Below are some things that have appeared in my sketchbooks recently. I’ve been setting a timer for myself when sketching and so far this has been really successful with keeping me on task. I keep sketchbooks mainly to practice drawing and to make thumbnail sketches. I’m rarely inspired to do art journal spreads like some people. Even so, I have really enjoyed reading Cathy Johnson’s new group blog Artists’ Journal Workshop, which she created to expand upon and promote her forthcoming book.
There’s no denying that portraits are a tricky business, but after practicing for many years now, I feel that I have mastered the basics. Fine tuning is always necessary, but I rarely make drawings that are so bad I have to tear them up anymore. I have a new challenge coming up though – a portrait of a baby – something I have never done before. Drawing children is a whole new thing for me, so I’ll be looking through my art books and doing a lot of practice sketches.
I haven’t done any portraits in a number of months, so I wanted to get some practice in the other day as a sort of warm up exercise. This is a self portrait with wet hair, done in graphite in my craft paper sketchbook. I can see a lot of problems with it, but my boyfriend immediately recognized it as me, which is always a good sign.
I am always looking for artists who do great portraits. Many of them hone their skills by sketching people on the subways and trains. Here are a couple of artists that do great portrait work. Leave a comment with a link if you come across any others.
Lately I’ve had a hard time finding motivation and have been putting off necessary chores and also sketching. I used to get a lot of work done after I got home from work every day, but for the past few months I have been so exhausted that I have been spending all evening recouping and mentally preparing myself for the next day. I think it might be because it is winter because I felt like I had a lot more energy in the summertime.
For the past few days I have been trying out the Twenty Minute Trick that Michael Nobbs talked about in one of his “micro-podcasts.” It has been very helpful for me when doing boring things like picking up my laundry and unloading the dishwasher. I have yet to try it for sketching but I’m planning to attempt that today.
About the image: I sketched this from a photo that Chris snapped of me while I was lounging in bed and talking on my phone. Although it is a horribly unflattering angle, it was great practice in foreshortening.
Life is one long process of getting tired. -Samuel Butler
I’m sick at the moment, with a cold or the flu I’m not sure. Most days I haven’t been sketching at all, but on the days that I have been sketching, I haven’t been making anything presentable enough to post. Today I am sipping hot apple cider and listening to a free world music sampler from Amazon. Soon I hope to work up the energy to pick up my sketchbook and start working again.
I had a full day yesterday, but sadly left drawing until the very end. Not wanting to put off drawing for the day, I decided to do some late night sketching before the clock struck twelve. I was wearing my “do rag” in my hair and my long sleeved flannel nightgown (the a/c was on). I was sleepy and my eyes were crossing and the lighting was bad. I was sitting on the floor next to my bed with a mirror in my lap and my sketchbook on the floor next to me, hence the wonky proportions. And all the while I was doing this I was chatting with my boyfriend on AIM, stopping every few minutes to type a reply. I must admit it was not the most productive use of my time.
Today I read this article on using simplicity to help unleash creativity. I realized I have been violating almost all of these points – number eleven is what struck me as the first thing I need to remedy. I need to just “show up” some more, both physically and mentally.
I’m not going to apologize for neglecting this blog, because I’ve been paying attention to the rest of my life instead, and that is a good thing. Yesterday I was sitting with Papou in the hospital and he told me about the time that he went AWOL from basic training so he could visit Chattanooga, TN to see Lookout Mountain. I’ve been thinking that I need to do something risky like that. I need a mental jump start and I’m considering all viable, i.e., moral, options. Suggestions are welcome.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Matthew 26:41
This verse describes my current situation, on a variety of fronts. Enough said.
This is the only drawing I have made all week. I will be remaking this drawing at some later date, fixing some things that went amiss.
In other news, I will soon have some new sketches from Vermont that I will be posting. I am writing this now as a way to force myself to actually make these sketches, because people will be expecting them. I know I will have the opportunity, but I don’t want to get distracted or let myself drink too many beers so that I can’t draw properly, etc. I am hoping for a good weekend.
This is an unfinished sketch for something that I’m working on – a small taste for you. I have a general idea of where I will go with it.
Below is a video of a José González song that I like. The animation is sort of trippy. It was also what I was listening to while drawing this. I usually listen to very mellow songs while drawing because I find it helps me achieve zone experiences more often. I am always looking for new “drawing music” and I frequently tinker with my art music playlist, adding new songs. If you have any suggestions for me, leave me a comment. Thanks!
Having just finished my mid year review for my regular job, I knew it was time to write my art mid year review as well. So far this year has been one of my best ever, and I am very excited about the rest of it. For the first time in my life, I feel like I am truly in control of my destiny, and I like being a free agent! I started the year off with a long list of goals and a lot of pressure, which you can read here. Since then, I have decided to make a dramatic shift. I stopped caring about the goals I originally set and started thinking about a new set of priorities. The two original goals that I ended up doing very well were finishing the sketchbooks and practicing daily sketching. I finished four sketchbooks so far and will finish my fifth this evening. As for daily sketching, there were a number of months I took over five days off, but it was because some (much needed) social things came up. I don’t consider that a failure at all. I did work in a series as well in my Series of Men. I am actually considering starting this back up because I got a few more ideas since then and I got a lot of good feedback.
I think my shift in attitude started when I spent that week at Snow Farm at the end of April. Spending hours upon hours working on my artwork every single day made me realize that I can hack it better than I thought I could. This year I started blogging at Cathy Johnson’s new blog Sketching in Nature, which was a real honor for me. Recently, I have also started work on the Moly_x_Portrait6 moleskine exchange. You can see my first entry here.
Even though I revised my goals, I am not going to discuss them quite yet. Epictetus sums up the reason perfectly:
Most people only know how to respond to an idea by pouncing on its shortfalls rather than identifying its potential merits. Practice self-containment so that your enthusiasm won’t be frittered away. -Epictetus
This is my most accurate self portrait, at least to how I look in the mirror. I really tried to get the proportions right, and I even drew in my unusual (and not matching) eyes. I started it late at night and stayed up so late working on it that I had trouble staying awake. I finished it up the next day, and am generally pleased with how it came out. I have mixed feelings about the lighting though. I drew it from a photo I took of myself in my bedroom with only an overhead light, hence the odd shadows. I think it makes me look a little moody or depressed or something. This was not how I was feeling at all though. In fact, I was feeling really inspired and energetic.
This was the first drawing that I made without using my favorite 2B pencil. It had grown so short that I could no longer insert it into my pencil sharpener. And it wouldn’t fit into my pencil extender, so I couldn’t use it anymore. I have another 2B now of the same brand (Derwent), but doesn’t feel as smooth and I’m not used to having something so long in my hands!
