Sketching Features Practice

Yesterday did a few practice sketches in between cleaning and sorting this room. It is hard for me to paint or draw when everything is in chaos. I watched the excellent tutorials at drawingtutorialsonline.com. These are rough sketches as I try to embed in my brain the shapes of each feature. One of the most difficult for me to draw are both eyes, keeping them level with the iris the same size. Then there is the nose, looking at each plane, what turns under, which plane is catching the light, etc.

Chatter & Childhood Photo

I keep thinking I will paint this old photo. It is still on my "want to paint" list.

Early this morning I was watching a drama show about missing children. The show portrayed one child getting preferential attention because of race. It made me very sad to think that race plays a part when children are missing as to which case gets priority. Hopefully, it was just a show and not the true case in real life. Because of what I was feeling, I wrote the following - it may be idealistic but don't we need the hope of a better or more loving way of thinking about ourselves and others? I do feel a little bit awkward posting this as I don't often write or share so publicly my thoughts about race or life.

We all bleed red

we all cry
we all laugh
we work, we play
in different ways
we lose, we win
we all have different
backgrounds,
languages,
childhoods,
fears
freedoms
we all have beliefs
different perhaps
but still we believe
we have options,
make choices
some right, some wrong
we are different,
individualistic,
yet the same
we are the human race
we all bleed red

by Ann Buckner Krug 2009

Joyce Portrait

In Loving Memory of my sister

Joyce
5" x 7"
Oils on Panel

The reference photo I used had her in a suit but I changed it to a t-shirt as she was a very athletic person at one time. She loved sports of all kinds.

Chatter, Paint Brush Restoration & Photo Notans

These photos were taken by my niece from her trip to Ethiopia when they adopted their daughter, Bet. The photos were converted to black & white and then pushed the contrast to the most extreme, using Photoshop. What I like about doing this is that it shows the ratio of light and dark in the photos, which can be emphasized even more through simplifying shapes.

I'm getting ready to work on Joyce's portrait again but wanted to share this link to Art Studio Secrets which has a couple of tips about restoring paint bushes. Goop also will remove dried paint from brushes. After cleaning with Goop I swish in turps or mineral spirits to clean any Goop residue from the brush.

Do you ever make a "Wish" List? You would think that the list would note things such as clothing or major purchases. My Wish List is always art stuff, such as better lighting, or a new easel and/or pochade box, or a variety of new brushes, or perhaps some different brands of oil or watercolor paints that I haven't tried yet, or maybe a new video or book. I think most wish lists usually contains the things in which we are most interested or think about the most. I have yet to paint on linen and so linen panels are at the top of my wish list. Soon . . .

What is on your wish list?

Watercolor Practice- Nude Figure

4 1/4" x 8 1/4" watercolor study of a woman picking apples painted from my imagination. The most obvious miscalculation is the length of the calf/leg is too short or perhaps it is the thigh area that is too long?? In any case, this was fun picking colors, trying to round the form, and think about shapes and dimensions.

Joyce, Portrait Study, In Progress 2

I have worked on the study of Joyce, reshaping the face basically as can be seen with the comparison of the first photo compared to this morning's photo of the painting. Now I am waiting on the surface to thoroughly dry so it can be sanded and smoothed. The surface of the board is too textured for my liking,

Joyce, Portrait Study, In Progress

5" x 7" oil on Ampersand Gesso Board using Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Transparent Red Oxide, Ivory Black, and White. Photo taken under warm/cool fluorescent bulbs at night.

Still lots to do on this - modifying some of the reds, adding some lights to the lower right jaw/cheek with a bit of direction modification. The mouth/teeth still to be finished and need to scrap down the hair I think and do it again. Will look at that in the morning!

Skin Tones Study Day

Today was spent reading an excellent thread about skin tones at Wet Canvas in a workshop thread by Lacey-Lewis, and mixing paint. Lacey's work can be seen here.

I am having trouble composing this post as Blogger keeps underlining or carries a link where it isn't wanted. Strange things in cyberspace.

Notes and paint swatches were made on notecards as well as on a paper palette. I want to find a simple palette that will match my skin tones as they are very similar to those needed to paint Joyce's portrait. So far the red that closest matches my skin is a burnt sienna mixed with white; raw sienna mised with white, along with raw umber and white to value wanted mixed with a warm or cool primary depending on where the neutral is painted.


I will set up a mirror so I can look at my facial skin tones to see what colors are in the shadows, the hue of the halftones, and whether the light is warm or cool. Hopefully, I can then paint Joyce's features from a photo with the appropriate tones, values and shapes. One thing I need to remember is that a photo can flatten the darks, making it look solid rather than the warm/cool color shifts that would be in the shadows and reflected lights.

Smushing Paint & You Tube Video

Blocking in a painting of my sister on 5" x 7" Ampersand board. I call it smushing paint as shapes are changed and adjusted. Feels so good to have a paint brush in my hand even if the painting doesn't look promising. Will let this tack up before modifying more.

Here is a link to a You Tube video by pluskvam showing Dega, Renoir and Monet. Pretty cool to actually see them with a paint brush in hand. Note how that fill their brush, place a few strokes, sit back and look at the painting before continuing on.

NOTE: I deleted the video because it encroached on the sidebar. Hope you clink the link though as it is interesting to watch.

Taking a Break

Sadly, my sister passed away this morning and I will not be posting to the blog for a little while. Thank you all for your kindness and your thoughts.

Chatter

Twins
Watercolor
2003

The end of another week which has been exceptionally busy. My room/studio has been painted but everything is still topsy-turvy. We also painted another bedroom and in the midst of putting everything back in it. During all this painting and moving things arounds, my sister has been in the hospital since Tuesday and we are taking turns staying with her throughout the day and night. Hopefully, she will be coming home tomorrow or Monday. Needless to say, painting and sketching has taken a back seat this week. I'm hoping that everything will be more normal in a couple of days. In the meantime, thanks for taking time to read this blog and for sticking around.

Sunday Chatter

This photo was taken a couple of years ago at a family reunion. It is mostly siblings with children and grandchildren along with a a few cousins. The reason for the photo is we celebrated Mom's 91st birthday yesterday as well as other birthdays. So wonderful to share life with my large family.

Haven't done any drawing or painting other than starting a nose study which I won't post. It is so important when doing facial features to see and understand how the features sit in or on the face. I am having trouble setting the eyes in their sockets and the nose, though it looks simple, has been difficult for me to shape when drawing or painting.

My studio is topsy-turvy as I move out some furniture, getting ready to paint and rearrange. Because the room is so crowded it means doing one area and moving things back and forth. I know though, it will be well worth the effort. In the meantime, I want to clear an area so I can at least paint.

Sketch of Gayle

Yesterday was my middle sister's birthday and we will be celebrating it today. I decided this morning to do a sketch of her in graphite and give it to her this afternoon. Hope she thinks it looks like her.

Male Figure, Conte

Drew this sketch this morning using a reference photo from Wet Canvas Figure Forum workshop, using conte pencil. This drawing was not timed but think it was approximately 30-40 minutes, as I was trying to pay attention to proportions and shapes. I still didn't get his left leg to read properly.

Morning Sketch

A morning sketch a using water soluble graphite pencil from a reference photo I took of Mom while she was tacking a quilt.

Conte & Charcoal Figure Sketches

Reference photos used are from Wet Canvas Figure Forum Workshop. Both are 20 minute sketches using conte and charcoal pencils.

Figure Sketch, Charcoal

A limbering up 15 minute compressed charcoal sketch from a reference photo provided by P. Adair in the Wet Canvas Figure Forum workshop. Will be drawing this again taking more time with the measurements/proportions.

Lighthouse, Style Challenge

Northeast Lighthouse
6 1/2" x 9"
Watercolor

Members of Painting Friends were challenged to paint the same photo, then once the paintings were posted by a non-participating member, we were to put the artist with what we thought was their painting. Ha! It was much more difficult than we thought. I had five out of 12 correct.

15 Minute Sketches

Still practicing the figure based on information and photos from the Wet Canvas Figure Forum Workshop. I am so slow trying to get the general placement of the different elements of the body while still trying to hurry, since it is a timed sketch. I am always so conscious of the seconds/minutes ticking by. My pencil marks are still tentative and I tend to go over and over a line, sigh.

From The Tree, Watercolor

6" x 6" watercolor using Cerulean Blue, Indanthrone Blue, Lemon Yellow, New Gamboge, Quin. Burnt Orange, Sepia, Quin. Magenta. Painted from a reference photo taken a couple of years ago of apples from the tree in our back yard. The reference photo was used for the September Paint Along at Painting Friends online art group.

Ready to Paint, Step 1

Last night I sketched in the subject on an 1/8th sheet Fabriano watercolor paper. There is a project at Painting Friends (due today) for its members to paint the same subject (reference photo by Ron Reagan), send via e-mail the photo of their painting with their name on it to one designated member. The designated member will then replace the name on the photo with a number, posting the number on a master list next to the member's name. Once the photos are all numbered they will be posted at one time. Then the members will have a ball trying to pick the artist of each painting. The reason for this project is because everyone wonders if they have a distinctive style, so by eliminating the names we will see how distinctive our individual methods/style of painting are, by the number who guess the correct artist. Should be fun!