More Squigglies

Just sharing a recent batch of ‘Squigglies” which I love to make because:

• they’re fast
• unpredictable
• make me laugh

Caroline’s Crazy for Carrots

Queen Mantis

Blue Jester

Einstein’s Green Eye

Little Drummer Cowboy

Freakishly Strange

Old Woman

Blue Dancing Girl(5 x 5″ mixed media in sketchbook)
Displayed artwork © 2017 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

20 Years Ago

Look what I found!

 

 

I was moving art papers around recently and discovered this collage sandwiched in the stack, created exactly 20 years ago. I had recently quit my full-time job and was taking time to decide my next step. Lot’s of uncertainty felt with a healthy dose of confusion…

I haven’t found all my answers since 1997, but I’ve survived another chunk of my life and had a lot of fun and love along the way. I just wish I could slow down the clock a little for the next twenty!  Tic-Toc.

(24″ x 36″ mixed media collage on Crescent art board)

Hopkins Marine Station

My favorite activity on the Monterey Peninsula is walking the shore trail from Cannery Row in Monterey to Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove. It’s meditative to sit on one of the benches, gaze across glorious Monterey Bay, watch the marine life, listen to waves and birds, and, of course, sketch.

This is a watercolor of Hopkins Marine Station (a marine laboratory of Stanford University), adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, painted from one of those benches. By the way, the aquarium is NOT to be missed if you visit Monterey.

(click image to enlarge)

(5″ x 3″  graphite & watercolor pencil on moleskine® watercolor paper)
Displayed artwork © 2016 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Kids Art Week – Modigliani Portrait

I could study Amadeo Modigliani‘s portraits for hours. Though he stretches his subject’s features to caricature, a likeness of the person remains and their  personality seems to project.

Final lesson #6 of Kids Art Week introduces a simplified version of his technique. My reference photo was a poor one of me hiking with my favorite sun hat. I look NOTHING like this lithe, blue-eyed young woman, unfortunately. So, on that score I did not succeed as Modigliani may have. The hat, however, is quite believable.

(click images to enlarge)

(4″ x 5″  graphite and Caran D’Ache® water soluble sticks on sketch paper)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Lassen Peak

The beautiful mountain view from  Lake Almanor, CA.

(click image to enlarge)

(5″ x 3″  graphite & watercolor pencil on moleskine® watercolor paper)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Drink + Draw at Gage

I had my first “drink + draw” experience last week. Many artists attend these on a regular basis. The venue might be anywhere from a pub to an art opening and the models are sometimes heavily costumed. Gage Academy of Art in Seattle hosts these gatherings and you simply drop in. FREE!! Well the “drink” portion is pay-as-you-go, but there were free munchies and free art supplies on loan from DickBlick available to all.

The gist is: You just DRAW. There are short poses as a warm up to get your arm moving, then a series of 20-minute poses to practice stroke and technique.

Our model, Isis, was a lovely limber lass who struck some poses with positive attitude. Two hours of getting covered in graphite, charcoal, and pastels accompanied by amazing background tunes (yes, there was a DJ) and good vibes from 25 other artists is a pretty sweet way to end the week. Thank you Gage and Blick.

(click image to enlarge)

(12″ x 18″ each, graphite, charcoal, pen, pastel on sketch paper—Blick supplies)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Sketch-A-Day HAWAI’I 2015 — Makalawena Beach

Aloha!

I’m really enjoying logging travel memories through daily sketches. Photographs are great, too (and yes, I took loads of those), but hand drawn depictions characterize not just my location, but also my mood and my sense of focus each day (An animal? A landscape? A new piece of fruit?).

So, throughout a recent trip to the Big Island I carried my sketchbook, like I did in Europe last year, and had a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy the results and feel a bit of sun as you reflect on them.

The first day was a hike to Makalawena Beach. Surf was very high for this side of the island, making it a great day to watch boarders heading out to the waves. They look like huge turtles or kayakers, I know, but those are dudes on surfboards in the mid-ground!

(click image to enlarge)

(5″ x 3″  pen & watercolor pencil on moleskine^® sketch paper)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

The sky was fabulous. Puffy white cumulus clouds rose vertically  from the ocean, dissected horizontally by dark ribbons of lenticular formations, down low by the horizon.

(click image to enlarge)

 

 

(2″ x 2″  graphite pencil & watercolor pencil on moleskine^® sketch paper)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.