7/31/11

"C", a few more changes

When I work on a painting, that counts for my daily drawing... I added some Candy wrapped in Cellophane, because Helen said the Cupcake was too smack-dab in the center, and I thought she was right. I also repainted the fabric (again), making it lighter. I worked on the Conch, and added some spines to the Cactus, and some detail to the Cat's Chair. I would still like to rework the Checkered Cloth a bit... almost done!

7/30/11

Chopsticks

This is a glass canister that sits on my kitchen counter. It holds chopsticks and a potato masher, for some reason.

7/29/11

Dusty on my lap

We were watching TV, Dusty was comfortable on my lap, I still had to do my drawing, so...

She's not as huge as I made her look, actually she's pretty small, although fat, and very fluffy. I've revealed my weird ugly feet to the world. The hand is awkward, because I would put it on her to look at it, then take the sketchbook in it to draw. But as I've said before, all drawing is from memory.

7/28/11

Hal's pliers

This is vine charcoal on smooth white paper, lightened with kneaded eraser. I didn't tone the whole paper this time, but I drew roughly with the vine charcoal, rubbed with a tissue and a paper stump, drew again with charcoal, and erased. In this way, the drawing still grew organically, without too much planning. I think these pliers look like a parrot.

7/27/11

Studio skeleton

This is a skeleton (life-sized, but plastic) who lives in my studio. She is wearing an artist's apron which says,"Support Living Artists - the dead ones don't need it". She is also wearing an equestrian helmet, with one of my painting hats on top of it. Another painting hat is hanging from her left shoulder, and a Canadian flag is in her right hand. Some Mardi Gras bead also hang from her left shoulder. She is a good studio companion; always smiling, never critical.

7/26/11

Spotlight

This is a clip-on spotlight (unlit), clipped to the top of my camera tripod. I used to use this tripod to take these photos for my drawing blog, but now it's occupied holding this spotlight, which is pointed at the ceiling to cause reflected light to brighten my painting on the easel. I use a different spotlight to light the still life ("C") I'm working on (irregularly.) So now I have to hold my camera by hand to take these pictures, but the anti-shake feature does a great job of getting it in focus.

7/25/11

Kitchen counter with coffee cups

Kind of a slapdash effort, oh well.

7/24/11

Sour balls

I tried the charcoal powder/eraser technique on a different, smoother paper. It didn't work quite as well, with the whites not getting as white as they had on the other drawing paper, so I had to use chalk for the highlights. (This was smooth bristol, I think.) I do like the look of this kind of subtractive drawing, though. It reminds me of mezzotints, or old black and white photographs. Kind of dingy looking, like an antique.

7/23/11

Malkie and Dusty

I was just too tired tonight to do a long drawing, so I turned to my ever ready feline models.

7/22/11

Square jars

Another erased charcoal drawing. I'm feeling lopsided and tired after my first eight hour day in the library, so my jars are kind of lopsided and tired... but it's still fun to see the drawing emerge from a uniformly gray surface, just by erasing, and then going in with vine charcoal for the darks.

7/21/11

Glass of water

I had fun with this - white drawing paper toned with powdered charcoal, then "drawn" by removing the charcoal with a kneaded eraser. It's how I introduce my private students to charcoal drawing. Just a touch of vine charcoal to add the darks, and a little white chalk for the brightest whites.

7/20/11

Glass bird

It's fitting that I drew this little glass bird tonight, because Hal and I just watched a DVD called "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill". I bought the DVD when I visited San Francisco a few years ago, but only now got around to watching it. I think it's on Netflix - I highly recommend it!

7/19/11

Binder clip, black colored pencil

7/18/11

slight change to the melon...

I worked on this a tiny bit before going to work today - I rotated the melon slightly, so it would more lead your eye back into the painting.

7/17/11.1

more changes to "C"

Back to the "C" painting tonight. I moved the melon up a little (a different melon!), and added the cat in a chair. I also repainted the whole blue cloth again. I haven't gotten to the conch shell yet, which is showing signs around it of when I moved it before, and scraped down the old part. I'll work on this again in the morning tomorrow, because I don't have to go to work until 2 pm.

7/17/11

Alex driving

Alex has to accrue 40 hours behind the wheel with a parent before getting his license. Today we went down the Prince William Parkway, a beautiful drive on a beautiful day. I'm aware that I drew his arms and hands too big; I don't know if it was because I was so close to him, or that I considered the arms and hands the most important part of the drawing, because they were controlling the car.

7/16/11

Blocks

This is colored pencil, which I've decided is a rather unforgiving medium. There are few colors, you have to layer them, they don't erase, and after a certain point you can't go any lighter. So you have to be careful. Finally I just decided I was done and the heck with it.

7/15/11

Compactor

The weather has been really nice, so Hal and I took a walk to see how the road widening is going... funny, this machine reminded me of the egg carton I drew yesterday!

7/14/11

Egg carton

A kind of rushed, quick sketch. Maybe I'll do a more careful study at a future date.

7/13/11

Crumpled paper

7/12/11

Alex

Alex was lying on the couch watching a TV show on his laptop - I was sitting on the end of the couch, that's why the strange foreshortening.

7/11/11

Little jug

 

I really liked working on all the values in this little white jug.

7/10/11

Tired crane

Another uninspired drawing. Oh well. It was fun making the crane...

7/9/11

Dusty mandala

Today was a very busy day - Alex and I went to the Kennedy Center to see "Next to Normal", and the rest of us went to a pot-luck supper tonight... no coherent drawing suggested itself to me tonight, so I just did some quick sketches of Dusty, who did not pose for me.

7/8/11

Mac power cord

 

My laptop's power cord stopped working, and the Apple store GAVE us a new one! I didn't think it would be covered under Apple Care, but it was! This was one of those drawings that turned out to be much more trouble than I thought it would be. I spent entirely too long on it, and I'm not happy with the way it looks, like it's floating in space.

7/7/11

Little brown bottles

...sort of like drawing, sort of like painting, sort of like coloring... Colored Pencils! (with white oil pastel highlights)

7/6/11

Green glass "ink well" pencil sharpener

Thought I'd try out those colored pencils again...

7/5/11

Dusty and Malcolm

I missed drawing on the 4th, and I was going to miss today, too... I'm just really tired, and was going to skip it again. But I made myself do this quick sketch of the usual suspects - they're always arranged so nicely on their little bed in the kitchen window.

7/3/11

Pair of shells

There's something very relaxing and settling about doing a slow, careful drawing right before going to bed. The shell on the left was hard, because it's so featureless from this angle, except for the opening. It looks almost like an egg.

7/2/11

Weird shell #2

I had to draw the weird, squirmy shell again, from a different angle. It really kind of gives me the creeps!

7/1/11

July self-portrait

This was kind of challenging - I stood with my back to the mirror, and had to turn around to see myself. Then when I was drawing, I was turned away from the mirror. So this is really from memory - but then again, all drawing is from memory, because you have to take your eyes off the subject in order to see your drawing. So even if it's for just a split second, all drawing is from memory.