Friday, October 10, 2008
at
7:40 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
We just got back from spending a few days at the beach with friends. The crisp October days were wonderful for walking the shoreline or napping on warm sand. The guys took their fishing poles and we had fun cheering them on when they caught something. This year Joe beat Rudy 3 to 1. But Rudy's one was a large lepard shark so I think it out wins Joe's 3 little sand sharks.
I enjoyed sketching Joe as he set up his pole, the distant coastline where the Western White House (Nixon's) sits, and exploring the colors of the seaweed washed onshore. I haven't forgotten my Guatemala sketches though and will soon find time to get color into those. But tomorrow I leave again for the weekend to Long Beach as I am running a 5k there on Sunday. Wish me luck!
Posted In
figure drawing,
fountain pen,
travel,
watercolor
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Friday, August 29, 2008
at
1:06 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
I 'scribbled' this while my husband and I were coming home from Long Beach. I went in today to pick up my new glasses which I had been waiting for, for over a month! And they didn't do the trick; even worse vision. So I left a bit disheartened. While we were in the fast track lanes of the freeway the other cars were all bumper to bumper....so this is a scribble of the empty fast track lane and on the other side of the yellow barriers all the red tail lights! Scribble is an application on my iphone.
Posted In
figure drawing,
fountain pen,
iphone art,
moleskeine,
watercolor
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Friday, August 22, 2008
at
9:27 AM
| Posted by
mARTa
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing,
marker,
mixed media,
pastel
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Wednesday, July 23, 2008
at
8:28 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Posted In
figure drawing,
fountain pen,
watercolor
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
at
8:32 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
These are the last of my drawings from the past month from my figure class. I am planning on going in to take the final tomorrow before going to the graveside for my cousins services. I pick up my final project and portfolio. I'm going to miss the class and all the great people I was fortunate to sketch side by side with.
click on photo to go to Figure Drawing Class Set on Flicker
Posted In
figure drawing,
ink
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Sunday, May 25, 2008
at
9:44 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Posted In
charcoal,
conte,
figure drawing,
fountain pen,
ink,
watercolor
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Friday, May 23, 2008
at
2:51 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Posted In
figure drawing,
ink,
wash
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
at
8:42 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Posted In
figure drawing,
fountain pen
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008
at
6:29 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Master Study no. 5 complete. And....I'm not this big either but in a baggie T-shirt and capris while lounging at home.....I look big! LOL
Posted In
figure drawing,
walnut ink,
wash
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
at
6:24 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
The next big ticket item in my basket is school. I sometimes feel like I took on too much here. Attending a college class involves homework, research papers and projects!!! I am learning so much even if I do feel overwhelmed. I have one week to complete 3 master studies, a group research project on German Expressionism....go ahead, ask me anything about it, I have it all up here (pointing to head), and a paper on an artist of my choice: Kathe Kollwitz. Learning is fun and I know once all is complete I will be very proud of my accomplishments.
This week in figure class we are doing portraits. I so loved this! I am happy with the three portraits done this week. The young lady liked it so much she asked if I would sell her the portrait I did of her. It pleased me that she liked it and wanted it. It was so much fun to do them all from life!
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing,
portrait
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
at
4:30 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
I have had a difficult time this past week, so art has taken a back seat; at least as much as I have allowed it to. But my art brings me comfort so my creative spirit survives. We had the large model back today and I finally have a conte on toned paper that I am pleased with. Admist angste about this type of drawing, the model and other things going on; I approached it as a landscape, with all her hills, valleys and mountains...and I think it worked. I still don't care for working in this way, but I am beginning to understand it.
On Monday she gave us an excellent portrait demo. Then we were to try it ourselves. I had a good start here although she said I was rushing in too quickly with features and needed to add more 'structure' before moving onto features. I don't think I'll finish it, but think I have a better understanding of how to approach portraits.
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing
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Friday, April 11, 2008
at
6:49 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Another week has come and gone. This week we had a very large model. Contrary to what you'd think would be the perfect opportunity to draw voluptuous forms, I found it hard to do. There was just so much mass that it was difficult to try and locate key structures such as hip bones. We actually had two models last Monday. The second was a young black girl with lovely forms. Our instructor also gave us a portrait drawing demo which was very good. We worked on portraits several times this week. We really had a challenging week in figure drawing class! You can click on the above photo to see the rest of the weeks drawings.
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing
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Thursday, April 3, 2008
at
6:32 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Isn't it pretty? This footsie along with it's partner have logged 74 miles in the past few weeks. And they still look pretty!!!
Posted In
figure drawing,
graphite
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008
at
7:15 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
black conte on newsprint, 18x24 inches. Click on image to see entire set.
For two weeks now we have been working on massing in the form. Aside from all we have learned so far, she continues to push us to really see the body, it's form and the tonal values. We are working with white conte on toned paper to help us see the forms or doing erasure drawings. I really struggle with these! We are being pushed a little harder to get the spirit line right at the beginning and to get our proportions right. She stops us often to look and see if we have it right....."don't go drawing nipples if you haven't gotten the body all drawn in" or "folks, you are drawing the whole body, I don't want to see headless bodies or those missing hands and feet!" Okay, I love this class!
I got my portfolio back today. I earned brownie points for having the neatest most professional looking one. (We had to make them. I guess bookbinding skills came in handy). We got 10 grades today: 2 for the master studies and 8 for the required drawings. She scores: 4/A, 3/B, 2/C, 1/D, 0/F. Mine averaged to 3.4 (B). I had one she gave me a C on but I got 4's on both my master studies.
I have a long work weekend coming up so won't have much drawing time. And I must make time to come visit all of you and see what you are all doing. Thank you for being so supportive and the encouragement is a big boost for my ego as well!
"oh, if only this kind of drawing made sense to me"
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008
at
4:54 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
I had said I wasn't going to post all my class drawings every week. But this week was an especially frustrating and insightful. Apart from getting a start to the master study assignment, there were new concepts to learn and employ.
On Monday she had us begin looking at the figures basic geometric shape and even though we aren't drawing it every time, we should be seeing those shapes when we approach a figure drawing. If you look closely at the long pose of the seated girl you can see the fine box shape around the head.
Today after our warm up gesture sketches we did 3 erasure drawings. I didn't like this exercise at all! You cover the paper with conte, smear it with a chamois and then with a kneaded erasure you begin to lift out the lights to bring the figure out of the paper. Some students really liked this, I wanted desperately to pick up my conte!
*I had a very insightful dream last night. I was in the studio at school all by myself. I had just finished a drawing on a grey sheet of paper and was unhappy with it. While pondering what was wrong with it I heard a male voice tell me to "pick up the head."
"What?" I said
"Pick up the head"
I looked around to see a pleasant young man dressed in robes talking to me. I knew instantly it was Michelangelo.
I asked again, " Pick up the head?" I wasn't sure what he meant so I reached for the drawing. As soon as I touched it the head of the drawn figure was in my hands in 3 dimensional form. I gaped in astonishment!
He handed me a wooden dowel and told me to drive it through the top of the head; and told me that should help solve some of my problems.
Speechless........I woke up.
If you notice on some of the gestures from today.....I have a fine line (dowel) drawn through the top of the head. It did help!
Mile Grazie Michelangelo!!!!!! Baci!!!
ps: the crease in the drawings is from a stack of books that fell on the roll of drawings. Dammmmm. I might have to iron them out because I have to turn in some of these drawings.
Posted In
conte,
erasure,
figure drawing
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008
at
3:38 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
First of eight is complete. This was hard work! I had to pick a figure drawing done by one of the masters. I choose Michelangelo. Then after obtaining a good photocopy I was to trace the drawing's tonal values. Next I had to copy the drawing using the materials the artist used and take observational notes about what I was obseving and learning by doing this. Lastly I was to do my own drawing using what I learned from the master and in the media used by the master artist. M poor Rudy agreed to posing nude for me but I told him I wanted to do some sketching first. So, he could keep his underpants on while i sketched. But I liked this seated pose so well (at least in conte) that I decided to use it for my study. Whee...he narrowly escaped this time!
Now, off to get ready for the theater! Rudy and I are going into Los Angeles to see Sweeny Todd at the Ahmenson.
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing,
ink,
other artist
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
at
4:43 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Oh that key lime pie was good yesterday! Glad you all savored it along with me. I went out for a 4 mile run this morning to work off those calories. Much better to have virtually enjoyed it!
Another week of figure class come and gone. I feel like I am learning so much but applying so little! This week began with doing contour drawings after our gesture warm ups. I won't be posting too many gestures as you all have the idea. If you click on the drawing above it will take you to the set of drawings from figure class. I added 8 new ones from this week.
The contour was fun but difficult to do. She didn't want us outlining but rather to use a calligraphic line to move through the figure from one place to another. The first exercises were total blind contour but then we progressed to peeks at the paper but mostly keeping our eyes on the model. My final sketch that day I felt like I didn't do what she was asking so I didn't even put it up for a critique.
Today we continue with the idea of contour drawing and including using the basics from the previous weeks: spirit line, stick figure, filling in volume with the wire form or smoke ribbons. I had a hard time today and got so frustrated at myself. She stepped in and began a drawing for me and then it clicked what she was teaching. I did much better with my drawing after that. The above is what I did after her private mini lesson with me.
Work the next two days and then I really have to get going on my master studies, two which are due on the 26th.
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing
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Wednesday, March 5, 2008
at
5:17 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
Lots happening in figure class this week. We continue to do gesture sketches with emphasis on beginning the figure with the 'spirit line' which is usually the midline. After getting our stick figure in with all the proportions correct we are to move on and 'bulk up' the figure. We do this by filling in volume using the imaginary wire around the forms, the smoke or ribbon effect or beginning to explore with contour line.
She also stressed the importance to get into the studio, set up your easel and have your tools ready to work. She wants to see us using our grids, viewfinders and pencils to measure distances and proportions and decide on composition. *Note to self: Get to class a few minutes earlier and be ready next time!
Lastly this weeks discussions and lectures were anatomy on Monday which covered going over a skeleton model and it's bones. I shouldn't have a problem with this since I know the bones like the back of my hand. She also showed us what she expects from out master studies she assigned. Basically we are to get a good photocopy of a master drawing (nude) then lay a sheet of tracing paper over it and block out three to five values in pencil and shade them in. Next we are to freehand draw the copy which we may use a grid system to ensure accuracy. We have to use the materials the artist used in our sketch as well. Lastly we are to draw an original drawing encompassing what we learned from that particular study. Whew!!!!! I think my firsto of the eight assigned is going to be a Michelangelo which I hope to start soon.
*I'm feeling under the weather, sore throat and achy all over. I made a doctor appointment for tomorrow because I fear this is going to get worse and I might need a doctor's note for work. I won't be able to take care of sick kiddos if I'm sick! Gonna drink lots of hot tea with honey and lemon and maybe something a bit stronger!
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing
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Monday, March 3, 2008
at
8:29 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
The figure class is in full swing this week with lectures, studio time, critiques and assignments for the semester. I realized today that my artistic focus is going to have to be committed 100% to this new direction. I am missing my watercolors but am willing to sacrifice for now to learn the most that I can from this class. I feel very fortunate to be in this class with this particular instructor that I highly admire. I'll post some of this week's work on Thursday with some notes on what I am learning. This sketch is done in my sketchbook/journal that I have begun for this class. I copied it from one of my new books: Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Peck. It's done in pencil: 2b to 6b.
Posted In
figure drawing,
pencil
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
at
7:38 PM
| Posted by
mARTa
A quick sketch done before class. It was a beautiful day with the sun shinning and I cheated and wore capris and a light cotton blouse......even though it really is winter still.
I'm not going to post all my sketches from class today but they are all on
Flickr now as a set. Today she had us doing gestures. I really had to step away from what I think I know and try to approach this class as if I know nothing.
First a series of gestures but beginning with what she called the 'spirit line'...that one gesture that tells us which way the body is moving or going. Next we were to just try and make relationships between the anatomical center of the body, the shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip points. From there she gave us two 20 minutes poses in which we were to begin with our stick figure gesture (the first mark being the spirit line) and build form pretending we were using wire to wrap around the body shapes. Our last pose was 30 minutes and we were to make a 'smoke man' using the side of our conte crayon to make swirls and ribbons around the forms. I didn't do so well on this one and used linear marks which she didn't want. But I was happy none the less. These exercises were difficult!
click on above figure to see the rest of todays exercises. All are done on 18x24 inch newsprint.
Posted In
conte,
figure drawing,
fountain pen,
moleskeine,
watercolor
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