:

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Sketching Fun and Pastel Frustration

Really,I had fun sketching today. Very unusual for me. I struggle with it and do it to help my painting. And today I needed help with painting. But first the sketches. I didn't post a couple of sketches from Scavenger Hunt #73 on wetcanvas.com, so I will post them now. We left for New Mexico on a trip and I forgot the camera so no posting. Can you believe I went to New Mexico with no camera. All the sketches are in my regular sketchbook for the Hunts with a Micron 005 pen except the shoe was with a Pilot regular ball point pen for writing.


#3 a key chain and #4 a scale. The scale is a small letter scale. 15 minutes each.


#5 shoe with laces. I have sketched these shoes several times and this is the worst. I need practice in sketching, too much time off. 10-15 minutes.

Today after the painting frustrations and after dinner, I started Scavenger Hunt #75 (I missed #74). I'm still out of practice but like I said I even had fun. Watched TV and just relaxed.


#1 Stuffed animal, my Faris, Mushabelly horse. 10 minutes.


#2 Keepsake, a photo of my Mom in a leather frame. She looks worried in my sketch, she has a slight smile in the photo. Nice memories.

#3 Something round, a baseball that Gene caught at a UT game as we were coming into the stadium a couple of years ago. #4 A rectangle, a little wooden box from Chile. 25 minutes for both.


#5 A triangle, the top of a ceramic box from Ecuador. The box is a church. About 20 minutes. The lines were off so I "covered" them with hatching since I don't erase. Hmmmm.


Actually I needed help with painting for three days. I first started on a painting of prickly pear cactus blooms on a Colourfix card that I had used at the class. I wiped it off, brushed it and then smeared it with water so it was just dark. I was the dark brick red to start with.

The ice cream cone right up the center!
Pastel, 9 x 12 inches on Colourfix card

I finished and took it downstairs to let it set ... and I had made an ice cream cone with the blooms, stacked on one of the buds. (Smile here.) So I went up to my studio and started over on one of the boards prepared with the Colourfix medium. I could not get a good composition no matter what. Too close to center, too close to the edge, etc. Finally started and it was sooo tight and formal looking.

Today I worked on this second painting with a looser stroke and it was not going well. I finally brushed it off and decided to work on the board in acrylics. I paint looser with a brush .. sometimes. I still couldn't get the composition so I went in the kitchen, propped up my feet, watched Tiger win his match in golf and sketched cactus for an hour or so. Maybe tomorrow the painting will come together. We shall see...... painting is so easy! Really. As Susan Carlin says, though, when you paint, you should paint when you are happy so it will show in your work. Tomorrow I will try that. (Today, really, it is midnight as I type.)

12 comments:

Bag Blog said...

I like the "paint when your happy" motto. My young students often paint subjects that someone else chose for them. They get so frustrated when the painting does not work well. Although I always encourage them to work through their problems and finish a piece, sometimes I tell them that they need to paint what makes them happy - not what makes other's happy.

Your sketches always encourage me. Your "ice cream cone" did not bother me, but if you see it, it will haunt you from now on. A student once painted a bowl of fruit with a big peach butt in the middle of it. I couldn't get passed it, and I kept laughing.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Your sketching is really good Jo. I enjoy the way you are able to show the perspective in what you do.

Tiger certainly pulled one out yesterday. I added it up and he made 88' of putts in that 4 hole stretch.

Jo Castillo said...

bag blog, You are right about painting what you like and want to paint. The peach in the fruit is funny. I have not had great success in flowers in pastel for some reason. They look thick. I keep trying.

Jo Castillo said...

fishing guy, I almost missed Tiger, I thought they were starting today, Thursday. Pretty incredible. Most of my favorites won. I hope Boo Weekly beats Sergio today. I'm pulling for Stricker, Leonard and Sink. I don't care for Paul Casey or Colin Montgomery (I was for Furyk). We shall see.

Thanks for he comments on the sketching. :)

indiaartist said...

Love the sketches.

Jo Castillo said...

indiaartist, Thanks for stopping by and the nice comment. I looked at your daily paintings. Nice work. I love the bright colors.

Joan said...

Jo - The sketches look good. I know sometimes the sketching practice helps me relax and attack what I'm doing in a better frame of mind. I like your "ice-cream cone" cactus. Those flowers on it are super.

Rose Welty said...

Jo, I know the frustration! Hang in there, it will come. I know what you are saying about being content when you paint. Sometimes I just get too cranky to do it. Other times though, I'm just a little cranky and need an art fix, that sets me back to content.

Jo Castillo said...

Joan, thanks. Sketching is usually the more frustrating. Ha.

Jo Castillo said...

"Other times though, I'm just a little cranky and need an art fix, that sets me back to content."

That made me giggle!

Nancy Moskovitz, artist said...

Hi Jo, I didn't notice the ice cream cone until you mentioned it. Now that you did, I have been trying to come up with a composition. No luck yet.

You'll get it. Hope you share it.

Jo Castillo said...

Nancy, thanks. I am getting it together today. I have been painting on it in acrylics and it is looking better, The problem I have, then, in acrylics is getting the color light enough. I put in what looks like bright pink and it dries to a wine color. I will get that worked out, too, one of these days. I will post about it.


About Me

My photo
Bastrop, Texas, United States
I Grew up in a small town , Magdalena, New Mexico. I enjoy art and the pleasure other people get from my work. I always donate some of my sales and art to charities, especially for children. That started in Bolivia with Para los NiƱos. "I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns." -- Winston Churchill

Labels

#inktober (48) #inktober2019 (27) #inktober2023 (20) #inktober21 (11) abstract (1) Acrylic Paintings (75) Arizona (3) Art House Project (14) artist (88) artist blogger (355) artist blogger  instruction (3) artist blogger  instruction (20) artist blogger  instruction (17) artist blogger instruction (40) artist friend (7) at (1) Balloons (1) Baseball (204) Bastrop Sketchers (11) Bastrop TX (34) Bolivia (5) Calendar (1) Canada (3) Challenge (5) Charity Events (74) chile (4) classes (3) coaster sketch (9) colored pencil (58) computer art (5) DailyPaintworks Auction (3) demo video (4) Digital Painting (14) doodle (1) dphotos (1) exhibit (154) Figure (4) Fine Art Friends (3) Floweb browsing (1) Flowers (33) food (10) Footwork (1) fused glass (3) Gallery (3) gluten free (5) Golden Open paints (2) Golf (12) House Concert (1) iMac Sketch (1) Inktense (2) inst (1) instruction (75) iPad Sketch (90) iPad sketches (102) iph (1) iPhone painting (3) iPhone sketch (24) jo (1) Jo's Notion (9) Jo's Thoughts (298) Joanna (2) Joodles (2) Landscapes (137) Marines (29) marketing (3) meme (6) Music (68) New Mexico (130) Nonsense (2) Oil Painting (72) Oil Pastel (1) painting buddies (1) PanPastel works (3) Pastel (29) Pastel Demo (60) Pastel Paintings (408) pastel sketch (129) Pastels (12) pears (3) Peru (1) Photo (83) photography (1) Photos (970) Plein air painting (56) podcast (1) poll (1) pottery (2) Powwow (3) Recipe (6) restaurants (6) scenery (17) Sculptor (7) sculpture (4) seascape (2) sketch (4) Sketches (1784) snow (2) Still Life (36) Stu (1) Studio (26) Texas (69) Trees (36) tribute (5) under painting (1) Unsorted (7) videos (4) watercolor (178) watercolors (9) web browsing (262) web page (11) wetcanvas (1) WIP work in progress (15) workshop (8) World Blog Hop (2) Yesterfest (2) zentangle (2)