L.A.P. Dog

It’s not what you think, although if he jumped into my lap I’d allow him a short stay. It’s that I hate wasting paint, even a little bit. He is a Leftover Acrylic Paint dog.

The orange, blue, and red colors on his face are leftover acrylic paint smeared on a page, then folded — forming his somewhat symmetrical blotches. I looked at it from time to time just enjoying the blobs. Then I spotted him and drew him out.

This ‘Rorschach’ian method may say something about my personality type and emotional functioning. Do you think I have a thought disorder?

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

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Birds of a feather… or not!

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(~12″ x 16″ mixed media on hot press watercolor paper)
Displayed artwork © 2016 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Step-by-step…

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Happy Village

A fabulously fun exercise from 2016: “Y” is for Yellow . This makes me happy every time I look at it — hence the title.

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(11 x 14″ mixed media on hot press watercolor paper)
Displayed artwork © 2016 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Sketchbook Series — My First

This is the start of my first serious series. I am taking Carla Sonheim’s 2016: “Y” is for Yellow, an online class focused on moving your art forward and developing two series of work throughout a 12-month period — perfect!

Each small 5 x 5″ mixed media piece is based from my sketchbook. Some may look familiar to you long-time ‘Ticklers.’ I plan to do (at least) 3 more to make a symmetrical block of nine in case I get brave enough to publicly exhibit them some day!

(Click image to enlarge)

(5 x 5″ mixed media on cradled birch board)
Displayed artwork © 2016 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Kids Art Week – Oil Pastel + Paint People

This “Kids” assignment goes up in a snap. And it was a great reminder how I love the buttery goodness of rubbing oil pastels on paper. Thank you, Diane!

All you need is a little acrylic paint and a few bright oil pastels. Look up Lesson#5 in  Kids Art Week.

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(1″ x 11″  acrylic paint & oil pastels on construction paper)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Kids Art Week – Crayon Resist Night Sky

Get out your crayons. Yeah, the box of Crayolas in the back of your desk drawer buried under layers of return address labels and memo pads you’ve collected over the years from all those charities vying for guilt dollars.

Roll up your sleeves and start layering! Diane Culhane shows you how. Free instructions are in Lesson#2 of  Kids Art Week.

(click image to enlarge)

(8″ x 11″  crayon, watercolor, marker, construction paper on watercolor paper)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Smokin’ Dog

The year-long online course I’ve committed to pushes me out of my comfort zone now and then — Make a creature out of wire and fabric. Really? Three dimensions? Ohhhhh kayyyyyyy. I admit to having collected a bed load of stuffed animals as a kid; but as an adult, I gravitate mostly to 2D art.

I ignored the wad of old electrical wire on my desk for days. How do I relate to that as an art “tool?” Finally, I just got mad and wrangled it into an aimless mess of loops one night. It suddenly looked dog-like. Using various strips of old cloth and scrap yarn, I wrapped it and wrapped it and ended up with Smokin’ Dog.

He wears his heart on his sleeve, has beady eyes, and a sports a pipe cleaner tail. His cigarette (bad dog) resulted from my laziness — easier to paint the end of it red, like an ember, than to find the wire cutters and trim it. Anyhow, it seems to suit him.

(click images to enlarge)

(3″ x 5″ x 6″  wire-wrapped creature)
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.

My Year of “SPARKS”

I’m taking a year-long online art class called 2015 Year of the  Spark!  You, my dear ‘Ticklers’ (aka awesome followers), will see some of it shared here, so I’d like to introduce this SPARK! button now:

When this button appears in a post, you’ll know the catalyst for my art came from Carla Sonheim or Lynn Whipple — the two talented and exuberant instructors teaching 2015 Spark! Want to join us? It’s never too late — simply click the SPARK! button for more info.

One of our first assignments was to draw the same simple shape (from a one-liner drawing warmup) several times, using different media each time. Then, pick our favorite to frame and post in our art space. I practically had to tie my hands behind my back not to add anything else to this one: I thought it needed more color; it needed a shadow; what about whiskers — all rabbits have whiskers, right? Finally, after analyzing it for a very long while (from a safe distance with no tools in my hands), I realized that its simplicity of line was what I liked best about it. Ta, dah…

I chose this one to frame as a reminder to myself throughout this Year of the Spark! that “Less is Best” — my new mantra. (We’ll see if it sticks.)

(click image to enlarge)

(8″ x 8″  ink applied w/eyedropper & white pan pastel on toned sketch paper)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.

Valentine’s Love

Sending out a hug wrapped with thanks for continuing to follow  a r t i c k l e. You all keep me motivated and sane.

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(4″ x 6″  mixed media on card stock)
Displayed artwork © 2015 Kim Reading. All rights reserved.