Roxanne Baldwin's Artsy Blog

  • Breaking the Rules

    Sometimes, in both life and in art, you have to say “screw it” to all the rules you know. Actually, I can’t think of a good example of life, at the moment, but I’m sure others have. I have always relied on a limited palette to hold together a composition.  Then I was faced with…

  • Art Career and the Day Job

    Sometimes, at work, I feel like shouting “Quick!  Go back to school and become an accountant before it’s too late!”   No, I lie.  I spent many years trying to come to terms with working a menial job, when I wanted to be an artist.  Spent many years in frustration, thinking, “I’m better than this”.…

  • Stick a fork in it

    Sometimes, the hardest thing in art is calling it quits.  I don’t mean art totally, but each piece has to have an ending, and it’s usually far short of the perfection that you intended. So it is with Sunny Chair Paradise.  I like it, but it doesn’t live up to what I’d like it to…

  • Where’s my Mauve pencil?

    No one will ever accuse me of being a neat freak.  Messiness seems to run in the family.  Here’s a photo of my studio. Somehow, the disorganization hasn’t kept me from efficiently doing art…in fact, I think it helps.  I’ve seen studios where the colored pencils are meticulously kept in color coordinated containers.  I think…

  • The Comfort Zone, and taking risks

    I get the impression that many artists from experience know pretty well what each pencil or brushstroke will do.  They’ve mastered their particular medium, and they can create without too many surprises. Every so often,in the artist forum, I read about artists talking about the Comfort Zone.  This mastery is what I think they mean…

  • Lazy Day

    Been a busy week, and now I’m having a restful day.  Did a little work on Sunny Chair, but I’ve put a hold on it for a while.  I’m too tired to really do a good job. So, I thought I’d show some odds and ends of work I’ve done but never featured.  As usual,…

  • Boooooring

    A lot of the work of an artist doesn’t make for particularly good blog posts.  For instance, yesterday, I dropped off two pictures at an art show, and put together an application for Percent for Art.  Just boring stuff I gotta do. In the online forum I go to, they say an artist has to…

  • Another drawing

        I imagine it would not be possible to not mention the passing of Thomas Kinkaide.  He was a very skilled artist who marketed his work well.  His work is meaningful to a lot of people, and for all of the talk of his work being saccharin, he certainly contributed to the lives of…

  • “Cream of Mushroom”

    I don’t really have much to show right now, I guess I’ve gotten a little off track. I think after the mixed feelings I had over “Creativity”, I needed a break so I could be fresh again. In the meantime, I thought I’d post something I did a while ago. It’s 5×7 inches, and colored…