finito?

Ok, apparently not. I have completed the blanket up to the point of where the pattern says and sadly, the blanket is square (which is incorrect). The width is correct but the length is too short cuz my gauge is off; I was to use a 5mm hook not a 4mm! Drat, drat!
So, with this all being said, I am continuing on until it's rectangular and more usable in the end. I have sewn in all the ends up to this point but have left the last row open to keep going.

There is no real need to take another photo at this point. I will when it's complete. I needed to put this post in since I was my creative item the day I completed it to the point it's at now.

It looks great, I will add. It'll look better when it's rectangular. (:

draw what I see

Ok, I have a tough time with this occasionally - well, more often than that likely. Last night I decided to draw my foot & site it. To a certain degree, it worked. The only thing is that I drew my foot wider even though I had marked my page. Grrrr.... Why? 'Cause I was drawing toes & they ended up too wide so therefore, the foot was wide. I'll keep trying.

The shadows look pretty good considering I used ink.

too fast?

As mentioned, I am working on this baby blanket for a friend of mine. Once I get into something, I find it tough to focus on something else even for a short time. I really just want to get it done once I start. Said blanket is coming along nicely. I am beyond half way and have sewn ends in on one side only, up to where I'm still working. It looks really good. A friend was over yesterday & commented a) that he had no idea I crocheted & b) that it looked like a lot of work - which it really isn't when the pattern is as easy as this one is.
So, due to my crocheting madness yesterday, I honestly left drawing to the literal last minute before bed. I drew my scissors since they were out & I was using them quite a bit yesterday.

As I was doing this, I realized I was trying to do it too fast. I chose ink pen 'cause I wanted to be fast but yet, this was still too quick. I likely drew this in less than 10 minutes then promptly went back to finish sewing ends in on the blanket. Silly.
This almost looks like I did this left handed yet I didn't. Looks shakier than my last left handed drawing which is likely due to rushing to get it done.

my flowers are dead

Yesterday we had the male model that we had a month ago. He's ok & certainly eager to please. He doesn't time himself so someone has to do that for him which is ok too.
I was at Mona Lisa Artists' Material store yesterday & bought another sketch book as well as this new lead. It's called sepia light. I used my sister's once actually when we had this model a month ago. It was on sale for a stupid cheap price so I bought it. I like it so far.

These are just a few from yesterday's figure studio time. I scanned all of these in since I wasn't in the mood to photograph them & they actually fit on the scanner. I do have some larger drawings but I won't bother with the camera today.

15 minutes on newsprint
sepia light lead

25 minutes on cartridge paper
sepia light lead

1 minute on cartridge paper since I finished the one above
 black conté

All of these drawings were good practice in foreshortening. Fun fun. (:

reflection

My homework for my class was to do a line drawing, with an ink felt pen, of a reflective surface that would reflect me in the object. Since I really don't have many reflective things in my house, I used my whale tail (#1714) since it has a larger surface than my toilet paper holder & my faucet. I was in the mood to draw left handed & apparently it was the right choice since this turned out quite well. I felt I had quite a bit of control left handed which shows since the lines aren't overly jagged or shaky.

It's tough to make out where I am in this reflection. I showed up on both sides of the whale tail since it has a curved surface. You can see a half moon type shape on the left side which is my head - the other half blended in with the darker background so that's why it's only half my face. My hands & arms are the long flatter shapes near the lower part of the fin portion of the tail. My right hand was fairly close to the right side of the tail so it appears quite long & linear with the rectangular shape above as my arm. Interesting project. I may do it again right handed and use my toilet paper holder. (:

so pretty!

I am really happy with the blanket I chose to do. The colours are great & all around, it's really pretty! I'm already about 1/8 of the way done (aside from all the ends I have to sew in at completion). It's a really fast pattern to do & I like when I don't have to look the entire time I'm crocheting.
This is my creation for today again since it shows more of the actual pattern. I won't use this blanket again until I'm more than half done.

This also counts for photography. I used my brolly & flash. Wow was it dark in here when I took these shots. Umbrella totally worth it!! I need to play more with interior spaces but likely need more flashes & radio transmitter system. *sigh*

go darker!

Last night's class we had to bring in a reflective object & a glass object to draw a still life showing texture. He had objects there that were actually textured to add to the mix. I don't have much in my place that's chrome (that's not attached to my bathroom walls or sink). Since that was the case, I found some Moen colour samples & there were a few that were highly reflective.
I set it up against the bag that carries all my loose pencils or drawing instruments to & from class. Everything I had was small so I need something larger. I taped one of the shiny objects to the bag to raise it up & left two others on the table. Well, you can see from the drawing so I'm not sure why I'm going into detail.

The point of this exercise was to draw things as they look. So smooth objects should be depicted smooth & not textured like say the driftwood. I had everything drawn the same & went in at the end & smoothed out the glass & reflective objects.
I initially drew everything too light & the instructor said to add more depth & darkness. If I was at home, I likely wouldn't have so thanks for that. It does look better with more contrast & depth.

I photographed these both with my 70-200 2.8 L IS II lens using my umbrella set up for my flash. Much better than before with only my flash & the WAD down. Plus, no time spent in post processing either! Very cool.

cuz I have nothing else to do...

Yesterday I started a baby blanket for a friend of mine who is having her first baby. I bought all the yarn yesterday as well & decided to get rolling on it straight away since she's due at the end of April (yikes!). The pattern I initially chose basically pissed me off. I did only 2 rows yet it took hours and it didn't line up with the pattern in the book plus, it was nearly impossible to count stitches. I was up early this morning & ripped out the second row I did in hopes I could rectify my error (I had one too many 'puffs' in the row) but no luck so I ripped the whole thing out & looked for something else to make. *sigh*
This pattern I have chosen now is great. It's easy & fast to do. I'm using the same yarn so all is good. Yay!

Funny thing is that this little book is supposedly for a beginner crocheter. I have been crocheting for decades & yet the first pattern was annoying & quite difficult even for a veteran crocheter.

This blanket has started in my 365 journey so occasionally, like yesterday, it will count as what I am creating for the day. I doubt I will be using it as my creation every day I work on it since that would be basically all month until it's complete. Seems a bit boring for anyone following my blog!

Also, I finally used my umbrella stand with my flash today to take this photo. I have a question for my friend the photographer about one thing that seemed odd in the set up. Otherwise, everything worked well. I even used my 70-200 2.8 L IS II lens to shoot this photo. I had to be far enough away from the subject to have my camera trigger my flash - that comment has something to do with the question I have for my photographer friend. (:

and here it is

As promised (well not exactly promised), I drew the dead gerbra daisy today. I really like this masterpiece! It did not take long & I did draw from life. I used both 0.5 & 0.1 ink felt pens to do this.

The majority of the flowers in the bouquet are still alive & well - including but not limited to the stinky lily. I like the colour in the house especially with the SNOW outside. First full day of spring my ass.

death can be pretty

My flowers I bought last Friday are obviously dying. The gerbras normally last longer than these ones did which is sad but I left them in the vase anyway. I told a friend of mine who was over on Friday that I was going to draw them & I still may but since I had my camera out anyway to take shots of my drawings, I thought I'd shoot them for now.

This one is of the pink dasies. I like the depth of field of this so that's why I'm including it.

I find it interesting to really see what's on the same plain in a photograph when using a shallow depth of field. So you can see that the petals at the back of the daisy on the left & the centre of the daisy on the right are on the same plain. Oh, and there are a few petals in the centre of the central flower in the rear of the photo.

These are of one of the dead gerbra daisies. I like them cuz they almost don't seem real.

There is a lily in the bouquet which has opened. Let me tell ya, lilies are pretty but boy do they ever stink!

not in the mood

I went to the figure session on Saturday but I seriously wasn't in the mood. I just squeaked into the class (no late admissions allowed) but my sister didn't make it due to a very late bus. We did a few gesture drawings then went into the 5 & 10 minute drawings. We ended with 15s before the break. That was it for me. I left at the break time & met up with my sister to show her what I bought at The Camera Store on Wednesday. She is thinking she needs some lighting gear too. I'll have her talk to my friend who works there so she buys what she needs.

In any case, here are only 2 drawings from Saturday. Both were done with conté on newsprint & both were 10 minute drawings. I did have others but these are the best & I didn't feel like photographing more drawings.

We had a different female model this time. I've had before for another figure session I had gone to over a year ago. She is very fit & is a really good model. She does great poses. I wish I was in the mood to draw figures Saturday. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes!

yet another still life

At my class on Wednesday, we were taught basically how to draw from life (more that just siting). We were to use the envelope technique, axis & he taught us how to draw an ellipse. I know how to draw an ellipse but I hadn't drawn using the envelope technique - this is used to determine the size of your drawing when drawing a still life as well as finding where the exterior points are by siting. Using the axis basically finds the mid axis of each item in the still life. So there's the quick lesson - do you get it?

Anyway, here is the still life. I did not finish it in class so I did the tree at home & added more shading in general. This is a two day drawing due to this.

I had drawn this with graphite then darkened everything with black conté. We are still doing black & white next class but then colour! Finally. (:

brolly

I have finally purchased a lighting kit - a light stand and umbrella. The umbrella that comes in this kit I bought is 75 inches in diameter (nutty) so needless to say, I also bought a smaller one for practical reasons & it's also convertible (can use it to shoot through as well as bounce from). I can open the 75 inch umbrella but that's about it in my place! The kit was very reasonable & only ~$12 more than the Nikon kit I was looking at - this one has a stronger light stand which will be better for heavier lights like strobes.

I have this light stand set up in my living room (well, actually near my dining table). I wanted to be sure everything was working & in the boxes - which it is. Since it's set up, I thought I'd draw it ---something new in my place!

I used conté. I seem to like conté lately. It's nice to use something other than graphite (pencil).

sunnies

I have had these sunglasses for many years. They are Arnettes and they're polarized. Overall, they're not bad but they are a bit small now a-days. I tried to buy some Maui Jims in the fall but they hurt my nose so much that I couldn't stand wearing them longer than 30 minutes - if I even lasted that long. Needless to say, I returned them. I have not found (or looked) for replacements so I'm still using these.

The perspective is a wee bit off on the right side. They were more angled than this drawing shows. That's ok, it was fun to use ink pen again. Tough to really portray the reflection showing in the lens with ink pen though. The shadow was cool.

spinning

Sunday was the halfway point of this creative journey and as I knew it was coming up, it got me to thinking. Should I change anything or keep going as is? All in all, everything has been going well with only the odd day when I may not feel inspired to draw/create anything but still do. My class is going well & am enjoying taking it. So, I think the only thing that will change is adding more photography to my répertoire. So, that does not mean everyday but more of it in general. I am not setting any rules for myself in any way - I know I can be very rigid when I set up rules since I tend to be a rule follower, even if they're my own!

Yesterday, I took photos of the bouquet of flowers I purchased on Friday. Some of them look pretty natural - like they could be outside. Since I'm in Calgary, there's no way they are. (:

I set up the camera on the tripod & just moved the vase so I could see it in the 'live view' mode on my camera. I kept turning the vase until I found shots I liked on the LCD screen. It's funny, I will say that I normally spend much more time with photography than I do with some drawings I do. Today I also photographed all my art posted in the previous 2 posts & brightened them slightly in Photoshop™.

what plant is this?

a pink daisy?

quit when ahead

I attended the free figure studio session again this past Saturday. We had the same model as last week & as mentioned, she's really good.

The lady in charge (I think she's in charge somehow) was asking if we wanted longer poses & only a few of us said no & everyone else said nothing but in the end (the last pose) she still did a longer pose (50 minutes!). Can you imagine sitting still for 50 minutes? The poor gal posing for us. Anyway, I left 25 minutes early cuz really, how many times do I want to draw this gal laying down - what other pose could you hold for nearly an hour anyway? I will bring it up next week but ultimately, our model cannot be expected to hold her arms up or in a odd position for over 30 minutes so having her stay in a pose for 50 minutes makes no sense to me - my sister agrees (she didn't attend this past Saturday but I did mentioned it to her in case I was off in my thinking. I'd rather have the model change more often in order to be able to draw different perspectives & angles.

In any case, I am happy with these few of my drawings from Saturday:

1 minute gestures - conte
on newsprint

20 minutes - black conte

20 minutes - black conte

My last drawing, she was laying down again similar to the last one above, & I used pinkish soft pastel with black conte. Her head was too small so I am not including it here. I was really enjoying using conte on Saturday - much less messy than charcoal!

chaos

On Wednesday we started this 'Cubism' style drawing. I will admit that I did not love it when I was doing it in the class. He said to be open minded & just do as instructed & we may be surprised. I still wasn't loving it when I left & we had to finish it for this coming Wednesday. Great.

Last night I finished it and it's ok. Yes, just ok. Better than when I left class so that's good. Now, I need to keep in mind why I'm taking this class to begin with - try new stuff! Basically, I have to 'try it on' so to speak or I may as well have just kept on going on my own.

We had a still life he set up & we drew it from around 8 different seats in all different perspectives & proportions. We then added newsprint with glue in some shapes (I didn't have my scissors so I ripped the shapes) and finally we used conte & charcoal to give the shading like we did last week for our abstract. Oh, by the way, he used my abstract as an example as to what the purpose was for this project. Funny, when he was talking about what we were doing for this 'cubism' art piece, I realized that's what I did with the abstract assignment.

My favourite part of this is the bottle in the centre which overlaps quite a few items. That was the whole point of this assignment - the overlap.

no colour

I love flowers. I miss seeing flowers outside. I was at Costco yesterday & they had flower bouquets on sale & I figured, why not?

I drew this with ink pen cuz I only wanted to do an outline. I see it now & I kinda wish I did it on marker paper so I could add colour. I realize I could use coloured pencil but I won't. Marker would have been better in my mind.
The daisies are both pink (as if they aren't dyed!!) and white. There are a couple gerberas too in deep fuchsia. Of course there's lots of green and also these other plants that are deep purple that aren't floral as well as some that are floral. Actually, the bouquet is quite colourful - I love the dark tones and the contrast to the white.

As I'm sure you'd expect, I'll be photographing these tomorrow. I have the figure studio session today so photography will have to wait.

coloured glass

Today I was doing photography for a good chunk of the day so that's my thing today to post. I was practicing with Speedlites™ with my Canon™ 7D in both my bedroom (so I know how to light a basic bedroom) and again at a client's house so I could photograph the stain glass I designed for them this past year. I am in the process of having my business website more than just a landing page. For now, I'm taking photos at client's homes so I have better images than the ones I took in the past - I know more now thankfully - and taking some I haven't taken at all.

Here is one I took today:

I had to edit a few things in Photoshop™. There were a few blemishes in the paint job due to the house being built in 1912. I also lightened it ever so slightly. I know I need an umbrella kit as well as at least 5 more Speedlites™ or equivalent. Yikes!

still messy

Our homework this week was to make an abstract drawing using charcoal. I had a bit of an idea of what I was going to do but that was really it. When I went to start it last night, it just didn't really come to me - one part did (my basic idea) but I didn't know what to do with the rest of it. I used to do abstracts in my younger days but I haven't practiced that type of drawing in a very long time.
So, I looked online at abstract art which gave me enough of an idea to do what I did. We were to use shades of charcoal in order to portray if objects are in front of other objects. I think this worked out quite well all around but what a mess!

column

So I have this new book. It's called "The Natural Way to Draw" by Kimon Nicholaides. I've only just started it. Basically you follow along and teach yourself to draw - from what I can gather. You are supposed to read what he says then do the drawing times as instructed. Crazy in some ways cuz I'm supposed to draw for 3 hours at a time -which is the crazy part. Ultimately, 30 minutes doing one thing 6 times or however it's scheduled.

Yesterday, I tried to do a 30 minute contour drawing and failed. I did the drawing for only 18 minutes and ended with this:

It was to be a blind contour drawing but that didn't work out. I looked lots in the beginning & tried not to near the end which is why it looks so funny at the bottom of the page. I did run out of room as well - maybe that's why I lasted only 18 minutes. I can only hope.

less bad?

All I did today was try to fix the drawing of my sofa I did last week. It's still not correct but it's as good as it's going to get. I need to start again for a proper drawing of the sofa.

Here it is in any case:

when is spring?

Today I realized I am DONE with snow. Not sure how it all came to a head but I am.

I have also spent many hours photographing my drawings from yesterday & editing them in Photoshop™ so I may or may not draw tonight.
Thought I'd put these in just as a filler so I don't feel I've done nothing today - these were not taken today but I had not posted them yet. They're quite pretty for being on my screen door (where I should have a better seal!).

We do spring ahead next weekend so maybe that will help it feel like spring??? God, I hope so. (:

dinger

Yesterday was the second free figure studio session. This time we had a woman as the model & she was great. She did interesting poses & she knew her own timing up to 10 minutes.
I used various mediums. I started with charcoal then moved onto ink pen then lastly graphite which by then I had hit my dinger. A friend of mine & her boyfriend saw this movie(?) & they use this analogy that they've 'hit their dinger' when they've had enough or have hit the wall so to speak. I immediately thought of this on our last pose of the day which was approximately 2.5 hours into the time & we only had 25 minutes left. I'm only posting one dwg done in 15 minutes.
Here's my progress more or less - I can't post everything (all done on newsprint except last 2 drawings):

30 second gestures - charcoal

5 min dwgs
top ink pen w charcoal
bottom ink pen

The top drawing was done second since I was sitting down for the first drawing.

Both of these are contour drawings; the top was done with my left hand.

Both with ink pen & both 10 minutes.

10 minutes - ink pen

more or less a contour drawing

graphite - 15 minutes combined w little foot dwg on bottom left

My sister said she felt really good & was surprised we were almost done at the last pose. I wonder if I hit my dinger faster since I'm drawing nearly everyday.

All of these images were edited in Photoshop™ since I have poor lighting in my place.

wee plug

Last night I saw a plug cord below my floating shelf which holds my PVR, DVD player & on top of that is my Wii. Normally when I'm not using the Wii, I unplug the cord altogether & put it away in order to get rid of clutter. I noticed the plug was still on the floor from the last time I used it - I wonder when that was... There isn't anywhere to keep it plugged in near where the Wii actually is - I normally plug it in in the kitchen around the corner.

I moved the plug cord to the sofa & placed it on top of a white piece of paper. I thought of drawing it as soon as I noticed it & was happy I did cuz the shadow that it made was pretty cool.

am I blue?

I was reading this book from the library on photographic lighting. There is this picture in it which I loved as soon as I saw it. I wanted to draw it immediately upon seeing it.

It's interesting cuz the eye looks wrong yet I drew it as it actually is in the photograph. She is looking down which is why the eye is longer than an eye normally would be. Plus, she has her eye liner extended so again, it extends her eye. The eye almost looks like an eye found in older art.

I liked this image due to the sharp contrast from all the white to the features of the model. The blue hair came from using tungsten white balance on the camera - who knows what colour her hair actually is.

clunk

So I 'get' charcoal. You can't just use it like graphite (pencil), you have to work it. In other words, leaving the line you get from a charcoal pencil is not what I'm supposed to do. I guess I need to re-visit my foot drawing from the other day.

In class, as suspected, we had to draw our origami piece. The reason he wanted origami is due to the fact that it has lots of flat surfaces so we can see tone. Tone. Ah! charcoal is about tone.
First things first, make a gradation chart for a guide (I won't have to do this again likely cuz I'll keep this one...somehow). Next was to use around a level 4 as a background. So then it came to the actual drawing of the origami. Most, if not all, of us started too small. He had me just blend in what I started with then start over. Drat. 'Sokay, I wasn't that far along anyway.

I ended up with a pretty good drawing. My gradation chart is off to the left. I will admit, I did draw it on the right (copying my instructor who is a lefty) and had to flip the page so I didn't smudge as I drew. Silly me. Good thing I noticed before I began drawing the actual origami.
Moral of this exercise, charcoal IS messy. (:

2 point?

For my Wednesday class we had two things to do for homework. Origami was the first one which I completed last night & the other was to do a two point perspective of a dining chair. I know he wanted the object to be quite square but I do not have square/rectangular dining chairs (I drew my chair last week). I was thinking of drawing my coffee table cuz it is actually square but no matter where I sat, I would have been doing a one point perspective, not a two point. So in lieu of moving my furniture around, I drew my sofa which is not exactly square.
Now, as mentioned, being an interior designer, I end up doing perspectives a fair amount & generally they are quite rigid & 'by the book' so to speak. This whole 'creating every day for a year' was imposed by me (at least in part) for me to loosen up! I want to learn to draw quicker & while doing that, still be accurate. In other words, I didn't exactly follow the rules of 2 point perspective to do this drawing but it kinda looks like I did. Granted, it looks like I was sitting higher than I actually was. Basically like I'm on the ceiling or at least standing instead of sitting on a chair. :)

So, in the end, I had the rules in mind but did not carry any lines to any exact vanishing points. C'est la vie! It is as it is.