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.

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.”

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.

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.

Hibiscus, watercolor and colored pencil on 5×7 Strathmore watercolor greeting card, Carolyn Pappas, 2008

These days the market has been on my mind more than any other topic. I keep track of it while at work during the day and the obsession seems to have followed me home for the past two weeks as well. I normally try to do some sketching after work, but these past two weeks I have been glued to the tv listening to all the updates on the bailout negoitiations and worrying myself sick.

Yesterday, I decided that enough is enough. I sat down and finished this painting that I had been wanting to finish for a long time. I had the flower sketched out and the blank greeting card taped down to my board but I had not gotten around to acually painting it for a long time now. I experimented by using masking fluid to retain the whites in the spots for the pollen. It was frustrating because I found I did not have a lot of control over my application. And the stuff dried so fast! I ended up going over the whole thing with colored pencils after I painted it in watercolor and I really love the bold color that I ended up with, especially in the background. I found that the few hours of distraction was beneficial to my mood and my outlook.

When all these people on the news are scaring us with images of the Great Depression, the one passage of Scripture that comes instantly to mind is this one from Matthew 6:25-33:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

 ”And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Macintosh Apples, colored pencil in 9×12 sketchbook, Carolyn Pappas 2008

I made this sketch of some apples this afternoon and I’m honestly surprised that I even did this as I’ve been sick all weekend. On Friday I had an awful sore throat and by the time I got out of work, I had talked so much during the day that my whole neck felt like it was on fire. On Saturday and this morning I moped around my parent’s house and didn’t do much of anything except sleep and play with the puppies. Today my nose is like a faucet and I feel generally achy all over.

I did do two things which made my weekend a tiny bit productive and not a total waste. One, I made this sketch. I tried to keep it simple by only using four pencils more like drawing pencils. I am pleased that at least I did something artistic and I wanted to do something to commemorate the first day of my favorite season starting tomorrow.  I also hemmed a new pair of pants that I’ve been waiting to wear for a few weeks but didn’t get around to hemming until now.  It was so hard to be bent over my sewing while having a drippy nose, but I have something new to wear tomorrow.

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. Proverbs 11:28

Fig Leaf Sketch, ballpoint and colored pencil, Carolyn Pappas 2008

Garden Sketch (8/30/08), black pitt pens in kraft paper sketchbook, Carolyn Pappas 2008

Drawing leaves outside has been sort of a theme for me lately. I guess the main reason is that I figure that soon it will be too cold to do a lot of sketching outside and by the time I get home from work, it will be dark. I am already preparing a list of ideas for still lifes and reference photos to use for the colder season.

Despite having an extra day off, I wasn’t very productive in the art department. I have been so tired out from everything that has been going on in my life that I just lounged around at my parent’s house. I had a lot of fun playing around with the puppies, watching tv and finishing a Really Good Book. Sometimes not doing anything important is the best thing to do and I feel really energized now because of it.

Trip Preparations, 5×7 sketchbook, 2008

We got back from India last Sunday, but I was so jetlagged and screwed up timewise that I didn’t manage to do much of anything except go to work every day. I didn’t do much sketching at all on my trip, partially because we were in a car most of the time or shopping in malls where it wasn’t feasible to sit and draw. I need to get better at quick sketches! I did manage to do a few sketches though. This first sketch is from before we left—it is all the gifts we bought lined up and ready to put into the suitcase. All the shopping for gifts took a whole day in and of itself!

View From our Hotel in Kolkata, mini sketchbook, 2008

This sketch is part of the view from our first hotel room in Kolkata. We only stayed there one night because it wasn’t the cleanest place, but there was a nice view from our room of a pond with beautiful waterfowl and foliage. I absolutely love these trees with orange flowers, but I don’t know what kind of tree it is. One of the things I love about India is the incredible variety of plant life. If I spent more time there, I would love to document the plants through a series of botanical drawings.

Indian vase, mini sketchbook, 2008

This is a sketch of a small vase belonging to my sister-in-law. I was really tired and sleepy that day and I wanted to draw something small.

Kitchen sketch, mini sketchbook, 2008

This is a sketch of my sister-in-law’s kitchen. In India, kitchens are for food preparation only, and they are pretty small. People have small propane cooktops where they prepare their food and they have very small fridges as they buy their food fresh daily and don’t eat leftovers too much.

Indian Flower, 5×7 sketchbook, 2008

I drew this while visiting Dhanbad, which is about 5 hours from Kolkata. Some friends got me a bouquet of flowers and I sketched one of them in the hotel room before going to bed. I slept very late while in India because I usually took a nap in the afternoon. The time was 9.5 hours ahead of EST. It got dark around 6 PM because India does not have daylight savings time. It gets so hot during the day and people usually do a lot at night because it is a lot cooler. Even dinner is late—around 9 PM.

Suitcases and Shopping Bags, mini sketchbook, 2008

I drew this one night before going to bed when I was in our hotel room in Kolkata. We did a lot of shopping and this is a sketch of our empty suitcase with all our shopping bags and backpacks strewn about. I got a lot of clothes when we were in India—women there were very well dressed.

Kenilworth facade, 5×7 sketchbook, 2008

I drew this view from my parent’s hotel room one afternoon. It is part of the facade of the hotel where we stayed in—the Kenilworth. Most buildings in Kolkata are from the Victorian era and they would be beautiful if they were restored and maintained. Our hotel was one of the buildings that were in good shape. This is the last sketch I made before going home. I hope you liked reading a little about my trip!

I took full advantage of the tulips while they were out. Now, most of the petals have blown away thanks to a lot of wind and rain. I am most proud of the top drawing, which is the largest (9×12) and which I drew from life. It was a little chilly outside and the wind was blowing around a lot, but I think the drawing came out really nice. Click on each image to view at full size.

Banana Bunch, pitt pen and colored pencil, 2008

Flower Sketch, sanguine pitt pens, 2008

These are a few sketches that I’ve done after work. These days Jeet goes to his martial arts class and I have time alone to putter around the house. I’ve wasted quite a few of these nights by watching tv when I could be drawing, but these are some of the things that I accomplished.