I've Been Awarded - Twice!

Just when I was feeling a little stressed and discouraged what should show up in my mail box? Not once, but twice, this very sweet award! I have Mellanie and Col to thank for their impeccable timing in sending it my way. Mellanie's blog is like a breath of fresh air, always a joy to visit and see what new art works she has been up to. And Col, another homeschooling mom I might add, is bursting with creative energy.

Blogging offers me many rewards that I did not expect at the outset. One of which is the opportunity to visit so many other artists, see their work, and read about their processes. So now I get to pass this award along to blogs I love!

Jennifer Rose, with tons of spirited energy I always enjoy visiting her blog to see what's new with her wonderful art.
Rita Woodburne, another colored pencil artist, amazing talent, and visiting her blog always brightens my day.
Andrea Joseph, does amazing pen and ink drawings, along with a few other media, from her own unique point of view. She really helps me think outside the box!
Kasie Salle, a talented artist, and mom, with a good deal of wisdom thrown in.
Nichole Caulfield, another artist and mom, too, inspires me with her colored pencil work and her energy.
Terri, yep, a mom, homeschooling at that, and creative spirit. Terri and I have been on-line friends for quite some time now, sharing the struggles and triumphs of homeschooling our daughters as well as the challenges of pursuing our art. Check out her awesome hand made cards.
Belinda Lindhardt, a wonderfully talented artist, and mom, who very generously shares her processes along with other necessary information related to the business of being an artist. Remember when I said I finally got my image files organized? Thanks to Belinda!
Rose Welty, yes, you guessed it, an artist and mom and her blog never fails to be interesting and a thoughtful read.

So the rules are that if you get tagged (and you want to play) , write a post with links to blogs that you love, and link to this post so that folks can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

Busy days

Rutherwood
ACEO 2.5 x 3.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
sold

Thunder Hill Road
ACEO 2.5 x 3.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
sold

The days have been mostly cold and extremely windy here in our mountains lately and I have been busier than usual with stuff. Yes, just the stuff I usually have to do but at a more hectic pace these last few weeks for some reason. However, I did manage to do these two ACEOs this past week while watching (listening to, really) the Democratic debates on TV. Maybe because there has been this air of stress around me lately that I chose two calming, warm summer images to draw. They are both scenes from my "neighborhood" when it is at its best. All warm sunshine and soft breezes.

"Studio"

I believe I've got it this time. Went back to "Nemcosky Art" for the header and added the more personal. "Ann's Notes from the Studio". Not that I didn't like "Ann's Art Journal", but after looking it over and realizing that lots of artists use 'Art Journal' in their blog title I wasn't entirely comfortable with that. Although 'Art Journal' is a great title as it states exactly what this blog is about, journaling the creative process, I did feel I should be a little more unique. Where as there are many Ann's, you have to admit that 'Nemcosky' is unique as far as names go.

Now I did wonder about the 'Studio' part though. In my dreams I imagine a large, well lit room with big windows and minimal furnishings, maybe even a nice fireplace and a cozy chair, and lots of storage space for all my art supplies to be ever so neatly organized. Hmmmm. . . My worn Webster's defines 'studio' as 1. An artist's place of work. 2. A place where an art is studied or taught.

Well. As you can see in the photo my little corner in our 3rd bedroom does qualify as this artist's place of work. Clutter and all. Living in a small house we have learned to adapt what space we do have for many uses. This small room is not only my 'studio' but also home to our computers and my daughter's art supplies and shelves of toys. With an air mattress on the floor it functions as a guest bedroom too. A closet holds all my sewing and needlework stuff, except for my current crochet project which you can see in the basket on the floor in the foreground right under my daughter's pants that need a button sewn on. Our kitchen and dining area is also a school room complete with a blackboard, a wall of bookshelves that serves as a library, science and craft center, oh, and we cook and eat there too. Somehow it all works.

At The Water's Edge - Finished!

At The Water's Edge
colored pencil and Neocolors on pastel board
6 x 6 inches
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky




I believe this one is now finished. Although I reserve the right to make some minor adjustments, I'm going to let this rest a while. I think this is the most complex image I have yet attempted and I did enjoy working on this one. Now to get started on something else!

I have been fiddling around with the look of this blog. Like I don't have a million other things I could be doing! And no, I am not trying to confuse anyone, I just have trouble making up my mind when it comes to choosing a template and colors. Plus I thought I'd try adding an image to the header. I'm not sure how well it works this way, but I'm leaving it as is for now. What do you all think?

At The Water's Edge, a Work In Progress

I know, I know, I have been slack about posting here lately. But not without good reason. After our little beach break we were with house guests for a few days.

Just to show that I have been working, however slowly, I thought I'd post what I am working on now, as is, in progress. This drawing is 6 x 6 inches on pastel board. I began with an underpainting using Neocolor II watersoluble crayons and have now begun working my way from the top left corner outward using colored pencils. I am finding that I really like the strong intensity of color the Neocolors provide for an underpainting. And that when coming back over with the colored pencils, which are somewhat translucent, the colors seem to sing. I am having fun with this little piece. I intend to do a small series of these, what I am calling 'macro-landscapes'.

At The Water's Edge, WIP copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Looking Up

Looking Up
colored pencil and Neocolors on pastel board
6 x 12 inches
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky





It's the end of my month for studying the art of John Constable. So, what have I come away with? I learned that place mattered very much to Constable. The subjects that he chose to paint were landscapes familiar and full of meaning to him. Weather was also important in his landscapes, the feel of the sunlight, the stiffness of the breeze, the foreboding clouds, were all a part of his work's content as much as the fields, farms and trees. This is where I find an affinity to the landscapes of John Constable. Place has always factored largely in my work with the associations I have for a particular location. From reading The Power of Place by Winifred Gallagher I discovered my sensitivity to certain places is more real than imagined. Where we are, and everything about that environment including color, light, and temperature, matters a great deal to who we are inside.

The image above is one such place, looking up Thunder Hill, which is along the Blue Ridge Parkway. One of my favorite spots along the Parkway, and one of the few where you can view the mountains falling away on either side. Hiking to the top of Thunder Hill gives you this view, almost like being in an airplane or perched on top of the world and everything else, as far as you can see, is below.

Autumn Equinox

Yesterday was the Autumn Equinox, a turning point in the year. Can you feel it? Although our days here are still warm the nights are now crisp, the geese fly noisily overhead and touches of red and yellow brush the trees. A time of turning inward.

No picture of mine to share, but these two sites are very cool,
Earth As Art
Earth Calendar

Enjoy!
Happy Autumn!

Where Am I Now?

Evening Clouds
5 x 7 inches
colored pencil on pastel board
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I just spent a few moments going through all the colored pencil pieces I have done since I began seriously working on my art again, sometime around last March. This is one of the earlier pieces I completed and fits in nicely with my current cloud studies. I have also been thinking about where I want to take this renewed interest in creating art and formulating some more concrete plans for this journey.

There are times, well, most of the time actually, when the demands of each day are more than enough to keep my attention focused on anything but making art. There's homeschooling, a full time job in itself, and the house to keep up with, meal planning and cooking, driving kiddo to various classes, and all the other stuff that fills up time. And I think who am I kidding thinking I can actually get somewhere with this art? And at this point in my life? It has been quite a long time since making art was a fundamental part of my life and it isn't easy trying to start over this late in the game.

But then again, where will I be in a year, five years, if I don't? Probably much the same as now but without knowing what might have happened if I had given this art business a go. Please don't misunderstand. I love spending time with kiddo and teaching her at home, wouldn't miss it for the world. And I actually do enjoy domestic life. I only weigh the possibilities concerning living as an artist, making creativity part of what I do, versus leaving art out because it only adds more work to an already busy and full life. But, because for now I feel a need to continue working on my art you will be seeing me here for a while. I may not be posting as often as I like but rest assured that something is probably cooking (either on the stove or on the drawing board) and I will update as often as possible. Whew!

Cloud Study

Cloud Study
3.5 x 5 inches
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky

It wouldn't be a review of the art of John Constable without doing a few studies of clouds. So often I see just beautiful skies, usually when I am without my camera! On a few occasions, however, I have managed to capture some lovely cloud formations.

Because I started this post earlier this afternoon and it took me an insane amount of time to figure out just how to post items for sale on Ebay, and it is now after my bedtime, I will wait for another day to discuss more about my artist study of John Constable and my progress with colored pencil drawing. (Yes, we covered conjunctions last week in our homeschool!)

Common Nature

View from Moses Cone Manor Looking East
colored pencil on Stonehenge
9 x 7 inches
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky







This is the first of my landscapes for the month of September worked with the art of John Constable in mind. In 18th century academic circles it was believed that landscape paintings should be idealized depictions of nature, perhaps including classical or Biblical figures. "Common" nature did not form the subject of great art. But John Constable wanted to paint "common" nature as he thought it had higher elements in faithful representation. He had a real love for the landscape, it's weather, and the associations he had for certain places. I was attracted to this view because of the sweeping curve of the lane and also because of the quality of light on the hillside. It was one of those days when the clouds were casting shadows on the mountains and the sunlight moved in and out as the clouds passed by overhead. I was hoping to capture that movement of light in this drawing.

As much as I would love to include an image or two of Constable's work in this post, I haven't yet figured out a way to do that here legally. So for now, I will direct you to the CGFA Artists Indexes where you can browse many images of paintings by John Constable.

Are there places that hold meaning to you? Does the quality of the landscape play a part in it's significance? Or even the light of certain times of day, during a particular kind of weather? I'd love to hear your thoughts on landscape and the importance of place. Anyone care to join me in studying the art of John Constable this month?

Skies

Variably Cloudy
acrylic and oil on canvas
36 x 24 inches
copyright 1996 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky



I was still in college when I first discovered the art of John Constable. Seeing a small exhibition of his sky studies at a local museum, I was fascinated by this concept of focusing solely on sky as a subject matter and filed it away. Later, after having earned my degree, I returned to landscape as a subject and spent some time developing images of skies. The painting above is one example. (I do apologize for the poor photo though, the fish-eye effect is distracting, it's not that way in real life!) Somewhere along the way I also acquired a book of Constable's paintings, Constable by John Sunderland. Published in 1972 by Phaidon Press Limited I see from my Amazon search that this book I picked up used many years ago in a used bookstore is no longer in print. Anyway, it seemed fitting to begin my exploration of John Constable's work with the subject of sky.

John Constable, 1776-1837, was a landscape painter who held an interest in painting the truth in nature, even the precise weather of a particular time and day. In doing so he rejected those of his contemporaries in 18th century landscape painting who made generalized and idealized depictions of nature.

The American Artist Drawing Magazine Summer 2007 issue features an interesting article about John Constable's Sketchbooks. The article discusses how he carried with him pocket-sized sketchbooks in which he did graphite studies for large oil paintings. For Constable, sketchbook drawing advanced his skills as he refined his method of showing the effect of light and shadow. Yet even these small drawings show his attention to the sky as he managed to capture the quality of light at a particular time of day.

There is more concerning his interest in the quality of light that I will share later as I work on my own Constable inspired landscape drawings. But for now, I have come across an interesting correlation in the writing of Winnifred Gallagher's The Power of Place, where she states,

"Like other living things, however, our species has evolved over the millions
of years to respond to the cycles of the earth and sun with predictable
biochemical and behavioral changes. Environmentally minded scientists have
begun to question the trade-offs we unwittingly make in order to live sealed
up inside an artificially heated, cooled, and lighted world that is structured
around economic rather than biologic concerns."


And finally, I can't leave out the John Constable art project I did with my daughter a couple of years ago. We spent a year going through
Discovering Great Artists by Mary Ann Kohl, by choosing an artist to study each month and ending the month with a project in the style of that artist's work. This book is a terrific introduction into art appreciation for kids ages 4-12. We certainly had a lot of fun learning about different artists and working on the projects together!

Watercolor After John Constable
approx. 12 x 9 inches
copyright 2005 by HRN
Private Collection

For the time being. . .

Avon Dunes II
colored pencil on pastel board
12 x 6 inches
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
$75.




No, I didn't forget about posting yesterday. In fact I spent a little while organizing my thoughts and plans for future posts with an eye toward the upcoming month of September. It was while working on this latest piece, Avon Dunes II, and looking back over my previous posts that I decided to take this blog into a more specific direction, for the time being anyway. Of course I will still include all the before mentioned topics, but organized around the theme of a "sense of place". This stems from my interest in landscape and the power that particular places can have in our memories and imaginations. The images I choose to draw are not selected randomly, but chosen for their relevance of location to my senses, my personal connection to the place. So, I dusted off my old copy of The Power of Place, by Winifred Gallagher and went looking for information on one of my favorite landscape painters, John Constable. As I read and begin my next drawing with these influences in mind I will share my findings here. Please feel free to join in and comment here and/or email me. I'd love to hear others thoughts on this topic too!

edited to add: if the book link to Amazon does not work, you can find The Power of Place in my aStore by clicking on the link under Ann's Bookshelf.

Best Intentions

Avon Dunes I
graphite on paper
12 x 12 inches
copyright 2006 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
$50.







Yes, I had such good plans for today, for this whole week really, but somehow most of the time life got in the way. It wasn't such a great homeschool week. It happens. We acknowledge it and move on with a goal to make next week better. And my car's battery died. It was only nine years old! And the weather was hot. Well, for here anyway. Up here in the mountains we are wimps about the heat, but we're also unprepared for it. No air conditioning at our house, so I had a perfectly good excuse for not sitting at my drawing table, it was just too darn hot! But this is artwork day and I fully intended to have a new work to show, complete with references to artistic influences. Instead I'm posting this drawing that I did a little over a year ago, Avon Dunes I. I'm working on the same scene now but with a slightly different composition and in colored pencil this time, sort of as a companion piece to Avon Boat. You will just have to be patient with me.

One thing I did manage to get accomplished was to figure out a way to have links for the books I mention here and recommend. I spent the better part of this evening putting together an Amazon aStore, where I can keep all my book recommendations neatly in one place. It was kinda fun, searching for the titles that are on my bookshelves and that I can confidently recommend. I know I will be adding more there and I will occasionally feature a title or two here in blog posts with more details. Check it out by clicking on the link under "Ann's Bookshelf" on the sidebar.

Centering

"It takes a long time to learn that nothing is wasted."
- M. C. Richards






Manteo Tree
colored pencil on pastel board
5 x 7 inches
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky $40

As promised, here is my weekly review of a book that has been influential in my development as an artist. This time I am digging up an old copy of Centering in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person by M. C. Richards. Yes, it is a book about pottery and poetry but it is also about waking up to living a creative life. I first read this book when I was a college student and it had a huge impact on my attitude towards studying art and learning in general. Part Zen philosophy, part the author's own experience and much more, Richards expresses the concept that education, learning that is, is a process of awakening and continues on throughout our lives. An idea that I have revisited many times since my college days and now as I homeschool my daughter this concept of life-long learning carries even more weight with me. And I can see it revealed now as I rediscover my art through new and varied media. It is all a part of the process and we use it all to get there. Nothing really is ever wasted.

As a side note, I am struggling with getting these book links to work. You may have noticed (or not) that the book text link in my last post did nothing. Even though I followed the same procedure I had done previously to link to books, which of course worked just fine. It seems the text link I tried including above also does not work. Soooo, at least for the time being, to alleviate this aggravation I have added a section on the side bar for a Weekly Book List. For now, anyway, it appears those links will function properly. And in the meantime, if anyone has any tips for getting the text links to work, please let me know!

"Sing a Song of Seasons!"

Color Study #10

watercolor on paper
approx. 6 x 6 inches
copyright 2007 HRN
Private Collection

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

from Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson

I have been spending the evening searching for poetry to use in our homeschool. So good for speech and memory practice, we try to study poetry often. There are many children's poetry books available, some I find at our local library, but I have also discovered some great sites online where you can browse poems by subject if you are searching for something specific. Like autumn themed poetry, for example. One such site that I often visit for poems to add to our collection is Can Teach: Songs & Poems, http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems.html. They have many poems appropriate for children conveniently listed under subject headings.

And speaking of things appropriate for children, this comes under the heading of what I wish I had known when my daughter was still a baby. Earlier this year I read Magical Child by Joseph Chilton Pearce. It this 1977 classic he discusses the stages of child development and how they relate to growth and learning. With, "The child's need is to be a child," Pearce challenges the then and still popular educational model of forcing children into learning situations before they are developmentally ready and the damage that can be done as a result. Yet his message is positive in that by examining our ideas of parenting we can see where we are and only come away better.

The image I included with this post is part of a series of color studies my daughter has been working on lately. They are all wonderfully lively and unique expressions of her response to color and form. She says that she is not trying to paint anything specific, she is just working with color in her paintings. And she has done a lot of these lately!

In the Meantime. . .

Summer Field
8 x 5 inches
pastel on sanded pastel paper
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
$50.


Just got the urge to get out the pastels today. It has been quite some time since I have worked in pastel and it was fun doing an image more quickly than what colored pencil will allow. I am actually working on a new colored pencil piece but just felt I needed a break from it for a little bit. This was a nice diversion on a sunny afternoon.

We're here!

We have finally arrived in Blogland! This blog, Nemcosky Art, is a place for us to share our creative explorations in art. I will mostly show completed works by myself and Gary, although sometimes a work-in-progress will appear or works not to be included on our website, www.bluebirdhill.com. In addition to our sketching, drawing, and painting I will also include posts reflecting on homeschooling, our favorite books, recipes, and life with our dogs.
Thank you for joining us on our creative journey!

Avon Still Life
mixed media on paper
by Gary M. Nemcosky copyright 2007

Whalehead Sound

5" x 7" colored pencil on pastel board
by Ann Thompson Nemcosky copyright 2007