Saturday, July 30, 2005

My little girls

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I have been fascinated by drawing the human figure for the longest time, probably because I don't do it very well. They aren't as easy as drawing a building or a salt shaker on your kitchen counter; these things you can miss slightly when you sketch them but not a human figure. We humans have had a lot of experience seeing and understanding the figure. We understand the slight nuances of a smile, smirk or playful banter. And if you mess up the direction of a line or draw too much you destroy the outcome.

It is easier to draw my kids when they sleep as they aren't burning pure energy or looking at what I'm drawing and asking me to prepare their paints for them so they can sketch with me (which I love doing). I felt I got it somewhat right when I asked each of them who it was and they answered correctly!! (I paid them off accordingly). Still I feel I have more to learn.

Above is my daughter Miriama (Mimi for short). The drawing on the left Jenny disliked as I missed the proportions on her upper shoulder. Underscoring the great acuity we have for those we know intimately. Had I sketched our car or bicycle she would've not seen I had misdrawn the wheels or fender. But miss the nuance of the eyes or how the nose sits on the face or the cute rounded cheeks then it is immediately picked up on. Maybe it is easier to draw caricatures or cartoons then we can take more liberties. I like the drawings on the right side of the page better. Joshua liked the one of Mimi drinking her bottle- which I thought I goofed up on as well. It is amazing that what we like or think is good are different from everyone else at times.

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Above is my middle beauty Ariana- she is four years old and is already worrying Mom & Dad about the hearts she'll break. Applying watercolor to her face is more abstract.

I think I'm going to go back to what Charles Reid said about applying color. He stressed the importance of not only seeing correct value but applying paint in terms of color shapes. His paintings don't have the subtleties of color but are rather applied quite boldly using correct value although he imagineers his color schemes. I don't know if he said this exactly but it is what I understood and want to explore; and that is the most important part- experimentation. You won't know unless you tried it.

Try mixing color on the paper instead of on the pallete like Mr. Reid does- it is a nerve shattering experience- although you get some interesting and sometimes horrifying results.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Sketching with the Pen

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I quickly sketched this one evening as I came home from work to pick up Jenny and the kids. These kids of ours are enjoying the benefit of happy genes in that their wonderfully olive skin are going deep tan; even our little blondie. Anyway I didn't get much time to sketch this but I got the main ideas down.

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I did these sketches two weeks ago but I haven't had the opportunity to upload these- (so my excuse goes...) I sat down and sketched a portrait of Patricia Routlege- the famous British actress who gave us such wonderful characters as "Hyacinth Bucket" and "Hetty Wainthrop". Jenny and I love her shows. Anyway here is our homage to her.

The other sketch is of a man in our local ward. I sketched it during the priesthood meeting as he taught our lesson Sunday. I guess I was more interested in his caricature than his message (not really true... but so goes the excuse to sketch).

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Beautiful Roadkill

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It is interesting that seeing a animal dead on the road usually brings eewww, gross or even awww like "that is so sad" but the other day I came upon three young Owlings each dead within a 100 feet of each other. I couldn't help think of what a tragedy it was. I was really torn over it. I even stopped at each dead carcass and looked over it eyeing the beauty of its empty shell. I couldn't of imagined what it was that struck down these beautiful raptors. It looked too coincidental like some foul play was involved. It isn't a well traveled road but was coincidentally a few miles away from a pheasant hunting refuge. I have no qualms about hunting for food, but this seemed malicious and unnecessary. Owls are quite rare to see in Utah- so three dead in one area seemed huge. I tried to look up the species online but I only got as close to identifying it as the Spotted Owl- but they only live in Southern Utah in this area.