Windows, Windows, more Windows

Sketched this from my living room window as I watched the moving guys pack up all our worldly possessions!

More Composition

Drawing has been limited due to being in the middle of packing to move. Did manage to get this composition thumbnail done that I think has distinct possibilities. Michael said it needs a window or frame to break up the large wall, which is interesting as I had one there and took it out!

I have my supplies packed for leave and to last me till we get to our new home. Basic palette of watercolours, brushes, paper, pastels, graphitints, CPs, pencils, watercolour and drawing moleskines. Hope this will keep me going! Hoping to do a lot of little sketches over the next month - mostly landscapes across the US - Colorado, Missouri, Iowa ending in DC. Having said that isn't there something about the road to hell being paved with good intentions?

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain

One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy. Sir Richard Burton

Compositional Corners

Beginning to get the hang of Michael's composition tricks. These are two of my more successful compositional thumbnails.

"A wonderful harmony arises from joining together the seemingly unconnected."
Heraclitus

This quote struck a particular chord with me - especially at the moment when working on this composition class and trying to find interesting objects to group together. Personally I want to get away from the traditional still life and use objects that strike off each other or that are seemingly unconnected but maybe through form or structure create a balance.

Hat, Guitar, Chair and Cat

Todays quartet for the scavenger hunt. Graphitint pencils and Faber Castell sepia pen. I really like the way the graphitints work - the colours are very subtle used by themselves but add the water and they spring to life!

Trying to work more on composition. The idea of making interesting shapes in corners and having them reflected diagonally is so hard! I am really struggling with the concepts that Michael is trying to drum into us. Along with that he introduced negative space into the equation, need to do some research into that. This is definitely a walking exercise, two steps forward and several back!

'The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.' - Benjamin Mays

Composition and Learning

We are very lucky to have Michael Newberry teaching a class on composition on the Drawing and Sketching Forum on WetCanvas! It is such a treat to have someone of his caliber to give us the benefit of his amazing talent. Composition is something I struggle with so I am hoping to learn a great deal from Michael. Looking at this sketch makes me see I have a lot to learn!!!

I go through phases of learning - times when it I just want to soak up everything and make my artwork more dynamic. This is one of those times.

'Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.' Mahatma Gandhi

'I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it." - Pablo Picasso

'What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing' - Aristotle

Beads and Sunglasses

Two of the list for the July scavenger hunt on Wetcanvas.

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making
exciting discoveries. A. A. Milne

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual. Arthur Koestler

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso

Karen's Dad

My boss asked me to do a portrait of her dad. Ordinarily I insist on taking my own reference shots but he died a long time ago, so that was out of the question. She picked a wedding photo of hers! This is the result - I'm pleased with it - I hope she is too. I'm still practicing getting my photography right so please bear with me!

I had a lightbulb moment yesterday - I was thinking about abstracts - which I love and it struck me that I love abstracts like Rothko that have lots of colour - it may only be one colour but its definitely colour. Yet I love black and white photography and detailed realism in black and white. So it occurred to me that maybe I need to limit my detailed work to graphite and paint abstracts - that fills me with terror as I have no idea where to start with an abstract. Maybe I'll just gaze in wonder at other people's abstracts and go on painting and drawing realism in monochrome.