Five Great Art Quotes

I've long been a collector of quotes, but only those that speak to me in one particular way or another.  I plan to share five or so quotes every so often so that you might benefit from them as well.  Enjoy! -- Steve

"In many things, but more particularly in drawing, I think that delving deeply into something is better than letting it go."
- Vincent Van Gogh, Oct. 1881

"The great-at-anything do not set to work because they are inspired, but rather become inspired because they are working. They don't waste time waiting for inspiration."
- Ernest Newman

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
- Herald Whitman

"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision with a finer spirit of hope and achievement."
- Woodrow Wilson

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
- Pablo Picasso

Birds at the Feeder

I always enjoy watching the wild birds who visit our feeder.  We get a wide variety of visitors, but there are always the regulars, such as juncoes, chickadees, sparrows, purple finches, and, of course the our favorite--the colorful red cardinals.  I occasionally see various woodpeckers (such as Northern Flickers), but it's rare.  I had a short amount of time this afternoon to sit down and attempt to capture some very quick sketches of these little guys; the sketches are really just gesture drawings since the birds are in such constant movement.  They don't seem to like to strike a pose for very long...  I used a 6B Derwent pencil for the drawings and added a little watercolor here and there (mosly for color notes) using my homemade sketcher's box pictured here: 

New Watercolor Sketching Book (and blog)!

"Dallas Farmer's Market" by Steve Penberthy

I’m thrilled to share with you that some of my watercolor artwork will be included in Cathy (Kate) Johnson’s upcoming new book, “Artist’s Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures.” North Light Books will release the book in late June 2011.

From Amazon.com:

“Based on her own 40 years' experience in keeping an artist's journal, Cathy Johnson knows that an artist's creative life can benefit from written and visual explanations and experiments. Over the course of this book, you will benefit from the tips, techniques and exercises that will make your artist's journals your own. You will also discover how to use your journal to celebrate any occasion or milestone, work through a problem or creative block, plan future works, sketch from life and experiment with new materials or techniques. With 24 contributors from around the world there is a variety of styles and perspectives throughout the book, and with 15+ exercises you will learn to personalize your journal in a variety of ways.”

I am thrilled to have been asked to contribute artwork to this amazing project.  From the beginning, I’ve thought that Kate’s idea for this book was right on target, and that a lot of people would benefit from her treatment of this varied subject.  I’ve long held that a sketchbook can be a work on art in-and-of itself, so a new book expressly about that process scratches me where I itch.

Again, the book won’t be available until late June 2011, but you can get more info and pre-order the book from Amazon.com here -
http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Journal-Workshop-Creating-Pictures/dp/1440308683/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I143P09DZ2LVA9&colid=2ETLRT6BWR180

Also, please visit Kate's new blog titled, "Artist’s Journal Workshop – The Book and Beyond" at http://artistsjournalworkshop.blogspot.com/
Kate focuses this blog expressly on the new book and its various artist-contributors, where the artists, their sketches, and other great information will be explored in more detail. All of the contributors will be interviewed, and there’s several posted already. Be sure to check it out. I’ll be sure to let you know when my interview comes around.  :)

Kate gives some background on how the idea for the book came about here.

Enjoy!
Steve

What Lurks Down an Alley?

Alley at Belleview and Wise
©2011 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor and ink in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper
9" x 12" (22.9 x 30.5 cm)


If you're looking for ideas for landscape subjects to sketch and paint, don't rule out your nearby alley--it's a great way to practice your perspective drawing.  A perspective view really draws the viewer's eye into a painting or sketch. I guess this is why I'm drawn (no pun intended) to alleyways; they usually stretch out for a long distance, lending themselves to a single vanishing point. Plus, alleys always seem to contain such interesting, odd stuff: boxes, dumpsters, trash cans, strange lighting and fencing, what appear to be abandoned cars, etc.

Alleys in older European cities are usually the leftovers of an ancient street system.  Today,  they seem to serve as places to put out the trash or to perhaps park your car between buildings.

I wanted to do this quick sketch because alleys have been on my brain lately; I don't know why.  Since the scene has a only single vanishing point, I just kind of guessed at the perspective lines. I spent about 15 minutes creating the little thumbnail sketches, mostly to see what I wanted to do with my values. I spent about 30 minutes on the watercolor sketch, again paying the most attention to getting some really dark values into it.  You'll see that I did three thumbnails:  two of the same scene with differing value choices and one of a alleyway of telephone poles.  I didn't choose the telephone pole scene to paint since it didn't look as interesting to me as the other alley scene.  Always good to have a choice!