Who’s That Girl?

I wonder if authors are surprised when a character flows out from their pen or keyboard a fully developed personality with a complete life history. I know the usual process is to agonize over every detail and change character traits until it gels into the person which fits the story.  Sometimes, or so I hear, the character just flows, as if it wants to be born.

When I started drawing the girl below, I did not have a reference, nor did I have a vision of what I wanted her to look like. She just came to the paper, fully developed.

I look at her now and start to image the details of her life, her likes, her dreams, her personality.  It is like having a baby (OK it is not really, but stay with me for a moment).  You put something of yourself into the creation, but in the end, they are their own individual entity – marvelously unique.  I wish all drawings flowed so easily!

I have some exciting changes going on in my world.  I am downsizing from an 1100 square foot 3-bedroom house, to a tiny 500 square foot (or so) 1-bedroom apartment.  Yes, I will officially be a tiny house dweller.  I will also be renting an art studio in a building with other artists!  I am sad to leave my home that I love, but I am looking forward to more financial freedom, less stuff to take care of, and my very own studio space!  I will post pictures as I make the move.

Growth, but still a long way to go

I continue to practice drawing portraits.  Finding myself drawn to the human face, I see it as endlessly fascinating!  Ultimately, I want to create expressive drawings and paintings, but I also long to simply and accurately capture the essence of a face.  Usually I use a reference for my drawings, but the first one below came directly from the act of drawing.  I enjoyed watching the image develop without any preconceived ideas of who I was drawing.

March 10, 2016

 

The rest of the images are from references.  I quite like some, although they don’t come close to representing the actual faces I was trying to draw.  The one directly below has a lot of character which I love.  I also am continuing to try to draw more birds, animals, and elements from nature.

March 11, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

March 12, 2016

March 13, 2016

March 14, 2016

March 15, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 16, 2016

I like the simplicity of this pen drawing above.  Very stylized, but fun.

March 17, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I continue to try and draw a self portrait.  Here is today’s attempt.  The face is too narrow and pinched.  Maybe that is how I feel!  I would really like to be able to get a likeness.  It is hard to look in a mirror and draw because I keep moving, and that doesn’t help.  Trying to get the relationships right is tough. I really admire people who can create a quick sketch that accurately captures a face so that it is instantly recognizable.  I am learning that the slightest mistake can throw it completely off.  I appreciate any suggestions on how to improve!

The Birds are Singing…..

I love Spring. Who doesn’t?  The birds are singing, the squirrels are chasing each other around the tree trunks, and everyone is sneezing.  Ah well, we must take the good with the bad.  This lesson been a recent one for me.  I now know that even when difficult and even tragic events are touching my life, I can still find moments of joy.  I just need to remind myself to slow down and pay attention.

Here are my recent daily drawings:

February 27 – pencil

I missed my first daily drawing (since January 1) on February 26, so the next day, I made two.

February 27 – pen and ink

February 28 – pen and ink

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 29 – pencil

March 1
From a drawing by Raphael – pencil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 2 – pencil

March 3 – pencil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 4 – pencil

March 5 – pen and ink

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 6 – watercolor pencil

March 7 – pen and ink

March 8 – charcoal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 9 2016 – pencil

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphite, Charcoal, and Ink

Drawing is a bit like eating sugar. The more I do it the more I crave it. I feel compelled to pick up my charcoal, or pencil, or pen, and draw as often as I can. This week I made my daily drawings in my sketchbook, as well as some larger pieces on my easel.

February 2, 2016

This was a blind contour drawing where I stopped occasionally to check my position.  It is in one single line.  This is such a great exercise which forces me to look more at the object than the paper. On the Creative Bug website they are having a Daily Drawing Challenge for the month of February.  This drawing is from that challenge.  I may not do the project every day, but only those days I am inspired by the demo.

February 3, 2016

Drawing spools of thread seemed easy enough, that is, until I tried to do it.  As you can see, my proportions are off in several places.  The drawing is a little wonky, but it was fun.

February 4, 2016

The lemons were a blind contour that I added to after I drew the outlines of the leaves and lemons.  I played with two shading methods: stippling and cross hatching.

February 5, 2016

These owlets are from a photograph on office calendar.  They are so sweet in the photo – fluffy and innocent.  I haven’t captured them very well, but I enjoyed trying.

February 6, 2016

Today, I drew several views of a clothespin in ink with added watercolor pencil.  I never thought that such a simple, everyday object would be so interesting to draw!

This week I also completed several drawings from an online class I am taking by Jeanne Oliver called Reflections: Paint Your Story.  I made three drawings using graphite and charcoal. The last one is also graphite and charcoal, but I also added water.

This last one I quite like.  I used a photo of my daughter for inspiration.  While it doesn’t quite capture her likeness, I feel it does give a hint of her sparkle.