Have you ever heard the saying, that writers should write about what they know? I am taking that axiom and applying it to the artwork that I create. This week’s offering features two acrylic mini-canvases of two scenes from a nearby park called Catoctin State Park in Thurmont, MD, just minutes away from my apartment. I have lived in the Thurmont/Sabillasville area in Maryland for about 10 years and have visited the Catoctin State Park many times with my husband, family, and friends.
About 4 years ago, I spent a day photographing different views of this park on a cool, Autumn day when Maryland had a genuine colorful, fall. It’s taken me four years to turn my photos into paintings, but better late than never right? In these works, I sought to capture the quiet beauty and colorful foliage of the park. As always, my work
These are two completed acrylic paintings on miniature canvases.
Hello Facebook Friends, Family, and Friends, I will be participating in an art show called Howling at the Moon, sponsored and coordinated by Sherry Purkey, Owner of Trend Setter Treats. I will have a display table with fine art, art prints, and postcards for sale. In addition, I will be demonstrating how I make pastel dog portraits. Many other makers and artists will be exhibiting alongside me. Come on down!
Howling at the Moon, Flyer, Courtesy of Sherry Purkey, Owner of Trend Setter Treats.
German Shepherd, Pastel on Paper, Jodie Schmidt, 2017.
Jack Russell Terrier, Pastel on Paper, Jodie Schmidt, 2017.
This week I am writing about my somewhat haphazard journey towards becoming an artist and some lessons I have learned along the way. I also add a few insights from some famous artists that I feel provide a meaningful segue for my thoughts. A few months back when I was hosting an Artist opening show at Spin the Bottle Wine Company in Frederick, MD, one of the visitors to the wine shop asked me how I got my start as an artist. I answered that my mother had always encouraged me to make art and that she had enrolled me in a watercolor painting class at the age of nine. Since then I have taken many other art classes at the Howard County Center for the Arts (acrylic and watercolor), Howard Community College (drawing and photography), McDaniel College (graphic design, sculpture, drawing, and oil painting) and art classes with local artist Rebecca Pearl for watercolor, to name a few. My journey has not been a straight path to overnight success. Instead, it has had many ups and downs, despite how things might look in my carefully timed and worded Facebook Posts and artist biographies that I write. For example, I don’t post artwork that I don’t like for the most part, and the ones I do post have often been re-worked several times. Furthermore, the artworks that I show in galleries, coffee shops, etc., are examples of my best work, culled from unfinished works, experiments, and messes. In the words of poet Langston Hughes, “This life ain’t been no crystal stair.”
I can’t speak for the path of other artists, but after I graduated from McDaniel College with a bachelor’s degree in art, I struggled to find a path that would work for me. After graduation, I had to balance the realities of everyday realities such as student loan payments, with my dreams of being an exhibiting and teaching artist. My transition from being an art student in a creative bubble, to the world outside those walls, was not seamless. For instance, it was hard to deal with the isolation of being an artist without a group of creative’s to cheer me on or encourage me when rejection inevitably came, in the form of rejection letters from Graduate Schools, such as Towson University, MICA, and James Madison University. There were also rejection letters from art galleries who rejected my artwork. At the time, I thought the only way to be an artist was to teach art or to exhibit my artwork in juried art shows. During this time, I took classes in a variety of subjects other than art, trying to find out what I wanted to do with my life, such as history, social work, and graphic design. None of these seemed to “fit”, and I usually ended up returning to art again at some point, either by taking another art class or by making art on my own time on days off from work or in the evenings. I worked in customer service jobs as a library assistant and restaurant hostess.
Jane Addams, pencil on paper, 2017, Jodie Schmidt.
Princess Diana, pencil on paper, 2017, Jodie Schmidt.
Michael J. Fox, pencil on paper, 2017, Jodie Schmidt.
Harrison Ford, pencil on paper, 2017, Jodie Schmidt.
Frank Sinatra, pencil on paper, 2017, Jodie Schmidt.
However, none of these paths seemed to “fit”, and I usually ended up returning to art again at some point, either by taking another art class or by making art on my own time on days off from work or in the evenings. I worked in customer service jobs as a library assistant, hostess, and currently, I work as a Receptionist at a Funeral Home. I have learned that there are many different ways to be an artist, whether it provides your livelihood or not. At present, I divide my time between part-time Reception work and making art in my spare time. I’m constantly looking for new opportunities to exhibit my art or share my art with others on Instagram and Facebook, or at art festivals or coffee houses.
One of the most valuable lessons I have learned during my creative journey as an artist was to be careful with whom I showed my art, and to carefully filter people’s comments about my art to see if they are helpful. I’ve had some bad critiques in the past and so I try to choose people who have my best interests at heart and who have some art training but are not pretentious or mercilessly blunt. Smiley, Kim. ” 10 Life Lessons from History’s Most Famous Artists.” Huffington Post, 2 Mar. 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kim-smiley/10-life-lessons-from-hist_b_4880431.html.
And finally, another lesson that I am currently in the process of learning is that it takes a lot of time, sweat and tears to perfect one’s craft as an artist. By no means does excellent work occur in and of itself. It takes years of practice and a determination on the part of the artist not to give up on practicing one’s art. For example, according to Kim Smiley, the “Renaissance sculptor, painter, poet and engineer, Michelangelo,” knew that it took time to create art, and likewise, Leonardo Da Vinci, states that, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” According to Smiley, artists should “go against the grain” of our modern culture to get everything done quicker, and instead take their time to create quality work and the patience to carry it out. Ibid, Smiley, 2017.
One way that I am working on practicing my craft, has been to challenge myself to draw a portrait a day, or as often as possible. Every time I create a portrait of a celebrity, change maker, or another historical figure, I post the results on Instagram. So far, I have created 91 line portraits out of the 100 I planned to make. It’s a work in progress. If you are interested in following my drawing challenge, 100 faces in 100 days, you can find me on Instagram as jsjsschmidt2, or you may view my website, www.artofschmidt.com, which has a link to my Instagram page and is updated each time I post a new drawing. Thanks for looking!
I just got back from displaying my oil and acrylic paintings at the Frederick Coffee Company in Frederick, MD. My art will be on display from October1-October 31st as an artist of the month. On display are landscapes, still life, and portraits. All items are for sale and are framed. For more information about the cafe hours or address, visit http://www.fredcoffeeco.com.
The painting of the week is inspired by my blog post, Why Artists Should Make Content-Based Art Work, and by the baroque artist, Georges La Tour, who specialized in portraits lit by candlelight. Self-Portrait with Oil Lamp, Oil on Canvas, 11 x 14 inches, 2013, $250.00. This item is available for purchase on my artist commerce site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtofSchmidt.
Have you ever wondered why some artists, such as Andrew Wyeth, and others create their artwork in a series format? My first experience with creating artwork as a series was as an undergraduate at McDaniel College, taking art classes at the senior level. In this Senior Studio Capstone class, my fellow students and I were given the assignment to create a series of artworks that expressed a theme of interest or importance to us and to write an artist’s statement that described our artwork’s theme. For example, according to the website The Abundant Artist, some themes that artists might explore in a series include, 1.) texture and color (Faith Ringgold), 2.) politics (Kathe Kollwitz), 3.) death, (Hirst) or 4.) messages that uplift, like Kelley Rae Roberts. Prior to that, my assignments in drawing and painting consisted of drawing or painting to try and copy the still life or model in front of me, to teach the skills of observation. At that time, I had no idea how to even get started and had artist’s block for two weeks while I searched for artworks that inspired, all in vain. My Teacher did give us some guidance on the process though. He suggested that we create sketchbooks in which we pasted artworks of inspiration, no matter the medium, and he suggested that we look up art magazines, such as Art in America. Pouring over art magazines and artist websites, such as Forum Gallery, I could think of nothing new to say with my artwork that hadn’t already been said. I felt I had a lot of competition since there have already been many artists who have gone before me, who have created several unforgettable artworks to boot, such as Vermeer’s, Girl with a Pearl Earring, painted in 1665.
After weeks of struggle and seeking out artwork that inspired me, I had a solution. My answer came from an unlikely source, music. I decided to illustrate some of the songs of my favorite musician, Sting, using my self-portrait as a muse, along with color, and composition to portray various feelings of uncertainty, sadness, etc. Some of the songs I illustrated in my self-portrait series were Lithium Sunset and Secret Journey. The first song talks about how medication can help bring a person out of depression and make them strong enough to get back up again. While the second song, Secret Journey, talks about a mystical journey of enlightenment. I printed out the songs from Sting’s website, www.sting.com, pasted them in my sketchbooks, and underlined words and phrases that I thought were good candidates for illustration. And I referenced these songs and artworks of inspiration as I crafted my Artist’s Statement. As I searched through artwork that inspired, it became evident that I was drawn to the subject of the portrait, but I didn’t know how to make my work unique because the portrait has been done numerous times before.
The imagery of Sting’s songs provided the perfect solution to my dilemma and I was off and running. My then boyfriend, Dan, took photos of me to provide the source photos for my oil paintings. To make a long story short, I finished the series in time and even made a power point presentation as part of the project requirements of my finished works. In addition, I crafted an artist’s statement, which helped me to define the artwork by describing what the artwork would be about and what influences had to lead me to the finished work. I learned a lot about myself as an artist, such as how to distill ideas through writing artist statements and creating sketchbooks to illustrate my ideas by pasting artwork that inspired onto its pages. In particular, I discovered that I liked to make artworks that had a message, even if the search for the solution was far from easy. But back to my main question, “Why should artists work in a series?”
To investigate that question more fully, I did what many people would do, I googled it. The websites, Abundant Artist and Art Business.com, shed some light on the subject of content-based art. According to the authors, some of these benefits include: 1.) Making artwork in a series gives the artist a platform to connect with their audience on an emotional level because the artwork is focused and personal, 2.) Creating artwork in a series format helps others to understand what an artist’s work is about and who they are as a person, 3.) Artists who make artwork in a series are more likely to find art galleries to exhibit their work
Lithium Sunset, Oil on Canvas, 2005.
Let Your Soul be Your Pilot, Oil on Canvas, 2005.
Self-Portrait, oil on Canvas, 2006.
Self-Portrait with Scenery, Oil on Canvas, 2004.
because they know how to market the artist and this format follow their business model, and 4.) Working in a series format helps artists to understand what topics/subjects are important to them, and which they like to draw or paint.
I am writing about the creative process this week in an attempt to provide a behind the scenes view of what it takes for me to bring an idea to a realized concept and finally a completed painting or drawing. My inspiration for this blog post comes from an article by Amanda Truscott, entitled, This is What Creative Inspiration Really Looks Like, on www.skinnyartist.com. I believe inspiration, or what the Greeks termed, “the Muse” is something which must be sought after in order to be found. Although it may seem to be a sudden insight, in my experience, it is not an isolated light bulb moment. Sometimes, indeed often, bringing my artistic visions to life it is the result of a hard-won battle of trying out different ideas in sketches, paintings, etc., to test out a compositional idea or a color scheme. Sometimes these ideas work, and sometimes they don’t and I need to make more revisions to the color schemes, composition, etc., to make it a successful artwork. Other times, I have to start over the painting from scratch.
For example, in my ongoing poetry illustration series, Voices and Visions, it has been a combination of hunting for inspiring poems to illustrate; these poems need to have some visual imagery and themes that lend themselves to storytelling, in order for me to consider them as potential candidates. So far, I have found a few poems written by Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and T.S. Eliot, whose works have several identifiable themes such as hope, time, and the artificiality of modern life. After reading the poems, I researched literary criticisms to identify possible themes that seem to suggest a story or feeling which I translated visually through specific symbols or color schemes. I followed up these steps by looking for artwork by artists whose artwork has a narrative theme, such as Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold, and Andrew Wyeth. When I found artwork that inspires, I pasted it into a sketchbook for future reference. Finally, after these steps have been completed, I created a photo collage in Adobe Photoshop of found images that I locate online and modify in Photoshop by creating several layers and layer masks. When I was pleased with the composition in my Photoshop files, I printed them out to scale, and then traced them onto my substrate of choice using carbon paper and pen, usually to cotton duck canvas or cold press watercolor paper. The painting is then completed in watercolor paints or acrylic or mixed media. Finally, I worked on the painting for 1-2 weeks, making revisions as I painted.
In addition, the backbone of the creative process for me is always the deliberate practice of the fundamentals of art, such as drawing or painting, so that when I finally find that intersection between deliberate practice and purposeful searching for inspiration, everything clicks. Although this process may seem instantaneous to others who were not there to watch the process, or read my blog posts, it is a painstaking process. It is not simply talent which I was born with that brings my visions and goals to life, it is a decision followed by a series of actions. It takes willpower and self-discipline to practice drawing and painting every week, and to continually seek out artistic inspiration through Pinterest searches, reading art books, watching documentaries about artists on youtube, reading poetry books, literary criticism, creating inspiration sketchbooks, etc. Moreover, it takes grit and determination to stick with a painting even when it goes wrong, and to figure out what went wrong so that I can critique the artwork
Waiting Creative Block: Stage 1. Here is the Photoshop file made with found images on the internet.
Stage 2: Creative Block: Waiting, stage 2. In this photo is the watercolor paining with sepia brown paint.
Stage 3: Creative Block: Waiting, stage 3. I was unhappy with the composition which seemed too busy, so I painted some items out with Acrylic Gesso.
Stage 4: Creative Block, Waiting, stage 4. I started to add color with acrylic paint, after the acrylic Gesso had dried.
Stage 5: Creative Block: Waiting. The image seemed too empty so I started adding more shapes in again with acrylic paint.
Stage 6: Creative Block, Waiting. I made a new Photshop file, where I adjusted the composition to make it simpler and added color to the black and white images. I also added a photo with sand dunes and decided to get rid of the cracks in the foreground.
Stage 7: Waiting, Creative Block. I started to re-draw the composition with white pastel and did began painting the figure, adding shadows and highlights to the hair and face.
Stage 8: Creative Block, Waiting. Here I toned down the color of the sky, which seemed too saturated and which competed too much with the figure.
Stage 1: The Secret Sits, poem by Robert Frost. Here I started to create a Photoshop photo collage using found photos from the internet.
Stage 2: The Secret Sits, poem by Robert Frost. In this stage, I sketched out the composition with pencil, creating a three value sketch of white, gray and black on paper.
Stage 3: The Secret Sits. Color test 1 in acrylic paint was made by selected a limited palette of dull colors to create a subdued mood.
Stage 3: The Secret Sits. Color test 2, using cool colors in Acrylic paints to try out a winter theme.
Stage 4: The Secret Sits. Color test 3, to try out a complementary color scheme of red-orange and blue-violet.
Stage 5: The Secret Sits. I felt that the composition was lacking something, especially since the main figure was not interacting with the audience, so I made a new Photoshop file with different photos.
Stage 6: The Secret Sits. I am finally happy with the composition, but I wanted to try one more color scheme. This scheme was another complementary color scheme of red and green with subdued background colors so the main figures really stand out. I still have to complete the final painting in acrylic, oil or pastel, whichever I choose.
and decide what strategy to pursue to make the artwork sing.
Click on the following link (below) to read my latest Art of Schmidt Newsletter! This newsletter has some thoughts about my latest art project, 100 Faces in 100 Days, which is an “almost” drawing challenge which I have been participating in since June of this year, and some thoughts about what I learned from an Art Fair I recently participated in called Art Pops! at Everedy Square and Shab Row in Frederick, MD, organized and hosted by Leslie Ruby.
I am posting a recently completed, acrylic painting, Rooster, Hen, and Chick. In a manner similar to my commissioned work, I started with a three step process. First, I decided on the composition and reduced the color photo referenced to three values in black, gray and white. After that, I began painting in the local colors, or the colors that I actually saw in the photo. Lastly, I did some problem solving with the composition by changing the arrangement of the chickens and by adding a baby chick to balance out the composition and fill in the empty space. The painting is available for sale on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtofSchmidt?ref=seller-platform-mcnav. I will also be adding this painting to my Red Bubble site tonight so that it will be available in a variety of formats such as coffee mugs and fine art prints! Thanks for looking!
Stage 1: I began this painting by taking the reference photos into Photoshop and changing them from color to black and white. Then I started painting the acrylic painting in three tones: black, gray and white to simplify the image, and make sure that the values are well balanced.
Stage 2: I started adding in local color to match the colors I saw in the color reference photo.
Stage 3: I decided that the composition needed to be revised and I chalked in an alternative drawing with Rembrandt Soft white pastel. i also added the chick on the right hand side to bring in some lighter values and fill the empty space on the right.
Stage 4: I continued painting in the local color with Liquitex Acrylic paints until I was happy with the values and colors.
![20170930_193917[1]](https://artofschmidt.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/20170930_1939171.jpg?w=521&h=313 "20170930_193917[1]")
