New Workshops Are Coming!

New workshops are on the horizon. Yea!!! I have 2 new workshops opening at Creative Pencils next week.  Both were created in response to the requests of students.  And both are using less than common pencils.   It is your opportunity to expand your pencil knowledge.  Double Yea!!

Panda in Pastels

Panda in Pastels is a drawing of a beautiful panda among the bamboo.  I drew the original as a gift for a new mother.  She had especially requested a panda bear.  Some of my students saw it while in progress and asked that I teach them how to draw one of their own.  I know you will love joining in.  In this workshop we use Derwent Soft Pastel pencils and I will take you through your drawing one step at a time.  Remember you can always ask me questions and show your work to me so that I can help you along the way.  I love looking at your work.  This colorful panda is a project that is suited to students of any drawing level.  

Lovely Wren

Lovely Wren started as a drawing I did at home just playing with my pencils.  One of my students saw it and requested a workshop so she could also draw a "lovely wren".  This drawing was created with Derwent Drawing pencils (sometimes referred to as Soft Drawing).  These pencils are very soft and layer in a very different way than regular colored pencils.  I think you will enjoy this new process and certainly your skills will benefit by expanding your knowledge. 

Dog Portrait in Graphite

One more bit of news is that the time for the Dog Portrait in Graphite workshop has been extended.  Due to my move, I am giving extra time just in case that complication was an interference for anyone else.  So, come on!  You've still got time to join in! 

Have a great weekend and remember to spend some quality time with your pencils.  I'd hate for them to get lonely.  Haha!


**CREATIVE PENCILS WORKSHOPS HAS MOVED TO CREATIVE WORKSHOPS**


Wind and Honey Creations

Where Bloggers Create 2013

Come on in. I've been waiting for you and now I am so excited to have some friends over. You are just the one I have needed to give me some decorating advice.  I am participating in the Where Bloggers Create 2013 event sponsored by Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage.  Five weeks ago we moved to another town and another home. My studio space here is very different than the one I had previously, including the fact that it is 30% smaller.

OK. I'm up for the challenge. The studio isn't completely unpacked or organized or decorated. But I was able to accomplish enough to get to share a bit with you here. There are just a few spots where I need the advice of a creative friend. That's where you come in. Like I said, I'm so glad you are here!

My name is Elizabeth Johnson and I am a pencil artist.  I specialize in animal portraiture and whimsical art.  I teach drawing online through a video format.  I teach a wide variety of drawing subjects, styles,  and pencils.   I love watching my students blossom and grow as artists.  You can see my work here and where my students learn here.

So, now that you know me a bit, let's get back to the studio.  

As I mentioned, this room is quite a big smaller than the large studio I had previously.  I was determined to be on top of things so I put quite a bit of thought into what furniture I would use and how it would be placed.  I looked around at my former studio and contemplated what I really needed in a studio.  I realized I did not need a large space but I did need multiple work stations.  I had a table, a desk, and a drafting table in my large room.  I often had to push an incomplete project aside to work on something that involved a deadline.  The problem was that once I'd pushed my project aside, it had lost its mojo and I often never got back to it for completion.  I decided I needed a place to keep my drawing projects clean and in progress.  That was easy -- my drafting table.  I needed a place for a very special big drawing project that I have started.  This would need to be separate from my drafting table project.

I needed a place to keep crafts in progress.  A place to keep my journals and supplies.  I needed a place for my computer and a place for recording the workshops I teach.  Wow!  That's a lot to ask of a very small room.  The more I thought about this, the more I realized work space was more important than floor space.  I didn't need to dance in this room.  I needed to work.  

I began at the beginning - with the drafting table.  There is no room for it so it sits in the middle of the room.  It is on wheels so if it gets in the way, I'll have to roll it out of the way.  Remember I've only been here 5 weeks and have spent most of those days unpacking boxes.  So, this is a theory.  I'll let you know how it works out in a couple of months.

We took the closet doors off so I could utilize all of the wall space for my desks.  We have two old oak teacher's desks.  They are both 5 ft. wide.  The darker one was in my previous studio and the lighter one was in my husband's home office.   I will store my computer and record workshops on the darker desk.  The TV is for monitoring the filming.   And I will be crafty at the lighter desk.  Do you think I should paint the desks or leave them the colors they are?  Or maybe just paint the lighter one?

When I was pondering the number of work stations I needed, the thought crossed my mind that it would be grand to have a place to keep my sewing machine.  Now, I am NOT a seamstress.  But I do pretend that I know what I'm doing every now and then.  Dragging the machine out of the closet is kind of a hassle, though.  I was quite sure that the sewing machine was one station over the line for this little room.  So, I put that idea aside. 

But look here!  I am SO EXCITED!!!   My sewing machine fits right here on the stand for a typewriter.  And it even fits when you put the stand back inside the cabinet and close the door.  How cool is that?!!  It can be ready to use and easy to get out and then be tucked away and out of sight in a jiffy.  I LOVE it!

I've used some vintage suitcases and a breadbox to hold the crafting supplies that are nice to have handy and some miscellaneous ephemera.   And some things are out just because their presence makes me feel more creative.  

Here is one of those projects where I need your advice.  I think I want to paint this wardrobe.  And I don't love those curtains.  I've thought about purchasing punched tin to replace the curtains.  But I thought I'd see what creative ideas you have.  I can't wait to hear them.  And if I paint the wardrobe, what color should it be?

OK.  So, we've moved along now and we have turned the corner to the wall opposite of the 2 large desks.  These desks both lived the lives of vanities in the previous house.  They both had mirrors.  The darker one is where I will work on my other drawing project.  I'm thinking about painting this one.   Behind it is the white iron headboard I used in my other studio as an inspiration board.  It works so well for this.  Pictures stay up with a magnet and it takes up very little room against the wall.

The painting above this desk (aka vanity) is a self portrait of my daughter.  When we were moving we found this painting in her stash of work from college.  I had never seen it and she was getting ready to throw it away!!  I snatched it from her and claimed it as my own. 

The wooden file cabinet is genuinely old and was a $10 find at a thrift store when we were on vacation.  At the time, we were driving a Buick.  Not exactly a truck for hauling stuff.  But I tended to use it that way.  Haha!   My husband said, "You'll never get it in the car.  It'll never fit."  I said, "Watch me!!"   You couldn't have slid a piece of paper between the cabinet and the doors on both sides in the back seat.  But we got it home.  : )  He really should know better by now!

Seated sweetly on top is my Raggedy Ann and my father's Raggedy Ann book.  They are both a little worn from the years.  But are very special to me and have a place of importance in every studio I work in. 

The green vanity is my journaling station.  I've only had time to sit there one day to work so far.  But I'm really looking forward to have a place to begin a page and then leave it until my next chance to sit.  BTW, I got those way cool knobs on clearance at Anthropologie.  I was so excited.  I paid a song for them!

The inspiration board above it is the porcelain top to the Hoosier cabinet that was in my husband's great grandparent's home.  The rest of the cabinet was not salvageable.   Magnets stick to it and it works perfectly here. 

This is Lydia who does need floor space, but hopefully there is enough here for her.

Now for the window.  This is where I really  need your advice.  In my old studio, I used this baby gate against the wall to hold photos and images I needed to have up.  In this studio, I've decided to hang it in this little nook for the window.  I have a vintage wooden window hanging below it.  I have hung some crystal leaves and flowers from ribbons.  I have enough of these to fill it.  But I thought, perhaps, it needed something else for variety.  What do you think?  More crystal leaves and flowers or something else.  And if so, what else?  And should I cover those wires above it with ribbon or fabric or what? 

Here you can see the whole window.  The cat baskets are in the window seat.  Although they chose not to grace us with their presence today. 

Bo says Good Day from the back yard.

Some of you may remember from the last 2 years that I had a favorite stuffed rocking chair in my studio.  Well, no room for it in this one.  I've placed it in my bedroom.  This one takes less room in this space where every inch is of a premium.

I'm not thrilled with the curtains on the closets.  Maybe you have a better idea for that too.  

Well, this has been fun.  I've loved having you here and am so excited to hear your ideas to help make my new studio a more creative space.

Thank you for joining me for this party.  I'll be stopping by your studio too. 

Wind and Honey Creations

Boxes and Swirling Winds... and Perspective!

My last post shows that its been a full month since I've posted here.   It might look like I just wanted you to have lots of time to enjoy getting to know Karen deCordova and Target.  And while that's not a bad idea, it wasn't actually the plan.  This month has been huge.  First we are moving.  Tuesday the truck will be loaded so every tiny thing has to be packed into a box.  I've been finishing up my local classes along with their annual art show.  And I've been packing....and packing...and packing.

 

 Then 2 weeks ago just as the tornado was ripping through Shawnee, OK, I went to bed.  I'd not been feeling well and had a cough for a couple of days.  I just thought it was from packing and all the dust.  --yes, there is dust in my house!   So I had just been pushing on.  By the time I realized I was really sick, I was really sick!  So, I lost 6 precious packing days as I slowly recovered from a rip roaring case of Strep throat.  Ugh!  No time for that!

Meanwhile I lay in bed and watched on television as the world all around me was blown to piles of sticks in swirling violent winds.  -- Yes, I live in Oklahoma!  Where the wind goes sweeping down the plain...   We have not been in the direct paths of the tornados.  But we are very very close.   We drove through Moore about a week after the tornado.  The media is correct when they say the pictures don't really give you a grasp of it.  It is beyond words and quite overwhelming.

I have used this image in good faith that it is a public domain image. 

Finally, I am up and back to packing.  We have downsized quite a bit but who would ever guess with so much stuff to pack!  We will not be complaining, though!!!  We have things to pack.  Many around us do not.  I have a cousin who has lost everything in the Moore tornado and a life long friend who lost much in the Broken Arrow tornado.  And, of course, there were many others and even those who lost beloved family members.  

 

My son and my husband were such princes as I lay in bed with fever.  They packed my dining room and part of the kitchen.  They packed it a little differently than I would have.  But I'll not be complaining about that either!  What great guys I have!!

So, this has been a month for perspective.  I think it will be affecting my thoughts for some time to come.  Here is a great example of overcoming.   This birdhouse is wired to the pole.   A family of birds had moved into it.   In one of the storms it blew over clinging by one partial wire.  It was a few days before I could get out there to turn it right side up and in the meantime I kept noticing the mother using the roof overhang as a porch.  When I finally walked up to the house to turn it right side up, I could see babies peeking out!  They had simply adjusted -- rearranged the furniture, if you will -- and had gone on with their happy little lives.

 

Life can be rough.  But we can persevere.  We dust ourselves off, rearrange the furniture, and make the best of it.  My moving and packing and even the crud in my throat are small things.  Oklahomans have had a tough couple of weeks with the tornados.  And that is not a small thing.   But those affected will adjust and life will go on.   Because that is what people and mama birds do!

I'll pack this box for you!

Wind and Honey Creations

An Interview with Karen deCordova, Dog Lover, Trainer, Artist

My Sugar

  Currently at Creative Pencils I am teaching a workshop on drawing Dog Portraits in Graphite.  I needed a model for the lessons and for the example I draw in front of the camera.  But what dog would have the physical  characteristics that would teach my students a variety of traits all in one?  Dogs have such varied features.  And then I remembered Karen deCordova.  Karen is one of my local students and is also a member of Creative Pencils.  She has a passion for her dogs and a lot of interesting experience with them.  Karen has Golden Retrievers.  That would be just right because they have short hair, medium hair, and long hair all in one portrait.  And their features are not at one extreme or the other i.e. long pointy nose or flat nose.   I have interviewed Karen and I think you will enjoy getting to know her and Target, my model, a little bit here.   

**Did you have a dog as a child?  If so what breed?  What kind of relationship did you have with that dog? 

I did not have a single dog as a youngster – I had a plethora of varied strays that I would bring home, try to hide from my parents as long as possible and train to do anything I could convince the dog to do for a treat. My father was in the Air Force and we lived overseas for several years of my childhood. Once we returned to the States I begged my parents until they relented and purchased a Shetland Sheepdog. I wanted a bigger dog, but my non-doggie parents couldn’t bear the thought. “Cinnamon” was a stubborn, serious girl that didn’t like to do what she was told. She really was more my parent’s dog than mine and I vowed to someday have my own dog that was sweet and big. 

 

**I know you to be very serious about dog training.  How did you get into dog training?  What preparation have you had? 

A commissioned portrait

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t training a dog. I just always liked the idea of convincing a dog to do what I asked and marveled at how dogs can so easily get past the language barrier! After college, when I finally had my own sweet and big Golden Retriever, I went to a dog training class in Oklahoma City that was held by the Golden Retriever Club. My first class was taught by a woman who became my best friend for the last 30 years! In addition to training my own dogs, I have taught classes for several groups and even worked full-time as a dog trainer for several years in the late 1990s. I honed my craft by reading, attending seminars and working alongside top trainers from California to South Carolina . I even lived in Wisconsin for a summer to work with a field trainer I admired. Mostly the dogs teach me. By watching their demeanor and behavior, I hear them. Every dog speaks in their own language. Paying heed to what they say can lead to a wonderful relationship where I mostly understand them – and they mostly understand me. Helping owners achieve that relationship is always my goal when working with the public. Usually the dog figures out the owner LONG before the owner figures out the dog!

 

**You have also been involved with dog shows on many levels. Can you tell me a little bit about that? 

Dog Shows, Obedience Trials and Field Tests are the proving grounds for any trainer worth their salt. Besides being an opportunity to see what is possible with a good dog and trainer team, pitting my skills and my dog’s talent against other dog/trainer teams sheds light on my weaknesses and highlights my strengths. Training is the cake, but showing is the icing! Exhibiting a dog is a test of the dog’s learning, the handler’s skill and the ability of the dog-handler team to manage stress and work for each other. In addition to showing my dogs, I enjoy getting students ready to show their dogs. I take much pleasure in seeing the handler become confident in their ability and committed to training, although I am always more nervous watching my students compete then when I am in the ring myself! Another area of dog sport that is often ignored are the ring stewards, marshals, and other workers that make events run smoothly. Putting on an event takes a lot of manpower. I enjoy training new stewards and take pride in facilitating the smooth running of an event.

 

**Tell me about Target?  Help us to know him better.  Why was he special?  

My portrait of Target

The litter that Target came from was interesting to me because of the characteristics of individuals in the pedigree. There was a lot of talent evident in many generations and when the breeding was planned I knew I wanted one of the puppies. Target picked me at about 3 weeks old when he was the only one in his litter who woke up and toddled over to me when I spoke a greeting. From that day on, he was responsive to my words, body movements and even eye movements. Every trainer’s dream is to have a dog that is “eager to please”. The ability of a dog to work accurately yet with enthusiasm and love for the job is a difficult combination to come by. Some dogs have enthusiasm but are unable to manage the precision necessary to compete at the top levels of obedience. Some dogs have precision but without the enjoyment that makes working with them (and watching them) such a delight. Target was a wonderful combination of trainability, enthusiasm and desire to please.  “Utmost in willingness” is a phrase in the AKC rules for obedience that epitomized Target’s performances. In addition to obedience, Target was skilled in drug detection, field work, agility and tracking. He excelled at every venue we tried. He was a very flashy working dog, yet was very gentle and loved small children and kittens. Because of his high energy level people often didn’t believe me when I told them what a wonderful dog he was around our home. Other than staring at me until I would finish doing something to play with him, he was a perfect companion. We finished every day with him lying down beside my bed. I would tell him “I’ll love you one more day” and as I drifted off to sleep I would hear his tail thumping his reply.

 

**Karen, you have been in my drawing classes for a while now.  Why did you begin and what is your goal?   How does it make you feel when you accomplish a drawing?  

 I started my drawing classes with you about 3 years ago. I had listened in on your teaching while visiting And Bear Makes Three in Moore for a stamp class. I was drawn to your teaching style. My early experiences with drawing had been with my grandmother who did quite a bit of work in pastel and in oils. I remember her encouragement to try different things and her gentle way of guiding my drawing. However, in Junior High I applied to be in a drawing class by taking my portfolio of drawings to the teacher. Being an impressionable teenager, I was crushed when the young instructor callously told me that I must have traced or plagiarized my work. Despite my tearful protestations, I was told to not come back. So I quit drawing for more than 30 years. I never told my grandmother what had happened as I didn’t want to relive the embarrassing incident. I stopped my after-school drawing sessions with her and put away my sketch books. I deeply regret that I allowed a very young, ignorant art teacher to ruin drawing for me for so long.

When I heard the gentle style of your teaching, I decided to brave rejection and try drawing again. What I found was a welcoming, positive environment where I can push myself without fear of falling off the edge because I have you as a safety net. You help me be brave in trying new techniques and playing with new materials. My goals are to become comfortable with canine portraiture in a variety of mediums. I want to be able to draw my own dogs and those of my friends both as portraits and as the action figures they are!

Finishing a drawing makes me sad. That might not be an expected response, but I think I have PDSS (Post-Drawing-Stress-Syndrome). It often takes me a week or two to recover from one drawing and get excited about another drawing. Although I am always proud of myself for either what I have learned or what I have accomplished with each drawing, I also am always sad when I am finished. Perhaps it is my fear of starting something new? What I love most about drawing is that with just a pencil and a drawing surface I can take what is in my head and translate it onto paper. Lines, shading and shape – such simple concepts can express complex subjects and emotions. I often lose myself in drawing and only come out of my trance when interrupted by a muscle cramp – or the poke of a dog’s demanding nose.

**Thank you, Karen.  I have thoroughly enjoying reading your comments here.  I know others will too.

Enrollment for the Dog Portrait in Graphite workshop is still open.  Come and join us.  You'll be glad you did.   

***CREATIVE PENCILS HAS MOVED TO CREATIVE WORKSHOPS*** 

A Commissioned Portrait

 

 
Wind and Honey Creations

Red Means Go and Green Means Stop

Or wait! Is that right? No, it doesn't seem right. It must be wrong. I must be remembering it wrong. Wait a minute. Let me think. Now, I'm confused.

That is a fairly typical conversation that I've had with myself while recording workshops.  When I record, I place the camera on a tripod over my shoulder so that the student can see the drawing happening from my viewpoint.  But as I move the paper around and zoom in sometimes, I can get out of the camera range.  So, I hook my camera up to a small tv that allows me to see what the camera sees.  The screen shows a light when the camera is on and another light when it is off.

The red light is on when the camera is recording and the green light is on when the camera is turned off.  HUH?!!!   This has confused me for a long time and I have to check and recheck myself.  I have tried to rethink it by telling myself the Rrrrreeed means Rrrrreeeecord.   And Green means Ready to Go!  But, alas, that idea has never stuck for more than  the length of time it took me to think of it.  Red for stop and green for go is too deeply embedded into my  brain from those first grade reading lessons about Dick and Jane and Sally.  Jane, watch Sally Go.  Go, Sally, Go!   Go, Go, Go!

Go happens on GREEN!

So, anyway, I've stumbled around with that for all these months of recording workshops.  It has caused me some glitches here and there.  But they were always small and fairly fixable.  .......until this last week.

I don't know what happened that day.  Maybe I didn't eat enough lunch.  Maybe I didn't sleep enough the night before.  Maybe I packed my brain in one of those moving boxes already taped up.  I don't know.  But whatever it was, it wasn't funny!

I recorded for 4 hours working on my upcoming Dog Portrait in Graphite workshop.  But when I started to download from the camera to the computer, there was only about an hour's worth of material.  What?  How could that be?  And then, I began to get nervous.  Surely not.  SURELY NOT!  

I waited patiently (haha!  Yeah, right!) until the downloading was complete.  And when I checked my imovie program, I about cried.  Every time I had stopped the camera to sharpen my pencil or get a drink of water, the camera was on.  And every time I started the camera to teach, I had turned it off!  Sigh..........

I finished checking the download at midnight, went to bed, got up the next morning and promptly made myself a
sign to put on the tv.  And then I recorded the whole thing again.... or for the first time, as the case may be.

Believe me when I say that I checked and rechecked my little sign and the light colors many times during this recording session.

I hope you'll join me for the dog portrait workshop.  It opens April 21 at Creative Pencils.  It comes to you with much effort.  HaHa!  You will learn how to draw the dog portrait of your choice as I teach you the basics for dog features.  There will be lots of instructor help for you.  You can ask questions and show me your work in progress.  It'll be lots of fun and very informative.

So, Go on Green or Go on Red.  But either way, Go to Creative Pencils and sign up.   There are other workshops going on now that you would find enriching too.


***CREATIVE PENCILS HAS MOVED TO CREATIVE WORKSHOPS***



Wind and Honey Creations

And Now It Can Be Spring!

The girls are up. The turtles, I mean.  It isn't officially Spring at our house until we see the turtles.  We have 3 of them and they live freely in our backyard.  They could leave if they wanted to.  They could easily dig under the fence.  But they choose to live with us.  I like to think they enjoy the tomato and watermelon treats I give to them as much as I enjoy sharing.

The first picture is Cleopatra and the second one is Claudette Colbert.   These pictures were taken today.  I didn't have time to create a reunion picture today as I am supposed to be recording a workshop.  And besides that, Goldie was hiding somewhere this morning.

Cleopatra

Claudette Colbert

A turtle picnic

Here is a picture of Goldie and Cleopatra taken last year.  It was
later in the year, hence the watermelon.  If you find our turtle family interesting, you may read more about them in previous blog posts here and here.

I will be recording a turtle drawing lesson for the new subdivision of Creative Pencils this week.  I might have to bring one of the girls in as a visual aid.

More about the new Creative Pencils project in just a few days.  We are wrapping things up to get it all ready.




Wind and Honey Creations

Happy Easter

May you be blessed by knowing the Lamb of God this Easter.

**Does anyone know who the artist is that did this piece?  I found it in a public domain collection but would love to credit the artist.

Wind and Honey Creations