“Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further.” – Keith Haring
July 4, 2022
It's been a minute. I haven't posted on the site in a good while, however I have been trying to keep up on YouTube. So if you happen to be missing the content I usually share here and want to see what I'm up to more often, drop by the channel and say hi. I've been spending most of my spare time sketching, drawing and inking. I've also been doing a few gouache drawings here and there.
A page from my sketchbook.
Small portraits.
Reference from a Karen Jurick painting.
Reference from a Karen Jurick painting.
Ink and watercolor drawing from an Alfonso Dunn drawing.
The woods at night.
Tree drawings.
Pencil and watercolor sketch from reference.
Sketch of Ethan near White Water stream.
Gouache painting from s Shirlene Perrin photograph.
A bird in a tree at White Water State park.
Ink and watercolor of a 1974 Toyota Corolla wagon.
Ink and watercolor of a 1974 Toyota Corolla coupe.
“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” – Nelson Mandela
April 4, 2021
There's so much to sketch and paint and I am really looking forward to seeing the world in person again. The weather is turning warmer in these parts, and people are getting vaccinated. The world is starting to see a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel we've all been in, and it feels very, very good.
For the past year, a group I co-founded called the Saint Paul Underground Artists League has been meeting every Sunday on Zoom. We sketch, draw, paint, laugh and talk about everything and anything, and it has been awesome to share the time with other Artists. People from all over the world join our Zoom call and it's amazing to see the work they do.
Here are some things I've been working on this past few months.
America's greatest strength has always been its hopeful vision of human progress. - John McCain
As I write this post tonight the American election for President hangs in the balance. I don't really want to talk about politics in this post, there are too many people talking about politics already, I'm just recognizing the situation in my country. We all hope for a peaceful outcome and to see every vote counted, which is the foundation of any functional democracy.
Some big news for me this past month. I published an eBook. It consists of the sketches and paintings and in the exact sequence they exist in the original sketchbook. It contains all the work I did this summer, as I shifted from watercolors to gouache. The book is available for Apple devices as well as eReaders and Kindles. I used the online publishing site, Blurb.
Here a link to the book if you are interested in buying it and owning digital copy of my work. I also added commentary to the book, which explains the work and my thinking at the time. https://www.blurb.com/ebooks/739617-marty-owings-sketchbook
"With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells... Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;"
Excerpt from the poem, "To Autumn", written in 1820 by John Keats
I was reading somewhere that fall will be short and the winter will be more snowy and likely longer than average up here in Minnesota. Every Winter brings it's own set of challenges in the Upper Midwest, but this year will be different. We are in the middle of a global pandemic and many people have already been isolating for months and months.
The wintertime in Minnesota usually heralds a period of isolation for most of us regardless, but in the days before the plague, you could get out to the mall, or walk through a Target, or go to a concert or play. Now those things pose a dangerous health risk for many, and those people are going to look for ways to survive and even prosper this winter. They will want to ward off the inevitable winter blues and cabin fever.
Why not take up painting or drawing?
If you already paint and draw, why not plan out how you can improve those skills. I've made a commitment to sharpen my own craftsmanship and to try to help others. I'll be posting videos on my YouTube channel which will demonstrate some of the techniques that have helped me over the years, and there are literally hundreds of great channels out there, offering this content for free.
For my own part I am scheduling time to draw and paint every day. It's all about making something a habit, even if it only means I spend ten minutes on a sketch, at least I am doing that much and that much is often enough. I also want to study more on the fundamentals of color theory and light, because unraveling the mysteries of art is very rewarding and very interesting.
Here is some of my recent work in a 3 minute sketchbook tour.
"Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing–and keeping the unknown always beyond you.” ~ Georgia O’Keeffe
Lately I've been doing more sketches of every day places and objects. Water towers are a common site her in the Midwest where I live. Familiarity of objects that surround us, but we hardly even notice, as if they were part of the set, in the stage that represents our lives environment. If you look very closely at these objects, whether they are old buildings or water towers, they have a unique character.
Creating paintings of the places and objects of our lives is an interesting challenge. How do you make power lines or water towers the stars of a scene?
Using a limited pallet and sometimes just two colors, is also something I'm getting more used to. I'm studying the work and instructions of James Gurney, the author of Dinotopia and extraordinary painter of both imagined and every day places and objects.
I think you can connect with these common objects in interesting ways when you decided to see them differently or put them into a dramatic scene. It's wonderful to explore a variety of, "stages", and, "sets" for these objects and places. Here are some recent paintings and if you want to see these as I complete them, please check out my Instagram at Owings Art.
When I was a kid I could only imagine what the world of 2020 was going to look like. When you're ten years old and it's 1974, you imagine a future filled with the stuff of science fiction. I expected starships and flying cars, androids and world peace. Okay, maybe not world peace, but definitely a futuristic place. The imaginary future of that ten year old has yet to come.
Today we have awesome computers, cell phones and the Internet, all working together to democratize information. Medical advances mean people can live longer, healthier lives. For the first time in history, we can have a live video chat with someone half a world away or up on the International Space Station. We have some of the greatest minds working together to plan a trip to Mars.
We live in some pretty amazing times and yet the sweetest things in life have little to do with technology. The love of family, friends, meaningful work and the opportunity to travel and experience new things is the stuff of a life well-lived. I am thankful for these things and mindful of their blessings in my own life.
Here are some of the sketches and photos from recent travels and some just for fun.
A page from my sketchbook.
Small portraits.
Reference from a Karen Jurick painting.
Reference from a Karen Jurick painting.
Ink and watercolor drawing from an Alfonso Dunn drawing.
The woods at night.
Tree drawings.
Pencil and watercolor sketch from reference.
Sketch of Ethan near White Water stream.
Gouache painting from s Shirlene Perrin photograph.
A bird in a tree at White Water State park.
Ink and watercolor of a 1974 Toyota Corolla wagon.
Ink and watercolor of a 1974 Toyota Corolla coupe.
An ink drawing from Maximillians Triumph.
