Fascinated by the Light

This architectural detail changes color as the light in the lobby changes. The shapes at upper left are from a clerestory window that drops light from above. The material of the wall and pillar are warm reddish Sedona stone.

I drew this with blue ballpoint pen and then added color later with Prismacolor pencil. This is also Challenge #29: Something Architectural.

Pencil on Cardboard

Keeping it simple.

Just a quick sketch today. I've been out getting new tires on my car, so these -my other mode of transportation - are tired. Discovered that I like the tone of this cardboard, which is just the back of a filled-up sketchpad.

Tomorrow a Peach

I fully intended to draw two beautiful peaches resting on a brilliant blue plate. They were beautiful too, but we ate them. So here is a tea cup in a book instead. Tomorrow I'll try again with more peaches, while they're still in season.

Serendipity

In June, I played around with monoprinting and was generally discouraged with the results. But I kept everything on the theory that you can always use it some other way. It reminds me that when you have anything at all put down on paper, it is likely to suggest the next step. This suggested a gnarled sort of tree, and wind, and turned out better than I could have imagined. Maybe the others will be fun after all.

High Velocity

Yesterday at work, beams of colored light were splashing down across the reference desk and since we are going through lots of change at work, I show the staff at the desk as people on a ship's deck facing the wind. Even the world globe at the desk appears to be spinning. It's fun to do abstract interpretations sometimes. Unfortunately, I was impatient to add color, and started by using a pink and a yellow felt highlighter, which were hard to tone down later.
The building where I work has ports that shine colored light at various places throughout the day. If I'm lucky, I get to walk through pools of it from time to time.

Hand at Rest

This hand is from a portrait I did a while back. It's one example of a hand at rest. Seems much easier to draw a relaxed draped hand, especially since her rings help to create a dimensional effect. Anything like watches, rings, etc. help with hands and wrists. Drawing sandals on feet helps to define feet shapes too, I find.

Challenge #10 Another Hand

While I'm on the subject of working hands, might as well investigate a few more. There seem to be more planes in the human hand than you usually think about. It is very adaptable, but still is limited to a certain number of planes of motion.


Shading helps establish this, and also wrinkles at bending points and greater emphasis on a line in an area under greater force. Should have added some shading to the object the hand is holding.

Draw, just draw

If I'm unhappy with the pencils, with the paper, the light, the time of day, you name it: I have to remember to just draw. Anything. So this is a Soviet-era worker from a 1970's book on "The Soviet Union Today." I like the face and his concentration. The man's hand on the lever of the machine was hard to interpret, but I finally figured out his thumb wouldn't be in the position above right, but rather pointing upward if he was pushing the lever. So I tried a couple more sketches of the hand, and held some things in my own hand looking in a mirror and came up with the one on the left.

Sitting in the Sun

Another book drawing just for fun. I confess to using everything from a lumber crayon to Liquid Paper on it. Below, is the original sketch from a recent beach trip: using the 3 1/2 x 5 inch Strathmore Sketchbook.

The book version seems a little melodromatic. I like the pose though, and will probably save it to use again later.

EDM #7 Blue Luna Latte Bottle

I love this bottle, partly because I've rarely met a blue bottle I don't love. This one was given to me, and is a "favorite thing." It has held chopsticks or skewers by the stove, brushes during artwork, ivy, etc. Today it serves as my excuse to draw loose.

The light letters on the bottle were done, somewhat unsuccessfully, by inscribing them deeply with a Berol Verithin white pencil and then scribbling over the top with dark colors. This technique can be lots of fun when drawing rugs, scarves and other things with intricate patterns.

Fleeting Impressions

This drawing began as a fleeting impression from a TV re-run, of someone answering an old style cell phone. I got a glimpse of hand position and head and then the scene changed. I'm afraid it's badly overworked trying to get the feel, and the head is starting to look very Manga. I gave her bracelets to increase the 3-D effect of her wrist and tried to imagine how it would feel to hold the phone. After this, I need an antidote: drawing something very loosely and freely.

By way of contrast I recommend the March 15, 2005 post entitled "Gravesite Serenade" of anthonyzierhut.com/blog. It is wonderful because he saw something while driving, for one second and in that eternal moment collected what he needed to record the scene in the cemetery. See if you don't agree it is inspiring. It takes a consummate professional, or a relentless observer to be this open. That must be an essential element: the open attitude, because there isn't time to "get open" and then record something like that. It's too fleeting.

Incessant Drawing, Continued

Drawing whenever, on what ever material comes to hand. A day at work presents subject matter galore. It's a reminder that there will always be another sketch and not to take any one of them, or anything else for that matter, more seriously than necessary. Even a customer's belt (center) can deliver a flight of fantasy. "View from the checkout desk" is a recurrent theme with endless variations, including reflections in the front window and passing pigeons.

Sitting Buddha, Moving Rabbit

On a sparse day – like yesterday – I use this website. I can always count on it for a little inspiration. http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/ritual.html Yesterday, when I had intentions of a deeply-thought drawing, everything looked flat and tasteless to me. It helps me figure out that whatever dark corner I seem to have wandered into, I can carefully back myself out of it by using a creative distraction. It’s “If I were a kid, how would I treat me?” thinking. And the part of me that does art is pretty much a kid, and has probably gotten frightened by something. One of my favorites from this is a link to “Drawing a Moving Rabbit,” though I also like “The Bird Ritual.” Maybe today I'll be a “Motivated Non-Drawer.” That’s in there too. See if it doesn’t help you on a sparse day.

Extreme Doodling

This is probably some form of "Extreme Doodling." I am taking to heart a quote by Camille Pisarro to "draw incessantly."

The white letters were done on the back of a Manila folder in oil pastel and everything else is Prismacolor pencils
What it means I don't know. Could it be poetry?

Making Portraits Look Like People

When you know someone, getting a likeness can be really tough.

My attempts always look too young, or too old, or vaguely like someone familiar but not the relative, quite.

I'll try adding highlights and doing something to correct the proportions.

EDM Challenge #4

Draw your mug or cup. This cup arrived one Christmas full of See's candy. It's still one of those mugs with a cozy feel. It works for coffee, but is also nice for Chai or Yerba Mate. I still think rims - of cups, cans, wine glasses, tubs, etc. are one of the hardest things. The thinner the wall is, the harder to draw. I've read some things about it being an elliptical shape, and how the back half is a different shape than the front due to foreshortening, etc. But for me it's more a feeling that I still haven't gotten it yet. Part of the problem is the shadow that goes down inside the cup being convincing. Of course that means just draw more rims.

EDM Challenge #30

It's not very purist, but I still draw in a book occasionally instead of sketchpad. Maybe it's a way to tell myself it's nothing serious, so relax. Did this late at night in the hotel room when I couldn't sleep. Strange thing is, I really didn't read the page I was drawing on, but it still reads "Bernal lounged in a chair..."
Make of it what you will.
EDM Challenge #30.

Painting for My Sister

I've been trying to do a painting for my sister based on a Tahiti trip photo she showed me 2 years ago. The image is stuck in my mind, but she can't find the specific image that I remember seeing. While I'm full of colorful ideas from my coast trip, I'm going to work on it some more. So far I've gotten this, which is the general mood. I remember thinking she looked so happy in the picture, and wanted for her to remember that feeling.