What Have I Done!?!

I signed up for a different on-line class. I signed up late yesterday and the class started today. That meant I needed to get through all of the introductory information, which was available prior to today, the first set of lessons, and the first day of homework. Needless to say, this took a big chunk of the day.

This is going to be a time commitment, during a busy time of year, but I am glad that I did it. I think it will be a useful class and help me gain skills. When you sign up, you are committing to keeping up with the twice per week release of lessons and the 30 minute per day homework. On a few days, there is even more of a time commitment. The plus side is that unlike the other online classes that I've seen, this instructor is involved and offers feedback. Somehow, I'll get this done, plus my painting homework.

The class is with Roz Stendahl and it's called Drawing Practice - Drawing Life Subjects In Public. The class is starting with gestural drawing. There was a lot of information to take in and I can tell that my brain does not quite get it. Most of the drawings that I did focused more on contours. This was the closest that I got to the concept. I truly am okay with that.

Most of what we will be doing is not going to be "pretty" or even finished. Still, I plan to post examples here and there in order to document my journey!

Sketchbook!!

I would like to start keeping a sketchbook. While doing scribble-type drawings is fine, I'd like to start documenting things in my life, and think about layout and design. It would be fun to develop some skills with this. I love the idea of being able to capture some of the small special moments of day to day life or those unique ones from traveling. One thing that I like about drawing and painting is that it  can sear a moment in time in your heart and brain.

Since I enjoy gardening and growing things, inspiration over the spring, summer, and fall is readily available. Today, I went out and captured one of my rhubarb plants. It's still early in the growing season, so the plant is not full sized yet.

I'm also debating whether or not to sign up for another online class. There is one that starts tomorrow. I'm not sure that I have the time, but I am really intrigued. There's lifetime access to the content, so I suppose the worse that can happen is that I will fall behind (like I have on several other classes).

I Finally Painted

I need to find the time and discipline to paint more. Other parts of my life have been in overdrive and I just haven't been able to carve out the time. Finally tonight, I did. It felt good.

While I am not pleased with my brush strokes, I am very pleased with the eyes. For a long time, I just could not see the different shades and things going on in a cat's eyes. Slowly, I'm starting to see more.

I Needed Fun

I needed some fun, so I did two more apple drawings. These are very enjoyable to do. My hatching was done as neatly.

30 Day Brush Pen Challenge

The brush pen challenge has not been happening. Even though I am less than enamored with it, I'm going to try and get back on track, since consistent habit yields progress. This morning, I drew my teapot two ways, one with the brush pen and one without.

Drawing 7 - teapot

This goofy little teapot continues to be hard for me to draw. It is wider than it is tall, not that you can tell that from my drawings!  Also in the hatched one, I tried to capture the values, but I am off. It's hard.  The teapot is a dark cobalt blue, so I have troubles seeing the minor changes in values. Next time, I might cheat by first trying to see it for myself and checking that against a black and white photo.

That Was Fun

I watch this video of Crosshatching with Tommy Kane on the Sketchbook Skool blog and did this drawing.

It was really, really fun to do. Building up values in this way made sense to me as a way to create shape. It also looks way cooler than my usual scribbly lines.

I still need to leave my light values even lighter!! It is much less frustrating to realize this on a four minute drawing than on a painting.

Drawing While In Class

Yesterday, I was in training all day. I could not get a good view of an empty chair, so instead I work on a several quick sketches of people. I liked this one better before I added any facial features.

When I opened up my sketchbook to start this sketch, I realized that I never posted some of the sketches from the conference that I attended 1 1/2 weeks ago.

My goal is to sketch, so I don't lay things about very well on the paper and different sketches run into each other. The top picture is actually a combination of two separate sketches.