Sketchbook: Westhampton Beach

I'm so lucky to have friends at the beach. Here's the delightful view from their deck.

I'm playing with the idea of painting on location -- simple and quick -- just a quick pen sketch plus a watercolor wash, inspired by my friend artist Melanie Reim.

Life Drawing - Sophia

Today, we drew a lovely model named Sophia. Here's what worked, and what didn't ...

After the warm up, a nice view of her torso:

This one drawing came closest to what Bruce Waldman, our drawing instructor, has been saying: Make one area stand out, to direct the eye. 

Next, I tried crosshatching instead of shading with the side of the charcoal (below, top).  While I love when other artists do this, for now, using the side just suits me better (below, bottom).

Next, a foreshortened pose. Those always give me trouble!

For the final pose, I added a few flesh tones plus black and white. The drawing is OK (other than the awful hand!) ...

... which brings me back to Bruce's key point: For a more interesting drawing, find a focal point, and use contrast and line to make that one thing more important -- because when everything is equally important, nothing is.

I will try to remember to do that, going forward:)

Patti Mollica Workshop: Color Theory

I had the good fortune to take a painting workshop with Patti Mollica. I have two of her books, and jumped at the chance to take her workshop. Patti is a wonderful artist and teacher, and I highly recommend her classes/workshops!

The goal was to learn to make better color decisions. It was truly eye-opening to learn how to use the color wheel. We painted the same coffee cup using different color schemes (monochromatic, analogous, complementary, etc. ), learning why some color choices work and others don't.

I didn't get to all of the color schemes she talked about, but this is an easy thing to practice independently.

Life Drawing: Pastel

I didn't love any of my drawings last Tuesday, but I always learn something in the process. My favorite was when I choose one accent color, as above.

Here are some others:

Life Drawing: Raven IV

Today I used extra large sheets of craft paper. I love working large!

As usual, started with short (1 minute) gestures. My favorite is the bottom left:

In this quick pose, I got the gesture, if not the proportions:

Here's a longer standing pose (plus close up, for detail):

This twisted pose was tough. Wish I had composed it differently ... lost the arm and the head:(

The last pose was very foreshortened ...  a challenge!

Raven is a wonderful model. A dancer, she possesses such grace -- truly a pleasure to draw.