This week the holiday begins at Caplan Art Designs with seven artists who have created 3D box sculptures. I’m one of the seven! My box sculpture is titled “Dogs On The Block”. Here’s a series of photos of my box. You know I like dogs…
More details about the exhibit of holiday boxes by seven artists.
Speaking further of dogs in art…there are several dog related artist books by me available at the Aurora Gallery. Here’s one of them…
And a dog appeared in my sketchbook this week
I’m also busy doing a few dog portrait commissions for holiday gifts so I’ll say no more about that.
Poetry about dogs is helpful reading material in the mornings before beginning a days dog portrait work.
On a non canine topic: I’m leaving Twitter. Besides here on this blog you can fetch me on Substack, Instagram, Facebook and now on Mastodon.
I hope your week is a pleasant one! See you next Monday.
Of course I did a drawing too because I’m me and that’s what I do – in these copies I did a small self portrait. These can be ordered for shipping from Vintage Books to anywhere. Just tell them you want a signed one.
Since my wife and I were in the bookstore we had a good browse. My wife has her own book haul and here’s a photo of mine.
We got our covid booster shots and our flu shots at the same time. It was the appointment time available that fit (sortof) into our schedule. Felt tired and achy the first day but the next day, the day of my Odditerrarium art opening at Caplan Art Designs…
… I felt punk. The house was 74 degrees but I was very shivery cold. Mostly I read The Hobbit (it’s in my books to cheer up by list) and napped. It felt very difficult to do the social media necessary for my exhibit. But I did my best.
Thank goodness for Amy and Steve at the Caplan Art Designs Gallery!!! They’re both kind, understanding people and they’re very talented at what they do. I appreciate both of them a whole lot in ordinary times but this week I appreciated them even more.
If you’re just catching up here’s the photo of my entire Odditerrarium series on the Gallery’s wall before the lables were added like you see in the pic with Amy and Steve.
Wow! Caplan Art Designs sold 8 of my paintings from my Odditerrarium series!! They sold some of my Odditerrarium artist books too!!! Thank you all again!! ❤❤ Odditerrarium continues through October. More details about my Odditerrarium project here: https://sueclancy.com/portfolio/odditerrarium/ But these paintings below went to new happy homes!
By Friday afternoon I felt almost 100% back to normal! Not a bit was done this week on any of the other projects I’ve mentioned in my last post. I didn’t even do any playing in my sketchbook. Even so it was a good thing I felt back to normal Friday because we had planned an after the exhibit opening get-away.
So this weekend we had a delightful day with Rusty on the Oregon coast! Our long awaited date day consisted of a long leisurely windy walk along the Pacific ocean – and beers and burgers by the outdoor fire pit at Pelican brewing – Rusty had water with his very own burger patty, which we cut into small bites for him. Rusty enjoyed meeting so many dogs and we had fun conversations with the dog people. Many of the dogs were not easily identified as one breed and all were as darling as darling can be!
Anyway, a much needed relaxing day was had by all!! Of course art studio supervisor Rusty, and his staff, want to plan more such outings! And now I’m fascinated by mixed breed mutt dogs. I love the puzzle of them, the gentle humor of the look of them…
I hope your week is pleasant and that, if you have them, your beers and burgers are just the way you like them. See you next Monday
This week the Aurora Gallery finished framing my adopted Mom’s quilt that I told you about in a prior post. Doesn’t the frame look great? We went right home and hung it in a special place!
Elizabeth Steinbaugh at the Aurora Gallery Mom Penny Hoke’s quilt on our wall at home
As you see in the photo above – included in the frame is a piece of handmade paper on which I hand wrote Mom’s name and a bit about the quilt.
I also remembered a story related to the quilt theme of “knowing what it is when you pick it up” (details in this post). The story I remembered goes like this: A man holding a lit candle went looking for fire with which to cook his rice. It was a long search. If he had known what fire was or asked some questions when he began searching he could have cooked his rice a lot sooner.
This week we went for a browse at Vintage Books an independent bookstore a few miles from where we live. As I browsed I came across the local author shelves and was delighted to see a book I illustrated, “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit”, right there on the shelf where I was browsing! What a fun surprise! It’s available via the bookstore website too!
Below is the book haul we came home with!
Below is a sketchbook drawing I did of two books I’m currently enjoying reading! I’ve added both of these titles to my public books to cheer up by book list here.
I enjoyed seeing this photo of a happy person with their dog with my artwork in the background at Canal District Wines this week and thought you’d enjoy it too. I’m thinking I want to do more art like this … I like the boldness and simplicity.
This project in progress below is a 3d cube 8 inches square that I’m doing for a holiday exhibit at Caplan Art Designs! I’m aiming for the used wooden toy block look – but with a dog theme.
My drawing marathon for NIL-TECH will start on Monday and run for a number of weeks! If you’ve followed my blog you’ve seen me working towards this… and now here it is! Drum roll please! Actually please follow NIL-TECH on their Instagram or Facebook pages so you can see the end results of all the practice you watched me do here on my blog! And thank you for cheering me on! Here’s the link to the 54 piece watercolor pencil set I’ll be using in my marathon. Wish me luck!
I hope your week is pleasant. See you next Monday.
Dancing smoothly nowadays as I near time to deliver all 20 of my Odditerrarium artworks for exhibit via Caplan Art Designs which opens in June at Burnt Bridge Cellars.
All 20 artworks are finished. In progress is the framing, the exhibit paperwork, the delivery and the social media about it all. An artist’s work is never done…it’s a lot like a cooks work that way.
But here’s one of my paintings titled “Learning Almost Anything”. Like the others in my Odditerrarium series it is 10 x 8 inches, created with ink, gouache and collage on board.
Here’s a closer view so you can see what this dog is thinking.
Doing fine art exhibits, like writing for publication, requires both being organized and resisting tempting parking spots. I have two phrases thumbtacked to my studio wall to help me remember.
When I began my Odditerrarium painting series in 2021 I did enough planning in my sketchbook that I knew the sizes I wanted to work in. I created 5 or so of the paintings to see if my series idea had legs. Then over a month ago I ordered frames from the Aurora Gallery. The frames are made by hand and that takes time. The first box of frames is in my studio ready for action. A second box of frames is due soon.
Now that creation of the paintings is done I set up a system, a working routine, so that I don’t wear out my hand doing the varnishing or framing processes.
Elsewhere in my blog I’ve talked about working in short bursts as a way to make time, energy and the financial components of a creative life sustainable. This is true too of the varnish and frame stage.
More than a month ago I also ordered the cans of varnish I knew I’d need along with a few other art supplies from my local Artist and Craftsman. My dachshund supervisor made sure the order was correct when it came.
Now my daily routine includes a “spray two frame two” dance. It goes like this: just before lunch I take two paintings to my garage where I spray a coat of varnish. Then we have lunch. After lunch I spray another coat of varnish on those same two paintings. Here’s a photo of me in the respirator mask I use when I spray varnish.
Those just varnished paintings stay out in the garage the rest of the day. When I quit working for the day, around dinner time, I bring them into the studio and put them on the easel to finish drying. In the photo below you see two just-varnished paintings on my easel. To the right of the easel is a framing station. My painting supplies are still out because there are other projects in progress just to the left of this photo. There are other creative projects that get a short burst of work each day so that’s another reason why the just-varnished stay out in the garage till the day is done.
Here are two getting framed. Having the varnished art on the easel puts them within easy reach of my frame station. Doing the varnishing around lunchtime the previous day means that by the time they get put into frames 24 or so hours have passed and the varnish is completely dry.
Besides checking in the new art supplies my dachshund supervisor also oversees the framing. He’s very busy, perhaps more busy than usual lately, but like I do, he paces himself so that it’s sustainable.
Like the quote thumbtacked just above the light switch in the photo below says about dancing and magic happening, being organized doesn’t guarentee smoothly run projects. (Another mantra I use often: “Nothing has to go right today”) Organization gives my projects a sporting chance to be sustainable, it gives me the possibility of meeting deadlines with a smile. Besides I deeply despise chaos and rushing about so I prefer to pace myself (and dance) at a calm speed.
And I treasure time each day to read and learn almost anything.
I hope your week goes at your preferred pace. Take care of yourself. See you next Monday.
… maybe not. 🤣 Anyway, below are closer views of each dog portrait and below each is the text line in the book.
The Reporter’s dog is a responsible dog.The Sculptor’s dog is a sensible dog.The Stitcher’s dog is a smart dog.
As mentioned in a prior post the Aurora Gallery quickly sold out of my book The Professional Dog and asked me to bring more asap. So I did. When I delivered the books I saw the nice display the Gallery has done for The Professional Dog.
They even put this notice on the bin that had held printed copies of my book…
…so they were happy to see me come in with these freshly signed copies.
Here’s a closer look at the display. Someone at the Aurora Gallery does hand lettering extremely well!
Here’s the other display rack at the Gallery with my books and cards. I like it that this rack looks so ordinary as I think it may help people consider getting my books as gifts without feeling too “precious” about it. As regular readers of this blog already know I create my books as I do an art object rather than as a book publisher in the traditional sense.
Leaning into the Jolabokaflod season I particularly enjoy having copies of my sketchbook available at the Aurora Gallery and here. I’m enjoying the multilayered pun of having created a book full of sketches of books and readers that also talks about finding books! You can preview my entire sketchbook here too.
But I include these sketchbook pages in this post because they’re good descriptions of how we handle our holiday jolly book flood (Jolabokaflod)
As mentioned last post, and hinted above, we started our Jolabokaflod festivities by ordering books online from a number of our local independent bookstores. Our book orders will come to our doorstep in waves, or small tsunami floods.
What we got for each other: “The Boy, the mole, the fox and the horse” by Charlie Mackesy, “A Surprise For Christmas” a collection of short mystery stories from British Library Crimes Classics as well as novels by Kate Carlisle, Sarah Dreher and John Mortimer.
A few days later from the bookstore Another Read Through we got the books pictured below. When we ordered we selected one of their book bundles. A book bundle, according to the bookstore, is a surprise set of books the store selects for you based on your stated preferences. Since both my spouse and I enjoy a good surprise we ordered a small book bundle, told our preferences … and the store sent us titles by Louise Penny and a Christopher Moore! We are both very pleased with our book surprise! Also very pleasant, perhaps even best of all, was the handwritten note from the store owner!
We got all of our holiday cards into the mail. And our mantel is filling with holiday cards sent to us! That’s one of the fun aspects of this time of year, the sending and receiving of cards.
So you can see it better here’s a closer look at the card image I made by hand using ink and gouache and then photographed for reproductions using moo.com
Months ago when I created the artwork my spouse took a photo of me working on it because it might amuse people to see it. Here ’tis 👇
Here’s the sketchbook page drawing had done before beginning the ink and gouache painting of this image idea. I’m sure you can see what parts of the drawing I kept and what I changed when I did the painting version. Most notably I changed the angles of the sled, the ski’s and the pile of books.
Since we’re nearly upon the holiday I’m going to post more sketchbook pages on my social media and on this blog next Monday…
…and as my sketchbook page above says I hope your holiday is full of love in ways that make you glad to be alive.
Here’s the dogs this week from my book The Professional Dog. A famous dog reviews my book. Some people asked if I have cat artwork… but first the three dogs…
Below each enlarged portrait there’s the text from the book.
The Poet’s dog is a playful dog.The Quilter’s dog is a quiet dog.The Reader’s dog is a reasonable dog.
All of my recent online talk about dogs prompted several people to ask me if I did artwork with cats. Yes!! Of course!! Here are just a few of my cat themed things on my Zazzle shop sueclancy
This last Thursday was the exhibit opening at the Joseph Gierek Fine Art Gallery. I supported this exhibit from my house too in much the same way as I described last post.
As per the Aurora Gallery request (last post) I have signed some more copies of The Professional Dog and by the time you read this post I will have delivered them to the Gallery. (I’ll update my social media re…)
We customize the Jolabokaflod tradition for ourselves in that we don’t limit the book gifting to just the evening of the 24th. Also we modify the tradition from gifting “new books published this year” and expanding it to include “used books that are new to us”.
We do adhere strictly to the “read new books immediately upon receiving them accompanied by hot chocolate” aspect of Jolabokaflod.
How is this different from the normal Clancy evening read and have hot chocolate habit? Whenever the new books are delivered by mail we open them and start reading! In other words we don’t wait till evening to begin. It’s decadently fun to stop everything in the middle of the day and flop onto the couch with a new book!
So I’ll see you next Monday with more Professional Dog artwork, probably some of my sketchbook pages and some books I’m reading for Jolabokaflod!
Happy Jolabokaflod or whatever holiday you celebrate! May your celebrations be exactly what’s most comfortable for you and yours.
There are 3 major art gallery exhibits in my life but more on that in a bit. First here are this weeks 3 dogs from The Professional Dog.
Here’s a larger image of each dog portrait with the book text beneath.
The Opera Singer’s dog is an optimistic dog.The Park Ranger’s dog is a patient dog.The Pilot’s dog is a positive dog.
In times past I went in person to local exhibits especially when my work was featured. But I haven’t gone physically to one since the start of the pandemic in 2020. The galleries are handling openings much differently too, more videos and social media online, more appointments and more shipping and delivery.
This is now the 2nd year of things working this new way and I have discovered a wonderful benefit – deaf me can “hear” people better because everything is written. Lip reading and trying to hear with my hearing aids in a noisy Gallery isn’t an issue now so I feel like my engagement with people has improved! But because I’ve spent more than 30 years doing in person exhibits and only 2 years doing exhibits virtually I still get nervous about this new method even though I think I like it.
So before the Holiday Box Exhibit began at Caplan Art Designs on Thursday evening I charged up my phone and kept my phone on so I could see and respond to anything happening at the Gallery.
While I waited for things to actually start Thursday night I read this article about Ann Patchett and how she’s enjoying doing things virtually and doesn’t plan to do the old style in person book tours again. It was an interesting read and helped me settle into my virtual event. Here’s the article – https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-11-23/ann-patchett-these-precious-days
The Caplan Art Designs Gallery began posting on social media in advance of the Thursday opening, sharing 2 or 3 of the 7 artist’s work per post. Then as the opening began Thursday night the Gallery posted videos of the entire exhibit and some photos of people at the Gallery… not the crowds of the pre-pandemic days but safe methods of visiting. It did my artist heart good to see them and know that everyone was so caring!
I tried to quickly share on my social media what the Gallery posted or to echo it at least. People who follow the Gallery social media commented there. People who follow me commented on my pages. I tried to be quickly responsive. The Gallery owner and 2 associates were sharing and replying on the Gallery pages and the artist pages too. Below is an example of one of the Gallery posts prior to the event…
… and the Gallery shared the comments made in person at the Gallery about the work during the evening. One client said my work reminded them of Piero Fornasseti. I had to Google Fornasseti first but after I looked I agreed and made a note to myself to study more!
Early in the evening my work “All The Chances” sold! By the end of the evening 5 out of 7 artists works had sold and it was quickly apparent that the entire 7 piece exhibit would likely be sold before the weekend was over.
I am constantly proud of and amazed by how well and how creatively the Caplan Gallery has dealt with the pandemic challenges.
So it was quite a hectic opening evening even though I (and many others) participated online from home. I was tired at the end of the night but not half as worn out as I have been back in the days of attending exhibits in person and trying to hear in a noisy room. Again this new pandemic way of exhibit openings felt more satisfying like I had been able to more fully engage with people.
When I think about it this new way of doing openings is akin to arts and antique auctions, where there’s the in person bidding, the phone bidding and the online bidding. And somehow everything is kept organized.
Anyway, this photo below got posted within minutes of the sale… and was such a delightful surprise!
The very next night, Friday, was the opening exhibit at the Aurora Gallery!This Gallery too has been amazing in their ability to adapt and respond to pandemic challenges. The Aurora Gallery told me that they sold out of my signed copies of The Professional Dog (and would I please restock asap) and they said that there was a “socially distanced line of people buying Clancy fine art and artist books”!
Several of the people who went to the Aurora Gallery posted on social media about their visit or texted me directly! Oh this is such a fun way to share and enjoy art together!
I love hearing from people who are enjoying something I made. Below are some photos shared by someone who’d put my whimsical coasters around their table!
I’ve loved sharing cheerfulness in unexpected ways like this! I like it when people are able to be creative using things I’ve made! My coasters or “mug mats” are available individually on my Zazzle shop…
…and they’re available as sets only at the Aurora Gallery but the gallery will ship anywhere.
I’ve also enjoyed it that people have asked me to make, using my artwork from The Professional Dog series, cups, prints, face masks (for kids and adults) and fabric! There was even a request for a simple 30 piece jigsaw puzzle with extra large pieces for kids!
I wonder if this is how Santa does it, gets requests first and then puts the elves to work? 🤔 Artwork, books and gift giving are about connecting with people so…
December 9 there’s another exhibit with some of my artwork at Joseph Gierek Fine Art in Oklahoma! I will be supporting this exhibit from my Pacific Northwest home too. I’ve worked with Joe for about 25 years and he’s one of the most innovative Gallery people in the business! He tells about selling art from the trunk of his car way back when he was starting out… the things he has dealt with and come out on top over are inspiring. I wish he’d write a book.
Anyway it really helps me to get through these challenging times to be surrounded by creative and encouraging Gallery owners!
Despite all of the past weeks activity I’ve still been managing (mostly) to sketch in the mornings and have hot chocolate and read a bit before bed. (See the hot chocolate recipe above) Perhaps after this week I can rest more? We’ll see…
I hope your upcoming week is a good one! See you next Monday?
Here’s news about The Professional Dog and all of my projects that I couldn’t talk about in my last posts! First, this weeks sequence of dogs.
Below is a closer look at the artwork of each of those dogs with the book text beneath.
The Kayaker’s dog is a kind dog.The Lawyer’s dog is a laudable dog.The Lender’s dog is a lucky dog.
As I mentioned in another post I tend to work first and talk about the work later. This means all of the artwork is finished for The Professional Dog and I could work hard this past week on the book layout. Here’s a photo of me at my laptop doing the book layout.
I wanted this book to be able to be shipped by Christmas so I focused on getting the book design done – and uploaded – which altered my posting about the artwork itself or about my creative process surrounding the book but I think that’s okay. If you have questions just ask.
There’s a lot still to do for this project but the publication on the 16th of Nov was a big deal. There are 40 portraits in the book and this is the most pages I’ve created for any of my books so far! So I’m celebrating! Wahoo!
Because I made portraits of my friends dogs I plan to keep posting each dog in alphabetical sequence so that each dog gets to be featured and each friend has a chance to share the portrait of their dog if they want to. Mainly it’s just a bit of cheerfulness from me over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Speaking of small cheerful things: I took some more of my books, mug mats and postcards to the Aurora Gallery at their request.
The Caplan Art Designs Gallery did a studio visit and selected some artwork from my studio stash for the special Thanksgiving event the Gallery is doing Nov 26, 27 and 28th. Each of the artworks Caplan selected are autobiographical. I’ve been sharing details on my Instagram page for each of these pieces but generally speaking each painting is about some aspect of my life here in the Pacific Northwest. Like the time we went hiking in Forest Park and my bootlace broke and we discovered a wonderful coffee shop that also sold bootlaces! Or the Rainier cherries we enjoy eating by the sea. Or the fine dining we’ve enjoyed…my feeling is reflected in my choice of dog breed depicted. And the bookstores… There are many more artworks selected by the Gallery than I’ve included below but perhaps this gives you the idea? The Gallery event happens the 26th, 27th and 28th in Portland Oregon.
Why were the above artworks languishing in my studio? They didn’t fit neatly into a theme or a unified whole for any of my exhibits. And also they were still there because I forgot about them. This is an example of when it’s helpful to have someone outside my head – in this case a gallery owner – look at things with fresh eyes.
Another example of the value of “fresh eyes” is that my spouse looked at my digital book layout of The Professional Dog and caught a major mistake I had made before it went to print!! (I had one out of alphabetical order 😱) I thank her on the book info page seen below.
And now for what we’ve all been waiting for (drumroll please) the Holiday Box Project! The Box Project exhibit opens at Caplan Art Designs the first Thursday in December. That’s why we artists were asked to wait to post and to only do a “teaser” post now because the Thanksgiving gallery event happens first. We artists were each given by the Gallery a solid brown wooden box, 8 inches cubed, some time ago so we’d all have time to create art on them. Below are before and after photos of my box.
I’ve titled my holiday box “All The Chances” – what are the odds you’d find 21 dogs named Chance? Anyway, are you teased? Lol! I will tell more details about “All The Chances” including about my working process after Thanksgiving.
It’s been a super busy week (no time for Creativity Chats or for much cooking creativity either) and frankly I am very tired from all of the activities. But at the same time I’m very happy! So I’ll rest up and share more this week on social media and on next Monday’s blog post.
I hope your week is a good one. Thank you for your many kind comments and your support! I am grateful for you and for the blogging community! Happy Thanksgiving!
My new childrens book, The Professional Dog, is progressing nicely. I’ve been thinking of this as a fine art dog portrait album inspired by the idea of the 19th century parlor game The Minister’s Cat. My book concept is an excuse to talk to my friends about their dogs and see if I can do 40 portraits of dogs whose owners are people I know. It just so happens that I know people occupying an alphabets worth of professions! How fun is that?! Anyway, here are three of the dog portraits together.
Below the larger portrait is the text I’ve written for the book.
The Helper’s dog is a hopeful dog.The Inventory Manager’s dog is an insightful dog.The Judge’s dog is a jolly dog.
Besides keeping on my work schedule for The Professional Dog I’ve been working closely with two of my galleries. We’re doing fine art commissions and studio visits in prep for the upcoming gift giving season. It’s beginning to resemble Santa’s workshop around here.
For example I created, then delivered, an art commission to Aurora this week for someone’s holiday gifts (shhhh!). Then while I was in the Gallery I got to see a glorious display of my own work! That sight inspired and encouraged me to keep making my stuff. https://auroragalleryonline.com/
The Aurora Gallery does such a good job displaying my wide variety of differently sized things – artistbooks, greetingcards and fineart – I love it that someone can see my books and around the corner nearby in the art gallery they can see the original artwork in the books!
Since we’re not talking about the fine art commission I just did for the Aurora Gallery here’s the art studio dachshund keeping mum with me.
And as I mentioned in my last post we’re still very definitely not talking about the Caplan Art Designs upcoming holiday box project.
Also there’s another event upcoming at Caplan Art Gallery that… well, we’ll talk more about that later. (There is a hint on my Instagram page about that however 😉)
Suffice it to say that I was extremely busy this week, working in both short and long bursts, on several projects I can’t talk about publicly.
Thank goodness I can talk about my childrens book project The Professional Dog! The book is farther along than my posts make it appear. And I’m excited about this book! I believe kids need fine art in their lives too so I’m taking great pleasure in making an album of fine art paintings and producing the work in such a way that while being an art object itself – as in I am personally making an artistic reproduction of my original artwork – my finished book will be affordable and will also withstand little hands with grape jelly on them!
I’ve been so slowly posting about this work because when I run out of time in a day it’s the online posting that drops off my to-do list. Creative work comes first. Talking about it comes later.
Similarly there wasn’t time for one of my Creativity Chats this week. I wrote notes for it though.
Food got simplified this week too. I threw ingredients for this recipe from a blog I follow called In Diane’s Kitchen into my slow cooker, pressed buttons and went to work in my studio. The reheated leftovers were even better the next two days.
And you bet your sweet bippy that I am still taking the time, up to an hour or so every evening, to read books and have hot chocolate before bedtime. It’s the way I keep calm and carry on during busy times.
My secrets to maintaining this level of creativity? In the mornings 5 or 10 minutes daily playing around with my sketchbook. In the evenings 30 minutes to an hour playing with books – print books I own as well as ebooks from my local library. (I especially love cozy mysteries, fiction, short story collections, poetry…)
And between those daily just-for-me fun times I play with whatever project is at hand. I just charge ahead with my project in my best imitation of a child arriving enthusiastically at a playground.
Yep, those are my secrets to a sustainable creative life which could be distilled to “Play and have fun every day come heck or high water!”.
I hope your week is a playful one no matter what else is happening. See you next Monday.
More progress this week on The Professional Dog, my latest childrens book project. Here are three together and like I mentioned in my last post perhaps you can see how the colors transition from one piece to the next?
Here are closer looks so you can see the details. I’m creating each portrait using ink and gouache on board. The text I plan to use for the book is below each artwork.
The Guidance Counselor’s dog is a generous dog.The Guitarist’s dog is a gentle dog.The Hairdresser’s dog is a happy dog.
This week a friend dropped by with a surprise! Her son had made the pencil I’m holding in this photo!
The pencil is a lead holder aka a “clutch pencil” that extends then holds 2mm lead by clutching the lead in its jaws so to speak. This gift pencil is thicker than the clutch pencils I’ve used in the past! Right away I drew with it in my sketchbook. It is nicely balanced and the thickness does make it easier for my hand!
This new clutch pencil has now joined my fountain pen in daily use. Both have thick barrels which are easy to hold for durations of time.
To play some more I used my new pencil to draw a portrait of my pencil. Then I added ink and gouache. I’m thinking this might be a fun image for a thinking-of-you note card … for my Zazzle shop eventually.
One of the many things I like about both clutch pencils and fountain pens is the environmental friendliness of them. Both are refillable so there’s no trash to throw away! Below are a few of my favorite books about using pencils and fountain pens.
I think the creative writing process benefits from visual drawings and vice versa. If a writer can draw a floorplan in which the story action happens sometimes that will help the written descriptions flow more easily. If a painter can write a verbal description of what they see in their imagination that can help the visual image flow better.
I’ve been thinking on this topic, the helpful cross-training effects on perception that comes from playing with words and pictures, for about a week. So almost the second the house was quiet and workmen had ceased hammering and sawing I did one of my Creativity Chat videos about this topic of seeing. https://youtu.be/4ljLOhgK30o
As I mentioned in my last post I’m still waiting for the go-ahead from the Caplan Art Designs gallery to post about my holiday box project. I varnished it this past week and will deliver it to the gallery soon. Here’s my art studio supervisor dachshund waiting … and wearing a sweater because it’s cold.
