Mondays Suck, #2

Ah, we meet again, Monday. Hey--you know what, Monday? You suck just as much as last Monday, or maybe even as much as the Monday before. It doesn’t even feel like I had a glimmer of a weekend, and all of the sudden I’m back at the office.

I guess this is what it’s like to be an adult. If this were high school, or even college, I’d have slept in today—maybe I’d have come to class 30 minutes late with coffee for the teacher, so as not to be marked down for my tardiness. I’m pretty sure I could come in 30 minutes late with a coffee for my boss and it’d be fine, but it’s just not the same. You can’t skip meetings like you can skip classes. And you don’t get to be “sick” any time you feel like laying on the Commons or going to the mall instead of tending to your responsibilities. I mean, what?? I never did any of that in school, Mom, don’t worry.

But in all seriousness, today I wish I could pull a Ferris Bueller and BOUNCE. Remember that classic scene where Ferris pulls up in front of the school in that red car, pretending to be Sloane’s father? I always wished I had some cool, rebellious boyfriend who’d rescue me from class and take me on a whirl-wind adventure into the city. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect my boyfriend to pick me up from work in his hatchback and drive off into the sunset. That would be unrealistic. Tim’s no Ferris Bueller, but he’s still pretty bad-ass—he reads sci-fi novels AND he watches “Fish Warrior” on the Discovery Channel, so take that, Fonzie. 

Graphite sketch, Joa Stenning. Oct. 2011

"Things That Are Awesome" Thursday #2

This week, I have a crush on fellow Boston-area artist Michelle Morin of "United Thread." Morin works primarily in watercolor and gouache, and takes her inspiration from the natural world. I particularly love her Brown Pelicans piece, which has so many beautiful textures and soft colors! When I think of a pelican, I don't usually think of those warm browns contrasting with pops of purple and yellow, but I suppose that's exactly how they look. Actually, no--they look better here than they look in real life. I've seen a pelican up close, and they're not nearly as nice to look at as the ones pictured below.

A screen shot of Morin's "Brown Pelicans" blog post

I think Morin does a really fantastic job of capturing the spirit and character of each animal she paints. I love the multitude of textures in each piece! I could honestly study them for hours. I may just have to buy myself a print of her Whale Pod, which is available here in her Etsy shop.

Take a look at Michelle Morin's blog (listed above) and Etsy (also above) for more breathtaking shots of her work!

Fine Art Friday #2

It's time for another Fine Art Friday! I made the drawing below at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, here in Boston, MA. If you've never visited the Gardener Museum before, you really should. Ms. Gardener spent her entire life collecting what are now some of the most valuable paintings in the entire world. She had a great love of sculpture as well, and traveled far & wide to bring back rare or unique statues--all of which are displayed in the courtyard of the museum. The courtyard is a work of art in and of itself, with flowers that change year-round to accommodate the requests made in Isabella Stewart Gardener's will. In fact, everything in every room is arranged according to her will, and will never be moved or removed.

Having said all of that, this is one of my favorite places in Boston to sit and sketch.

Graphite on drawing paper, Joa Stenning. July 2010. 

Pin It

Landscapes For E'rrybody!

As you may or may not already know, I came back from Italy with a butt-load of landscapes in tow. This was really my first foray into landscape painting, as well as my first in-depth study with oils. For the record, oil painting is a wonder. Oil painting has all the flexibility of watercolors, way more texture than acrylics, and is actually very forgiving for beginners like me. If I didn't like what I did in one area, I could either scrape it down and start fresh or work the paint around the canvas until I was satisfied. I absolutely loved it.

Landscapes, on the other hand, might not be my cup of tea. I don't find myself itching to paint them now that I'm home in Boston, but I really enjoyed painting them in Italy when I was surrounded by such dynamic scenery. Once I fell in love with the atmosphere there, I fell in love with painting it. But there is definitely a "before" and "after" in my work--before I fell in love, everything I painted looked like this, only bad:

Oil on canvas paper, Joa Stenning. Sept. 2011

Before I added a second layer, this painting looked terrible. The sky looked like a big blue piece of crap. It really did. Signiora said the whole thing looked "metaphyiscal," which was much too kind because it implied that I was attempting a specific style, when in reality it just looked like a 4-year-old had done it. Will said that my trees and bushes looked like pastries...which they did. After going over this piece again with glazes, dry-brushing and chippies*, I'm really happy with it, but it took a lot of work to get that way.

Once I'd begun to love Farnese and really immerse myself in my surroundings, my paintings looked more like this:

Oil on canvas paper, Joa Stenning. Sept. 2011

All of the sudden there was depth, and feeling, and sky. The sky was what really did it for me. The land was beautiful, but the sky was a phenomenon. I've never seen skies so big, and so varied in color. Once I started with the skies, the rest fell into place. Will kept saying that painting should be emotional, and I think that this second picture is proof of that. Without emotion, you have pastries. With emotion, you have a solid painting.

So, who wants a landscape? I have about 18 that I'm happy with and ready to sell...!



*Chippies are Will McCarthy's best kept secret. They're just little pieces of mat board, but he uses them to add texture and little details without being able to see any brushwork. 

Pin It

Self-education vs. Higher Education

Spending every day at a job that is not necessarily fulfilling and is not related to the field I want to work in can be incredibly taxing--especially when it's a job that primarily revolves around customer service. Every day, I come home and drool over the course catalogs at various art schools in the area, and think about how nice it would be to be a student again. What I lack with my own personal art studies is supervision from an experienced teacher, advice/criticism from peers, and 28+ hours of studio time every week--all of which would be available to me through one of these higher education programs.

However, I know that in this economic climate that would be a terrible choice. I already have a big, fat student loan staring me in the face each month, and adding to that debt in order to further my artistic career would probably be the worst mistake of my life. If I'm already having trouble paying back the loans I have, doubling or even tripling that amount won't make it better. It may delay my payments for a while, but in all honesty, the degree I'd walk away with wouldn't throw me directly into a job that would help me pay off my debt. In fact, it'd probably just throw me right back to where I am right now; working full time while I try to figure out how to make my passion into my business.

I read a really fantastic article by Matt Cheuvront at Life Without Pants  called "I'll Never Go Back to School," in which he discusses his own success as a self-taught marketing professional. Cheuvront also speaks to the value of experience over masters' degrees in most fields. He explains,

The beauty of the world that we live in today is that everything…EVERYTHING you want, all of the information you need, is out there for the taking. If you want to start a cupcake delivery company, do it! If you want to risk it all and move to another country, you can! Location independence is real, becoming an entrepreneur by age 25 is a legitimate possibility. Why? Not because of school, not because of a degree, but because people are willing to take flying leaps out of their comfort zones, ask a “shit-ton” of questions, and stay up until 2am reading marketing literature, all while saving money, surviving on Ramen noodles, and wearing that sweater their mom gave them in 9th grade.

I really needed this reminder. This is why I started blogging in the first place--to teach myself, and to share that experience. Maybe if I stopped drooling over these programs and lamenting my lack of time or money, I could start being successful in this field. It's time to start reading up on successful etsy shops, on making prints, on selling pieces to galleries, offices, hospitals, etc. Nobody teaches you about the business of art--probably not even the professors in these expensive studio programs. It's something that they taught themselves, and something that I need to start teaching myself.

Illustrated Tuesday #2

I ate a great big bowl of excuses for breakfast today, so I could give you a hundred reasons why I haven't been keeping up with my themes or posting regularly. But excuses are lame, so I don't think I will. Instead I'll just give you a little Illustrated Tuesday post, along with some anecdotes from Italia.

I started the sketch below thinking that it would just be a rough thumbnail, something to reference while painting later on. Instead, I got a little carried away with the details and ended up with a finished product. As an ADHD kid who never grew up with any sort of focus, I always surprise myself when I get so wrapped up in a project that I forget to eat, breathe, or pee.

Graphite sketch of my bedroom window. Joa Stenning, Sept. 2011

All of my other sketches from Italy look much more like this:

Thumbnail sketch of the sunset from the roof of the villa.

Or like this:

View from a studio window.

They're much looser, lighter, and lacking in detail. In the middle picture there, you can see that I even made a diagram of what colors I saw across the skyline that night. Our instructor Will McCarthy's process is all about working from memory, so instead of taking pictures of anything and everything worth painting, I tried to sketch out my favorite scenes instead, with little notes and reminders. According to Will, this makes for a much more "emotional painting." 

When I look back at my "Something I'm Working On Sunday" post, I can see a huge difference from that piece and the much more "emotional" pieces I worked on in Italy. I don't necessarily think that my Sunday piece is bad or worse in any way--it's just completely different from anything I worked on with Will. It's a completely new process for me, and I'm interested to find some middle-ground between the two.

Pin It