Baltic Adventure Part 3; Sketching in a Tallinn Courtyard
Tallinn is amazing. The old city is gorgeous, the new city is beautiful and bustling with friendly people, and the food. Oh the food. I could beets for the rest of my life and be so happy.
We’ve been here for a few days now, so I thought I’d take a bit of time to sketch in the courtyard of our hotel.
Starting with a little graphite volume study.
Adding the water-soluble pastel.
Wet paint.
It’s still pretty chilly, so I’m wrapping up with this sketch here and heading back inside.
The plan is to translate these to my Fredrix roll canvas later on tonight, once we get back from a dinner which I hope involves more beets.
Baltic Adventure Part 2; Art Museums and Sketches
Work by Elina Autio
Today we visited a few art museums, ate some beets and I got some time to sketch. A few of my favorite things <3
We started out at Taidehall, a smaller museum but focused on young emerging artists. These wood pieces by Elina Autio were immediate favorites.
From there, we moved onto Kiasma which was a huge, beautiful place. On the top floor was an exhibit I’ve been hoping to see for awhile, by Shoplifter.
It was amazing.
If you get a chance ABSOLUTELY go see this installation.
When we got back to the hotel there was a bit of time before heading off to find dinner, so I thought I’d make a few sketches based off our time at the museums.
I’m using my Caran d’Ache water-soluble pastels (really great for working while traveling!) on squares of 12 oz Dixie pro-series cotton canvas from Fredrix Canvas.
I looked through the photos I had taken earlier today and wanted to pull out the colors that spoke to me and combine them. I built up layers on the canvas, letting some parts dry and some parts stay wet and just kept adding pigment until I was satisfied.
Then I spent the next 20 minutes positioning them around our hotel room trying to find decent light, only to discover it was in the bathroom. Note to other traveling artists - when looking for good lighting, check the bathroom first!
Baltic Adventure Part 1; Helsinki
End of the month recap in the air!
Checking in from Helsinki today!
We’re spending the next few weeks traveling between Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Tallinn. We’ve been trying to get over here to explore the Baltic region and finally found good airfare.
As is tradition (and necessary to stave off my flight anxiety…) I spent the first part of the flight working on my schedule, planning projects and preparing ideas. I began with the recap worksheet I try to do at the end of every month -downloadable here- and ended with planning works for my upcoming solo show at The Inn at Harbor Shores in St. Joseph Michigan. (With Spiderman into the Spiderverse playing in the background!)
We’ll have a few days here in Helsinki to explore, then we’re off to St. Petersburg by boat.
Travel Supplies!
Our airfare was pretty good - but it also meant no checked baggage, so I had to be very particular about what supplies came along. Pictured above are;
-Watercolor sketchbook
-Watercolor postcards
-Caran D’Ache watersoluble pastels
-Fredrix Canvas squares (cut from a roll).
-Fredrix canvas sheets rolled in my travel tube.
From the Helsinki harbor
Today’s plan is a few art museums, naps to adjust to the new time zone, dinner out by the harbor and some time to paint later on back in the hotel, but we’ll see just how much our internal clocks let us accomplish.
Coming Soon! Solo show 'Thoughts on Water' at the Inn at Harbor Shores
SO excited to share that I’ll be showing work here, at The Inn at Harbor Shores from June through September.
‘Thoughts on Water’ is all about the ways in which we experience the water, by being around it, traveling over it and submerging ourselves in it.
I spent the weekend out here making color studies, contour sketches and brainstorming for the show. I really enjoy making work on the western side of our state, the white sandy beaches and the endlessness of the lake are a constant inspiration.
Wave contour studies
More blind wave contours.
Spending the night in New Buffalo (At the Marina Grand) tweaking color studies in front of the fire <3
I can’t wait to share more progress of the work for the show!
‘Thoughts on Water” will open on June 14th with a little party on the second floor of the gallery - get in touch if you’re coming, I’d love to say hi!
Monthly Recap and Re-focus worksheet for Artists
At the start of every month I fill out a little worksheet. It helps me in tracking my finances, studio time and project allotments, but more importantly it gives me time to check in with myself and my practice and make sure I’m pointed in the right direction.
It started as scribbles in my studio journal, which then morphed into a separate sheet like the Art Planner Page downloadable here (which I use to manage the day-to-day aspects of my life in the studio.) After several iterations to change the layout and flow of the worksheet I think I’ve whittled it into a form that could be helpful for other artists too.
How I Use the Worksheet:
I fill it out in two stages; the first taking place at the beginning of the month as I look toward the future, and the second stage happens at the end as I recap and recenter.
I begin with an opening thought for the month. This is a free space for me to record my thoughts and feelings as I look toward the coming weeks, write down projects I’m excited for, or muse about ideas I want to work with.
After that I try to distill my top 3 goals for that month, art and non-art.
Then I go through the numbers, noting my finance goals, money coming in and out, website visitors, email subscribers, social accounts…etc. I fill these out twice, once at the beginning of the month and then I follow-up at the end of the month as well, noting change and seeing how close I am to meeting my financial goals.
Finally, at the end of the month I enter in a closing thought. This can be something I’m really proud of during the last few weeks, something I want to change for the next month or just a story that sticks with me. This is my time to say goodbye to the previous month and sum it up in a way that might be meaningful for the future.
If anyone is interested in using it for your purposes feel free to download it here! (PDF, will print at 8.5 x 11)
Feel free to manipulate it and change it to suit your practice, I’d love to see if it’s at all helpful for you!