touch of colour

So if you live in Calgary, AB you'll know that we've had snow for the past 2 mornings & it's pretty darned chilly out there. Quite a change from the 'roof down' weather we had last weekend & earlier this week!

I needed some flowers in my life so when I was at Costco yesterday, I bought some tulips. They're gorgeous! I got a 'baker's dozen' for some reason. I have them in 2 vases. I like when tulips fall over the sides of the vase they're in. I don't know why. This is just a comment, not how my tulips were in the vase.

Last night I used graphite to draw the tulips on the marker paper & today I used markers. The problem was that I drew the tulips last night & by the time I got to them today, they had straightened up. So, I was using the shading from today on yesterday's drawn tulips. I added the 'vase' last minute and I totally wish I hadn't. Seriously, as if tulips would stand up that straight in such a wide vase without more of them around.

The actual tulips turned out pretty well, I think.

gestures

Wednesday evening was my last drawing class of last term. I have not signed up for anything for the spring & likely won't for the summer either. So the fall will be the next time I take a course. Maybe painting!

We were learning figure drawing. I have never been instructed for figures before so this (I thought) would be great. We started with gestures then more gestures & even more gestures. This happened since she did not give any instruction (only verbal) so lots of the class weren't 'getting it'. I have drawn figures before but I really wanted instruction. Finally she did a 'lesson' and let us at it again. It made more sense when she did the instruction. In either case, I still drew similar to how I always draw - the outline of the object then into details. Not what she said to do, I will admit. I am not including any gestures here. There wasn't anything to them & there were way too many of them in the end (too much paper!).

I'm including only my last few drawings that were not gestures. I was thankful for these at the end. My arm was quite tired!

10 minutes
conté on cartridge paper

20 minutes
conté on cartridge paper

I did not finish this one (above) but I liked how it was progressing & I liked the shape of her head.

graphite in sketchbook - 7 minutes

I did another of this pose with conté on cartridge paper but it turned out too big for the sheet. I was annoyed since it was turning out well enough & almost didn't bother with this last one. This was the last pose of the class.

In the end, what is my take on the class? It was good even with the review items. I would have liked more instruction on certain things we were taught. I felt that at times we were learning on our own. The instructor did come around but we were given such a short lessen that sometimes the class was not clear as to what to do. I'd almost want to take a course by an instructor from the day class. My sister took one from a day instructor & she said they had lessons & sounds like more instruction.

me again

Okay apparently, I couldn't leave this alone. I tried to fix a few things this morning then I looked at it again & started getting back into it. I wanted the right side dark & the left light - one side accurate & one side more abstract. So, this is closer to what I was trying to attempt. The only thing is, the eye isn't exactly 'hinted' it's just there but not in focus. Also, I did fix the dark eye cuz it was too high & slightly too small.

I am happier with this now. The right side is definitely sketchy like I wanted. I'll work on this. Maybe charcoal would be better? Or colour...? (:

had an idea

...that didn't really work.

I wanted to draw half my face and leave the other side either nonexistent or blurry. I tried nonexistent but it looked odd so I added a hint of the other side of my face. I wanted it to look really sketchy on the other side & just hint at the rest of the face. That's what didn't exactly work in the end. I worked it a bit too much. I also fixed it again this morning which helped but something is still off about it. The ear turned out well but I think it's too big even though I did site it as well as everything else. The nose shape is decent but it looks like the tip is bent to the right somehow. Either that or my eye is too 'straight on' instead of a side view.

The hinted eye is a bit too high & my hair looks either wet or like I haven't washed it for weeks. I'll try this again but perhaps with a different medium. I need to throw some colour on paper one of these days! I've been using B&W most of the time lately. I'll admit, it's easy for me which I don't think is the point of this.

chick

Today is Easter. It was a gorgeous day outside & what did I do? Read. I started Water for Elephants about a week ago (maybe more) & didn't read much of it since I was told I could hang onto it until I go to Mexico in May. The movie is out now though & a girlfriend of mine wants to see the movie & I wanted to finish the book first (she is the one who passed the book onto me). I got back into it last night after going to see the movie Source Code & finished it today. Basically I read 3/4 of the book today. It was really good & I highly recommend reading it.

Since I was absorbed into this book most of the day between cleaning & laundry (and going to an Easter dinner), I needed to do a quick drawing & I knew what I was drawing. I have had this little chick out since it is Easter & it's pretty cute. I've had it for years. It normally sits in a cupboard (not sure why but it does).

It's quite fluffy. Not sure this reads that way though. I'm not sure how to draw fur (as previously mentioned).

Here's a photo of the chick:

tough one

This is my favourite hat. I started this drawing yesterday by siting it & doing the basic layout. Then today, I fixed it cuz something was wrong with it; then fixed it again & again. Finally, the basic shape was tolerable (to me) and I started shading it in.

This is the first drawing in my 6x9 sketchbook. I wanted the first one to turn out well so when I opened the sketchbook, I'd see something I'm happy with.

All around it turned out well; as it should considering how long it took to do this thing!

la banane

Why have I not drawn a banana yet? Weird. I typically have them in the house.

I had a seminar to go to last night so I needed to draw before I left & had just picked up some bananas at Community Natural Foods. I started with a line drawing but really had to shade it for it to look at all correct. I also sited it so the proportions were correct. I shaded it with graphite using only an HB lead. Basically this had the drawing be really 'liney' & I didn't love it so I grabbed my blending tool & that helped quite a bit. This tool likely had some conté remaining on it but that really doesn't matter. It added to the darkness needed. I really should use softer graphite when I draw but I almost always grab the same two (H & HB).

sub

Last night was my second last drawing class. I have enjoyed it but I will be happy to have my Wednesday nights back. I have learned a few thing (like what we did last night) but for the most part, it was review - which is still great.

My instructor has left for Cuba so we had a substitute instructor last night & will again next week. She was quite good. Very encouraging & as students were doing the exercises, she would have us go over to look (if we chose to).
I would take a course from her in the future.

So what we used last night was actual liquid ink. In the past, I have labeled what medium I have used as ink but it was always ink felt pens. This time, we used a jar of liquid black ink with a brush and an old chop stick (provided). I tried the chop stick but didn't love it. More control than the brush yet it was like drawing with the end of your finger (too wide at times & very little control). We were allowed to use our ink felt pens too so I used the liquid ink & ink felt pens on this drawing. The ink felt pens I own are permanent so they don't bleed.

The shadows & shading were done with ink watered down & applied with a brush.

This next one (last drawing of the night) was done strictly with the brush & ink (watered down & full strength).

Since it's scanned in, it's tough to see the shadows. It turned out quite well. Very loose.

last page

I finally filled up my 5x7 sketchbook. Last night I had lots going on so this is a quick sketch of the 3 dead/dying carnations I have in my stainless steel vase.

My 'go to' drawing medium tends to be graphite. I started drawing with graphite when I was young & it seems to be what I grab when I need to do something fast.

stemware

I love stemware. Drinking from a glass with a stem is just kinda classy. Don't get me wrong, if there are only tumblers around & someone is serving wine, I'm still in.

Last night I was thinking of something to draw & thought of a martini glass. I have a few that I like & this one was likely the simplest. It actually has a drop of colour that starts at the base of the glass & runs down the stem itself. They're quite nice (it's a set of 4 colours).

I really like how the ellipse turned out. The glass actually looks right.

long day at the office

Poor Parker. My mom had him in a cat show over the weekend & Sunday morning he saw 5 judges in a row with no breaks. He saw 2 more in the afternoon & by the time it was all done, he was done. He got back to my place, drank some water & promptly went to sleep.

He started like this but kept moving around once I started to draw him (of course!).

Not the best scan of this sheet but it's fine for this purpose. I do not really know how to draw fur. I had a book on that once (how to draw animals) but I didn't really read that part. I was focused more on how to draw faces.

Can you believe he was sleeping like this?

Made me laugh so I took out my new S95 by Canon. I need to play around with it a bit. I also decided to grab my 7d but then he decided to get up & move around. Too many eyes on him I guess.

2 pages left

I have a 5x7 Robert Bateman cover series sketchbook. I really like the paper in this sketchbook. I also own an 8.5x11 & recently purchased a 6x9 which I won't use until the 5x7 is completely used up. I'm two pages away!
This sketchbook is not the one I refer to when I speak of using the smallest sketchbook I own. That one is an even smaller one that's hard covered & doesn't open easily (which someone gave to me).

I have 3 carnations left from the bouquet of flowers given to me for my birthday. All the other flowers died pretty quick - some in less than a week. Too bad. I should go buy more. It's snowing again. *sigh*

bit light

My mother is in town & we spent all day Friday together running around. We also watched a movie at home in the evening after dinner so I had to do a quick drawing before bed. I set up a bed for her on the sofa so upstairs objects were out. I grabbed my sketchbook & looked around on the lower level of my place. I decided to draw my bathroom faucet - I have thought of drawing it in the past but hadn't gotten around to it. This is a quick sketch & it is very light. I didn't bother with too much detail. It's basically a line drawing.



The handles are quite accurate but the actual faucet is slightly thinner than reality.

crunchy when I walk

You know the type of snow that is ideal for making snowmen & snowballs? Basically, you can hear it below your feet when you walk. It also is very messy & aggravating on the roads especially when the city doesn't plow. This type of snow is beautiful in December & even January into February. It is now April. Can we wait for next winter now? This is technically spring after all...

I was annoyed coming back from the gym this morning. To get back in my parking spot was quite an endeavor. I'm over it now (kinda since I just wrote about it apparently!).

I went outside to take photos of the snow. It is beautiful & it's already starting to melt (insert big toothy grin here).

I started with my 70-200mm 2.8 L IS II lens & then to my 100mm 2.8 L IS macro. For some reason my initial photos didn't work on my card. They were there then when I went to upload them, my card reader didn't see them & when I put the card back into my camera, they were gone. Great. Out I went again. That time, all was well. Weird! I only used my macro when I went out the second time & even brought my tripod.

this shows the height of the snow received overnight

this is my fav

amazing

Last night in class we did self portraits with soft pastels. I did not complete mine & likely won't since I really don't have somewhere to set up a mirror near my desk. I suppose you never know though.

Well, I have to say I'm impressed. This actually looks like me. Wow. I started with a very light colour to site my face then added the darker tone as the shadows. The nose was really bugging me so he suggested adding an even darker tone (blue/purple) to define the location of the actual nostril. That totally helped. I wanted more time with this but we were at the end of class.

I stepped back from it many times & it's funny how you just focus on one thing (nose) when my chin was too long! I erased it & brought it up to where it is now. Much better.

I'll do another one soon but likely with graphite, charcoal or conté. Just finish one in monochromatic first then move onto colour.

too familiar

This is a site I see way too often. Funny, I looked at my hand as I was holding this last night & decided that my iPhone 3GS was my subject. Granted, I suppose, I don't see much of my hand since the phone is in the way but that's ok. I really like drawing hands but I don't want to draw them every day. (:



I have to admit I was a day behind. I was at an investment conference this past weekend & I wasn't home at all Saturday (day or night) aside from eating breakfast & sleeping. Due to this, all of my hand homework was one day off/late. I made up the day (in my mind) by starting this drawing early in the day & finishing it last night. I also added more dark tones to all of the hands last night too. I feel they need more but I've left them for my instructor to give feedback.

throwing stones

This is the second part of my homework. Unintentionally, I kinda picked weapons for my first two drawings. First a knife (albeit a butter knife) and then a rock.

I like this one - not that I didn't like the last one. The rock shape turned out well & I like the finger that points up from behind. The rock is quite smooth & is somewhat triangular length-wise (like a Toblerone).

watch out!

My homework assignment for last week's drawing class was to draw my non dominate hand 3 times holding 3 different objects. I draw hands often (since they seem to be 'handy'). I did draw my hand last week in class but in soft pastel. I opted to do these drawings in pencil (graphite) since it's easier for me & doesn't make a mess.
I used a larger sheet of cartridge paper & ended up with two drawings on this one sheet. I wanted to draw larger & it helped for sure.
I realize this drawing likely needs more dark tones.

The tip of the knife I was holding is cut off cuz I didn't want to pull out my camera to photograph this drawing - I wanted to post it!

All around, this does look like my hand. The fingers down the knife handle are a bit larger than reality but still okay.

bunny twins

I purchase these baskets years ago & always thought I'd send them to either my brother for his kids or my sister or someone locally who has kids but never have. I ran across them last week & I do plan to send them to my brother for his kids for Easter as soon as I locate a box!
They are so cute. Basically the bunnies hug the basket so whatever is inside belongs to them & them alone. I almost called this post 'mine!' but the baskets were empty. (:

One bunny wears a blue sweater & one wears a yellow sweater. I drew one bunny basket one day & one the next day.

on blue

For my class on Wednesday, we had to draw in the style of one of three artists. I don't have the names of the artists in front of me but it doesn't really matter. One was Edgar Degas - which I already admire so I sort of used his style but not his subject matter. He drew many ballerinas & nudes with soft pastels & other mediums too for his black & 'white' drawings. I wanted to use colour again so that's why I chose him. Plus, using soft pastels in a studio space instead of my house is better since it's so messy & I don't have to worry about it on my floor that way!
Degas also drew on various colours of paper. This is why I used the only coloured sheet I had in my portfolio case & it was blue. I know my skin tone is more on the warm side (I have red tones in my skin) so I'm not entirely certain the blue was the best choice but it was all I had. All around, it turned out well - skin tone-wise. I drew my hand since I did not bring anything to actually draw & I did not want to do a self-portrait.

My fingers were bent & it was tough to really show it. I couldn't get the fingers to really look bent except for my pinky finger. My fingers are perhaps a bit skinny compared to my palm. That's ok. I recall being VERY tired that day so that always has a factor on how I draw.

move over

I've noticed that when I draw in my 5x7 sketchbook, I tend to start centre-ish as to not run out of room on the side I start from (whether that be left or right). What I've then noticed is that I run out of room on the far side instead. *sigh*

not the best scan due to the drawing being so
close to the coils of the sketchbook

This is an easter lily in my bouquet of flowers. It's pale yellow & I'm happy to report these ones do not stink. Nice change from the last ones although since they're solid in colour, aesthetically, I don't like them as well.

I primarily used my 0.1 ink felt pen to draw this flower. I only used my 0.7 for the pollen pods (if that's what they're called).

one each

A friend of mine gave me flowers for my birthday on Friday. Great colours! Since it snowed like crazy Friday night (all white wherever you looked outside), it was nice to see something 'spring-like' inside at least. I figured I should draw a few flowers while they're still alive. I started on Sunday with the flower on the left then did the flower on the right last night. Each flower did not take long to draw & I could have posted them individually but for some reason I wanted two flowers on the one page. I used my small sketchbook & used my ink felt pens (0.5 & 0.1). I haven't been using my sketchbook much lately. I love the paper so I really should use it more often.

finally!

I'm not sure why I say 'finally'. I finished the blanket in 12 days. I started it March 23 & finished it yesterday (April 3, 2011).
I am very happy with the choice of this pattern for the blanket. The finished size is 36 inches wide by 44 inches long. I am off the pattern by 2 inches both ways. Ah well. That's what happens when I don't read the instructions or just assume it's the same as the other pattern I tried.

a bit dark

Yesterday's figure drawing went well. I guess I was in the mood for it. I still left 30 minutes early though so my sister & I could go for coffee/tea. We had a nutty storm yesterday & ended up with easily 25+cm of snow. Yuk. Okay, YES it looked pretty but pretty in December not April.

The photographs I took are a bit on the dark side. I'm not sure why since they seemed ok on the LCD screen. I'm not re-shooting them since the drawings are clear just on a grey background. The images below which have white backgrounds were scanned in.

The bottom portrait drawing of the model actually looks like her. Bravo!

5 minutes
conté on newsprint
faceless worked here!

10 minute w black felt pens on cartridge paper

part 1 of 20 minute drawing time
conté on cartridge paper

part 2 of 20 minute drawing time
ink felt pens on cartridge paper

30 minutes - graphite in sketchbook

bound to happen

Today is my birthday. Since I do my best not to work on my birthday, I was going to do a simple drawing but ended up finishing the one I started yesterday. Not that drawing is work, I just didn't know how much I would be home today. A girlfriend of mine & I were going to go to Banff but in the end, I decided the shooting range & lunch with wine would be more fun (in that order). We're meeting friends tonight so why bother driving all the way to Banff when you can't hang out & enjoy it?

So, shooting at The Shooting Edge and lunch at Bonterra. Should be great fun!

Funny thing is that someone asked last Sunday where April Fool's Day originated from. After 40 years of having my birthday on April Fool's Day, I have never looked it up & had NO idea. Weird for me. Guess I never cared.
For a quick summary: before the Gregorian Calendar was introduced, New Years was celebrated from March 25 to April 1 (with New Year's Day being April 1). Once the new calendar was introduced and due to how information was passed around, not everyone knew of the change back in the 1500's. Some people either refused to accept the new calendar or simply had no idea so they still celebrated New Years Day on April 1 & were in turn called fools. That's a quick history lesson. (:
Another funny thing is that I always do my 'new years resolutions' on my birthday since it's MY new year (if I do any at all). Oddly enough, that used to be the actual new year's day.

In any case, drawing my yarn was inevitable. This was started yesterday, as mentioned, & I finished it today by adding the darker tones & shadows. Totally looks like the blue yarn sitting on my sofa waiting to be used.

200

My class Wednesday fell on my 200th day doing this. What we were supposed to do was bring in a pastry or donut of some sort to start practicing with colour (soft pastels). I didn't have time after my meeting to go and pick one up so I brought rocks that I had in my house. Yes, I collect rocks (at times).

I wasn't loving this exercise but that was likely due to not being able to eat dinner before my class. In the end, the drawing turned out ok aside from the line running down the right side caused from the residue stuck to the table I was using.