Let's Face It 2017 Registration Open & Giveaway Winner

I am delighted to say registration for Let's Face It 2017 is open at the early bird price of $99!

I am a natural storyteller so I am very excited my lesson is all about to painting a portrait with connected figures. When you add more than one figure to an artwork you are able to create a more expressive visual story with depth and feeling.  Plus I will be sharing a special tip and mini lesson too!

When you're ready to sign up I would absolutely love it if you use one of my links.  When a class has multiple teachers each teacher gets paid when a student signs up from a link connected directly to that teacher. That's how it works so of course I would love to have you sign up through me :)  You can go to my class page or use any of the links in this post to sign up.

WINNER OF THE GIVEAWAY!

The other awesome news is that I have a winner for the free seat in the class. Suzanne Sperl is the winner of the random draw. Congratulations Suzanne!

Thank you very much to all of you who commented to enter the draw I have to say I would love to have been able to give you all a free spot. 

Love, Robin

I'm Teaching For the 21 Secrets Workshop!

Let  me tell you a Secret

Hello my friends!

I am very very excited to share with you that I will be a guest teacher for the upcoming art journaling course 21 SECRETS Tools and Techniques! This is an amazing online class put together by Connie Solera who is the owner of the Dirty Footprints Studio. There are  21 teachers with 21 awesome tools and techniques to share with you!

Wow! Believe me I am just so thrilled to be able to share some of my best kept secrets about art journaling! I will take you on a creative journey  that will open up an entirely new way for you to express yourself with art.  I have created an amazing series of videos that will teach you how to combine technology with traditional art journaling techniques. It's the iPad meets paint concept that is inspiring traditional artists all over the world.  Don't miss this unique opportunity to explore fresh and exciting new ways to create in your art journals.  I would be thrilled if you  joined me on this exciting journey! You can find out more here :)

Love, Robin

What Is 21 SECRETS?

In short, 21 SECRETS is a 150+ page downloadable eBook filled with 25+ hours of videos, full colored photos, templates, and clear instruction that will inspire and deepen the way you approach art journaling.

What makes 21 SECRETS even more special is that you receive all the content at once — YOU get to pick and choose which workshops to do when! No waiting around for your favorites and no need to feel rushed or falling behind — these workshops are YOURS TO KEEP!

Order NOW & receive your copy on April 1st when it is released!

 

The Storyteller's Art

Class Opens March 4th 2016

So the day has arrived and I couldn't  be more excited! I am excited to share what I've been learning and discovering about the power of using our voice in tandem with our art!

Come join me on a week long journey into the magical realm of storytelling and art! This unique class will focus on developing your storytelling voice so that you can create art that is compelling and rich with imagination! Fun and deep is where we are going in this class my friends!

We will create 3 projects that are tied together with the glorious thread of story. I am excited to watch and assist all of you in uncovering your storytelling voice in the process! You will create expressive paintings that will mesmerize and engage your audience. Storyteller's need and audience so our work need to be dynamic and engaging! 

I am especially excited to gather together as seekers and  storytellers  in our Facebook Group! It is a bit of a dream come true for me to explore new ideas and share the experience of our journey in a safe and supportive little world of our own. Please join me for this adventure if you are even a little bit tempted to open up your heart and mind to a fresh and new way of expressing yourself with your art! 

Love, Robin








Fearless Friday

First order of business is a name change for these weekly posts. It's going to be Fearless Friday rather than Failure Friday. Sounds more positive and upbeat :) I stillI might post on Saturday but I'd like to set my intention for Friday.

Fearless Flying

"The object isn't to make art; it's to be in that state which makes art inevitable." ~ ROBERT HENRI

This is an ink and charcoal drawing I did last week while in Ivy's studio. I like him very much. Not because he is perfect in any conventional way but because of what I felt while creating him. It was a day when the spirit of the above quote prevailed over fear and sabotage. I like to think about it as living in the red thread moment. The red thread moment is the jumping off  the cliff moment when I let go of all my rescue gear (except my red thread), my expectations and even my mind and I'm simply present with what is right there in front of me. It's joyful. It's exciting. It's inspiring. It's fun! 

It's not so simple though.  But it is. Do you know what I mean?  Another way to think about it is to imagine what it might take in order to find out if you are able to fly. In the air I mean. You have the wings, the feathers and the heartfelt wish but until you actually step off the edge you have no idea if you will drop like a stone or rise like a Phoenix. It's that scary sometimes. Similarly to art, flying is no doubt better accomplished without intent or over planning ... except to have your wings tied on very tight.

Obviously the riding a bicycle metaphor works well here too. Over-think steering, pedaling and ringing your bell all at once and you will surely crash and skin your knee. Everyone knows this phenomena but we still do things that cause us to fail.  So how do we get  to that seemingly magical state of mind that Robert Henri is referring to?  Well the short and the long answer is the same. We don't do anything intentional at all. That's the answer. Make art all the time and just be yourself. The red thread finds me I don't find it.  The same it true for the best inspired art making. Let go of all things but the heart and the senses and you're gold. Very Zen, very spiritual, very magical :)

Love, Robin

P. S. I thought you might also like to see what he looked like before I brought him into my iPad for a make up adjustment.  The original inspiration for the inky drawings we were doing that day was the work of South African artist  Marlene Dumas. So the scared look he has is relevant to the inspiration. Taking my original work into my iPad is a regular part of my artistic practice. It is the time when I can analyze, deconstruct and experiment with various changes and adjustments. It's a self teaching process that I find very helpful and fun as well!

Failure Friday is an Adventure!

Put a Crown on It !

 This is an iPad painting out of my imagination. The fact I had no reference image is a factor in making this a candidate for a Failure Friday post. To be clear that is not because using a reference image would in any way have limited my imagination. On the contrary I think a reference image would have helped me create a similar painting but by a less circuitous route. I am never in a hurry when I am creating something but I find Ican get lost and do a lot of wandering about in the artful woods if I don't at least have some idea of the ultimate look I want to create.  For example am I interested in creating a male of a female, a face or a figure? Will  it be realistic or more abstracted? 

I mean really.... imagine if this had been on paper! I would have had to start over at least 16 times!  Or maybe she just would have had to wear a headress for a head or been stuck being a man in a broken fedora! Well anyway my  iPad has a way of turning failures into  valuable lessons with great comedy value!

So let's review the lesson. A reference image provides a framework and a guide. If I can't (and I never can) remember how to make a nose look three dimensional then the reference image gives me the opportunity to practice seeing the lights and darks and shapes that make up the nose rather than my mind trying to feed me some vague idea of what a nose is supposed to look like. Instead I am looking right at the real thing! duh :) Additionally using a reference will save me bushels of time! I can gain confidence simply from seeing that my drawing has relative accuracy. I have more fun as well because I like working on all the details and mark making rather than being so busy undoing or erasing!

Just for the record I am aware it is Saturday today an not Friday. It makes no difference though because this is still a Failure Friday post :) I'm really enjoying this visual blogging style even though words are one of my favorite art forms! If you want to learn more from me go to my classes page and see where I am teaching .

I'd love to hear what it is you gain from working from imagination as well as what you learn from using references.

Love, Robin xo

"What materials did you use for that painting?"

That question has certainly popped into my mind when a particular artwork captures my interest and curiosity. When I am inspired to learn more and try things out for myself I make the effort to deconstruct what I see. Its good archeological practice  in my ongoing effort to better learn the art of observing.  Ive come to understand that being able to look and really see is one of the secrets to creating great art. But I digress.  The question I most often hear in regards to my own art is  "iPad or Paper?" 

I love giving the answer to this question because it is often an intriguing surprise one way or another to the person asking. I am what you might call an enthusiastic promoter for the using of the iPad as a tool for practice and exploration in your artistic practice. That is not to say everyone should have an iPad. Having one is a luxury that I am fortunate enough to be able to afford. 

Take the painting above as an example. This began as an original 6x6 oil painting of Teresita.  She remained  a rather bland raw umber work in progress for many months. She was mostly just hanging around looking over my shoulder implying I ought to get on with it and release her from her liminal state. insert eye roll from me. At this stage, using my reference image,  Ivy helped me to practice those essential observational skills I mentioned earlier for the nose shadow. 

 In typical fashion I went on to dab at the thing with the tiniest amount of color to see what would happen.  Literally months passed until I finally took her into my iPad to see what would happen if I actually committed her to real paint. I can be so timid with the paint sometimes. But... and here is the drum roll... by taking her into the iPad I could go crazy with color, do and undo and see all the variations I wanted to try while the original Teresita sat perfectly still next to me. At moments she looked horrified while at others she looked excited at her potential makeover :)  I loved my final choice of rich primary colors! Teresita did not feel the same but I took artistic license and overruled her objections to smeared lipstick! 

The final image is the finished version of what I did with real oil paint on her face using my iPad reference.  It really was stress free by then which I really appreciated. She is currently drying and will be auctioned off  along with several other of my originals in the Holiday Auction that is being sponsored by Stephanie Gagos. 

Wow there is just so much to learn as an artist! I have appreciated all the ways in which I can assist myself with building my drawing, color mixing and compositional skills by using my ipad!

Love, Robin

 

Paint and Pixels Self Study Program is Open!!

Ivy and I have been very busy in our creative little think tank with putting together this project! I am just so excited about opening our new self-study program that I can hardly sit still! Our students from the live class have told us over and over again that Paint and Pixels is an amazing and unique class! They tell us how much they have learned and they demonstrate this every day by creating more beautiful art! The flow of ever more sophisticated art work just keeps coming and we are just so delighted to watch our students grow and gain confidence. Our new self study students are so fortunate to be able to join this vibrant and active group of amazing artists!

See!? If you have watched the video above you will see what we are so excited about!

But I'm going to stop right here for a minute and add the learn more and purchase button so that if you would like to you can go straight to the classroom sales page on Ivy's website to sign up or read an extensive description of the class!

So what does it mean exactly to be a student in the self study program? Trust me it's all good and students will have full access to the amazing and rich content Ivy and I have created! For many students the fact that it is self paced will be a huge advantage to working within the context of  a four week classroom. The main difference is that the self study students will need to have the determination, a stick-to-it attitude and the enthusiasm for learning as they work through the initial learning curve. We've created plenty of unique content and helpful guides for the self study students so they certainly will not be left on their own. And Ivy and I are still right here cheering everyone on and helping out when needed.

If you have followed along with Ivy and I on the Paint and Pixels journey you will already know how dedicated we are to spreading the word about this new art form! It's all been very thrilling and having more artists join us and our amazing graduates would be great fun indeed! Our students have inspired us so much more than they realize and we are as proud of their success as much as our own!

Love, Robin

Learn the Profile and Make Beautiful Art!

I'm getting very excited about this!! In the soon to open Let's Face It class hosted by Kara Bullock I will teach you how to draw a profile and make art that you love! This is my transformation from the practice profile I did.  I will teach you my process of how to turn your practice drawing into beautiful and soulful work of art. 

I love that I can do this! The initial pencil sketch is on the right hand side. I took a photograph of that and brought it into my iPad and the drawing app I use for this style of learning.  I wanted to study the completed profile more closely and experiment with adding more of the form before committing it to paper. If you look closely you can see that the sketch on the right was altered with the many changing of lines and erasing I did as I was finding my way to this profile. What looks charming and old world-like in the photograph is actually a lot of scratched and damaged paper.  When you look at the completed digital profile on the left you can see what changes I made and how I might have done this on the original drawing paper as well. The changes are really not very much. Adding more form, hair and white decorative line work before completing it by adding interest to the background.

I want you to create tangible works of art in my section of the Let's Face It class.  I want you not only to be able to draw a profile but to learn how to use that drawing as a jumping off point in creating a beautiful finished work of art.  I will include two lessons lessons. In one demonstration I will be using the traditional art materials of paper, charcoal, pencil and paint to draw a profile and create a finished painting. In another demonstration I will teach you how to use your iPad to experiment with ways to improve or alter your drawing and turn that into a tangible work of art as well. Digital art and traditional materials can be combined and made into beautiful works of art and I will demonstrate that process for you in class! So please sign up with me while the early bird price is still available for Let'sFace It!

Love, Robin

Failsafe Color Theory

Failure Friday - This Color Theory Never Fails

"If you're feeling blue  ~  try painting yourself a different color."  Hannah Cheatem age 8

I think the above quote by Hannah Cheatem is perfect for understanding the progression of this pastel portrait. Especially when applied in its most  literal form.  This portrait started during a typical day in my studio with Ivy. We were exploring the use of toned paper and soft pastels. I was at my easel using a monochromatic color palette of blue and white telling myself I needed to focus on my portrait drawing skills. Ivy was working on her own portrait. 

When I finally turned to look at her and  her progress I was a bit stunned and said  "Oh my goodness!" She clearly had not stayed within safety zone of a monochromatic palette. Instead he had chosen to explore a richly saturated palette of color ranging from the blue/green undertones of the skin to the multiple shades of green/gold of the eyes. There were interesting marks of reds, and salmons and oranges placed throughout the piece causing your eye to roam yet return to the beautiful face.

 That day in the studio was just one of the many wake-up prompts I receive from being part of a vast community of artists. My initial response to Ivy was to laugh out loud both from the delight of seeing what she had done but also because of the excitement I felt when seeing the obvious potential of what is possible if I move past my tentative approach and let go of my fears. The Failure Friday lesson is for me to remember it is just paper, that there are no mistakes, just exploration and experimentation.  Challenging my cautious artist self to be more bold, daring and exploratory will be more effective for bringing on growth than getting lost in the shape of a perfect nose!

Later that night I continued with my very blue portrait and placed the brightest orange I could find around the head and to the cheeks. I asked myself about the gender and knew I had inadvertently created a male as a direct result of being overly exacting in my approach to the proportions of the head in the initial sketch. So I became intentional by adding hair and softening some of the features ultimately changing him from Mr. Jack Leopold to Jacqueline Leona Padroni :)

Love, Robin

Real Life Artist - The Learning Curve

Failure Friday - Learning From Failure

One of the things I like best about social media is the sharing that happens amongst the artist community. I gain a wealth of inspiration and knowledge from connecting and interacting. I love when I click the comment button on some intriguing work of art only to discover that there is a rich and energetic dialogue happening in real time with real people about art and life! I learn and grow from what others are studying or working on. I also get to hear about the amazing successes as well as the difficult challenges of the artists who are open to sharing their journeys. I feel encouraged in my own work with each story that is shared. Hearing about the struggles of an artist I admire helps me to be brave and to push myself out of my comfort zone. I tell myself that if they can do it I can too.

The last several months my creative focus has been painting on an ipad.  I have experienced success and a sense of deep satisfaction with some of the digital paintings I have created. I have loved the success and aknowledgement of my work and the growing sense of confidence that has developed as a result.

Starting from that position of strength and confidence it is time for a new challenge and to push myself beyond my comfort zone. So back to the drawing board I go using my traditional art materials, drawing large and using an easel.  This is a way for me to practice bravery and seek growth.  

I decided to share one of my recent, more challenging experiences. My goal is to maintain a positive perspective and evaluate my skills  to determine where I need to grow and how best to go about improving.  My intention is to be a problem solver rather than upset about my failures. I want to learn from them.  The reference image I used is on the left. 

I'm working on my easel and on large paper trying to stay loose. What that means is that I'm trying not to think too much but focus on getting the forms in and placing them accurately. I didn't do any measuring or comparing other than using my eye to gauge how the drawing matched up with the original and checking angles using my charcoal. I believed in general I was doing "ok". I told myself it was perhaps too wide at the cheek bones but that I could fix that later. A small voice was telling me the eyes were too far apart but I didn't listen. Being a relatively new artist I sometimes imagine I won't be able to repeat a feature and do better than the one I see in front of me. That right eye was shaped ok and I didn't want to move it. 

I can tell you now I should have stood back, looked carefully, measured and made corrections in placement of everything long before I started adding details.  Since I didn't do that things begin to go from ok to bad to worse quickly. The harder I worked the more confused I got because when I changed one eye the cheekbone looked off and vice versa.  I kept changing the shape of the face, moving the jawline up then down, wider then more narrow. I think I changed the mouth at least ten times. No matter what I did it just was "off". I was frustrated and discouraged and began using swear words... Time to take a break!

Instead of taking a break I decided to take a photo of the drawing and the original.  I loaded them both into my iPad and opened Procreate which is the painting app I use. Using layers I outlined the features on the original and  the features on my drawing. Then I overlaid the outline from my drawing over the original and guess what happened? The errors were revealed with ease. Very helpful information! The nose was too long, that right eye is too high and too far from the center line. Having the nose too long made everything below it wrong. In an effort to make it right I had over rendered the mouth and completely lost my way in terms of how to draw a mouth or the shape of the face. Lots of problems!

Once I saw what errors I had made I was able to try again. I stayed in the iPad and experimented. I still found it difficult to render the mouth properly and depicting how her head was tilted down slightly. All of the parts of the face are connected and each nuance of movement changes the relationship between structure and form so getting these things right were important. If I want to control the expressiveness of the face I need to be able to accurately recreate the form of the face in various positions and at various angles. 

 The lessons here are pretty obvious. Take my time, stand back OFTEN to check my work, render shapes not features. (My brain is tricky and will deceive me but I don't need that Information, it isn't helpful.)  I need to correct as you go and move on when things truthfully look to be in place not 'sort of in place'. Trust myself but don't trust myself!  Measure angles and relationships. Be careful and be loose about the drawing at the same time.  Its a lot to pull off but its worth it because in the end what I want is to do beautiful work! 

I've shared about the usefulness of the iPad as a learning tool many times as a teacher in Paint and Pixels  but I never tire of sharing how i use it as an essential tool for drawing.

 Below is a little video I did many months ago for Jeanne Oliver's Living Studio series. I basically talk through a charcoal drawing  where I find myself in a similar situation as the one I described above. I figure out the corrections and changes I want to make by taking a photograph and moving it into Procreate. In this case I go back to the easel and make the changes on paper. Its like magic and I LOVE using this tool! 

Ok back to the drawing board for more practice, practice practice!!

love, Robin

Time To Enter The Giveaway! Let's Face It With Robin Laws

There is still time to win a free seat in the class Let's Face It. Click this link to go to my blog post telling you all about how to enter your name. Someone has to win right?! :) I will draw a winner this Monday, October the 26th. That is only 3 days from now!  

I'm going to be teaching you all about drawing the profile and it isn't going to be as difficult as you think. Honestly if I can do it so can you! I'm going to demonstrate my process and provide you will detailed instructions for drawing an accurate profile.  I'll give you plenty of helpful tips along the way and I'm even going to provide you will a bonus lesson that will help you learn more quickly. I hope you will join me and all the other amazing teachers on this year long journey of learning to draw faces!