From Expressive to Realist

In order to appease the opposing sides of my personality, I attempted expressive figures at QAA to balance my realistic studies at the ARA.

From Bill Buchman's book, Expressive Figure Drawing, I worked with a reed pen for the first time.  I absolutely loved the effect!  My figures are not great, but I had an extremely foreshortened view, and only one chance to get the lines of the contour correct.  I worked on regular drawing paper (hence the wrinkles in the first drawing), and then on watercolor paper.  I used India ink instead of Sumi, but I will try Sumi eventually, since Mr. Buchman indicates that it is better.  I used a Sumi brush for the shadows.  Each sketch was between 5 and 10 minutes.

At the ARA, I started the construct for a portrait on Saturday, a construct for figure drawing on Sunday, and the ever dreaded value scale on Wednesday.  Yes, I am still working on the value scale!  I understand the process, but it is not coming out well at all!  I may have to attempt a second one after I pick out my Bargue.

Monday Work

I thought I would take advantage of my day off from school to attempt another exercise from Stern's How to See Color and Paint It. This activity was meant to convince the painter that there is no such thing as black. We were to take a 3" cube (5" in my case) and cover it in black. Primary colors were to surround it.  7 color statements were evident.   I still don't have the lighting thing down yet, but I'm working on it...

I have not been able to avoid contaminating one color with another, but I like the streaky effect. The author would reprimand me for this, but that is the beauty of doing these exercises without a teacher.

By the way, I realize my cube isn't exact, but I was more interested in the light and color statements than executing a perfect cube.

Therapeutic Torture

Last night I began a Bargue class at ARA.  Instructor Steve and Cindy had me completing a grey scale on Stonehenge paper.  In 3.5 hours, here is what I did:

AND!  it isn't even good!!  My black, though nice and black, is shiny, and my 5 isn't smooth.  I was becoming accustomed to the technique, and though laborious, it was strangely therapeutic.  Perhaps the tedium of the technique was relaxing rather than frustrating after dealing with adolescents all day.

Old and New

I finally finished the Louboutin shoes for a room in my house. I had not been able to work on it, since it needed to dry, so that then I could go back in and clean up some of the muddy color that occurred on account of using black and a palette knife.

Palette = lamp black, alizarin, raw sienna, burnt sienna, titanium white, and some red......

TP:

Since I will be starting a very regimented class on Wednesday (Bargue Drawing at the ARA), I want to make certain I maintain the strides I have made in becoming looser.  I had bought a book that John recommended, How to See Color and Paint It, by Arthur Stern.  It has some simple exercises in discerning color statements.  I somewhat followed the author's directions, but not completely.  I used most of the materials suggested such as the palette, but I was unable to set up the lighting correctly.  With the correct setup, Stern revealed that one should see 9 statements, but I only counted 8, and they were not where he indicated they would be.  I also was not good at remembering to clean off my knife after I dipped into each color; hence, streakiness resulted in some areas.  This may have also been on account that I didn't mix up the statements completely before adding them to the canvas.  I also didn't use the suggested knife for mixing.  I have it, but I could't find it.  In addition, John recommended not using the viewfinder, and I trust him, so I didn't.  Lastly, I used linseed oil rather than turps.  I don't know why, I just did.  Great exercise, and since I only have a limited amount of time, I could easily complete it.  The entire painting only took about an hour.

QAA

Tonight I sketched Nat, the girl with the crewcut:

45 minutes-charcoal on charcoal paper

Before the above, I did 4 quick sketches based on exercises in a book I received from Mama Claus: Expressive Figure Drawing.  I decided I should do as many quick studies as I can, since next week I will be studying 3 days a week at the Academy of Realist Art.

3-4 minutes each with a Conte Crayon:

geometric shapes with the long side of crayon, masses with a broken crayon, dots, contours (sort of)