color cravings

The entire world has gone black and white and gray. I need a dose of bright green to keep my eyes and heart going. I need some humid earthy-smelling air to breath instead of a brittle frozen gasp that makes me cough. Just the right dose of medicine was available to me today as I spent an afternoon at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. This is a beautiful spot in the city, and a perfect place to spend a winter day. A soaring glass and iron structure filled with 60 ft tall palm trees, giant ferns, and orchids.
I had my sketchbook and pens along while visiting with a friend, and the hours just sped by while we were lost in a multi-colored jungle. Humid warm air and a tangle of foliage would not be as wonderful were it not the middle of winter. Some things just have a time and season to be absolutely precious.
As soon as I get my sketches scanned I will post them.

working today on Salvation

'

Cold, gray and snowy outside makes for an excellent day to work hard inside the studio. Today I am working on one of the Church of the Resurrection Old Testament panels. These are 5ft by3ft canvases. There are 10 in all. This one is number 7 in the series. I have brought it home from the church in order to get the finishing touches accomplished in my own studio.

One problem, among many, is that the church staff want me to return these paintings to the hanging spot in the narthex every Sunday. They don't want a blank spot on the wall!
Although it disrupts my work process, I will paint all day and get it back on the wall tomorrow morning. My plan is to take a painting off the wall every Sunday as if I  am checking out a library book and work on them steadily throughout the Lenten season until I get them all to that finished stage where I can be contented with the display at Eastertide.

Isaiah 55:1-11 is the seventh of the readings for the Great Easter Vigil. The first verse contains these words, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!"
We have chosen to illustrate this prophetic reading with the story of the Israelites in the desert gathering manna and drinking water from a rock all provided by the grace of God.

At this stage in the painting process I need to apply glazes and more modeling on the figures. They are not supposed to be ghostly and white! I am going for an earth tones color scheme over all.

I owe so much

My study detail from Rembrandt "Return of the Prodigal Son" to the left.

Blogging was new to me about five years ago and I must confess to how many hours I wasted going from one link to another. I was so inspired by reading and looking at other artists' work that I felt I should blog too.  I had so much in my sketchbooks and hidden in files that I wished to share but could never get anyone to sit still in my studio for long enough.

Four years and a month ago I started Skivington So Far. Now I have another blog site that is devoted to my flower paintings and nothing else. Janice Skivington Paints Flowers.
I have kept up a website of my illustration work separately for much longer.

I owe so much to the online presence of so many artists who share so generously. I am going to mention some here just to share what they have meant to me. One of the very first is Elizabeth Dulemba, her website is here. Elizabeth posts almost daily and I read her blog for a variety of news in the children's publishing industry, tips on writing, illustrating and more. She was so generous way back when I was first working on gathering my work for a website. I wrote to her with questions and received immediate help. Just what I needed from a pro and more than I could ever have found on my own. This is an example of the very best of what the web could be when all are open to sharing information. Unfortunately too, I recently read her post on how much of her line art is being used everywhere without permission.
Frank Ordaz and James Gurney are two other artists whose blogs I have found so instructional and inspiring. I have seen their work for years, (I have bought all of James Gurney's Dinotopia books for my kids) and didn't realize that they are both alumni of The Art Center College of Design as am I. I have learned so much reading their how-to articles, explanations of color palettes, and painting technique that I feel it has been a graduate course for me.
Another artist whose blog writing has been the equivalent of graduate school is Stapleton Kearns. He is a scholar and a gentleman with an old-fashioned intense disciplined approach to the work of painting. He is also funny but incredibly informative. I thought so much of him that I went to one of his workshops on landscape painting. It was worth it.
There are many more I could mention, I am always being accused by my family of wasting time reading blogs. If they could only understand how very much I have learned and still expect to learn.

to what purpose?

My second post in the ways and means and purposes of writing this blog.
Somedays I really wonder if it is worth it. I love getting comments (as do most bloggers) although mine are scarce and most of the time I don't think anyone is reading.
I once saw a mean t-shirt that said, "No One Reads Your Blog".
I have a collection of incidents, people, and questions that have come my way via this blog. Most of the time it looks like people come across my blog after a "google" search for an image to use for themselves. This results in my art being stolen (oh yes) and used illegally across the blog-o-sphere for illustrating someone else's blog or website.

I found this watercolor of mine on a pictify page. At least my name is under it. I wonder how many of my paintings have shown up on pinterest?

I have seen multiple uses of this image from a Moody Monthly story that I illustrated. It must be a catchy one, I have come across two different blogs and a sermon posting that are using it without permission.

I was amused when I received an email from Our Savior's Lutheran church in Wisconsin asking to use my pig image as a sermon visual. I gave permission and have a nice letter in return. I wonder what that sermon was like? I think this image is humorous so maybe it gave a good light moment to that Sunday.

Another example that has amused me, is a request to use this line drawing for a tattoo. I was touched that this person would ask me, no one else seems to do that these days. I told him he could use it for a small fee and please to send me a photo of his tattoo when he had it done.





I have had other inquiries such as "I love your flower art, can I use your drawings for the cards I am making to sell?". Very flattering? I said no to that one.

Another query was to ask if a non-profit organization could use this art from my book "How Anansi Obtained the Sky God's Stories".  They assumed that the art was copyright free because it was on my website. I don't know where the copyright to the publisher is now but I don't think they should feel free to use it.
I have more examples, and so do many of the bloggers I read, it is a risk of sharing publicly. It is a balance and sacrifice to show your work and hope for income to result at some point.

Ways and Means

ways and means pl.n. 1. Methods and resources available to accomplish an end, especially to meet expenses. 2. Methods and means, especially legislation, for raising revenue needed by a government. 3. the methods and resources for accomplishing some purpose

I am going with the # 3 definition here, the ways and means of purpose for this blog. This blog is titled  Skivington So Far with a good reason, and  so far we will ask how is Skivington doing?

I am behind schedule, (a day late and a dollar short) on my New Years resolutions. As a true procrastinator I have avoided getting around to them until there is no longer a New year on the horizon.

On this next-to-last day of January I am thinking about beginning my new year. This is a good time to evaluate my busy circle of life, to step back on a quiet grey day in January, and get some perspective on the constant whirl of activity. 

What about this blog? In the whirling spin of activities, what is important to keep going and what could I drop and hardly miss? I have kept this blog up for four plus years and for what reasons? What was my original purpose and why should I continue?

When I began this blog four years ago I wanted to do two things for myself; make an online journal, and force myself to write my artistic thoughts out. Expressing myself in writing about my artwork has always been a weak point for me. I hoped that posting in a journal would give me a boost and opportunity to grow.

Writing out an artist statement has always seemed to me one of the hardest things an artist has to do. And yet, although we artistic types are often introverts, visual not verbal, we still have to speak up and explain to our audience.

Another desire I had for starting this blog was simply to share with others what I was working on.
Often it happens that I will meet an old acquaintance who will ask, "Soo what are you doing now? Still doing that artsy fartsy stuff?" "Are you still umm...drawing?" "You still doing that...art thing?"
Inquiries meant in a friendly way but disconcerting to answer. I have never learned the art of small talk, and will reply with an earnest description that halts as I see them shift and freeze the smile while the eyes wander away.
Now, the blog is the answer. If they really want to know, to see what I've been up to lately, here is a web address. A journal, a record of activity, and a writing exercise.

ready to move forward

Charging forward into the New Year with all the energy I can.

Doesn't this model look like he is ready to spring up and start running really fast towards his goal?

That is how I want to feel as I start a new year.

(5 minute warm-up pose from life drawing group)

Christmas Eve children's church service

children at Christmas church service

News of Great Joy

This illustration and the one in the header above first appeared in a series of children's stories published in Moody Monthly magazine, (I blogged about it here). I like the expression of the face of Mary, she looks like she is truly pondering on wonderful news.
Here at my own home today we received some joyous news from our daughter and son-in-law, in about six months we will become proud grandparents of our first grandchild!