Pencil Shavings

Thoughts on Commuter Sketches

I like doing these stippled (dot) drawings.  I like drawing on the train. I was showing my drawings to my friend and she said that probably one of the good things about drawing strangers this way is that the pressure of getting a likeness is off.  Which is true.  While I do like to make to make them as accurate as I can, since I finish them later in the day they must veer away from a true likeness because memory is a tricky thing.

I love the layering of the dots to create the image  I start with something really faint, just the main landmarks of the face, and some indication of lights and shadows.  Then I keep building to add shadow form.

 It is also a really meditative process, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking of the image exactly, I have thoughts about making areas darker, defining shapes, but the stippling is a slow process of just making one tiny mark after another and that frees up my mind to wander.  And the places it wanders to are sometimes surprising, and inspiring.

 

Productivity is Productive

Before I say anything I would like to wish my American friends a happy July 4th.  Be careful out there.

Yesterday I did turn off my internet for two hours.  I cleaned the house for the first bit because knowing that I had shut off my connection made me feel weird.  Then I sat down and did some work that I had been putting off.  

Alas, it wasn’t art work, it was a tonne of paperwork that I had to mow through for the company.  I had been procrastinating with it and because I had it hanging over me I couldn’t focus on what I wanted to do either.  So putting a big dent in it gave me some breathing room to play around with some character sketches for the Webcomic that I’ve been wanting to start for a long time.

My husband, who does read a lot of comics, didn’t seem to get it. “They don’t look like us.”  Of course not.  “They aren’t supposed to look exactly like us,” I explained, "I don’t have time todo fully rendered portraits for all us every week for a webcomic that probably four people are going to read.”  It’s a comic..... ya know?

Then he seemed to get it. The idea right now is to come up with lots of drawings to refine the characters and give them some life before I start making the actual comic.   The comic will be loosely based on our family life, but also will have lots of fictional situations in it that the kids are already making up for me.  So hopefully it will be a lot of ridiculous fun.

As a side note I’m trying every hard to remember to reduce the resolution of the artwork that I put up here and on my other sites.  Seems that there are unscrupulous people out there in the world who like to steal art work.... I know, I’m shocked too.

Not Just Your Average Bunny

A little character sketch I worked on during a break from studying

A Little Sad Mouse for You

I think he's sad because I spilled coffee on his sketchpad.... or maybe I'm just projecting.

Doodle Du Jour

just a quick one mini sketch (literally mini I think this guy is 1 1/2 inches tall, tops) with a brush pen

 

Taking My New Pens Out Of The Box, And The House

Summer is the time for plein air painting and drawing.  Getting out to a location and capturing something of the spirit of a place.

The family tries to go hiking every warm weekend that we get here, because our summers are way too short not to take advantage of the good weather.  When we go out I always take an art kit with me, for painting I have a few kits I choose from to take.  But sometimes I just want to go light so I take a pen and paper for sketching. 

I really like it if the pen I take is water soluble. That way I can get some really nice ink wash effects with a little bit of water from a waterbrush.

I rediscovered Pilot Fineliners last month and I have to say they are the perfect tool for this (for me).  The tip is super fine and makes a wonderful deep black mark.  When I touch a little water to it the ink softens to a really lovely blue tinted grey.

Here are some postcards I drew at the zoo last weekend. Being able to add the wash effects changes these drawings from being line drawings to something with a little extra.  It adds texture, it gives great shading, and a certain character that you don't get from a straight line drawing.

This isn't to say that ink drawings aren't great, they are, but this is really a technique that I love, and I've been looking for the perfect pen to take with me when I'm heading out.

So here we go, 9 weeks of summer left in this part of the world and I'm going to head out and capture as much of it as I can.

Breaking The Rules

I shocked my oldest daughter today when I sat down and began to cut some pages out of my new sketch book.

"You're cutting up a book?"  This is, for obvious reasons, a rule in our house.  We don't destroy books.

I looked at her briefly before running the exacto knife along the page, severing it from the book.  "Yes"

"Why?"  she didn't even try to hide the shock and perhaps there was even a little disgust in her voice. The very idea that I would do something so disrespectful to a book.

OK.  I admit that this is novel thing for me to do.  I have taken books apart before that I found already coming apart at used book stores so I could use the pages for art projects, but to take a brand new book and slice a page (actually about 10 pages) out of it was interesting.

"Sometimes you have to take things apart to make something better out of it."  I explained to my daughter.  I told her how I wanted to make some collages in my new sketchbook, and if I didn't take some of the pages out the thicker pages from the collage would stress the seams and the book would, eventually, split it's binding.  Then nothing would work the way I wanted it to.

She nodded... stilly eyeing the stack of unused, and now unbound pages.  Then a slow smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"What are you going to do with those?" 

"I don't know."

"Can I have them?" the fire of a new project already burning in her, just like it does with me.  How could I say no?

Sometimes It's Too Much, But It's Really Never Too Much.

This weekend is one where I am seriously considering reevaluating my sanity.

What on earth was I thinking when I thought I could raise a family, go to school and keep up with my own interests?

My husband and I are celebrating our anniversary this weekend, it's not our anniversary yet, but it is when we are celebrating.  I have a test on Monday, on a book I read two months ago and now I'm struggling to remember the details of, so I'm re-reading in between working on my "space" project for 2D fundamentals class which is due on Tuesday.  That piece is 44x30 inches (not exactly tiny).  Also on Tuesday I have to submit my sketches for my next project for drawing class (for which I have done nothing and I am severely improverished on the idea front).  Also I have to get my first draft of an essay for my english class finished so I have time to figure out if I'm going in the right direction.

Add on to that the swimming, skating, and general kidness of my kids and I have my hands, heart, brain and schedule really full right now.

But, in a month I will be finished classes and likely at loose ends trying to figure out what to do with my time.  Funny how it seems I have so little now, and I know I will have too much then.

I'm not giving up, I will get through this crunch time, and I am still moving forward with The Postcard Project.  It would be easy to say that I won't do it anymore, it would be easy to say it's too much pressure on myself when I have so much else that demands my time.  But I can't, I love giving free gifts to strangers.  It is taking longer than I planned to get through the list, but I think it's worthwhile. I was telling my art professor about the project last week and he said it was a great idea, and he couldn't believe how inspired and generous it was.  I told him that there are one hundred people on the waiting list right now,  and progress is slow during the school term.  He said "It's a gift, people will understand, and be grateful."

And if they don't, well they don't.  I don't make any promises on delivery date, I just promise to fulfill my promise, hand making, hand writing, hand mailing an original piece of art to anyone in the world who asks.

I know that many people are surprised now when they get the cards, some have forgotten they even requested it, so the comments are fun when they get them.

Anyway, this was my break time from reading and drawing, and I have to put some more muscle balm on my aching hands, and I have to get back to work.

Do me a favour, can you make some more coffee for me?

The New Year is Underway!

The first week of classes for the winter term is over. 

I'll be honest with you, it felt like two weeks.  So much to do, so many supplies to track down and pick up, books to find and the line ups for everything.

I made it through.  My English class will be better than I thought it was.  When I found out the subject was illness memoirs I was filled with some anxiety that I would struggle with the subject matter.  But the professor is great and I've enjoyed the first three classes.

Drawing II is fun, I did the watercolour sketch pictured here for our first long session drawing and I was pretty pleased with it.  My instructor asked me if I was taking painting next year.  I probably will.  I would like to take printmaking too.  I did well in my sculpture class but it's not something that I'm really interested in persuing.

My 2D fundamentals class has a really dynamic instructor, I wonder how he manages to keep that level of energy up through the week? The class is very fun and collaborative, which is great.  I think this is going to be a good term all the way around.

I've been asked to contribute a work of art to the miniature art show/sale in aid of the graduation class expenses.  I'm happy to help out.  Someday I'll be graduating (I hope) and I'll be the one hoping to have the expenses for the graduation covered by my peers artwork.

There is a lot of homework to be done over the weekend, along with chores that have gone untended this week, skating lessons for the girls, and hopefully a trip to the museum to see Brian Eno's installation.

It's great to be back in the swing of things, with hopefully more good things to come now that I have the rhythmn back.

Because I Know You've Been Wondering

Classes are going to start again on Monday and I have been busy playing my holiday time away.

One of the best toys I got for Christmas was an iPad, and have had it in my hands every day since I unwrapped it.

I 've read books, played games and drawn more than a few pictures.  Then I discovered that I could make movies out of my drawings as they evolved.  And that was awesome!

I have experienced Nerdvana and I wanted you to share it with me - so here is my drawing/movie of my drawing.