Drawing Lab Unit 3 - Finished!

Technically, I'm finished with Drawing Lab's Unit 3. I've completed all the "Must Do" labs but want to do at least one of the two optionals. This whole unit is about being inspired by famous artists. I have loved, LoVeD, LOVED these labs! Makes me want to know more about other artists, their stories, and their processes.

You can see the first three labs I completed here. And here's the last two:

Lab 17: Tracing Leonardo

Lab 22: Modigliani Portraits (Go here to see Modigliani's work)

I think this last lab is my favorite. I drew both quickly last night and then used watercolor to paint them (*early*) this morning. Inspired by another participant in the A.R.T. group, I used my new charcoal pencils to give some depth. I'm super pleased with them. The assignment was to do portraits of your parents, but since I had just sketched them both last week (and made my mom mad in the process!) I decided to do The Boy and The Girl with the idea that I could maybe use them somehow for the couples shower invitations I need to get out soon. And I think I will! I can just see these side-by-side on a postcard invitation, can't you? If The Girl likes the idea, I think I'll use them.

So, Unit three is officially finished, but I think I'll at least do the lab on Dr. Seuss. Who can resist that?

Have a lovely day, bloggy friends!

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Is It Really Wednesday?

Wow! It's really already Wednesday? Boy. This week has been zooming by! And we're leaving tomorrow to go to DC for college preview day with E. Everyone is going except The Boy. And the dogs. :-)

Speaking of dogs, here's a picture for you of The Boy's "puppy" who is living with us until the Big Wedding. (Monday was M's bday. None of her pictures turned out very well, but Dingo's did! Ha!)

And I'm still plugging away at the Drawing Lab book with the Artists of the Round Table online group. I'm learning so, so, so much. They are already talking about the next book that will be work shopped. Journal Spilling and Collage Lab have both been mentioned. I'm pulling for Journal Spilling!

I've finished three of the five required labs from Unit 3 and plan to do one optional. All due by Saturday! Don't think I'll be making that deadline! But, here's the three I've done so far:

Lab 18: One Liners

Lab 19: Picasso Dogs (really had fun doing this one!)

Lab 20: Miro Abstract (mine is inspired from this painting)

Blessings to you all, bloggy friends!

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Seven on Sunday

Happy Sabbath, everyone!

1. Yesterday I had two dogs, one thirty-pound puppy, a friend's toddler, and one pre-teen girl in my house. I still managed to do five loads of laundry, make a trip to the dreaded Wally-World, and slip out for a quick "live" drawing session and coffee at Panera. I think that deserves some applause. Thank you. Thank you very much. :-)

2. For you doodlers out there.... Did you already know about this site and just hadn't told me?

3. Check out the blog of the author of Drawing Lab, Carla Sonheim. Cool.

4. Thinking more about the quote I used from Lewis' book The Problem with Pain in my weekWORD post Friday.... The next paragraph says:

"Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. We 'have all we want' is a terrible saying when 'all' does not include God. We find God an interruption. As St. Augustine says somewhere, 'God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full - there's nowhere for Him to put it.' ....

Now God, who has made us, knows what we are and that our happiness lies in Him. Yet we will not seek it in Him as long as He leaves us any other resort where it can even plausibly be looked for. While what we call 'our own life' remains agreeable we will not surrender it to Him. What then can God do in our interests but make 'our own life' less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible source of false happiness? It is just here, where God's providence seems at first to be most cruel, that the Divine humility, the stooping down of the Highest, most deserves praise. We are perplexed to see misfortune falling upon decent, inoffensive, worthy people - on capable, hard-working mothers of families or diligent, thrifty little tradespeople, on those who have worked so hard, and so honestly, for their modest stock of happiness and now seem to be entering on the enjoyment of it with the fullest right. How can I say with sufficient tenderness what here needs to be said? ..........

Let me implore the reader to try to believe, if only for the moment, that God, who made these deserving people, may really be right when He thinks that their modest prosperity and the happiness of their children are not enough to make them blessed: that all this must fall from them in the end, and that if they have not learned to know Him they will be wretched. And therefore He troubles them...........

The life to themselves and their families stands between them and the recognition of their need; He makes that life less sweet to them. I call this a Divine humility..."

5. M and I might be taking a cake decorating class at Michael's in the next week or so. She wants to learn how to work with fondant. Obviously, she's been watching waaay too many episodes of Cake Boss. :-)

6. This is M's last week of summer! Hard to believe it's time to go school supply shopping. Gulp! SIXTH grade. How did this happen?

7. And for number seven? I'm beat, bloggy friends. Going to curl up in bed with a good book and probably only make it a few pages before conking out! Here's to a new week!

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Drawing Lab Unit 2 FINISHED!

Hooray! I finished the second unit assignments for Drawing Lab. I'm working through it with an online group called Artists of the Round Table. Pretty cool group... lots of encouragement and activity. Drop by and see what's going on there.

So, I had already posted Lab 9 (Blind Contours) and Lab 11 (Cheater Blinds). Here are the final three labs to finish out Unit 2:

Lab 16: 100 Faces Project - Make 100 different faces over weeks or months. (For this unit, I had a to complete a minimum of three, I think. Goody, ANOTHER project!)

I like doing these. It would be cool if I could get all the way to 100! I've completed five so far:

Then there was Lab 13: Eyedropper Faces - Draw a series of faces freom a photo reference using only an eyedropper and toilet paper.

I had a hard time finding acrylic black ink and then I had to buy a regular eye dropper from the drug store. But I liked the results! Here's my favorite two:

And finally.... the dreaded Lab 10: Coffee Shop - practice direct-response drawings while drawing live at a public place, such as a train station or a coffee shop.

Gasp.

I.did.not.want.to.do.this.one.

But.I.did. (!)

I went to Panera, felt claustrophobic it was soooo crowded. I was paranoid the people I was looking at to sketch would see me and either get mad or ask if they could see what I was drawing. Ugh. Anyway, I sketched four different people. I didn't get much of the background, but I think I captured them pretty well. Here are two of the four sketches. For the others, see my SmugMug folder. Honestly, it wasn't so bad. I wouldn't mind trying it again, but maybe in a place that's not quite so crowded.

This whole thing has been really, really good for me. I've already learned so much. It's kept me busy, but I *LIKE* it. Hopefully, I'll be a little more timely on the next unit.

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weekWORD: Rebel

This week's word had me a little stumped. Rebel... hmmm... nothing at first came to mind.

Then I thought of rebel from a positive point of view... as being different from the ordinary.

REBEL: reb·el
Pronunciation: \ˈre-bəl\
maverick: someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action

I've always thought of being different as a good thing. (Isn't maverick a good-tasting word?) But I've never gotten too very far off the beaten path, mind you. I suppose I'm a conformist underneath it all, but I like being just a teeny bit off kilter. I like to just barely dip my toe in the waters of insurgency.

Then, I thought about it from a negative point of view... about my rebellious spirit... about how I am so prone to wander from the God I love, so quick to think I can manage this life on my own.

REBEL: reb·el
Pronunciation: \ˈre-bəl\
insurgent: a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority

Then I came across this quote from my favorite author, C.S. Lewis:

"(Pain) removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul."

Yep.

This quote is from Lewis' book The Problem of Pain. I read it some years ago. Well, I didn't really read it. It was more like I devoured it in one day. It was during a time when I was dealing with a lot of pain in my life... or what I thought at the time was a lot of pain. (I've since learned there can be worse.) I suppose God was lifting the veil hanging around my heart just a little more and planting the flag of truth just a little deeper in the rocky soil of my rebellious soul.

Go to Carmen's to see more weekWORD entries. Have a fab Friday, bloggy friends!

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Drawing Labs

Oh, my! It's Thursday! Can't believe it. I don't know about where you are, but here in N.C. it is hot, hOt, HOT!

I find myself scurrying again to complete the second unit of the Drawing Lab book I'm working through by the deadline. I've completed two out of five assignments so far! Gulp. Here they are:

Lab 9: Wrong-Handed Portraits - draw a friends face, using only a permanent marker and your non-dominant hand.

I did this with my mom and dad while I was at home earlier this week:
My parents probably think I'm a little bonkers. They don't get this whole forty-something-trying-to-find-my-creative-self thing. I catch my mom giving me some weird sidelong glances. But, she's honest, if not anything else. She was less than impressed with these wrong-handed drawings and when I tried to explain that the point of the exercise was not to end up with a drawing that looked "good" she still didn't get it. That led me to try to sketch both mom and dad with my right hand in pencil. I was pretty happy with the results although I ended up ticking mom off. She said, "That's just a little old lady!" and made me erase a few wrinkles. I had no idea she was so vain!! :-) When I showed her sketch to my sister a few days later she laughed so hard it made her dizzy. Ha.



I've skipped Lab 10 for now and went to Lab 11: Cheater Blinds - draw from family photographs, using a modified blind-contour drawing technique. I got a little OCD with this and stayed up waaaaay too late doing the drawing over and over (and over) again. But I learned so much! I finally started just seeing the shapes and curves of the photograph. Here's the photograph I chose to work from. It's one of me I actually like taken by a friend a few months ago with her iPhone.

And here's the black-and-white "cheater blind" contour drawing:

And then I took it into Photoshop for "technicolor."

That's all for now, bloggy friends! I've got so much in my head floating around that I want to tell you about, but no time right now. All is good. Hope you are, too.

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Seven on Sunday

Hello, all! My super short trip to Louisiana is almost over... We'll be heading out tomorrow and I'll get to spend some time with my sister before driving the rest of the way home on Tuesday. Here's a quick "seven" for you:

1. I'm positive. As soon as you cross the Louisiana border, everything just tastes better... even fast food! We've had banana pudding, birthday cake, field peas, okra, rutabagas, baked chicken, cornbread, pancakes, cucumbers, and tomatoes. We spend a LOT of time eating around here! :-) There's been talk of a fish fry before we leave tomorrow, but I think we may have to get on the road too early.

2. I'm still working on my Drawing Lab project. I did three sketches using my left-hand of my mom, my dad, and Mary for Lab #9. My mom and dad were less than impressed with their likenesses! Once I get home to my scanner, I'll be sharing. And, hooray! My friend CD joined the A.R.T. group just before they closed it for participants for this workshop!

3. I also started a new project for The Boy and The Girl. It's super secret, so I'll have to just give you some sneak peaks when I get home, but I'm really, REALLY excited about how it's turning out so far.

4. Here's a picture of me and my nephew taken a couple of months ago at his high school graduation. He's headed off to college in a few short weeks. Hard to believe!


5. I thoroughly ticked my mom off today... by trying to seriously sketch her! I think it turned out pretty good, but she said it was just a picture of a little old woman. :-) I did one of Dad, too. I'm pleased with how they both turned out, actually. Again, once I have a scanner, I'll post them for you.

6. I spent some time talking with my Dad this afternoon about his mom and dad and his grandparents. I love hearing about them all. I think it made him a little sad, though. And I could kick myself for not recording him while he was talking.

7. Scrabble games played: six. How many I've won: 3. There will be a big showdown tomorrow before we leave, I'm sure!

Stay cool, bloggy friends! It's hot as Hades here!!

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weekWORD: Number

This week's word made the side of me come out that I don't usually let you all see on this blog... the geeky, number-infatuated, nerdy engineer! But, I sat down, took several deep breaths, put away the pocket-protector, and pushed her back down! :-)

Anyway, I thought of so many things to do with this great word from Peggy, but finally ended up thinking about the numbers in our family and how they've recently grown. And the result was this cartoon:

I didn't realize until I was finished that I counted our house as a "member" of the family. I suppose it really is. After living here almost 17 years, it's hard to imagine living anywhere except in our little brown house on the hill. Just like the other pieces of our family, it's not perfect and it's getting a bit run down, but it belongs to us! :-)

For more weekWORD interpretations on 'NUMBER', hop over to Peggy's. She'll also be announcing who will host next week's word.

May you count your many blessings today, bloggy friends!

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Drawing Lab Unit 1 Finished!

Wow! Finished Drawing Lab Unit 1! Loads of fun, but had to do the last three labs in a bit of a hurry since I am just about to walk out the door to drive to Louisiana to see the folks. The deadline is the 18th and I didn't think I had a prayer of working on it at my parents' house. They have Internet service (Dad is an online Scrabble fiend!) but I knew I had better get it done before leaving. So... not my best effort, but done none-the-less. Here's what I did:

Lab 3: Gesture Drawings of your pet. Hmm... didn't really like this at first, but I got more comfortable as I went along. (See my SmugMug for the drawings.)

Lab 6: Multiples-Draw one dog, one pose, TWENTY times! I really liked this one and had lots of fun with it. Below are my favorite seven, with the seventh "Taking It Further" by adding color in Photoshop. :-)

Lab 8: Imaginary Creatures - Make random paint marks and see what type of fun creature appears! This one was ok, but I think my fish looks a bit wonky, but you can go to SmugMug if you want to see him. Oh, well.

Be well, bloggy friends! :-)

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Giraffe Contours

Hooray! Finished the second lab from Drawing Lab with the A.R.T. Group: Draw Giraffe Contours. Here's one of five. You can see them all here. (I'm sure you can't wait!)

The "Taking It Further" assignment was to combine several contour drawings and see what happens. Here are three of mine put together and digitally colored in Photoshop:

He's weird, but I like him! Onward!

Oh - almost forgot... as I was surfing around looking for giraffe pictures to use for this lab, I found these and they made me smile. :-> Happy day, bloggy friends!

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Cats in Bed

Finished my first Drawing Lab with the A.R.T. group! fun, FuN, fUn, FUN! Since usually my doodles are very tight and detailed, this was a little hard for me at first, but I finally relaxed and just put some ink on paper.

Here was the assignment:

"Draw about thirty cats from your imagination while sitting or lying in bed." (page 16)

(Some of these are just a little bit scary, don't you think?)

Taking it further: "Scan your cat into the computer and add a solid color to the inside of your cat, offset slightly." (page 17)

I picked two of my kitties, this one below and the one at the top of the post, and colored in Photoshop. I had never tried to off-set color before, and I'm sure there is an easier way to do it, but I.DID.IT! And I kinda like the effect.

And, of course, while I was drawing, M was in her room working away. When Drawing Lab showed up a couple of days ago, Journal Bliss was also tucked away in that smiley-faced cardboard box. She immediately snatched it up along with some watercolor pencils and her journal. I'll ask her if I can share her work with you, too. Such a sweetie! It's nice to still have a child who wants to be *just*like*you*!! I know it won't last much longer, though...

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