Moleskine Exchange, First Entry

This was not easy for me! I had already felt the block coming, then to receive Dan's moleskine...it was enough to send me reeling into the abyss. But, I've done a lot of thinking about that block and this is what I decided- Focusing too much on learning watercolor, I was doing quick sketches in order to add some color and play with the paint. It doesn't sound like a bad thing, does it? But, by doing quick sketches and immediately going to the painting, I was never allowing myself to get into the sketch zone. (Saying that reminds me of the "Suck zone" from the movie Twister!) It didn't take long to loose my rhythm, and the pencil began to feel awkward in my hand. I learn a lot by watching Wil, and I noticed that even though he paints, he still does a lot of sketching. I never realized that I could be doing art everyday, and still not be doing enough drawing to maintain skill. I need to paint to get better at painting, but still need to sketch to not get worse at sketching! And a good sketch is important to a good painting!

So this is what I initially showed Dan as my first entry. I was excited that he noticed how I played with the light to which he had hinted with the sunglasses on his figure. Because the lady I drew had her back to that light, I pushed her sunglasses up on her head, then added the shadows. He noticed that I had kept it in pencil and asked what my thoughts were on that. Well, my thoughts were that I hoped he wouldn't notice!! Or that he would choose to ink that himself because my pen and I hadn't been getting along very well! I knew it needed to be inked though, so I did go back and do it. Luckily I didn't make a mess and I do think it looks better now.



Deciding what to add to Dan's drawing was very difficult for me. Did I want it to be more of a montage of sketches? Should I start telling a story? Of course, crazy ideas popped into my head, playing with scale, putting bizarre people in the background. The possibilities were endless and overloaded my brain! So, I just decided to keep it simple. Dan's figure was turned and I felt she needed to be looking at something. Perhaps it is not the most creative solution, but considering my recent state of mind, it needed to be simple. Maybe next time I'll pull out the wild card!