Sketchbook: San Francisco

 

 Ocean Beach, San Francisco

pen and ink sketch

by Rosa Phoenix

Ah! Nothing like sketching on the beach, on a rare warm and sunny day in San Francisco!

It's important to refresh, renew, and see new sights. Travel is important for artists, to be stimulated by new scenery and experiences. 

This summer, I was thrilled to take part in Urban Sketchers' 2nd Annual West Coast Sketch Crawl in Portland, Oregon.

I'll be posting more sketches from my trip, so stay tuned.

I've been practicing drawing, and I can see that I have made a lot of improvement. Sketching has helped me a lot. I look forward to sharing what I've learned with my art students.

Coyotes Sketch

coyotes

sketch by Rosa Phoenix

On my hike today I saw, and heard, many coyotes. They were singing, howling and barking in the desert mountains at sunset.

Their song has a haunting and eerie sound. If you've ever heard them, you know what I mean!

Earlier this year I made a sketch from my memory of three coyotes singing.

Where I live in Phoenix, Arizona, there are many nature preserves with hiking trails, where you can see beautiful plants and animals of the desert.

 

Thankful

pumpkins and gourds

watercolor painting by Rosa Phoenix

It's Thanksgiving in the U.S.A.!

It's the day we get together with our family and friends, give thanks, and celebrate the abundance of the harvest!

I love the autumn season. At the market I bought many pumpkins, squash and gourds. I love the bright colors and unusual shapes. They are simply brilliant!

Giving thanks for what we have, and sharing what we have, is a good way to celebrate, every day.

 

Copy of Venus, Satyr and Cupid by Correggio

 

pen and ink drawing by Rosa Phoenix

on letterpress paper

I was looking through an art book of masterpieces of the Louvre Museum. 

I found some letterpress stationary paper and made the drawing on it. 

I took a photo of the drawing with my iPhone, and then I edited and filtered the image in the Camera+ app.

Creative Collaboration

Lovebirds

watercolor by Rosa Phoenix

"Love is, above all, the gift of oneself."  

- Jean Anouilh

A few months ago, in the Fall of 2012, I partnered with the City of Phoenix, Arizona to teach free and low-cost art classes at senior centers.

My first experience teaching, it is the most wonderful collaboration.

Most of my students are beginners. Many have physical disabilities, or are recovering from illness, injury, trauma and grief.

They come to class with an open mind and heart. 

They are shy and embarrassed, because they don't yet know how to draw or paint. 

They are drawn to my classroom because something in them wants to create, express the beauty around them and within them, and to learn the skill of the artist. 

They know instinctively, that creative expression is their birthright as humans.

"We can do better than I can."

- Lykke Li

I think the highest form of creativity is collaboration.

The spark of energy exchange that happens when two or three or more share their ideas, is so much greater than what one person can accomplish alone.

That's why I love teaching so much.

To be able to share my love of art, and to teach people the skills to create their own works of art, makes my heart happy.

My students greet me shyly and say, "I can't draw," or "I can't paint." 

Within half an hour, they are happily drawing or painting, and watching themselves do it with amazement.

Their sense of sight, and their observation skills awaken. 

Suddenly, they are looking around them at their familiar world, now rich with colors, shapes and shadows that they had never noticed before. "It's beautiful!" they say.

Their ordinary world becomes an extraordinary world, because they now have an artist's vision.

Lotus Pond

acrylic painting 

by Rosa Phoenix

Wouldn't it be wonderful, if we could live this way every day?

We can . . .

. . . be the student, with open mind and open heart, willing to learn, willing to improve, aspiring to a higher expression . . .

. . . be the teacher, willing to share the skills and knowledge with others . . .

In my daily work, I do both, teaching and learning, sharing and collaborating.

My students continually inspire me with their dedication and motivation. They inspire me   because they make so many contributions themselves: volunteering, teaching and giving, with all their hearts.

We share our best selves with each other. Let's keep doing this, and uplift the world.

Future Vision

sketchbook page

pen and ink sketch 

by Rosa Phoenix

"I keep having this vision, where I am walking out into the desert."

This is a page from my sketchbook, one month before I moved to Arizona, in 2011.

At the time, it was vision into the future. This vision is now my reality.

It's interesting to look back at past sketchbooks, and see records of my thoughts, dreams and things that I was seeing at that time in my life.

Blue Corn

Elote

pen and ink drawing

by Rosa Phoenix

The Hopi people have a story, that when all the races of people were created, each were allowed to choose their own food. The Hopi waited until the end, to make their choice, and chose the smallest ear of corn. The Creator told them that they had chosen wisely, for they had chosen the "true food." 

The Hopi still plant and grow corn on their land in Arizona today. The blue corn they cultivate is more nutritious than other varieties of corn.

A page in my sketchbook. 

When you draw, you learn to see how beautiful and miraculous the simplest things are.

Winter Forest Watercolor Lesson

Winter Forest

watercolor painting by Rosa Phoenix

Happy Holidays!

Believe it or not, it's cold and wintry here in Arizona, and there's snow in the mountains!



We painted a wintry forest scene in my watercolor classes. 

This is a nice lesson for beginners. We learn about wet-on-wet technique, using masking tape, and color perspective (distant objects are lighter in color and appear blurry, while closer objects are darker in color and have more definition).



Step 1

We start by masking off the bottom part of the painting with masking tape, then applying a pale wash of paint (using lots of water) to the paper in a cool blue lavender color. 

This will be our sky.


Step 2

While the wash is still wet, loosely paint in the most distant layer of trees, using a slightly darker lavender paint that is very wet. I use a small round brush, using a quick back-and-forth motion. It doesn't have to be detailed, because the trees are very far away. 

We want the trees to blend in with the sky, to get a misty look.


Step 3

While our background tree layer is still wet, we loosely paint in the middle layer of trees in a blue green color. The colors will blend together and that's OK.


Step 4

We let our painting dry, and then we paint in our final layer of trees that are closest to us. We use a dark blue-green color paint, and we use less water this time, so our trees have more definition.

Finally, we remove the masking tape and paint the bottom part of our painting. I painted a wash of icy, light blue color.

My students used their imaginations to create a scene here: one painted snowy hills; another painted a deer, and another painted a river with fish jumping in it!

Remember to stay creative and open to possibilities. It's a wonderful way to live life!

Forest Path in My Sketchbook

Nature Collage Owl Spirit

 

If you would like to see more of this series I am working on, you can see @rosaphoenixart on twitter.

Big Dream Little Bears: A Film by Wildhoop Productions

photo from Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Imagine you are a baby, unable to feed or care for yourself. 


You are in the forest with your mother and she is suddenly shot and killed. 


Men storm out of nowhere and quickly butcher her for her valuable body parts -- her feet will be eaten as a delicacy, and her bile will be used as medicine for people in China. What’s left of your mother’s corpse is left to rot on the forest floor.


You may be left to starve, killed by another creature, or, in the best case scenario, taken captive and forced to live in a tiny cage for your entire life as someone’s “pet”.

 photo by Chris Bray

This is the sad story of young Suria the Sun Bear and her companions at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) in the new wildlife documentary Big Dream Little Bears by WildHoop Productions (Howard Jackson and Dr. Audrey Low of Australia). 

Luckily, Suria and the other orphaned bears in the film were rescued and brought to BSBCC, where a team of wildlife biologists led by Siew Te Wong study and care for them. 

Siew Te Wong and Sun Bear

photo from BSBCC

Although the bears are still kept in cages at BSBCC, Wong’s big dream is to release the bears back into the wild.


Big Dream Little Bears shows Wong and his team readying the bears for their initial release into an enclosed nature preserve. In this protected area, they can learn to adjust to the wild, and still receive food and medical care. 

If the bears can successfully adapt to forest life, the hope is that one day they will be released for good back into the wild.

 

 photo by Chris Bray

Their release is important, not only for the quality of life for the individual bears, but because their species is endangered.
 

Each animal that can potentially breed and perpetuate the species is important, when extinction is on the horizon.


Poachers aren’t the only threat to the Sun Bears. The decimation of Borneo’s rain forest is happening at an alarming rate. 


The most ancient forest in the world is being cleared to plant palm oil plantations--palm oil is used for cooking, biodiesel and many processed foods consumed in the West. With less forest, there is less food and habitat to go around, and more competition amongst all creatures for precious resources. 

rescued Sun Bear

photo from BSBCC

Big Dream Little Bears is a story of human cruelty and uncaring destruction, and it’s also a story of human compassion and hope. 


Siew Te Wong and his team work so hard to rescue, protect and study these animals, realizing that their actions could mean the difference between extinction or survival of a species. 

The filmmakers gave their time and skills. They funded and produced Big Dream Little Bears themselves and are donating part of the profits to the BSBCC. All understand the urgency of the situation: they are in a race against time, and the odds seem hopeless. 

Filmmakers Audrey Low (left) and Howard Jackson (right)

with Siew Te Wong and some of the BSBCC team

photo by Wildhoop Productions 

What I took away from Big Dream Little Bears: Every one counts! 


What we each do in our lives makes a difference. Every bear makes a difference, and every human. How do we spend our time? What work do we do? What do we buy? What do we eat? Every action, no matter how small, has a consequence, whether we are aware of it or not.


If I truly love Life, I will choose to make mindful choices. 


I will choose compassion over cruelty. I will choose hope over despair.

 photo by Chris Bray

Suria, the littlest bear, steals the show, and I am rooting for her happiness and freedom. 


She has lived in her cage for so long, that the outside world is now totally foreign to her. Will she emerge from her cage to touch the earth, and experience life in nature once again, as she deserves? The future of the Sun Bears may depend on it.


And their future may also depend on you and me.

Click here to preview and watch Big Dream Little Bears

 




MORE LINKS:

Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Wildhoop Productions


P.S. You may know the filmmaker and presenter in Big Dream Little Bears, Dr. Audrey Low, from the blogging world. She has the blogs, Wildhoop Productions, Papaya Tree Limited and 365 Just Show Up. I am very proud of the work she and her partner, Howard Jackson, have put into this project.

Sketchbook: Papago Park, Phoenix

Papago Park "Hole in the Rock"

sketch by Rosa Phoenix

Here is a sketch I made in Papago Park, Phoenix, Arizona.  Papago Park is known for its unusual sandstone rock formations. This one is called "Hole in the Rock". It's said that the Hohokam ancient people used the hole as an observatory to view celestial events. It's one of my favorite places for watching a sunset. 

 Papago Park

 photo by Rosa Phoenix

My first on-location sketch since San Francisco. Luckily, there are a lot of beautiful sights to sketch right around Phoenix. I've found some other artists to sketch with, so that makes it more fun.

Painting a Feeling

3 mini paintings by Rosa Phoenix

Here in the desert, I am learning to make art all over again.

That's because, I'm finding that my artistic language and tools that I use (painting, drawing, photography, collage) are inadequate to express what I see and feel here.

Inspiration is everywhere.

The sense of space, eternity and the scorching radiance of the sun are overwhelming.

Visually, the desert is a stunning place, with sculptural rock formations, mountains and mesas, canyons, prickly plants, unusual wildlife.

Above all this, a great sky constantly unveils new wondrous shows of clouds, lightning, changing colors, light and stars.

I don't want to make "representations" of this landscape. That would result in a poor imitation of Mother Nature.

The great power I find in the desert is not what I see, but what I feel.

How can I put this feeling into a painting?  

These 3 mini paintings continue my experiments with horizontal bands of alternating colors.

These are more "painterly" and loose. These are not literal landscapes or skyscapes, but they suggest that.

Paxton Gate

Paxton Gate describes its wares as "treasures and oddities inspired by the garden and the natural sciences."

I hesitate to call it a shop. It's more than that. It's an experience.

It's like entering a secret cave, where a wizard lives. 

Here are all the magical stones, herbs, crystals and plants that the wizard uses in his sorcery. 

There are also lots of taxidermy animals, skeletons and fossils. Creepy and fascinating, yet also funny.

The most memorable display was the flying fairy mice, each one outfitted with a fine costume. These enchanting little mice tell many stories. Frozen in mid-flight, it's easy to imagine that they are under the wizard's magic spell. 

Sadly, this display is no longer there, replaced by some punk rock, bride and groom, and priest mice.

If you have a love of the macabre and bizarre, and you are not afraid of the wizard's magic, this is a wonderful place to explore.

Paxton Gate is at 766 Valencia Street in San Francisco.

There's also a Paxton Gate Curiosities for Kids at 824 Valencia Street.

Inspired by Agnes Martin

mini paintings by Rosa Phoenix

I've returned to the desert where I grew up, in Phoenix, Arizona. 

The desert of the American Southwest has always attracted artists, 

who are drawn to the open skies, raw landscape, sculpted rocks and dazzling light.

A couple of years ago I visited the Dia Arts Center in Beacon, New York. There I encountered for the first time, the works of Canadian-born artist Agnes Martin (1912 - 2004).

Her paintings couldn't be simpler: stripes in the palest colors, painted on a pencil-drawn grid.

Gratitude

by Agnes Martin

In concept, it seems one-note and one-dimensional, but actually, to be in the presence of these paintings is a transcendent experience. It's not something that translates as a reproduced image. 

Paintings emanate with the energy and intentions of the artist.

A painting is a lot more than just colors on a surface.

 Agnes Martin gallery at

Dia:Beacon

photo by Bill Jacobson

I still keep Agnes Martin's paintings in my heart.

I learned that she lived and worked in Taos, New Mexico, just like another of my favorite artists, Georgia O'Keefe.

The desert is a harsh environment. 

It is a huge, open space that makes a person feel 

very small, insignificant and vulnerable.

How do you capture that sense of space? 

The desert invites a different kind of artistic approach.

Lots of decoration and embellishments don't work. Ornate patterns don't work. Realism doesn't work. 

I think the maxim "Less is more" applies here.

Agnes Martin had a particular genius for this.

Agnes Martin

Here in the desert, I'm clearing my mind.

As an exercise, I created my own works, inspired by my desert surroundings, and Agnes Martin.

Using some small, square canvases, I used masking tape and latex paints to create a series of striped paintings. Here are some in progress, with masking tape on:

mini paintings in progress 

by Rosa Phoenix

I used desert colors.

When I put them together as an installation on one wall of my room, I was pleased with the result. It is a suggestion, rather than a literal interpretation, of desert beauty. 

I wake up and see the colors of the desert. I see the sky, the clouds, the earth, the light. I see Indian blankets. I see the striated colors of the rocks. I see sunrises and sunsets.

 This wall of mini paintings keeps my mind clear and creative.

I like the rhythm of the stripes.

wall of mini paintings by Rosa Phoenix

I feel so inspired by the beauty that surrounds me. 

Like Georgia O'Keefe and Agnes Martin before me, I find myself challenged to create in a whole new way.

Here is a video interview of Agnes Martin, where she talks about the painting process. It is quite enlightening.

Mini Minimalist Paintings

grouping of mini paintings 
by Rosa Phoenix

The desert whispers:

Strip away what's non-essential.

Embrace space, sunlight, solitude, silence.

There is peace and beauty in simplicity.

Find the rhythm and the harmony.

Take time to live. 

*more about these paintings in this post here