Florence Turnour's Blog

Once again, I decided to participate in Illustration Friday, and again, I didn't finish my image until Saturday. The topic this week was Warrior .  I call my painting "Not All Warriors Make Wars." Not All Warriors Make Wars, by Florence Turnour Here is last week's illustration for the Illustration Friday topic " Outside ." Thanks for looking!

This week, I decided to participate in Illustration Friday. The organizers give a topic illustrate, which this week was Outside , and participants can post their entries. Of course I didn't get mine done until Saturday, so I didn't get to submit it. Go Outside! by Florence Turnour Here's why it took me forever, other than that this kind of thing always takes me forever. First I drew a bunch of sketches. Not all of them made the final cut.   Then I scanned them in and arranged them into my composition. Then I decided that I should paint the pieces separately, and assemble them in Photoshop. Why? I don't think this particular project really called for this, but I was a little afraid I'd screw up when I was 90% done, so I did it in bite sized pieces. Of course, I painted the background image much larger than my scanner, so I had to scan it in in four, count'em four pieces. Once the background was assembled, though, the rest came together q...

A short time ago, Colby Sharp ( @ColbySharp on Twitter) asked illustrators how big they make their drawings. He used #IDrawThisBig to share the results on Twitter. (Follow the link, to see the feed.) I learned that some artists draw small at first, and then enlarge their drawings to produced more detailed illustrations. Recently, I read or heard a picture book artist with a background is in animation talking about the importance of having a clear silhouette. I thought I might have an easier time getting my silhouettes clear a very small drawing. I also got to look through a sketchbook belonging to Illustrator Barbara Malley ( @BarbaraMalley on Twitter) which had densely packed pages of tiny detailed images. So with these ideas in the back of my mind, this morning I watched my children draw tiny little pictures in their drawing books. I always want to tell them to draw bigger, mainly so I can see what they're up to, but this time I thought the better of it. I enlarged one of B...

I'm taking a watercolor class from  Moira Hahn . In this assignment, we considered value, painting a white object in black paint.  We were to choose between a cement squirrel, a cow's skull or a teapot. For me the choice was obvious, though I'm not quite sure why. Teapot In another assignment, we were to practice applying two gradient techniques in eight, credit-card-sized rectangles, and then paint something in the spaces. When I was little, I asked my mother (constantly), what should I draw? She always said "a giraffe." So when I was at a loss for this one, I thought I'd go back to my roots. I decided to think outside the box a little.

I painted this boy reading again, playing with the lighting. Here's the first watercolor of this boy reading . Thanks for looking!

Here is a boy reading Virginia Lee Burton's Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel . This is the painting I was planning in this post . Ironically, in the photo reference I used for this, the boy was using an iPad. Perhaps he was reading the eBook. Thanks for looking.

What's he reading? Can you tell? Boy reading

These are your bears on math. Love the bear-cam:  http://explore.org/live-cams/player/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

I've read loads of books since my last post. There is no way I'm going to keep up with that, given how much time I spend in the picture books at the library and bookstores.  It is a smaller task for me to keep track of some of my progress in art and illustration here. I'm taking a watercolor class from Moira Hahn , which is demanding and engaging. In our first assignment, we learned to apply a flat wash (aha moment if there ever was one). I painted the absence of a potato masher, three times. The Absence of a Potato Masher  In our second assignment, we learned some texturing techniques. Then I doodled on mine. Blue Sampler The techniques sampler was to prepare to paint a blue still life. I am not a person to have stuff and things about the house, so I went to Peer One (a borage of stuff and things), and purchased a blue and white botchy ball.  Moira said it reminded her of a bowling ball, and I decided to go with that for my project. Here is my sketch. Bow...

Here is my second stack of birds inspired by  Carla Sonheim 's  Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals: A Mixed-Media Workshop . Yes, that's a yo yo. Thanks for looking.

I am enjoying my new book, Carla Sonheim 's Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals: A Mixed-Media Workshop . Here is my first stack of blob birds. Birds on a Twig

Quick! Draw fast. Kids move. Thanks for looking!

This is a practice gelli print that I made when my mother was here. Off and on we talk about collaborating on a project in which I provide window fabric and she sews it into something wonderful. This print is on deil paper. I drew on the print with a thin liner, and then added color with colored pencils. High rise  This image was inspired by the children's book, The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown . Thanks for looking.

Carla Sonheim (author of Drawing Lab for the Mixed Media Artist -- support the arts; buy from the author  http://www.carlasonheim.com/books/) published a short video tutorial called Crazy Birds. On a whim, in the middle of the night, I gave the exercise a try. Here is what I made. Here is the Crazy Bird Tutorial:  http://carlasonheim.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/crazy-birds-tutorial/ I liked the bird very much, so I made him into a stamp, following the guidelines in the book Making an Impression, by Geninne Zlatkis (http://blogdelanine.blogspot.com/). In this impression, I colored the image with my colored pencils.  I've never thought about coloring on my stamps with large solid areas before, but I am delighted with the gradient and texture. Carving rubber stamps is going to take some practice, but I'm so impressed (ha ha, or should I say lol?) with Geninne's work, that I'm sure I will keep at it. 

I found an illustrator named Tor Freeman on the web. I don't remember what I was searching for, but I have been visiting her blog regularly ever since. I am enchanted with her illustrations, and plan to order her new children's book when it comes out. She made this illustration out if Singing in the Rain, and it inspired me to try one of my own. Oddly enough, this infamous scene of Gene Kelly made it onto the radio news during dinner tonight, although it was a piece about pole dancing. I wonder how Tor Freeman added those rain lines in her drawing?  I wonder how she colored it in?  I scanned in my image and printed it out before coloring it in, so I might have another go. Maybe I'll use Photoshop instead of markers next time, just for fun. Wait, that Photoshop coloring idea was much easier that I thought it would be, and I've done it already. It's too soon for another blog entry, so I'll just stick it in here. What do you think, rain (right) or no ra...