More drawing

Wow, it's been almost a month since I posted! Time has flown. There were some major issues with Focus Art, my oldest son graduated from college, a graduation party was planned and done, I've got the cold back again that I went on antibiotics to get rid of and am once more coughing a lot, (I can't even begin to tell you how tired I am of cough, cough, coughing all the time), the bp spiked up with a major dose of stress but I've managed to get it back down again, and a few more things that have knocked me down for a while. But, I'm back up again!

The drawing class is almost over. That's so sad. I really love it. You know when you hear something that makes a huge impact on you? Well, in last week's class that happened to me. I have always had this niggling little fear that if something happened to my right hand and I couldn't draw or paint anymore, WHAT would I do? (If there is anyone who can stress out over little inconsequential thoughts like this, it is me! That's why I have high blood pressure!!) Well, after doing a LOT of drawing with the non-dominant hand (in my case it's my left hand), Sandra (the teacher and a friend) said in class "now you know that you are not dependant on one hand for your artistic talent". Wow! This is so true! And in my warped case, so freeing...... One of the many left handed drawing exercises in class was to draw the face of the person across from you - drawing the right side of the face on paper with your right hand and the left hand side of the face on paper with your left hand. Honestly, when you were done, you couldn't tell the difference!

The drawing above (way above) is a dead tulip that sits in an empty wine glass beside an empty wine bottle on my painting table. The tulip was alive a few years ago but as it slowly died, I would look at it and think how much more interesting it looked than when it was alive. (I'm not usually that morbid, by the way.) As it became more and more dried out, I'd start thinking, each time I looked at it, "death becomes you". It's still there, still not falling apart either. I'll keep it as long as it doesn't flake out on me. And still, each time I look at it, "death becomes you".

The painting below was done from a still life set up. It was an assignment from class that had to show light and shadow. I find that after doing a lot of drawing with the left hand, when I pick up a pencil in the right hand, it just flies and feels so natural. This pic doesn't really show the life that is in the actual drawing. Those pears really do look a lot better than they show here!

Below is my Zen Garden. Some squares have sand, some have rocks, some have candles and some are empty.

Thanks Nick!

I thought I'd post an interesting comment from Nick about the waterlily .

"Lots of misconceptions and misinformation out there about fluid acrylic paint. Used transparently, it looks and behaves just like watercolor, except that it's permanent - which, depending on your technique and what you're painting, can help you or make things more difficult (it has to go down right the first time). Good luck on your picture, it's looking great!"

Thanks for the comments, Nick. I was ready to toss the paints (or sell them on ebay!). The part about "it has to go down right the first time" is the one that really has me thinking that I'll try it again. (But first, a regular watercolour of it that I've got drawn out, just read to pour.) It's the having to go down right the first time that caused the problems in the last one. I guess I'm so used to being able to correct, re-glaze, lift off, etc, that the 'go down right the first time' part just didn't happen. Next time, if it doesn't go down right the first time, I'll scrap it right away because, in retrospect, it was the constant adding to "the first time" that got me into the problems I was having.

There was one spot that I had sprayed off, as shown in Nick's dvd , Innovative Water Media with Nicholas Simmons, and I loved it - it looked just like the splash a frog would make after he jumped in the water. I mistakenly thought I'd tone it down a bit, glazed over it and lost it. That was another learning mistake.

The permanent part made it difficult for me but I swear, next time, the permanent part is going to make it easier. If it kills me, I'm going to get this technique down.

Okay, enough about the waterlily. Hopefully, I'll post some shots of it this weekend when I have more time to paint. The past two nights have been busy. Tuesday night was class night, which is fun and interesting and busy. Last night, Wednesday, was an executive meeting for the local art group, of which I'm now secretary. You know you're getting old when two late-ish nights in a row almost do you in.

Updates and Drawing Class

It's been a while since I've posted but .... here I am.

The Calendar Show is over and the two-week extension show we stayed on for is over, too. It was fun, it was great exposure but I'm glad it's over. Working a full time job, then putting in hours at the show on my day off on the weekend, and usually a night during the week gets to be a lot. But it was all a great success! We were at the mall for a total of three weeks.

My sunflower (which is the one I use as my avatar now) will be on the calendar! Over 2,200 people voted for the calendar paintings. Twelve were chosen - the twelve with the highest number of votes. Calendars will be available in the fall. All twelve of us were given a certificate and had to show our painting at the last meeting. That was traumatic, standing in front of the group. For me, anyways.

I've also started a Drawing Class. Sandra Taylor is the instructor and by the end of the session, if we all do our homework, we're going to be good drawers! She's making us work! And that's a great thing - to get a teacher like Sandra that pushes you.

In lieu of any painting progress shots, I'll attach some of the drawing exercises we did. Last class, we drew for the entire three hours with our non-dominant hand, which was in my case, my left hand. This is to get the creative part of the brain to kick in. So, all the eyes you see below are done with the left hand. The books / pencil were also done left handed, as well as the plain bottle. The fireplace mantle and the Bacardi cooler were done right handed.

Our homework was to draw every day for at least 1/2 hour, using the left hand for a lot of it. Also, find magazine pics of eyes, cut them out, paste them into our sketchbook / drawing journal and draw each with the left hand.

I'm finding that drawing with the right hand sure is easier after you've been labouring away with the left hand for a long while! Your right hand just seems to fly over the paper. I love to draw but when it's using the left hand, it's hard work.

I'm in the process of drawing out the waterlily on a sheet of hotpressed paper and plan on doing it the same way as the sunflower. Poured to begin with.

Anyways, here's the shots. (Bottom two are right handed, the rest are left handed.) Tomorrow night (Tuesday) is the second class.

Slumped Fluid Acrylic Shoulders

After a lot of thought, I've decided to set the waterlily aside for a while. I have this very annoying habit that is hard to break and that is ... I won't start a new painting until I've finished the current one. (Or I'd never finish any of them. I think that's the convuluted reason that developed this habit.) So, each time I feel like painting, I come in here, look at the waterlily, slump my shoulders and walk out again. Without painting. I've lost all inspiration for it, I think. So, I'm going to just set it aside. Not be done with it and quit. Just set it aside with plans on coming back to it.

In the meantime, I am going to start the same painting on watercolour paper and work in watercolour. I need to get back to watercolour so I can play in it knowing what to expect.

But, I'm not finished with the fluid acrylic one yet, Deb Ward!! Just taking a short hiatus.

Stay tuned .......


If you'd like to hear about the fantastic Calendar Show we're having at Focus Art, go here. Talk about great exposure! +450 people the first day! It's up for a week.

FYI

I am writing about this here because it's a blog problem I've been having for a few weeks now and there is absolutely no where on google/blogger that expains this problem.

I was using Internet Explorer 6. I upgraded to IE8 and did not like it so I removed it and went back to the 6. From that time on, I could not get any of the link buttons in my blog navigator link bar to work! It was very annoying to say the least. To log into my blog to post or comment, I had to go to my address bar and type in www.blogger.com. That was the only way to be able to access my blogs and it was time consuming.

Well, I finally found something online that explained it might be a problem with IE6. So, muttering under my breath about being forced to go to the higher IE's, I compromised and downloaded IE7. Voila!!! They all work now!

I didn't want IE8 back again because it slowed down a few things, but 7 seems okay.

Just thought I'd mention that in case anyone else is having the same aggravating problem.

more on the waterlily...

Here's the latest on the waterlily. I've been adding some detail to leaves and have been doing a lot of toning down on those yellows. I found I didn't like the yellow leaves at all. I've also worked on the water. I took out some green which I shouldn't have so I might paint some more back in. I also started some shadows around the flower. When (if) I mat this, I'm going to crop out that dark lilypad in the lower left side. I really don't like it - it's too muddy. I'm getting really tired of this one and want to start a watercolour one of the same design. I like painting with paint I know. These fluid acrylics are nice but they dry so fast, my fingers are permanently stained with anthraquinone blue from splattering with a toothbrush, and they are such a mess to clean up off the palette. LOL. All that said and done, I do like some of the effects but I'm longing to get back to some watercolours. And I know that if I set this aside to do watercolour, I won't be going back to it. Decisions, decisions.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday!

Focus Art

Since March 5, I've been taking care of the Focus Art blog site. Drop by if you have a chance and see what's going on in the local art scene as well as our art group. http://focusartcornwall.blogspot.com/

I'm debating on whether to do more on the fluid acrylic waterlilies or move on the a traditional watercolour one. I'll post later on tonight the latest on the fluid one. Need to get back to work right now. (The day job work, that is!)

It's a gorgeous day here today, almost like summer. Way too nice to have to work.