The Process

What a fabulous day...my favorite little artist and I spent the day with B and N. It was lovely to spend the day out in the sunshine just relaxing with good friends. Time always flies when you are having fun.

So needless to say, no studio time today but I will most likely sketch once my little artist is in her bed. Last night I did a lovely sketch and I even have one that I am looking forward to making into a much more complete piece.

I was thinking about my process the other day and thought I would share it with you. I had been discussing it with a friend who was surprised to find that there is in fact a "process" that I follow. It is very methodical and in some ways not seem creative at all but the end product is usually a complete work of art.

Every piece begins the same way, as a sketch in my sketchbook. I try and sketch everyday if I can. Some sketches never become more complex works while others may be used over and over again. Once there is a sketch that really catches my fancy then comes the determination of whether it will be recreated in oil, acrylic or pastel. That part really depends on my mood and how much time I have.

If the piece is recreated in oil, I pick a canvas size and then freehand the sketch on the canvas. Whenever possible I use gallery wrapped canvas since you don't see the staples, also by painting the edges you don't need to frame it. More often then not the size of the canvas is much larger than my sketchbook. Sometimes the sketch is modified since what worked in the sketchbook may seem lacking once enlarged. Color selection is normally left to what is talking to me that day. So no real science to it. Then I paint, i will work on the piece until all the sections seem to be in harmony. Sometimes it happens quickly, other times the painting seems to drag on or months, with me only working on it sporadically until it pops.

Acrylic paintings have a more in-depth preparation process. I like to paint on bristol board when I do acrylics and try to keep things to standard sizes since it makes framing much easier. Starving artist and all means you can't really custom frame everything :-) So once I determine size, I measure it out on the board and then tape the edges. This is important or you will get really ragged edges that don't look finished or professional at all. I then trace the original sketch onto tracing paper so I can copy it onto the board. Picking colors is again open to whatever moves me that day. I then start to layer the color on the board until I get the right effect. Lastly, the piece is glazed since that just seems to give it a lovely finish. Once it it glazed, the tape is carefully removed so the board doesn't get torn.

Pastel drawings begin with determining what paper to use. I have found I like colored paper, i will use pastel paper or any other nice colored paper I have. Sometimes, the sketch is recreated freehand on the paper, other times it is traced out. It depends on my mood. Picking out the color is the same as for oils and acrylics. Then I color but it is really more than coloring since it involves shading and blending. I was so happy when I discovered blending tools in the art supply store. They make make blending pastels much easier on your fingers. Once complete, the piece is sprayed with workable fixative.

So there you have it...the physical process for my work. I am sure it is just earth shattering hahaha I am not sure how to describe the creative part of the process but I am sure the more I create and the more I write about my works it will become evident at some point in time.

Well, it is time to get my favorite little artist ready for bed and then begin the first step of my process since I can hear my sketchbook calling my name...Garnet, don't forget about me, feed your artist before you go to sleep.

One last thing visit me on face book (http://www.facebook.com/pages/GarnetOriginals/277005384811), follow me on twitter (http://twitter.com/GarnetOriginals), or visit my etsy store front (http://www.etsy.com/shop/garnetoriginals).