February 19: a Zen moment

Another MeetUp that I've been wanting to try out is a Zen book group.  I finally went with Danielle this evening.  The book is Zen Heart by Ezra something.

So, the group starts with a 15-minute meditation before reading an excerpt from the book and then continuing with discussion.  During the meditation, when I was trying to empty my mind, I kept glimpsing a flower petal.  It was pretty up close, just a single flower petal.  I came home after the group -- which I think I will go to again (I did buy the book the next day) -- chatted with Kevin for a bit, then tried to replicate the petal.

I can't really describe the colors in my mind's eye...  beige?  with some purples and pinks lightly mixed in?...  but mostly beige, and I thought it would be lovely if I tried some fading with dark and light purples around the edges.

But, my first attempt, I tried to draw the petals folding backward, and it didn't work...  I flip flop from liking the colors to not liking the colors; I think the blues are throwing it off for me.  That said, once I decided it was definitely not what I envisioned, I kept playing with colors, just to try out different combinations, even though they weren't what had popped into my mind earlier.

This one is closer to what I had envisioned, but still not quite right.  I do like the colors more though. I also used a stump to try to blend more evenly.  I like it, but I'll want to try it again.  Maybe with another set of oil pastels, one with more color options -- I certainly am not lacking in oil pastel options these days....   I'm also excited to see if more pictures will pop into my head during meditation.

February 18

So, in preparing for my art class this past weekend, I cleaned out an old sketchbook.  I had taken it to school for Artsy-Fartsy time with the kiddos.  I found this:  I guess you could call it my first urban sketch!  I had to include it so that I can compare up-coming out-and-about sketches, which will hopefully show lots of growth!  That said, looking at the sketch now, it's much better than I thought it was then.  But that was back when I would still get ridiculously worked up when I tried to sketch.  

North end of Barton Springs looking down, the freebie end.

February 17: perspective

Eh, decided to include my perspective drawings anyway.  This way, they'll be here to compare any future work to.  

one-point perspective, with the center point in the center of the room.  

or, whatever that stuff is called!  ;-)

center point moved over to the left a little.

2-point perspective:  a box.  

February 16: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Weekend Workshop, Day 2

We did one and two point perspective, but they were very boxy rooms, not really anything interesting to see, so I won't include them here.


"Mapping the Face," as the instructor Eve Larson referred to it...

I definitely got tired toward the end of class, as demonstrated by my 3/4 face...

February 15: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Weekend Workshop, Day 1

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

weekend workshop at Laguna Gloria

First exercise:  Focus on what you see, not what you expect to see, by drawing upside down.  So, we turned the original upside down and drew it upside down, then turned right side up to see how we did.  

Here's how I saw it while I was working - my upside-down version.

The original, by Matisse.

Mine, right-side up.  

Lines are hard!!!

And again with the upside down, but we were encouraged t use the negative and positive space to check ourselves throughout...

 Mine upside down.

The original. 

Mine, right-side up.  

Original to the left, mine is on the right.  Eh, who gives a damn about perfection!  

If everything were perfect, this would be a bland world indeed!

This exercise blew my mind!  

First, we traced our hands on a clear plastic sheet. 

Then we drew them while looking at our hands (could use the clear sheet tracing as a reference), but drew it freehand, modeling for ourselves.  Here's mine.  Not perfect, by all means, but much better than I would have predicted I could draw!  I think the plastic sheet method as a pre-drawing / warm-up is a great idea.  When I went to draw my hand, it was easy-peasy!  

(Now I wish I had taken a picture of the tracing, to compare...  Oh well!)

So, today's class was overall pretty awesome.  I believe I was the student with the most experience in today's class.  Which didn't necessarily make me better than the other students at the exercises, but allowed me to feel a little more comfortable than most of them, I think.  Laurie felt pretty much how I felt when I first started:  annoyed that it wasn't turning out right, frustrated, overwhelmed, etc...  The cool thing was that I felt that things were starting to come together.  Just STARTING to come together...  I can't count how many times I said, "I think I'm starting to get this!"  

Negative space, foreshortening, perspective...  I'm finally starting to get you.  Now I just have to keep practicing!

I had to add this tree.  I tried to draw it years ago and had a really hard time with it.  I think because we were focusing on the negative spaces to help draw the tree, and I couldn't quite grasp the concept back then.  This time, it made more sense, and I had a much easier time with it.

After this tree, I went on to draw a much more complex tree, branches literally winding in all directions, coming toward me... I liked the second tree much better.  But then Eve gave us the opportunity to paint it with some ink.  I painted it in the negative, and it pretty much ruined the drawing -- well, not ruined, but I didn't like it any more.  I'll have to go back and draw it again one day.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had to make him another card since the other one actually wasn't a card and because I gave it to him early.  I know it's not geographically accurate - it wasn't meant to be.  I only wish I had played with the lettering style a little more, tried to come up with something a little cuter...



Yay!  Drawing class tomorrow with Laurie!  I love motivating people to try something new!!!

February 13: SketchBomb at Mr. Tramp's

Decided to have my birthday gathering at a Sketch Bomb meet-up.  They pull ideas / themes out of a hat, and then people draw for however long, then they share...  

First theme of the night:  An animal-related superhero...

Meet Bird Poop Man...  

Able to spot unknowing victims from secret hiding places in the sky...

You'll know when his powers are at work!...



And not at all related to the SketchBomb group...
I wanted to show off my iPad sketch pad (Paper), so I did a quick cartoonish sketch of Danielle...

February 12

A valentine card I made for Kev.  

February 11

A sketch of a leave.  With bird poop on it.  Tee hee...

February 10

Happy Birthday to Me!  (Not because of the drawing, but because 2/10 actually is my birthday!)

This is one of my favorite drawings.  I did it at a Dr. Sketchy a few years ago.  I think it looked better before I colored it in with pastel pencils.  But I also like it because it shows that I can improve.  (You should see my first Dr. Sketchy sketches -- were they even people?!)

February 9

Working on faces in general, no one in particular.  I used color pencils on the top, watercolor pencils on the bottom.  I still have lots to learn.

February 8

Thumbnail of a picture from Ireland Kev's Mom sent me.  I ended up trying to paint it with pastels, but I haven't finished it yet, and it's not turning out quite like I want it to.  So, I want to play with the pastels more, learn to make more white water splashes so I can finish it...  My first thumbnail attempt, working on value, I think?...

February 7

Steam punk wench!  on a 5x7 piece of paper with oil pastels...  difficult to be so precise with oil pastels on that small of a piece of paper, but I still kinda like her.  

Maybe I'll get a blender and play with her a bit.  I'll repost if I end up doing that.

Got the idea because I'm hoping to get a steam punk outfit together for this year's Dicken's on the Strand...  (I sas looking at some similar skirts and corsets.)

February 6

He was going to be a bull-related super-hero, dishing out shit for people on a daily basis...  (sounds like an old boss-man)...  But nixed the idea because I couldn't think of a glorious enough name for him. 

February 5

My sunflower.  Love it!  I also bought some more oil pastels, different brands, so I could see how they handle differently.  Can't wait to try them out - should be here tomorrow!

My student's sunflower.  

We had a fun play day.  (In between all the testing, of course!)

February 4

Another one inspired by a youtube video...  

Didn't do much in this painting, but I learned that you can etch into the oil pastels to create different effects.  I had to run out and buy some stumps and torts straight away!  Haven't tried them yet, but I can't wait!

February 3

Testing day at school.  My kiddos get breaks, so during the breaks, I try to get them to do some movements to wake them up, get their brain juices moving.  But I also try to help them do something academically relaxing.  So, we painted!  Oil pastels.  I love how the colors mix so well!

We watched a youtube video of a lady painting a cactus flower.  This was my student's version.  She gave me permission to post it, sweet little booger that she is!  

It was fun.  And it relaxed us both.  :-)

February 2

The little house across the street from Izzo's.  It was so cold that morning that I had to wait in the car while Kevin waited for tacos.  It was also so wet that we couldn't sit at the benches.  

Glad Kevin parked facing the street!  A 5-minute wait turned into a sketch!

February 1

I know it's very yellow - I sketched it on yellow paper.  

I think I used my color pencils, maybe some watercolor pencils too?

January 31

My pastel sketch of Rodin's Morning.  Beautiful statue.  While I think my sketch looks good for a beginner, it does not do the statue justice.  But that goes without saying...

And here's another one...

I don't know which one was first, but I like the one on top better.
Although, I like the colors of the bottom one.

January 30

I like the color scheme of this sketch; it was a yellow/orange/brown set of cheapo pastels.  

It actually looks like a face too...  I think I was mimicking one of those learn-how-to-draw books.  I have since used this pastel set to try to draw a front-facing fact, but it ended up looking like a drag queen on Halloween.  I'll have to see if I can find that one and include it...

The paper got wet in the trunk of my car.  Apparently, the seal on my trunk sucks.  Lesson learned:  no more paper stuffs in my trunk!

January 29

One of my first pastel paintings.  May have actually been my first...  And you can tell what it is!!!  

I gotta keep practicing...  I can get better!

January 28

A sketch of the family, well, us kids anyway.  This was several years ago as well, and while the faces may not display a good likeness, I was definitely getting better with the overall sketch.  I was a kiddo that had a hard time even drawing stick figures, so I'd say this is a good beginner sketch!

My sis on the left, and my bro in the middle.  Of course, that's me on the right.  I was a cute teenager. :-)

January 27

Okay, I'm giving myself a break and allowing myself to post paintings / drawings that I've done in the past when I'm too busy to create something new.  I've been working a lot with tutoring, and I've had allergies out the wazooo...  So, a whole list of excuses, really...  

In the meantime, here's some eyes that I did some time ago.  I think they look okay, for someone that's learning.  Problem is, I stopped practicing, so I'm sure my eyes would be even worse now.  If only I'd stuck with it.  But, there's something I can practice quickly at school, during lunch.  I'll get back there again one day soon, and I'll keep practicing, and I'll get even better!  :-)

January 26

3 apples with watercolor pencils.  I might need to practice a bit more.  I think I need to leave more white space, perhaps drag colors into the white space, but certainly there's no need to color the entire apple!  ...

I'll give it another go soon.

(This was on watercolor paper, which didn't buckle as badly, and did let me continue playing with color.  But I need to allow it to dry with weight on it so it doesn't buckle as it dries...)

January 25

Orange with watercolor pencils on not-watercolor paper, so it's buckling quite a bit.

I'm going to try to do some more youtube videos to learn to paint.  I just don't play enough on my own to learn enough...

January 24

I'm not even going to try to explain what I was trying to do here.  You can easily guess it, so no need for me to embarrass myself...  Still, a sketch-a-day!...

January 23

A very crude marker sketch of a log-cabin baby blanket I'm currently knitting, but I decided to include it since the actual knitting is taking up so much time.  And after this one, I have 4 more baby blankets to knit -- at least!  My friends/family need to spread their baby-having out more!!!

Anyway, the baby blankets will be taking up my time, less time for drawing and sketching and painting.  That said, I may do some sketches of some designs that I may want to incorporate into my knitting...  I'm giving my spiritual side a little time and effort and energy lately, and I was thinking that I may want to try to incorporate some 'protective' symbols into my baby-blanket making!

We'll see what happens...

January 22

A sketch of Van Gogh's Digging Peasant Woman.  The parts that appear to be highlighted by her left arm are actually reflections from the flash, it's a very dark, shadowy spot on Van Gogh's drawing.  Van Gogh's drawing was in black and white, but I thought I'd try playing with a little color.  Playing is all about learning.

January 21

Stetch of Peter Paul Rubens's Portrait of Susanna Lunden which doesn't do the original justice.  There's another one I had previously done using pastels that Kevin really likes.  I'll have to add that for comparison one day.

Here it is!!!...