Man, This Takes Practice!

Like I said, Man, this takes practice. I'm referring to drawing people in general. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Maybe the practice keeps me sharp...

So last week at Sketch Club, we drew my sketching buddy's mother from an old portrait. Doesn't look much like her, but I it pleases me. Then a family member fiddling with the remote.

Still Inching Along

Into the wee hours and inching along. The end is in sight, however. Maybe this week?

I rather like the way the plaid strands fade in and out.

Out & About, 1

Out and about, a couple of pots in Nabeul and people on the street. Ballpoint pen and Prismacolor pencils.

I'm rather tickled because I found my favourite ballpoint pen (Reynold's Pointe Fine 045) in a four-color package. I haven't found this since the beginning of school in September. So I bought 3 packages. In the meantime, my sketching buddy, knowing I was on the lookout for them, bought me three packages as well. I'm well-stocked now. One of the cheapest pens around...

Bag Jag, 10

Maybe just a couple more strands are needed for the reverse side of my jeans bag.

Inching along...

The front side is here.

Linked to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday."

Bootkamp, 8

A Bootkamp assignment gave me the motivation to revisit this colonial building on my way to work. Usually tile work is not found on the exterior walls of a building.

Needless to say, this was a building that required attention to detail. This started with a fast sketch in watercolors, then pen work, and finally some coloured pencils.

Basta!

Bootkamp, 7

We just finished a week of writing assignments, fooling around with scripts at the Sketchbook Skool Bootkamp. Stretching some unused muscles--this is not something I would ordinarily play with, but it was interesting. 

I wrote Robert Frost's poem, "Fire and Ice," with a dip pen, which was fairly out of control...and therefore exciting. I added a "take-a-line-for-a-walk" and Prismacolor pencils.

I rather liked the lines of the dip pen--think I'll play with it some more.

Looking Out My Window

I did a small sketch looking out my window. The cat basking in the sun drew my attention, then I kept adding things. Took me an hour...

Suffering Students

More "Suffering Students" themed pages...two days of proctoring exams in a cold, unheated building. At least I could walk around. The students were tied to their seats for three hours...

True, it is springtime, but still cold. I'll just sit in bed all weekend with lots of pillows and quilts and hot tea, and correct all those exams...

Bootkamp, 6

Sketchbook Skool Bootkamp homework--draw city folk fast. So when we went out to buy groceries, I sketched in my small daily journal. Ballpoint pen and Prismacolor pencils.

Inching Along

Inching along late a night. 

I may be close to finishing this long-awaited bag.

Of course, every time I say that I might be approaching the end,

more needs to be added...It's a slow process.

Daily Journal

Working on final exams and course prep. Not much time, a few minutes here and there for my small journal. A ruined gate that I see on my trip to work (in red) and the view from my classroom.

Bootkamp, 5

When in doubt, do a lot...more continuous line selfies.

Five different people, each one with a bit of me. 

Maybe the red/purple one is closest. Fun and fast, all the same.

Bootkamp, 4

Painful homework at the Sketchbook Skool Bootkamp. (No pain, no gain, as they say.) Selfies/self-portraits. 

First, a fast watercolor drawing, then a slow pen drawing on top.









Secondly, a continuous line drawing without glasses--very fuzzy vision. 


I'm doing extras because I have given myself permission to be very bad.
The good thing is that I am now able to attempt to draw myself and appreciate all the wrinkles. 

"My face is a map of my time here." (Laura Smith Song).

Bootkamp, 3

The assignment was to lay down a warm watercolor wash and then use coloured pencils over it. So I continued my orange peel theme. 

The "take-a-line-for-a-walk" spilled over from my small daily journal and served as a frame.

Bootkamp, 2

Another assignment for the Sketchbook Skool Bootkamp: copy an artist that you like. The choice was tough because color is my first love. There are the Impressionists, the Expressionists, the Fauves, etc. What about Paul Klee, Louis Moilliet, and Auguste Macke, whose exhibit about their 1914 trip to Tunisia I saw in December? Then there's Kandinsky, Matisse, Delauney, Turner, Franz Marc...the list is long. I flipped through my books and the internet and found a million possibilities. Overload. Basta. I went and fixed dinner.

Then I remembered Daumier, a 19th century French caricaturist with biting wit. I checked the internet. Bingo. In fact, I was dazzled by his sketches. The lines are wild and squiggly and scribbly, very fine with a few lines emphasized. Very little color. By the time I finished sketching, I had a very loose hand.

Apparently Daumier hated lawyers. The darkest figure has two faces, which took me a while to figure out as Daumier's sketch is a bit more subtle. This was fast and fun.