New Mexico Sketch Tour 09

Day 5 | 10.5.09 Chillin' on Canyon Road

After a full day @ the Fiesta and scenic drives we went low-key and spent the day strolling along Canyon Road, Santa Fe's Art Gallery District, renowned around the world as "the art and soul of Santa Fe". We dropped in to visit a relative of my dad's closest friend @ their gallery, Zaplin | Lampert Gallery, on Canyon Road. We had an excellent lunch at The Compound



and then meandered through a collection of the most wonderful galleries lining both sides of this famous gallery district. Inspirational. Stopped in at The Tea House for Ginger Pumpkin Chai's on the flai!



An interesting aspect of this district is that most of the galleries are unassuming and low-key from the outside...you could walk right by them without an inkling of the treasure within, but step inside, and without fail, you're met with museum quality collector pieces. Each gallery is an exquisite showcase displaying a unique collection unlike anything you've seen before. This was truly an inspiring stroll through creative diversity and depth of soul.

Headed back early to rest up for the main event.....a 3:30am wake-up call to make sure that we were ready and at the Balloon Fiesta Park and at the RainbowRyders outfitters by 6:00am for our flight!

New Mexico Sketch Tour 09

Day 4 | 10.4.09 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Up at 5:00am for a run to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. We are scheduled to crew in a RainbowRyders balloon on Tues, so today we are heading to the Fiesta to scout out how to get to the Fiesta Park and to locate our balloon guides, and to enjoy the Fiesta from the ground.

We head down I-25 South to Albuquerque at 75mph (gotta love the speed limits in NM), first light illuminating the landscape, and reach the park with ease and giddy excitement. We enter the park just as the dawn breaks over the Fiesta crowd and balloon crews readying their rigs, and the first Dawn Patrol balloon ascends to scout out the flying conditions and relay the "green" light for the main event the early morning Mass Ascension when all of the balloons flying that day ready their balloon for flight and ascend in a ballet pageant of color, teamwork, and thrills.

The pageantry and excitement of the Fiesta defies expectations, words, and pictures....there are no adults at this event only children and bigger children...all united with a sense of wonder and thrill as these gentle giants emerge, grow, swell to be free of their bonds, finally to soar with gentle grace and roaring spirit into the crystal clear crisp morning air...thrilling the flight crews and ground bound alike as each ascension is met with cheers and applause as hearts fill and overflow with the childlike joy of success and wonderment.


mass ascension dawn flight









We meandered through this early morning field of dreams laughing and catching the spirit of balloon flight...giddy excitement building in anticipation of our turn to join the ascension with only wicker and air beneath our feet and the roaring flame of the billowing gentle giant above carrying us aloft.

Each pilot gauges conditions and is soley responsible for the decision to launch or not. While most of the balloons ascend to the thrill of all, for some, wisdom and experience prevail in the moment and the inflated balloon is grounded, and "goes down" expertly tended and stored by the crew with a knowing grin, that the magic and whimsy of balloon flight will ascend another day.


After conferring with the pilot about his decision to ground his balloon the pilot confides that he just didn't feel it in the conditions and dad owns a gem of pilot wisdom.... "I'd rather be down here wishing I were up there, then up there wishing I were down here!"

After the Mass Ascension we wandered the Fiesta grounds enjoying roasted corn, scoring event memorabilia , and radiating with the after glow of what we had witnessed. I lucked out and had the opportunity to meet Meg Leonard the artist who created the official fiesta event poster. I purchased the poster...a gorgeous fine art serigraph print on heavy rag paper, unsigned, and had a chance to chat with Meg as she signed my print.



After our morning of balloon wonderment we headed to the Old Town section Albuquerque. Avoiding tourist traps we unearthed a dining gem, La Placita Dining Rooms.

photo by: milton shaevel; aka "pops"

photo by: "pops"

photo by: "pops"
mmmmmmmm......facita's!


photo by: "pops"


photo by: "pops"


photo by: "pops"

We continued our explorations meandering through Old Town galleries and sidestreets, under gorgeous crystal clear 68 degree Autum sunshine. Glorious. We began angling back to Santa Fe by venturing to the Sandia Peak Tramway with the intention of riding to the top of this mountain range. The lines were over an hour long so we decided to hit the tram adventure after our Fiesta balloon ride on Tuesday.

We headed out of Albuquerque for the day, via the ever amazing Turquoise Trail route and rode into the sunset to base camp still radiating with the joy of the day.




Stay Tuned for video clips to follow....

New Mexico Sketch Tour 09

Day 3 | 10.3.09 Santa Fe Scenic Byway (Hwy 475)

The Fall foliage beckoned as we noticed that trees we had driven by the day before were now, overnight, transformed by a cold snap, shocked into their Fall colors. Timing couldn't be better.

We fueled up again at the Guadalupe Cafe as it was amazing vegetarian New Mexican cuisine. We were also mere blocks away from the beginning of this dramatic 15-mile drive that starts at the old plaza in the center of town and climbs high into the lush forests of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The spectacular route winds uphill through mountainsides covered in forest that soon turns from pinion and juniper to ponderosa. Further up the drive (8500ft) winding our way through Hyde Memorial State Park the forest changes to Douglas fir, aspen and other high elevation trees, and views of the Rio Grande Valley open up to the west.





We turned around at the mountain's peak (12,000ft) at the Sante Fe Ski Area which is the highest point in New Mexico, and the second highest in the United States.

Descending through moment by moment chameleon shimmering overlooks at every turn, we crowned the drive with a stop at Aspen Vista which provided a view of the vast aspen covered mountainside.



As we discovered, in early October the trees peak and cover the mountain with brilliant gold and every shade of gold-green, and chile red enchantment fulfilling the promise that this drive is one of the premier Autumn spots in New Mexico.

New Mexico Sketch Tour 09

Day 2 | 10.2.09 El Paso to Albequerque to Santa Fe via the the historic Tourquoise Trail (Hwy 14)



The landscape is epic and jawdropping...one magnificent vista after another. Words and pictures can't convey.... skirted through Albuquerque and quickly onto Hwy 14...aka The Turquoise Trail a 48-mile paved highway that passes through several interesting historic towns (Golden, Madrid, and Los Cerrillos) and the foothills of three mountain ranges (Sandia, Ortiz, and San Pedro Mountains).



The day still primarily spent behind the wheel heading to base camp at the Residence Inn Marriott | Santa Fe. We arrived around 5pm and headed to The Shed restaurant in the historic Plaza, but unable to get in, dined at the Guadalupe Cafe, which was fantastic.

Well, after two days travel, we've arrived and immersed head first into the New Mexico landscape, set up base camp and the mobile studio...and will begin sketch sessions in earnest starting tomorrow.

studio712 New Mexico Sketch Tour 09

Day 1 10.1.09 Austin en route to El Paso.

Heading to Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This will be the central adventure of a meandering 12-day sketch tour through central and north central New Mexico (Albuquerque, Sante Fe, and Taos).

The mobile studio gear includes a USB Flip video for visual note taking and archiving subjects for future inspiration. Looking forward to experimenting with pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic, and oil pastel sketches and small plein aire paintings in an adventure study of the light and colors of new mexico.

Thoroughly suprised by the grandeur of the west Texas landscape. For the first time gained a visceral appreciation for the vast size of the state. Plains, prairies, foothills, mountains extending in big sky vistas as far as the eye can see. I-10 was as straight a road as I've ever driven for 8 hours, at times with not another car in sight.....it was the single most pleasant highway drive I can remember taking. Yesterday was a travel day, but today will be the first meandering sketch day....stay tuned. :)

Summertime....and the Livin' is easy............

Apparently I was destined to take an unplanned summer hiatus from the studio...who knew?!

The break serves me well as a snapshot for recognizing my vulnerability to creative disconnect and the experience is a lesson that fuels my impetus to forever renew my license to create.

To organize my learning and facilitate a committed connection to my creative nature, I'm focusing on an MCSA (Master of Creative Studio Arts) curriculum which will be an intuitive and organic (read: "self-taught" ;) pursuit of practical experience in the creative studio process as a way of life.

Fall 2009 MCSA Curriculum

Creativity - Studio Process

Readings:

McNiff, Shaun (1998); Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go, New York, Shambhala

Whether in painting, poetry, performance, music, dance, or life there is an intelligence working in every situation. This force is the primary carrier of creation.

If we trust it and follow its natural movement, it will astound us with its ability to find a way through problems - and even make creative use of our mistakes and failures

There is magic to this process that cannot be controlled by the ego. Somehow it always finds the way to the place where you need to be, and a destination you never could have known in advance.

When everything seems hopeless and going nowhere.....trust the process.

Color Expression

Readings:

Quiller, Stephen (1999); Painter's Guide to Color, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York.

Innovative and accessible color-theory techniques to train your eye to see and use color in
exciting ways.

Leland, Nita (2008); An Artist's Guide to Harmony, Contrast, and Unity, Northlight Boo ks,Cincinnati Ohio

The learning themes for Fall09 are:

1. Establish a consistent internalized trusting connection to the Creative Process.
2. Explore the world of color as it relates to abstract and objective compositions through creative play with digital painting, acrylic, and oil pastel mediums.
3. Maintain sketchbook and blog practices as conduits for discovery, connectivity and ongoing documentation of commitment to the Creative Process.

studio sprite

Aiki, the first of the studio sprites to make itself known; is a DoubtEater, whose unconditional loving gaze embodies the joyful Creative Spirit, and dispels all doubt in the face of the Void of the blank canvas.  

It's said that you can whisper into its ears an offering of your deepest held creative fears, doubts, self-criticisms, etc... and that you'll always be met with a wonderous, unwavering and loving gaze radiating compassion for your fears, and sparkling with a glimmer that flows from the Creative Spirit.  With the gentle giggling-like sounds of the rustling and fluttering of its shimmering irridescent plumes, Aiki takes the  sounds of your doubts in one ear and joyfully shakes them out the other, as if nothing, no more weighty than the last few drops of a warm summer rain.   Aiki playfully flits, nudges, and nestles the spaces around your head, heart and hands, reassuring you with an offering of the gift of an ever new moment within which you too can embody the Creative Spirit.....

Aiki spirit: unconditional unlimited, copyright free!

Image:  copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.   

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712. 

Quick sketch exercises in pen and ink practicing skin tones and applying oil pastel with solvent washes.

Reflections: Journey of the Mind in Space (or the artists quantum quandary...where to paint that first rock?.....)

A creative and spiritual friend, remarked in response to seeing the top sketch in the previous post below that it reminded her of a Japanese zen garden. She explained..."look at the structure and colors from the Japanese garden in Portland and look at your top sketch. They speak the same language. The garden - it's just amazing and one of the most tranquil places to be in the city.

I'll forever be grateful for that comment.

Her words resonated deeply and clearly expressed a connection between studio efforts to explore the application of various mediums into expressive visual form and an intuitive pre-verbal "story" behind it. Associations rippled and memories fired illuminating and connecting paths I'd searched in past contexts like martial arts kata competition and Aikido's "Dynamic Sphere" as an intuitive clairscentient practice. These were physical exercises in the effort to integrate mind and body, and develop an awareness and appreciation of "flow" while pursuing opportunities to embody it in the moment. The suggested context of the Japanese zen garden in response to the abstract sketch below connected this powerful pathway to the studio practice. Not with a resounding "click", though the fly on the wall may have jumped into flight just the same, but with a "vibrating flowing buzzing joyful silence" - in this light, the practice of contemplating, composing, and integrating line, form, structure and colors that speak "the same language" as the Japanese zen garden, becomes the joyful study and pursuit of opportunities to embody in the moment, the patterns of flow.

excerpt - Alan Watts | The Watercourse Way

The Tao is a certain kind of order, and this kind of order is not quite what we call order when we arrange everything geometrically in boxes, or in rows. That is a very crude kind of order, but when you look at a plant it is perfectly obvious that the plant has order. We recognize at once that is not a mess, but it is not symmetrical and it is not geometrical looking. The plant looks like a Chinese drawing, because they appreciated this kind of non-symmetrical order so much that it became an integral aspect of their painting. In the Chinese language this is called li, and the character for li means the markings in jade. It also means the grain in wood and the fiber in muscle. We could say, too, that clouds have li, marble has li, the human body has li. We all recognize it, and the artist copies it whether he is a landscape painter, a portrait painter, an abstract painter, or a non-objective painter. They all are trying to express the essence of li. The interesting thing is, that although we all know what it is, there is no way of defining it. Because Tao is the course, we can also call li the watercourse, and the patterns of li are also the patterns of flowing water. We see those patterns of flow memorialized, as it were, as sculpture in the grain in wood, which is the flow of sap, in marble, in bones, in muscles. All these things are patterned according to the basic principles of flow. --

A lifelong adventure mapped in the i-ki dip of pen in ink, the scratch of point along ground, the flow of oil pastelled into life through the breadth of the wrist........a joyful way to live a making!


note:
top image: copyright Troy Kujala; Troy Kujala Photography
middle image: copyright Ron Cooper; Ron Cooper Photography
bottom image: copyright Yvonne Mestre ; Mesman Images

sketchbook;  ink and oil pastel; 4" x 4, Raffine paper

sketchbook;  ink and oil pastel; 4" x 4, Raffine paper

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712;  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Two abstract pen and ink and oil pastel technique exercise sketches. These 4 x 4 sketches are done purely to explore different drawing and painting techniques with the media.

I've discovered the joy of drawing with a dip/fountain pen. I'll be exploring sketching more with the dip pen rather than the illustration drawing pens since the range of expressive line from the nib pen is incomparable. There is something very meditative about the surface tension and adjustments to hand pressure that occur between the stylus nib and the paper that is missing with the continuous flow pens. Also the rhythm of drawing and pausing to dip and resuming the drawing is relaxing and gives time for taking a breath to fuel the next line. The Raffine sketch paper holds up beautifully to multiple wet washes, pen and ink nibs, and scrafitto drawing into the oil pastel layers for an etched line texture and scratchboard-like technique for revealing underlying layers of color in line...("Scraffito" from the Italian word “to scratch”).

In the process of cataloging reference color swatches on Raffine sketch book paper (100lb, off-white 25% cotton, archival sheets) that has a fast velvety feel to it, (even when writing text with a ballpoint pen)! Going to test this paper with Golden acrylic ground for pastels for doing general color chord and color layer build up experiments.  I'm also in the process of digitizing the color sets for use with Corel Painter for digital pastel color/composition experiments. In addition to the full 120 set, I'm making corresponding groups for the Landscape, Portrait, and Still Life oil pastel sets.  A few of the colors (pinks and light yellows) get washed out in the light of the scan so those will have to be digitized by eye.

Sennelier 120 ColorSet

Sennelier 24 Landscape ColorSet

This exercise is a fun, and surprising way to experience every color in the set and to begin internalizing the colors before exploring color schemes and specific compositions. The biggest surprise was the colors.  These sing out and shimmer and I'm eager to see how they play well with others.

Sennelier bliss....

Oh joy!! The Sennelier 120 Box set arrived today. I lost no time liberating them from their cozy wood storage/display box to center stage at the workstation. Like the starting line up at the Kentucky derby all 120 thoroughbreds are straining in the gate, shimmering at the ready for their rollicking color study furlongs.

I plan to explore each sumptuous stick with a swatch sample as well as creating an equivalent Corel Painter "Senellier 120" digital color swatch set. With the corresponding digital "Sonnelier" pastel palette, I'll employ Painter's wide array of natural media digital oil pastel "brushes" and with the expressive responsiveness of the Wacom pen tablet, will explore endless compositional and color study possibilities in preparation for putting Sennelier pastel to panel. I'll be documenting the work flow process here, as well as posting the pieces, for anyone else that may be interested in exploring this approach to color study and creativity in oil pastels.

Pure Bliss...!

This set of extraordinary pastels is a birthday gift from my parents, whose love and enthusiastic shared enjoyment of my artistic adventure is a joyous, priceless blessing... I dedicate all that flows from this gift to them.

Ongoing study of contemporary masters for color chords and theory, composition, transitions, phrasing and edge control, and media application techniques.

color study | chord theme: last light |

hard and soft pastel | 5 x 7 Ampersand pastelbord

oil pastel | 5 x 7 Ampersand pastelbord

oil pastel | 5 x 7 Ampersand gessobord

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

City hall 1 (study) |  4.28.09

acrylic, oil pastel, pastel pencil;  5 x 7 Ampersand pastelbord  

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

color study | chord theme: "summer heat" | 4.23.09

oil pastel (Sakura Cray-Pa "Expressionist" 25 set)

5 x 7" Ampersand pastelboard

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Studying color chords, and oil pastel techniques (underpainting, blending, layering, edge control). I'm using a box set of 25 oil pastels that I've had tucked away, unused, for years. I'm getting familiar with the application characteristics of these sticks, but I don't have anything to compare them to yet. I'm looking forward to comparing these to a 120 color box set of Sennelier oil pastels I'll be picking up next week. After getting familiar with those for a while, I'm really looking forward to comparing the Senneliers to the 225 color box set of Holbein oil pastels that are arranged in 25 gorgeous hue sets that shimmer with the promise of an amazing range of color, value, and chordal inspiration.

Reflections: Worlds Collide

I set aside the weekend to take a break from looking outward to the urban landscape for forms, compositions, and subject matter, and to dedicate studio time to a relaxed study of color theory as it relates to sketching, drawing, and plein aire painting.

Through exploring color, I discovered the need to expand, by half, my personal definition of "sketch hunting". It became clear that looking to the external landscape as the sole source from which to translate perceptions of the world into representational sketches is only 180^o of the sketch hunting terrain. A fundamental subterranean 180^o of the sketch hunting grounds is to be found within and adds the soul source to the sketch hunting creative process.

This weekend's color study included exploring "color chords", the intuitive attraction and arrangement of a color set (Connie Smith Siegel's "The Spirit of Color") . In lieu of stacks of colored papers, as proposed by Siegel, I arranged color chord (or "theme") palettes through readily available digital tools. I found Adobe Kuler and Color Explorer to be extremely useful. The first surprise was the pure joy of perceiving color arrays and relationships for their own sake. Having intuited a color chord I reached for drawing media at hand, hard and soft pastels, found sticks to closely match the chord colors I'd chosen, and created my first color improv study. The two color studies below use the same color chord, though expressed with different media.

colorImprov_01 (7" x 5") | hard/soft chalk Pastel | 4.19.09
copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Freed from the confines of representational sketching, the next discovery was that my awareness was more fully focused on the two elemental forces of the sketching exploration, color and the medium itself. A flowing surprise was an emergent meditative appreciation of the physically expressive influence of the drawing medium on the "aiki" of the sketching action. It was refreshing, literally, to experience a visceral connection with the "dance" of the drawing movement as it expressed into form. When sketching the external world I often notice "pressure" or cognitive "demand" driving the process, and into the medium, in the effort to "muscle" visual perceptions into representational line and form. Communion with the physical act of drawing can be overpowered, and the act of sketching becomes merely an expedient to the visual end product. This driven tension was replaced during this improvisational color sketch with a relaxed flow of enjoyment and receptive internal exploration of a meditative expressive state. Creative "tension" still existed, but it's nature is very different, rather than the sketching actions being driven to "represent" some thing(s), the meeting of the medium to the "matte" was fueled by an energetic and expressive response to breathing and color through movement.

A final surprise emerged when I picked up the oil pastels for the second color improv study. I was struck immediately with the elemental differences between the oil pastel and the hard/soft chalk pastels.

colorImprove_02 (7" x 5"; thumbnail 3.5" x 2") | Oil Pastel | 4.19.09
copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

The nature of the oil pastel, it's maleable blending, and receptivity to scratching and lifting of pigment, felt familiar and intuitive...it's reminiscent of the many hours I've spent scrimshaw etching. Being able to etch and draw/sketch into the color was like returning home after being away for a long time, though no "real time" had actually passed.

The season has officially opened on internal sketch hunting, an endless source of discovery and experimentation as two intimately related sketch hunting grounds coalesce!

AVAA Life Drawing

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

I'm thoroughly enjoying these tentative beginnings. Each session demands full attention and engagement.... Each pose brings an endless world of challenges within challenges...

Studying visual analysis of forms, proportions, composition, lighting, texture, and expressive nuance. Also deeply enjoying the fundamental exploration, through trial and effort, of drawing materials and methods to gain increments of sensitive control over the media.

Each pose defines a story within which i'm intermittently aware of the incessant cadence of time while in other moments time is nowhere to be found...

22nd World Wide SketchCrawl!

Guero's Taco Bar, SoCo | graphite | 4.11.09

Hey Cupcake! airstream cupcake shop; SoCo | charcoal | 4.11.09

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

April 11, 2009 participated in the World Wide Sketch Crawl while in SoCo, Austin Tx. SketchCrawl.com broadcasts drawing marathons from around the world with artists meeting and drawing in more than 90 locations worldwide on announced dates.




Perched on the back of the mobile plein air studio "Serenity" (a Dragonfly class hyper drive stealth transport retrofitted for art supply reallocation :). She is protection from the elements, roadside accommodations, and perfect for scouting and setting sketch base camps in urban and back country locales.

SoCo (South Congress)

South Congress Ave. looking north toward the Texas Capital Building | graphite | 4.10.09

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

Plein Air Austin @ The Triangle

artist painting in front of The Flying Saucer restaurant | graphite | 4.409

artist painting the fountain in front of Mandola's | graphite | 4.4.09

interior Mandola's Italian Market | graphite | 4.4.09
copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Three quick studies with an eye toward establishing values and composition rather than detail. I think I'll begin to experiment more with pen line and ink wash for value studies and sketches in general.