I love drawing and I absolutely love looking at other people's drawings, especially the illustrated journal type of work. I put the Urban Sketchers blog on the side of mine so I can track it every day. Some truly amazing stuff. The illustrated journals and Urban Sketchers are working from life, not photographs. I have been like a fly on the wall, jealously admiring this creativity. I finally decided to take the plunge. I think I can work it in because I can draw relatively quickly and I want to challenge myself to draw from life more often. I don't like that I am so dependent on photographs. I signed up for "Every Day Matters" a few days ago. If you click on the blog title, it will take you to Danny Gregory's blog page. He is the fabulous artist who started Every day Matters. He has some wonderful books that are so encouraging and motivational. Today, I went to the bookstore and bought a small 5" x 7" sketch book that can take watercolor and a Moleskin Watercolor Book also 5" x 7". The first book is for the challenges that Danny Gregory has started. They are up to 197!! I figure I can catch up eventually because they post a new challenge each week. I can do several a day. It's not a race, anyway. I did three today and had so much fun. I am going to make them as detailed and intricate as I can, just for my amusement. I picked my favorite pair of shoes (visually...no, not my Crocs!) and found an interesting lamp that got cut off at the knees and neck! because I need to improve my skills at estimating distance and size. I decided to do my Laurel Burch tote bag because of the wonderful designs and used some watercolor to jazz it up. Anyway, there is a list of all 197 challenges which I printed out. Tomorrow I will be sitting at the Rose Shenson Gallery at the Triton Museum for the SCVWS show so I will get a few more drawings in. I posted the cute little purse size watercolor set I put together. The metal container is palm size and holds 12 colors. I used Stephen Quiller's suggested colors and put the compliments across from each other. I marked the names of the colors in the space for the little brush. The Koi water brush comes apart and fits perfectly in these little set ups. Not of caution: Maimeri watercolors don't seem to dry very much...same for Graham (which are made with honey). I hope I don't have a runny mess problem as I used 3 Maimeri colors.
The Moleskin Sketch Book will be used for Urban, Suburban, et all sketching from life. Tomorrow I will break it in!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
"EVERY DAY MATTERS" DRAWING CHALLENGES: I'M IN!
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9 comments:
Welcome aboard, Myrna! Cute little paint set, and I love your Tyvek portrait! Painting on Tyvek is fun!
I'm impressed! How do you find the time for all this???? I am also enamored of the Urban sketchers and was inspired by them to join the EDM group, too. However, I started with #191, thinking I would add an old one every week along with the new one. So far, I am behind 2 and havent done any of the old ones!
Oh, well. It is all good, right?
Hi Myrna, welcome!
Where did you get the little paint set? I have been able to get one here in Sacramento at an art supply store..but haven't seen them anywhere else, including online. People have asked me about them and I don't know what to tell them...so any help you can offer would be wonderful!
I filled mine with Daniel Smith paint and it works wonderfully!
Enjoy your time here!
I am going to have to try Tyvek painting...I have a stack of envelopes! I will post them...well...depending on how they turn out :-)
Welcome to EDM, Myrna. Absolutely love your first three -- especially the purse.
i love the drawings and the little paint box!
I bought some Grahman watercolors and thought, at first, that I wouldn't like them. They seemed sticky and I thought they would take a while to dry. But, since you use them with water, they do dry just like my Windsor Newton colors. I put some in my travel set and they dried just like the other colors.
Winsor Newton has some lovely travel sets. I bought a set with 25 colors in the '80s and I'm still using it. I put 3 small brushes in it, and have a 5.5" x 8.5" Strathmore watercolor sketchbook that slip into a side pocket of my purse. I use an old medicine bottle or film container to put water in, tuck a Kleenex in my purse, and I'm all set to entertain myself anywhere! Last weekend, I was waiting on someone at the nursing home. I pulled out my watercolors and did little gestures of people walking by. The residents loved watching me work! So, if you want to do a good deed, stop by a nursing home and let the people watch you draw or paint. You will have such an appreciative audience! I'm trying to encourage some of them to try their hand at painting, although there is no art therapist at any of the places here.
WN, and others, do make smaller travel sets. I used to buy those as rewards for my students who worked really hard. My sister also bought a smaller one which she keeps in her purse. But, she is more into sketching with a pen or doing plein aire painting in oils, so far.
The daily drawing sounds neat. I do that anyway, almost every evening after supper while the family watches tv. And we are going outside sketching quite a bit. What I need to do is to take some time to do some more finished things, I think. I've noticed that several artists are posting more sketches and drawings.
can't wait for the evening to paint...what an inspiration, by the way I love your colourful purse.
Hi Myrna,
I, too, am a newbie on EDM, I like your approach to the challenges. I hope you don't mind me copying your m.o. (modus operandi)sp?. the first three you did are wonderful. I love that little paint box. Is it something you made out of recycled items or was it purchased? and if so, where? Keep up the good work, and good luck with the challenges.
OHHh Welcome to EDM, I admire your work and will look forward to new posts!!
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