This Is Not A Pipe

First of all, a belated update on the One Show...it was packed. Reese and I had a great time meeting new friends and appreciate our *not new* (but not old) friends coming out to support us.

Secondly, a friend and I toured 10 museum/gallery spaces on Thursday. 10.

Rice Gallery has an amazing summer window installation by Mike Stilkey called When the Animals Rebel. Thousands of old book's spines become the canvas for whimsical portraits of animals and people. Please follow the link on this one...it's worth it.

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston is classically a favorite. How can one go wrong at such a venerable institution? My friend particularly loves the impressionist era, so we focused our time on the Beck Collection and other impressionist paintings in the same area of the museum.

The Contemporary Art Museum was next with Black Light White Noise. It was like a children's museum for adults--very interactive. In one room there were giant 4' x 4' Plexiglas pods on the floor, that one was encouraged to enter. There was a lambskin fuzzy rug on the floor of the pod, and there were a few pillows around the perimeter on the inside...and headphones. A completely random story was playing in my pod about who knows what? I'm sure the piped in story was meaningful to the pod creator. Or not. Does it not seem that the goal of modern art is for it to be meaningless? The more meaningless it is, the more meaning we are expected to get out of it...right? Rene Magritte expressed this idea beautifully when he painted a pipe, and said about it, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe.", (or, This is not a pipe.), which is a painting we later saw in the Menil Collection.

"René Magritte described his paintings by saying,

My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, 'What does that mean?'. It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable." (excerpted from the Wikipedia article)

One Day, One Show, One Dress, One Nasty Critter, One Long Scream, One Tiny Poodle

The One Show opening reception is tomorrow night at Elder Street Gallery.

Sadly, I didn't paint yesterday because I was trying to figure out what to wear tomorrow night.

There is one dress that will work only if I do not sit down all evening because it's a bit short.

We live in an old house--not vintage, not antique, not shabby chic, just old. There are holes, ie., entry points for all kinds of critters into this old house. Mostly this is just a nuisance: sugar ants, fruit flies, an occasional cricket, slug, or roly poly.....but this morning there was a major nasty critter incident.

I was home alone at the time.

My throat is sore from screaming.

As cute as Disney and Pixar draw these critters, there is nothing *cute* about seeing one in a home environment.

Skipper was useless as a protector.

Abundant

Here I am, at the end of a long stormy summer day, feeling full with satisfaction at a day's painting and equally full from a small cool supper. Some days it is more fun to paint than others, this being one of those days. I am especially pleased with the results of this day's labor.

This was also my first time to use the small glass top of a round table as a palette. The glass surface was very conducive to mixing paints, and slightly larger than any other palette I've used previously. Painting usually requires two palettes when this many colors are mixed. These mixed colors are all skin tones; cute, chubby, fleshy skin tones.

Gloppy Balboa

A while back there was a two for one sale on linen canvases at Texas Art Supply because they were phasing out linen canvases in favor of cotton. I got hooked on linen about a year ago. It's a wonderful surface, especially the smooth portrait grade. I bought more than I should have at the sale, especially considering that there weren't many of the smooth canvases left. Several of the linen canvases I bought are thick weave, which I had forgotten is a bit difficult to paint on, unless one gets gloppy. In order to cover the surface, the paint has to be thick and applied with a heavy hand. If it goes on too gently, the paint doesn't fill in the valleys between the weave. But when it's too gloppy, the paint gets all messy and muddy.

The landscape I'm working on now is from a photo of our time at Balboa Park in San Diego and is on one of these thick weave linen canvases. I've determined that the best solution for painting this one is to lay the paint on thickly, then wait a day or so for it to set, then paint another fairly thick layer. Hopefully this will continue to work well for keeping the colors clean, and covering the surface. This is also giving me a little extra time to make sure that the colors are working well together--deciding what to put where and all that.

Also, since I can only work in small chunks of time on the Balboa Park landscape, I am finally reworking a painting that had bothered me for some time. It's got a lot of work before it's suitable for viewing, but I'm already enjoying the bit that's been reworked. Maybe I won't have bad dreams about it anymore.

Game of Tag

Serg and Lis tagged me.

There are rules involved, well, not rules exactly; they are more like guidelines.

This particular game of tag is about sharing 8 random things about oneself, that people might not know.

Here goes.

1. Remember when it was fun to tell people how old you were, and you couldn't wait until your next birthday? I'm still like that. I'm 43 and a half.

2. For years, I deluded myself into thinking that I could sing and dance. Last summer, someone secretly videotaped Reese and me dancing, and I finally had to admit that my skills and gifts might not be inclined toward that area of the arts. This knowledge, however, has not dampened my enthusiasm.

3. My hair started going grey when I was 15. Even still, it used to be so black that it was blue black.

4. I've been a size 8 since I was in the 10th grade, even though I've gained at least 20 pounds since I graduated from high school. This must be because manufacturers and designers have expanded the waistline on clothes to accommodate growth, so to speak.

5. I have passed for many nationalities, the most unusual being a mixture of Chinese, Hawaiian, and Anglo, but have also passed for Greek, Italian, Spanish, Argentinian, and Jewish, to name a few.

6. More than once, people have asked if they could come watch me work, or do stuff. This seems slightly odd to me, but I've always acquiesced. The latest was last week when a friend asked if she could come watch me paint.

7. Almost from the moment of my oldest daughter's birth, I have been trying to decide on a grandparent name for myself (and Reese). Reese thinks "Leroy and Eunice" are good grandparent names. We are open to suggestions.

8. Reese has a sister named Sarah, so for many years until she married, there were two Sarah Hazels. Often my in-laws have mistaken me for her, especially in e-mail communications. Some of the things they have said to me, thinking it was her, were enlightening.

Once I tag you, please share 8 random things about yourself and then tag 8(or how ever many) friends to share on their blog, too. Please let them know, by commenting on their blog, that they have been tagged. Also, please don't feel obligated to play tag. That said,

"YOU'RE IT!" Mary, Michael, Howard, Nils and/or Araceli, Tricia, Laurie, Laura, and Charlton.

Three Goldfish

Today is the day I will deliver a few paintings to Wind Water Gallery in the Heights. These paintings will be a very small part of a much larger event called Heights First Saturday that happily coincides with Yale Street Arts Market.

The first greeters when walking in the door of Wind Water Gallery are three cheerful goldfish eager to start a conversation. They are swimming--pratically running--in an old carved marble feeding trough that has found a new purpose as their home. Our chat went something like this:

Goldfish: "Hey! Hey! Hey! Down here--we're down here. Look at us."

Me: "Wha--?"

Goldfish: "Hello! Hello. Hello. Welcome to Wind Water Gallery. Have you ever been here before?"

Me: "Huh?"

Goldfish: "It's great....lot's of Asian antiques, jewelry, silk, and your art, right? Oh, oh, of course. You're the new artist."

Me: "Um....yes."

Goldfish: "Hey. How about tossing some food in here for us?"

Me: "Food?"

Goldfish: "Please? Pretty please? Pretty pretty please?"

Me: "OK."

Goldfish: "Oh, thank you thank you thank you. You're a nice lady."

Me: "Thank you. And you all are nice goldfish."

Art Investment

This relatively small pile of art supplies cost $180.39 with a 20% discount! Granted, these are higher quality paints, which is the most expensive part, but this is a fairly common occurrence when buying art supplies. Not only does an artist's heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears (some paintings are more frustrating than others to finish) go into creating work, there is a huge monetary investment as well.


The high cost of art supplies is why my next stop for a few household incidentals was here. The 99 cent only store rocks.

One

Curly: You know what the secret of life is?
Mitch: No, what?
Curly: This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean ****.
Mitch: That's great, but what's the one thing?
Curly: That's what you've got to figure out. (excerpted from City Slickers)

One thing *for sure* is the one show of which I will be a part for one week in July.

Elder Street Gallery is hosting One Show to pay tribute to Houston's rather large art community.

Featuring 40 of Houston's best artists, One pays tribute to Houston's growing art scene. Each of the 40 artists from the greater Houston area will exhibit one single painting in the show. The artists want to promote the fact that Heights, Corridor, Montrose, West U., Downtown, and outlying area artists are working and showing together. This unified front will hopefully present a more cohesive art scene to Houston at large rather than a bunch of fractured little territories (at least for one week in the One Show.) The artists' vision is to focus on the convergence of Houston's various art communities into One.

The opening reception will be on Saturday, July 21, from 6-10 p.m.

Elder Street Gallery is located at 1101 Elder Street, (from Houston Ave., head east on Dart Street to Elder Street) in the Inner Corridor, near I-45 and I-10. Admission and parking are free of charge. For more information, call (281) 250-4889 (or visit the Web site.)

The exhibit runs one week through July 28.

Artists Include: Alex Wilhite, Dan Mitchell, Anila Aghax, Ray Phillips, Nathaniel Donnett, Marie Weichman, Lorena Femande, Shelley Shanks, John Mercado, Lilibeth Andre, Allan Rodewald, Keith J. R. Hollingsworth, Van McFarland, David Brown, William Panzer, Dune-Micheli Patten, Bridgett Vallery, Sarah Hazel, Julie Zarate, Cintia Rico, Mary Ann Lucas, Heidi Powell Prera, Max Boyd Harrison, Dune Tencer, Lacey Crawford, Sergio Santos, Jerrie Glidden, Alissa Fereday, Martin de Vore, Matt Adams, Solomon Kane, Xsemaj, Sorange Castillo, Mitch Cohen, Victoria Lewelling, Richard Varela, AimiDunn, David Weaver, Susan Goettsche

Magnetism

Instead of buying a refrigerator magnet and /or t-shirt (umm....I did buy an In-N-Out Burger t-shirt) on our most recent trip to San Diego for my little sister's wedding, we shopped for local art. Strolling through Coronado's Art in the Park, and then Balboa Park, we happened upon a plein aire gallery in Spanish Village Art Center. There was one piece in particular called "Among the Eucalyptus" by San Diego artist David Ainsley that I liked. It was painted near La Jolla in an eucalyptus grove in autumn, and is especially lovely (to me). It will cost as much as a multitude of refrigerator magnets when and if I buy it, which is very likely, because I was drawn to it.

Here's my favorite wedding photo. I think this is where my dad, the father of the bride and the preacher, is telling Chris, the groom and my new brother-in-law, that it's not time to hold my sister Elizabeth's hand, yet. Chris could hardly wait to have and hold his bride, as if they were already connected by an unseen force. It amused everyone.

Hurry up, Dad. The force is strong with these two.

Think, Think, Think

Between typical end of school year activities and the normal business of life, there hasn't been much (any) time to paint. And with everyone (the daughters) out of the house for a few days, I naturally assumed that there would be five days of painting to my heart's content.

Not so.

What happened?

Life.

People often ask how long it takes me to finish a painting. There's no one answer. Sometimes, like now, I dream of painting-literally, but schedules get whack and I just don't have the time. Does the whole thought process count in how long it takes? Because I think about painting, and think how to plan the next painting, and think how to re-work a painting ALL THE TIME....maybe a bit like Winnie-the-Pooh.

*“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.”

"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit. "No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way."*

*A. A. Milne

Art Splash

A few times a year, all the galleries just off the northwest corner of Richmond and Kirby have opening receptions on the same night. Houstonians come out in droves, and since all are within walking distance of one another, it's an art party for a few hours on a Saturday night.

This weekend's opening was slightly dampened by the burst of a summer storm shortly before go time. The skies cleared and instead of pouring rain, the galleries poured wine, and all was well.

Being creatures of habit, Reese and I started our trek at Goldesberry Gallery to see the installation of Kathleen Holmes "Dresses." We always go to Goldesberry first. Oliver and Nancy Goldesberry are extremely nice, and the art and craft they display is entertainingly quirky. Some day, I will buy something from Oliver.

Then we hit Thornwood Gallery, Dean Day Gallery, Hooks-Epstein Gallery, McMurtrey Gallery, and were on our way to the last stop for the night, Moody Gallery, when a car drove by and puddle splashed the lady walking in front of us. What a shame. Possibly because of the abundance of wine and the necessity of walking, she took it all in stride.

Our evening was topped off by joining new friends for a light supper at Sonoma, a new wine bar on Richmond. The shower of laughter refreshingly harmonized with the damp night air and the merriment of the evening lingers still.

Hilary, Hilary, and Me

Last night's opening reception at The Glassell School of Art 2007 Studio School Student Exhibition was packed. The painting of my sweet daughter, Hilary, was accepted, and will be on display in the gallery until July 25th.

There is a wide variety of art to see besides my little painting--I highly encourage all to attend.

Where: 5101 Montrose Blvd (across from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston).
When: The gallery is open daily from 9 to 5.

By the way, Hilary has the voice of an angel and incredible comic timing. She makes me laugh when she tells her stories, and cry when I hear her sing.

99....100

This is my 99th finished painting and my 100th blog post.

Michelle is a young friend of mine. She has been known to bake for three days straight, then load up all the goodies, and give them to Houston's homeless just because she enjoys baking--and serving. In this painting, Michelle is learning how to bake her grandmother's cookies, a family favorite.

There are a few themes that artists have explored over and over throughout the years, working in the kitchen being one of them. For some time I had wanted to paint a *Young Lady Baking.* Not just anyone, but a scene of someone who "likes" to bake as in "I like to breathe."

Too Two Blurry

In between the frantic moments of installing our artwork for the final, Anna and I managed to get a few photos of our walls. Actually, it was Anna who was prepared with a camera, and while usually not quite so inept, I managed to semi ruin several photos of her in front of her artwork. The photos with Anna in them ended up blurry--poor thing. I feel awful.
These top two photos are Anna's submissions of her work for our life drawing final. On the right are her 10 minute sketches, on the left side are her 20 minute sketches, and in the bottom left corner is her project series. For her project series, Anna cut some quarter inch plywood to size, and dyed those pieces in *strong* tea for the mount. Then she cut open Arizona Ice Tea cans and etched and drew her figures on the inside of the aluminum can, which she then affixed to the tea dyed plywood. The cute fuzzy young lady in the red t-shirt is sweet Anna.

These last two photos are of the wall of work for my final. The eight drawings on the left are the 10 minute or less sketches. The small sketch to the left of the reclining nude is a quick study of Patrick while he was demonstrating how to draw feet. Three of these eight I did on the last day we had a model in class.

Above my head and to the right are my 20 minute sketches. The sketch on the yellowish paper to the right of the reclining nude is a friend who graciously posed while our husbands were playing the guitar together. Thank you, Debra.

And these are the portraits I did of my daughters for my project series. Since the end of class, I have re-worked Erin (top left), Hilary (bottom left), and Joy (bottom right). I have plans to re-work the background in the Joy portrait a little more....

One of these paintings was my submission for the exhibit. I'll find out by Friday if it was selected.

Which one would you have chosen?

Where's Waldo?

For 60 years, The Center for Hearing and Speech has helped children go from a life of silence to a world of sound. Yesterday, CHS hosted a Donor/Volunteer Appreciation Picnic that included music by the Allen Oldies Band, door prizes, children's activities, fajitas, and margaritas. Because of my participation in Via Colori last November, the Center's fundraiser, I was invited, and with a tag line including the word margaritas, who wouldn't go?

The delightful surprise I got when looking at the new brochures for the upcoming Via Colori fundraiser was this!

If one looks carefully, in the top right corner of the photo in the middle of the brochure, there is a man in jeans and a red and blue striped polo shirt. That's Reese! And if one looks even *more* carefully, the person standing beside Reese, to his right, in jeans and a light pink t-shirt wearing a black baseball cap, is me!

The 100 square feet on the street in front of us "painted" in pastels, is the giant bit of artwork I worked on that day.

Here we are again! Click on the Via Colori link above to see our photos of the event.

Due to temporary insanity, I've agreed to participate as a select artist in the next Via Colori. Remind me to start stretching months in advance.

Sophie's Choice

To paraphrase Patrick, he says that one of the best ways to gain credibility as an artist is to enter competitions, exhibitions, and contests. How and where do artists find out about these events?

Recently (yesterday) I did enter one in the series of portraits of my daughters in an exhibition. The competition is mighty fierce. When dropping off the painting, the guard dog, er, excuse me, guard lady in the room was quite forceful (barking, really) in not allowing anyone to see the other entries. But paintings were everywhere....large, small, hyper realism to complete abstract modern and everything in between. Many, if not most were extremely well done. It will completely be the judges' fancy that selects pieces from such a broad variety of two and three dimensional work.

The hard part for me was selecting which daughter painting to put in the show. It seemed highly discriminatory to have a preference for which painting to use, especially since I gave birth to the whole bunch, so to speak. On the way to drop off the painting, the options were narrowed to two "daughters" in the backseat. First I went to the store to pick up a few non perishables......then on to Diedrich's to buy my favorite morning cappuccino coffee blend, Weiner Melange--mmmm. All this stalling was because I STILL could not commit to which painting to enter. Not until the very absolute last minute did I make a choice. Oh, the dilemma!

There is a definite crowd favorite of the four paintings of my daughters, but for this particular exhibition I picked a different one. Who knows if it's what the the judges will like? I like it as does said daughter, and since it's her likeness in oil on linen, I guess that's what really matters.

The Fat Lady Sings

Since last Thursday I've been incredibly busy putting together and finishing my portfolio for the final in the life drawing class, which was yesterday. Tuesday night, this painting of Hilary (one of my project series) was still slightly wet---that's how down to the wire I was. For the 20 one hour sketches in our sketchbook, finishing was like trying to reach a carrot dangling from a fishing pole just beyond reach. (Hmmm, that must make me the....donkey.) It seemed like I always had one more to do, even as I finished new sketches. Honestly, I can't tell you how many times I counted and re-counted to make sure I had enough, all the while drawing more. The hours turned to days before I got a bite of that carrot.

What happens for the final is that everyone takes a turn putting up their finished sketches/drawings/gestures on a foam board wall and Patrick critiques. There are two walls for this purpose, so while one student's work is discussed, another student is putting up their work on the other wall. My "show" was next to last, right after Anna's, which meant that I was furiously trying to get my wall set up while Patrick was discussing Anna's work. Bummer. I really wanted to hear what he had to say about Anna's stuff, but I missed the whole thing.

Patrick asked me after looking at my wall,

"So, why did you take this class?"

Many people have asked this, so I've had all semester to think about it. The best answer I can come up with is that I wanted to stretch (see last post) my abilities and test my skill level to see if I could really do it. There's always been a mystery about drawing the naked human body, and now there's not. It's easier now to quickly see what information needs to be interpreted, it's easier to quickly sketch this information, and hopefully this will translate into some amazing paintings, though not necessarily paintings of nudes, in fact, probably Never Nudes.

Taking the class with my daughter is on my top ten list of most favorite experiences of all time--no question.

After class, Anna and I hosted a small party at our house. It was great to relax and visit with everyone in a different environment. We served yummy wine, good beer, Barefoot Bubbly, and grapefruit crostini, recipe courtesy of Michael McAfee. (I'll add a link to the recipe soon. It's good!)

Small disclaimer for mom and dad and others sensitive to the published nude drawings, you will want to stop reading and looking at this point. Really, stop now or forever hold you peace.

This will likely be the last nude drawing for quite some time.











THE END

Sketching Is Stretching

There are few things I dislike as much as stretching. In the exercise world, I would much prefer to just go run. Maybe bend a little at the waist and pretend to stretch, but I don't go out of my way to stretch when in a religious running stage. (not an issue these days)

In the last two and a half months, I've drawn well over 250 sketches. Up until now, I had maybe filled a sketchbook and a half---maybe. And even some of that has been in the last year or so. Of late, even that was just testing composition before starting a painting, which tends to get muddy with excessive manipulation. In these last two months, I've bought and almost filled nine sketchbooks.

Reviewing these nine sketchbooks looking for stuff to use in the final portfolio for this life drawing class, I'm a little dumbfounded that it's difficult to find worthy representations of the work done in class. What I perceived as slightly above average two months ago now seems barely passable.

Perhaps it ties in somehow with my attitude toward stretching---wanting the benefits of the program without regard for the preliminary exercise, if you will. Since in the exercise/running world I am such a wimpy stretcher, I guess it stands to reason that in the drawing/painting world I would be a sketchy sketcher. Characterizing this trait as eagerness seems to have a more positive connotation than say, impatience or lack of discipline. Character flaw or not....it's curious how it transcends both worlds in a similar way.

(Pssst! It was the same with piano lessons growing up. I never liked practicing scales (who does????) preferring just to learn songs and melodies, especially boogie-woogie.)

Portrait of Anna

End Times

Today was Frederick's last day to pose for our class before moving to San Francisco. He has very pleasant eyes, and a quick and ready smile. Some of the ladies in the class especially enjoy sketching Frederick....Perhaps it has something to do with those pretty eyes, his sense of humor, or his awesome physique?

Also, we spent a great deal of time discussing the requirements for the final.
Each student needs to complete:

~ 20 one hour homework interpretive sketches (these can be copies of other artists work,)

~ 8 ten minute gesture drawings--presumably done in class, and

~ 8 twenty minute *finished* gesture drawings, and then the

~ 4 project series related drawings, for which I am painting my daughters portraits.

Then Patrick discussed what *finished* means. First, with clean hands clean up the pieces by erasing fingerprints and messy edges. Next, make sure the composition is pleasing, which might require some scissor-type editing. Then he talked about hot spots and edges, and this is where I got lost. There was something about planes being near each other.....(?)

"Neighboring planes cannot share light (like?) values."

I kept envisioning John Candy in Planes, Trains, & Automobiles when Patrick was talking about planes. Even now I'm shaking my head. What?!

When class was through, Frederick had us all pose for him and he took a photo of us! It was really cute.

Que Dios le bendiga.

Sisters

This is what I've been working on lately. These are almost finished portraits of my oldest and youngest daughters, but are part of a series of all four daughters. I've started on Hilary (the 3rd), but haven't begun the painting of Anna (2nd), yet. I've been wanting to paint my daughters for a while, but probably wouldn't have started these paintings, except for this life drawing class. In order to make a good grade in the class, we need four related completed drawings. How much more related can you get than sisters?

Shades of Grey

Handout

Yesterday was the first time that nude model David came to our class to pose. He was great! I enjoyed the freshness of the different poses, and he was still (like an apple.)

"Like an apple" reminds me of how hungry I was. Class starts at 1 o'clock and usually I'm pretty well fed before getting there. But the coffee bean supply at home was depleted as were some art supplies, so before class I ran a few errands. During the first break, I went to the vending machine (yuck--not recommended) to buy some snacks. While at the vending machine buying Chex Mix and M&M's, a man in our class, Camron, also buying snacks, spoke up. He said,

"Your daughter really helped me understand how to draw faces when we were in lab on Friday. She told me (?--blah blah) and it was like a breakthrough moment for me. Now I'm drawing faces better than I ever have."

It's great to see others appreciate how wonderful Anna is. Without Anna in that class, I would be muddling through. Not only is she delightful, but extremely helpful. She has a way of explaining things in a patient understandable way. She's a natural.

The focus of this class was on how to draw hands. I followed along well enough with the instruction this week, making sure to concentrate from the beginning. Patrick talked about the palm of the hand being like a 4 inch by 4 inch by 1 inch box, with an attached turkey leg (the thumb,) and four fingers made of balls and ovals. That visual word picture helped with the practice hand, but when it came time to sketch during the pose, trying to remember that "formula" held me back a little. Patrick also was talking about the techniques of how to do what and which tools to use. During classroom intermission, I asked if he would please explain what he meant(?), as this class (not this class specifically, but the general life-drawing class) was the first time I have used pastels/chalk. He said something about erasers and vine charcoal, and something else. Hmm, better ask Anna about all that, too.

Good grief, the music in class was driving me nuts! After what seemed like an eternity of horrible music, the theme from Hawaii 5O came on and energized the atmosphere....then Wipeout and at least 4 more surf music songs. Anna was at the easel next to me, and it was obvious that she was enjoying the surf music, too. She and I both started dancing in place. Even my hands were drawing to the surf beat. Imagine that.





(Chex Mix-75 cents. M&M's-60 cents. Minty gum to freshen breath after vending machine snack-50 cents. Not being hungry in class-priceless.)

Four-Play

While Patrick was demonstrating the correct proportions for drawing a person's head, I was completely distracted by the skeleton he had up front. Half listening, I started sketching the skeleton's head.


Then I realized that I was missing the ins and outs of what goes where proportionally, eyes in relation to the ears and such, and switched the brain to really trying to pay attention to the words coming out of Patrick's mouth. It was one of those Charlie Brown moments, though. Remember when the Peanuts gang is in school, and the teacher talks?

"Wah wah wah wah wah wah."

When I have a hard time hearing someone, I focus on the movement of their mouth. That way I can concentrate on the words as they are formed, and therefore (at least theoretically) hear what is being said a little better. (It does help sometimes.) But I was also distracted by trying to draw what Patrick was demonstrating. Not only do I have to focus on his mouth to hear him, I have to concentrate on his hands as they are drawing. My attention was additionally diverted when some VIPs came to observe our class for a few minutes. At least it was a non-nude demonstration at that point.

Time to practice what Patrick preached. These last two sketches are of Frederick, well, Frederick's head.

During the remaining few minutes of class, we turned our easels inward and Patrick critiqued our favorite 20 minute sketch. My favorite was the one with Fredrick looking left. It had been more sketchy, but Patrick suggested softening some of the lines and blending the "skin tones."



Hmmm, maybe I should do the same thing on the sketch with Fredrick looking right, too.

Lab Blog

In Friday's lab, we get to do whatever we want---no instruction/no restrictions. The idea is to practice all of the different techniques we have studied thus far. Patrick wants us to understand light, medium, and dark values and translate that in a believable way on our paper.

This week, I was again impressed with Martha as she posed for us. She is an absolute professional. There was a point during one of her poses when she started coughing. After the little fit, she regained her composure without a fault. There must have still been a scratch in her throat because while sketching her face, I saw a tear roll down her cheek.

She sits like an apple. It's so much easier to draw when someone sits (or stands) without changing position.