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...