VOTE FOR PEGGY STERMER-COX! and MORE MARATHON DRAWINGS

Peggy Stermer-Cox is one of 5 finalists in the on-line "furry friends" competition. If you click on the blog title it will take you to the website where you can vote for your favorite. All the finalists have done exceptional technical work but Peggy's is the most original and creative. In fact it is the only one of the five that isn't photo-realistic.

Here is a website where you can do a digital download of the October 2007 issue of Watercolor Magic which features an article about my portraits, in case you missed this issue and wanted one for yourself. As Robert Burridge says "shameless self promotion" http://www.fwmagazines.com/product/1379/160

These are the last I will post from the Merritt College Drawing Marathon. The first two had the paper treated with a diluted raw umber wash from my sponge top bottle I was looking for (found it at Staples) The color flooded out and looked like cafe au lait running all over. The sponge top bottle was not such a great success but I haven't given up on it yet. When that dried, I put some "dirty glaze" over it with the palette knife. I was going to collage some tissue over this but got lazy and just left it. Originally, I didn't like how the page looked but once I put the drawing on and added the black, walnut and white inks to it, I decided this was a good background to start with.

The last drawing was done on just the plain paper. It was an amazingly forshortened view. Reminded me of Manet's Dead Toreador.

DRAWING MARATHON AT MERRITT COLLEGE!

This was one exhausting day, but loads of fun and exciting. This was the first marathon I have done at Merritt College. In fact, I was thinking of Laney College in Oakland all along. Fortunately, I went to Google Maps for directions and saw my misconception. It turns out Merritt College is a stone's throw from where I did the Oakland workshop. I didn't see any signs on the campus where to go so I drove around until I saw people with drawing material. I was a little later than I hoped, so finding a good place to set up was a challenge. A packed room! I wound up at the area where the 20 minute poses were held and that worked out very well for me. I met Dorise, an internet friend, for the first time in person. That was a treat by itself! She introduced me to a few others. Art is such a wonderful way to relate to others with the same passion.

The set up for this marathon was different than any I had been to and I loved it! There were 4 different large platforms throughout the room. One was for the long 3 hour pose, one for 20 minute poses, one for 5-10 min. poses and one for quick poses. The artists were all over the place around the stands. You couldn't switch once you had a place but the models moved around from platform to platform, so you had the opportunity to draw all of them. The best thing for me was how close I was to the models! I am extremely nearsighted and it was great to be able to see hands, feet, facial features so clearly.

I was going to make a slide show but I decided to show 4 at a time so I can describe how I prepared the paper in advance. Each set has the same treatment. I used my one sheet sketch book and it was perfect!!! Just the right amount of pages for the 20 minute poses. Actually, I was usually done in 15 minutes.

These four pages were collaged with some Asian paperback book pages. I'm not sure what exact language it is but I love the graphic look of it. Then I took a sheet of tissue paper and laid it over the pages and brushed some acrylic red ink through the tissue, then lifted the tissue off. I saved it and let it dry and used it on another 4 pages as a collage (tomorrows post) After the ink was dry, I squeezed out a blob of Cheap Joe's Coastal Fog watercolor and brayered it over the pages randomly. I used it straight so it was more like gouache. I drew the image with ink pens, most of which had ink that bled. The coastal fog color rewet and interacted with the ink when I used a wet brush. Overall, I like the effect.