Hurrah! February Is Almost Over

Back in college, my favorite professor would bring donuts to her classes on the last day of February to celebrate that the month was coming to an end. I mostly believe in letting things be as they are and not wishing away time to pass more quickly than it should, however February can be a trying month and February in a pandemic is even more trying. 

On a personal note, something switched several days ago. I think it’s the combination of some sunny days, warmer temperatures (although I do love snow and am a little sad when it melts) and longer days. When I’ve been waking up in the morning, I’ve just been feeling more like myself with both a little more spark and a little more energy.  

Given where we are in the pandemic, I’m not expecting to see things change in a macro way any time soon, but I can see where things have changed and will continue to change in a micro way. Meeting people for socially distanced walks outside is doable again. When I go out walking, I run into neighbors more often and we stop and chat for a minute. I know people who have gotten vaccinated and rather than be envious, I think with every vaccine which is given and every day which passes where people are being vaccinated, it’s getting closer for both me and the hubby. I’ve started the seeds in the basement which need a long time to grow, such as leeks and some of my herbs. At some point, juggling club will start meeting in the park again. Yes, this is last on is still ways off, but the overall trend of all of this is positive.  

From an art-marking perspective, I’ve been working on portraits or facial features all month. I’ve mostly focused on the  Loomis method from the Sktchy class. Yesterday, I watched and followed along to the video where we worked through a profile view together as a culmination of the prior lessons. Today, I worked solo using the same source picture.  The next several days, I plan to finish up class with the straight on view and 3/4 view.  

Overall, progress has seemed slow and resemblance is still a big issue, but I’m pleased with where I’m getting by showing up and working each day. I think I will continue with portraits in March. 

I Am Not A Reindeer

 I am not a reindeer.

I did not voluntarily dress up as a reindeer.

I do not want to play any reindeer games.

It’s A Face

Since the month is more than half gone, I decided to look to some of my other resources.  That meant pulling a beginning drawing book off the shelf and looking at the pages devoted to doing portraits.  This book had a different way to approach the proportions of a straight on view.  Trying this was good and also it was good to go back to trying a full, but unfinished, portrait, since I’ve mostly been practicing noses, eyes, and mouths from the Sktchy class on the Loomis method.  I noticed that I’ve been getting a little too fussy about it all and I think I need to pick up the pace to a slightly uncomfortable level to keep moving along and prevent getting stuck in one place for too long.  That started to happen with noses.  Right after I felt like I was really starting to get noses, I lost it. I wanted it back so I started to try harder, which didn’t work.  It got frustrating.  Eventually, I realized that it was better to move on. When I took Roz's online drawing class, the pace was brisk. I'm not going for that.  I want a pace that leaves me just slightly off balance.

Here’s what I did today.  It’s a face. I used my own reflection from a mirror, but the resulting drawing is not my face.  It’s vaguely related to it (like maybe a 2nd to 3rd cousin), but it’s not my face.  Since I’m working on newsprint, it’s also a crinkly face.  This paper does not lay flat on the easel and any crinkle in the paper catches light in a weird way.   

All of that is okay, since resemblance is not the goal.  Working on portraits this month has stretched me and has been helpful.  I feel like I’m making better lines, seeing more clearly, capturing shapes better, and improving proportions and placement.  

There Is Room In The Cosmos

There is room in the cosmos for cats in hats. 

A good friend of mine sent me this picture, yesterday, from when he was out and about.  

In other cat related knitting developments, I just discovered this pattern on Ravelry, which opens up a new world of possibilities. I'm not sure if I'll go there. 

On a different note, I almost wish that I hadn't mentioned the new job, because I quit after 1 week.  I've never done anything like that before,  However, the job, which was supposed to be 99.99% remote and had nothing essential which required being onsite, turned out to be not that remote and the the Covid-related protocols were perfunctory, at best, and not uniformly followed. Sigh.

Wolfie Contemplates the Choices He Has Made In His Life

So far, I have heard back from 4 people, who have given me permission to draw from their photos of a cat in a hat. Meet Wolfie. To me, he looks as though he (or maybe she, I don’t know) is contemplating every choice he has every made in life which has led him to this point. Actually, he looks like a good-natured cat who is hoping this will be over soon. 

This project is going to be a fun challenge. For this one, I had to make up the body below the chin, since the cat was being held by a person and because of that, I also had to jazz the background. It also was challenging to figure out how to try and capture values of a dark gray and white cat in an interesting manner.  Lastly, it was way different trying to capture this hat rather than the brioche hat in my first drawing which start all of this. Simple brioche knitting looks like columns and that was easier to do. 

That doesn't take away any of the fun of this project or working on this drawing.  

In closing, it always surprises me when eyes are in shadow, how little is needed to capture them. I also really like the right side of the face (which is lighter).  The value transitions built believable volume and shape, especially on that side.  

How Many Cats In A Hat?

So I decided to do a little rework of my portrait of Chandler in Neocolor color II crayons and I like this slightly revised version better. By the way the pattern on Ravelry is this one, although when I took the picture this drawing was based upon the hat was only about 1/2 done.  

I had so much fun doing this that I would really like to do more portraits of cats in hats and I was thinking about donating them to Art 4 Shelter. However there's a problem with this plan.  Both orange cats have more or less decided that they do not like having their picture taken while wearing a hat.  The best follow up picture that I've gotten of Chandler is this one.

Hammet is even less cooperative.  Although I can't really blame either of them.  

Here's my possible solution. In 2015, an author by the name of Sara Thomas came out with a book called "Cats In Hats" with 30 separate knit and crochet patterns. I just went on Ravelry and looked for projects linked to the patterns in this book and am reaching out to the people who made projects and who took the best project pictures featuring a cat, which I think I could use for a drawing.  

I'm partially writing this blog post, so I can include a link to it when I reach out to these people and ask permission to use their photo.  

Wish me luck!   

The Nose Knows

If a corny blog post title pops into my head, that’s the one I use. Specifically, if the left side of my own personal CPU (central processing unit - - I just spent a week having unfamiliar acronyms tossed at me, so even though I think most people would know this is the brain of the computer, I feel the need to explain it) unit in my head offers up a title which is silly, absurd, amusing to me, or alliterative......in it goes. 

As I continue this journey into the visual arts, the idea that there are two sides of the brain or that the big CPU up there divides tasks and has preferred areas to assign where certain tasks get done makes a lot of intrinsic sense to me, although I do not know if any of this is true and also don’t really know how it works. The veracity of my ideas and thoughts here versus those of a brain scientist probably have as much in common as the ideas or tenets of pop psychology versus actual psychology.  

Still, I write on because, at times, I can feel something different happening in my brain and my layperson’s understanding of the left and right sides offers a reasonable explanation.  

So enough about the left side for now, aside from using it to continue writing.  

This morning I woke up thinking about noses.  That’s not exactly it.  Noses were the subject matter, but the bigger picture was the relationship of transitioning from a 3-d object to a 2-d representation while also consider the underlying structure beneath the top layer of the 3-d object. This does make me sound a little crazy, but it’s the best way I can explain it and I am quite certain that it’s happening on that right side of my brain. I don’t have words for this.  It was something intuitive going on in my head. I could feel this jumble of better understanding between a real 3-d nose, the anatomy under the nose, and trying to capture it in a 2-d way, all trying to gel in my head. It’s really freaky and also pretty magical.

Something did gel and I can't explain that part  It’s not done. I don’t get it. There’s still a lot to learn about noses (eyes, hair, mouths, ears, everything), but I’m in a far different place than I was on Thursday.  

This is a nose that I drew on Friday and I was just placing a simplified extraction on top of a Loomis-head type structure. It was purely mechanical.

Following this drawing up with yesterday’s work including the self-portrait, the reason for understanding a bit about anatomy started to make sense, even though I haven’t started the one on anatomy.  When I signed up for the Sktchy classes, it made zero sense to me, but I kept reading or hearing on videos that artists think this is important, so I figured it would make sense at some point.  

Still, it’s strange to me. There’s also just drawing from pure observation which should also get you accuracy, but for me I think I need the support from the Loomis method, learning a bit about anatomy and all of that. I don’t think pure observation is enough for me. If I keep working, maybe my visual skills will improve enough at some point. 

So this morning was a jumble of 3-d, 2-d and anatomy and it also made me wonder how well experienced artist can tackle something from a photo when they have no experience with the subject matter. Their observation and skill would get them to something good, but would there be a missing essence?

I Can See Clearer Now

 I’m not quite to declaring that I can see clearly now, but I do think I can see clearer now.  Working through Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain was a good thing to do. Even better has been deciding on a monthly project and doing around 60 minutes of work each day.  On most days, I watch or read something to help with learning for about 1/2 the time and draw the other 1/2. 

Today, as part of my daily project, I decided to draw the major and minor planes of the nose from a picture drawn by the Sktchy instructor where I am learning about the Loomis method. 

Look at all of these fussy little shapes, angles, and so on.  I was be-bopping along with drawing these when it suddenly occurred to me that I was seeing things in a different way, which meant I was able to draw both of these with very little rework to get all of the pieces to fit together.  

After that, I took a bit of a break and returned to do my monthly project.  I have pledged to do a self-portrait sometime in the first week of each new month in 2021 and maybe beyond.  

I procrastinated on starting it (could the mirror be in a better place, should I adjust the easel, do I need better light).  I also fussed over it.  My goal was to try to take what I’ve learned so far about the Loomis method and to try and draw a self portrait.  

While there’s only a very vague resemblance to me, I am not bothered by that. Instead, overall, I’m pleased with the proportions and very happy about some individual pieces like the nose.  It’s really a nose.  

I could not have done anything close to this prior to using monthly projects as a way to focus and learn in December.

It's A Silly Little Pepper Drawing

My posting to this blog has been erratic and will likely continue that way.  I just started a new job and February's project is not one where I will be showing a lot here.  

February's project is to work on portraits.  Drawing people's portrait (self or otherwise) from life or pictures is challenging.  So many parts in relationship to each other coming together to represent a whole.  Egads!  Please note that I said whole, not likeness or resemblance.

Prior to the start of the month, I assembled a number of resources and I also signed up for 2 Sktchy Art School classes.  The one I'm current working through is this one.  I really like the instructor and I think the Loomis method will help me figure out how heads work better.  The other class I signed up for is this one about anatomy.

Someone suggested getting a bust to help with practicing, so I also got one of those.  On Etsy, I was very tempted to get one of Michelangelo's David.  A small bust isn't that expensive.  While I really liked the overall elegance of David and the turn of his neck and face, I've been having trouble with my glasses and the shadows from them when I've practiced self portraits, so I got one of Ruth Bader Ginsberg instead.  For a small additional fee, this one came with removable glasses.   Tee hee.

Yesterday, I did about 1/2 my project work in the morning and about 1/2 in the evening.  After I was done, I really wanted to do some non-project drawing, but I was also tired and getting ready to head up to bed early, so I just did fairly quick and simple pepper sketch, which I didn't finish.

I started it with the inside edge where the pepper folds over and meets the outer most part of the flatter part of the stem area.  I have never started on the inside because, quite frankly, the inside has never made much sense to me because I haven't been able to really see it.  Working through Drawing Through the Right Side of the Brain gave me some better skills and tools. I really felt like I could see how the edge of one part related to the next and how the sides of the pepper emerged when these edges started to spill over the side.  It was one of those magical experiences where it all worked and my weary left side of the brain, which is dealing with all the shiny newness of a new job, got a little bit of a break.