Inside The Studio - the creative process

Originally posted on my creative team's blog, Corporate Rejects, handmade detail not corporate retail, on July 10th, 2012.


I've been working on a new piece for the last week and, since my most asked question is about how I make my paintings, I thought I'd share my process with you thus far.

Inspiration for my paintings comes from all kinds of things.  Sometimes inspiration comes from a joke or some bit of irony I've noticed.  Sometimes it comes from other art - in this case, from some song lyrics by Neil Peart. (Specifically, the first line - "I've got my own moral compass to steer by.")

I started working out the image of my "moral compass" using one of my favorite subjects, an anatomical heart.

First attempt (graphite and soft pastels) with song lyrics are on the left side for easy reference

Sketch #2 (graphite).  I like the compass better, but it overwhelmed the heart

Sketch #3 (graphite, soft pastel and charcoal) was almost what I wanted.
I decided to add the central circle from the compass back in to the final drawing

Once I have either a drawing in my sketchbook or the idea set in my head, I trace or freehand it onto a wood panel.  I decided not to do another version in my sketchbook for this one and went straight to the wood panel.

Final idea freehanded (with a lot of measurements and a straight edge)
in graphite onto a 20x24" cradled wood panel

Once the central image is sketched out, I decide on colors and secondary images for placement around the canvas or layering with glazes.

Cereus (cactus) flower inspired by lyric
"Like a flower in the desert that only blooms at night / I will quietly resist"

Woodburned outlines on wood panel

Then the fun part starts: COLOR!

First layer of color on the heart, flowers and background

Some shading on the heart; compass points with background colors
and gold/silver/copper leaf being applied

More shading done on the heart and flowers; gold/silver/copper leaf applied and sealed

And that's as far as I've gotten.  For those of you who have seen my paintings, you know I like to add image transfers (using various techniques) between layers of gel medium and glazes.  If that's what you're hoping to see here, you won't be disappointed with this painting.  You'll just have to wait for my next post!

In the meantime, for those of you who are interested, here is the inspiration song, Faithless, by Rush.



Krissi Sandvik is the artist and owner of Krissi's Art Studio, home of Skelekitty and Friends in Folsom (yes, like the prison) California, where she resides with her husband, cats, tortoise and Jack Russell Terrier, Abby. Krissi, who claims she was raised by feral attorneys, has been unofficially named "best tutorialer on the web" by her friend Rachelle Rose. Oh yeah, and she likes to drive fast.

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Painting Again

Mexican folk and American pop art are not the only major aesthetic influences in my art.  I am also drawn to the natural lines and subjects of the Arts & Crafts movement of turn of the 19th Century (as well as to the writings and arts of the fin-de-siècle).  For the last year I've been meaning to do some paintings inspired by this era - mostly florals - but in my own style.  I finally started!

Anyway, it's late.  I'm tired, the gel medium is drying...   Why don't I just show you what I've been up to over the last few weeks?



It's almost finished & I'll be sure to post about it when it is (there are already people asking for the prints).  I intend this piece to be the first in a series of four - I even have the preliminary idea sketch for the next painting (pomegranates) done and am ready to start to the color study/sketch.

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Nifty Tip - Never Do Work Twice If You Can Do It Once

So as many of you may know, my beloved Moleskine sketchbook is where I work out most of my ideas as preliminary sketches and color studies.  Example: the sketch for my next painting, which is of a rising phoenix.

I was really happy (and surprised) that the first freehand sketch came out well and really didn't even want to think about trying to redraw it on a 17x24" wooden panel.  My strength lies in color and not in any actual drawing skill, so I knew that if I tried to draw it again, not to mention on a large scale, I'd scuff up the board, go through most of a new eraser and end up crying.

Instead, I scanned the sketchbook page into my computer and then resized it a bit.  Then I got all old school on it, using the "poster" layout to print the original 5x8" image across 9 sheets of paper.  A little bit of tape and voila!  My sketch is now 17x24" and ready to be transferred onto my wood panel.






I simply placed the image where I wanted it and taped down one edge to keep it from shifting.  Then I sandwiched a layer of wax-free graphite transfer paper  (purchased on a roll from my local art supply store) underneath and used small pieces of tape to hold them in place.  Using a hard pencil (2H or so), I just traced over the outline of the image, then removed the layers of paper and graphite paper.

As you can see, the tracing leaves a light outline of the drawing which I can go over with a softer pencil for a nice clear outline (the graphite can rub off and become difficult to see if you rub over it with your hands).  After that, all I have to do is warm up the woodburner and go to town!

Oh, and you can use this technique on canvas boards and it works really nicely on gessoed canvasses too!

☠   ♡   ☠   ♡   ☠   ♡   ☠

UPDATE:

Pyrography in progress:


Erase graphite & pencil markings:


Give it a light sanding:


Now get painting (after a few swatch tests, of course)!


TA DA!!!!

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Previous Accomplishments, Future Goals

Thanks to the wonderful and inspirational San Smith and her posts on creating visual lists, I got the idea to do a year in review of 2009 and goals for the coming year.   Here's what I came up with - what do you think?

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. broadened network and skelekitty fan-base
2. skelekitty.com (up and running)!
3. improved art techniques with practice
4. gallery shows outside of Sacramento and California
5. taught first classes (mixed-media classes at Santa Clarita Craft Lab)
6. helped build Abby's confidence (OK, so its not really a career accomplishment, but if you'd met this dog when we found her, you'd agree that this is worth noting)
7. Artfire.com shop open (Skelekitty)
8. accepted commissions (from friends)
9. accepted custom orders (from anyone)
10. took portrait class

• BONUS: STARTED MY ART JOURNAL

GOALS (blank page on the right is for mid-year evaluation & reassessment)

1. new Skelekitty rubber stamps 
2. (Skelekitty) tee shirts, make 'em, sell 'em
3. 3rd Saturday vendor show (with Juli Nocita)
4. take figure drawing and/or additional portrait class
5. teach mixed-media at VOX Sacramento
6. get (art) into 3 or more new galleries
7. re-create www.krissisandvik.com
8. paint, sketch or write DAILY
9. make artfire.com shop self-sustaining
10. create on a larger scale (more paintings, larger sizes)

So.

What are YOUR accomplishments and goals?

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Art Journal (?) Page

Art Journal page - 10-2009
Originally uploaded by Skelekitty (Krissi Sandvik)

Here's a finished drawing from my sketchbook. I hesitate to call it actual art journaling since what I do seems pretty far from how people define it these days. This page, like the others in my Moleskine artist journal, has no implied "message."  Mostly I just use it for ideas, practice and studies .

Still, here's a completed page from my sketchbook.

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Art Journaling, or "NOW I get it!"

Art journaling is all the rage with mixed media folks these days, but I'll admit that I've never been one to use an art journal.  Frankly, I just didn't see the point of creating a little book of art drawings that I wouldn't be able to hang on the wall. I mean, let's face it, I'm clearly not the kind of person who feels a need to keep much of anything to myself.  Besides, art is for sharing.  Even the most emotional paintings I make just for me, like the canvases I painted to work through my kitty Finnegan's death, often end up finding new homes.

However, once I started to look at my little Moleskine sketch journal as a place to test out techniques, exercise my brain, play with imagery and plain ol' PRACTICE DRAWING, stuff started to happen.


It's pretty.  However, it's not something I want to put on a more permanent canvas for a gallery as a representation of my personal style, but I got ideas for other paintings while I was working on this.  So yeah.  I get it now.  Art journaling.  Neato.

p.s.  Testing out one of the images as my banner for a few days, but I'm not settled on anything yet.

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Because I Need More to Do

Those of you who have been following my Flickr photos or blog posts for a year or more are familiar with the "Les Petites Dolls" techniques class I took online with Suzi Blu exactly one year ago.


Just the layering techniques I picked up in that class were worth the cost of the class (and then some). We also learned some drawing techniques from her and for the first time, I drew people. OK, they were VERY stylized ones that looked a LOT like Suzi's (with a wee bit of "Krissi-ness" insinuated):


Since then, I've taken classes and workshops from several artists and crafters and experimented with some new ideas (some worked, some failed). Having added what I learned there to the info from Les Petites, am thrilled to say that I've been working on developing my own unique and recognizable style.





It would be SO easy to sit back and keep making the same stuff over and over again, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be fun. In the spirit of my new life-axiom, "Never stop learning or trying to do things that don't come easily," I've signed up for yet another Suzi Blu workshop. This time I am taking her portrait & journaling class, "The Goddess and The Poet." I already kinda want to pull my hair out.

Pretty easy:


More difficult:





Thinking of throwing the Moleskine sketchbook out of a moving vehicle:




Why was it that I thought taking a portrait journaling class would be a good idea?

Oh yeah, BECAUSE it wouldn't be easy.

Right. (Brilliant.)

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Showing Thanks (with recipes!)

Regardless of your feelings about the founding and expansion of the US, current politics or religion, Thanksgiving gives us all, whether 'Americans' or not, a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the things in our lives for which we are thankful.

Me?  I'm thankful for my good health (yes, even with the problems I have, they're not so bad really!), Ron and our critters, my family, my dad staying sober for over a year, my awesome friends - including the ones from high school I've refound on the interwebs, Skelekitty, gel medium, the ability to laugh at life's crap, Body Tribe Fitness and Allyson, learning new stuff, autumn colors in the California foothills, Poop-Off, NPR and the ability to spew my thoughts online and the fact that there are people interested enough to read them.

To celebrate all the awesome shit in my life, I'm celebrating by sharing two of my recipes for Thanksgiving day favorites.  First, the recipe for my cranberry-apple pie that drives my father-in-law to do a happy-pie-dance in his chair, and also the cranberry sauce that people who don't like cranberry sauce love.

Apple-Cranberry Pie
Oven 375F
Pastry for a double-crust pie*
4-6 large FRESH granny smith apples to yield 6-8 cups of cut apples (TIP: If you live somewhere you can get 'em off the tree, DO IT.  We get ours every year from Larsen's in Apple Hill - Camino, CA - do yourself a favor and get a turnover with sauce while you're there)
6 oz fresh cranberries - washed and destemmed
1 Tbsp. all purpose wheat flour
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. sugar
butter (optional)

Peel and quarter the apples - remove cores.  Cut apples into somewhat uneven chunks (for large apples - I quarter the pieces lengthwise then cut them in half crosswise;  for smaller apples I'll cut them in thirds, then in half).

Mix apples with lemon juice, then add cranberries, flour, cinnamon and 1/2 cup of sugar and mix - allow to sit for 10 minutes or so.

Pour apple-cranberry mixture into a crust-lined (uncooked) pie pan and dot with butter (optional).  Arrange top crust and close edges.  Cut slits on top of pie or cut openings using a decorative cookie cutter.  Brush top with water and sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbsp. of sugar.

Cover crust edges with foil and bake for 25 minutes; remove foil and bake for 20-25 additional minutes.  Let cool and get ready to pass this recipe on to anyone who eats the pie.

*Don't want to make your own pie crust?  Use your own pie plate with Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts - just let them sit at room temp for 15 minutes then unroll and use - they are AWESOME and the only commercial pie crust I would ever use.


F@#%ing AWESOME Cranberry Sauce

12 oz (1 bag) fresh cranberries - washed and destemmed
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup Grand Marnier (or Triple Sec or another orange flavored liqueur)
1/2 + 1/8 cup water

Boil water, liqueur and sugar until sugar melts.  Add cranberries and heat until cranberries begin to "pop."  Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool for 30-60 minutes and refrigerate overnight (or at least for several hours to give it time to gel).  Yumtastic!

I hope you all find something to be thankful for today and every day!

xo  Krissi

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Art Journaling With A Sense of Humor

Another journal page in my 3 Week Challenge to "say yes to the possibility of success."  This one explores the fear of not being considered a "real" artist because 1) I have no formal art training and/or 2) I'm not pissed off all of the time.


Along with the underlying fear, there is definitely a holier-than-thou attitude in this piece.  This page was inspired by a "real" artist who terrorized my friends at an art show in March (I was off being a not-real-artist on the Crafty Chica cruise!).

"White Walls, White Lines"by Nicolas Caesar
3-10-2008 (scary-art.com)

We met this guy Saturday. He flipped all of us off. Well, he also flipped off lamps, walls, screamed and shouted at the air and really did strangely attract snobby patrons. We couldn't tell if he was coked out, crazy or just entertaining. Either way he was this week's muse. And his art REALLY is about birds and pink floyd.

On a side note when women have plastic surgery and age they start looking more and more like my art. Just that creepy Jack-O-Lantern grin. I think that's cool. 

Oddly enough, I can't seem to find a bio or portfolio of his crazy ass anywhere on the interwebs.  Hmmmm...  Oh well.

I have a fun idea for a new piece so I'm off to work it out.

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