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Welcome to Art & Mindfulness for Business Groups. Virtual Program for Creativity and Well-being!.
NEWSLETTER 1: Finding Serenity: Art And Mindfulness As Your Tools For A Better Life.

I’m Veronica Huacuja, M. Ed., M.S.R. (Master of Education, Master of Social Responsibility) (pronounced wu-a-koo-ha), a professional plastic artist and a seasoned art educator. I am the creator of this program.

I invite you to choose the following link to know more about my academic training and professional experience: https://veronica.mx/resume-ENG.pdf

My teaching encourages participants to a journey that provides them with tools that enrich their lives improving their intra and interpersonal life through artistic enjoyment and mindfulness meditation. Likewise, the program promotes a learning environment of mutual support among the group.

Before we delve into this journey, let’s get to know its content and needs:
PART 1. OUR MINDFULNESS MEDITATION.
-5 minutes of our time.

PART 2. OUR ART EXERCISE.
USING LITERATURE AS AN ART INSPIRATION SOURCE.
Learning how to use high contrast focused on the female figure.

Material we will use in the art exercise.
-Acrylic paints. Vermilion Red, Cobalt Blue, Titanium White, Egg Yolk Yellow, Ivory Black. With just these paints, we can achieve the full range of the color wheel.
-Bristol paper (270 g/m2), size: 25 x 25 cm. Bristol paper is a thick paper (a semi cardboard) that can withstand the moisture of acrylic paints without warping.
-2 small rectangular brushes half an inch wide. I recommend using rectangular brushes instead of round ones, as they provide more control over paint handling.
-1 paint palette with 8 to 10 with compartments or well to mix and blend different colors of paint.
-1 small sized water container to rinse our brushes.
-1 small pocket notebook.

PART 1. OUR MINDFULNESS MEDITATION
Foreword. As we may know, we find the origin of mindfulness in ancient Buddhist practices. In the West, since 1970, mindfulness has been adopted as a therapeutic practice—free from mysticism, religious, or philosophical aspects—that achieves its benefits of meditation periodical exercises. This is the approach that ART AND MINDFULNESS embrace.

Mindfulness consciousness involves paying full attention to the present moment, resulting in enriching intra and interpersonal experiences. Practicing mindfulness with curiosity, openness, love, self-generosity, self-acceptance and daily is essential.

OUR PRACTICE.
Our breathing. Breathing is a very important tool to meditate. It helps us focus on our meditation, as you’ll find out in this practice. Let’s always keep this in mind.

The breathing method. Allow your breath to be natural and unforced. Don't try to control or manipulate it. Simply observe your breath as it naturally flows in and out.

BEFORE OUR PRACTICE.
Here are a few key considerations to bear in mind before starting our practice.

-Begin this session by selecting a quiet room at home or wherever you are at now. Ensure that no one will disturb you.

-Turn down the income signals of your cell phones.

-Use a comfortable garment for the practice.

-Pose your body in a comfortable, ennoble posture, whether sitting on a chair or lying on a mat. Either way, keep your back straight, without straining it, and drop your shoulders. Separate your feet from one another to feel your body balanced. If you are sitting, keep the soles of your feet on the floor, avoiding any pressure on the back of your thighs.

-Keep your hands beside your body if you are lying or rest them on your thighs if you are sitting. Position the palms of your hands facing upwards.

MAKING OUR PRACTICE.
-Applying no pressure to our eyelids, close your eyes, or semi close them if that suits you better.

-Breathe in slowly, gently, as I cited. And while doing so, let’s feel the fresh air coming into our body, swiveling from our nostrils into our lungs, belly, abdomen, thighs, calves, the soles of our feet, and toes.

-Every time we breathe out let’s pay full attention to feel the air swiveling out from our inner body, making its way out from each of our toes, passing from the soles of feet, to our round calves, going through our thighs all up its way passing through our abdomen, belly, chest, reaching our nostrils and leaving our body.

-While we continue breathing in and breathing out, our mind might distract us, making us remember pending duties, memories, preoccupations of the future, fears, etc. Notice these happenings, release them from your mind and gently come back to pay full attention to your breath in and out. Meditation is a practice, and it's normal for the mind to wander. Simply observe without judgment and come back to your breath. That’s our anchor in meditation. Our breath is a powerful device to keep us focussed on ourselves, leaving the world of the “must do’s” to fully paying attention to our inner world. It’s our natural breath that helps us re-concentrate on ourselves, giving us this meditation time in a generous and loving way, nurturing ourselves.

-Breathe for the next 5 minutes.

Our time is over. Slowly, begin moving your fingers and toes, one at a time. Now, let’s move our arms and legs compassionately to recover their flexibility. Ease your head with care from one shoulder to the other, and from front to back. Open your eyes.

AFTER OUR PRACTICE.
Let’s feel a sense of gratitude towards ourselves for giving us a nourishing time, for comprehending the importance of being in the present moment, not “doing” anything else, just “being” with ourselves. Now, in this peaceful and balanced state, we’re prepared to unfold our Art exercise, and after it the rest of the day.

Important homework. Do this exercise every day for the next 15 days. You can plan to increase your meditation time. For example: 5 minutes every day during the first week. In the second week, you can extend to a 10 minute meditation, for example.
It’s essential to remember that mindfulness meditation is a skill that we have to develop over time with practice. You'll begin to notice its benefits from day one, and they will increase within the next weeks. Like any habit, consistent daily practice is key to experiencing its inner personal benefits.

By incorporating mindfulness into our daily routine, we can create a more mindful and meaningful life, fostering a deeper connection with ourselves and the world around us.

Thank you for accompanying me in this practice.

PART 2: OUR ART EXERCISE.
I’m sharing with you the results of a group virtual painting session in a business environment. I’m also inviting you to make your own version of the work: Do it yourself with my guidance!

Foreword. In this peaceful and balanced state after our mindfulness meditation, we’re prepared to unfold our Art exercise, as I mentioned. Let’s experience the benefits of meditation in this art session, and for now, let’s feel the paints, see the colors, feel the forms, acknowledge our hands and their power of art creating. Let’s enjoy our art session!

The artistic journey that we’re about to undertake provides us with an avenue for self-expression and self-exploration. Artistic creation on an intrapersonal level can evoke a wide range of emotions, provoke introspection, and spark contemplation, leading to personal growth and a deeper understanding of oneself.

Likewise, in a group exercise, art transcends the boundaries of the individual and extends into the realm of interpersonal connection. By integrating art into a group setting it becomes a powerful tool for fostering social bonds and encouraging meaningful conversations.

OUR ART EXERCISE.
USING LITERATURE AS AN ART INSPIRATION SOURCE.
Learning how to use high contrast painting focused on the female figure.

BEFORE OUR ART EXERCISE.
One activity I encourage my students to engage in—alongside artistic creation and mindfulness practice—is reading literature (short novels, stories we find on the internet for free, sometimes). I recommend this because it broadens our artistic themes and enriches our lives.

This time we focused on Leonora Carrington (1917-2011, United Kingdom-Mexico), a surrealistic multidisciplinary artist—painter, author, sculptor—. Her work of art is fascinating, not to mention her interesting biography. (2)

For this project, we read one of Carrington’s short stories, As They Rode Along the Edge, and selected a passage that inspired us to create the artwork:

“Virginia (…) made a gesture with her strange hands to let the animals know the hunt was over; she opened her mouth and a blind nightingale flew into it. She swallowed it and sang in a nightingale’s voice.”

MAKING OUR ARTWORK.
Some art concepts before our practice. High contrast painting refers to an image in which black predominates, while the other colors used stand out. This technique created an artistic movement called "Tenebrism" (derived from the Italian word “tenebroso”, which means dark). In it, the background of the artwork is black, making the figures out stand with great strength.

The following image is an example of one of the great masters of painting of all time that used this technique, which was Caravaggio (1571-1610, Spanish Empire). (3)

Now, let's use this technique and paint our background using the Black Ivory acrylic paint. We can paint all the surface or, as I did, I left an irregular margin on each side without painting it (https://veronica.mx/background.jpg). The smudge orange color we appreciate on the bottom right side is from another painting I did on the same cardboard, which I didn’t like its results. So, in my case, I recycled the cardboard, leaving some of the old painting as an interesting detail that might enrich this new painting.

One more thing, I always paint first the background and then the figures on it. Painting the background first and then the figures on it will make it easier to create a cohesive painting. Just imagine the amount of work painting the background on the surrounding limits or edges of the foreground elements in case we painted them first!

On the other hand, to create the female figure, we used a clay model I made for this purpose. I posed it and illuminated it in different ways, showing it to the students, using one webcam dedicated to study the sculpture. We took diverse snapshots. We all agreed in the final posture that we chose to work in.

These are the links of the images:
-https://veronica.mx/imagemodel1.jpg
I focussed on giving the sculpture a gesture attending to the passage in Leonora Carrington's story.

-https://veronica.mx/imagemodel2.jpg
One of the characteristics of the personage in Carrington's story were her strange hands.

-https://veronica.mx/imagemodel3.jpg
The face expression in the sculpture helps to add drama to the piece.

-https://veronica.mx/imagemodel4.jpg
Gesture is an essential element in figurative art, as it communicates emotions, narratives, and the essence of the subject.

Then, while choosing and blending our acrylic colors in the paint palette, one thing I recommend to my students is to feel the materials with which we are working on and use them freely to satisfy our personal art expression. The goal is not to feel limited by trying to create a realistic copy of the model, but to interpret it using our feelings, sight, the paints, and our gentle or vigorous painting strokes on the paper.

Each member of the group developed their own version. As they did so, I provided them with both group and individual guidance according to their needs. Likewise, I developed my version of the exercise (whose progress I showed on the screen to the participants).

I present my work:

Title: Leonora 1. An Homage to Leonora Carrington (This is the link for the image: https://veronica.mx/leonora1.jpg)
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 25 x 25 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

AFTER OUR PRACTICE.

Encouraging my students to present their artwork to the group is something I do to reflect upon his or her art experience. I also ask what our meditation provided to our art process and encourage the group to take part, to build up together holistic conclusions of our both activities: meditation and art creation.

Many students like to share his or her experience with their families (spouses, children). This contributes to their well-being in their family environment.

We close the session by thanking ourselves for giving us this nurturing time. We also thank ourselves within the group for sharing our time and experiences together.

Important homework. I recommend using the pocket notebook to draw on it with a pen or a pencil daily. Take off some minutes of your duties and give yourself this pleasure. These are some ideas you can draw: your hand, foot, the face of a beloved one, a glass of water, the plant on your desk. Keep the notebook in a drawer on the side bureau in your bedroom or at your office. This routine can have numerous inner personal benefits that positively impact our lives, such as:

-Stress reduction and relaxation. Creating art, whether through sketching, doodling, or journaling, can be a form of mindfulness and meditation. It helps us focus on the present moment, promoting relaxation and reducing stress and anxiety.

-Self-expression. Art provides a safe and expressive outlet for our emotions, thoughts, and feelings. It allows us to communicate and process complex emotions that may be challenging to put into words.

-Boosting creativity. Engaging in daily art exercises nurtures and enhances our creative thinking abilities. Over time, this creativity extend to other aspects of our lives, leading to innovative problem-solving and fresh perspectives.

-Improved memory and observation. Art exercises often involve keen observation of our surroundings, encouraging us to pay attention to details. This can improve our memory and enhance our ability to notice subtleties in everyday life.

I hope this newsletter is meaningful to you. Thank you for reading it and for participating in the dynamic of the session.


To know the characteristics of ART & MINDFULNESS for Business Groups. Virtual Program for Creativity and Well-being, head over to: https://veronica.mx/artprogram

If you have comments, questions, feedback that you want to share with me, please use my LinkedIn account https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-huacuja-59860322b/ or my email: art@veronica.mx

I invite you to subscribe to my Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-mindfulness-7087213844661448704/

Thank you for reading.


1. To know my academic training and professional experience, please head over to https://veronica.mx/resume-ENG.pdf

2. Wikipedia. (n.d.). Leonora Carrington. Retrieved July 14, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Carrington

3. Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist, c. 1604, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Fragment of the masterpiece. Retrieved on 07-17-2023 from https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/caravaggio-saint-john-the-baptist/


Bibliography

Carrington, Leonora (n.d.). As they Rode Along the Edge. The Seventh Horse and other Tales. Virago, Virago Modern Classics, 1989.

Jon Kabat-Zinn. (1990). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Publisher: Random House.

UMass Memorial Health. https://www.ummhealth.org/center-mindfulness

Hello, my name is Veronica Huacuja and I am a plastic artist and an online art teacher. I have created this content for a group class and I hope you enjoy it.

PREVIOUS COMMENT.
As artists or art practitioners, we must use all the resources we have at our disposal. Following these criteria, this time we explored the work of the painter Lucian Freud (1922-2011, Germany) (1), one of the most important portraitists of the 20th century, who painted his model, Leigh Bowery (1961-1994, Australia) (2), on multiple occasions.

THE EXERCISE.
I developed a plasticine model based on one of Freud’s portraits of Bowery, “Nude with Leg Up (Leigh Bowery)”. (3) In this way, we had endless poses of the model, to which I applied different lights. We worked with the ones we found the most interesting, and drew them with crayon on paper.

LEARNING GOALS.
- We had to achieve the gesture of the human figure, considering the volume delineated by the lights applied to the plasticine figure. Gesture, as we may know, is a “movement” of the body that expresses a feeling, a sensation.

- We experienced the powerful use of a black, thick crayon on paper.

- For those who didn’t know the painter’s work, got to know it, and also we got to know some facts about Freud’s biography, such as the relationship established with his model. When I introduce a new artist to my students, I always refer to the man (in a comprehensive sense, referring to men or women) and his work. I believe that’s the most complete way of approaching an artist and his work.

THE DYNAMIC OF THE SESSION.
Everyone, including me as a teacher, made the exercise. As we did so, I gave guidance, according to the needs of the participants. And, meanwhile, we worked, I displayed and commented on my progress on the screen.

To know the plasticine model and some other sketches of the work, please visit https://www.patreon.com/posts/67831359

MATERIAL.
· A thick black crayon.

· Sketch paper. Size and type: 29.7 x 42 cm, 95 g / m2 (it’s a thin paper).

EXERCISE DURATION.
2 sessions of 60 mins.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 Grandson of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis.

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Bowery

3 “Nude with leg Up (Leigh Bowery)”, 1992. Retrieved on June 15, 2022 from https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/08/freu-a02.html

My name is Veronica Huacuja. I’m a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process. Hope you find them interesting.

PREVIOUS COMMENTS. Have you ever had the experience of not having access to a physical model to practice your drawing skills with? Well, this is an easy need to be solved. I do the latter by sculpting clay models, pose them and draw them on paper. But to do so, I need at least two photos of a character to work with: a frontal and profile view. I usually find these two photos in official mug shots where the offenders are photographed by law enforcement. A good thing is that these images are in the public domain. This is one of those cases.

MY INITIAL SOURCES. Having the latter in mind, I searched on the Internet, and I found the two mug shots I required, and a very interesting story: the true chronicle of Bob Addison (1913-unknown, U.S.), inmate No. 35074, from the Virginia Penitentiary archives. So, I made up the clay bust and sketched the following artwork:

Title: Inmate #35074
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: 10.1 x 20.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: The Relentless

BOB ADDISON’S TURBULENT STORY. This man began his criminal career at a very young age: 19 years old. In 1932, he “was convicted in Tazewell County of assault with a knife and sentenced to four years in the Virginia Penitentiary. He served 2 1/2 years and was released.” (1)

After, he got into trouble again. This time in Russell County, where he, too, badly cut a man with a knife, and prior to his trial, he escaped, never to be found until thirty years after. In between, he used another identity, Elbert Roy Clark, got married, and had six children.

This time, when caught–now being an elderly man–, he did not serve his time because “after an outpouring of letters recommending clemency, including one from the Governor of West Virginia, Virginia Governor, Mills E. Godwin, Jr. pardoned Addison on 27 January 1967.” (1)

MAKING THE ARTWORK. There are several advantages by making up our models with clay:
- We exert our artistic skills by perceiving and representing the volume of the figure (wide, tall, and depth). This doesn’t happen when we practice with a 2D model, such as using a photograph or a screen shot from a video. Our brain, sight and hands work altogether when we use a real-life model.

- We can pose the model in different positions: foreshortening, profile, frontal view, bird's-eye view, low angle view, etc., and add diverse sources of light to it. Doing the latter we can practice the chiaroscuro, high contrast, among other light treatments.

- We can make up a silicone mold out of the plasticine bust and begin our sculptor's trade!

TECHNICAL PROCEDURES. I used the frontal view and a profile image to make up the plasticine cast. It’d have been great if I could have found both sides of the character’s head (left and right). (2) This is because our facial features aren’t symmetrical, as we may know. But, nevertheless, I managed to make up the clay model avoiding symmetries. Then, I developed several sketches in ink. In this article, I included the one that I think reflects the once fierce personality of Bob Addison.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. As artists, we can use of our creativity to solve whatever needs we might have to accomplish our work.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

IMAGES OF THE TECHNICAL PROCESS: https://www.patreon.com/posts/60758691

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2011/10/24/mug-shot-monday-bob-addison-no-35074/

2 Alfonse Bertillon (1853-1914, France) was a police officer and biometrics researcher who created and applied an anthropological technique to law enforcement. He invented an ID system based on physical measurements and the use of mug shots to classify the offenders. Some of these mug shots had 3 views: frontal, and both sides of the head.

#VirginiaPenitentiaryArchives, #uncommonwealthvirginia, #bobaddison, #inmate, #claysculpting, #prints, #artprints, #drawingwithink, #inksketching, #art; #printmaking; #colors; #figurativeart; #charactercreation;; #learningart; #howtodraw; #howtopaint; #artist; #artistic; #paint; #painting; #paintings; #howtosketch; #sketching; #patreon, #fineartamerica, #FAA

You’re welcome to another Art Blog. I’m Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good and practical tips for your painting process. Hope you find them helpful.

REGARDING THE TITLE OF THIS BLOG. Should we incorporate to our artwork social problems we watch and read about in our everyday lives? I think it’d be a natural thing to do for some artists, but I’d like to add that this inclusion has to be subordinated to art itself, not to any other topic or field. That is, if our work is a piece of art, it has to be free of any usage (e.g. political topics, marketing, etc.).

So, that been said, I made up a collection I entitled "The Relentless", where I picture historical characters that suffer social malfunctions and disorders that drive them to commit crime. The tragedy of their lives and their cross paths in the lives of others are elements that impulse me to create this collection.

In this series, I dedicate my work to the victims of the perpetrators I work on, and to the multidisciplinary law enforcement team that pursues these offenders.

This is the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:

Title: Robert Stroud, The Birdman of Alcatraz
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Digital Art
Size: 6,614 x 10,422 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2021
Collection: The Relentless

As we may know, Robert Franklin Stroud (1890-1963, U.S.) was a convicted criminal with significant contrasts in his lifetime. These contradictions prompted me to create his portrait, in which I tried to capture the tumultuous events of his tragic life.

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. One more thing that triggered in me the creation of this work is that I’ve visited the public museum of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary during my lifetime on several occasions. I’ve read about the everyday routines that the inmates had to perform, the established relationships among them (their hierarchies, their groups), the roles of the guards, etc. I’ve seen the small cells in which these dangerous men lived for years.

SOME OTHER THOUGHTS. Regarding this last topic, I’d like to mention the differences that some European prisons have compared to other countries, where the inmates have better conditions for redemption. This last, if it’s the case. I believe, besides a matter of finances, overpopulation, etc. the concept of man is different in diverse countries. Some of them use their resources to reintegrate the offenders into society–when they’re sure these men won’t relapse–, and others to punish them. I believe Alcatraz was one of the latter prisons where most inmates were meant to be broken. This statement has to be seen as a historical phenomenon.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. I believe the answer to the question of this blog’s title is, for some artists, a categorical yes. Do you agree?

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

IMAGES OF THE TECHNICAL PROCESS OF THIS ARTWORK: https://www.patreon.com/posts/47404518

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

#paint; #painting; #digitalpainting; #portrait; #art; #printmaking; #prints; #artist; #portraitpainting; #painter; #artistic; #gesture; #mood; #palette; #artwork; #artpal; #gesture; #patreon; #digitalart; #digitalartist; #instaartist; #robertstroud; #alcatraz; #alcatrazinmate; #semiabstractart; #murderer, #inmate, #thebirdman; #thebirdmanofalcatraz, #therock

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja (wu-a-koo-ha). I'm a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I’ve some good practical tips for your painting process.

LET’S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT REGARDING OUR ART MATERIAL. Don’t throw away the artwork you consider at the moment unsatisfactory, because there’s still a good use for it. Let’s not throw away the paper or canvas on which the results were not what we expected. Let’s keep them and use them for a better achievement…, but this new use must be a strategic one. My recommendation for the new work is to leave some elements of the original work. This means, not cover with paint the whole original failed artwork, but to integrate it into the new one. This will improve the expression on our second try.

To exemplify the above, I add the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:

Title: Woman 10
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 61 x 48.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

Visit any time my patron's feed where you'll find images that describe the process of "Woman 10" using a failed painting on paper I made some time ago: https://www.patreon.com/posts/61243765

A SECONDARY TOPIC. I’d like to talk about the relevant use of physical models in our artwork. If, on the contrary, we use a photograph as an initial resource, we’d be working on the interpretation of another artist, in this case, the photographer (copying the gesture or other elements he already solved). And I add something relevant, we’d be working on a two dimensionality (height and width), not on a three dimensionality (height, width and depth). So, the recommendation is to use a physical model and to make our own interpretation out of it.

By doing the latter, we improve the coordination of our sight, brain activity and physical capacities (the hand skills). This training will help us achieve rhythm, dynamism, and gesture in our work.

MATERIAL.
- An unsatisfactory work on paper or canvas.
- Acrylics paintings.
- 3 brushes. The size of the paper or canvas determines the size of the brushes. When we paint on a small surface, the brushes must be small and vice versa. For this work, I used rectangular brushes less than an inch thick.
- Water.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

PHOTOS OF THE PROCEDURES of this artwork: https://www.patreon.com/posts/61243765

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for visiting.

You’re welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja, a painter and an online art teacher for individuals and groups. I have some tips for your art process. Hope you find them helpful.

LET’S TALK ABOUT… Our art interests and understanding that almost everything we create has to do with our own life, our environment.

A PREVIOUS COMMENT. One of my passions, besides producing art, is reading literature (novel, poetry, essays, etc.). I do this activity because it provides me with new experiences, ideas and topics to produce my artwork, besides enriching my life. 

So, whenever we choose an art topic to develop, we must agree that almost everything we create has to do with our biography. That is, the choices we make to produce any artwork is determined by our life history (beliefs, experiences, memories, education, culture, etc.).

To exemplify the above, I add the following work. This is its data sheet:

Title: Study of a Portrait 26
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: 32 x 24 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2005
Collection: Women

MY EXPERIENCE MAKING UP THIS ARTWORK. Taking the previous reflection into consideration, I made research on the photographer, Edward Weston (1886-1958, U.S.), and I found one of his beautiful artworks which displays a woman reciting a poem. The name of the woman is Tina Modotti (1896-1942, Italy)–a photographer, too–, who was photographed by Weston, her lover at the time. The title’s photograph is “Tina Reciting”. (1)

Weston took this photo in Mexico in the 1920s, which is a period of great artistic creativity that is known as the Mexican Renaissance. 

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Maybe that’s the mysterious way our brain works when we decide to paint whatever topic we’re interested in. So, the answer to the above question in the title is affirmative: Yes, we produce art that is part of our lives. Do you agree?

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Lastly, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com).

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING COURSE for groups and individuals: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

VIDEOS & POSTS: https://patreon.com/veronicahuacuja

1 https://www.kimweston.com/news/blog/exhibits-and-lectures/4-generations-weston-april-8-9-viewpoint-gallery

#tinamodotti,#tinisima,#edwardweston,#patreon,#artcoach,#artcoaching,#learningart,#howtodraw,#howtopaint,#art,#ink,#artist,#artistic,#paint,#painting,#paintings,#howtosketch,#sketching,#drawing,#portrait,#acrylic,#acryliconpaper,#acrylicpaint,#acrylicpainting,#acrylicpainter,#patreon, #fineartamerica, #FAA, #veronicahuacuja

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja. I'm a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process. Hope you find them useful.

PREVIOUS COMMENT. This portrait is an homage to the women that lost their lives in the hands of Jack the Ripper a couple of centuries ago. Their names, as we may know, are Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.

Since I began the work, I wanted to portray the troubled life and tragic deaths of these unknown (at the time) women. I created this artwork with deep respect towards them.

This is the data sheet of the piece:

Title: A Whitechapel’s Woman
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Oil on paper
Size: 33 x 28 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2017
Collection: Women

MY EXPERIENCE MAKING UP THE WORK. As I’ve mentioned on other occasions, I like to use innovative and various techniques in my workflow.

A PREVIOUS ACTIVITY. In this work, I made just like the grand master of painting Leonardo da Vinci, used to do when he searched in the homeless and impoverished people of his time models to paint their troubled faces. In my case, I did a similar task, but using the powerful tool that is the Internet. That's how I gathered information about the mentioned five canonical victims of Jack The Ripper.

On the other hand, I watched the American series, “The Killing” (1) and found out an incredible scene performed by the actress Mireille Enos (2), that I thought was just the exact initial source I needed at the time to make up the work. I made up various snapshots out of the cited scene, and selected one of them to work on it in a digital environment. In Photoshop, I deformed it, and changed the original source of light on the character's face based on the chiaroscuro masterpiece of Caravaggio (1571- 1610, Italy), “David with the Head of Goliath” (1607). (3) To see some photos of-the-art process, head over to https://www.patreon.com/posts/uncommon-initial-31081663

After being satisfied with the result, I used the image as an initial resource for the work done with oil on paper, in a physical environment.

MATERIAL.
- The cited snapshot of Mireille Enos in "The Killing"
- A reproduction of Caravaggio‘s painting, “David with the Head of Goliath”.
- Adobe Photoshop
- Oil paintings
- Oil paper

MAKING A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. The historical research, artworks of the grand masters of painting of all times, and our personal and professional experiences provide us with enough information to make up an interesting artwork. Do you agree?

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Lastly, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Hope you enjoyed the work and thank you for reading.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_(American_TV_series)
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mireille_Enos
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_with_the_Head_of_Goliath_(Caravaggio,_Vienna)

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My name is Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I’ve some practical tips for your painting process. Hope you find them helpful.

A DIGITAL SOLUTION MIXED WITH TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES OR THE WAY AROUND. As I’ve mentioned in some other blogs, I discovered Blender–a free and open-source 3D computer graphic software–on the Internet. I learned its basics in many free tutorials hosted on YouTube. There’re plenty enough for any learning need you might have of this software.

One incredible thing is that because of this software’s popularity, there are lots of developers, 3D artists, etc. that free share their work and you can download it. That’s what happened in this work of mine: I used a rigged human figure made up on this software. “What a rig does is define the way the various parts of a model will move in relation to its other parts.” (1)

To exemplify the aforementioned, I add the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:
Title: Body Study 65
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Media: Oil on paper
Size: 20.8 x 21 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2019
Collection: Human Body

THE PROCESS. One important thing to achieve in drawing or painting the human body (or an animal's body) is the dynamism (2) that the figure must have, no matter if it is at rest or in movement.

SOME GOOD DETAILS TO KEEP IN MIND. To get acquainted with the latter, let’s have a look at the body of art of the great masters of dynamic photography, that are Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904, British and U.S.) (3), and Étienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904, France). (4) By the way, they both born in the same year and they died at the same age! And, they got to know each other and each other’s work, but they didn’t establish a close relationship. Let’s not forget the boat made the transcontinental geographical distances in those years. This is because Muybridge lived and work in U.S. and Marey in France.

MY EXPERIENCE DOING THE ARTWORK. Why I used a 3D model when I could buy a nude artistic photo from commercial stocks or use others freely as an initial resource? The reason is that it's hard to find natural and dynamic poses in these galleries. So, having that in mind, I downloaded a free 3D Blender rigged human shaped model. Because it was a rigged, I could pose it in any position. I also defined the sources of light (casting the shadows). When I was satisfied with the results, I made a snapshot out of it.

PAINTING AND RECORDING THE PROCESS. The next step was to use, as an initial source, the cited snapshot. So, I sketched the figure on paper using a black crayon and painted it with an oil painting. You can appreciate the process in an 8 min video at https://www.patreon.com/posts/70780632

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. Have you ever mixed these two techniques: digital and traditional? If so, your creative process and initial resources expand.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate an interesting dialogue.

Lastly, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 https://www.google.com/search?q=what+does+rigged+measn+in+blender&oq=what+does+rigged+measn+in+blender&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i13i30j0i390l5.8512j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_drawing

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne-Jules_Marey

You're welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja, a painter and an online art teacher for individuals and groups. I have some tips for your art process. Hope you find them interesting.

Literature is an incessant source of inspiration for our artistic work. To explain this, I will refer to a professional experience. Some weeks ago, I got the invitation to take part in a collective exhibition regarding Leonora Carrington (1917-2011, United Kingdom) (1), who, as we may know, was an extraordinary, surrealist, multidisciplinary artist–painter, author, sculptor–. Her work is mesmerizing, not to mention the interesting life she had.

So, I reread her biography, the interesting relationships she established with so many celebrities of her time, such as Max Ernst (one of her dearest lovers at the time), Peggy Guggenheim, André Breton, Edward James (her early benefactor), and many other surrealist artists. Let’s not forget she lived the horror of the World War II in Europe, which is an important factor–besides knowing the Mexican, Renato Leduc (her first husband)–why she ended living in Mexico and adopting the English-born Mexican citizenship. 

Her story, “As they Rode Along the Edge”, inspired me to make up this piece. The data sheet of the latter is:

Title: Leonora 1. Homage to Leonora Carrington
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 25 x 25 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

The excerpt of the cited story that inspired me making up the artwork was the powerful description of her protagonist:

“Her name was Virginia Fur. She had a mane of hair yards long and enormous hands with dirty nails.” (2)

A COMMENT ON THE SIDE. As an artist, I rarely explain my version of my work. I try hard to make art that points in a direction without defining a destiny. I believe that journey has to be made by the observer.

There’s a book written by the philosopher, Umberto Eco (1932-20116, Italy), “The Open Work”, where he propounds the interpretation of an observer to a piece of art depending on his biography, beliefs, education, social environment, and many other personal factors. So, the main point of an artwork is to achieve polysemy (3), which are different meanings.

MATERIAL.

· Acrylic paints: Vermilion red, Cobalt blue, Titanium white and yellow. With only these paints, we can achieve the full range of the color wheel.

· Bristol paper (270 g / m2). It is a thick paper that withstands the humidity of the acrylic paintings without deforming.

· Rectangular brushes of various thicknesses, only about 1 inch thick or so. I use rectangular brushes and not round, as I can produce stronger strokes with them.

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Would literature enrich our lives and our artwork? Yes, I believe so. Literature is a splendid and generous source for our art inspiration.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Lastly, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for visiting.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Carrington

2 Carrington, Leonora. “As they Rode Along the Edge”. The Seventh Horse and other Tales. Virago, Virago Modern Classics, 1989.

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysemy

Welcome to another art blog! My name is Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process.

I’m explaining the backstages of the creative production of this artwork. Hope you enjoy it.

The data sheet of the artwork is:

Title: Woman’s Body 25
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Digital Art
Size: 5,251 x 7,000 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2018
Collection: Human Body

LET’S TALK ABOUT... An excellent technique: never erase the “mistakes” we make in the process of an artwork, because they might add interesting elements to it. As we may know, this fortunate happening is called “serendipity”, good luck or a fortunate accident. (1)


MATERIAL.
· Digital tablet. I use and recommend one with a hand pressure sensitivity stylus.
· Photoshop (almost any late version of this software).

PREVIOUS THOUGHTS. One thing that we have to keep in mind every time we use the digital medium in our work is that we can do similar procedures in traditional techniques (oil and/or acrylic, etc.).

ART PROCEDURES. I chose a mid-tone (2) for the background, a greenish one (not bright, not dark). This decision helped me to build up the work, because the background color, as we may know, has an important role in the final art solution. This is a technique I use and recommend using: set your background color first. It works just fine!

Sketching with freedom allows us to find interesting solutions. This includes the “mistakes” we do in the way.

With a certain concept of a nude female’s body, I began sketching using the black color and its mid-tones. At first, I didn’t know what the results might be. Little by little, after making various “mistakes”, the body took shape. I uploaded some photos of the creative process that you can find at https://www.patreon.com/posts/never-erase-in-29637463

Then, I added a new color: orange. One way to guarantee that I was using the correct color was to pat it on the surface and see how it matched. After being convinced of the right use of this third color, I applied it on strategic regions, letting the greenish background color still be part of the solution (see the belly, shoulders, legs).

Last, I applied the source of light (that reflects on the figure), and for this purpose I used the white color, which I employed in two ways:

-Lightly on the body just to create the volume.

-Heavily on the background to stand out the body from it, and to create a dramatic contrast with the usage of the black color.

MAKING A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE: Let’s trust in serendipity while making up our work, and let’s keep our eraser in a closed drawer.

PLEASE WRITE YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

If you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM for business groups and individuals: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Hope you enjoyed the work and thank you for reading!

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity

2 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/sep/20/guide-to-painting-mid-tones#:~:text=Mid%2Dtoned%20colours%20are%20in,it%20on%20to%20the%20canvas.


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