Book: Art Journal Kickstarter

My favorite quote today comes from Artist Nancy Belle in the book Art Journal Kickstarter, "When you are in doubt about a composition, draw a square in the middle of your page. This is the area to stay out of with any important images.  Align your important images with any of the four corners of the square..."

Check out more of her advice as well as artwork and insight from 99 other artists, including my piece "Dreams Come True" on page 43!

My page in Art Journal Kickstarter! So grateful to have been included.

Happy Arting!  Tristina :D

Book: Urban Watercolor Sketching

Always looking for a way to capture the moment with sketching, I was happy to find Felix Scheinberger's Urban Watercolor Sketching book this week at Blick Art Materials.

My doggie Becah is enjoying the book with me, too!

I'm loving the simplicity and excitement with which Felix writes, and EVERY page is filled with his loose and beautiful pen and pencil sketches enhanced with watercolor.

(c) 2011 Felix Scheinberger in Urban Watercolor Sketching 

Learning tons, and my favorite tidbit so far is, "The easiest way to learn it is simply to try it again and again." I also like his discussion of drawing vs painting, "...drawing mainly explains. Color is demanding and enriches our pictures with a sensual aspect. A drawing of a cake merely describes its shape, but a painting of a cake makes it mouthwatering."

Do you sketch with watercolor? What's your favorite urban travel kit? Leave comments below, can't see what you have to share! :D

HAPPY SKETCHING!  Tristina Dietz Elmes

Just Published My First Book - Artistic Calligraphy

Wow, I didn't know how exciting it was to create an online book from my artwork until my art coach, Brainard Carey (www.theartworlddemystified.com), advised me to create a Blurb book. Now I'm hooked! Just in time for the holidays, a unique gift. 28 pages of stunning colorful Asian inspired artworks with beautiful Haiku poetry to accompany each painting; and if you're in South Florida, we can meet up and I'll sign the book for you! Check out the preview below and order the book online at Blurb.com by following the link under the preview. Thanks for your support of living artists! :-D

Artistic Calligraphy by Tristina Dietz Elmes | Make Your Own Book

Getting Inspired!

Getting lots of inspiration from the current book I'm reading, "Daring Adventures in Paint" by Mati Rose McDonough. I have picked this book up and put it back down several times in the book store, and soooo glad I finally bought the book last week! Her colors and whimsical designs speak to me...

Mati Rose offers up in this book not only step by step instructions for creating artworks with beautiful, bold pictures, but she also shares her process for finding inspiration with lots of juicy pictures, narrative of her thoughts and great prompt questions that got me thinking... There is so much sage artist's wisdom in this book, that I keep having to stop myself from reading to head to Twitter and share snippets with my followers. You can read these excerpts @DietzArt; and follow her @MatiRose.

If you want to take a look inside Mati Rose's book, click HERE. To buy the book, just go to the Amazon link at the top of my blog page and click on the Amazon Bookstore. They have very helpful reader reviews there as well.

Happy Arting!  :) Tristina

Border's Going Out Of Business Sale

OMG! The Border's book store on East Sunrise Blvd. near the Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale is closing... They are offering books at 40% to 60% off. I picked up a whole armfull of art books there recently, including a fabulous coffee table book called 'American Grafitti' by Margo Thompson. I LOVE grafitti and have been photographing it on train cars, road-signs, along highways and on buildings for years. Below are a few images I have captured...

I feel the best book I picked up at the Border's sale, and there were 2 left, is 'The Human Figure In Motion' by Eadweard Muybridge. It's chock full of images of men, women and children sitting, standing and moving from front, back and side. I am going to use this as a reference for drawing the human figure in whatever pose I want. Really cool!

Comment if you pick up any books you are excited about from the sale!