Spinal

Ribs

The Artist Uncertainly

I painted this from a selfie shot. I worked on it over 2 days, about 3 sittings totaling 5-6hrs (how ever it works out with interruptions!)

It's not super refined if you zoom in, but I don't think that matters (look closely at masterworks and you just see paint blotches!) Although there are areas I would work on more if I were to invest another sitting in this (the shirt. Refining the folds of the head scarf, smoothing out the form of the glasses, double checking the luminosity of the ear)

One thing that surprised me was the use of color. In the past 90 days of my daily art habit I've rarely worked in color- just gray-scale (except for the texture studies), so I wasn't sure I could do color work. I did start in gray scale for the larger forms and setting up the highlight and shadows of the image, but transitioned to color in the 2nd sitting. I feel really good about how the color worked out! There is a rainbow of hues in my skin! So incredible when you are up close and really studying the effect of the warm yellow light and the red environment's effect and the purple undertones and the pink of skin in places! Wow.

But there I am. I can't wait to see what I can do in 90 more days of art! I am going to try to increase from a 30 min minimum to at least an hour of art per day.

Cranial

I've been gradually working on learning anatomy, from the bones up. I'm starting with the skull, then the spine, then the pelvis and ribs. Much of my practice is actually on paper, as I like to work on it while I'm out and get myself a cup of coffee and study. I'll try to make copies of some of the drawings too.

Fleshed out 1

Lighting faces painted over given lines with different lighting from memory. Instructor suggests going back to reference to learn where the blends are softer and where there are harder edges.

WIP Profile Portrait

Fire Rooster Line Art

Drawing Is

A drawing is not expected to be complete or to be the definitive word on any subject. Its charm is its spontaneity, its freedom, its surprise. For many artists drawing is a way of exploring life. Edward Hill, professor of art at the University of Houston, declared, “The object of all drawing is to intensify experience.” Indeed many artists rely on their drawing to shape experience. Ten years ago, Eleanor Dickenson found that her mother, bedridden through long illness, had died. The first thing she did was cry. The second thing she did was take out a sketch pad and draw her mother's lifeless face. “I experience things by drawing them,” she says.

Drawing is a way of seeing. One test of whether you really understand something is whether you can put it into words in such a way as to teach it to someone else. Another test is whether you can draw it. A drawing is a picture of your understanding. Matisse declared that “to draw is to make an idea precise. Drawing is the precision of thought.” As most understandings are flawed, most drawings are flawed. One draws chiefly to advance one’s understanding.

Because it's aims are gradual and cumulative, drawing is a discipline, an organizing and training and honing of the imagination so that one may be ready to work spontaneously whenever called upon. It is a discipline that requires constant exercise.

(Excerpt from pg 22-23 of The Undressed Art: Why We Draw by Peter Steinhart)

Chicken Studies

Reference Practice, Values

Brush Stroke Limited

These were made with a stroke count limit. The first is a self portrait done with 300 strokes (X every 30 count) the Fish was 400.

Texture Studies