Copyright or...Copywrong? It's all so confusing

  The question of copyright laws came up this week.

  So, I thought that I would hand out some free legal advice. But first, a disclaimer......

                                      I AM NOT A LAWYER....so take it for what it is, just an opinion

  For factual information, I would suggest you see an actual lawyer. You know, that guy in the suit and tie, sitting in a lush, downtown office, with a fancy pencil cup on his desk and a secretary. Remember to bring a checkbook or credit card. Does anybody even carry a checkbook anymore?

  Me, on the other hand, am sitting barefoot and cross-legged on the floor in an art studio, covered in paint with a pencil stuck in my ear, talking to a fish. It's your choice to make.

  Here is my opinion. This is me when thinking about copyright laws.......as it pertains to artists. It's weird.........really weird...........

  First off, it is NOT illegal for an artist or, anyone else for that matter to draw anything. You can draw whatever floats your boat.  Just this week, I have drawn these cute little Lilliputians in my sketch book.

  Are these dudes copyrighted? your dern tootin they are. These guys are the intellectual property of Disney. Here is the thing.

  I'm not making money off of these drawings. I drew these for fun and practice. Now, if I turn around and sell these little original drawings and receive payment for such, can Disney come after me? the answer is....

possibly, it's kind of a "gray area". Will they? I gotta say probably not. Here's why.

  I am not going to make a fortune off the sale of these little drawings. Disney most likely would not bother to sic their lawyers on me for something that minor. On the other hand, if I go and have a bunch of prints made up of these drawings or get their tiny mugs printed onto t-shirts for sale, I would probably be pushing my luck and would end up with a cease and desist letter. If I continued to sell them, I would probably get slapped with a hefty fine and a plethora of legal fees. Has that actually happened to artists? Yep, it has.

  This also works the same way with reference photos that some artists use. Photos are art and are the intellectual property of the photographers that took them. Which is why it is always the safest to take YOUR OWN photos for reference. If you can't, then ask that photographer for permission to use their photo. Most are very happy to allow you to use their work.

  As for celebrity drawings, again it's the same. There is a slim-to-none chance that a celebrity is going to show up at your house or studio and let you take their pic. Don't hold your breath. But to draw an original drawing of a celebrity from a photographers reference photo and maybe sell that one, original drawing, most likely won't get you into any hot water. Again, you are not mass producing the art. Here is one I did last year of Jensen Ackles, star of the hit show 'Supernatural"

  So....there you have it, my opinion. I say, go ahead and draw it. I do believe that it is a form of flattery to the talented artists and photographers out there. You are showing an appreciation of their hard work and their skill. Just do it responsibly and give credit where credit is due. Don't copy someone else's work and claim it as your own, it's that simple. And for anyone actually reading MY blog posts, please feel free to share my work as much as you want. Sketch my drawings, go ahead! I won't bite. Just mention my name when you do.

I Actually Spent The Morning Out Of My Studio

  Will wonders never cease.

  Yep, I had the most enjoyably morning. Not that life in my studio is bad, I love it there but,  it's nice to have a change of scenery as well, do something different. It also help to get the creative juices flowing.

  Over the weekend, I bought some plants. I collect succulents. I have quite an extensive collection of them. I have several in my studio and even more outside on my front porch. They require so little in the way of care, just some light and all the used aquarium water I can give them. Yes, plants thrive when watered with aquarium water.

  So first thing this morning, I decided to have my coffee out on the front porch. It was overcast and cool. All the rains we have had, have turned everything so green and my Passion Vine is filled with blooms, the bees happily fliting from flower to flower.

This plant was nothing but a couple sticks when I first panted it three years ago. I purchased it from a woman here in town who had dug it up from her yard. I think I payed three bucks for it. Now, It is huge and offers privacy and shade for our porch. Plus, it is home every year for the Monarch butterflies who lay their eggs in the leaves.






When I finished my coffee, it was time to transplant
all the little pots of new succulents. As it happens, just at that time, we had a power failure. I had to grab a flashlight to search out all the empty pots I could find in a very dark garage. I managed and I also managed to make a huge mess on the porch.

  A helpful tip........place paper coffee filters in the bottom of the pots before adding soil. The filters prevent the dirt from running out the bottom but allow the extra water to escape so the roots don't drown.

  One of the benefits of succulents is they can be divided easily to create more plants. out of the four I bought, I was able to get eight plants! They also grow well from cuttings and from just sticking an individual leaf into a pot of dirt.

  I also bought a couple pots of Creeping Jenny to act as filler plants. Mixing different plants into the same pot adds lots of interest. This particular cultivar of Creeping Jenny is called "Goldilocks" and has bright, yellow/green leaves and it softly drapes over the edge of the pot. It makes for a beautiful contrast with the Aloe I planted in this pot.............

 A storm we had not to long ago, blew this hanging planter down, breaking the pots and killing the plants I had in it so I re-planted this as well and hung it up by a much stronger eye screw this time.....

  And finally, this plant. I have had this plant for a couple years now and it really needed transplanting into a larger pot. This one, I had to don gloves to transplant. It has a thick, sticky, white sap in the stems that is very caustic to skin and eyes. It is called a "Fire Stick". It's a beautiful plant and it is huge, and I had to muscle it out of it's old pot as it didn't want to let go. I have a small cutting of this succulent in my studio too................

I'm in my studio now and getting ready to attack the painting I am currently working on. It was a relaxing morning but now it's time to get serious and get to work. Y'all have a great day and change it up a bit, do something a little different from the normal day-to-day.

 

"Don't Mess With Texas"

Good morning and happy Friday y'all!.............................

  I found this small, 8X10 canvas sulking in a corner of my studio and decided to slap some paint onto it. I'm not used to painting on small canvasses, I gravitate towards large canvasses and BIG brushes but it was sitting there, all lonely so I'll go for it.

  I, of course, toned it just like I always do and then I sketched an initial drawing onto it. This will be a landscape painting. I have not painted a landscape in years, no kidding. I have nothing against painting landscapes, they are just not my usual subject. I'm more apt to paint portraits, animals, still life objects and the occasional strange, who-knows-what. Here is how it looks so far.............

  Morning light in my studio is not great so it may be hard to see. but it is a Texas landscape. There is an old abandoned barn and a couple trees, all set in a field of Texas Bluebonnets. I'ts such a small canvas, it doesn't even fit snugly on my small table easel seen here. I could just throw it on my lap and paint it. I do happen to have a couple of canvasses that are even tinier than this that I have NO idea what to do with, like this one..............................

  It might make a cute refrigerator magnet.

  One thing I must say that I admire about Texas is that the people have a deep rooted respect for the states history and heritage. I was not born here, I have only lived here for the past four and half years. I'm Los Angeles, born and raised except for a small stint in Illinois when I was a kidlet. So, I was amazed to learn that old things, buildings and such, don't get torn down here because they are old, they are protected and cherished and maintained. In LA, they tear everything down and put in more freeways and mega malls. All that history dies away. I'ts sad really. Even in this very small town I live in, if you go downtown, the buildings are old and beautiful. You can almost see and feel a sense of what life was like a hundred years ago. I hope it will always stay this way but knowing Texans, it will.

  So my Friday begins.............Paintings await............My daily sketch awaits. So I'm off. Have a great weekend!

 
 

 

Recycle, Revamp, Reinvent, Repair, Re-use, lift, push and a Couple Pulled Muscles Later...

Geez.............That blog post title says it all as I have been doing all of that this week.  I have tons of projects I need to get around to doing. Which is part of the reason this blog post is late.

  Yesterday, I moved a fish tank. I have five tanks currently set-up. Two in my studio housing Bettas, The largest tank is downstairs in the living room, one in the kitchen and one on my nightstand in my bedroom.

  My daughter decided to surrender her fish to me. So, I hauled them over to my house and added all of those adoptees to my 30 gallon tank. Fish tanks are heavy as all get out when they are still a quarter full of water so it was a challenge to move it, hence, one of the reasons I didn't get to post on time. I'm happy to report though that all the fishies survived the trauma of the move and are doing fine. I wish I could say the same for me but, my poor muscles and debilitated shoulder say otherwise.  I also moved my two Betta tanks this morning to new spots in my studio which meant, of course that I rearranged the ENTIRE studio cuz that's just how I roll.

  Now, today, I have a table easel that needs repair and revamping so I can put it to work in my studio. That will allow me to work on two canvases simultaneously which will in turn, make me more productive. That's always a good thing.

  And...........finally.............I got around to re-prepping, to re-use,  the previously used,  30X40 canvas that has been sitting, collecting dust. I have a painting in mind for it but the details still need to be worked out. I have this habit, okay, so it's a little strange but I have always done this. I write words and sentences onto my blank canvases, underneath the under painting. Just random thoughts, good vibes etc. that will not be seen in the finished painting and only I know what they say. Why?  I don't know really except that I feel it puts good thoughts out into the universe and I think the world can use all the good vibes it can get these days.  You might be able to see it here..................

  I write these words and phrases with watercolor pencils so they just melt and blend in with the acrylic paint. Afterwards, I usually use a yellow ochre paint to cover the canvas with a light wash. This creates a pleasing under tone to the painting that looks like this..................

 

  Next..........comes the initial sketch and the actual painting, which I hope to start today, depending on whether or not I get all the other tasks done. I'm sure if I do get this canvas going, I will post about it up on my Facebook page. I better go and get started. I still have my daily sketch to do as well.
 

A Philosophical Conundrum Don't you just love using BIG words

 

Big words make me feel so smart, even if I have no idea what I'm saying.

  I thought that for today's blog post, we could discuss the "Nature vs Nurture" debate. Reason being that I saw two threads this week up on one of my social media sites about this topic. This post may cause drowsiness so I would suggest grabbing a pillow and your favorite blanket before reading on.

  Before I begin, let me just say that this is my opinion only,  based on my own experience, your opinion may vary. Feel free to chime in, in the comment section below this post.

  I suppose this could be a "heavy" topic and I also realize that with our limited human knowledge, we may never have a true answer to this question. But here goes..........Are we born with artistic talent, straight out of the womb or, do we just develop a certain talent. My opinion is a bit of both and I will tell you why I feel this way.

  My mother passed away when I was seven months old. Obviously, I never got to know her and I have very little knowledge of her still to this day. My grandmother on my fathers side, took care of me when I was little and when I entered kindergarten, my teacher, Mrs. Melton, (I still remember her name), discovered that I could do two things really well, better than the other children in the classroom. One of which was, I could read.

  Mrs. Melton would call all of us up to the front of the room, have us sit cross legged on the carpet and she would have me read to the class every morning. I don't remember learning how to read. I don't know if my grandmother taught me to read. I do not remember ever being read to when I was little, I just know that I loved to read.

  The other thing that was discovered about me was that I could draw. My drawings were primitive at best but unlike the others kids, they were detailed and more thought out. As kids, we would all draw pictures of our house, you know, with a lollipop tree and a smiling sun in the sky that would look kinda like this.............

  Which is all fine and good but then I would draw something that looked kinda like this................

  As you can see, I already had a basic knowledge of line and angles and form.

  I was always drawing as a kid and as time went on, I got better and better at it. When I got into high school I was sketching very elaborate drawings.

  Now, this story wraps back around to my mother. When I was about seven years old, I found out that my mother had been an artist. She was a painter. I went to my aunts house, one of my mothers sisters,  in San Diego, El Cajon to be exact. My aunt showed me a bedroom in her house where my mother had painted roses on the ceiling. I vividly remember lying on the floor, in that room, staring up onto that ceiling at those beautifully rendered roses, knowing that my mother who I never knew, had created those and I knew, then and there that I too, was an artist.

  Fast forward a few years and then I found out that not only had my mother been an artist but, so had most of her family. I had come from a very long line of artists. Did I actually inherit this ability?

  So my consensus is...........It's a bit of both, nature and nurture. I taught art. I have taught people to draw who told me that they couldn't even draw a stick figure. yes, it CAN be taught. Is it intuitive as well? are we born with this talent?.... I feel we are born with a propensity (there's another BIG word again), or in other words, a passion or basic instinct towards a certain talent, be it visual art, music, dance whatever. It's in us but it still needs to be nurtured, to be developed and in order for that to happen, we have to WANT it. We have to work for it. Some may have to work a little harder than others, yes but, we ALL have it in us.

  Well..............That's it. My opinion for what it's worth. Please, if you want to voice your opinion, I would love to know what y'all think as well.




 

Iv'e Reached 70 Daily Sketches

I decided to post a blog about today's daily sketch as opposed to just posting it on my Facebook page. I'ts kind of a long winded post and I didn't want to put people asleep attempting to read it.

  I'm up to 70 sketches. When I first decided to do this I thought to myself "no problem, piece of cake". Now I'm thinking........ not so much. I'ts a lot tougher than I imagined. Not the drawing part, I like the drawing, and I would be drawing anyway but, I think it's the pressure part, trying to come up with an appealing subject matter on a daily basis just because I said that I would so, now,  I am obligated to do so, in my own mind of course.

  To break out of the monotony, I decided I will change things up a bit. For the next few daily sketches, I am going to be using a pen that I recently bought that has a slight learning curve in order to master it. It is a brush pen but it is different from all other brush pens I have used.

  This is the Pentel Pocket Brush. What makes this pen different is it has an actual paint brush tip where as most other brush type pens have a solid felt tip in the shape of a brush,  making them very stiff. This pen's tip allows for some very thin lines all the way to thick expressive lines. I'ts refillable as well so no dipping into ink is required.

  The issue is, I have only used this pen twice since I bought it and it takes practice and time to get it down. I find that it takes a very light pressure to achieve the lines your after and a very steady hand. Also, since it is,  after all ink, once it's down on the paper, there is no chance of correcting any mistakes which means you have to get all your strokes right the first time.  So, like I said above, I will be doing the next few daily sketches using this pen so I can get a little more proficient with it.  By the way, my very first sketch using this pen was an epic failure just so y'all know.

  So, without further ado, here is today's daily sketch. This is only the second sketch I have done with this pen so it's not exactly museum worthy but at least you can make out what it is, unlike the first mess I created. I present, daily sketch #70............

  So be patient with me for the next few days as the next few daily sketches may just be a tad wonky while I try to get the hang of this "bad boy" pen.

Here a Tweak, there a Tweak, Everywhere a Tweak Tweak

..........Old McEllen's in the studio, e-i-e-i-o,  Sorry, It's a blood sugar thing.

  It's not just my artwork that I continually tweak, I can be a huge time waster. I played "hookie" on Friday, which was mostly my hubby's fault....(he' a great enabler), so I worked in the studio most of Saturday to make up for it since hubby was at work. I generally take weekends off from the studio with the exception of doing my quick, daily sketches which I'm still managing to do. I can't believe I'm on sketch #68.

  Yesterday, however, was an example of my time wasting habits. I had every intention of working on a painting that is residing on my drafting table. But, when I found out that hubby was going to Ikea, that all changed.

  I have been eye-balling a certain item at Ikea for quite some time now, so here was my opportunity to get it. So once again, painting was put on hold for the day.

  This is what I bought..................

  I had been seeing other artists talking about these Raskog carts and I just HAD to get one. It's referred to as a utility cart and I knew that it would be the perfect, next piece of equipment that could take up what precious real-estate I still have left in my very cluttered studio. It's on wheels so I can move it from one section of the studio to another, wherever I need it. And the bonus is.....It comes in turquoise!  My all time, fav color! How could I possibly NOT buy it?

  So I get it home and of course, it needs to be assembled, everything from Ikea needs to be assembled. It was really simple though.

 

Here is where the "tweaking" part comes in................................

When I get something new for the house, whether it's for my studio or elsewhere in the house, that new piece doesn't look quite right until I completely rearrange, haul, move, lift, clean and therefor tweak, the entire house or, at least the room this new piece will live in.

C'mon now, you can't tell me that I'm the only one who does this. So I spent yesterday rearranging a studio that really didn't need rearranging. Hence, time wasting when I could have been painting.

I DO love my new cart. I am still loading it up with stuff............

And as a result of buying it, I did manage to get rid of a set of drawers and a table that is no longer needed, clearing at least a little space so it is a win/win.

Today...............I AM GOING TO PAINT. No procrastinating. I am determined to finish my painting TODAY !

So I am off and running, hopefully in the right direction. I will post my finished piece later up on my Facebook page and Instagram and Twitter .........I think..............maybe............oh who knows.

 

Preparing For Color

Happy Friday Everyone!

  Hope everyone's week went as planned. Mine was quite busy. And again, I find myself in the mood to start another watercolor, this time a portrait. I sketched it up last night onto Arches cold press watercolor paper The paper is white, I edited it to darken up the lines so y'all can see it............

  It isn't anyone in particular, just a woman I drew knowing that my painting style differs a lot from my graphite drawings so I needed her to be loose, somewhat impressionistic.   A few years back, I'm embarrassed to admit, I bought a set of Hydrus, concentrated watercolors. These are really intense watercolors and to use them, you dilute them by using only a few drops of the color added to water, the less water, the more intense. Technically, they are SO vivid, they should be used sparingly or you can end up with major color overkill. They were expensive and I still have not used them. sooo,  I thought I would break into those and give them a try with this portrait. I will still need to work this sketch some more before adding the color to it as it needs a bit more detail and definition.

  As for Lucy........I am still working on that massive head of hair she has. It's going to take time. I did add watercolor to her irises to show off those beautiful blue eyes that she had. I am also going to add watercolor to her lips as well. I LOVE graphite with just a hint of color!

  Working on these will keep me busy for awhile but I do have other projects in the works. One of which is a colored pencil piece plus, three other sketches to get to that will be drawings when finished and a large canvas painting in acrylic. Yeah, I have my work cut out for me and I will post progress as I go along.

  I do want to mention that I am currently available for commissions as well. If interested, I can be reached at  ellenbelshin@ymail.com and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have as well as go over pricing. And I do offer payment plans too. I am, finally,  working on a new website that should be up soon so there will be a place to go to view my work other than here on my blog or on my Facebook page. I am Puttinondaglitz on Twitter so I can be followed there as well.

  I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll be posting again soon!

Ooops.....Did I Forget Something?

  I came to the realization, just this morning, that I totally forgot to put up a blog post last Friday. I know I had said that I would blog on Monday's and Friday's so that's one demerit for me.

  It seems like I have so much to do and so little time to do it all in. My fault completely as I am a major multi-tasker and tend to take on everything at once. slowing down is not on my daily agenda.
That is the main reason that I purposely put my large garden to bed for the spring and summer this year. I miss it but,  I need to take all that effort I would normally put into that garden and gear it towards creating more art. With a show in the works, which did get postponed but is still going to happen and commissions coming in I need to stay focused.

  And then, It's funny that I would say that when just yesterday, I told my hubby that I want him to find me a 66 or 67 Mustang to fix up. Yeah, I know.......I'm so bad. But hear me out.

  Years ago, I owned a 67 Mustang California Special, with a 390 Shelby engine, dual exhaust and Holley carb. She was my baby, cherry and fast but, she burned up, on a freeway in Los Angeles. Ever since then, I have wanted to get another Mustang. I just think It would be a kick to fix one up. Though, at some point, I need to come to my senses and cut back on some extracurricular activities.

  Art is one thing I will never give up. I have been creating art since I was a young kid and I am continually taking commissions and I love it. Last night, I did up this sketch for someone. It's a celebrity portrait and I will let y'all guess who it is as I work on it...............

 
  Yeah, it's hard to see, I know. but keep watching as it will slowly morph out of the paper. That is one of the things I love most, especially in graphite.....watching a two dimensional face slowly coming out of a flat, one dimensional piece of paper. So I gotta get on with my day and my multi-tasking habits...........Talk later!