koukla carolyn

11-29-08 sketch, colored pencil in sketchbook, 2008

I spent the entire morning from 8 am to 1:30 pm doing various household chores and errands, like grocery shopping and laundry. I also did some other things that I’ve been needing to do for awhile, like organizing through my files and finances. That was actually more of me trying to avoid doing artwork, but it was good that I got it out of the way in any case!

Over Thanksgiving I spent some time at my sister’s house and got to play with her cats, including Gracie, a ten week old kitten (above). I could actually see myself becoming a cat person and would like to get one myself. I will have to wait until I am living alone (or with another cat person) though because I currently live with some people who strongly dislike cats.

After work sketch, 11-25-08; 6B pencil in 9×12 sketchbook

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for my family who sticks up for me. That I don’t have as many negative influences in my life as last year. And for my hands—that I can use them however I want without pain.

A note on the sketch: I got the idea to draw this while doing the laundry one day. I tried to capture the satiny feeling here. It was fun, and good practice.

Logs, pitt pen in sketchbook, 2008

On Saturday I took a class at the Worcester Art Museum called Living with Art. It was an art advice workshop and the instructor was Nan Hass Feldman. I have had good luck with the classes that I’ve taken at WAM thus far but I’ve never taken something that wasn’t focused on an actual art technique so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We discussed various art related topics such as the importance of time management, keeping sacred studio time, getting involved in art associations and the dichotomy between making art and going public with it. I really got a lot out of it and feel inspired to get more involved with other local artists. I have a lot of online art friends but I don’t know anyone in the real world so I think now I will make more of an effort to get myself out of my little bedroom studio and make some connections with other artists.

One of the most important things that was impressed upon us was how critical it is to be disciplined with your time, especially if you work a day job and do art on the side. I have known this for a long time but only recently began to get serious about it. It really is true that the most important thing is actually making art, not thinking about it or planning on it or finding other ways to avoid actually doing it. I used to hate actually drawing or painting it but I loved the results that I got. Now I have shifted more to actually liking what I’m doing regardless of how it turns out. I have also found that my quality has improved with more practice so it’s really a positive in all accounts. I have basically cut out TV completely as I think it is a huge time waster, but the internet is still a major stumbling block. That will probably mean being more selective about the blogs I read, but I do think that it will improve the quality of my life.

Nan was a really great instructor—I would definitely recommend any of her classes to someone who is looking for an upbeat, fun and encouraging teacher. She has a ton of experience as she’s been a practicing artist for over 37 years, with three studios and a huge body of work. She has a really unusual mixed media technique that she described to us. She showed us her pieces and her materials and described how she goes about it but we didn’t have time to actually see her do a demo. She makes a charcoal sketch first and then uses oil pastels and Caran d’Ache Neocolor I crayons to color it in. Then she takes watercolors and paints them on top of the oil based colors. This forms a sort of resist and the watercolors seep through any white parts and pool up and form interesting little blobs of colors. It is really striking with the metallic colors. You can see examples of them here. It seems like a really innovative technique and a fast way to get some really bold color. I think I will try it when I can stomach spending some more money on art supplies.

A note about the sketch above: I was visiting my parent’s house for the weekend and only had my Pitt pens with me so I couldn’t do anything in color, even though I was inspired to do a big, bold colorful drawing after that class I took. I drew these logs not because I really wanted to, but because the only warm place in the house was next to the wood burning stove in the garage!

Autumn Tree, pitt pens (10×8 cm)

Autumn Tree Sketch, pencil in 9×12 sketchbook

This is my interpretation for November’s Virtual Sketch Date. Originally I wanted to do this in Pen and Ink and it would have been really awesome too, but I was just too taken up by other projects this week that I didn’t have the time to do it justice. So I made the pencil sketch first but thought that maybe I got bogged down with the details too much for my own good. My second itereation was the one done in marker. I do like how that one came out better. I tried to edit things out and be more simple—I wanted it to feel like it was on a windy day and all the leaves had blown off the tree. I used my landscape and grayscale Pitt pens which I got a few months ago but haven’t used too many times. I can’t wait to see what everyone else has come up with for this one.

I was a bit hasty in my scanning and was intending on rescanning them, but I am away from home this weekend. Today I am taking a Saturday class at the Worcester Art Museum. It is an art advice workshop not an actual art class. One of my goals in 2008 was to take an art class but it didn’t materialize because of other circumstances and because I couldn’t find anything decent. I hope this inspires me to really amp up my art efforts, although I am pleased with myself so far this month.

Japanese Maple, colored pencil in kraft paper sketchbook, 2008

One thing that I love about where I live now is that when I look out the window I can see a little bit of nature. In the apartment where I lived before, I saw a brick wall when I looked out the window. It was highly depressing. This is a sketch I made of one of our Japanese Maples with my new Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils. I haven’t really tried them for anything serious yet, but I do like it the color range that they have (I bought the set of 60). They seem softer than Derwents but harder than Prismacolors. I love the buttery texture of Prismacolors but it seems as if I get a lot of wax bloom with them. I haven’t noticed that problem with the Polychromos yet. One thing I love is the name, which is Greek for “many colors.”

My Features, black pitt pen and graphite in kraft paper sketchbook, 2008

November has definitely been my most productive month of the year so far, in terms of how many days I’ve drawn. I’ve done something in my sketchbook for most of the days this month and already I’ve done more sketching than some past months. I’m still working on portraits—here is another self portrait. I really do have beautiful eyes, although they often go crossed on me and they are always covered up by glasses (so no one ever notices them).  I would wear contacts but I am “not a candidate” as my eye doctor puts it. On another note, I have never attempted to do a self portrait with pointillism. It is incredibly slow going with all the constant glances back to the mirror!

I am also trying out some drawings from old family photos. Here is a drawing of my Papou when he graduated from college after WWII. I have left this one unfinished as I did not quite capture the expression correctly. This is already my second attempt and I am trying to decide if I want to try another iteration. I think I would like to get it framed if I ever do it again though, so doing it in my sketchbook is not a very good idea anyway. I do like the sepia ink on the tinted paper so maybe I will hunt around for some brown paper suitable for ink.

Papou upon Graduation, unfinished; sepia pitt pen in kraft paper sketchbook; 2008

Bonnie and the Bird; graphite, marker and colored pencil in 9×12 sketchbook; 2008

Bonnie, a childhood friend. Well traveled, gorgeous—easily the kind of person that could make someone feel inadequate. But Bonnie is so gracious, soft spoken and kind that I don’t think anyone ever felt that way. I drew this from a photo of her sister’s.

I’ve been practicing portraits lately to brush up on my skills. About 10 years ago or so I went through a phase where I drew nothing but portraits, copying from photos of models in magazines. It took me a long time but I learned the basics through a lot of practice and art instructional books. I still cringe when I look at stuff I have from back then. One thing that I’ve always avoided however, is drawing open mouthed portraits. I never drew anything with someone smiling because the teeth never came out right. I was so frustrated when everyone came out with buck teeth. That basically rules out drawings of friends and family from snapshots as most of the time people are smiling. Thanks to a lot of great suggestions from folks in the EDM group, I was able to finish this drawing. I definitely need more practice but the teeth do look better than what I could have done before.

Sanguine Leaf; Pitt pen in kraft paper sketchbook; 2008

I really admire someone who can handle a pen. The reason behind that is because it is so difficult to hide mistakes that one must have a clear vision and real drawing skills to be successful. For me, pen and ink is not easy but it does have a sort of meditative quality that makes it ideal for calming my nerves after a long day at work. In this sketch, the parallel lines that made up the shadow were tedious, but relaxing so I could let my mind wander. Another reason why pen and ink is very appealing to me now is that it is one of the cheapest mediums out there—perfect for recessions. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a serious pen and ink drawing, but I have been considering tackling something quite impressive in the near future. We’ll see if it ever works out.

Leaf, face down; ink and colored pencil; Carolyn Pappas, 2008

Leaf, face up; graphite; Carolyn Pappas, 2008

“The artist must find an environment, a pattern of living, that will protect his or her energies: the art must be cultivated, must be given priority.”

“A journal as an experiment in consciousness. An attempt to record not just the external world, and not just the vagrant, fugitive, epemeral ‘thoughts’ that brush against us like gnats, but the refractory and inviolable authenticity of daily life: daily-ness, day-ness, day-lightness, the day’s eye of experience.”

-Joyce Carol Oates  

I’ve been reading The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973-1982, although I haven’t read much of her fiction writing except for a few short stories for college. I love reading about her process and the struggles she had with balancing her day job of being a college professor with her writing demands. It reminds me a lot of how I feel with my artwork. I have recently been really driving myself to draw daily, even if only for an hour after work. It does invigorate me and I enjoy tracking my progress on a little grid that I keep. I’ve been trying to really challenge myself even if that means making a lot of drawings that I would never post. I think there’s really no way that I will ever improve unless I take some risks and try to do something different.