Tutorial: Altered Photograph

An artist sees nature in a new perspective every day. In a different slant of light, with different shadows, with different meaning.

On my early morning walks, I noticed that the tiny water-saving sprinklers are hard at work before the sun evaporates the water. When a breeze kicks up, the spray hits the sidewalk. The water here is hard, so the place where it hits the sidewalk deepens to blue-gray. The edge of the stain is often a red or pink color, depending on the material the sidewalk is made of.

The patterns are quite ordinary, except when they are in the process of drying. At that point amazing things happen to them. They dry from the outside in, leaving Rorschach-like patterns. I photographed one of the drying puddles with my iPhone camera, which produces remarkably good close-ups. I printed it out and took a closer look. I printed the picture on non-photographic paper, 100 percent consumer-waste recycled, slightly heavier than normal. I chose this paper because I wanted to use Prismacolor light-fast pencils as the art medium, and they work best on an uncoated stock.

I saw a tree, clearly at the top. I was surprised to see the Lady-of-Guadalupe-like pattern around the figure, giving it a spiritual feel. Using Prismacolor pencils, I began to pick out the design. First I darkened the edges using French Gray 70 percent, then overlapping strokes of Indigo Blue and Dark Grape.

Next, I used French Gray 30 percent and 10 percent, along with Sky Blue to give more contrast between the light lines and dark lines. I started with a light touch and used a bit more pressure once the picked-out lines made sense and created a pattern.

There were several possible figures that could have emerged from the center, under the tree. To begin, I called up the face I saw, using Cream and Light Peach, blended together. The work is still in progress, but it is clearly an image of a tree with a strong aura, reaching out beyond the light above and the dark below. The woman is most likely an earth-goddess, awake and watching beneath the tree.

There are other possibilities and I will create a series, each with a slightly different image. It’s always surprising and sheer joy to find such wonderful art already existing in nature. It just needed a few highlights to bring it out.

–Images and tutorial (c) 2008 All rights reserved by Quinn McDonald. Quinn is an artist and certified creativity coach who runs workshops in writing, presentation, journal writing and collage. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

Page from a Visual Journal

One of my favorite quotes is from Dogen, about enlightenment being like the moon reflected in water. The moon and sky can be reflected in a tiny drop of water and hold the whole reflection, without getting the moon wet and without disturbing the reflection.
If I were a calligrapher, I could write it out beautifully.
But I’m not a calligrapher, so I created several pages in my journal of how I see and feel the quote.
That’s the joy of a visual journal–you don’t have to be an illustrator. You simply let the quote move onto the page in its own way.

In the first one, the words are important, and the image adds movement, although it doesn’t illustrate what the words say.
In the next one, the quote is not used at all, only the words “enlightenment” and “satori” (Japanese for ‘englightenment’) are used. One is bold and graphic, the other is a reflection of enlightenment in it’s absence of form. It shows the power of the quote, without ever referring to it specifically.

A visual journal can let you explore your intellect and emotions without entangling either one.

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–Images: journal pages by Quinn McDonald. (c) 2008 All rights reserved. Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach and writer. She teaches workshops on journal writing. For more information, see her website, QuinnCreative.com

What do I do with my journal?

Are you afraid that someone will find out your journal secrets? That when you die your life will be there for all to see? If this is keeping you from writing in a journal, could you reconsider? There are steps you can take to protect your privacy, and some things to think about before you cut off your connection to the past.

If you feel strongly that your privacy not be invaded, you can rent a safe deposit box at a bank. Put your completed journals in this safe deposit box and give the key to a trusted friend.

Julia Cameron, the author of “The Artist’s Way,” and the proponent of writing three pages of whatever you are thinking every single morning was asked at a book signing if she keeps her journals. She said she did, they fill a storage locker. She has an agreement with her daughter, her executor, that she be cremated. “But first, burn the books. Then burn me!” Cameron said.

Before you choose to keep your life such a secret, let me encourage you to let go. Once you are dead your past is not going to haunt you. And it might help others. My mother’s life was a mystery to me. I was born late in her life and only knew her as angry and manipulative. Sure, she had bright moments, but they were short and quickly dispensed with.

After her death, I found a packet of love letters she and my father had exchanged. So strong was her hold over me, even from the grave, that I seriously considered destroying the letters, unopened. When I read through them, another woman emerged. One I had never known. A young woman, the woman who was the mother to my brothers. She seemed eager to live her life. I never found out what had shut her down, although she had many reasons.

Without those letters, I would have never had a chance to see this other person. This person with hope and humor. This woman who suddenly had more in common with me than I ever believed. It was a generous gift to discover.  I’m sure she would have hated my prying into her past, but now that I know, it is also easier for me to be easier on her.

Before you lock up your past, think about the help you might be. That event you are ashamed of might help someone else, might change their mind, might leave a word of encouragement. Once you are gone, your life in this world is complete. Leave some clues for the next generation. You might create a picture of yourselves for people who are not even born. Give them a view into your life, and into the status of life in a time period they never knew.

–Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach who teaches journal writing. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

“She”, a Slow Art Monotype

A monotype is a form of slow art. Each monotype is unique–there are no multiples, no print runs. There is just one.

Printing ink is applied to a plexiglass sheet and then marked or incised to create an image. The plate is place face up on the bed of a rolling press. A piece of heavy print paper (in this case, Arches) is put over the print and sheets of felt are laid over the paper. A rolling press applies pressure to complete the print. Since most of the ink is pressed onto the paper, each one is unique.

Below, “She” in purple, red, and gray. 5-inch x 7-inch image on 11 x 15 sheet.

There are two more prints in this series. See them at QuinnCreative.com (c) Quinn McDonald. All rights reserved

New Colors for Phoenix

When I moved out here, I brought a few art supplies with me. I chose simple supplies that did a lot but didn’t take up space–colored pencils, kneaded eraser, bone folder, a blade.

Prismacolor pencils are wonderful–rich and easy to use, waxy, thick color. The more you layer, the richer it gets. When I arrived in Phoenix, I had many greens, yellows, oranges, blues.

But here, I needed different colors. Richer grays, shades of browns, purples. They are the colors of blue agaves, rock walls, and the big smooth stones that create the look of water, but in rock. I saw a fence that was designed to hold rocks vertically and still look like a river.

These big, smooth river rocks are different from the desert granite, warm and cool grays and thunderstorm colored ones, too. Desert granite is hard brown and pink, all new colors I needed.

The browns of shadows and rust and granite. It took 16 more pencils in all to catch all the new colors here. Just waiting to be seen and put on paper.

–Quinn McDonald is a writer, trainer and artist who teaches writing and visual journaling classes. See her work at QuinnCreative.com (c) 2008 All rights reserved.

Tutorial: Using Fixatives on Your Artwork

Fixatives give you two choices: workable fixative or non-workable fixatives. Well, neither one is really satisfying by title alone.

Let’s get the bad news over with first: most of them come in spray cans. Some have fluorocarbons, some not. I’m not a fan of spray cans, they take up a lot of space in a landfill. I’ve never seen a fixative in anything else except a spray can, although I’d be happy to hear about another application.

The spray can creates the ideal delivery system–tiny drops in a wide spray. The purpose of most fixatives is to keep charcoal, Conte crayon, pencil, and pastels from rubbing off.

The other purposes of a fixative is to protect your work from damaging UV rays and other environmental horrors. The best ones protect with a sealant that can be removed by conservators.

Here’s the important part: unless you use fixatives correctly, you will not be doing your artwork any favors. And most people don’t use them correctly. Here are some tips:

1. Make sure your artwork is finished. Including your signature. Any work you do after using a fixative is going to rub the sealant around the page, and that’s not so great for the paper or the medium.

2. Several light spritzes are better than one blast. I see people do this over and over. They slap their expensive paper down, then apply fixative until the paper is soaked. This isn’t a brownie pan and it’s not non-stick spray you are wielding. The key to success is several light, sweeping sprays.

3. If your paper is wet, you’re doing it wrong. Keep the nozzle about a foot away from your artwork. Push the nozzle down and mist the paper in a gentle sweep. Pretend you are applying a wonderful perfume, rather than waterproofing your sneakers. Let it dry. Really. Dry till the back of your hand doesn’t feel cool when placed against the artwork. Then repeat. With a light touch, three coats are just right. With a heavy spray, one coat is too much.

4. Give the spray a chance to spread out. If you hold the nozzle too close to the paper the propellant will blow off the top layer of charcoal or pastel, and mottle your work with moisture. Holding the can a foot above the paper will give you the best results.

5. Choose the finish you want. Read the label. There are matte, transparent and gloss fixatives. Choose the one you want, not the one that’s there. Dickblick.com has a big variety worth checking out.

6. Clear the nozzle when you are done. The stuff you are spraying is a type of varnish. If you don’t clear the nozzle you will never use up the can because the nozzle will be hermetically sealed with fixative. To clear the nozzle, turn the can upside down, make sure the hole is facing away from you, and depress the nozzle. It will begin to spray, but after about 3 seconds, only the propellant will come out. Let the propellant hiss out for at least two seconds. Yes, this wastes some of the fixative. But if you don’t do it, you’ll waste a lot more as it gets stuck in the can.

7. If you are not done, use workable fixative. Workable means you can continue to work on the piece without smudging. Non-workable means you are done. If you continue to work on non-workable, you will be rolling varnish over the surface of your paper, picking up tiny rough pieces of chalk or charcoal. You are now scrubbing the surface of the paper, and bits of the paper are rolling around in this mess, too. When you go to put more charcoal down, it will be on a different surface and it will not look the same. You’ll have thicker and thinner layers of color, and the surface, now more absorbent, will mottle when you go back with more fixative.

A light touch, and letting the work dry completely before doing anything else is the best way to use fixative. Even a light touch can change the tonal value of your work. Before you “fix” it, let the fixative dry completely. You won’t have to work so hard.

Image: Conte crayon on Canson 98-lb. Mi-Teintes paper. Quinn McDonald (c) 2008 Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach who has learned to wear shop aprons when working with glues and fixatives. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

Collage Background 3

Backgrounds for your collages are all around. Train your eyes to see backgrounds, and the world will fill up with them.

Take photographs to save the idea, and then print them on a variety of papers–photographic papers will give you a stiff, glossy surface.

Printing them on copy paper will give you a softer look, but be careful–ink jet ink will run with glue. Spray it with several light layers of fixative first.

Print them on Lazertran or transparency paper. Print them on heavier paper and paint ink over them.

Or just leave them alone and use them as the beautiful backgrounds they are.

From top to bottom, the images are:

1. Rock wall with a dried vine, taken at the Washington Arboretum in Washington, D.C.

2. Close up of a letter stained with tea and printed on Lazertran.

3. Close up of a sidewalk stained by grass fertilizer and very hard water, Mesa, AZ.

4. Close up of salt-stained staircase in Washington, D.C.

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Images and background instructions (c) Quinn McDonald, 2008. All rights reserved.

Quinn McDonald is a collage artist and a certified creativity coach who teaches collage art and visual journaling. See her work at QuinnCreative.com

Tutorial: Paper and Ink

Ink and brush are an ancient combination that create contemporary art. These illustrations make wonderful handmade cards. With a little practice, the art of sumi-e yields wonderful results. You can leave them black and white or you can add a touch of color. You can buy the ink, or you can buy a stick of sumi-e ink and a grinding block.

The ink stick looks lacquered. It is. Rub the short end against a wet grinding block until you have a puddle of ink. I like to use distilled water in a spray bottle to create a deep black ink.

If you buy the fat brushes traditional for this art, soak and rinse the brushes. They are stiffened with fish glue to help them keep their shape in transit.

The basic strokes are simple: hold the brush upright, start with the tip of the brush, then push down, drag, then lift up as if it were an airplane taking off. That’s a leaf. A stem uses the tip of the brush pushed down and dragged, then pushed again.

The rest is practice. 15 minutes a day yields good results in about a week. The minimalism is soothing. The suggestion of the completed piece is all you need. Your mind does the rest. Creativity in action.

–Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach and an artist. She develops and runs training programs in communication. She believes art is an important form of communication that doesn’t require words, although words are art in themselves. (c) All rights reserved. 2008.

Journal Prompt: Understanding Words

Journal Prompt: What do you remember about learning to read?

What I wrote: We were the only family in town with a library in the house. When the carpenter put up all the shelves in the combination dining room/library/office for my Dad, he asked, “You opening up a grocery story or what?” When we told him it was for the books, he grunted and said, “Past the Bible and the Sears catalog, don’t have much use for them myself.”

The room was soon filled with books, top to bottom. I learned to read early, and after I mastered the comics in the newspaper, and the Betsey McCall section of my mother’s McCall’s magazine, I began to read National Geographic.

One day, I considered all the books in our library and asked my father if I could read one. (It wold not have occurred to me to simply take a book without asking. Different times, very different upbringing.) My father told me, kindly, that I wouldn’t understand them.

“Why not?” I asked. “I can read English.”
My father smiled and handed me a physics book. “Read this, then,” he said.
I worked through the introduction, getting the words right, but with no idea about the ideas in the book. At 5 years, physics isn’t a familiar concept.

I remember the mix of awe, anger and concern that I could not grasp the material. It was English. I knew how to read English. Why couldn’t I understand this English?

Slowly I came to understand the difference between reading and comprehension; between seeing and knowing. The complex relationship between seeing words and understanding concepts came slowly to me, but I began to read more, eager for the ability to link words to concepts.

There are still many books I don’t understand, and many I don’t try to understand, but the joy and mystery of reading can fill me with a joy that few other things can reach. I hope the love of reading doesn’t fade away, replaced by electronic pastimes. Reading was my comfort, excitement and cure for loneliness. It still is.

–Quinn McDonald is a writer who teaches others to write through training programs. See her work at QuinnCreative.com Image: Mouse, charcoal on paper. Quinn McDonald. (c) 2008 All rights reserved.

Reductive Drawing

There is a type of drawing called “reductive.” You start out by covering the entire sheet with charcoal, then use different erasers to take out what doesn’t belong. It creates a different style of picture that’s very effective.

Drawing with an eraser isn’t easy, buy you get used to taking out what you don’t need. You can always put back more charcoal. The important elements are controlling the eraser’s edge to get the right lines. There are some interesting applications to real life. We usually create a lot of background in our life. How wonderful it would be to use an eraser to take out those parts that didn’t work, are too dark, smear our lives. And leave the best image we can create.

–Image: “Flight” by Quinn McDonald

–(c) 2008 All rights reserved. Quinn McDonald.