Digital Decisions and the Consequences.

A few months back, I wrote about my design ideas for a porcelain vase.  It's out of the kiln now and finally finished.  I like it.  It's final form is pleasing and technically good.  But I wonder if I played it too safe.  

Trying a new technique.  

This vase was thrown in two pieces on the wheel.  I've never done that before, so that was a risk.  Would the two pieces fit together?  Would it be a cohesive design coming together as one piece.  And how would under glazing affect the overall look of the piece?  

Digital Drawing.

I used my digital drawing app, SketchClub, to try out my ideas first before applying any colored under glazes to the greenware piece.  I wrote a blog a few months back.  Here are three digital drawings I felt were the best choices.  They all had drawbacks as I stated in my blog and although I'm not fond of waxing or wiping or repeated under glaze firings, I do what I feel a piece needs.  

Consequences.

Ultimately, I chose a different approach.  I decided on simplifying the color palette to black and red, eliminating the purple idea.  I feel working in porcelain that my clay is a big part of my art, not just for the delicious, silky feel of the clay in my hands but also for its soft, milky white color.  So, just as a watercolor painter uses the white paper as a color, I use my white porcelain clay as an integral part of the pieces I make.  With that in mind, here's a picture of the finished vase.

You'll see that I put the colors in to accent the sculptural and design elements in and around the clay by using red on the heart-shaped leaves.  And I keep your eye moving up, down and around the piece with the red and black dots.  There are more dots on the inside too, adding a the whimsical feel.  I also feel that coating the porcelain in clear glaze makes two separate thrown pieces unite as a whole and highlights the beautiful creaminess of the clay.

I don't usually draw digital designs before I under glaze a new piece.  I'm getting better at knowing how it will look in the end but this time, I'm really glad I did.

Digital Drawing: Yellow and Purple.

It's been a while since I've played with my SketchClub ap and stylus.  So when Terry's blog popped up about yellow, I was inspired.  

I looked out my window the other night and saw this amazing sunset.  Dark heavy rain clouds pushed aside revealing a brilliant yellow sunset.  The clouds were more a deep ultramarine to payne's grey color, but somehow, in my translation the clouds turned into deep purple and violet.  I kept struggling to get the color I saw, but finally, had to give in and go with the flow.

Here's my first sunset.  I can feel my struggle here to get the colors...right.  There's a lack of contrast in the value changes, I think.  It feels, blah.

My second one (at the top of this post) has deeper clouds, embracing the purple tones and the complimentary palate.  There's more contrast here, deeper clouds against the bright sunset.  I feel both strength and lightness.  

Today, admiring my amazing crop of Peonies this year, I decided to try something new for me.  I took a photo, put it on one layer, then painted over it.  Yes, it's purple popping up again, not sure why.  But playing with the fill layer, I could change the background color from light to bright, yellow to black and anything in between.  It was fun to play with feature.  My finger just kept going back to yellow, so this time, I went with the flow.

Ah. Ha. There's that word of the year creeping in again...flow.  Isn't that what art is all about? No, not the struggle, although, I admit to feeling that tussle a lot.  But what I've come to believe and know and now, embrace...is the ebb and flow that is the essence of creation.  

Digital Drawing: Learning in Layers

I had a cracked mask.  I fixed it and filled it but I could still see the crack.  Instead of looking at the fill line as a mistake I needed to hide, I saw a design opportunity. 

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It was time to get out my digital drawing pad and try out some design ideas.

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Here's the photo of the mask after bisque and repair.

Here's the mask repair photo with different experiments with transparent colored layers and lines.

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Here's the actual mask, finished with layers of acrylic paint.

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I learned a lot during this process.  

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On a technical level, I learned much more about the SketchClub app.  How to upload a photo correctly to be able to manipulate the layers while keeping the photo the same.  How to paint with transparent layers on my iPad.  How to use transparency, pens and brush tools to design different parts of the mask.  How to translate what I designed on my iPad to the actual mask.

On an artistic and spiritual level, I learned more valuable lessons.  How to accept and own kiln  cracks as part of the clay process.  How to decide which to fix and which to forget(see last week's post).  How to embrace a mistake not as a fault but as an opportunity.  How to let go of the strangle-hold of perfectionism and flow with what happens to happen accepting the new results with happiness.  

Now, that's truly learning in layers.

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Digital Drawing: Using it as a design tool.

​I've been playing around with Sketchclub on my Ipad using it more like a giant box of crayons than a serious art making tool. When I've used a photo as a base, I feel I'm just cheating or copying.

Maybe, I'm missing the point, here. 

I love my sketchbooks.  I have several around at all times ready to catch thoughts or inspirations.  Inside my big, classic black sketch book lie ideas and designs for almost all my sculpture, masks, and ceramics.  I know the app I'm using is called Sketchclub, but I've never thought of it as a replacement or substitute for my time-honored sketchbook.  But this week, I decided to see if this new technology could give me a new way to work on designs and ideas.

I have to first, thank Terry Howard Grant's( andsewitgoes.blogspot.com) weekly digital drawing days for encouragement, inspiration and helpful information.  Terry and her friend, June, have been exploring a wide variety of techniques and tools as well as using photographs in their drawings.  

With their ideas about using photographs as a layer in mind, I took pictures of two recent masks after they came out of bisque firing.

I imported the photo to Sketchclub as one layer.  I opened up another layer and started playing with painting a base color over the mask.  When I was happy how that looked, I opened up another layer and began to add detail colors.   I only used about three layers and kept my ideas simple but I'm sure you could add more layers to get a more painterly effect.

Here's what the masks looked like after some digital sketching and painting.  

Here's what the masks looked like after underglazing and firing them in the kiln.

Using my digital photograph saved me the step of drawing out my masks, so I could move right into color and design.  I just thought of it as play, at first, but found when I got into the studio to underglaze the masks, the digital drawings could be opened on my Ipad on my countertop for reference while I worked.  I really enjoyed having a design roadmap right there in front of me.  

Maybe, it's not about screens over sketchpads, pens over photography or play over work.

Maybe it's really about using whatever tool works in the moment to explore new ideas, sketch out color and design and find the inspiration that leads to a new piece of art.

Digital Drawings: Skies and Wine.

Digital drawing is a great no mess, no fuss, no easel way to capture what captures my eye at any given moment.  I don't have to be home, in my studio or toting a portable art bag like I used to when my kids were little.  

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All I need is my Ipad and stylus and I'm good to go on the go.  I have to thank a fellow artist and blogger, Terry Howard Grant, for inspiring me to try digital drawing.  Terry sets up a still life challenge each week on her blog.  Here's a link to her latest digital still life challenge  I've tried but I'm just more inspired by landscapes and skies.  

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This is as close to a still life as I got.  My husband poured me a glass of wine while he was cooking dinner.  I didn't drink.  I drew!  I can see the bottle is 'off', but I like the glass and shadows.

Here's what caught my eye in the last few weeks.

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The sky was blue with puffy white clouds.  I did a few using different tools.  The clouds in this one felt a bit harsh, not exactly what I was wanting.

It took a while to find a balance with blending colors to give it the watercolor wet into wet softness I was looking for.

Don't  know what happened to this one...the clouds are blurry but not the mountains.

 

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​All in all I learned some new techniques with the tools and layers.  I've got a lot more to learn, of course.  But the best part is this:  when i was sitting on the window seat drawing the sky, the time just flew by.  One minute I was opening my Sketch Club app and the next I was looking at a finished drawing.  When an hour feels like a minute, you know you're in the flow in a good way.