We’ll see how this Painting-a-Day series goes. I will attempt to post a new painting every weekday (and possibly on the weekends - we’ll see) for most of February, beginning Monday Sunday, February 3rd. This is starting to sound more and more like a stunt, isn’t it? Like I said we’ll see how it goes.

All paintings will be available for purchase. They will be painted on 4×6″ Masonite panels, signed, unframed, and priced at $35 a piece (I will cover shipping costs). Make sure to come back often and leave comments when you do! Also accepting reference photos from which to paint (keep in mind these are small paintings and therefore detail-dependent photos might not work as well). So, please email me any photos I could use (wess at wess foreman dot com). Thanks!

The Library of Congress has recently uploaded over three thousand photos to the online photo-sharing site, Flickr.com. These are amazing full color images from a time before I was around. In lieu of attempting to get all the facts right (and probably missing something), I’m just gonna link to The Library of Congress Blog post (did you know there was one?) and here’s The Library of Congress’s Flickr page.

I have long been a slacker in terms of keeping up any sort of sketchbook. I make no secret of it. And just because the spirit of the new year is still hanging all dewy in the air, does not mean I expect this recent bout of sketches to continue, ad infinitum. But I’ll do what I can for now - it’s good for me and might also be entertaining to some of you.

Here’s a sketch I accomplished in one sitting from an actual live model; my wife. I call it, “Tammy Taking Note,” though in reality she was playing an electronic Sudoku game (I replaced the stylus she was holding with a pencil in the sketch).

sidenote: did you know that Sodoku (with an “o” as the first vowel) is the name of a zoonotic disease - a form of rat-bite fever? I didn’t until I looked up the wrong spelling of Sudoku on wikipedia.

In case you have not already noticed (or been notified), the website name is now wessforeman.com instead of wessf.com (which is no longer mine). It’s a long story, suffice it to say, steer clear of vizaweb.com if you need web hosting, and definitely do not register your domain name with them (for they will not register it in your name, but in their own).

But I harbor no hard feelings - not many - and life goes on. Besides, wessforeman.com (wesforeman.com also works) is, in some ways, a better name anyway - no need, for instance, to explain the awkward spelling: “w-e-s-s-f-dot-com” - I can now simply say that it’s Wess Foreman dot com.

Along with the change, I’ve also changed the name of this blog to “open studio” and plan on posting only art/creativity related posts here. I’ve created a separate blog for all other stuff - check it out here: popularblur.com

Along with the new domain name, I’ve taken on a new look for the site as well - a little too austere perhaps, but fresh and new and ready for the new year and new content to go with it! All that to say: don’t forget to change any old bookmarks to the new site. And welcome to the new wessforeman.com - expect much in the way of new content and come back often!

Sketched this from a photo of my brother, Micah, and his wife, Jill. The drawing only slightly resembles them, due to my disregard for the perfection of the thing, and the title refers only to the “vacancy” sign in the top-left corner of the sketch and not to the vacant, tired look in my brother’s eyes (though to tell you the truth, that could just as easily have been the inspiration for that same title, for the look was indeed captured perfectly well in the drawing).

WebUrbanist is a blog of “urban design, culture, travel, architecture and alternative art.” It’s a fascinating look at the cluttered world around us. Geek graffiti, surrealistic sculptures in public places, and other ironically intellectual “art underground” blog posts abound. It’s definitely one to add to your RSS reader.

Terry Border is an artist who creates tiny sculptures out of found objects - that, combined with a love for photography and a great deal of quirky humor thrown into the mix, make Bent Objects a must-see website! He’s also working on a book of his little creations. Check it out; it’s great! (discovered it via BoingBoing post)

Canvas ready? Brushes? Paint? Here we go. First we should select our subject matter [nothing worse than staring at a stark white canvas without anything to paint]. My suggestion would be a still life arrangement - you know, fruit, bottles, vases, drapery, whatever - or maybe a landscape. Anything would work for a first painting, but I would suggest against starting with a portrait (people, pet, or otherwise) unless you have some skill at drawing already. The only problem with starting with people is that we all think we know what people look like - I mean, you draw a circle for the head, two small circles for the eyes, nose, mouth, maybe some hair on top, viola! Right? Problem is, when you paint something that is familiar to you, such as faces, you tend not to really study the thing you are painting, and without studying, you will end up with little more than a lifeless stick-figure face. It is very hard to break this tendency - even for myself. (more…)

So, you want to try your hand at painting but have never tried it before? Perhaps I can help. Painting is not hard. It just takes some practice and an afternoon.

Prerequisites
There are a few skills that are nice to have at your disposal (though not at all necessary to begin). A steady hand is a good thing - some level of drawing ability is even better. Basic knowledge of color theory would be another plus. And, along with rudimentary eyesight, observation would also a very useful tool to have at the ready. (more…)