Down to specifics

I briefly touched on art goals for 2010 in my last post but I thought perhaps i should jot down to some specific targets I’d like to hit this year.

Since I purchased James Gurney’s Imaginative Realism, I have rekindled my fascination with the fantastic. I realise that one of my limitations in pursuing this style of art is my skills in the figure and anatomy. So the first set of goals relate to this style of art.

1. Complete Drawing the human figure DVD course.

2. Find a life drawing course close to home. There is one in Eltham that I am waiting for information on.

Then I’d like to translate some of the characters from my imagination, and perhaps some descriptions from my favourite fantasy authors into illustrations. I know the industry trend is to work digitally but I’d like to stay with traditional materials.

From there I’d like to turn those illustrations into completed  sculptures, although if I am using James gurney’s recommendations I may produce basic maquettes in between.

I know I have a lot to learn about character creation before I reach this stage so it will probably be a long process to get to this point.

I’d also like to explore the traditional coloured pencil  topics of still life and botanical art (as opposed to illustration – not so much about detail 🙂 )

So the next of my goals is;

3. Complete 50 pieces of art this year. I’m not restricting my self by genre, medium or size, indeed the only restriction is that it’s frameable, and not part of a sketchbook.

So there you are, only three specific art goals for the year. I’ll let you know in a week how I’m going.

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Word of the year 2010 – Completion

When I woke up this morning I was lying in bed thinking about how to coalesce my desires for the coming year into a single word. Completion came to me as I lay there and I initially discounted it and too negative and foreboding of endings. Then  was reading Lisa Call’s Studio Newsletter and there was the word staring up at me, highlighted as a link and all! (I just realised I never clicked the link – check it out here)

Then I was checking my facebook page and there was the word again in a link from GTD Guru David Allen.

In my experience the universe gets annoyed when you don’t pay attention to it so this is me listening to the cosmos.

My fear of this word is twofold; I have completion hooked up with endings in my head and I  don’t want endings in my life, I want the completion to lead into new challenges and new levels of my journey.

The other fear is the fear that when something is done I will look back on it and be unhappy. My work is currently all snippets of art, 1 leaf in a sketchbook, 1 sketchbook on etsy,  I don’t create to completion.

So one of my first implementations of the word will be to go through all the UFO’s (unfinished objects) in the studio and determine whether to discard or complete them.

I would like to work on a larger scale than my sketchbooks creating pieces of art that stand alone and are suitable to hang, gift or perhaps even enter in a competition!

I would like to promote my sketchbooks to other artists. I have a feeling etsy may not be the best way to do this as I think quality work may just get lost in the crush.  I’ll need to work out a plan of how to effectively promote the book side of things without taking away from the at side of things.

Living this word in 2010 would see me posting wip’s and finished work to my blog and flickr. It would also see me tidying up some unfinished things around the house such as ebaying off some unwanted items, sorting the spare room, cataloging my seed collection, finding a new accountant.

The Big dream art goal for this year would be 50 pieces of art.

The Blog goal is 52 Weekly reviews.

The CED2010 goal is to be creative EVERY day! Not to get sucked in by my major procrastination methods of internet & tidying up.

Well it’s Day 1 of January 2010 here in the southern hemisphere ASO i’d better go get started!

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Distilling Inspirations

I am an avid blog reader, which often happens to the exclusion of creativity. The internet is a wonderful distraction, read the paper,  check facebook (not much happens there), check Io9, find a new art foum and see if it worth some time (most I’ve found don’t hold my interest for long and then check my google reader,

Here is where I get lost. I have 253 subscriptions which have thrown out 1590 posts in the last 30 days. I have NOT read all of these but i have skimmed all the ones in my drawing category.

I’ll maybe share the other random things I read – bookbinding-printmaking and cooking blogs- another day. But today I have thinned my list down to 34 blogs which seems altogether manageable and allows me to subscribe to people who I want to interact with. That’s the new rule – if I can’t be bothered to comment then I shouldn’t subscribe!

What are your criteria for the blogs you read? Do you seek out artists who work in the same medium as you or are your inspirations diverse and from many different fields. I look forward to hearing how YOU thin the herd!

So it’s time to cull, As I thin the herd I’m going to share with you the ones I’ve chosen to keep and why.

christina jonsson – Lovely line work and lovely posts about what she is working on.

http://drawingonnature.blogspot.com/ Joan Y’s Blog – my kind of thing – just drawing whatever takes her fancy.

http://edwardbgordon.blogspot.com One word descibes why this blog is on the list – Light. Edward is a master of capturing light in a scene.

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/ James Gurney – Illustrator of the dinotpia series. His blog is full of technique tips and wonderful illustrations.

http://makingamark.blogspot.com/ – Kathryn Tyrrel’s making a mark is an invaluable resource

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asnee/ not a blog but the architect and artist Asnee’s Flickr stream.

http://katequicksilvr.livejournal.com/ Cathy Johnston’s Blog is full of tips and musings!

http://apple-pine.blogspot.com/ A recent addition but another person who has the same draw everything urge.

http://blog.lisacall.com/ Lisa Call is a textile artist who constantly inspires with her work ethic.

http://www.creativeeveryday.com/creativeeveryday/ If I were to put these in order of inspiration Leah Piken Kolidas would be at the top. I hope you all sign up to Create every day in 2009!

http://jenniferlawson.blogspot.com/ Jennifer Lawson is currently in Bali sketching out the new experiences she is having there. Wonderful to learn about her new land!

http://rozwoundup.typepad.com/roz_wound_up/ Roz Stendahl’s new blog – this little beauty is packed with information to inspire and educate the visual journaller – don’t hesitate to add this to your own reading list.

http://tina-m.blogspot.com/ The Cycling Artist – Tina – Is another inspiration, I love her studiowaves podcast!

and lastly on the drawing side of things

http://www.urbansketchers.com/ Urban Sketchers – a great way to catch up on the work on lots of new artists who get out on the streets and sketch.

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