Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Wednesday 31 March 2010




Course work: Applied several areas of light to medium grey ink wash, and did more colored pencil work, including some with water-soluble colored pencil.



Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 176-193



Total time: 1hour 25 minutes

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Tuesday 30 March 2010




Course work: Applied a small area of black ink wash. At this point, I’m not too happy with the way things are going.



Personal Sketchbook work: A fairly completely worked out drawing of a shiny metal coffee pot, in graphite pencil.



Total time: 2 hours 14 minutes

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Sunday 28 March 2010




Course work: Further work on the final drawing for assignment 3 with colored pencil.





Reading:



Daniel M. Mendelowitz and Duane Wakeham A Guide to Drawing (Fifth Edition)

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, Orlando, Florida, USA, 1995

Pp 307-326 (Of the several books described as college level textbooks that I have read, this one is the best, combining as it does historical overview, technique, and authors’ opinions not excessively mixed with their political views. The simple fact that it has endured through five editions is almost a recommendation in itself.)



Weekly reflections on learning experience: I have not reflected on my learning experience since mid-February, since during most of this time I was too ill to do much in the way of meaningful work. I have now improved enough to be recapturing some of my enthusiasm for the work, and hope to gain enough strength and energy to be able to complete Assignment 3 in the near future.



Total time: 38 min

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Saturday 27 March 2010




Course work: Work on the final drawing for assignment 3 with colored pencil and an ink wash.



Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 170-175



Personal Sketchbook work: A sketch of a sleeping black cat.



Total time: 42 minutes

Friday, March 26, 2010

Friday 26 March 2010




Course work: Work on the final drawing for assignment 3 with colored pencil and markers.



Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 152-169



Daniel M. Mendelowitz and Duane Wakeham A Guide to Drawing (Fifth Edition)

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, Orlando, Florida, USA, 1995

Pp 289-306



Personal Sketchbook work: A rather poorly-done sketch of an electric shaver.



Total time: 1hour 21 minutes

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Thursday 25 March 2010




Today is the first day since February 16th that I’ve managed to work on course work, reading, and personal drawing on the same day. I hope this is a good omen for further recovery.



Course work: Finalized my setup, and did a rough pencil outline for the final drawing for assignment 3.



Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 140-151



Personal Sketchbook work: A sketch of a towel on a metal ring (thus reviewing drapery and shiny metal).



Total time: 47 minutes

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Tuesday 23 March 2010




Course work: My painting group met today. I took advantage of the opportunity to produce an oil sketch of my planned setup for the final drawing for assignment 3. While using oils to plan a drawing may seem somewhat odd, I found it useful, and was able to identify a couple of compositional problems.



Total time: 2 hours 20 min

Monday, March 22, 2010

Monday 22 March 2010




Following yet another relapse, we try again.



Course work: Resumed planning work on the final drawing for assignment 3, making major changes in the group of objects I have been working with, and simplifying the setup. Did a trial sketch with pencil, marker, colored pencil, and ink wash.



Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 115-139



Total time: 1 hour 13 min

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Tuesday 16 March 2010




Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005



Personal sketchbook work: A drawing of a small blue-enameled metal pot, with the lid propped on top. Drew the lid badly.



Total time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday 15 March 2010




Finally feel able to get a pencil to go more or less where I want it to go.



Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 68-97



Personal Sketchbook work: A revisit to my old friend, a towel on a hook.



Total time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Sunday 14 March 2010




Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 50-67



Total time: 29 min

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Saturday 13 March 2010




Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 32-49



Total time: 35 min

Friday, March 12, 2010

Friday 12 March 2010




Reading:



Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 1)

Taschen, Köln, 2005

Pp 8-31



Total time: 40 min

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Thursday 11 March 2010




Reading:



Gemma Guasch and Josep Asunción Space

Barron’s Educational Series, Inc, Hauppage, New York, USA, 2005

Pp 84-151

(This book seems to me to be more useful than the two earlier volumes in the same series. It deals with composition and development of the illusion of space. As in the earlier volumes, the illustrations are more valuable than the somewhat rudimentary text: the latter is occasionally compromised by less-than-optimal translation from Spanish, or by what strike me as excessively florid flights of fancy. Nevertheless, I think this is a worthwhile book.)



Total time: 36 min

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wednesday 10 March 2010




Reading:



Gemma Guasch and Josep Asunción Space

Barron’s Educational Series, Inc, Hauppage, New York, USA, 2005

Pp 50-83



Total time: 24 min

Monday, March 8, 2010

Monday 8 March 2010




A hospital-acquired infection has kept me very ill for the past several days. Drawing still isn’t possible, but at least I can now read a bit.



Reading:



Gemma Guasch and Josep Asunción Space

Barron’s Educational Series, Inc, Hauppage, New York, USA, 2005

Pp 7-49



Total time: 26 min

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Wednesday 3 March 2010




Home from hospital. Still not quite ready for the drawing board, but at least I can read.



Reading:



Gita May Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Yale University Press, New Haven Conn., USA, 2005

Pp 1-203 (This book concerns itself more with the artist’s travels and acquaintances, and with the political situation of the times, that with her paintings. The book could have benefited from a substantially larger number of color plates. Inexplicably omitted from discussion or reproduction is the Portrait of Countess Golovine, in my opinion one of the artist’s finer works, and one of the more sympathetic portraits painted by any artist.)



Total time: 3 hours 27 minutes