The Weather is Making Me Smile

I know, it's been eons since I've posted anything! But, if you knew how perfect our weather has been and how seldom we are treated to days like this, you would understand completely my need to be outside for every possible waking moment! I've been swamped with projects (just finished residing our garage) and loving every minute of it. I had a birthday back on Sept 22 and went absolutely nuts ordering things online. Most of it has arrived, but would you believe I am still waiting on one of them? I mean, really, THREE WEEKS? If it doesn't come today, I think I'll scream!

So this first image above is just a sketch I did on some recycled printer paper while testing out one of my presents, a trail stool from REI . I was afraid to order this stool, thinking it would be another one of those things that just collect dust in my studio, but I'm so happy I did. I've already used it quite a few times and I love it! The view is of my neighbors house from my back patio, with the corner of our back deck showing. Not really a great view composition-wise, so it probably won't be developed any further than this. Other presents included two more books, Mary Whyte's Watercolor for the Serious Beginner, and Charles Reid's The Natural Way to Paint, six tubes of wc, a scrubber brush, a box of drawing pens, and an antique set of 100 pastels. which my grandmother passed down to me, and were her grandmothers, pre- WW2. Haven't played with them yet!

This is more of a doodle type page, I think. The woman is from imagination, the man from a photo at utrechtart.com of Jody Dole, the photographer. The rest is just notes I was taking from reading the articles on the site.


These were studies done from photos of a clothed model that I got off Matt Archambault's site.
That is a wonderful site, though he has upped his prices to $19/month. (I am no longer a member, but do highly recommend!)

I debated whether to show this one. Nothing really great about it. The figures are once again from posemaniacs.com. The cartoon skeleton, well, I was just being silly. The girl at the bottom, my only touch of color on this post, was sketched from the news, mostly from memory as she was gone just as I started to sketch. The quote is a comment that Winna made on someone else's blog. That person was also suffering from a block, so this hit me perfectly and I had to write it down. (Thank you, Winna!)

I hope to have more color for you next time.

Sketchbook Miscellany

Finally there was a day when I could sit outside and comfortably sketch without feeling the oppressive heat suffocating me. My husband was working on a lawnmower in the garage. I sat in a camping chair out front, in the shade. Of all the things I was surrounded by, this dirty old gas can is what I chose to sketch! (well, technically, I guess everything out there is dirty!) I sketched it in pencil. Then I used tracing paper to transfer it to watercolor paper. I knew of this technique, but believe or not, I had never tried it. I think one of the advantages of it is not worrying about messing up the original sketch. Definitely something to remember if you've lost your confidence or if you would just like to try painting with different techniques!


Sketches from posemaniacs. I had just about forgotten this site existed until someone posted some sketches they did. I filled nine pages (9"x12" sketchbook) with 30, 60, and 90 sec gesture drawings. Then, I went to random pose and did these sketches, untimed. I'm not sure how long they took, 5 mins or so? And for the first time, I realized I could keep the same pose and sketch it from a different angle. (The two on the left are the same pose, rotated slightly.)


This was done mostly while watching Pirates of the Caribbean. I paused the scene at the pier to draw the two men. I loved the guy's face on the left. Very unique! Started as a blind contour in ballpoint, so his face is somewhat skewed, but I like how it gives it a caricatured look. Then I drew the skeleton, bottom left, from memory. I have a photo of a skeleton head that I drew from next, to see how much I had retained in my memory sketch. More meerkats, started blind contour, shading and texture then added. This page was fun to do. See the tilted girl? Do you do that? Seems like there is always at least one drawing on my page which somehow ends up cockeyed!



This is self-portrait #11 of 100. (A redo of it, actually, as the first one was a disaster!) After the first sketchbook I bound, I actually made another, thinner one, using a different paper. Easier to carry around! My first one is a little wonky and I discovered that I had folded the pages against the grain instead of with it. So, this book actually turned out much better! However, I've now made another discovery. I really DISLIKE the Canson XL 140lb watercolor paper I bound in it! (I think it might be their student grade. ) Everything I've done on this paper has turned out dull and sort of fuzzy. It doesn't hold up to scrubbing at all! Here, I had a sketch that I really liked. I made a small mistake near the chin area, and using a technique that Dan told me about, I tried to gently scrub it away. And, I emphasize that I was gentle! Terrible results! The paper disintegrated and nothing I did would fix it. I only realized that it was the paper, and not me, while reading Cathy Johnson's Creating Nature in Watercolor, which I just purchased. (I love the book, Cathy!) Suddenly I realized that I had not done a single painting on this paper that I liked! And really, I think it was this blow to my confidence which started the whole block I've been suffering lately!

An Elephant Post

I love elephants. I love their eyes and the way they move. I love how you can look at their faces and see expressions there. (or is that imagined?)

There is an artist that I saw in a book one time that drew elephants, cartooned in ink with very energetic lines. I wish I could remember his name; those sketches were so inspiring. If you think you might know who I'm talking about, please leave a comment! The above sketch was done from imagination/memory and I found that it was not so easy to do. My memory of how it's ears are shaped, the way the head moves into the shoulders was minimal, at best. I couldn't even finish because I just didn't have enough information in my head to do it. I think I'd like to focus on elephants for awhile. It would be nice to sketch an elephant that looked anatomically correct without a photo reference.

I did this one from a photo on morguefile, posted by JDurham. (ref# 660685). It was done on the bottom corner of my page, so I wasn't able to get the entire body in; well, I guess I could have if I had drawn smaller! As you can see, I couldn't decide what color to paint his skin, so I just tried different things. A little purple, a little blue, a little of this or that. It was fun to do.

This photo was posted on morguefile by KeithCr, ref # 87221. I love this photo! It started as a gestural sketch, but I kept going because I liked it. This one may need a watercolor version-- he's so cute! (In the recesses of my mind, I am praying that he is treated well and is happy!)
Another gestural sketch of an elephant posted by katmyspiry, ref# 61608, on morguefile. This was the last one of the night, and it was late. I wanted to keep going but the eyes weren't cooperating anymore. The other sketches on the page were done on an earlier date, when I was trying desperately to sketch my way through that block. Unfortunately I didn't write down the reference numbers or the names of photographers, but they also come from morguefile.

With the exception of the first one, and the people sketches on the last page, these were all done last night. I was just in the mood for sketching some elephants!

UPDATE: Thanks to Timothy Schorre, I have found the elephant artist! It is Heinrich Kley! Some is bizarre, but I love, love, love his elephants!

Just some ballpoint pen sketches...

I don't have very much to say about these. I started off trying to get more layering into my sketchbook, as shown to me by Wil, even tried some typography. Things I learned: It takes a long time to fill a page when you're layering; and when drawing fur, it is probably not a good thing to start off with solid lines, as you have to work very hard to get the fuzziness back in. I had a slight headache when I began, which steadily grew worse and led to some cheating by filling in a lot of space with black. I tried to fill some with writing too, but the words wouldn't come to my aching head. My favorites are the cat and the ostridge (or is that an emu?). The boy? I didn't do him any favors, AT ALL! It was the first sketch of the page and I obviously was just warming up!
This is a small sketch done while my husband and I were cooking dinner. I think we can all guess who did most of the work! It's approx. 2" X 2" on a cheap writing pad.

After using a ballpoint for so long yesterday, I cannot wait to use my pencil again. Or some watercolor.

Casts and Tonework

This torso was done as part of my effort to work on tone. The reference image is taken from the drawing tutorials website (linked at right) and was intended to be a longer, more finished drawing. This is not one of those! This was done in about twenty minutes, while watching the cast drawing instructional dvd on the site. He highly recommends buying your own casts to work from, as opposed to his photos. But, the links he gives are for expensive casts. Very expensive! Like this one, about three hundred dollars! I know that some art supply stores carry cheap versions, but they can easily run thirty dollars apiece. That's quite a bit when you are looking for a selection. I had the idea that I would go to the thrift store and look for knick-knacks/statues that had a lot of definition. Then I would paint them with gesso to get the flat white color.



This is the inexpensive pencil sharpener that I carry around everywhere. I was watching "Signs" when I drew this. I enjoy watching movies again and again because you don't have to pay very much attention. You don't miss important information as you doodle in your sketchbook. (I find that people get very irritable if you keep asking what you just missed!)




And this, THIS, makes me happy! I went to Goodwill to drop off some clothes and made a quick run in to look at their statues. And there she was sitting on a shelf, looking at me as I stepped in the door! Just waiting for me! How serendipitous can you get? I know it would have Julia Cameron smiling just as it had me smiling! Look at all that definition! And she's not small at nearly two feet! I don't even have to paint her! Meet Diana, I think. Or Artemis. Aren't they the same person? Daughter of Zeus? There isn't any information on her, so I'm guessing here. Only ten dollars--It's a good day!

First Post for 2010!

I haven't done any drawing at all for about a week so I'm putting up some quick gesture sketches I did in December. These are three minutes poses, which I paused and did in about five minutes instead. The time goes so fast!(from the drawing tutorials site)
January 2nd was my fifteenth anniversary, so while I've had ideas in my head about what I wanted to post for my New's Years resolutions, I was away from my computer and didn't get them in. And, for me, the longer I let myself stay away, the harder it is to return!



So, I resolve to:

1) Post at least twice as much as last year. That's 116 posts for 2010. I'm pretty sure I can do this since I didn't even post Jan-Mar last year! And several months have pretty low numbers!

2) I'm going to focus more on drawing than on painting, more towards getting good tonal values as opposed to everything being about line.

3) I've never done a "finished" drawing before, everything has been a quick sketch. I'm going to try and get several of these done this year, hoping that my short attention span doesn't betray me!

4) Sketch more in public! One group I've wanted to join for some time is Urban Sketchers, yet I never go out and sketch! That has to change!

5) Completely fill three sketchbooks--at the very least! I've never completed one. Not even this year when I've drawn more than ever. How could that be? Well, I think I have eleven sketchbooks started. I just always seem to find something about them that I don't like.

Well, I don't want to overdo it here. I tend to get carried away and then set myself up for failure. Best of luck to my online friends. Hope we all succeed in our goals!