Your Problems will melt away

Just deal with them straight on and smile  :-)

Happiness is not the absence of problems; but the ability to deal with them. -Anon

Generally we can look in the mirror to find the source an get right on with clearing up the problem. 

Today was a bank holiday but the Atelier rolled right on .... at first it did not look like anyone was going to show up ...... but then they straggled in one by one... a little late, but they made it :-)

We had a good class working on a graphite and charcoal powder drawing,,,,, a very interesting technique. Maybe it will be ready next week

Today's post is another kid study .....

Charcoal on smooth newsprint  9x12

Have you always had everything you ever wanted?

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. -Bertrand Russell

May is almost finished, Memorial Day is here, I guess Summer is about to begin .... hooray, summer is always great .....  more flowers; more fresh fruits and veggies; more beaching for lots of folks; more fun in the mountains for lots of folks .... does that mean summertime is the time for plenty .... it's used symbolically that way ..... but for us, anytime is the time for happiness.... and with happiness, we always have plenty.

Today's post is John, again... heh heh ... he hasn't seen this one but from the remarks after the class I think I captured him ok from the foto. We all age, one way or another. Most of the time with that aging comes wrinkles, bags, droops, falling hair and a few other things ... so what. It's the heart and attitude that really matters.


Smile today. Be happy. It's a good day.

Oil on masonite panel  9x12

Kids

Don't be afraid to take big steps. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. -David Lloyd George

Almost everyone likes kids .. well, almost everyone.... except W C Fields ..... heh heh
Eyes are full size when you are born so proportionately they look big .....  the other facial features need to catch up .... so we keep on studying children  ... kids do not sit still, as you know ,,, so painting and drawing them from fotos is a big help .... I have never tried painting a kid from real life ... maybe never will... unless I get very fast :-)

                                            Charcoal on smooth newsprint 12 x 12

Smile Today

Happiness is something that you are, and it comes from the way you think. -Wayne Dyer

It does not matter if you are young and smooth or old and wrinkled ... you can still be happy ....  the way the skin is pulled over your body has nothing to do with happiness. Live with it :-)

Well, at least I'm trying .... The caricature class is very interesting... today we had a live model and the assignment was to draw his portrait in caricature... heh heh .... here's my attempt from the bottom of the barrel ..... some one said to become as good as the professionals it would take drawing 500 caricatures..... dang... that would be 10 per day for nearly a year .

                                            Charcoal on smooth newsprint  18x24

It's all in the attitude

The greatest part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.-Martha Washington

Good ol' Martha ... she got it right that time.

Speaking of happy people that would be mom ...... and she finished her year 99 today and begins year 100 ... pretty amazing ..... a lot has happened in the past 100 years. Remember when you were in your teens or early 20's .... 20 years in the future was hard to even imagine let alone plan for ... it seemed like a long time .... don't agree, then look at your retirement savings. :-)  I bet when you are 100, 20 years does not seem like so much when looking back .... and those years probably flew by so fast.
You must agree that mom displays happiness and a good attitude.

“I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there is no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.”
Charles R. Swindoll

I'm still doing portrait drawing .... here is a study of a young man.

Charcoal on smooth newsprint

Ya nose wat I mean?

2 people look out the same window.... one see mud the other sees stars ..... watta ya think?

Ya nose wat I mean?

Some people are just plain nosey

Some folks have a nose for news

Up your nose with a rubber hose

May the bird of paradise fly up your nose

What usually runs in a big family? .... their noses .. hey, doesn't everyone's :-)

I nose what you are thinkin .... this is purty corny :-)

Today we drew noses in class ... I won a big one .......... it was a fun day ..... I was the only one that made corny nose jokes ... but they laughed anyway :-)

                                                 Charcoal on smooth newsprint 8x10

Having Fun yet?

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. -Franklin Deleno Roosevelt

Keep on stirring up those creative efforts .... it will be a thrilling ride
Once when I was at a workshop painting a live model I could see I was not going to finish the painting before the end of the ssession so I slipped out my trusty camera and started taking some pictures ... I thought, " hey, she's sitting for us to paint it must be OK" .. alas, it was not OK and she had a fit, becoming very angry and yelling at me ...... there's nothing like getting in hot water.
From then on I figured I better ask permission prior to snapping the model. Then, currently, the models were all giving us permission to shoot them so I joined in the fun .... well, except the totally nude ones, they had a problem with some old geezer bringing out his big professional looking camera and clicking a bunch of pictures ... I never saw anyone shooting them so I did not even ask :-) ... smart, eh?
Then one day I raised my camera to shoot a make portrait model and he broke his pose and frantically started waving his hands .... I took that as a "no".
Evidently, some models are ok with having the artists shoot them and some are very much opposed to it.... those opposed want more money for a foto shoot. Fair enough. We're back to specifically asking each person because there is no other way to know.
Seems like I got in trouble a couple times shooting pictures in the art classes while the instructor was doing a demo.
Now if we are painting from a picture there may be other problems. If the artists takes his own pictures and there is no recognizable person in it's all his property .... if there is a recognizable person in the foto he may have to get written permission to publish or use the foto even on his blog.... dang, get's complicated ..... soooooo
it might be that sometimes I could publish a picture of the model or subject of my drawings or paintings then you could check up on me to see if my painting or drawing actually looks like the subject :-) ....... Jeff has repeatedly stated that when we do gesture paintings likeness is good but it is not the aim of the painting and is not really necessary ... heh ... I like that one .... remember, gesture painting is done in a very short time and is generally done to capture the mood, lighting or feeling at that moment.
Sometimes I may achieve a drawing or painting that may look fine... or even look like a beautiful person..... but not like the subject ..... now why would I want to ruin your enjoyment of the art just because it doesn't look like anyone in particular. :-)
Heh heh.
Fun huh? ... well, I have fun at this stuff whether if looks like anyone or not ..... sometimes it may actually resemble the subject :-)
This is supposed to be my friend John's grandson .... maybe best you didn't tell him it is posted here ... but then if he doesn't recognize him who would care.

                                                Charcoal on smooth newsprint about 14x18

Helpful

In about the same degree you are helpful, you will be happy. -Karl Reiland,

		sooooooo, deliberately do something helpful to someone today,  that you may not have normally done ..... you will then be happier.... try it and see...... being helpful is a good thing

We draw from live models every day.... different models each time .... this provides interest and variety... and different challenges.

                                                Charcoal on smooth newsprint 18x24

Picture the results

If you want to reach a goal, you must "see the reaching" in your own mind before you can arrive at your goal.  - Zig Ziglar

Envision what you want to achieve....... create a burning desire ..... they then say, nothing can stop you if you want if bad enough.

Set your goals. Make them crystal clear.

Friday on of the classes is Caricature Drawing with Court Jones .... see his work here:

http://www.courtjones.com/illustration.html
It is a fun class even looking up from the basement .... not all my work reminds a person of anyone in particular ... which is the object of this art :-)  .... and, of course, not quite on the par of Court.
Nevertheless, it is fun.

                                                  Charcoal on smooth newsprint 18x24

I can relate to that

The most powerful thing you can do to change the world, is to change your own beliefs about the nature of life, people, reality, to something more positive. -Shakti Gawain

said another way... If everyone would look in the mirror and change that person for the better, the world would be changed for the better

Today the instructor placed a human skull on a pedestal, turned on the spotlight and we went at it ... charcoal on newsprint ..... I can relate to this one... hey, we're almost the same age :-)
Geezers love to paint ol geezers

                                   Charcoal on smooth newsprint 18x24 (but this is cropped14x18)

It's getting there that is the fun

Enjoy the trip ... and when you get there, plan another .... the joy is in the doing .... set goals... make your bucket list early .... enjoy your work... enjoy life.

Jeff's brother

There is a class named "Painterly Drawing". I signed up.... thought it might help. It's a great class. Last week the instructor sat a cast head on a pedestal, turned on the light and had us do a lay-in in charcoal.... this week we finished the drawing with a charcoal white pencil ... which I think is chalk  ... so this is what it looks like ... it was done on some kind of tinted paper  ..... this is not the top work in the class ... it is the bottom of the barrel ... I am still the new guy and the least of all the students ... but it's still fun and my work compared with my work is ok :-)
the cast was actually Jeff's brother ... Jeff Watts is the artist who owns and runs the Watts Atelier of the Arts ... great artist and great guy.

                                           Charcoal and White on tinted paper about 14 x 18

Friends and Neighbors

We know what a person thinks not when he tells us what he thinks, but by his actions. -Isaac Bashevis Singer ... and you can determine who is a true friend the same way ..... take John, for instance... he not only said he would help but he generously came thru when really needed .... John helped me find a place to stay .. and he let me camp in his driveway until the room was available .... a big help indeed ... and while there we went walking on the beach and he showed me his neighborhood .... it was nice visiting with him and his wife, Mitra. ... we had some good times together ... a big thanks to them both.
Even tho he objected I took lots of pictures while there ... heh, heh
This is my graphite drawing of John from one of the pictures now stored in my laptop

                                                     Graphite on newsprint .. about 12x18

Today

Between drawing with charcoal pencils and oil painting we keep busy all the time down here ... new adventures every day. Most days we have live models posing and the pose generally changes every 20 minutes .... the models get a break every twenty minutes ....  it's amazing to me that they can sit there motionless for twenty minutes... but they blink .. yup, I saw her blink more than once ... and I'm sure I saw one of them kinda nod off the other day... just momentarily :-)

This was my effort for today in the head drawing class

Take time to smell the roses.

                                                      Charcoal on newsprint - 18 x 24

The House next door

We live on a big lot ..... 4 houses, a green house and lots of fruit trees and garden space ... here is the house next door (same lot) ... most of the flowers are from seeds dropped from existing palnts or from birds.... amazing ......

"bloomin idjet"

:-)
They say if a person does the same thing the same way over and over expecting a different result he must be some kind of an idiot ... so I painted the same subject from a different position in a different way ... just to avoid some name callin'    :-)

The next time I go out there to paint these cactus I will do it a different way also. I'[m not sure how long they will be in bloom but they sure are beautiful.
I understand it takes about 2 weeks for the bud to actually bloom and generally a rain helps them along ... we did have a little rain last week... mostly at night. So how long will the flowers last? Don't know.
Go outside and look around ... you might see something in bloom.

Bloomin

With work and a few other things going on I haven't really been out there painting.... so today I got out and did a warmup of the cactus plants in bloom. My little 6x8 did not do them justice but a few more quick sketches and maybe I'll come up with something... anyway, it was great fun being out there in the sunshine and dipping in the paint.

We do some 20 minute lay in which is comparable to a gesture painting in oil...... just go full speed ahead for 20 minutes and get the basics of the model. The following is Jeff Watts, the instructor,  demo drawing one day

This is one of my drawings from a live model ...... I don't remember if this was a 20 min piece or not but probably is.... the models sit for 20 minutes and then take a break

It.s always nice to live where there are flowers and beautiful gardens .... edge of the driveway ..... a cool walk meanders thru those flowers

Some of the flowers... more coming later .... fruit trees are in bloom and the perfume fills the air

Are you happy yet... or still?

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. Aristotle
Sometimes others say what we are thinking better than we can.... sometimes we figure something out only to find out that someone long before us already thought it and expressed it well.

Eating can help make us happy.... take , for instance, tree ripened grapefruit. If you've never had one you are missing something fantastic. I miss my grapefruit tree that I had in Florida.
Here is a gift from one of my friends... they were tree ripened in Palm Springs ... ahhhhhh

oil on canvas board  6x8

Peaceful Wanderings

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spring is right around the corner ... might snow again anyway but who cares. We love snow. We Love wandering up the hill side dueing the snow.... It's so peaceful up there.

oil on canvas pad 12x12

Look for the advantages

To every disadvantage there is a corresponding advantage. -W. Clement Stone

There is a group of homeschoolers over in Arizona that have embarked on a project of forming their own special choir ..... creatively they called themselves the Homonizers   (home-onizers)... a take-off from harmonizers.
Some may see a disadvantage of home schooling being all by yourself studying in a dark corner of your own house without the social opportunities of a public shcool ... but here these kids turned it into an advantage... they have their own choir the way they want it... singing the songs they like .... where they like... when they like.
Hooray for them... and good luck.