Artist Spotlight: Seb Barnett

It's been a while since my last post. One thing or another took my focus this past few weeks.

Today I learned some terrible news that a beautiful soul lost the battle with depression and took their own life. Seb Barnett was an incredible artist who inspired me and encouraged me. I wish I'd known you better when I had the chance. The world is less bright without you in it.

Blodeuwedd by Seb Barnett

I remember that Seb often railed against the idea of artistic "talent" as something you either had or you didn't. Instead Seb championed the notion that accomplished artists were the ones who put years and years of work into honing their craft.

So here I am, back at it with blogging my progress, still at the beginning of my journey, trying to follow your lead and put the work in.

Diva Challenge #287

I started with a watercolor background, created the design using Staedtler fineliner pens, and then I deepened the color shading with Neocolor II watersoluble crayons and Prismacolor colored pencils. I learned a valuable lesson about the way that finely sharpened colored pencils can sometimes scratch through the softer, more fibrous watercolor paper I was using for this piece. You might notice that one of the abstract orb shapes looks a bit more like a pearl than the others. That one got a bit of Liquid Pearls paint to cover the damaged paper.

Windsor & Newton watercolor in
Transparent Yellow and Quinacridone Magenta

Work in progress, after inking the design I
added shading with watersoluble crayon and colored pencil

Diva Challenge #287 on watercolor tile
Dreamcatcher, Nebel, Yincut, and Sandswirl

Daniel Lamothe's Dreamcatcher pattern is quite stunning all on it's own. Here I let it take center stage with a mandala-like circular symmetry. I used a Uniball Signo white ink pen and a white chalk pastel pencil on coal black Strathmore sketch paper. I was inspired to try my hand at the convergent shading technique shared by Lynn Mead.

Diva Challenge #287 on black tile

This post is for you, Seb. You are missed.

Learning to Think Like an Artist

This week the Diva told us how she accidentally picked up a red pen in the middle of creating a black and white Zentangle tile. She challenged herself to push past her first reaction of "It's ruined!" and to keep going to see what would happen. Allowing herself that freedom of exploration, she ended up creating one of her favorite tiles.

From that grew Diva Challenge #272, where we are asked to add some red to the traditional black and white motif, to have fun, and to leave some room for exploration.

I started my tile this week by exploring a new to me technique for shading using hatching strokes with my ink pen. I used a very smooth bristol paper for this tile, which really let my pen flow over the paper with a minimum of drag. Delicious!

work in progress
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Next I added some graphite shading, which is a whole new experience on such a smooth paper. The first layer of 2H graphite went down so smooth and buttery it felt like cheating! 

But after that I struggled a bit with my HB layer. I am used to having much more tooth to the paper. There is a learning curve, to be sure. But I followed the Diva's example, and I kept going to see what would happen. Then lastly, it was time to add that pop of red. Wow!

Groovy, Narwhal, Inapod, Ruutzfor Diva Challenge #272
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

I wanted to keep up this spirit of exploration when I was working on my tile for the It's a String Thing Zensquicentennial Challenge, so I picked up that coal black drawing paper and my white gel pen and headed back into unfamiliar territory. I can see myself making progress with each new pancake!

IZA, Teenos, and Uncorked
for It's a String Thing Zensquicentennial Challenge
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

We've all heard people talk about the power of positive thinking and keeping an open mind. When the Diva resisted that first reaction to the accidental addition of red into her black and white tile, she made a conscious choice to keep going and see what would happen. She was thinking like an artist.

I like this list from the Amphitheater Art Instructors' Blog about learning to think like an artist:



I think the ideas on this list can be applied to so many parts of our lives, not just when we sit down to draw or paint. So the next time you take on a challenge, will you think like an artist?

Rainbow Flags and Beads of Courage

My heart has been heavy this week after the tragedy in Orlando, Florida. Many people I hold dear identify as LGBTQ including my oldest child, and I stand in solidarity with this community.

love knows no limits

This week, the Diva's Challenge #271 focuses on Beads of Courage, which she tells us is "an arts in medicine program that helps kids with chronic or life threatening illness tell the story of their medical journey."

This program is a bright spot of positivity for these kids and thinking about it helped me remember the kindnesses we humans are capable of creating, even in the darkest times.

Here's my tile with color using the "hefty hack" and the linework before shading. It seemed fitting to keep with the rainbow theme.

Beads of Courage, a Zentangle Inspired Artwork
ink and watercolor

I added the color using watercolor markers from Letraset for the color and did some subtle shading with a set of gray Koi watercolor brush pens.

Beads of Courage Zentangle Inspired Artwork
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness

Just a quick post tonight for It's a String Thing Challenge #148. I'm using a Strathmore Bristol Drawing Pad for the first time. It's very smooth and quite a bright white, so it marks quite a change from my usual materials which are usually more textured and more of off-white or ecru color.

I enjoyed exploring Fengle in my sketchbook and brainstorming complementary patterns to pair with it. I chose Narwhal to fill the space where Fengle often has inner auras and I added a thickness to the Fengle arms. Here's my linework before shading.

linework for IAST Challenge 148
Fengle, Narwhal
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Next I started in with the shading and added Snailz to the orb shapes at the end of the Fengle arms.

IAST Challenge 148 after shading
Fengle, Narwhal, Snailz
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

I definitely like where this is going, but I think it needs something more. Maybe some cast shadows to ground it? Maybe some more patterning along the Fengle arms? Maybe more patterns drawn behind everything that's there already? I'm not sure, but I think I'll let this one sit for a bit and come back to it later with fresh eyes.

In the meantime, you might give a listen to this renowned Professor of Psychology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who has pioneered the current understanding of the relationship between creativity and happiness.

Elements of Art: 2D Shape to 3D Form

I've had a Strathmore Coal Black Drawing Pad in my stash for a while now and using it is a really different experience than drawing with dark mark-making tools (pen, graphite, charcoal) on white paper. Recently I tried my hand at tangling with white gel pen and white pastel pencil on this black paper as a way to overcome artist block and it worked.

But one drawing only gets me so far. That's just the first pancake. You know, the tester pancake that gets a little overdone on one side but is still gooey in the middle as you fine-tune the temperature of the griddle and the thickness of the batter. That first pancake is usually edible but it's far from the fluffy, golden brown flapjack you were envisioning.

If my goal is learning more, making better and more meaningful art, I can't stop there. I need to keep making more pancakes.

One way to dig deeper is to do some (kind! compassionate!) self-critique to assess how well I've been handling the elements of art and the principles of design. For this post I'll stick to the elements of art which are the visual building blocks used by an artist: line, shape, color, value, form, texture, space.





Up until recently, my approach to tangling on black paper relied heavily on the art elements of line, shape, value, and texture (through pattern).

Abstract black and white drawing created through intuitive composition
and the meditative application of repeated line, shape, and pattern.
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Drawings like this one can be fun to create and interesting to look at because of the varied and complex patterns arranged in whimsical ways. I notice though, that it is missing the representation of dimension (form) and depth (space) that I've been learning to add with graphite shading to my drawings that start with a light background. Artist and instructor Eni Oken calls it "shading fearlessly" and her instructional materials and mentorship has influenced a huge improvement in my work.

Drawing of a sphere wrapped in ribbons
on tile-patterned background.
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Unlike Zentangle, which relies heavily on outlines, classical drawing techniques use changes in value and negative space to indicate the edges of an object and to render the illusion of a 3D form, like this sphere.

High contrast drawing of a sphere showing a three-
dimensional form with bright light and dark shadows.
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

So my challenge for myself over the next few weeks is to figure out how I can marry the two approaches together to create lively, three-dimensional drawings in the Zentangle style on dark paper. What are you going to challenge yourself to do art-wise this week?

My advice to myself, and to you, is to try something new and then try it again and again.

Make more pancakes!

Stop and See the Roses

This post is a continuation of a post where I wrote about learning to understand what you see by breaking down complex subjects into their simplest shapes and forms. Practicing this is helping me overcome feelings of overwhelm when I want to draw more realistically or tackle complicated scenes.

I started with a very generalized, simplified sketch from my reference photo, looking at the basic 2D shapes and beginning to indicate the contour lines on the bud, leaves, and petals.

work in progress: roses
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Next I focused on the elements of the roses in terms of simple 3D forms and did some practice sketching. I broke the rosebud down into a cone sitting on top of a half-sphere and the stem into another half-sphere on top of a cylinder. If this is all sounding easy so far, add +1 to your creative confidence stat.

Then I considered the overall shape of the rose in full bloom. I sketched a cross-section of what happens as the bud opens. I noticed that the overall shape could be simplified into another sphere and I indicated elliptical contour lines as hints about where petal edges would fall.

Now that I had gained some concrete understanding about what I was seeing, I could more confidently look at each petal without getting so overwhelmed by the abundance of detail. As I began my drawing I started from the outside with the simplest shapes (bud, stem, leaf) and the largest petals. I concentrated on the underlying 3D structures one by one as I worked in towards the center, applied shading, and added detail bit by bit.

I wish I had kept track of how many hours I spent on this drawing. I worked on it over the course of a week, a little bit here, a little bit there each day. And even with my strategies for breaking down the complexity into manageable pieces, I will definitely admit that I started to feel the eye strain as I really honed in on those myriad of ruffled center petals.

Here is the finished study.

Sunlit Rose
study in graphite on paper
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #269: Ellish

All this week I've been working on a post about drawing and seeing like an artist. All week! I think realistically it may need to be a two-parter or even a series of posts.

So, in the meantime I will offer you a little something I've been cooking up on the side for The Diva's Weekly Challenge #269: Ellish.

Spiral-ish
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

One of my children helped me name this one, combining the tangle name "Ellish" with the spiral effect happening as I arranged them radially. I think this tangle looks wonderful when combined with others, but I also really enjoy it on it's own like this. Lots of room for me to work on visualizing the levels and shading to add depth.

Gaining Confidence through Accessible Art Practices -- Focused Practice

I have big ambitions when it comes to my personal growth as an artist. I've mentioned before, that I have my own definition of artist:

artist  /ˈärtist/  noun:  anyone who yearns to express thought-idea-emotion in a passionate, intuitive, or even spiritual way

But sometimes there's a chasm between visualizing that thought-idea-emotion and bringing it to life on paper in a way that captures the moment and compels an emotional response in the people who see it.

One thing that bridges that chasm is skill. And the only way to build that bridge is to practice.

I think the first time I truly understood that drawing was a skill that almost anyone can learn, was when I came across the book You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler.

Kistler doesn't just tell you it's possible, he shows you through many examples of student work. Real people who thought they didn't have "the gift" or "the knack" for drawing discovered for themselves that drawing is a discipline (a branch of knowledge or a field of study), not a talent.

I try to carve out time for focused practice every day.

Some days that means spending time getting to know my materials better. Recently I went through my box of 48 colored pencils and I created swatches of each color to determine how they related to each other. Which could be used together to successfully create shading and highlights? Which could be used together in a gradual progression from light to dark? Where does each fit on the color wheel?

They aren't pretty, and they don't need to be. You can even see where I was practicing some strokes with my Pigma Micron brush pen alongside my color swatches.

No one but you needs to see your focused practice unless you want them to. Their only job is to help you make progress in your pursuit of improving your skills. Over time, those improvements will show in your work and in your creative confidence. I feel more confident when I reach for my colored pencils now because I spent time getting to know the colors I have available to me and how they will work together.

Challenges and prompts are another way to approach focused practice. The constraints of the challenges themselves already create a focus. There are many places on the web where you can find weekly prompts for whatever kind of artwork you want to develop, from drawing to photography, journaling to Zentangle®.

For example, It's a String Thing Challenge #145 prompts us to create a small, square drawing using only the two tangles Skye and Antidots in a diagonally striped composition. These narrow limits invite us to really look more closely at what opportunities are available. How can I create variety when I have only two patterns? How many different ways can I use the composition to my advantage? If everyone has the same constraints, how can I make my tile unique?

Lately I've been practicing my shading techniques to take flat, 2D shapes and turn them into dimensional, 3D forms. I've been getting more and more comfortable with the techniques of where to add shading and how to blend the graphite, but there was one technique I'd been avoiding: cast shadows.

According to CreativeGlossery.com:

A cast shadow is a type of shadow that is created on a form next to a surface that is turned away from the source of light.  When a form blocks the light, it causes a cast shadow to be formed.  Every object that blocks light has a cast shadow associated with it.

I saw the intricate pattern for Skye in this weeks challenge and I knew it was time for me to get over my resistance. It was time for me to apply some focused practice . There's no other way to actually improve my skills if I never try it.

Here's my line art, before I began shading.

work in progress
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Next I added more contrast with ink and graphite and added some shading for dimension. Finally I braved the fearsome unknowns of cast shadows!

Don't worry, I managed to emerge the other side unscathed. Are they perfect? Nope. I know just enough about what they should look like to see what I can work on the next time I practice. But I overcame my resistance and I lived to art another day. I reminded myself that it's just a skill, and it's one I am confident I can learn. That's two thumbs up for me.

Spéir Scáth
ink, graphite on paper
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Remember, no one but you needs to see your focused practice unless you want them to. Though I will continue to post mine here for you in hopes that you can get some inspiration for your own growth as artists!

Update 5/31/2016: Just a few days after I posted this tile for It's a String Thing #145, the Diva posted Challenge #270 with an emphasis on the new tangle Skye as well!

Skye is a new tangle from Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) Margaret Bremner, who is well worth checking out!

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #276: "DuoTangle - Poke Root vs. Drupe"

In my last post I talked about gaining creative confidence through the versatile and accessible artform of Zentangle®. Though this is not the only form of art I'm actively producing, I'll probably post a lot about this topic simply because it was so instrumental in getting me back into making art after so long away.

There is a large online community around Zentangle and Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA), with blogs and challenges and even Facebook groups dedicated to the practice. One blog that's been around for several years is I am the diva which is run by a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT®) and home of the ORIGINAL Zentangle Weekly Challenge.

The weekly challenges provide some inspiration and direction while also offering a way to connect with others and share your creations. This week I am the Diva posted Weekly Challenge #276: "DuoTangle - Poke Root vs. Drupe".

drupe example
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

poke root example
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

The Diva coined the term DuoTangle and in this week's post she explains that by placing the constraint of using only two tangles, it's an opportunity to discover how the two patterns relate to each other or even merge together to create something new.

I'd been exposed to this idea before, but this time I was really ready to receive it. Learning is like that. You can revisit a topic many times throughout your life and learn something new every time.

First I practiced the two tangles individually and experimented with creating variety of ways of drawing each pattern. I used a pencil because the smooth, almost effortless glide across the page frees my mind up to focus on shape, line, repetition, and variation.

initial sketchbook tangle practice
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

As I experimented, I began to see ways to integrate the two tangles and played with those ideas until I found something I really liked. I repeated this new interaction until I could draw it smoothly and comfortably, remembering to keep the zen in Zentangle!

Next it was time to ink the tile. I'm using a 6" x 6" sketchbook with paper that has a good thickness and tooth to it. This photo shows the line art before shading.

work in progress
ink on paper
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016

Next comes the shading. I used three different graphite pencils (2H, HB, and 4B) a white vinyl eraser, and a blending stump to get all the nuances of the shading and shadows.

You can see the way I wrapped the drupe tangle around the roundness of the poke root, elongated stems, and added more drupe at the base. In the end this DuoTangle reminds me of a clover plant in bloom, so I have named it Cloverly.

Here is the finished piece after the all final touches have been added!

Cloverly
ink, graphite on paper
Julie Bazuzi (c)2016