3/31/11

Alex's shoe, fresh from the wash

I drew this with a china marker. I love those things.

3/30/11

My slippers

3/29/11

Sabu on Hal's lap

Sabu was purring loudly when I started this drawing, and I'm glad I started with his face, because he almost immediately fell asleep. Hal's warm tummy is just too comfortable!

3/28/11

Little brown bottles #2

I succumbed to my urge to do a shaded drawing of the bottles, but I used ink. I've been thinking I'd like to do some intaglio again (I tried it in high school), and working with these fine pens gives me a feeling for what that would be like.

3/27/11

Little brown bottles

I cleaned out my spice cabinet and dumped out some old bottles of vanilla extract, peppermint oil, etc. I started this drawing intending to make it a full range of values, but decided I liked it as a line drawing.

3/26/11

I am still so tired from staying up until 3 am last night - I was completely uninspired and had no idea what to draw tonight, so I just picked this little paint can opener. Maybe I'll feel more creative tomorrow... time for bed now!

3/25/11

I took Alex to the 9:30 Club last night to see his favorite musician, John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats. Alex was standing down in front at the stage, and I was way up on the upper level in the back corner. I only got a glimpse of the band when people's heads were out of the way, but I had a great selection of back views of people to sketch in my little book. The first three drawings are before the concert started, and the last was during one of the two encores. The couple in front of me were dancing; the guy was loose as a goose, and was bopping his head around in all directions. It was a great concert. Afterward we hung around outside in the freezing cold to meet the band, and Alex had the new vinyl album autographed. We didn't get home until almost 3 am, which is why I didn't post these last night! (I know, I'm such a nice mom!)

3/24/11

I felt like the comfort of good old graphite tonight, and my familiar little glass jars.

3/23/11

Well, even though this is a painting, I'm going to count it as my daily drawing, because I spent a long time drawing the image on the canvas. I did it the old fashioned way, by holding my brush at arm's length and measuring with one eye shut. This in front of a crowd of interested museum-goers. (Nobody ever said being an artist is dignified.) It's the first day of a new copy, "The Red School House" by Winslow Homer. I'm also including a photo of the painting at the end of day 1, after I got some paint on most of the gessoed canvas. I underpainted the sky blue-gray, because it looks like that's what Homer might have done. I'll repaint the entire thing next week.

3/22/11

Big shell #6

My friend the shell once again, this time in ink. I'm really getting to like this shell...

3/21/11

Hollow tree

This drawing isn't finished, but it started to rain and I went home. I'll finish it another day. I went to Plaza this morning and bought all kinds of felt-tip pens, trying to find the best one. Today's drawing is a professional pen, a Copic Multiliner. All of its parts are replaceable, and it is refillable. I also bought all the other, cheaper pens. (Our tax refund came, and I wanted to stock up on art supplies before it's all gone!)

3/20/11

Big shell #5

I wonder how many different ways I can find to draw this shell?

3/19/11

Beside the rock quarry

This is just across the road from the place I drew yesterday. I drew on 18"x24" paper (yesterday's was 9"x12".) I was hoping to be able to draw the quarry itself, which is a huge canyon-sized hole, with tiny trucks in the bottom to give it scale, but there is no place on public property to draw from. The roadside is too narrow, and there are too many trees and a chain-link fence in the way. Here's a photo I took through the fence to give you an idea (the spot I drew from is to the right a couple of hundred yards).

3/18/11

This structure is across the road from a large rock quarry on the western outskirts of Centreville. I think it is where they take the gravel from the quarry and make concrete (but I really have no idea what they do there.) I've been looking at this whenever I drive by, and finally decided to pull over on the shoulder across the road and draw it. It was much more detailed than I drew it. I did it entirely in ink without sketching it in pencil first, so some areas didn't come together properly. I really enjoyed doing this - here's a photograph I took from the same spot so you can compare:

3/17/11

White house in a yellow field, oil pastel

I glimpsed this scene out of the corner of my eye as I was driving by it yesterday, and I vowed to come back and paint it. Today was a perfect weather day, so as soon as I got off work at the library, I grabbed my oil pastels and went back. I was trying to channel Wolf Kahn. It felt like weaving; I was using Sennelier oil pastels, very buttery.

3/16/11

Big shell #4

This time in ink. Drawing with ink still doesn't come easy for me... I don't sketch it in pencil first, so mistakes stay, and my hatching isn't too great yet, but I'm trying!

3/15/11

Big shell #3

I wish I had a shell like this with all of its points intact, instead of broken off like this one is. Spending time drawing a shell like this really makes you start to feel and understand the way that it grew - it's so organic and perfect in its imperfections.

3/14/11

Big shell #2

3/13/11

Pear branch

This little branch must have broken off the tree during the heavy wind we had the other evening (which turned out to be a small tornado that passed near our neighborhood!) Everything is starting to get buds now.

3/12/11

Hal watching TV

I had such a busy day today, teaching two painting classes and attending a "smackdown" at the library tonight... I had no energy for a long drawing. A quick 5-minute sketch was just the ticket.

3/11/11

Big shell

I did not have the time I'd like to devote to this monster shell. I've had it for years, but have never drawn it. This is the first of what I think will be many studies.

3/10/11

Commissioned portrait, final

On looking at the photos again on my computer, instead of the paper printout I was working from, I saw that his eyes are blue. I should work from the computer and not the print.

3/9/11

Commissioned portrait - day 1

I figured this would count as my daily drawing... it's not finished - tomorrow I'll look at it with fresh eyes. Of course I'm working from a photograph. I went to the client's house and took several pictures, until the little boy (age 4) got tired of sitting with a pleasant look on his face and started goofing off and grimacing. I emailed several choices to the parents, and this is the one they chose. The skin tone is too washed out, and I think his eyes are actually lighter - I couldn't tell from the photo. (That's the trouble - one of them - with photos!)

3/8/11

Piece of wood

A quick, rough sketch of an interesting stick...

3/7/11

Cordial glasses

Again with the woodless colored pencils, this time on smooth bristol paper. I liked it better.

3/6/11

Glass bird

I'm still trying to get used to these new woodless colored pencils. I still haven't found the right paper. This is Bristol Vellum paper, and I don't like the texture. I'll try regular bristol next time, it's much smoother. This little glass bird used to be a perfume bottle, I think (the head screws off.) I found it at a thrift store. I painted it in my "B" painting, which is on my web site.

3/5/11

Malkie hunting for ants

We've had a problem with those little brown ants in our kitchen recently. Malcolm loves to eat them, and he was following them around on the floor and licking them up.

3/4/11

Red glass dog

I was trying out a new set of woodless colored pencils. I'll have to work with them some more before I figure out the best way to apply them. The set didn't have a really deep red, which is what I needed. So I undercolored with a blue, and went over it with a bright red. I'll go back to Plaza and see if there's a deep red available in the individual pencils. These are made by Koh-i-noor, same as my woodless graphite pencils.

3/3/11

Rémy Martin cognac bottle

This was a very quick sketch (30 minutes or so.)
I tried not to get too "ticklish" with it...

3/2/11

Cats on the laundry

Just a quick scribble today. I'm too tired after going to the National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery with Emily all day... great day, though!

3/1/11

Self-portrait

The first of the month, another self-portrait...