the natural way to draw

Potted Violets in White; graphite on paper; 5.5" x 8.5"

I've returned again to Nicolaide's instruction book: The Natural Way to Draw.  I love the idea of a regimen and the discipline of all his neatly laid out schedules.  And I adore the materials he requires: manila paper, 3B graphite, watercolor in only Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Black, lithograph crayon, etc.  But the practice of his method can be quite unpleasant and frustrating because it seems like you're deliberately drawing in a most unnatural way.  The hope is that the efforts will yield breakthroughs and new insights.  And I think the hope is well-founded.  But there really is no way to measure one's progress.  Maybe by recording my experiences on this blog I'll see some concrete evidence of improvement.

Ironically, the drawing above came about after a frustrating attempt at contour drawing.  I simply wanted to break free and draw my own way.  This, I can see, is my natural way to draw with lots of tonal variations and selection of emphasis.  Plants are so complex with all of their overlapping elements and changing light on dark and then dark on light.  They're definitely a favorite subject of mine. 

mobile - hanging in 3D

Christmas Memories; 36" x 48" x 48"; copper wire, birch plywood, thread and housepaint

While influenced by Alexander Calder, I made this mobile to replace my oak leaf mobile - which had an unfortunate encounter with a radio controlled helicopter - at Christmastime.



self portrait as a dress form

And now for something entirely different: Self Portrait as a Dress Form; linen, poly fill, thread, silk, plywood, pine, and a 5# barbell weight; 31" x 9" x 6"

I've been meaning to share this for a while and Olga's recent post gave me the nudge I needed.  She writes beautifully in her latest blog post about her desire to explore three dimensional ideas.  I'm excited to see where this will take her.  For me, I have one more sculpture to share here - I'll do that tomorrow. After that I'm back to painting.  I have a group of snowflake paintings floating around in my head.  Must get them out - after all, it's almost summer time here.

by the creek

outdoor sketch, oil on linen, 6.25" x 10"

Here's how I spent my afternoon yesterday.  The weather was beautiful - high of 58 and sunny.  The ducks, swans and goldfinches were all in fine form.  I'm sure there were other creatures out there too but those were the ones that came into my field of view.  I was painting by a little walking bridge and as it turned out, the vantage I chose gave the passersby a front row seat.  It's always nice to hear their kind comments.  And I like having plenty of people around because I feel much safer that way.

bud break scan

outdoor sketch; oil on linen; 6.25" x 10"

Here's a scan of the little sketch from Wednesday.  It's dry enough to scan now - which makes for a much better representation.  Also, if you click on it to expand the image you'll see quite a bit of detail.

I'd like to get out and paint again today.  The weather's beautiful and the trees are leafing out even more now.  If I can't get out though, I'll draw.  I've been having fun going over one of Andrew Loomis' books - the one on drawing the figure.  Love those frolicking skeletons!

snowflake thumbnails

thoughts on larger snowflake fields

flurries continue

snowflake studies in progress

These are doing what I want so far - surprising me.  Not unlike when a newly cut paper snowflake is first opened up.

a flurry

three snow flake studies in progress

I love how the backgrounds (green, red and blue gradients) affect the flakes.  No favorites yet, I'm just enjoying the play of color and value on the flakes and how the different fields create varying moods and intensities.

bud break by the marsh

outdoor oil sketch, oil on linen, 6.25" x 10"

packing up



 

To mix things up, tomorrow I'll head outside to paint.  Here's a scan of the brush box I clip to my French easel when I'm in the field.  It's hard to read the packing list on it because the box wouldn't lie flat in the scanner.  So here it is again a little easier to read:

• brushes
• brush box (an old Creamette angel hair pasta box)
• brush box clip
• bungee cord
• 7 colors
• comment book
• eraser
• hat
• mirror
• 2 paper towels (per support)
• pencil
• phone
• repellent/sunscreen
• support(s)
• trash bag
• wipe
• view finder

My puppy chewed on my view finder years ago but I still like to use it:

 

 

Can you see the little saw kerfs that mark half-way on each side of the opening?

 

 

 
 

done studying

Paper Snowflake; 10" x 6.25" oil on linen

I'm really happy with this little study.  It's given me a lot to bring forward into new work and a feeling that I did my best to bring this idea to life.  The idea being that tiny things like snowflakes, real and snipped from paper, have a weight and presence all their own.  They have significance.

snow flake in progress

work in progress, 10" x 6.25" oil study on linen

I might want to try a paper doily at some point.  But for now, these flakes are nice. 

12 sided study

10" x 6.25" oil study on linen

This may become an under painting.  When dry, I might want to work in the design now that the facets' values are looking like creased paper.

Sometimes I miss painting cast shadows.  My models hang in large fields of color and, by design, there are no surfaces for shadows to be cast upon.  With the rare exception of a stem casting a shadow on its pear or apple, these paintings only allow for light to fall on a part of the object itself.  Without cast shadows in the field, the surrounding space seems infinite - heightening the weight of the object and the attention it attracts.

When I saw this snowflake's shadow on the wall however, I saw again the beauty of a cast shadow - how it echoes the shape of the object and cools the surface it plays upon.

paper-ly-ness

oil sketch on linen, 10" x 6.25"

 

No two are alike.  Maybe that's why I ended up improvising the design as I painted.  Or it could be focusing on tone, edges, color and paper-ly-ness above all else. 

 

I really do like the design of the model though.  Next time I'll try to add more accurate representation.  But for now this is enough.

flakes

paper snowflakes and a ribbon

paint on the floor

 

The painting studio is coming along.  All of the sewing things are out now and all of the painting tools have been moved in.  The twisting tape measure (you can see the little sketch in the upper left above) and the white night gown are two ideas that need more examination.  So thoughts of next paintings are moving in along with the practical means to make them.

You can see the floor of the studio in the photo above.  There used to be plush white carpeting there - it came with the house.  With a dog and woods, I never did a very good job of keeping it white.  So it's been ripped up (the padding too) and replaced with 6 coats of water-based house paint - 2 of primer, 2 of light brown and 2 of satin varnish.  The design along the edge ties the room to the rest of the house - at least I think it does.

a blue background

oil sketch on linen, 10" x 6.25"