Checking in Again...

Well, here it is - the dreaded post without an illustration to go with it (gasp). I had high hopes for lots of art time over summer, but that hasn't been the case. Any free time has gone to selling the house and related home improvements and, now, sorting through things and moving to the new house next month. Oh well...

But, I wanted to check in and let you know I'm still here. And, I'm determined to do something in the sketchbook. I'll be back with a visual soon!

Ok ok! I just can't leave this without an image. So, here's a little something from the past. I just love the way the texture from the paper gave the cloak such weight in this drawing. It was an unexpected discovery. Overall, a fun doodle when I was doing it.

Illustration Friday: "Cracked"

The baby's sleep patterns are more regular now and several school year obligations have ended. That means I have a teensy bit more time to draw than I used to. So, here's a little something for Illustration Friday (sure to creep-out young children and others with clown phobias).

This started as a doodle. The clown character came through pretty quick. But, then I saw the IF theme and took it in that direction.

It's funny how certain flaws are obvious when you are looking at an uploaded picture! Since it was doodle - not planned out - his closest arm looks shorter in proportion in my attempt to fit it all on the page. I hate cutting off hands; a carry-over from my art education. (The next bit of info should be a new paragraph. HOWEVER, for some reason, Blogger refuses to recognize the multiple times I hit the ENTER key to create space - don't know if anyone else has this problem, but it drives me nuts).

Still in the midst of trying to sell our house and get a 4 bedroom. We have an offer on one which would actually have a detached bachelor house in the backyard that could be used as a studio!!! Don't know if we'll get it...here's hoping.

"Lure" Color Study

I spent some time working on the painted study for "Lure." While I'm not completely comfortable with acrylics, it was a much more pleasant experience this time. There's still a lot of "discovery" in regards to color - I don't feel like I'm totally in control of that aspect.

But, brushwork is coming a little more easily - it's more enjoyable.

Next in the Series...

As I mentioned before, I'm taking an illustration "class" at the local city college. There's not really instruction - it's more about pursuing our own projects and bouncing ideas off of each other.

The paintings I shared recently were studies done for my project. Part of my goal is to practice working with acrylics while creating a sort of memoir. The idea sprung from the fact that my oldest just turned 13, which made me think of when I was that age...and the series of decisions (good and poor) that followed. Through the illustration of single words, the series will reflect where I was around that age, the various stages and struggles that I passed through the following years, and will end at the point I am fast approaching - when my own child will have to step out and face those same struggles and decisions. You hope they won't make the same mistakes!

One neat thing is that I went through some old drawings from my late teens (early college days) and found a couple that would be great for some of the words I chose to illustrate (shown above). I like that I can take something from the actual time period I want to represent. The picture shown here was done over 20 years ago (obviously before I started working with a much wider tonal range). I will pull from it and tweak it a bit to illustrate the next word/stage - "Lure."