My painting group met today (time not included).
Reading:
Nick Meglin Drawing From Within
Warner Books, Inc., New York, 1999
Pp ix-xvi, 3-33
Personal Sketchbook work: A drawing of my left hand.
Total time: 35 min
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
21 December 2009
Course work: I found the instructions on “Still Life Group in Tone” to be among the more confusing ones I’ve encountered in the course. To me, a drawing in tone (or value, in U.S. terminology) is done with black, white, and greys, or with white (or black) and shades of a single fairly neutral color (e.g., sanguine Conte’). I know that color has tone, but the instructions call for the use of three different colors to produce a drawing in tone. This makes my setup, which is fairly monochromatic, consisting of a deer skull and three pine cones in different stages of opening, a real challenge. In response, on A3 paper, I quickly did one sketch with black, midgrey, and white pastels. For the second I chose primary yellow, red, and blue pastels. I’m not happy with either piece, but the second is particularly unsatisfactory.
I’ll try a different, more conventional, setup as further work on this exercise.
Reading:
Roberta Weir Leonardo’s Ink Bottle: The Artist’s Way of Seeing
Celestial Arts Publishing, Berkeley, California, 1998
Pp 112-128
Sean Dye The Mixed Media Sourcebook
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2004
Pp 100-138
(An interesting book, potentially useful to me in the future.)
Personal Sketchbook work: A colored pencil sketch of a portion of a cedar twig, with berries (these berries are an important food source for birds during the winter).
Total time: 2 hours 29 minutes
Course work: I found the instructions on “Still Life Group in Tone” to be among the more confusing ones I’ve encountered in the course. To me, a drawing in tone (or value, in U.S. terminology) is done with black, white, and greys, or with white (or black) and shades of a single fairly neutral color (e.g., sanguine Conte’). I know that color has tone, but the instructions call for the use of three different colors to produce a drawing in tone. This makes my setup, which is fairly monochromatic, consisting of a deer skull and three pine cones in different stages of opening, a real challenge. In response, on A3 paper, I quickly did one sketch with black, midgrey, and white pastels. For the second I chose primary yellow, red, and blue pastels. I’m not happy with either piece, but the second is particularly unsatisfactory.
I’ll try a different, more conventional, setup as further work on this exercise.
Reading:
Roberta Weir Leonardo’s Ink Bottle: The Artist’s Way of Seeing
Celestial Arts Publishing, Berkeley, California, 1998
Pp 112-128
Sean Dye The Mixed Media Sourcebook
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2004
Pp 100-138
(An interesting book, potentially useful to me in the future.)
Personal Sketchbook work: A colored pencil sketch of a portion of a cedar twig, with berries (these berries are an important food source for birds during the winter).
Total time: 2 hours 29 minutes
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday 20 December 2009
Course work: Added a few marks to suggest a background in my line-drawing still life. I think I’m about done: will look at it again tomorrow.
Reading:
Roberta Weir Leonardo’s Ink Bottle: The Artist’s Way of Seeing
Celestial Arts Publishing, Berkeley, California, 1998
Pp 88-111
Personal Sketchbook work: Returned to the oil pastel sketch from yesterday, and learned that more color can be added after the first applications are blended with turpentine. Drew a little cluster of pussy willow catkins in my pocket sketchbook.
Weekly thoughts on learning experience: I continue to work along on the course, although I find some of the exercises more interesting than others. I also continue to find some of the instructions confusing or self-contradicting, and some exercises appear to repeat work previously done in Assignment One. A good editor could significantly improve the text. My sketchbook work has been sub-par lately, in part because unusually wet weather (and the final, irreparable failure of my rubber boots) has kept me almost-house-bound for much of the past several weeks, and in part because I can find little that seems interesting enough to draw. Seasonal affective disorder may play a role as well.
Total time: 32 minutes
Course work: Added a few marks to suggest a background in my line-drawing still life. I think I’m about done: will look at it again tomorrow.
Reading:
Roberta Weir Leonardo’s Ink Bottle: The Artist’s Way of Seeing
Celestial Arts Publishing, Berkeley, California, 1998
Pp 88-111
Personal Sketchbook work: Returned to the oil pastel sketch from yesterday, and learned that more color can be added after the first applications are blended with turpentine. Drew a little cluster of pussy willow catkins in my pocket sketchbook.
Weekly thoughts on learning experience: I continue to work along on the course, although I find some of the exercises more interesting than others. I also continue to find some of the instructions confusing or self-contradicting, and some exercises appear to repeat work previously done in Assignment One. A good editor could significantly improve the text. My sketchbook work has been sub-par lately, in part because unusually wet weather (and the final, irreparable failure of my rubber boots) has kept me almost-house-bound for much of the past several weeks, and in part because I can find little that seems interesting enough to draw. Seasonal affective disorder may play a role as well.
Total time: 32 minutes
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Saturday 19 December 2009
Course work: More work on my line drawing of a still-life group. Today I prepared a dilution of ink and put in the foreground wood with a brush, as well as some details on the fruit and vegetables with pen and brush.
Reading:
Sean Dye The Mixed Media Sourcebook
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2004
Pp 82-99
E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art
Phaidon press Limited, Oxford 1978
Pp 375-394
Personal Sketchbook work: Not done in my sketchbook, but on an 11 x 7 inch scrap of watercolor paper, an oil pastel drawing of two bananas, overworked with a bristle brush dipped in turpentine. A worthwhile experiment, as I learned that even cold-press watercolor paper clogs quickly with oil pastel, after which it is very difficult to add more. After this dries well, I will try to add a little more color, and see what happens.
A marker sketch of a yellow apple. I was not happy with this: the colorless blenders don’t seem to have any discernable effect, resulting in a lot of sharp, irregular transitions.
Total time: 1 hour 51 minutes (33h45m)
Course work: More work on my line drawing of a still-life group. Today I prepared a dilution of ink and put in the foreground wood with a brush, as well as some details on the fruit and vegetables with pen and brush.
Reading:
Sean Dye The Mixed Media Sourcebook
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2004
Pp 82-99
E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art
Phaidon press Limited, Oxford 1978
Pp 375-394
Personal Sketchbook work: Not done in my sketchbook, but on an 11 x 7 inch scrap of watercolor paper, an oil pastel drawing of two bananas, overworked with a bristle brush dipped in turpentine. A worthwhile experiment, as I learned that even cold-press watercolor paper clogs quickly with oil pastel, after which it is very difficult to add more. After this dries well, I will try to add a little more color, and see what happens.
A marker sketch of a yellow apple. I was not happy with this: the colorless blenders don’t seem to have any discernable effect, resulting in a lot of sharp, irregular transitions.
Total time: 1 hour 51 minutes (33h45m)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Friday 18 December 2009
Course work: Further work on the still life group using line. So far, I’ve employed a steel pen, a reed pen, and a brush.
Reading:
Sarah Simblet, The Drawing Book
Dorling Kindersley, London 2005
Pp 238-255
(I wish this book had been longer: it was a real delight. Even postponing reading in it until I was near the relevant section of the course didn’t make it last long enough. I’ve read it before, in the U.S edition, called Sketchbook for the Artist, and I’m sure I’ll read it again.)
Dorr Bothwell and Marlys Mayfield, Notan
Reinhold Book Corporation, New York, 1968
Pp 5-32
Personal Sketchbook work: Two bananas done with colored markers, a medium I doubt I shall ever come to love.
Total time: 1 hour 13 minutes
Course work: Further work on the still life group using line. So far, I’ve employed a steel pen, a reed pen, and a brush.
Reading:
Sarah Simblet, The Drawing Book
Dorling Kindersley, London 2005
Pp 238-255
(I wish this book had been longer: it was a real delight. Even postponing reading in it until I was near the relevant section of the course didn’t make it last long enough. I’ve read it before, in the U.S edition, called Sketchbook for the Artist, and I’m sure I’ll read it again.)
Dorr Bothwell and Marlys Mayfield, Notan
Reinhold Book Corporation, New York, 1968
Pp 5-32
Personal Sketchbook work: Two bananas done with colored markers, a medium I doubt I shall ever come to love.
Total time: 1 hour 13 minutes
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Thursday 17 December 2009
Course work: Started work on the “still life group using line” in the Still Life exercise.
This will be an ink drawing of an assortment of fruits and vegetable on A3 paper. Not too imaginative a subject, but I still feel the effects of my ‘flu shot.
Reading:
Sarah Simblet, The Drawing Book
Dorling Kindersley, London 2005
Pp196-237
Personal Sketchbook work: A drawing of a bluejay feather, done with Derwent Coloursoft pencils.
Total time: 1hour 23 minutes
Course work: Started work on the “still life group using line” in the Still Life exercise.
This will be an ink drawing of an assortment of fruits and vegetable on A3 paper. Not too imaginative a subject, but I still feel the effects of my ‘flu shot.
Reading:
Sarah Simblet, The Drawing Book
Dorling Kindersley, London 2005
Pp196-237
Personal Sketchbook work: A drawing of a bluejay feather, done with Derwent Coloursoft pencils.
Total time: 1hour 23 minutes
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