- SketchBook News – Creative Studio Mobile Art.

So, ya probably heard by now–via Facebook, email, text, phone call…that I spent a good chunk of last week participating in Autodesk University’s Creative Studio Suite.  It’s a spin-off from the very successful mobile digital art gallery they launched at last year’s conference.

I was fortunate enough to make this one and MAN, was it absolutely fantastic.  some of the most inspirational, fascinating and uber-talented creatives in the world were at this event.  So you can imagine how inspired I am at the moment.  There’s a whole line-up of artists on the Autodesk Sketchbook blog.  And I even had an opportunity to sit on panel with my good friend, B. Rabe, for a little pow-wow about iAMDA, MobileArtCon and my personal artistic journey after going mobile.

An unreal experience–made even more special by the wonderful group of artists I got to spend some extra quality time with. Jewels and very very good friends.  and yes, I cried when I left.  It is really special to grow with this group–and this was a monumental moment within OUR movement. As this event was my first moment of commune with the greater pool of digital creatives and “technologists”.

I did a blog post on the iAMDA site about it (for detail). But here, I just want to send love and hugs to my favorite peeps. ALWAYS special to spend time with you…and I will see you all soon!

Susan Murtaugh (i love you!!!!), Deb McMillion (I love u too!), Benjamin Rabe…(wait…I think I love you all!!!! :-/), Luis Peso, Shaun Mullen, John Halliday, Matt Connors, Sal Navarro (and Maria too!), Jacques Pena, Chris Cheung…was so great to see all of you. And yes, I really do think I love you all! Such a great group of people. So fun! (way too many laughs! haha) But beyond that, I was so inspired by ALL of your work and learned tons.  Awesome time!

Next stop: Hamburg/London…Whoop!

Wisconsin Wood Violet by MiaBia_DC

Self portrait by MiaBia_DC

This is painting I did with Adobe Ideas. A little ambitious, I know–as Adobe is a vector application and so blending is not the easiest thing in the world. This is probably the only time I ever used the MAXIMUM amount of layers (and ya know, I’m not the “layering type”…traditional roots make it hard to come naturally…EXCEPT in this case…drawing layer on top of layer helped with the blending….and still you seet he strokes…a really great exercise. And I will continue to explore vector apps!)

One Room to the Next by MiaBia_DC

Always with devices in tow… removed a couple layers in this one…fun to play with the variations. (now that’s something ya can’t do in paper! iPad/finger/sketchbook

Yesterday by MiaBia_DC

Finished sketch by MiaBia_DC

Playing in Sketchbook Mobile…with the 9B…and multiple layers…

Blue in Green (Self) by MiaBia_DC

This is a very quick self portrait done while waiting for dinner yesterday.  Here’s the narrative–an excerpt from Facebook:

Sketches/paints grotesque images of self while listening to ppl over use words and phrases, like “per se”…which only fuels the grotesque-ness…so, it is…my life: a circle.

Self in back room 2 (brush test) by MiaBia_DC

A play with brush tools in Sketchbook Pro.  I had the luxury of spending some time with a dear friend,  Luis Peso (from Granada Spain), during MobileArtCon 2011.  Aside from him being just an absolutely amazing person (soooo fun!), he is one of the most brilliant and talented fingerpainters I know.  During some down town, he sat with me and shared some brush setting secrets in Sketchbook (I know I may seem to be a technical person, but I’m actually not–and typically, I don’t set things, I just pick them up as they are and work with em…bad habit, I know…lol) Anyway, he showed me how to save them to the puck (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry about it…lol…just know…its a MAJOR convenience to design your brushes exactly the way you want them and then SAVE the setting to your tool screen–it means you don’t have to REMEMBER the setting…NOR do you have to re-program it…which is a big deal for me…because i have a horrible memory…and once its gone…it’s usually lost forever. ) Anyway…after this lesson, I went to town playing with settings…all types…a fun exploration.

Luis also held a session at the conference “The Digital Process”. We got some footage (which we also live streamed to UStream):

8407 Ramsey Ave, Silver Spring by MiaBia_DC

This was a quick painting (hence the incomplete feel of it) I did at a bar of a really fantastic restaurant (address above).  I always appreciate places that do the fresh flower thing…even more, I appreciate places with delicious food and a bar staff cool enough to let me arrange a still life next to my dinner. Often, to depressurize, I doodle, or do full out paintings. Gives the mind a lift…and the visuals of iridescent violet/fuscia hues have a way of peacing out the hustle…

This is not a live painting (obviously–otherwise you’d see an iPad!)…but its from a reference shot I took in the back room of my apartment (my old art studio).  You”ll probably see more paintings like these…  trying to recall all that important stuff–gesture, proportions, etc. etc.  This painting also made me want to go back to natural media–on a larger scale. So I may have a few of those to post soon too. We’ll see.

Definitely inspired at the moment. Just needing the time to put all my thoughts and ideas on canvas (digital or otherwise)…hoping that time appears…and if it doesn’t…well, I’ll just have to make the time…:-)

Self in back room by MiaBia_DC