Friday 11 December 2009




Course work: A little more work on my driftwood drawing, graphite pencil on A3 paper, part of the Detailed observation of nature exercise, which I think is now finished. I’ll look at it again in a couple of days and see if I need to do anything further.

Reading:



Morrell Wise Colored Pencils

Walter Foster Publishing, Tustin, California, USA, 1985

[This very slender (64 pages) volume could better be titled Use of Colored Pencils in Mixed Media Work, as little of the book deals with the use of colored pencils alone. Overall, not a very useful book. ]



Sean Dye The Mixed Media Sourcebook

Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2004

Pp 35-81



Personal Sketchbook work: A line-only drapery sketch, done in pen. Pure line is a particularly difficult technique for me to use convincingly.

Total time: 1 hour 8 min

Thursday 10 December 2009




Course work: Further work on my driftwood drawing, which is now approaching completion.



Reading:



Sean Dye The Mixed Media Sourcebook

Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2004

Pp 9-33



Personal Sketchbook work: A colored pencil drawing of an autumn leaf. A partial drawing of the seed-pod of a sweet gum tree, in graphite pencil.

Total time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Wednesday 9 December 2009




Course work: Further work on my driftwood drawing.

Reading:



Ian Simpson The Complete Drawing Course

Running Press, Philadelphia, PA 1993

Lesson 11 (pp 88-93)



Jeffery Camp Draw: How to Master the Art

Dorling Kindersley, London, 1993

Pp 8-17



Total time: 1 hour 18 minutes (21h37m)

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Course work: Further work on my driftwood drawing.

Reading:

Roberta Weir Leonardo’s Ink Bottle: The Artist’s Way of Seeing
Celestial Arts Publishing, Berkeley, California, 1998
Pp 71-87

Personal Sketchbook work: In my pocket sketchbook, a small drawing of a lady with an umbrella. In my A4 sketchbook, a drawing of a cow’s skull, and smaller drawings of a well-used paint tube and a child’s paper-wrapped lollipop.

Total time: 2 hours 47 minutes

Monday 7 December 2009




Course work: Further work on my driftwood drawing



Reading:



Cathy Johnson The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature

Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1990

Pp 193-228

(This is the best book on outdoor sketching of which I know, and one of the best all-round drawing books. It merits a place on any would-be artist’s shelf.)



Total time: 1 hour 34 minutes

Sunday 6 December 2009




Course work: Further work on my driftwood drawing. A progress photo:

Reading:



Sarah Simblet, The Drawing Book

Dorling Kindersley, London 2005

Pp 174-197



Roberta Weir Leonardo’s Ink Bottle: The Artist’s Way of Seeing

Celestial Arts Publishing, Berkeley, California, 1998

Pp 45-70



Cathy Johnson The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature

Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1990

Pp 179-192



Personal Sketchbook work: Sketched a representative track from the largest set of wild hog tracks I’ve seen on my usual walking trail: 7 ½ cm long. Drew a magnified view of a lichen growing on a decaying branch, using Derwent Coloursoft pencils.

Total time: 3 hours 8 minutes

Saturday 5 December 2009




Course work: Started work on a pencil drawing of part of a piece of driftwood on A3 paper. (We picked up this driftwood log over thirty years ago, on a nameless North Carolina barrier island, for use as a cat-scratching log, a function it still fulfils.)



Reading:



Roberta Weir Leonardo’s Ink Bottle: The Artist’s Way of Seeing

Celestial Arts Publishing, Berkeley, California, 1998

Pp 3-43



Personal Sketchbook work: A colored pencil sketch with Derwent Coloursoft pencils of a tiny wild strawberry (tonight’s first freeze of the season will kill the rest).

Total time: 2 hours 36 minutes