Sweet Square #14

Today it occurred to me that splattering is a skill. Never thought about it much before but now I want to use it in illustrations. We just don't splatter enough after a certain age... :-)

watercolor

Sweet Square #13

Took out the Cray-pas again (see Sweet Square #7).
I'm really enjoying this Month of Experimentation. Drawing whatever is in my head and not searching for reference materials first has been a real boost for me.

Sweet Square #12

I was in the mood to use the palette knives again. Acrylic paint. Having fun with the textures.

Sweet Square #11

Is it starting to feel like fall? This is my favorite time of the year and the time I miss my native New England most. Autumn in France tends to be wet and dreary and the leafy color I love so much is lacking.

This Sweet Square is another of the watercolor experiments. I went for a warm palette this time as opposed to Day 9 when the palette was cooler. I let the very wet and drippy background dry then stared at it until I had an idea what to draw.

Sweet Square #10

A quickie. Collage (from magazines and painted paper) and  watercolor & marker (the bird watcher) on a square cut from a tissue box. The clear skies here in Brittany today must have influenced me.

Sweet Square #9

Taking inspiration from my fellow Sweet Squarists, I created a background with very wet watercolor then let the background tell me what to draw. I enjoyed this. In fact, I enjoy doing these squares a lot. Characters that have been rambling around my brain are coming to life and materials I often ignore are used.

Click on the colorful "Sweet Squares" square to the right--> if you want to learn more about them.

Sweet Square #8

This one should be called "SILLY Square" because it is me being very silly. This is more cartoony than usual. I didn't have any idea what to do today so I decided to start by gluing that crown on the 3X3 square and seeing what appeared underneath it. What can I say? Guess I'm not in a princessy mood today!

collage, marker, watercolor

Sweet Square #7

Today I took out a pack of CRAY-PAS (anyone remember those?) that a secretary gave me when I worked on a trade floor of a big bank in New York. She heard I was taking continuing ed classes at FIT (The Fashion Institute of Technology) for advertising/graphic design and thought they might come in handy. I have no idea why they were in her desk on this trade floor but I took them and then never used them! They went from my walk up apartment on the lower east side of New York to Versailles to Quimperlé and now they moved to Brest with me. I'm a firm believer that things WILL come in handy eventually. And voilà! They are student quality oil pastels and make for a nice experiment: draw, layer and mix color, smudge and scratch-- yes, they build up enough to allow for scratching off for nice effects.

How's The Month of Experimentation going for you?

Sweet Square #6

I had a blast doing my 3X3 inch square today. It's the Month of Experimentation so in that spirit I took out my palette knives. I don't use them much-- even when oil painting-- ocassionally and never for an entire painting. But today I did this square with them using acrylic paint. I've had a bear character on my mind for awhile and it was time to get it out. This experiment meant no looking for reference (to see what a real bear looks like). I wanted to just blurt it out. And blurt I did. This was fast and fun. And I liked being able to say 'Hi' to this guy. It's a beginning!
(The scan muted the colors a bit but this gives a good idea of it.)

Sweet Square #5

I don't usually work in watercolor but I see such great things done with it. The MOE is the perfect place to play with it. This is a composition (3X3 inches) of things I see out my window here in Brest. The is an urban environment but you'd be surprised what you find. If you haven't joined in on the fun of Sweet Squares, it isn't too late. Check out Diandra Mae's blog.

watercolor and black Berol Prismacolor on moleskine sketch paper

Sweet Square #4

More for the Month of Experimentation. What's going on here? I'm getting to know a cow character but other than that I'm not sure. That's the experimental part of it. :-)

acrylic paint for the background; black felt tip for the cow; collage

Sweet Square #3

Black & white (marker) for today's Sweet Square. This gave me a chance to try something out in a mini format in a little bit of time. Check out the Month of Experimentation on Diandra Mae's blog if you're interested in joining in on this adventure.

Sweet Square #2

Second day of Sweet Squares. Acrylic, marker, collage. Having fun.

Sweet Squares

What better way to get into the back-to-school spirit than an online challenge? Inspired by Melissa Sweet at the SCBWI Conference in LA, Diandra Mae has started the MONTH OF EXPERIMENTATION over on her blog and it sounds like a great opportunity to me. Click over to Diandra's blog to see what it's all about. The basic idea is to start the day with play. I did my first 3X3 "Sweet Square" today.

These "Sweet Squares" offer an opportunity to do anything-- use new materials or new combinations of materials. Just try stuff out in a small format quickly. Today I used acrylics with black marker and some collage. I hope to do a ""Sweet Square" everyday in the morning to get my day started. The key is to have fun and experiment without judging or pushing oneself. Who knows where these little experiments can lead? I don't know but eliminating the pressure to produce "perfect" work for my portfolio seems like a good place to start.

Thanks so much to Diandra Mae for cooking this up.