Should Not Have Been A Surprise

I think my partially knit, brioche hat either makes him look like a king, a bishop, or a pharaoh and it works much better cropped. 

Than, not cropped. 

Although I thought the proportions in the picture were off when it came to the front legs and paws and how the back of the body cut off, I decided to try and draw it as is.  That was not the best decision.  

It was an especially silly mistake to make since I freaked out earlier this week when I wanted a straight on picture of myself to compare with a self portrait that I drew.  I tried taking a selfie and was appalled at how my face looked.  The first thing I notice was that the ears on the side of my head looked really small and the rest of my face just looked weird.  I had Daniel take a picture and my face looked normal.  After that I did a little research and found this.  

I must be the last person in the world to take a selfie and to become aware of this phenomenon.  It's not just selfies, of course.  Chandler was on my lap, so this was a really close up picture as well. 

Last, but not least, I am having a blast with the Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons. 

So There

 I'm not going to say that it's good.  The ear is positioned incorrectly (too high).  The eyes are wrong, out of alignment, and even disturbing.  The glasses aren't the right shape and the shadow from the glasses does not work.  The nose is too long.  It also lacks much resemblance.  I could go on and on.  Let's just say that there is a lot which is off.  Perhaps this shouldn't be the first thing I draw after completing the drawing portion of Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain and working on getting skills to improve accuracy.  Too bad, because in another way this is a perfect drawing.

Portrait - 8" x 10"

I just went for it.  It's what I wanted to do and I did it.  So many times, I put myself in this little box where there are all of these rules which just get in the way.  I am trying to dispose of that little box.  I've wanted to try this ever since I watched this video which Roz found and shared shared with her students, since several of us are working on self portraits.  

I did an initial drawing and filled in the first layer of highlights. I lost this shape as a I kept working. 

My original drawing wasn't that accurate.  I was working upstairs and the lighting wasn't that good when I started.  I had trouble seeing the underlying sketch and it got worse, although I'm not going to complain about a sunny day in January.  It was too hard to move every thing and, by that point, I was beyond worrying about accuracy.  I just wanted to play and be a little audacious.  

Yup, the internal critic showed up and I didn't tell him to bug off.  I should have.  I really, really should have.  Instead at some point, I forgot he was there since I was so into coloring.  I know this makes me sound like the people in the little white jackets might need to stop by for a visit, but if you have ever really listened to the voice in your head you know what I mean.  I also know that this is where the box and the stupid rules come from and I'm trying to banish those too.  

I want to continue to improve my accuracy, but I also want this type of freedom.  It took me awhile to figure out that when I look at other people's artwork, I almost always see freedom in what they are doing (although they may not see it that way) and what I was really seeing was what I want for myself.  

I used Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons and it's the first time I've used them.  It won't be the last time. They are really fun and you can really layer with them.  When I first added all of the yellow, I thought "Ugh", but you don't see any of the harsh yellow at the end. 

Here's the last full drawing from when I was working through the book.  It has a much better resemblance, but also has a few issues.  I had my hair pulled back tightly, since it's really starting to bug me.  I haven't had a hair cut since June or July.  At some point when life gets safer, I am going back to short hair. 

I really like my glasses, but they are hard to include while also trying to get accurate eyes.  They also cast shadows which are a pain to deal with.  I might try to do some self-portraits without them, since I mostly need them to read.  

Textures

It snowed last night.  I headed out with my good camera around 7:30 am and drove around taking pictures.  All and all, it was a good experience, except when I was at the park 2 1/2 blocks from my house taking several pictures of the plows clearing off the ice skating rink.  Even though I was only there for about 5 minutes, someone from the parks, not the park police, drove by, got out of her truck and demanded to know who I was and what I was doing.  Sheesh!

Here's my favorite shot of that, by the way.

I look pictures out in front of the house, in the alley, along the path at Nokomis Avenue where it crosses over the creek, and at Minnehaha Park.  There were a lot of ducks in the creek at Nokomis Avenue.  I took about 150 photos.  Yeah, digital!  I'm both trying to think about composition at times and also just shooting what captures my eye in the moment and figuring out later if it's a decent composition.

Today, the most magical thing was the falls in Minnehaha Park.  I haven't been down there this winter and it literally took my breath away when I first looked.  While I did take pictures of the falls and surrounding area, the photos I liked best were the ones where I zoomed in and took pictures of some of the textures.

I didn't crop any of these. 

I could just lose myself in these textures.  Why would anyone want to live where you don't get a real winter?

Some Ears and A Cat

As I work through the book, Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain, in January, the exercises are focusing on portraits.  Even though I’ve been using the skills in this book, it is still hard to see and draw what you see, rather than being impacted by the symbols in your head.  Ears have been a stumbling block.  It’s not just seeing the shapes.  There are also a lot of details so there are decisions about what is needed what is not.  

Since I have been struggling with the basic shapes of and within the ear, today, I sat down, looked at some profile pictures or Sktchy where I could zoom in on the ears, and practiced drawing.  For some of them, I did the upside down trick.  Looking at those ones on the top makes my head do a loop-de-loop.  For others, I went right side up.  These are way more detailed than what would go into a portrait, but I figure if I understand them better, hopefully, I can make better decisions.  Here's the part of the page where I was working on the whole ear.

I still haven’t figured out how to balance drawing and painting.  It's hard to find time to do both in one day.  Since my January project is about drawing, I am trying to paint when I have some extra time.  Rather than rushing, I am working to slow down, which also means working on thumbnails. 

It’s weird how sometimes things just work.  This one was short, easy, and quick.  I wasn't fussy and did worry about the making a good drawing.  It reads better than many of my paintings.

I worked on this painting over the last few days.  It’s a little fussy.  I should have stopped sooner.  I like composition and I think the values work.  Having the thumbnail helped with that. Although, there is a spot on the right under the eye which should be darker. 

#371 - A Little Orange Sunshine - 8" x 8" - paper

It felt good to paint a cat.  It’s been a long time. 

Something Changed

When I drew the corner of the stairwell landing several days ago, something changed.  How things relate to each other started to make more sense and tackling more than one object or subject matter isn't as overwhelming.

Yesterday when it was almost 40 degrees, I did draw the house and apartment building across the street and today, for the official perspective and proportion homework exercise in the book, I tackled a more complete drawing of the stairwell landing.  Since the main point was the stairwell, I didn't bother with what you can see through the glass in the top part of the door.

This took an hour to do.  There was a lot of fussy measure of proportions and angles, but it was all built from the height of the window as the base measurement and figuring out angles with a pencil as a tool.  It took multiple tries to get the side of the stairs going up placed correctly, which means I was not taking the time to truly stop and see them.

The drawing is about 6" x 7".  I am a tad amazed that all of these details fit and got represented in that amount of space. 

I know there are people who are better at processing the whole and shapes within the whole as their more native way of thinking.  I am not one of those people.  Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain is a good book and her methods work. 

The Part I Like Better

My last post was whiny and I feel bad about that, but I wanted to get it out and process it a bit, by posting about it.  It was the last step of throwing a mini-internal tantrum.  That part didn't make it into the post.  What I forgot about is that, frequently, when I reach this point (the frustration part, not the tantrum part), a breakthrough usually follows shortly afterwards if I keep working.  I haven't always done that and, at least, part of the reason is that I've gotten stuck and haven't know how to move forward or address how to learn what I don't know.  Yes, of course, a big part of it is also the internal critic successfully sidetracking it all, but that's not where I am going with this post.  

Since my January project is to work through Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain, I wasn't stuck, just very frustrated.  I am very thankful to Roz for generally being so generous with her knowledge, but especially for her December focus on projects.  I think it's a game changer for me.  

Working in the next chapter of the book, a bunch of things fell into place.  I've used a pencil before to help with proportions.   I have used a pencil to discern the angle of one line, such as one side of a roof line.  I hadn't figured out or ever seen using it parallel to a point where two lines come together, such as at the peak of a roof, to consider the angles of both of them and, more importantly, their relationship to each other. 

Last night, I did the pre-exercises, which are in preparation of doing a drawing in perspective.  Here is a basement door with a dartboard and side trim pieces.  As a straight-forward view, it was relatively simple, using a pencil to measure and get accurate proportions.  I couldn't get back far enough to stay within the pre-drawn frame.   

Here is a stairwell landing.  I went outside the frame, again.  You can see vestiges of the vertical line on the bottom.  The vertical line on the top got erased along with other marks which you can somewhat see. 

When I first tried to draw the angles on the top, I angled them down rather than up.  I'm not sure how I flipped this.  It wasn't apparent to me until I decided to add the crown molding. After the error was fixed, I moved on and decided to add the angle for the stairs going down and added the 3 vertical lines for how the side of the stairs relate to the wall and molding.  I didn't do this proportionally.  It was enough to work on the angles and relationship without the proportions.    

The breakthroughs were:

1. No internal critic.  There was no drama or negativity from figuring out I goofed and how to correct it.  This makes me more determined to banish this goon.
2. Pieces became a whole.  I've stayed mostly in the world of dealing with one object as a subject.  I have not had the tools for dealing with more than that, so I sort of surprised myself in the moment by going on with the crown molding and "stairs".  Adding the vertical lines to show where the stairs would go felt like a victory, since it's the first time I had the tools/skills/seeing/whatever to understand how and where they fit.  I think working on both angles at a corner point got me to see and consider things in relation to one another in a different/better/new way.  Something big fell into place with this.    

These breakthroughs are always a surprise when they happen.   

All of this helps answer the question of why I continue to work on learning to draw and paint, and in the larger context pursue creativity, in spite of or maybe because of the ups and downs.  This morning when I went outside to grab the newspaper, I looked across the street and the thought popped into my head that I could try drawing the house and small brick apartment building across the street as a way to continue to explore the proportions, relationships, and angles of how things relate to each other.  I am going to do that later today.  

This pursuits keeps me open to further exploring and to life itself, which is especially appreciated in this present moment with so much uncertainty.    

More Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain

Working through this book is a little like flossing your teeth, taking your vitamins each day, or eating a big salad without any ranch dressing.  I can't say that I am having fun.  I also have been encountering a lot of internal resistance prior to each exercise.  Some of this is the internal critic.  Some of it is the instructions are so long that sometimes I'm just tired by the time that I've read through them.  I'm also finding that there is a lot of good information in the book, but I don't find the way it's presented to be engaging.  I am using the version from 1999.  The concepts presented aren't dated.  They are really good and effective.  The way they are presented seems dated, but I want to learn and it's my January project so I am slogging along.  

Today, I did the negative space exercise with a chair. 

Here are some in process pictures.

This isn't quite the same angle as my viewpoint, but it did clarify some of the wonkiness.

I went a little rogue and  did not focus as much on the negative space and tried some quick fixes.  It's still wonky, but I learned a lot during the process and wanted to be done.  Chairs are hard and when I picked one with armrests I knew that it would be a harder one. 

Rather than moving on in the book, I think I'm going to work on some drawings like this in the next several days, while at the same time not being so fussy on any one drawing.  

On a different, and much more positive, note, yesterday morning was one of those magical winter mornings where everything was outlined in the light dusting of snow and the light was beautiful.  It was all the more special, since I didn't know it was supposed to snow so my first glance out the bedroom window was pure magic. 

I quickly got out of bed, got dressed, fed the cats, and headed out to walk around my neighborhood.  It was a welcome respite from all of the anxiety, angst, and so on over the current of the union.  

Here is the neighbor's magnolia. I could take pictures of tree branches like this one outlined in snow all day long.

Plants are so interesting when flocked with snow. 

I saved the best for last.  I love the structure of coneflowers when they are in full bloom or when it's just the seed head.  In a weird way, these and a lot of other structural looking plants make me thing of Louis Sullivan ornamentation. 

This was the coolest thing of all.  I have no idea what connected these flowers prior to the snow. It was just really cool to see the snow strands connected some of the flowers with each other. 

  

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

My January project is working through this book.  It’s one of those things I’ve been meaning to do for a long time, but never have quite gotten around to it.  I have had a bad habit of gathering materials to learn about drawing and painting and not using them.  Working through one of the classics, which has always intimidated me, is a good start. 

Today, I did the the first ubiquitous exercise where you copy a Picasso drawing upside down to bring about the shift to the non-verbal side of your brain.  It’s in chapter 4 of the version of the book that I have.

I first started feeling the brain shift, that happened again today when I drew upside down and that the author talks about in this chapter, for awhile now.  When I was done with this exercise, I remembered this post and the day I wrote it.  I was feeling overworked and frazzled.  After I drew that day, my brain felt refreshed and like it had been on vacation.  

I was really resistant to doing today’s exercise from the book and some of the exercises for the pre-instruction drawings, but it’s been been helpful so far so I will continue to plow ahead.  

Winter Robin

 I’ve taken my camera out on a few winter walks this winter, but haven’t been positing pictures.  My preference is still to try and take the picture that I want, rather than cropping.  I don’t know why, but maybe it’s because it’s more of a challenge. 

Here is a Robin, who forgot to fly south for the winter and who does not appear to have any wool mittens, hats, or scarves.  Poor dear.  

For this one, I think the bird is displaying a rather elegant line.

I like the colors in this one, including the snow at the bird’s feet, the moss or lichens on the tree, and, of course, the red chest of the bird.