filling the journal

Moving through this lined journal, anyway I can. The man is from a youtube video. He stayed so still, talking about how he knew how to draw, that I could totally finish him!

I paste in other drawings to help fill the pages when the lines are irritating.

Pencil.

portrait

Faces are best practiced from photographs if I want to get detail or more realistic shading.

This is a first attempt at a portrait on good w/c paper. I can see the resemblance to my friend, so there's some measure of success. She might not agree.

W/c on Arches 140#.

wandering the museum

I went to draw sculptures at the Currier Art Museum. I found this unusual swooping, turning marble piece and started drawing.

As I was drawing, the piece began to seem familiar, so stopped to find the artist's name. David Chamberlain. In the mid 90s I took a semester-long poetry writing class from him that was fun, innovative, and so productive.

He had so many non-writer creative ideas for poetry, bring into the class all sorts of craziness and creativity to stimulate writing. One of those memorable, inspirational teachers like no other.

Pencil on Canson drawing paper.

the bear again

I love the ease of pencil, hate the smeariness without fixative. Hate the fixative.

4B on Strathmore drawing paper.

knifed rabbit

I'm trying to paint with a palette knife. Clumsy and awkward, but I like the ease of cleaning.

I did some pieces in oil paint. Those won't be dry enough to scan for months. So here's a bunny in watercolor.

Somewhat sinister with printlike qualities. I dotted in his muzzle with a brush.

W/c on 140# paper.

Monet did haystacks

I do a cat in a wicker chair. In all angles, in all media.

Is it a series, or just laziness? (by me, not Monet)

W/c crayon on 140# paper.

big bunny

My model here is a 3.5-inch-tall Goebbel rabbit figurine, for this 10x11 piece.

I'm practicing drawing things in a size other than their real one. Huge figurines now, tiny buildings to come.

I don't like newsprint, but for first practice items, it works ok. With a 3B pencil.

catching people

Practicing fast sketching of people means I sometimes have to work from a a 2D model.

I'm practicing bigger fast drawings. This is a sketch of a sketch in Hogarth's book, Dynamic Anatomy.

Charcoal pencil on 9x12 Canson drawing paper.

slow thaw

Drawn Sunday. The ice is slowly retreating from the river. The ducks were huddled on the edge, daring each other to dive in that cold, cold water.

And yes, that is a huge lopped-off tree on the left bank. I suspect the top broke off long ago in a storm.

6B pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

where all the wood goes

Sketching the woodstove and environs on Bristol paper.

I added color, which is not accurate. The backplate is black iron, but I liked the greenish better with the red brick.

The fan is thermally run--heat from the stove makes the blades turn and move the hot air into the room. It's *totally* silent.

One of my favorite possessions.

painting with inks

I went through my box of inks, tossed dry and lumpy ones.

I like the color intensity but the threat of permanent splotches and stains on me and the furniture keeps me from using them much. Poor reason!

On 140# Arches.

looking for his valentine

I set the bear on a high shelf and did a quick sketch, looking up at him looking up.

He and I have bonded!

Tech pen on Strathmore 90# paper.

alternative bear

I'm curious about learning to paint with a palette knife. I took 3 w/c hues I don't care for, terre verte light, magnesium brown, and titanium yellow, spreading them on paper.

It turned out better than I expected, though I see why people use oils or acrylics instead of w/c. I misted the work occasionally and worked fast!

sloppy bear

Fast, beyond-loose painting of the bear, just to practice flow and strokes.

W/c on 90# Strathmore, which I don't prefer. I'm painting enough to learn what I like in paper--progress!

wood flows

This bin beside the woodstove is in a constant state of filling and emptying. The tin tub is for kindling, burnable boxes and odds and ends.

The drawing is bigger than what would fit on the scanner screen. But this cropping works.

8B and 2B Pencil, with smudging, on Strathmore drawing paper.

tuba practice

On a shelf in an art classroom, I saw this battered tuba. Perfect found object for sketching.

6B pencil in the Hand Book Artist journal.

very mixed media

I had some gesso left in a brush, so cleaned the brush on a piece of Bristol paper.

Later I randomly sketched 5 pears, daubed w/c on for textured background, then filled in spaces with colored pencil.

I would never have expected it to turn out postable, because the paint was so easily lifted. Sometimes art-accidents work better than planned pieces.

always the hand

Yes, the little finger on my left hand is that crooked, after a break several years ago.

Accuracy in drawing, for once!

Pencil in the Hand Book journal; sorry for the light-struck scan.

another series

A cat in this particular chair is one of my repeating motifs. I'm getting better and faster at the proportions.

Tech pen and w/c in the Hand Book Artist journal.

more Arisia people

Unique and interesting geeks go to Arisia. I'm a geek-observer.

Arisia guys

In January my husband and I went to Arisia, a science fiction/fantasy convention in Boston.

I loved drawing the people on panels, trying to finish a sketch as they moved and talked. Not many are worth posting, but these get by.

Tech pen in the Hand Book Artist journal