[ARTS] Graphic Landscapes and More by Jenn

[MalleableGirlParts]

I'm inspired to share. It's not exactly Zen, but I love landscapes and I do get lost in the action of, in this case, pen to paper.

[MalleableGirlParts]

I spent most of a day off lost in this. I'm not very good with color, but still I enjoyed doing it. I used the colors I had with these acrylic paint pens.
If you're curious, this is actually a place. It's the Manzano mountains just south of Albuquerque, NM. New Mexico is my spirit animal, as much as a place can be.

20241201_184800.jpg

[Green Ben]

I spent most of a day off lost in this. I'm not very good with color, but still I enjoyed doing it. I used the colors I had with these acrylic paint pens.

Sorry, this is going to run long.

If you spent most of a day lost in painting, I'm going to assume you enjoyed it. You are doing some bold things with color, which I'd love to see more of, hopefully you will continue with it, and continue to enjoy it.

I think traditional art education has it backwards, starting students out on black and white drawing, especially line drawing, before introducing color and painting. It is so much easier, with an open mind, to just start translating spaces and forms into loose patches of color, than it is to trace the edges and defined borders of individual objects. And I find, more engaging in the process.

And the thing is, familiarizing yourself with the way of seeing you need to paint from life with color, naturally sharpens your linear drawing skills. We see the world in color. People and things don't have lines around them, like in comic books. It is way more important to focus on how objects fill a space, than on their edges. Once you have established how an object fills a space, THEN you can begin to define the edges, if you even need to.

Have you ever tried oil pastels? They are probably cheaper, even decent artist grade ones, than your paint pens, and definitely just as portable. Once they are on paper or canvas, they are blendable just with pressure from your fingers, which can open whole new worlds of approaches to color.

Sorry again, hope this doesn't come off as mansplaining, really it's more of an autistic info-dump. I sold fine art supplies for seven years, and have been drawing and painting for a lot longer.

Gassho

stlah

[Jundo]

I love these!

And they are "Zen" for we cherish nature, and human expressions of nature through brush and pen.

Wonderful!

(I am going to ask one thing of all our Sangha Artists, however, just for keeping our studio a bit clean and tidy. Would you label all your postings [ARTS] in the title, and also maybe keep all of your own creations in a single thread for yourself, especially for our more prolific creators? Thank you. I am going to take the liberty of creating single threads for a few of our "Treeleaf Artists in Residence," which will each be your own studio and gallery to do with as you wish. )

Lovely.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[MalleableGirlParts]

Sorry, this is going to run long.

If you spent most of a day lost in painting, I'm going to assume you enjoyed it. You are doing some bold things with color, which I'd love to see more of, hopefully you will continue with it, and continue to enjoy it.

I think traditional art education has it backwards, starting students out on black and white drawing, especially line drawing, before introducing color and painting. It is so much easier, with an open mind, to just start translating spaces and forms into loose patches of color, than it is to trace the edges and defined borders of individual objects. And I find, more engaging in the process.

And the thing is, familiarizing yourself with the way of seeing you need to paint from life with color, naturally sharpens your linear drawing skills. We see the world in color. People and things don't have lines around them, like in comic books. It is way more important to focus on how objects fill a space, than on their edges. Once you have established how an object fills a space, THEN you can begin to define the edges, if you even need to.

Have you ever tried oil pastels? They are probably cheaper, even decent artist grade ones, than your paint pens, and definitely just as portable. Once they are on paper or canvas, they are blendable just with pressure from your fingers, which can open whole new worlds of approaches to color.

Sorry again, hope this doesn't come off as mansplaining, really it's more of an autistic info-dump. I sold fine art supplies for seven years, and have been drawing and painting for a lot longer.

Gassho

stlah

Hi!

Thanks for all the information! Yes, I do enjoy it! It's one of the few things I do where I can step out of time.

I think perhaps I do need to change my approach. I've never found myself to be competent with color so I've avoided it. Even as far as line work goes, I know the shapes and shading is far more important, but I still struggle to let go of those defining lines.

I truly love traditional soft pastels, but I haven't really put an effort into them for those same reasons. And they are not cheap.

I did try oil pastels many years ago and didn't really take to it. I love the idea of them in theory. Either way, inspired by your suggestion, I just ordered a set of oil pastels and I'm going to give them a go! I'll let you know! Thanks!

[MalleableGirlParts]

I love these!

And they are "Zen" for we cherish nature, and human expressions of nature through brush and pen.

Wonderful!

(I am going to ask one thing of all our Sangha Artists, however, just for keeping our studio a bit clean and tidy. Would you label all your postings [ARTS] in the title, and also maybe keep all of your own creations in a single thread for yourself, especially for our more prolific creators? Thank you. I am going to take the liberty of creating single threads for a few of our "Treeleaf Artists in Residence," which will each be your own studio and gallery to do with as you wish. )

Lovely.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

Thank you! Sorry for the trouble. I'll keep it to one thread!

[MalleableGirlParts]

20241205_204511.jpg
Ok so this is legitimately the first time I've ever used oil pastels to make a drawing. I did enjoy them very much. Kinda looks like he's having a stroke, but that has nothing to do with the medium and everything to do with me messing it up. At least I wanted to do something a little more relevant.

But thank you Green Ben for the suggestion!

[Green Ben]

20241205_204511.jpg
Ok so this is legitimately the first time I've ever used oil pastels to make a drawing. I did enjoy them very much. Kinda looks like he's having a stroke, but that has nothing to do with the medium and everything to do with me messing it up. At least I wanted to do something a little more relevant.

But thank you Green Ben for the suggestion!

I love it!
Specifically, I love the variation in strokes and textures, dovetailed with the use of color.
Glad you are enjoying oil pastels, an under-rated medium, and a gate-way drug to oil painting.

Gassho

stlah

[MalleableGirlParts]

I'm making Christmas cards for my kids. I hadn't anticipated the time it would take, between designing individual pictures, sketching and then the actual pen drawing. But still, they'll be happy with them. ????❤️ 20241206_203024.jpg

[Tai Shi]

With love, I attempt to post my pictures.