Another movie spread and a couple of experiments

 My family loved the movie 'Foul Play' when I was young.  In fact, it was a favorite 'go-to' every time we had a nasty thunderstorm.  In this part of Texas that was frequent.  Not so much these days with the drought though.

I'm not sure why, but showing my experiments always makes me feel more vulnerable.  But here goes anyway!  This is drawn from a photo of my cousin's grandmother.  It was a black and white photo and she had her daughters standing behind her.  I exaggerated some proportions and the color of the dress is completely 'artistic license'.  It is done in charcoal with watercolor and white gouache on a toned background.  I need to add some highlights to her face since forgot to save them when I added the watercolor.   I do like this piece, with the exception of that light blob at the top right that wouldn't take any more color.  I probably was holding it down with an oily thumb or something.  It was done in my 9x12 aquabee sketchbook. 

This was completely unplanned.  I had my desktop easel out and a page I had torn out of my aquabee sketchbook to do some gouache testing on.  I turned it over and had been doodling different things in pencil.  As I shut down my computer for the night, I felt unsatisfied because I hadn't done enough 'real' sketching.  I picked up my pencil, held it at the back end, extended my arm out and drew this imaginary guy right on top of all that doodling, most of which isn't even noticeable here.  You can see that same quote running vertically through the guy on the right side...just barely.  The vertical lines through his cheek were part of one of the doodles.    Then I started adding watercolor as sloppily as I could manage.  On purpose...sloppy.  And I liked it.  His face may seem a little out of perspective, but I can live with that given the technique used.  He does actually have color on his forehead which my scanner didn't pick up...or maybe my computer screen doesn't?

I seem to be at a crossroad, not sure where to go next.  In a way I really crave to be working with oils.  But at the moment it doesn't seem like a good idea to spend a bunch of money on new supplies, especially since I'm currently limited on space.  I liked using the charcoal and gouache with the watercolor and maybe I'll try more of that.  I think what I need is a good exciting subject.  Or maybe an art buddy.  My sister will be staying with us for a while when she returns to the US.  She'd make a perfect model.   I wonder how willing she would be to sit still for me.  Can't wait for her to get here!

Hope you're all doing well and staying creative! 

UPDATE: I haven't been liking my scans lately so I'm trying something different.  The pictures on this post have been replaced with scans that I believe look a little better.

Self-Portrait #7, and a Redo

You may remember this one from here. I really liked this sketch but ruined it with watercolors the first time. So, I redrew it from the prior sketch, and amazingly enough it looks MORE like him this time. I wanted a portrait similar to the one I did of myself (#6), so I could frame it and put it next to mine. (see it on the wall in the photo of my workspace?) Things didn't go as smoothly though, and even though I used the same paper, the mistakes couldn't be scrubbed out. The paper began to disintegrate. Can you see that dark spot under his chin? That would be one of the spots! I also don't like his pupils being that dark; they're distracting. This was sketched in pencil and the tone was added with neutral tint watercolor.

After seeing Dan's wonderful charcoal drawings, I decided to pull mine out and try using them. I had vine charcoal once upon a time, but I couldn't find it. I have these things, but don't confuse that with 'having used' these things before! Like my oil paints, they have been sitting in a drawer, unused. Now, when I did a quick sketch with the vine charcoal-- a couple of decades ago--I remember it being easy to smudge around. I didn't realize the pencils would be so different! If I had known it wouldn't be as easy, I think I would not have put in the tone the way I did. See all those lines in the background? I thought they would smudge out. Anyway, I struggled with this one and finally gave up. I knew something was off, but didn't realize exactly what, until I scanned it and accidentally hit mirror! Now do you see it? Maybe you saw it in the first scan and I didn't because my eyes weren't fresh, but when I mirrored it, it was so obvious!! There is a definite slant to the head that shouldn't be there. The good news is that I now know of a quick way to look at things anew. I'd like to try this again, but I think I'll pick up some vine charcoal next time I'm out, or perhaps locate the stash I have around here, somewhere!

There is a lot of talk amongst our group about how negative we can be on our own work. We see the flaws that others don't. I think about that a lot when I write my posts, but I just can't stop pointing them out. But, I wonder if that is really a bad thing? The way I see it, if I don't acknowledge the flaws, how can I improve? There is a lot that I like about my drawings too. I may not mention them as often, but I think if I didn't find some redeeming qualities, I would have quit already. Sometimes I am embarrassed to admit that I like them, almost like it is too immodest(?). Maybe, but perhaps by my picking out things that bother me, it might help you too? I can think of several occasions when other bloggers have pointed out things they didn't like, which I hadn't noticed or even thought about before. It was new to me, and I learned from it, and I can now apply that to my own artwork. What are your thoughts?

I'm moving slowly on these self-portraits. Number 100 seems so very far away!