Another photo attempt

This one is from a friend's wedding this past summer. I was a bridesmaid but I took my camera along too. I wanted some pictures that could show how beautiful her flowers and her dress were.

Photographic attempts

Here are two attempts I recently made with my digicam. I think the angles are interesting. As to the value of one of my two cats as an art object, I think I had better let that one alone!

Of the two pics, I think the second is more successful. My composition is better, the contrast of the darkness behind the light fur draws the viewers' eyes into the image.

The result of gestures...

Gesture drawings are great practice for more serious drawings. Here are a couple of sketches that are direct results of plenty of gesture drawing and lots of drawing in general.























For drawing with pencil or graphite, I always have a wide range of art pencils available. The leads vary in hardness and the things you can do with art pencils as opposed to a regular HB pencil are pretty amazing. My favorites are the very soft graphite leads like EB or EE pencils. Graphite sticks also give a wider range of use than an HB pencil.

Another contour and some gestures...

I edited my pics and put one that was with contours into my gesture post. I like to draw random people around busy places, like the university I attended. The fact that they are oblivious to me and going about their business forces me to get them down on paper quickly. I find this helps my gestures portray movement or feeling more than if my models know I am drawing them and are posing for me.

Contour Drawings

The formal definition of a contour drawing is: The outline and other visible edges of a mass, figure or object. (from ARTLEX)

Contours for me are the essential shape of things. If you can draw the contour of an object and transform it to 2 dimensional form you can begin to see the shapes within the object. Contours are about line and not shading, and it is the thickness of line that gives the illusion of depth.

Here are some examples I have done.







The last two are from the same pile of orange peel. The very last is not a contour but I thought I would include it for interest sake. Many artists draw multiple variations of the same subject matter.

Another from the sketchbook.

This was a quick sketch I did using some beautiful conte pencils my Mother in law brought me back from her last trip home to the Czech Republic.
Conte is like chalk only harder. In Canada, if you can find coloured conte it is usually in stick form. These pencils are amazing and the things I can do with them certainly surpass pencil crayons.
The website for Creta color has them listed as "hard pastel pencils".
I've found Aquarell pencils and crayons in art supply stores but I've never found anything like these pencils.

Smudgers are a good investment if you work in charcoal, graphite, conte, chalk, or pastel.

I still like my fingers for smudging best, but a smudger can give a bit more control and precision than fingers can.

A few from my sketchbook.

The chip pile up at the mill camp I worked at last year.











Egyptian art has always fascinated me. The artistic conventions of how people and gods could be depicted were very strict. This is Anubis and Bast. Anubis weighs the hearts of the dead and feeds those he finds lacking to a monster. Bast protects women and children.

Self portrait in a mirror. My self portraits always have a sibling resemblance to me. My concentration is evident in my expression too!


I love birds and these were just some random sketchings from memory.


Another random sketching from memory.

Charcoal

Fot this drawing I covered the entire sheet of paper with charcoal and began to draw into it with a kneadable eraser (probably a gum eraser too).
This type of method is a great way for people who are afraid of drawing to start. It is very forgiving because you can always add more charcoal. I like working with charcoal and in this way because of the fluidity of the medium. The image evolves freely as I work it. For this I was working from a model doing ten to twenty minute poses. That is why there are three of her.

I find limiting the time I can spend on a piece helps make my drawings stronger. I am better able to get the essence of my subject down and I am less likely to overwork the piece if I put time limits on myself.

Paintings

This one is acrylic and mixed media. I used photo transfers form photocopies of pics of Ezra Pound and an image by Brian Froud. Strangely enough the girl looks like me. The painting was a process of coming to terms with loving Pound's poetry but hating his rabid anti-Semitism.

It is hard to see but I also quoted from his poem Hugh Selwyn Mauberley on it.

Pound incidently spent almost 20 years in a mental institution as punishment for his anti- American sentiments and collaboration with the Italians in WW2. Most of the photos were taken after he was released from the institution. Unfortunately, and to my embarassment I can not remember the photographer's name.



I am relatively happy with this painting. There are always a few things I would fix but that is partly what it is all about too!

Sculpture by Chirtie

This is one of my favorites of the work I have done. I can't remember how many 3 hour sessions we did with the model. Def more than 2. I think she weighs about 80 pounds now she is fired. She is clay and this was pre firing.