Digging in Deeper with Extreme Portraits Live

 Over the last week I  talked a lot about honing your artistic skills and working towards the mastery of  your chosen craft, art, and interest (not that those are separate categories but they could be).  One thing I've discovered through my own journey is that the magic 'sauce' for anything I've done is in this one big secret....ready for it????  Practice!!     Don't get me wrong, there are shortcuts that one can take and 'aha' moments you can break through with that will propel you a bit further, but by and large, the magic potion is in the practice.    For me, one of the most significant improvement in anything I've done has been in my portraits.   I've found my groove and I can see my style go from primitive and pretty girls, to ones that have much more emotion and substance in my style.   Sharing those 'aha' moments and helping YOU move from what you are currently doing now, to a more "Extreme Portrait' (drawing and painting)  is the basis of my class coming up at Random Arts  in Saluda, NC, this February 28, and March 1st. Emotional. Colorful. Deep,  Full of Substance and Character.

During this 2 day class, we will work on shading  and developing features of our portrait. I'll guide you along in my exercises to give you confidence in the fact that you can do this, too.   Maybe not exactly like me, but perhaps even BETTER!  It's about YOU...and using your strengths, your style and your vision to capture the feeling behind a person you are portraying or 'creating' if it's from imagination.

 In addition to working on our drawing skills we will be working on developing some really interesting backgrounds full of texture and original mark making.....as our painted portraits will beckon for more grit and grunge then just a simple painted background piece.

In order to get the richness and depth our "Extreme Portraits' call for, we need to create a foundation to jump off with.  This picture is about 6 or 7 layers in from the beginning....

 Over the 2 days we will learn strategies to create shape and form...and NOT be afraid to use non-traditional colors for our faces.    I believe in the theory that one can create amazing portraits with just about ANY color.   Trust me.  Or trust yourself may be the better way to look at it.

 I'll show you how to make your paintings radiate with color through techniques that date back 100's of years but are not as used as often in this day and age because many artists don't want to take the time to  glaze and layer, glaze and layer, shade and highlight, shade and highlight some more than do it all over again...as many times as necessary.   It's fascinating to see it all come together...and quite frankly, there will be times that it' a bit scary. That's the part where you have to stick with me, stick with you...and keep the process going.

 

 We will also do exercises that are not as time consuming.  Not everything has to be a journey, there is a lot of value in just working super fast and letting the rawness of your brush strokes do the talking for you.    

My mission is to expose you to it all..and to be your guide.

My style is a bit imperfect.  It's a bit gritty.  It's full of texture.  Not traditional but yet it is.....It's about color and emotion and trying to  capture someone's spirit and give it a 'voice' on your canvas.

Time permitting, we may even work a bit on painting ourselves...so bring a fun picture of yourself in black and white and in color.  This class is about exploring.  Practicing. Learning.  Diving in and  immersing yourself for 2 full days of portrait play.    Nestled in the mountains of Western  NC,  Random Arts is the perfect intimate location to visit and leave inspired for unlimited amount of creative ventures.  Art, culture, nature, and amazing photographic opportunities abound over and above this classroom setting.  

Join on this 2 day exploratory journey into "Extreme Portraits" . 

Take you work from flat to that which is full of depth and texture.

Draw and paint eyes that will pierce.

Paint faces that have shape and  radiate with color.

You'll hone your skills around shading and highlighting.

You will find ways to let go of  traditional colors and explore a brave new world of contemporary colors.

Combining painting with drawing we will literally do it all during Extreme Portraits.

For registration and location information,   Please visit this link here.

I'll be teaching this class on February 28 and March 1st, 2015--the only time I will be doing this particular class live in 2015 so don't miss out on this fun opportunity!!

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, part of the magic sauce on the road to mastery is practice, but a little guidance along the way doesn't hurt :)   Allow me to be your guide for 2 days!

Until we meet again,  go out and be brave, do something that might be outside your comfort zone and  live a bit outside the lines.

Go Extreme.

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Have you seen my new cards in my shop?   Just listed today several new styles and a couple best sellers back in stock!

My Favorite Paintings of 2014

It's been a Monday or should I say my Monday type of day started yesterday when the worst thing that could happen to me while I'm working on a project happened...I'm not going to jinx myself and tell you what happened because I think I have it fixed but heart attack city (nothing I'm working on commission wise so no worries for the few that I have going on....it was technology related), but yes, I about had a total melt down and freak out over it.  The fix is going to take me many hours if not days to fix but at least it seems to be working. Phew. phew. phew.  Can you imagine months of work just poof?  See what I mean? lol  ya.  It's only 2:30 here but I think I need a glass of wine after about pulling an all nighter and then getting up early to continue working on my issue just to calm down :)

Here's me in a much better mood than I was yesterday!

It's another lesson that I have to really take to heart that I seem to be re-learning over and over again this year, you can't have all your eggs in one basket and you should always have a back up plan, system, and well, a plan b or c!  Even when I think I have a back up plan, things don't always go as they should so, another lesson learned that you have to be flexible and learn to think on your feet to make the best dang lemonade you can when the lemons are served up on your plate, right?  

Well enough talk of my little (BIG) crisis,  as I was checking the Facebook this morning, I came across my friend Nathalie Kalbach's post of her favorite paintings /memories of 2014 and I thought I'd like to piggy back off of her idea and share some of my favorites from 2014 as well throughout the week.  

(PS...if you haven't seen Nathalie's collaborative class for 2015 called "Creative Jumpstarts Summit 2015" you should definitely check it out! It's only 25.00 for 25 lessons during January.  

Onto my some of my favorite paintings from 2014.  It was hard to choose so I just picked one from each month, in sharing, I thought I'd tell you why it's my favorite or what I was thinking about while creating at the point in time.  What fun it was to look back in time and relive the journey of 2014 through my art.

1) Down by the River (sold) was one of the first pieces I completed back in January. It is one of my all time favorite pieces because it started me off the year working rather large again and extremely detailed. The theme of community, villages, houses, and water continue to be a major influence in most of my work, but this piece is quite different then others I have done...a very special piece indeed.  I completed most of this piece with a palette knife until I got to the very end where the smallest details were finished with a brush or pencil/charcoal.   

2) (Sold) Oh how dramatically  have my portraits changed since I first started painting several years ago! This piece was my sample painting for Extreme portraits class prior to filming my class.  I tend to favor contemplative portraits, maybe a bit moody with exaggerated color, but always with a sense of strength and resolve.  I love this piece because it really had the depth and richness I was trying to go for and taught me to truly never give up on a piece because there were many moments I was ready to throw in the towel.  The way I paint faces tends to take a long time because I do underpaintings and the under painting isn't always a pretty process to say the least..lol .   At the same time, if I can't follow through and make sense out of painterly chaos, how could I expect my students to?  I worked through the rough spots obviously and finished her:)

3) More Time (available) This piece is probably my favorite in my Grunge Ink series and ironically it was the first large piece I did in preparation for my class that I released later on in the summer during 2014. The colors are totally different for me as I am much more known to paint in bright contemporary colors, but I felt a need to shift my direction a bit and just get really raw and emotional last year especially early on. I had lots of doubts and questions at the time (and still do..probably always will) about my life both professionally and personally.  Just letting go and getting gritty was good for me and it led to my development of my class which I'm so proud of and had so much fun doing last year. (For you Grunge Ink fans, I'm working on a new release for 2015 behind the scenes!) 

4)  Wandering in the Wild  30 x  40 (sold) .  For the last few years, I've participated in a show locally called "Double Takes" hosted by Eye Candy Gallery which is run by Frank Pierce and Nancy Rawlinson (I used to work with Nancy back in my banking days). The show pairs up a photographer with a painter and as the painter, we take the photo and interpret it in our own way-it can either be exactly like the photo or we can take our own artistic liberties with the piece.  I chose to work fairly close to the photo as it was just amazing. My first thought was this was perfect for a more impressionistic style-which again, very different then my normal repertoire. I love this piece because it was different than what I normally do. The sky was another point of pride for me, I love how the clouds came out, you really feel like you are walking among the wild flowers towards something off in the distance.  This painting also was a winning entry in the Iprintfromhome.com  contest for their annual paper sampler advertising kit, which is thrilling for me as well. This is the second year in a row that one of my pieces won in their contest.

5) Answers Appear(sold)   As I was working on Wander in the Wild, I found that I loved the colors so much I did about 10 other pieces all in that same color family with this piece being the first of several that were to come over the next few months.  Over the last couple of years, I've taken my doodles and abstracts and combined them into pieces I call my Pods and Portals collection.  The process is so soothing and fun to me because you get lost in the process from background to the final details, it's like creating little worlds inside of each and every little area of interest. You can tell your story but at the same time, leave room for interpretation. The title itself might have been a breakthrough of sorts for me as I was painting....after many months of deep contemplation at the beginning of the year and I was finally starting to see the light again or at least find my way towards the light.  At the beginning of 2014,  I had found out that one of my pod pieces had been chosen for publication in the book, Incite 2, the best of mixed media for 2014. The fact that the collection was recognized was again, just an over the top moment for me and has led to several other pieces that have been born from a combination of several of my favorite techniques.   It also has led to classes I've taught in person and will be teaching online in January (have you seen my class, Podtastic, yet?)

6) Renew (24 x 30) available.   My word for the year in 2014...Renew came to have many meanings for me including the renewal of my faith in myself and confidence in what I was doing for a living.  It also is one of our brand phrases for my business venture, "ReMe" a retreat business with 2 other of my artist friends. Rest, Relax, Renew.... I did this piece as a sample for our very first retreat in May as our theme for the class  I taught was abstract word art...but more than just a class sample, I think this piece is one of my favorite abstracts because it incorporates all my favorite things: color, texture, geometric shapes mixed with organic shapes, words, and layers and layers of hidden words, phrases and meaning.   It also celebrates my love for the water and our NC coast line and...and this is a big and, it celebrates the new beginning of our retreat company which has taken on a life of it's own over the last year or so.  Let's just say its has touched everyone's life that has participated in many profound ways none of us could have every imagined.

7) Behind These Eyes (available for sale in March 2015-held for class at Random Arts in Saluda, NC). 

I wanted to include a beginning picture for this piece so you can get a glimpse at the transformation a portrait takes on in its beginning stages. This painting  was a piece I finished for my class Extreme Portraits in our 90 minute exercise--the students were supposed to let go of perfection and set a timer (other than their background work) for 90 minutes and just be loose and painterly with their strokes.  This is a favorite of mine because It's not perfect or too girly, it has the quiet resolve radiating from her just as I felt the same while painting, the story still unfolding of her and me.  Never give up but let go of perfection as its a fleeting goal. Learning and doing is a better way to approach life and art. 

8)  (sold) During the summer and actually pretty much most of the year in 2014 I traveled quite a bit. I had spent a lot of time the first 6 months doing very intense work, some of it dark, most of it very time consuming and large but by the summer I was ready to go back to my funky little houses and whimsical themes.  Alot of my pieces this year had the flags on the top of the painting, I don't know why other than I drive by this store near my house every day and they had pennants in their window for months and months and months and I just loved seeing them so I decided to add them as an element in my designs. I love these two pieces in particular because they just bring me back to my beginnings as an artist and also to my philosophy of every day is a reason to celebrate and to give gratitude for what we have.  

9) Stand in Love  (sold)   I love this piece because it is the transformation of one idea that has led to the off shoot of so many more ideas.  Angels, texture, color, love, graffiti writing..all combined to create my simple message of peace, compassion, simplicity, friendship, and strength.  The year before I did this piece, I had created a class called Texturize this (hence the textured marks on here that truly so fun to do and see)  and it was so popular I changed it up a bit  for 2014 and added a larger composition to the class after sampling the technique on smaller tiles).  I love doing angel paintings all throughout the year and this was the first of many other that were to come in 2014 that hopefully are touching others lives as they have touched mine.  

10)  Crazy Good Life  (sold)  The title sort of exemplifies how I feel about my life right now. It's crazy. It's good. It's a crazy good life working as an artist and teacher and for one's self.   One of the reasons I chose this piece as a favorite is because it was a custom order for someone that found me through Pinterest, a link from a link from a link of one of my older pieces similar to this one. Is not this world within a world of the internet not amazing?  Anytime someone asks me to do something special for them, its truly an honor and this piece was especially so as I was coming down from a long haul of traveling for quite some time, not knowing exactly what the future held for me other than I know I want to keep doing what I'm doing. I asked for a sign and I got this order. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe not. 

11)  L-O-V-E   (sold) can you see what I mean, when I work in one color family I like to carry it on to other pieces as well?  This piece has one of my favorite words featured. I had (have) an idea of doing more pieces that just words, grunge, and lots of texture...but it's more than that.  Love...it's a theme I like to paint about, maybe because it's something I'm still searching for. After spending many years (and I'm trying to talk myself out of the belief I currently have that the years were wasted but I feel sad that they were)  with the wrong person and now several years alone...will it always be this way?  Will I find it again?  Or will I walk into the sunset without another soul beside me during my final years?  Time will tell I suppose so while I am by myself, I fill the time with focusing on my kids  (whom truly are the main love in my life) and of course, my art.

11)  Seasons of Change (sold)   Again, after many months of bright and colorful house paintings, I was ready to grab a great big warm swash of earthy colors and create a town that showcased in my own way how I knew it was time for a change in direction once again.  My career took a big hit when a few doors closed (Create Retreats announced they were no longer doing their mixed media retreats) and Art Is You could not use me in Stamford as they had in the past but wanted me in Ca which I could not do during 2015 due to a schedule conflict). So there it was...my seasons of change, I have to be honest...I went through a bit of depression over the loss of what was probably 50% or more of my income...but at the same time, it has made room for new doors to open that I had not even contemplated or had time for before.  November and December of 2014 I had the most sales of original paintings than I ever have for a non-show or class timeframe as well as many online class sales during that time...so yes this painting marks an ending to one phase of my profession but it also serves as the door opening to new adventures in the coming year.  I know that I am on the right path but it's also easy to go down the rabbit hole of perhaps I'm not doing the right thing and need to go back to something else.  Well...I'm still here and will continue to grow..and well...Flourish (which is my word for 2015 btw...more about that another day).

12)  Dirty Birds  (sold)   In fact the person who bought the above painting, bought this painting as well..which is my first piece of my series of my crazy talking,  snarky and  amusing birds --I love grungy color and texture and wanted to create my birdies in a little edgier style than my previous subjects. I love how this piece turned out in particular, it's like they are having a show down but at the same time, they are saying to eachother, despite it all...I Got You Babe.  That's all any of us wants, when it comes down to it. We want to know we have someone in our corner, someone that has our back and gets us despite our flaws or quirks.  We want to be loved, understood and accepted for who we are.

13) Faux Leather Feathers.    I'll end my favorites of 2014 with these little guys that I did for the holidays (and may do more beyond the holidays) as I love love love them.  They materialized after walking through an Anthropology store and I saw a beautifully decorated tree with leather and suede feathers....and so I figured out a way to create my own style  of feathers for not just a Christmas tree but really any place to hang little inspirational ornaments....so hopefully who ever has purchased or received as a gift, they are reminded to soar each and every day.

It's your time to fly...today.

And that's a wrap folks. I hope you enjoyed this journey of my favorite paintings of 2014, I know I've had a great time looking back. It's time to look forward now.  Here's to the new year. May you flourish and soar in it as well!

Cheers!

Jodi

New Workshops and other Announcements!

 As many of you know,  Create Mixed Media Retreats has decided to 'retire' their mixed media retreat offerings going forward which really breaks my heart along with many of my fellow instructors and all of our students.   In addition, due to a scheduling conflict and a change on the teacher line up on the East Coast,  I will not be teaching at Art Is You retreats in 2015... but with that said, I am happy to announce a variety of my workshops you can attend at several of our favorite shops and galleries locally and around the country.   I will also be offering some fantastic new online classes,  projects, and full 'extreme' courses in 2015.  Stay tuned for some exciting announcements. We are sad some doors have closed, but we are excited to see what  new and amazing opportunities the future holds.

 You can also sign up for my newsletter  to keep informed on the latest classes,   to read reviews of cool products, and be the first to see new work revealed as this next chapter of my artistic career unfolds.






Random Arts

Grunge Ink

February 27th.  One day 'Grungilicious' extravaganza! 

$125.00

Registration Open--best way to register right now is to contact Jane at Random Arts:

randomarts22@gmail.com

Extreme Portraits

February 28th-March 1st

First time offered in person---2 days of Extreme Portrait immersion.  Learn to cross the path from whimsical to realistic but with an edgy take on portraiture.  We will cover everything from drawing, to collage, to building up depth through glazing and texture creating in our portraits, plus more. 

Yes..2 days.  You will be amazed at the portraits that will come to life from this workshop!

$230.00 for both days

Registration Open-best way to save your spot and register is to contact Jane at Random Arts:

randomarts22@gmail.com

Jerry's Artarama:  Raleigh, NC

Sunday, March 8th

I'm excited to be back teaching at Jerry's Artarama in Raleigh, NC.  I've had tons of people ask me if I would be teaching locally again and low and behold--we made it happen!  I'll be at Jerry's for 2 different dates in the early Spring, 2015.  First up:

Angelic Inspirations-a short 3 hour course jam packed with techniques during this workshop as we compose whimsical and inspirational Angels.

$60.00

Register HERE

Funky Little Cityscapes

If you've been a fan of my work for awhile, you'll know that creating funky little city (or beach) scapes are some of my favorite themes for compositions.  This course is much much more than just a few doodles on canvas,  you'll walk away with a plethora of techniques on how to use layers of acrylic paints combined with drawing medium all the while letting your imagination run wild in a child like manner (deceptively child like as the depth of these paintings will go as deep as you wish them to but still be fun and loose)!  One day only at Jerry's: April 18th.
$120.00   Register Here!

ReMe (3 all inclusive events on Ocracoke Island).
This is much more than just a workshop. In the words of one of our recent students, we have put "Retreat' back into a retreat!     Join us for our experience at the end of April, May or cozy up with us in October.   Spaces are limited to 8 students for each event with the workshops so don't delay, register today.  We are offering flexible payment plans including monthly payment options!

For more details on our ReMe events,  please click HERE


Stay tuned for this page to be updated in the coming weeks and months with more wonderful opportunities to learn how to infuse creativity into your life,  sharpen your artistic painting/drawing/collage skills, and simply live a life that is well balanced and full of positivity!

Sign up for my newsletter here.


Check out what is new in my Etsy shop HERE.

Would you like to host a workshop? I'm always interested in new opportunities. Let's work together!

Perhaps you'd like a custom painting, such as this funky town above with your street name/number or family name on it? I'd love to do commission pieces!

For more workshop information or to request a custom order, please email me at:

jodiohl@hotmail.com

Extreme Portraits Winner Announced!

Extreme Portraits Giveaway Winner Is.......

Lucky Number 12!

Maggie Kopp - Martin said...

Awesome giveaway...I am ready to be brave and move onto portraits.

1:46 PM 

Congratulations Maggie!

The winner from my newsletter subscribers is Melony Lane!

Congratulations Melony!

Both of you can contact me at jodiohl@hotmail.com and I will send your info over to the admins to the site.  Everything should be ready to go for you this next week!  

If you didn't win, of course I would love to see you in the class and have you join us.  It's not too late, it will start on Monday (which of course is a US holiday so many of us will be picnicking etc with family that day, but no worries, new lessons will be uploaded every Monday for 6 weeks so you have plenty of time to work on the exercises.  Thank you all that entered, I loved reading all of your comments and hope to see you in this class or another one of mine soon!

Register for Extreme Portraits by clicking HERE:)

AEDM Project 2 Am I Worthy

AEDM Project 2

"Am I Worthy"

Hello friends..it's Sunday and a bit cold outside. The leaves are dancing around the yard carefree and congregating in places that I should be taking care of right now, but here I am warm and cozy inside hibernating on this fall morning. I will be out soon enough, taking care of my chores that I've been putting off all week.  One of these days I will have a full time yard boy:)

For yesterdays project I worked on a portrait on grey toned paper by Strathmore which I love. I've been using it quite frequently as you can build up the tones quicker and the face doesn't look as harsh as when you are sketching on white paper.

Normally I use a reference photo from a magazine and just change the pictures up. I avoid anyone who is smiling with their pearly whites showing at all costs.LOL   I haven't graduated to drawing teeth just yet. Or bodies for that matter.

I do love me some eyes though.

Lips are my next favorite.

I've even come to love and respect hair.  We often rush when it comes to drawing hair, or at least I used to.   Now I enjoy seeing it build up and come to life. I've learned some very valuable tricks along the way and am sure I will continue to learn the more I practice.

The more and more I glazed on the layers of pencil and charcoal, I thought that my girl looked a bit sad. Almost teary eyed.  She was not feeling strong or confidant, questioning herself in many ways.

It's funny how our own emotions can come out in our art even if that wasn't what we intended at first.

I finished off with building depth around the girl by doing some freestyle writing and even scribbles. It's  a good way to get your feelings out and it also gives the background an edgy look.

Am I Worthy.

I know I am, but it doesn't always feel that way..and so I art:)

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday, stay warm and make time for YOU.

Artfully Yours,

Jodi

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Stop by my Etsy shop to see what's new!

Embrace Your Limitations-and Winner of my Giveaway

 Good Monday Morning!

I hope everyone is well rested and ready for a beautiful week ahead, our first full week of June! It hardly seems possible we are hitting the halfway mark of 2013!  

With each passing day, time flies faster than the one before and each year melds into the next in a blink of an eye. 
I think acknowledging this and making the most of each and every day is so important. I know you all know that, but until something sneaks up on you or a life changing event happens, we often forget to make the most of every day and every moment we have with our loved ones.

We forget to do this with ourselves as well. How often do we do something just because others think we should? 

Granted there are times when we just need to do something  or it's the right thing to do, but how often is it that you put yourself to the wayside or make excuses as to why you can't do it?

 Reading through the comments in my giveaway last week really reconfirmed to me that we often make excuses, let fear override our faith and, and put off what we want for the sake of everyone but ourselves, (Among many other amazing 'aha' moments that were shared")

The winner of  my giveaway,  Mo Wassell had this to say,

 "  my AHA moment... so many... I heard something yesterday from an inspirational speaker - basically, to embrace your limitations. I thought of how I don't have much space to create, and even less time, and I tend to put off even trying. But his advice was to use that to push you as an artist... so I will begin creating small pieces that don't take as long... duh! Who knows from there?"

Congratulations Mo! I love what you had to say, even though it was a random pick of numbers that led me to you...I think the words you chose to share with us really are so important and I'm grateful you shared what you've learned.

Embrace Your Limitations.

Make the most of what you have, when you have it (or where you have it).

*******

No excuses, now go out and do great things in the world. We need you to 'show up'.  Time is ticking as we all know. :)

Jodi

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Did you know my class "Painterly in Pink" over at Dreaming in Color is now open for self study work?  Your registration comes with a 12 month subscription to the class AND a 30.00 coupon for product on the Dreaming in Color (website within the Splash of Color family) for the class!

Stop on by and check it out....learn tips and tricks to drawing facial features and painting semi stylized semi realistic portraits.  Over 36 videos shared all for one low price.