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.

FIRE! FIRE!

June for our family is similar to Christmas time because of all of the birthdays and celebrations - seems like we're constantly present-shopping for friends and family during this month. My own birthday was last weekend, and this weekend was my son's (Saturday) and my father-in-law's (Sunday). It was a very nice weekend - lots of family time. As you can see, my son needed a fire extinguisher to put out the candles on his cake (13! A teenager!!).

I did manage to squeeze in an hour or two at the drawing table tonight. I'm still plugging away at the redo of the chicken drawing - hopefully I can finish in the next day or two and share the results. I'm really glad I redid it! There aren't a lot of changes, but what I did change adds quite a bit. I've been observing signs around town as I drive home from work - got honked at the other day because I failed to notice that the light had turned green. Too busy noticing a neon bar sign. As a result, the neon sign in the picture is MUCH improved - a real sense of glow. Can't wait to share.

My present...

My birthday present to myself this year was a book I've been wanting to get for a little while. I'm sure that many of you in the illustration world have already seen it, but I was happy to finally be able to pick up a copy. It's "Play Pen" by Martin Salisbury.

I really enjoyed his earlier book on the craft and business of illustration. This one profiles the work of several contemporary illustrators. Most of the artists are from various countries in Europe with a few from Asian countries, the Americas, Australia, and Iran.

I haven't read all the profiles yet, but I've flipped through all of the illustrations (I'm a visual person after all). I'm particularly interested in the fact that much of the work shown is influenced by the different places and cultural histories that the artist was raised in and, therefore, are different from what I'm used to.

That said, while browsing it did appear that many of the artists shown had styles and/or color palettes that were quite similar to each other. You'd think in a world full of creative people, a little more variety might be represented. A couple even had me scratching my head, wondering how they made the cut. Perhaps I will better understand their selection once I've read about them.

But, of course, art is subjective. And, if I ever write a book like this, then I'm sure my choices would show my own personal bias. Still, I'm delighted - and inspired - by the majority of the work shown in this book.

Birthday Dragon...

Busy weekend. My birthday was yesterday - there was a soccer game (no it's not over yet) and I had to work. Spent my break sketching a little dragon plush toy that we sell.

But, I was able to get off early enough to go out to dinner with my husband. We went to Olive Garden (yum-o). I don't think I've ever been there before - it's a bit more $$$ than we can usually spend when going out to dinner, but we left the kids at home and I had a gift card.

Today, I made quite a bit of progress on the redraw of the chicken. I've noticed that I'm a lot less tentative this time around. Some of the lighter sections of the first drawing are coming out darker or bolder right off the bat. Last time, I spent a lot longer building up different parts. I think it's a combination of being more confident (having drawn this once before) and being a bit impatient by nature - I tend to like to do NEW things rather than redo something I already spent A LOT of time on. That said, I like some of the changes I've made, so it might be worth it in the end. If not, I still have the original...