Drawing Baby Joshua

A busy Saturday taking a group of seven giggling, sugar infused 10 year olds to the bowling alley for a belated birthday celebration (September is bad time for birthdays in our family - soccer season followed by the holidays...next thing you know, you're having a birthday party in January).

So, I didn't think I'd be getting much in the way of art done this weekend.  Certainly, no painting endeavors.  But, as it turned out, it was my turn to be in the nursery at church.  We have one baby there, and he was kind enough to let me sketch him.

Top: The "I'm growing weary of these toys" look
Bottom: Sleepyhead

He was actually a good model as far as babies go - he was fascinated by the scratching of my quickly moving pencil so he would hold his position for a decent amount of time.  But, it's always challenging to draw a moving subject.  However, sleepy time came quickly and then drawing is a whole lot easier.  You have to grab drawing opportunities wherever you can find them sometimes.

Now, I'm off to read some chapters for a literature study I'm leading with my homeschool group.

And Not-So-Suddenly, It's Done...

I did manage to carve out some time yesterday to work on the Summer drawing.  I guess I was expecting to struggle and for it to take a lot longer.  But then, suddenly I realized that I was done - or at least done-ish.  I always have a period of staring and minor tweaking after I "think" I finish something.  Still, as a whole, it's done.

Maybe not the greatest picture, but you get the idea

I plan to switch it up and hold off on the next two drawings in this series - part of the reason is that I'm not really sure how I want to approach fall.  It would be much easier if these were color, since that's an easy way to portray the season.  But, I'll have to research some trees and see what sort of personality comes through.  Summer was easy - right away, I envisioned the swimmer and the palm.  I have some ideas for winter as well, but overall, both seasons will take a bit more consideration.

Instead, I think from here I'll be moving  into a study painting of the sketch of my daughter on the rocks - one that portrays internal reflection and reminds of the stillness and quiet of prayer.  I ultimately see that as a fairly large painting (not museum large, but large for my space).  So, I'll probably do some little still life paintings as well.

You're Once...Twice...

...Three times a lady...

If you recall, I'd completed and study for my summer tree/woman and was well on my way into a "final" version.  I thought it would go quickly - and the initial drawing did - but, I really got stuck on some things.

First of all, I did the study on a different paper than the one I'm using for this series.  It was a very smooth texture while the final has a bit more tooth.  It's always a bit of an adjustment, getting used to the different result.  But, the hardest part was that it was more difficult to get extreme darks that came so easily in the study because of the texture - the white of the paper shows through, lightening whatever value I put down.

I also struggled with the palm fronds, for some reason.  They came together so easily in the study - not so for the drawing that followed.  And then, I realized that I had really confined myself to almost only B-range pencils.  I really didn't use the the lighter values that I like to use in my drawings.  I flashed back to a college drawing class - I'd spent weeks on a poster-sized detailed still life and the professor commented that it appeared to consist mostly one value.  When I realized that, I started erasing to see if I could fix it, and this resulted in dirty, smudgy-looking work (not consistant with the other drawing in this series and rather sloppy for the subject matter).

So, much to my chagrin, I knew that this second drawing was not a final but another study.  There were elements in both drawings that I've taken and put into what will hopefully be the final drawing.  This time, I've started by laying down my light values - 4H, 2H, and HB - on the palm fronds.  I'll insert more dark shadows where needed, but I'm in the building of values stage.  This will take some time, depending on how much time I can carve out in the next few days.

In the meantime, I will continue to chip away at the mess of toys, shoes, and family stuff that always seems to pile up too quickly.  I'm teaching our writing co-op tomorrow - it's my turn and it's research paper time.

Beauty and Grace

Today, I was able to spend time working on a study for the next seasonal woman/tree pencil drawing.  It's nice to be working on some projects again - I really didn't have time after the mural to do anything but school and holiday stuff.  But now I can incorporate regular (hopefully daily) work at the drawing table.  My goal for this year is to really put forth an effort to do something with my art, whether it's for illustration, gallery, or both.  My "featured artist" show at the Town Center Gallery in October is certainly a motivator, but I've been compelled to do something now that my youngest can entertain herself for longer periods of time.

My daughter snapped this shot of me at work

So, after sketching some ideas over the past few days, I went forward with a study.  I used to be too impatient to do a study - I always just wanted to go right in and do it.  I'm finally willing to accept the fact that I'm never happy with the result when I do that - there's always something that doesn't sit right and I end up re-doing it (even if it's years later).  At last, I'm content with doing the extra work to get a result that I'm happy with.

A glimpse of the study for "Summer"

I've also decided that, now that this is a series, the "mother nature" idea isn't really sitting right with me.  That may have worked for the first one, but seeing more than one representation, the sense of beauty and grace stands out more to me.  

From One Season to the Next

Well, yesterday was a celebration of my oldest daughter who turned 14!  And today, it was back to school. We started with about half the subjects - I like to go in light (for my benefit as much as theirs).

Of course, last night - the last possible night of vacation - I actually sat down to work on something more than just sketching and doodling.  Well, I can't say that it was a new project - it was really one that I'd posted about before when it was almost done, and it sort of hung in that state ever since.  So, since diving into a major new project seemed unreasonable on a Sunday evening before the start of school, I just worked on fine-tuning the old so that I could call it "done."

#1 in the series - Spring

You may remember the "Mother Nature" doodle I did years ago, and this endeavor was simply finishing a re-do of that.  It is the first of a series of 4 woman/tree drawings that will represent each of the 4 seasons.  This first one is spring and I'm really excited about my idea for summer. I did do a little planning in the sketchbook on that one, but I won't reveal anything...yet.

Planning for the next one...Summer

Of course, for better or for worse, drawing and painting (or any other creative process) is energizing to me.  So, working into the night last night has its consequences - it was impossible for me to "wind down" and fall asleep for quite some time.  Not good when I had to get the girls up to do lessons this morning.  Still, I'm glad to be moving on from a lot of planning and idea exploration into actually producing something - it's invigorating.  But, I'm anticipating many more sleepless nights coming up.

Why Am I So Complicated?

I always have the best of intentions - my plan was to start working on small scale and simple still life paintings to play around and further explore acrylic paints.  I’ve been going around the house selecting objects that might make for visually interesting paintings.  As usual, as I start putting things together, a story begins to grow, more specific items are then needed, and the next thing you know I have a large-scale project in my mind!  Not only do the concepts go from simple to complex in seconds, but many of the items that interest me are very detailed.

A few of the objects I've collected for still life paintings

S-I-M-P-L-I-F-Y…why is that so hard for me.  I guess my personal challenge to myself is just to grab some basic items (nothing fancy), throw them together on a table, and see what comes out.  It all comes back to that balance I need in my work - in this case, the balance of the conscious and subconscious.  In other words, it’s time to shut off the brain a little, quit over-thinking things, and "play."

Game on...

Memory Lane Always Has Its Surprises

One of my daughters is involved in a group of girls putting together a dance for an upcoming Fine Arts Night for homeschool families.  Today was the first day that I was able to sit in for the hour that they meet - I usually have art classes going on.  It was a great opportunity to do some gesture sketches - something that I'm not particularly good at.  Unfortunately, I had to be off to the side and it wasn't the best vantage point, but I got a few things down.

Last night I flipped through sketchbooks that I have going back 24 years to my college days.  Sad to say that I only have 7 complete sketchbooks for all of those years - testament to how I really dropped out of art for a significant period of time, with only occasional drawings between 1993 and 2007 (albeit I was doing stained glass through much of that time - something I'd love to get back to one day).

I had expected to come face-to-face with an artist who was very different than the one who is sitting here typing this.  In many ways - socially, politically, spiritually, etc. - I am very different.  However, I came across about 10 pages of writing from 1989 where I outlined my approach and artistic philosophy that was pretty much identical to what I do now - beginning with doodles and responding to them, the desire for balance, the need to work representationally... things like that.  I remember doing most of the drawings and why, but a lot of it was pretty bad and would never go anywhere.  Overall, they were very dark and angry, advertising the lowest point in my life that those directionless years embodied.

This is one of those experimental drawings that I did in 1989 when I first started exploring my
doodle method of drawing.  It would be one of the last times I felt good about what I was doing
creatively (in drawing/painting) for the the next 18 years

I referenced some drawings that I'd forgotten about (and I still have a few of them tucked away).  Those were probably the best that I'd done from that time period, but I had never really had the time to follow-up with them because of the demands of the classes I was taking for my degree.  It makes me wonder what would have happened if I would have continued on along that route back then.  Instead, I guess I picked it up again - refreshed - in about 2007.

Page one of the sketchbook I started keeping in 2007 where I was determined
to draw "for fun" - I used the same doodle method I'd forgotten about

I guess I've picked up where I left off and it's exciting.

Revisiting "FINE" Art..

Time is ticking away - Christmas vacation is slipping away.  But, I'm enjoying looking at the New Year, trying to plan how I can fit everything in that I want to do - especially art.  As it stands, I will be the featured artist at the Town Center Gallery in October and I've got to get busy producing new work.  Although it's a smaller-town member gallery, I'm excited about having a goal to work for.  And, I'm really delighted to be taking steps back into the more "fine art" world - it can only enhance my illustration.  I'm inspired by new ideas that I look forward to pursuing - I'll get more into that later.

Today, I carved out an hour OUTSIDE of the house, no less, to do a little sketching.  I'm wanting to do some small still life paintings to get into the swing of things and play around with my new and improved understanding of acrylics (thanks to the mural).

OK Santa Maria locals - can you guess where I went by these items?

Anyway, during my break I've been addicted to watching previous seasons of the PBS series Art 21 on Netflix Instant Watch.   It has reawakened my interest in fine art and all of the discussion that goes with it that I miss from college (although I can't say that I took proper advantage of the opportunities for such discussion back then).  I'm going to dust off my many sketchbooks from back then and see how my ideas have changed since then. Maybe I'll post more on those thoughts soon.