January 2010 Art Exhibit

Valerie Jones

Art exhibit

Fine Art Portraits and Still Life Drawings in

Graphite and Colored Pencil

Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise

4125 SE Nowata Road

Bartlesville, Oklahoma

 

January 7-28, 2010

Monday – Friday

10:00am – 5:00pm

Art Review 2009

Commissioned Piece

Copyright 2009 Valerie Jones

 

I am not one to make yearly goals because they very rarely are achieved.   “Live by God and He’ll do the planning for you”…that’s my motto.  I did make a list of goals for 2009 and I only accomplished one of them.  I decided to make a list of accomplishments for 2009 and share them with you.

2009 Accomplishments

January – Held an exhibit for my students; took a quilting class

February – Completed “Colors of Fall” colored pencil painting

March – Sewed aprons; Opened Etsy shop; completed “Wedding Day 1920” colored pencil painting

April – Bartlesville Art Association Spring Show – sold “Colored of Fall” painting; completed “Homecoming” colored pencil painting

May – Verdigris Valley Exhibit; Completed “Intermission” colored pencil painting

June – Sold artwork in the OKMozart shop; taught grisaille/colored pencil class

July – Vacation; completed graphite “Gerber Daisy” drawing

August – Taught colored pencil workshop – textures and metals; taught ellipse class; began teaching at Washington County Elder Care

September – Began teaching cat portrait class

October – Taught colored pencil workshop – textures and metals; prepared for the Bartlesville Art Association Fall Fling

November – Completed graphite commission

December – Completed colored pencil commission

January – December - Created a correspondence drawing course – Had 2 students take the course throughout the year.

January – May – Taught a colored pencil step-by-step portrait class

April – May – Taught a beginning drawing class at Hobby Lobby

August – December – Taught a colored pencil cat portrait class

Completed 10 paintings/drawings in 2009  (This is less than 2008’s number of 13 paintings/drawings)

2010 is looking to be another successful year.  I have two exhibits coming up in January and February.  I am in the process of creating a website.  I hope to attend a workshop in June.  I have a workshop to teach in August.  I’m sure God has other things planned for me this coming year also!

Happy 2010!!

How Do You Spend Your Time?

Copyright 2009 Valerie Jones

I took this picture the other day of a tree at work.  It was a picture perfect day outside and the reds just shone on this tree.

My question to you today is - “How do you spend your time during the day?”  Are you doing things you want to do, (art for example) or are you spending more time with things  you feel you should do? 

I made a list of 5 things I spend my time doing during the day and as it turns out, they are all things I have to do, work, cook, clean, raise children, and I forgot the other one!  There is no time for creativity.  Oh, I remember the 5th one now.  It is watching television in the evenings.  Watching television isn’t something I have to do.  It’s what I do to wind down after a hurried and flurried day of constant activity.  I usually draw while watching TV, so it’s not a total loss of time.

I’d like to hear if you spend your day in a creative way…

Commission Finished

Graphite on Strathmore Series 500 Bristol Plate

Copyright Valerie Jones

Word of caution – Don’t finish a piece of artwork late at night…it leads to sleep apnea.  That’s what happened to me anyway.  I finished this commissioned piece last night around bedtime.  Well, I had to stay up awhile to wind down!   I’m still only showing a partial of the drawing because it is a gift.  I might show the whole thing in January.  You all will have to remind me.

I really enjoyed working on the Strathmore 500 Bristol Plate drawing paper.  I was able to achieve a realistic texture for the skin.  It also let me erase and re-apply without any differences in the texture of the paper.  The Strathmore Series 300 Bristol Smooth won’t allow much erasing before it messes up the tooth of the paper.  It’s more student grade, so that’s to be expected, I guess.  Also, the Series 500 Bristol Plate is 4-ply.  I like to work with thicker papers because they are easier to control.

I didn’t realize how much of myself was put into this drawing.  After I was done, tons of tasks came to mind that I’d shoved to the back burner.  So, today was a busy, busy day.  I got a lot accomplished, which I am thankful for.

Have a beautiful day!!

Cat Portrait Complete

“Shorty”

Colored Pencil on Stonehenge Paper 8” x 10”

Copyright Valerie Jones

I am finishing up a class on pet portraits.  We drew “Shorty” over a period of 9 weekly classes.   Some students are still working on her but most of them have finished.  She was fun to paint.  This is our family pet, but I based the lessons from Anne deMille Flood's Realistic Pet Portrait book.   One of my students brought some white India ink to class and we used it for the whiskers.  We had impressed the whiskers first using a stylus.  Then, as a finishing touch, we added the ink.  It was an awesome tool to use.  It works better than a white colored pencil and isn’t as thick as acrylic paint.

Work in Progress #2

Work in Progress – Graphite on Strathmore 500 Bristol

Copyright Valerie Jones

I have been steadily working on this piece.  I usually spend at least one hour of an evening.  Last night was not a good evening to draw.  I was exhausted from working at my day job, working on this drawing, and getting ready for an art sale with my local art association.  I’m in charge of getting the art sale together for the art association’s members this year.  Thankfully, the dear lady who worked with it last year has been a huge help.  I’m still tired this evening, so I’m not sure if any good drawing skills will abound tonight.

Happy drawing!

Principles of Creativity

Work in Progress

Graphite on Strathmore Bristol 500

copyright Valerie Jones

I am revisiting The Artist's Way and thought I’d share with you the Basic Principles that every artist has within them.

BASIC PRINCIPLES

The Artist's Way

By Julia Cameron

1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.

2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life – including ourselves.

3. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives.

4. We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.

5. Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.

6. The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.

7. When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good orderly direction.

8. As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.

9. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.

10. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.