The Magical Flying Horse

This weekend I’m taking a watercolor class from Seattle artist Anita Lehman. Hopefully I’ll have something fun to show you, but in the meantime, here is The Magic Horse from last year!

Have a great Saturday!

Half Cat

Journal Diving: Take 2

Stacked Cats inspired by Alison O’Donoghue & Birds on Birds

I’ve been enjoying diving” into my old journals lately, looking for anything fun or helpful in a sea of nonsense and complaints.

Here’s Take 2!

* * *

I’m pretty sure no one has a harder time getting a clear thought out than I do.

* * *

On Elephants:

Elephants who wear black or not necessarily artists.

* * *

In other news, I still have crap all over my office.

in even more news, I still am unable to deal with it.

* * *

And I got in the habit of writing down 20 “ideas” a day:

1. Pillow Talk. Pillows that talk somehow. Better: Talks that pillow.

2. Sock Puppet Seminar

3. If you don’t know where you’re going, then you probably will get there a little late, that’s all. No biggie.

4. Whales have feelings, too.

5. Messiness for Neat Freaks

6. Candy Rappers

7. If toes can be pigs, well…

8. The Buck Stops Near

9. Plaid for Beginners

10. Chit Chatting for Introverts

11. The How of Drawing

12. Look, See, Draw

13. Bear Breasted

14. Bare Hug

15. Color is a Choice

16. Red Water Soluble Marker Day.

17. Graph Paper for Squares

18. Crowns and chewing gum don’t mix.

19. Clearn: to clear out and to clean simultaneously; “I would love to get my office clearned up.”

20. Tomorrow is another yesterday.

_______________

😀 Have a great day!

Teacher News!

I’m starting a new “column.” Once a month I hope to gather news from several of our instructors and share it with you here. They are all amazing and talented and fun and accomplished!

1. Cat Bennett

Cat is interviewed in the current issue of Uppercase Magazine! Her work looks beautiful in this already extra-inspiring issue (check out the thumbnail spreads HERE)!

Cat is currently teaching a six-week sketchbook course, “Making Art a Practice” (which is going wonderfully, and of course you can still join in!). I’m thankful to Janine of Uppercase for featuring this class on her site HERE, too.

Congratulations, Cat!

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2. Alison O’Donoghue

Please check out this adorable “blooper” from Alison’s upcoming class, “Bird on Birds in Acrylic Painting.” One person who saw it wrote that it was “THE BEST THING THEY HAD SEEN ALL WEEK!”

[Waiting while you watch…]

Isn’t Alison wonderful? Thank you, Alison, for giving us permission to post this and for being so cute and real!!

And don’t miss her FIRST online class, Birds on Birds, which begins this upcoming Tuesday, October 20, 2015. Please help spread the word to others, too. Sign up today!

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3. Lynn Whipple

Here is Lynn Whipple (pink hat) with one of her good friends Heidi Behr at a recent art show in Florida… Lynn writes:

“Finally fall and a teensy bit cooler here in Florida, which means that it is ‘show season.’  I’ve been having a blast in the studio preparing for some upcoming exhibitions. I’ve been playing with paint and drawing with pastel and making a big glorious mess and some rather large paintings!! My focus was on one of my favorite subject’s… flowers! It is so much fun to layer and layer! I was inspired to play in this way by one of Carla’s recent Spark classes called Thinking Small – Going Big (so much goodness going on in Spark.) Thank you Carla!”

That’s super nice of Lynn to say, but I really can’t take ANY credit for the awesomeness of these paintings. Just LOOK!

Congratulations, Lynn!

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And finally…

I was a dork didn’t provide a link to “Faces Mini” in the earlier post, so HERE it is (this is a re-filmed, shortened version of “Faces 101” … if you have previously taken “Faces 101” and would like to take this class at no additional cost, email me! carla[at]carlasonheim.com. This is part of our Lunch Hour Art series of “bite-sized” classes and the first lesson goes live Tuesday, October 27th.

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That’s all the news I know for now. Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Registration Open for “Faces Mini” Lunch Hour Art Class

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Faces Mini
A 3-Lesson, “Bite-Sized” Class
Class Dates: October 27-30, 2015

In this class we will focus on drawing and painting the human face. We will do nine different assignments that allow you to approach your subjects fast, slow, messily, neatly, realistically, abstractly — all to help ferret out your own unique and personal style.

We will draw from live models, from photos, and our imaginations. We’ll use watercolor, pencil, pastels, and colored pencils to create 50 quick faces by the end of the week. End goal: You don’t want to draw faces like me or anyone else — you want to draw like YOU!

Take this class if you want to try your hand at different drawing styles and methods, love the human face, or want to start developing your own unique face “style.”

Note: This is a shortened, re-filming of “Faces 101,” one of my first online classes. The exercises in this new version are the same… the only difference is the presenter is a little more confident on camera. 😉

* * *

Your itinerary:

Lesson 1
Blind contours, wrong-handed drawing, and watercolor faces
Tuesday, October 27th

Lesson 2
Contours, one-liners, and realistic drawings
Wednesday, October 28th

Optional Assignment

10 scribbly faces from life
Thursday, October 29th

Lesson 3
Shading, eraser drawings, pastel faces
Friday, October 30th

Sign Up Today! For more information, click HERE.

Lunch Hour Art!

This class is part of our “Lunch Hour Art!” series of “bite-sized” classes. (You don’t need to do them during an actual lunch hour, though!) For more info, click below:

Finger Paintings from 2012!

Hi! The following is a post from January 2012… finger painting! I had forgotten that I had finger painted them… I had gone to a weekend retreat but, instead of painting most of the weekend, I had to work on the deadline for The Art of Silliness book. These four little paintings were done in the last two hours of the weekend.

‘Tis Monday and just back from extended PLAY,

I drew and I fussed on the ‘puter each day.

While others got messy with glitter and paint

I stuck with my Sharpie, my keyboard, restraint.

For two days I did this here Silliness thing

I worked till my shoulder blade started to sting

But it wasn’t too long ‘fore I gave up and found

that gouache mixed with fingers is happiness bound.

I didn’t work long, though, I had to get back

to my constant companion, the MacBook Pro Mac.

(For Fleep lists and puzzles and drawings of cups —

My deadline, you see, was coming right ups!)

😀

Journal Diving: Going In!

I have been “diving” into my old journals lately, looking for anything fun or helpful in a sea of nonsense and complaints.

Here are some things I found that you might like (I hope you like it. If you do, please comment!):

* * *

So, it’s Friday. Slow day for the internet. Slow day for email, and usually a slow day for work. Not today. Today it’s going to be a fast day for work, a fast day for email, and a fast day for the internet.

* * *

I’ve found my identity in being creative with art and teaching. It’s something I’m good at, for a variety of reasons. I think I come from a creative family. I think I have the right kind of personality, and people have supported it in me.

Being creative in a law office* is actually a valuable tool, of course. But being creative in a law office without also being super smart was kind of a problem.

Now I can be creative and only kind of smart.

*My first job out of college was in a law office.

* * *

Yesterday a woman on the bus said, “They say I’m retarded.” Then, “Some days I am, and some days I’m not.”

Bless her… like all of us!

* * *

I think I’m a bit crazy today. My mind is flying all over the place, but also stuck in the mud… my feet are stuck to the ground and my mind wants to flutter away but is also being tethered to the ground by the mud. Or the IDEA of mud. (I supposed it’s just the idea of mud that can tie down a brain, since brains are all about ideas and stuff.)

* * *

I was thinking about the answer to “Why creativity?” last night and might have even written down some useful thoughts. I realized that I can’t speak for anyone other than myself of why it’s important, but for me, it’s what makes life palatable. An overstatement, perhaps. BUT… things change, friends move, children grow up, and in the end you just have you and your creative spirit to hash it all out.

* * *

I suppose I really need to get going on whatever it is I need to get going on.

* * *

Creativity requires a faith of sorts… faith that a solution will come to you.

You do your part: Put your time in, take risks, sit patiently (or impatiently)… and you even have a bit of doubt in there somewhere… but in the end creativity moves through you…

1. Make it fun, or at least not painful.
2. Accept where you are.
3. Remember, there is no “there.”
4. Go up those hills.

* * *

I wrote down what my son Wes, when he was in high school, said to me one morning on the drive to school:

“It’s so annoying… this gray-haired, cheerful person who doesn’t know anything….”

* * *

Denying your creativity is like driving with a flat tire: you can get where you’re going, but how much smoother, faster, and more enjoyable the ride would be if all four tires were inflated!

Not a bad soundbite for a know-nothing. 🙂

That’s it for now! I have more where that came from, if you’d like to read it.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Drawing is Like Marriage

Drawing is like marriage; compromises need to be made.

Grid of Faces

I just wanted to share these faces for some reason. Mixed media (watercolor, oil crayon mostly).

Have a great weekend!