Would you like a free mini-portrait of your pet?

I'm having a little contest right now to give away a 2x2" mini-scratchboard portrait of someone's pet.  I've been playing with 2x2" miniboards recently and having so much fun with them that I thought I'd offer one in a little contest.  I started it on Facebook, so if you're active there please check out my page!

The reason that I do pet portraits is the same reason I got into veterinary medicine - one of the most important things to me is the human-animal bond, in all of it's manifestations.  Pet ownership is just one of those but to me it is the most important because represents such a deep and special relationship, and is one that so many of us have known.  I love hearing about people's pets - with every commissioned portrait I do I get to learn a little bit about the special animal that I'm drawing, and what they mean to their human companions who are requesting the portrait.  I always hope that my finished artwork will be something that people can look at for years to come and instantly relive some small part of the love and companionship they shared - just as I do when I look at the portraits I have of my own pets (of which there have been many), especially those who have passed on.  

And it's also the reason for this contest - I don't have any active commissions right now and this is a sneaky way for me to get a dose of heart-filling stories (always an alterior motive :D).  

2x2" miniboard of my cat Ginger (c) Pam Boutilier

I also know that not everyone is on Facebook, so I'm posting the information here as well:

All you need to do is post a picture of your pet and a short paragraph describing why they are so awesome.  All species are welcome, as are memorial stories if your pet has passed away.  You are welcome to enter more than one pet - but please do an individual post for each one.  You can post on Facebook or right here in the comments section below.

I'm going to randomly draw a name on April 11th and then post the winner both here and on Facebook. as soon as the artwork is completed.  The winner will receive their mini-portrait by mail (that means you'll have to give me a physical mailing address if you win).

Feel free to share this with anyone else that you think may wish to enter!

(And for you cynics out there - this isn't an April fool's thing, I didn't even realize the date until I previewed this post just now! :P)

~ Pam

Blocked and Unblocked

If you follow my posts you know that I was away from home in January, and I got an incredible amount of work done.  It was great!  I completed pieces that have been 'in progress' for a long time, years in some cases.  I also came home and made some very big decisions about the direction of my career.  You know, the kind of decisions that make your blood vessels constrict just thinking about them.  This was followed by several days of glorious Flow working on some pieces that had been too large to take with me, taking up the paint brush and experiencing the physicality of acrylic painting and how it differs from my scratchboards, basically to put it in terms my sister uses 'falling in soft' with my art.  

It was great.

Then it all stopped.

I've experienced what I've called artist's block before - but never like this.  One morning I got up and looked at my paintings in progress, looked at my scratchboards in progress, went to get some coffee, wandered around and looked at the works again, checked Facebook and email, glanced at the painting on the easel beside me, refilled my coffee, ambled out on the porch and just stood there looking at the scenery for awhile.  

Okay, so I was having an off day - everyone's entitled to an off day if they have the luxury of taking one, tomorrow will be better!

But tomorrow wasn't better, nor was the day after that. 

I tried the 'work for 15 mins' approach which usually does lead me to get into the groove and keep working... but after 15 minutes I felt restless and would get up and find some dishes that needed cleaning, or laundry, or maybe I should have a snack or more coffee.  There was almost a strange undercurrent of desperation to physically not work on my art even though that's what I wanted to do.

Sketchbook...whyyyyyy?

Then I would stand on the other side of the room with my coffee looking warily at my works-in-progress (of which several had accumulated by that point).  I wanted to work on them, I just couldn't.  I would distract myself by thinking about them... 'how will I tackle the background on that one, where do I want the light source coming from on this one, what colour scheme will I use for this other one'.  All valid things to ask, and issues that truly did need to be addressed for each work.. but not necessarily at that moment, and not for so long, and not at the expense of actually working on the art itself!  They were becoming an excuse, a distraction.  Similar to the housework, which also needed to be done - but again there is a time for chores and a time when chores are clearly a procrastination tool.

This went on day after day.  Then, predictably, the fact that I'd not gotten really anything done for several days started to cause stress.  One very non-constructive way to deal with stress is to escape into video games.  When you're feeling unproductive firing up Skyrim is really NOT the best thing to do (although Jane McGonigal can probably explain better than me why this is precisely the kind of thing that we DO do when feeling nonproductive).  So of course it's exactly what I did, and for me the reason that it is not a good coping mechanism is that I do it with gusto (yes, a bit of diversion in Skyrim is cool... Skyrim until 4:30am is not cool), and then I berate myself about what I did until I feel so bad that the only answer is to eat pringles and go back to Skyrim where I can save the world and can't hear the voices in my head telling me what a lazy procrastinator I am (also not effective if you listen to Jane's twin sister, Kelly).

I'm not an artist, I am a great Enchanter of Things!

It reminded me a bit of depression.  That obstruction to feeling that one can have.  You remember what it was like to feel - happy, sad, etc - but there just seems to be a space between you and there.  I remembered how to do art, what it felt like, and yet there was this uncrossable chasm between me and that ability.  It is the strangest thing in the world to me to stand in front of my easel with a half-completed painting or scratchboard on it and simultaneously feel so strongly that I want to work on it and at the same time that I absolutely can't. 

My mind would say 'Pick up the scratch tool just do a bit!' and nothing would happen.  I actually had conversations with myself - 'Work on this a little, come on, you know you can do this, you know how good you feel when you are doing it, you know what nice artwork you can produce if you just pick up the gorram blade and do something!' (yes, apparently one of my inner voices is Jayne Cobb) to which my internal answer was a vague 'Yeah.... I know....' followed by, you guessed it, nothing.  As if my muscles just wouldn't respond. 

The cognitive dissonance of this eventually would make me have to walk away from the art, the situation, the whole thing - and find something to distract my brain that was now becoming distressed.  This is when some house chore would prove absolutely urgent to complete, or I'd remember that I had to go pick up groceries, or if none of the above were available I always knew that Skyrim or Borderlands were just over there waiting for me. 

Oh Gaige!  You seductive minx!

During this period I stumbled on something that I think really helped - it is a series of YouTube videos from Peter Draws.  In desperation I did 'Circles & Lines'...

 Which spontaneously spawned 'Stems & Leaves'....

Then I tried 'P or P' (Perpendicular or Parallel).... and little animals started to appear!

Bonus points if you can guess what animal is top and center (and where he's from)!

I'm not saying that my block broke immediately, but these exercises really did help.  Around the same time a friend of mine loaned me 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron.  An old book, but one I've amazingly never read.  I'm working through it week by week now and it's just awesome!  I highly recommend it whether you're blocked or not, whether you consider yourself an artist or not.  I'd say ESPECIALLY anyone reading this blog who does not consider themselves an artist should read this book!! (I'm serious, do it!  Do it now!).

She discusses blocking in great depth, getting into the psychology of it.  Her exercises are very helpful too (I'm still working through her 12 week program).  And as my block lifts I do think this was a stepping stone in moving forward with my art - it was terrible while in it, but now I feel better than pre-block about what I'm doing.

Post-block ideas for tiny scratchboards - yes IDEAS!  And lots of them!

During the period of block one of the several works-in-progress that were suffering was a commissioned portrait of an amazing little dog named 'Banner'.  His portrait sat on my drafting table and stared at me, day after day.  Each time I put blade to board, though I was making scratches but I didn't feel that I was making progress.  The work was inconsistent and I didn't feel confident.  The nagging idea that I was going to screw up anything I touched was hard to keep fighting - I felt weary from it.  But being a commission there wasn't the option of just stopping so I pressed on, until one day I looked at it and realized I had to start over.  Yes, after more than 10 hours invested in the work I took out a new board and started from scratch.   

(LOL - I see what I did there!)

"Banner" first draft (abandonded).

In hindsight though, I have to wonder if the fact that I was so blocked, and so detached from my work, is why I was able to see the flaws in the above piece - and to learn some very interesting things that I knew but had always sort of done intuitively.  My biggest concern was that the crop was off - the face was slightly too large, his chin was going right to the edge of the board.  The other is that his eyes looked 'wrong'.  My blocked state meant that I spent much more time than normal staring at it and pondering why they looked wrong, and then it occurred to me - they are too human!

When a dog looks straight at you, as Banner was in the reference photo, their eyes will appear a little bit crossed.  Most dog's eyes are slightly on the sides of their head, as compared to ours which are front facing.  So the original portrait, in which Banner's pupil's were perfectly centered, was just plain wrong.  When I restarted the piece I was easily able to correct this - and the eyes in the final portrait turned out to be my favorite part!

'Banner' final image (c) Pam Boutilier

I wanted to share both this experience and my crappy, abandoned first draft because I want everyone reading this to know that this happens to everyone even though it doesn't ~feel~ that way when it's happening.  You look around and everything posted online by every artist looks polished and finished and gorgeous and you know that you alone suck, in fact you could be crowned the Queen of Suckitude.  In reality though every artist has bad pieces, things that didn't work out, things that they struggled with - they just don't generally post them on their website, which makes sense, but is easy to forget that when you're blocked or feeling down. 

If you're blocked, or the self-confidence gremlins are gnawing at your heels, or your inner critic just won't shut up - I highly recommend you sit with your sketchbook and do Peter's exercises.  Do them long enough and the gremlins will get bored and leave, the critic will fall silent and then your shy little artist will come out and you may find animals, or figures, or flowers - whatever it is that you like to draw - starting to emerge from the abstraction.

Art is not without struggle.  And being a good artist doesn't mean that you don't struggle, it means that you keep making art, you find a way through, and you forgive your inner artist if they hide from you for awhile. 

Progression of a Portrait

I showed a sneak peek of this piece a little while back and today I'd like to share the finished portrait with you - along with a bit of behind-the-scenes of how the it was made.  Say hello to Gracie!

This is a 16x16" portrait of a special doggie-in-law named Gracie.  This is my largest whiteboard to date, and one of the first in my new style.  The style reflects my goal for this year which I think I have condensed down to the word 'Integration'.  In this case integrating the softness and fluidity of a more painterly style (like Charles Ewing uses) with the more finely detailed scratching that I have typically done.

For anyone unfamiliar with the medium of scratchboard the classic board consists of a sturdy masonite backing with a layer of white clay on it, then a very thin layer of black ink on top of the clay.  The scratchboard artist uses various tools - from scalpel blades and exacto knives to steel wool and nail buffer thingies (NBTs... that's the official scratchboarder term for them) - to scrape away the black revealing the white underneath.  

Colour can then be applied to the exposed clay surface if desired, which is exactly what I did with the recently posted 'Schmettermaus' piece.  It started out as a black-and-white scratchboard, and then colour was added.  Typically this involves many layers of re-scratching and recoloring to get tonal variations, like the ones you can see in this detail shot:

Ampersand Claybord(tm) is what I like to refer to as 'whiteboard'.  It's the same as regular scratchboard but does not have the black ink - the surface is white clay, so you apply layers of ink first and then scratch, re-apply, scratch again, etc as needed.  What I've struggled with was combining the fine detail that I love about scratchboard with the more painterly look and freedom that I felt my pieces were sometimes lacking.   

"Petulant" 12x9" (c) Pam Boutilier

The methods I used for pieces like the one above didn't leave me much room for error.  If something was off it was difficult to get the corrected area to perfectly match the initial inking that had been applied in colour blocks.   I ended up using tiny brushstrokes so that I didn't have to deal with the sharp edges the ink tends to form on the board which shifts the work emphasis from the scratching more toward the painting aspect of creation.  My size of work was also limited because every single square inch of these is meticulously brushed and then scratched - the bulldog above is my largest whiteboard prior to Gracie and it is 9x12".

As much as I loved these pieces, I wanted to try something different - I wanted to try working more loosely, to keep the piece fluid as I went.  I didn't want to fear mistakes or be limited in my options for a background.  It started with a sketch, as always, but this time I focused on the areas I intended to highlight with scratching, leaving the rest a bit more vague than I usually would:

And then it was time to start... something new... something different....

I will fully admit to suffering 'blank canvas' anxiety.  I can be as excited as anything to start a new piece, but sometimes faced with a pristine, new board I get nervous... is this idea going to work?  Will I screw it up?  Would a different crop be better - maybe I should play with my sketch a bit more before I transfer it to the board, (etc, etc).  You can imagine where that kind of thinking leads... nowhere at all!  

For some reason it seems that the pieces I can psyche myself out of being stressed about turn out the best, so the day I started this piece I actually tricked myself by using a reclaimed board.  It was a 16x20 black board that I'd started something on that really was not working.  I really wanted to use a square format so I cut the board creating one 16x16" and one 4x16" then sanded both pieces with a palm sander.  It created quite a mess (definitely something you want to do outside), but the surface came out beautifully, just like a brand new whiteboard!  I used the 4x16" piece later to create Intensity and the 16x16" I started something new with.  

 

I transferred my sketch with graphite as I usually do and proceeded to start the colour blocking - but this time I didn't worry about precision.  I told myself this was a reclaimed board and we were going to see just how far we could push it.

I decided to play with some abstract work on the background...

I love making interesting patterns by blowing then blotting ink on the board.  This, however, can lead to lightheadedness and blurred vision - here is the technique.  Use it sparingly!

From initial colour blocking I started scratching detail into the key areas (eye and nose) and layering more ink to get some nice purple shadows in there.

This is followed by scratching and then laying down more ink, building layer after layer.  The intention with this approach to a whiteboard is to keep it loose and fluid, shaping the face and background at the same time - see how I adjusted the nostril position in the image above?  This looseness made the whole process more fun, less stressful and less rigidly tied to the reference photo.  I could get the expression and personality of Gracie to emerge and not feel bound by my initial colour blocking.

More scratching.... more inking...

Here I was playing with her neck (left side of the piece) and the foreground...

At one point I got really frustrated with her neck fur and sanded the board back to white, this allowed me to build up the scratching in the hair again and correct the direction the fur was falling...

One thing I've learned is that if I'm having frustration with white fur it's usually because my values are off.  With smaller pieces I'll often scan them and desaturate the image to check my values - since I was traveling and this is a bigger piece it wasn't so easy - but I finally figured it out and was able to get the neck to a place I was happy with.  And here is the final piece:

Which I am proud to say is completed and sprayed and just waiting to be framed.  I hope you've enjoyed this little mini-tutorial in my newer whiteboard style.  I'd love to know what you think - just leave me note in the comments!

Year of the Horse

I'm not sure why, but I seem to have an affinity for Chinese culture.  I have no Asian lineage, and I've never actually been to China, however I still am really attracted to it.  As mentioned in a previous blog post I decided this year to use the Chinese New Year as my 'turn of seasons' marker instead of January 1st (because I love China, not because I'm a procrastinator... really!).

Year of the Horse (6x6" Whiteboard/Ink) - (c) Pam boutilier

We have entered the lunar new year!  2014 is the Year of the Horse, and further it is a Wood Horse year.  The Horse is the most Yang member of the Chinese Zodiac - they are Fire, all about energy and movement.  The Horse has traits of being gregarious, action-oriented, independent, industrious, and sometimes flamboyant, impulsive, stubborn or unpredictable.  Wood (denoted by the colour green) represents growth, progress, industriousness, energy, and a pioneering spirit in the Chinese five-element paradigm.  The imagery that appeals to me of the Year of the Wood Horse is that of a running stallion.  Powerful, motivated, confident and in motion.

The solar new year (li chun) starts on February 4th this year (apparently some consider that the actual start of the Year of the Horse).  Since I don't know enough about Chinese Zodiac to choose sides, I'll consider this period between the lunar and solar new years (Jan 31st through Feb 4th) as my period of transition from Water Snake to Wood Horse. 

The year of the Snake is passing.  According to this article "Snake years tend to bring unexpected changes into our lives".  For me 2013 brought a complete change of career and moving to a different country with a drastically different climate (from Canada to the Caribbean) and all the other changes attendant with that... and it was most certainly completely unexpected.  However the Snake is leaving now and the Horse arriving. 

Out with the Old (Digital painting) - (c) Pam Boutilier

The next few days are my time to contemplate what the Wood Horse means to me.  I am a Wood Rabbit, which has the typical aspects of Rabbit (clear-sighted, affectionate, quiet, spiritual) but compared to the mean has been described as 'less ambitious, peace and naturalist lover, gentle'.  I can be very nonconfrontational, noncompetitive and quite empathic (sometimes too much).  Being an extremely Yin type of person perhaps I need to embrace and harness the Yang of this coming year and not let myself be trampled or intimidated by it.  I need to work with the Horse and use his power, read his quick responsiveness to the environment around him, observe and learn from the ways in which he is so different from my little Rabbit.  At the same time I must remember not try to fence him in which would cripple his strengths, not try to impose my will on him, and not expect from him the quiet and deep 'contemplation for contemplation's sake' that I might gravitate toward naturally.  

A more Yang type of person may need to be cautious about letting the Horse gallop away, or the Fire burn too brightly (I think my natural tendencies will automatically keep those things in check - but it's not a bad idea to be on watch for them).  Compared to the 'typical' Horse type, the Wood Horse is supposed to be more stable, better at finishing what it starts, and better at making decisions.  These seem like great traits for starting or growing an enterprise this year.

So as I continue working on My Plan for this year (which I actually am working on, amazingly enough) I will keep the idea of the Wood Horse in my mind.  I will push myself to involve other people more, to be more active and less contemplative, to be more assertive and confident, and to take risks.

Wood Horse (Graphite sketch) - (c) Pam Boutilier

So what is your Chinese Zodiac type?  How does the prospect of a Wood Horse year affect you?  What if you took a moment to think about how you are different from the Wood Horse, what could you learn from the Horse?  If you are a Horse type, think about how this year can accentuate your strong points but what you may need to be cautious about and 'reign in'.  Share your thoughts in the Comments!

If you want to know how the Year of the Horse affects your type look here:

http://everythingaboutfengshui.blogspot.com/

And if you're just interested in reading more about the Year of the Horse here are a few interesting articles I stumbled across:

http://www.gotohoroscope.com/chinese-year/wood-horse.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/debra-duneier/feng-shui-energy-in-the-y_b_4591239.html

http://www.fengshuisociety.org.uk/2014-year-horse/

http://www.yearofhorse2014.com/Annual-Horoscopes%282936177%29.htm

http://susanlevitt.com/astrology/horse-year-2014/

If you want a super detailed breakdown of your Chinese Zodiak sign look here:

http://www.mastertsai.com/ChineseAstrology/Chineseastrology.htm

(I confess, I don't understand much of this - except my lucky element is Fire so this Horse year could be lucky for me! 

Two new pieces - Schmettermaus and Lil' Abby

I feel like I'm on a roll.  I have two new finished pieces to show;

The first I revealed the other day on Facebook, it is called Die Schmettermaus.  This little guy is related to Die Flittermas, however you may notice that his wings are more butterfly-like than fairy-like.  I think he's a different species, though there are very few mystic ethologists in Germany's Black Forest so the literature on these guys is scarce.

Die Schmettermaus, 5x7" Scratchboard/Ink (c) Pam Boutilier

The other piece is called 'Lil' Abby'.  This is a gorgeous little abyssinian kitten based on a reference photo from WetCanvas's RIL contributor Sweet Huia.  I started this little gal a LONG time ago and lost my way with her a bit.  Bringing her out recently for a fresh reboot I softened the shadow under her, added the soft green behind her to let me put in whiskers, a bit of tinkering in other spots and voila!  She looks so much better.

Lil' Abby, 9x12" whiteboard/ink (c) Pam Boutilier 

So the year continues at an encouraging pace!  Next I'll show you the start to finish progress of one of my largest colour pieces to date.  Stay tuned!

Tigers and temporary studios and starting to think about the new year - oh my!

My first finished board of the new year - "Tiger Eyes"  5x7" Scratchboard/Ink (c) Pam Boutilier
Thanks to Just Chaos from WetCanvas for the reference image!

Welcome 2014!  I am currently working out of a 'temporary' studio at my in-laws (from Michigan, where it's cold and much very snow!).  I was perusing the recent post of an artist who I admire and who's blog I follow, Ingrid Schmelter - AKA Kastle Kaos, here.  She spoke of her resolutions last year and what she planned for 2014.  One phrase in her blog that really resonated with me was "So this year I need to always make time for the Art First kind of art.  To do the art that I would do if no one is looking, to do the art that I do when I have no other agenda."  Which I misread as First Art.. because the first art all people do is spontaneous art-for-yourself.  There is much to be said about the art you do when no one is looking... whether that art is scratchboard, dancing, singing, writing, or whatever form of creative expression you gravitate to (and if you cannot think of any then your New Year's Resolution for 2014 should be to foster a creative expression, even if you only do it when no one is looking!).  

I hope the in-laws aren't getting sick of me taking over their dining room!

I must admit that year to year I vacillate between making resolutions and eschewing them.  I hold no illusions that promises made to myself on the first day of the Gregorian calendar will magically change any of my habits, but outlining and defining my goals does help give me a structure and a boost of enthusiasm - especially around this time of year when everyone is doing it (and it turns out there may be something to that).  New Years is also a time to reflect, and when I look back at the past year I am nothing short of amazed.  

When 2013 started I had recently met with my acrylics teacher and he helped me take a lifetime of work and distill it down to what was the best... in terms of my own interests, medium, skill, and also marketability.  Seeing my work through his eyes gave me a clarity that I just couldn't get on my own (which is why I blogged a series of articles about it).  So 2013 was really the time to work on this new insight, and I did, but I was also working at my job in veterinary consulting, and we were very, very busy.  It is a relatively left-brained kind of job and it was difficult to switch from that over to the mindset I needed for developing my art further.  I found that when my job was busier it demanded that my linear-sequantial-fact-based processes be at full force, and during those times my art fell back to what I already knew... formulaic, representative to a fault, and stagnant.  

I managed to schedule some chunks of time, two or three days in a row of studio time spent in an actual studio (I traded studio hours for teaching a couple of youth classes in scratchboard).  One of those days I had a breakthrough - I started doing a portrait in a way that married my desire for detail and realism with some degree of abstraction and looseness.  This is what I've been referring to as my 'new style'.

Initial sketch for 'Gracie'

First layer of ink for 'Gracie'
(more to follow!)

Then change came.  In the middle of the year, for numerous circumstantial reasons my husband and I moved from Ontario, Canada to the Caribbean.  Even more unforeseen was that due to complex legalities I was unable to keep my consulting job.  So for the past few months I have found myself 'unemployed', or as I prefer to call it 'a full time artist'.

I've struggled since around 2008 with what it means to me to be an artist.  Fall of 2008 was the point at which I was first able to actually call myself "an artist" (you know, to other people), and this was about 6 months after my 'rediscovery' of my right brain's skills at drawing.  I have always wanted to sell my art, and I'm not exactly sure why.  Validation?  To avoid accumulating a pile of my own work?  My love of sharing in the human-animal bond through pet portriats? An excuse to spend more time on my art?  A way to avoid blank-canvas syndrome by taking commissions?  Whatever the reason (and it's likely a combination of all of those and more) it was the original inspiration for starting Cat-in-a-Box Studio.

Since the beginning of 2008 when I wrote that blog post I have been more mindful of my right-left brain functions.  Who I'm favoring, who I'm listening to, and most importantly - who I'm using more for certain tasks.  Since rediscovering my art I have been terrified of losing it again.   I spoke way back then about 'waking the sleeping dragon'.  A dragon that I finally realized is intrinsically tied to my own vitality.  A dragon that is fragile enough to wither and die if it is stuffed into a cage again with no light or nurturing.  It feels like if I let myself go back to an overwhelmingly left-brained existence it would be like chaining this guy back up in the Gringott's vault:

(c) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Having the past few months to do art full time you'd expect that I would have a mountain of things produced wouldn't you?  I certainly did.  But I was wrong.  For some reason the going is slow, and for reasons (likely the same ones that got me through vet school) I am frustrated and expect more from my dragon than it is giving.  I want to yell at it and force it to work harder.  I look nervously at what seems like a paltry amount of finished new work, miniscule movements toward developing my art further, and I feel the urge to push the dragon harder.  The whispered criticism.. "this is not good enough".

I should clarify... part of me feels that way, the other part of me is excited just to see the dragon at play.  This other part is like a nurturing mother who sees a deprived and atrophied dragon who will take some time to reach full magnificence, but who has the potential to be awe-inspiring and beautiful if given enough time and space and sunlight.  This is where I think of Ingrid's words "the art that I would do if no one is looking".  This includes art that is crappy (mistakes are important as every inspiring commencement speech that I love will tell you), art that is banal (sometimes the best work to help me hone my basic skills and identify flaws in my technique), art that is my 'old stuff' (because even if my style changes, my older styles are a part of me as an artist and part of my development).  This also includes art that is new, dynamic and beautiful.  The more I think about my agenda (specifically the need to make money from my art) the more I fall into the traps of caution and perfectionism.  Not that having an agenda is bad, but I think every artist who chooses to try to make a living from their work has to remain cognizant of how much that desire is impacting what they do.   They need to never stop making what I'll evermore think of now as 'First Art'.

So I will continue to ruminate on 2013 and what my goals are going to be for this new year.  I think I'll lean on the eastern side of my psyche and use the Chinese New Year as a deadline to set my goals and aspirations for 2014.  This year it falls on Jan 31st, and it will be the Year of the Horse... which is cool, because I just happen to have piece in progress that is a horse!  So anyone who wishes to make New Year's goals but missed the Jan 1st deadline can join me then!

Cheers!

Works (actually) in progress

I like the term 'work in progress'.  Perhaps I like it a bit too much because it can be used as a general term that essentially means 'work that isn't finished but I do intend to finish it...'.  Of course nowhere is it stipulated exactly when... which is where my procrastinatorial tendencies come out.

Well here's a quick shot of WIPs that I actually worked on today... the kitten is close to completion and the other two are ready for ink (which will hopefully arrive tomorrow with my Blick's order).

So after a few weeks of complete and utter inefficiency it seems that I might be back in the swing of things.  Finishing older works as well as a couple of new ones are my priorities for the next month or so. 

I also have another piece that I'm excited to show you - I had to keep it under wraps (quite literally) up to this point as it was a Christmas gift.   Due to Circumstances I decided to fall back on satisfying two of Neil Gaiman's three rules... I'm easy to get along with and my work is good, but in this instance it wasn't on time.

Speaking of which, if you have not seen Neil Gaiman's commencement speech from 2012 you absolutely should watch it!

To be fair, this piece was a gift for the in-laws and working on it covertly while they were visiting over the holidays was just too difficult.  They are cool with it being finished in the next couple of weeks, so I'll post a WIP image of that one here very soon.

Happy New Year and cheers to all!  Here's to getting a good start to the year!

~ Pb

Happiest Holidays!

Have I truly not posted for a whole month?  I hope everyone has had a fabulous holiday season!

I have been putting most of my energy into my Facebook page lately, which has left le blog a bit neglected (I seem to only be able to juggle so many social media things at a time...  *sigh*).  On Facebook I had a little contest over Christmas.  If you'd like to see the tales of people's treasured friends that were shared with me, be sure to check out my Facebook page. The winner of the contest (by random draw) received a digital painting of her dearly departed friend Rex, showing here;

Which is not showing up properly here - I'll try to re-upload it later, but you get the gist of it

I have several works closing in on completion and one new one getting started right now, so I thought I'd give you sneak peaks of them....

A long overdue portrait that is in my 'new' style of whiteboard - I'm really excited about how this one is progressing!

A little demo piece that is 95% scratched but only about 10% coloured so far.

Another portrait, also in my 'new' style and the biggest colour piece I've done to date, very close to completion.

A brand new portrait getting started, this is a portion of one of several quick digital thumbnail sketches I did for the client.

Another little demo piece, can you guess which of my other works this one is related to?

This is probably the most difficult piece I'm working on right now (and the slowest to progress), but one that has very special meaning to me so I want to get it just right. 

Over the next month these are my top priority pieces.  As they are completed I'll post them here with some discussion and work-in-progress shots where available. 

I recently found out I'll be doing some traveling in the next few weeks, which means 1) I get to experience winter this year after all (with all the mixed emotions that brings... I've been adjusting very well to 27 degrees (celcius, which is high 80's F) weather in December thank you very much!) and 2) I will be able to take these WIPs with me and see how much I can get done without the distractions of a home studio (which seriously could go either way). 

Sneak Peak Sunday....

My current project-in-progress (well, one of them anyway)- recognize this one?
(hint: Check out my last blog post

Another Whiteboard - Nessie

In this post I'd like to share with you my second full whiteboard. The Rosie board went so well that I think I'm addicted now! But they are a time-consuming art form - so in the process of doing Nessie I also worked on a couple of black and white scratchboards.

Nessie is one of our cats - a little tiny lilac point siamese with a very big mouth. She is all demure and dainty until she gets her panties in a knot at 2am and decides to announce her opinions to the household. Sleeping is her favorite pastime (though that could be said of most cats, I guess), and I am convinced that this feline would be very happy if her little paws never tread upon anything that wasn't a human body (seriously, you can't sit more than 5 minutes in one place without this cat clambering onto your person).

I chose this reference photo because of the peaceful expression (she really is rather lovely when she's not talking) and the dramatic light. I have a thing for the effect of a backlit cat ear - you get to see just how thin that skin is, and the delicate outline of light reflecting off the tiny, fine hairs of the ear margin.

This image is a bit washed out -I purposely decreased the contrast and increased the light so I could see the direction of hairs and small details in the darker areas (my reference shots always undergo some photoshopping before they are appropriate to use for scratchboard).

This piece will be done on a 6x6" Whiteboard with Ampersand inks. The preliminary sketch is transferred onto the whiteboard with graphite (basically I use a graphite stick to cover the entire backside of the sketch in my sketchbook, then retrace the lines with the page laying over the whiteboard). The first inking I do is the background - you can see my graphite guidelines from the preliminary sketch. It takes several layers of ink to get a nice, deep background color - this one is using alternating layers of black and sepia ink:


And continuing with the base painting (The scanner made this image warmer than it truly appears, but it gives you an idea). I've exaggerated the light in her left ear, it will get toned down as this continues and I want to preserve that look of translucency and backlighting:

And now the scratching! The repeated layers of scratching and re-inking is what gives us more depth. In the next series of images you can see how I start by scratching in the darkest areas, re-inking them (though hard to see on a small scan this leaves beautiful, subtle texture in the shadowed parts), and then scratching the medium-value areas, and so on.




Some detail shots (larger than life):



And here is the final portrait:

"Nessie" 6x6" Ampersand whiteboard, scratchart and ink (c) Pam Boutilier, 2009

Thanks for checking in!