Tightrope Tiptoe: Day 15-16/365 iPad painting

Tightrope Tiptoe.  originally uploaded by C.Proppé
Wednesday-Thursday, March 28-29, 2012

Two days of tiptoeing... sketching first the outline, and then adding in colors and lights.  I think about what it would be like to be way up high, above all those people, with blinding colorful lights in your eyes.  It is not something I could ever do...  When I have had to go to a baseball game and sit way, high up in the tip top rows, I have had "high anxiety", gotten very ill with a migraine and nausea.  But I really like the idea that people can walk above all of this and soar like a bird, looking down at all the sights and sounds.  More power to them!  This is my 4th iPad painting inspired by our local circus café.  See my previous posts for more info.

Cherimoya the Clown: Ice Cream Fruit Juggling | Day 15 + 16/365 iPadpainting

Cherimoya the Clown: Ice Cream Fruit Juggling, originally uploaded by cproppe.

 Sunday-Monday, March 25 + 26, 2012:

I bought my first Cherimoya at the Good Earth a couple days ago. I had never seen anything like this... it looked like a cross between an artichoke and an apple, but it's skin of this variety looked like someone had carved into it like it was wood; the beautiful indentations were full of light. It was so stunning, I had to buy it.

Obviously, I went home and looked it up, only to learn that this is the Cherimoya or Chirimoya, native to the Andes, and nicknamed "The Ice Cream Fruit". So, I decided it had to make it into my odd circus series of iPad paintings... so here we have the ice cream and cherimoya juggling clown.... I have waited two days, and my cherimoya is not ripe yet, but I look forward to trying it.

In the meantime, you might want to read this very informative article about Cherimoya's that just was published in the LA Times.
"The Scoop on Cherimoya: The Ice Cream Fruit"
latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2012/03/growing-cherim...

Circus Kiss: Happy Birthday Unicycle Day 15/365 iPad painting

Circus Unicycle: Happy Birthday Kiss | Day 15/365, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Another iPad drawing related to the Circus! Inspired by the new Café in town, "Café du Cirque" in downtown San Rafael. Hoping they will trade me food for notecards someday... : )

Circus Kiss: Day 14/365 iPad Painting

Circus Kiss: Day 14/365 iPad Painting, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Wednesday night, I fell asleep painting a goofy fish on my iPad and never saved my work....
Thursday night, I built a paper California Mission model of Mission San Buenaventura with my 4th grader, and we decorated the model and poster into the wee hours of the am....

Greek Salad+ fruit bowl,  Café du Cirque, San Rafael

Tonight, Friday.... Here is a circus elephant, with a Hershey's chocolate kiss.... I don't know why I had to paint more chocolate, or a kiss for that matter, but it just came to me.  The circus theme is one I see daily now since I have been enjoying the new Café in San Rafael, Café du Cirque.

The new café is located just diagonally across the street from my work "Art Works Downtown" on Fourth Street.  It's just West of 4th and E Street, and right across from "OutGrown".  The space has a circus theme and huge kids play area in the back.  You can't see the kids' area unless you actually walk past the counter, so it is still a great place for those with out kids too.  Smart design!

Today I had a late lunch of a salad and fruit, and a great latte. Kersten, the owner, is super friendly, and she always has a fresh and colorful flower on each table.  I have been told this is the "year of the circus" and I have decided to just go with that thought.  So... you can now follow me on Twitter at both @cproppe AND @circuskiss :
I am hoping to continue Circus Kiss as a brand with circus themed designs and hopefully, a children's book.  Here's to the year of the circus!

Follow @circuskiss on Twitter for more circus designs to come!

Day 13/365: Goji Cherry Truffles iPad Painting

Day 12/365: Goji Cherry Truffles iPad Painting, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Well, I'm back at the painting project after my photography/ski break yesterday. Tonight, I splurged on one of my favorite chocolate treats: UliMana Goji Cherry Truffles... gluten-free, vegan, organic, raw, agave sweetened... These are powerful little balls of joy. : ) I wanted to paint a tribute to these terrific treats. Each box comes with a colorful starburst cut-out message, such as "be love!", "be grateful!", "be hot!", "be generous!". I have saved all these since I started buying the chocolates, and I have 4 now... They seem too cute to throw out and I figured I could use them for another project eventually.

Tonight's painting was done in "Procreate App" for iPad. I could not figure out how to export this at a higher resolution, so it is only about 1 meg.   I will see if I am missing something.   I like this app, but it is very similar to the Brushes App. It does not have paper textures, as the ArtRage App does.  I think I am leaning towards the variety of textures in ArtRage at this point. More apps to test out in the days to come... I am only on 3 of 9!

Day 12/365: "First Tracks" iPhone Photo+Day 11/365: "Snowshoes" iPad Painting

First Tracks, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Monday, March 19, 2012
Day 12/365: Painting strokes down a snowy canvas.

Nature's Canvas, created fresh and white with snow is an absolute joy for skiiers and snowboarders to "paint" upon on a day like today... There is nothing quite like playing in fresh, perfect snow. On this day, I played in the snow with my sons, and then drove home at noon, leaving this gorgeous art of nature behind, to get my sons to their school play Tech Rehearsal on time... It was pure torture, but at least we got a piece of it.  There was no time for me to paint on the iPad today, but I thought this photo was worthy enough to share.  For more photos from this St. Patty's Day snow storm, visit my set on Flickr, here.

-Sugar Bowl at Donner Summit, Norden, California. Photo taken with an iPhone from the Lincoln Chair Lift.
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***Update... doh... I did acutally paint an iPad painting this weekend, and I forgot all about it!  This is what happens when you are far away from home and Blogger won't post your photos from an iPad...

"Snowshoes" iPad painting, Day 11/365 Project, originally uploaded by cproppe.
Sunday, March 18, 2012

Day 11/365:  This snow painting was inspired by my snowshoeing treck through the cross-country trails at Sugar Bowl after fresh powder had fallen.  It was magical!  If you haven't been snowshoeing in fresh powder before... you don't know what you are missing.  It is definitely like walking on clouds or pillows, soft and sinking a little, but not too deep.  It's so much fun and great exercise.  I was out there on the trails, waving off the Caterpillar groomer dude with his big yellow vehicle... I just wanted to walk around in the powder and he was clearing the trails.  I have some amazing photos from this little pillow walk.   I will upload them to Flickr and share here soon....

Zoe Zen: Day 10/365 Project: iPad Painting

Zoe Zen: Day 10/365 Project: iPad Painting in Brushes, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Painting over a photo on the iPad. This is Day 10 of my 365 project, to paint something on the iPad daily for a year. I received this image from friends today and was inspired to paint over it and send it back to them. I am always amazed at the gaze of a newborn child-- they look as if they have so many dreams in their eyes, we can only just imagine.

"Night Ride" Mt. Bike | Day 9/365 iPad Painting in ArtRage

 

NightRide_Bike II, originally uploaded by cproppe.

 Friday, March 16, 2012

Pheew!  That was a tough learning curve for this little bike.

Yesterday, I drew this same/similar painting on the iPad and the app crashed- "ArtRage" quit on me and lost everything.  Since I had turned on the "record to script feature", I had hoped at least something had been saved... but there was nothing.

Tonight, I was careful to "save frequently" and the app did not crash this time. Honestly, yesterday's lost painting was better than this one... Why?  Because it was more spontaneous, had more layers of built up and edited colors, and was my first attempt.  This image seems more contrived with less details as compared to the first effort of Day 8/365.

What I also learned is that even though I saved the script that records my brush strokes to play back at a higher resolution later, I can't do this unless I buy the app for my Mac.  They have a special now for $29. but I want to test out the 6 other painting apps before I go and dump more money into this product.  Although $29. is not a terrible price, I am planning on reviewing 6 additional iPad apps, and I want to purchase these first.  Stay tuned for my own detailed review on all the painting apps for iPad!

Day 8 of 365 Day project: Lost a fun painting. Darn.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Grrrr!  Crashes.  We take them for granted now that we have been on Macs for so long, and applications on our computers are very stable.... Well, here come the apps made for iPads and iPods and all those other devices we cherish that are written by budding programmers and don't have auto save or anything at all.  I should ring the programmer's neck!  : )

So, "ArtRage", the app is aptly called, crashed on me when I was about to save my latest masterpiece, and I was so excited to share this one.  It was a limited palette image of a mt. bike- abstract and quirky and fun, with blues and oranges, a little dark brown, black and white.  It had a bit of a Keith Haring feel to it... It was inspired by a night bike ride I took to CVS to buy tea tonight before the rain started up again.  Thank goodness for that bike ride, or I'd be even more upset now.

So, I painted on the iPad in "ArtRage" app for 2+ hours, and I had set the app to "Record" my brush strokes.  This allows you to play it back later at a higher resolution.  I wanted this option so I could print the image large at a later date.  Well... I guess 2 hours of drawing with out saving is pretty stupid... but I am so used to the "Brushes App" automatically saving what I do, and it is very stable... so I wasn't even thinking of the possibility of losing my work.

Grrrr...  It was such a fun, happy, cool piece of art.  I am going to try to recreate it tomorrow for my drawing of the day #9, but I will definitely be SAVING FREQUENTLY.

I enjoyed the painting time very much, and the brushes I used were mostly the large paintbrush, the pen tool and that was pretty much it!  I will try again tomorrow.  Stay tuned...

Sunflower Storm | iPad Painting Day 7/365

Sunflower Storm | iPad Painting Day 7/365, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012:

Today was another wet and stormy day. It is great that we are finally getting some rain, after a terribly dry winter. After work, I drove my son to swim team practice this cold, gray, rainy afternoon. Inside the waiting room at the swim club, they had a table with a vase of sunflowers and greens from a local floral designer. It was 20 feet away from me, and the brightest thing in the room. I downloaded the ArtRage app for iPad and began this digital painting. I could not really see the details of the flowers, 20 feet away, so this is more of an abstract painting of the flowers, and how they inspired me on this dark and wet, Wednesday.

I love the tools in "ArtRage", but I could not find a way to export the image at a very high resolution. It is not very intuitive in this regard. It does mention that you can export a PTG file, but it doesn't explain what can be done with this. I now have to reasearch online to find out if this PTG file holds the high res info. It does mention that you can play back a file "if" you have recorded the actions, which I don't know if I did or not. I am guessing I didn't have that turned on because I didn't know I had to do so, after having used the Brushes App (which automatically records your actions).

Bike with Stripes + Solids: Day 6/365 iPad Painting

Bike with Stripes and Solids, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Day 6 in the 365 iPad paintings project: I upgraded my Brushes App this evening... I didn't realize I had been painting with the older version of the app until tonight. This version of the app allows you to change the thickness of the line with the speed of your finger... Great! So, I played with some lines here. Photo reference in a layer below, I was able to paint over the photo and let a few critical elements show through. The bike was on a path in Mill Valley that runs along Richardson Bay.

Lollipop Trees + Mustard Field Farm: Day 5/365 iPad Painting

Lollipop Trees + Mustard Field Farm: Day 5/365 iPad Painting, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Day 5 into the iPad painting project, I sketched this scene from memory... Our drive to Donner Summit from Marin takes us out route 37 towards Black Point and Sears Point Raceway. This farm on the right side of 37 was ablaze with yellow mustard fields and the trees on the hill in the distance looked like perfect circular lollipops. The rolling hills and clouds created so many layers, I was thinking "The world is your onion".... It was a silly little painting, as this landscape is shockingly beautiful, and my response is almost childlike. Brushes and painting with your finger tend to make things come out a bit simplified. I wonder if a stylus would help any...?

Raspberry Chocolate Delight: Day 4/365 iPad Painting

Raspberry Chocolate Delight: Day 4/365 iPad Painting, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Day four into the iPad painting project, and we are up in the snow for a one night stay. It was too windy to ski, so the family took a great walk on the cross-country ski trails around SugarBowl, where the boys got to do some sledding.

That night, we enjoyed a terrific meal in the Sugar Bowl Lodge dining room, and I had chocolate cake with raspberries for dessert. This little sketch honored our sweet little day in the snow.

Candle Reflected: Day 3/365 iPad Painting

Candle Reflected: Day 3/365 iPad Painting, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Saturday, March 11, 2012

My third day of the iPad project, I lay in bed, exhausted, and did a quick sketch of the little Ikea candle beside my bed. I think I was able to blow it out before I fell asleep....zzzzz

In the Studio Today... "Penny Pincher" iPad Painting, Day 2/365

"Penny Pincher" or "Pinching Abraham" iPad painting, Day 2/365, originally uploaded by cproppe.
Friday, March 9, 2012

I work part-time, and it just isn't enough sometimes... A car broke down this week, and things got very tight around here. While we have a roof and can feed the kids, extras were not an option this week. I just started thinking about the term "pinching pennies" and wondered where it came from.

Here's what a search came up with:
To trace "in a pinch," we start with the verb "to pinch," which came from the Old French "pincier." The literal sense of "to pinch" is "to squeeze, especially with the fingers and, of the human body, especially in a way that causes pain or discomfort." Since it first appeared in English in the 14th century, both the verb and noun forms of "pinch" have taken on various figurative meanings. "To pinch" has meant, among other things, "to afflict or harass," "to steal" and "to be miserly" ("pinch pennies"). As a noun, "pinch" has been used as a metaphor for, most importantly for our discussion, any sort of severe pressure, difficulty or hardship that "pinches" a person. Thus we quite logically say that to be in such a situation is "to feel the pinch" or "to be in a pinch." This use of "in" (originally "at" or "on") a "pinch" dates back to at least the late 15th century, and the use in baseball of "pinch hitter" to mean one player substituted for another at a critical stage of the game dates back to 1902.

In the Studio Today... iPad Painting in Brushes| "Goodnight, San Francisco Moon"

"Goodnight, San Francisco Moon".  Painted in Brushes for 1st gen. iPad

Thursday, March 8, 2012

I am not sure why, but my most creative son and I have not been able to sleep well for the past few nights... I am beginning to think it really does have to do with the moon; a full moon, keeping us a bit uneasy and too alert to sleep.  Although Blake finally fell asleep tonight, I was still up, watching the news and noticed ABC channel 7 in the Bay Area had a video of one of our bridges with the moon rising right behind it and the traffic rolling by.

I have been thinking about starting to sketch on the iPad again, since Texas artist, Alison Jardine (@alisonjardine on Twitter) recently completed her 365th iPad drawing/painting... One for each day for the last 365 days.  I tried this with photos once and didn't make it...  Maybe I can do it again, or just revisit the iPad for a creative tool.  With all this in my night time mind, I sketched this little fun scene from my memory of the video on the news tonight.  "Goodnight, San Francisco Moon".  Seems like it could be the start of a cute children's book.  As I recall when I first started this finger painting a year or more ago, it takes some time to get used to all the tools/brushes before you can be more sophisicated in your work.  Sometimes it is just fun to go with the awkwardness of the tools and just let things happen.  This is one of the things I like most about Brushes on the iPad.  It's just fun... it is what you put into it, like most things in life.