Orange Tabby

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

from a photo taken by stalksthedawn

       I like the sparkle in the eyes, the fur and the little nose.   I just think it’s really cute and a great likeness.  I am getting more comfortable with drawing cats.  I don’t know what it is about their features that is so difficult for me.  But if I had to take a guess it would be that their faces are more angular where dogs have more rounded facial features?  Not sure though, I ‘m not going to look too deep and just enjoy the fact that I pulled it off.

    Just wanted to let you know that I have succumbed to making lists.  I’m not too proud to admit that it does save alot of time and it makes me more accountable to the tasks at hand.  Usually, I aimlessly look through stuff always choosing things that are familiar.  Choosing the familiar makes for a fun time because it’s easy, but it can also box you in.  As I have said before, there are just too many subjects that I want to render or atleast dip my toe in to make this experience worth while.  The first item on my list was figurative drawing.  I started searching the web looking for a model (accidentally hitting a couple of porn sites along the way.)   After wishing I had a fork to poke my eyes out to relieve my burning retinas,  I found a beautiful picture of a naked cropped haired African American woman.  You could only see her back and a little of her rear end, so I thought that was enough skin for a first attempt.  I drew her and she turned out as beautiful as the photo, but I didn’t care for the experience at all.   I was just uncomfortable.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t  think that there is anything “dirty” about it, but it just isn’t for me, atleast not right now, maybe never.   I would have loved to have posted my nude lady but due to copyright infringements, I can’t.  It was just for practise anyway.   Had I not made the list though I would still be wanting to try it, but never go further than “wanting”.   So I guess lists do have their place in this   my world after all…cough..cough..spit. 

Marbles

Prismacolor c.p. on Bristol smooth

       I saw this picture and I just had to take a crack at it.  It’s from a photo taken by mustcreate at wet canvas.  My camera just didn’t do this painting justice.  I tried to paint this with a vibrant and translucent feel and I accomplished that with some moderate success, but  this was the best photo that I could get from my camera.   Unfortunately, the camera didn’t hide the fact that I still need to work on my shadows, and I should have sharpened my pencil for the outside of the marbles.  This is a great color practice.  I just drew the marbles with a circle template and went to town. 

     I have another piece that I have ready to get started on and I’m really excited.  It’s going to be in graphite which is a little more in my comfort zone, because I have been drawing in graphite for quite a while.  I have this little theory that if I learn to draw and shade the rest is only color theory, support and technique.  We’ll see.  I am very lucky to have this opportunity to be able to draw to my hearts content, but I don’t believe I am taking the full advantage of my time.  As much as I detest lists and structure I feel like I need it.  I’m not saying that I will, I guess I’m saying I should.  I don’t think it would take away from the pleasure that I get out of drawing, but there is alot of things that I want to learn.  I would love to draw life studies (nudes) whenever I get over the fact that they are naked, portraits, pets of course, still life and landscapes . Basically If I see it, I want to be able draw or paint it.  If I want to be able to accomplish all of these things then I need some sort of game plan.  I think I could do it.  Parents homeschool their children, why can’t I  give myself a little (in)formal art instruction? 

Tobey

Graphite on Smooth Bristol Board

      This drawing is from a cell phone picture, and I had to guess at all of the detail work.    The owners were very happy.  Thank Goodness!    I  had forgotten that I had this picture in my computer and was relieved when I found something that I could post.  I have some new art, but something is wrong with my camera, Alana’s memory card needs reformatting (again), my computer won’t recognize my scanner, and David is out of town with his camera and the knowledge to fix all these issues.  I even tried my web cam, but it didn’t work.  Maybe it will magically get fixed while I’m asleep tonight.  I doubt it, but I can hope can’t I?

Cherries

Prismacolor c.p. on Bristol Smooth

     This time I used my own color pallet.  I need to work on my shadows and I should have brought the red more into the yellow.   Oh well, I still like how it turned out.  Wow, working on smaller simple scale  is the way to go when you are learning to layer c.p.  I felt more free to just go for it and run the risk of trashing it.  In my mind it was just three little circles with a stick on the end, so if I had to start over it was no big whoop. But if I drew the cherries in a bowl beside a spoon on a cloth in front of window… Do you see where I’m going with this?