Contour Drawing

One of the ways recommended for strengthening your skills is to start a project where you draw your subject repeatedly. There are a ton of projects on the Internet where artists pick a subject and commit to drawing or working with it for a set number of days (30 days, 100 days, etc.). I am starting a 100 day project for portraits.

Will I draw a portrait 100 days straight? I hope so (but probably not). But I will challenge myself to draw more portraits. The catch: DON'T stay in your comfort zone. Do something completely different, mix it up and see what results. You won't learn anything if you keep drawing/painting the same way.

Here is the first in my series. No I won't post every single one. But I really like this first attempt. I used the half-blind contour technique. You get a reference photo, place your pencil on the paper and slowly draw what you see. You only look at your paper when you have to move the pencil to another place in the portrait. Then continue with the drawing.

You end up with wonky lines, strange shapes and a completely different look than what you normally draw. I would never draw that wonky shoulder bump or the shape of her back intentionally this way. And certainly not the lips misshapen like that. But I LOVE how these turn out. You then look at what you've got and work with it. No erasing!!

For my next portrait I'll use the blind contour. You can't look at your paper AT ALL after you begin. It ends up really distorted and usually pretty cool.

So that's one of the projects I'm working on. I really want to challenge myself to see what I can come up with that is totally different from my usual way of working.

Portrait Sketches

Here are a few more portraits I sketched while taking Gillian Cox's portrait class. She taught us a lot about how to sketch from reference photos.

These are taken from my sketch book so the quality isn't the best. In class we were then supposed to work from our sketches and build a painting. I haven't done paintings of any of these yet but I'm really happy with the sketches themselves.

I did do a final painting in the class. I used an earlier oil portrait I had painted as reference and then painted another one. Here is the original painting I had done years ago:

Here is the new version this year (both done in oil):

I'm not thrilled with the photo. It's hard to photograph a painting! Ugh! But you get the drift of it. It's actually a lot more vibrant than this.

I would like to eventually start paintings on the sketches I've completed in class. I have to be in the right mindset to start a big project like that. So far, I'm still sketching small studies in my sketchbook.

Sketchbook Skool!

Oh yes! I have entered Sketchbook Skool. I LOVE it! I'm trying to establish a regular habit of sketching every night. So far, so good. These are a few of the sketches I've done while in the classes. The top one is probably my favorite. It's a sketch of one of the teachers. She gave us a PDF of her using different expressions. I LOVE sketching expressions and had a blast with this one. :)

Here is another one I did and practiced sketching with only a little color added (with colored pencils).

Here's my calico cat while she was sitting beside me one night on the sofa.

I love creating little characters out of the top of my head. She popped up when I glued down the "hair" that I cut from a magazine. Even SHE looks happy with her new do! :)

I just started a new class called "Seeing" to get us to really look at the world around us. I can't wait to see what it brings forth in my sketchbook. Stay tuned!

Memory Lane

I'm taking a couple of classes right now that use collage along with illustration. I love the concept and am learning a lot. I pulled together different images and effects to create this one. The street sign is an actual sign here in town that I ran across last week. The lade was pulled from an archive images file and the skyline was created digitally. Lots more in process..

A Little Combination

16"x 20", mixed media

This is a fun piece I did in Gillian Lee Smith's workshop. I'm now addicted to this process. You first make two pretty large drawings of two different people. I did a male and a female. Then you cut up your drawings into squares. You combine the two and assemble new faces from pieces of each drawing. After you've glued down the pieces, you then paint it out. FUN!!!

The top photo was the first of the combined pieces. I then added a hat and the drippy sweater. Male or female? Hmmm... I don't know. Whatever you want it to be.

Here is what I did with what was left over from the pieces:

I call this the sister of the first one. :) In this portrait I added a hat, and collaged a coat. Then made it all blend together. Also I played with proportion and exaggeration. I love the looks you get when you just experiment.

Definitely more of these in the works!

Venting

 Working in my art journal. It helps to vent...Art is my therapy right now.

Nevertheless She Persisted

Art journal work

Darker Days Ahead

"Take your broken heart, make it into art." -- Carrie Fisher

Take Me Away

New Year, new projects. Art is taking some new turns. I've taken a portraits class by Gillian Cox and right now I'm taking an illustration class taught by Lilla Rogers. We are creating characters for children's books in Lilla's class, but I'm really more interested in the illustration process. This is just a quick sketch I played with. Nothing special, but a lot of fun. After one week of class, I'm really enjoying it, especially the loose style of working.

This is one of the projects from the portrait class taken last month. It was wonderful to be working in oils again:

These classes are what I needed to get some focus on new subjects. I'm looking forward to seeing where they take me.

Temporary Digs

I'm taking a little break from the art scene. I haven't felt the desire to paint at all. These phases happen and I'm good with it. I will post some art journal pages from time to time but painting is on hold.

Lately, I've been diving deep into photography. It's fun, has immediate results and there's so much to learn. I have a few cameras now and learning how to use each one has been very enjoyable. If you'd like to follow along, I'll be here exploring new avenues.

Thank you for following! I haven't stopped making art; just going down a different path for awhile. I hope to see you at the new blog!

Journal Page: Lost Girl

"...But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining that things can be different."  -- Neil Gaiman

Changes

Changes are coming to the blog soon. Stay tuned...

Unsaid

5" x 5" Mixed Media on Paper

"We are masters of the unsaid

words, but slaves of those we 

let slip out."

    -- Winston Churchill

Miles to Go

12" x 12" Mixed Media on Wood 

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep."

  -- Robert Frost