art creation | Dena McKitrick

A Whole New Thing

Sometime beginnings are humble, even when long overdue. This image may not look like much, however, it marks the scant beginning of a whole new thing. I am testing a different medium, specifically watercolor pencils direct on canvas. So far, they passed the test. Next will be combining them with acrylics and color pencils.

What I’m working on developing is a technique that will enable me to do very quick sketch portraits on canvas to be finished in layers varying between washes of transparent acrylic and sharper definition and discovery in the prismacolor pencils. I didn’t want a sketch in graphite or anything because it would interfere with the look of the transparent layers. It is also very important to me that it be very quickly manipulatable, to facilitate a speedy capture of the expression.

I’ll be sharing more about what I’m up to with this idea in the next couple days, but suffice it to say I’m excited about what I’ll be offering.

What Words Describe this Painting?

What words describe it?

This is a close up detail of a piece I called Awakening. The words did not come for me. Have you a suggestion what it should say? If there are more than 10 who suggest the words, I will pick one and send the “winner” a print. I would love it if you played with this. What word describe or express this painting? Allow YOUR creativity to have fun.

Note: the original painting is from a sculptural piece called Awakening. See the whole piece here.

Looking Back

Lately I’ve been looking back, re-assessing, purging, cleaning, re-focusing, clarifying, re-organizing. It’s an interesting process. One thing it has done for me is create a much more pristine space for creative expression. It’s also helped me to lay the ground for a shift in my career focus. I’m great at saying that we should follow our joy, yet I so easily fall into the shoulds (of financial considerations or any other judgemental construct) at the expense of letting my true passion(s) languish.

One of the pitfalls of having so many interests and so many things that I could do (as Melissa Dinwiddie says, I’m a “Passion Pluralite”) is that I can easily start shoulding on myself regarding what I am to spend my time doing. Even though I am constantly creatively expressing, somehow my “fine art” will frequently pull the short straw when it comes to time and attention. I am consciously letting go of my grip on the judgement that that is less than ok. Instead, I’ve decided to embrace the concept that my whole life is my constantly evolving piece of very fine artwork, and that it all falls together just divinely when I release the shoulds about any darned thing.

I woke up at O-dark-thirty involved in a vivid dream for the third night in a row today. Upon review of past experiences and promises, I’ve been once more nudged toward action. This image was a first result. Sharing it was even more of a result.

What do you glean from looking back? Do you ever should on yourself?

Like Kilroy – and Accidental Drawing

He appeared on my desk…an accidental drawing

I see faces everywhere. Always have. And when I start to draw, faces appear. It’s just the way it is.

I accidently spilled some permanent ink on my desk the other day, while I was playing with a pen/brush thingy that was really cool, instead of working on what I was “supposed” to be working on. I tried to wipe it up with some paper that I had at hand on it’s way to the recycle bin. It didn’t work real well, because before I could really clean it up, there was this fellas eye staring back at me.

Of course, I immediately dripped some more ink on my desk, and semi-wiped it up. There he was – my accidental drawing! With a tiny tweak or two I had a new visage for my desk. I don’t know if he really can be cleaned off my desk. One day, I’ll get tired of him staring peekedly at me, and I’ll attempt it. In the meantime, I dressed him up with some layers here, and wrote him a poem. I thought I’d give him a moment in the limelight before destroying anything.

He Sings to the Moon and Stars

A Modern Wise Man

I’m not sure what knocked me off track. There was a death in the family and lots of exciting activities – many of them involving my creativity, so it’s not like I haven’t been creating images. I have. I have not posted any for almost a month however.

So I am back. I went to a place for tea this evening, and drew this. I used a tiny blurry photo of a friend of mine for a loose model, and just had fun. Then, after scanning, I got jiggy with it, adding some layers etc. Why not have fun? It’s definitely a way to get me back on track.