Christmas Flowers Part 2

I finally finished this one yesterday. It's a water lily. There's something about it, maybe it's just the composition I'm not sure, that feels off but it's growing on me and besides I don't have time to dwell on it if I'm going to get my mother's painting finished before we leave.

Once we're out of town I plan on having a lot of time to sketch due to all the people who love to occupy a baby. Yay Christmas!

Christmas Flowers Part 1

This was all I got done yesterday.

I'm pretty happy with it, but it definitely illustrates the importance of this project for me. I spend so much time between artistic spurts that I have to relearn how to do things and get certain looks so projects take a lot longer than I budget for until I get back in the swing of things. On the upside, I learned a lot doing the detail on this one so hopefully the next two will go faster.

Acrylics on Canvas: Beginnings

I just wanted to post the beginning stages of my parental stocking stuffers, so my blog doesn't get lonely and seek out other authors.


So far I've got all the blocks of color down where I want them to be. Tomorrow (hopefully) I'll hit them with the lights and darks and shape up any other problems that present themselves. After that, only a billion more things to do before Christmas. Woo! Holiday chaos!

Desk Chair

I chose this chair from a google image search because I liked the simplicity of it along with all the interesting shapes.

Now I'm going to take a break to do some acrylic on canvas for Christmas. I'll be posting them soon imaginary readership!

Skunk

So when I got the outline down, I thought it was going to look like more of a skunk-o-saur, than a skunk and I almost started over but then my cooler side was all, "Shut up! There were skunks in the mesozoic era. Prove there weren't." So pressed on and...

Tada! I think it's a pretty friggin' impressive skunk. It was fun to do, I never fail to be impressed by how using negative space turns out.

Anchor

I think I'm getting the hang of this loose sketching thing. No ruler and only used the eraser once. I'm pretty happy with the results.

The Hammock

I tried to be a lot looser this time, so I didn't use a ruler and I told myself I had to finish it in under an hour. There are some things about it that drive me nuts but I think doing things this way has made the whole activity a lot more enjoyable for me and are going to help curb my inner nitpicky jerk.

I actually did have fun doing this one. Mostly because I have a soft spot in my heart for hammocks. I slept on one every night for a week and a half in Mexico and it was the best sleep I've ever gotten.

I hope these aren't too dark, but the flash really washes them out. I'll try to control for that in the future.

The Rolling Pin and Discipline

So the first suggested object in the book was...

...the rolling pin! I'm not off to a very good start I must admit. I thought this one would be really fun because I kind of have a love affair with wood grain and normally I love drawing it, but I had a lot of trouble getting the proportions of the pin right and so by the time I had a decent outline of the structure I was so sick of it that the details were not appealing at all. I pushed through, but grudgingly I think it's evident in the finished product.

I think this whole thing is going to end up one long hard slog, and I'm probably going to have to intersperse it with more entertaining projects along the way, but I WILL finish! I know this will be good for me. I need to crawl before I can walk and I have the unfortunate habit of skipping steps in every area of life, but especially with regard to this. I always hated having to do X amount of sketches in a sketch book for the art classes I took because I didn't like to just sit down and draw something just because. I would go months without drawing anything before an idea would pop into my head and fill me with an all-consuming desire to draw or paint or whatever and then I'd stop again and not touch anything art-related for another long period of months. The obvious problem is that I have stifled myself this way by not practicing I can't make any noticeable improvement.

By working my way through this sketchbook I'm forcing myself to practice more regularly and I'm hoping that practice along with drawing a lot of things I likely never would have on my own, will show marked improvement in the projects I really am passionate about.

Let's get started

I am lucky enough to get to stay at home with my son, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. However, now that he is starting to sleep regularly I have some time at night to pursue my interests again. One of those interests is drawing. I've been meaning to rebuild a body of work over the last few years but the process has been slow and sporadic. Taking time out to draw when it is not how you make your living is difficult to justify when dishes, laundry, general clean up, and quality time with your significant other (no it's not a chore, just a thing to be mindful of) are all seemingly being neglected. By starting this blog I'm hoping to become more accountable for taking time out each day to practice my art. For my birthday, a friend of mine got me this book and my goal is to work my way through it posting at least two drawings per week.

As an example of my style, here is a pencil drawing I did a few months ago: