FIRST HOUR OF INK DRAWING IN PROGRESS

I decided I wanted to use a cartridge pen so I didn't need to keep "dipping". I figured I would need a fresh pen so as not to run out of ink. I went through the "Strokes of Genius" book to see what pens others have used and settled on a set of Staedtler pens with 4 different widths. The ink is permanent, archival, waterproof, etc. Found them at Staples. I decided to try a drawing on the Tyvek paper as I am going to really explore all it's potential. The pen works very smoothly. So far, so good. I couldn't decide whether to pencil in the figures first or just go for it....surprise! I decided to just go for it! I had fun putting my photo of a crowded market scene in a small country village in France through lots of Photoshop Elements configurations. I printed out a 8 1/2 x ll of the full scene and then a detail of the area I was going to start with. I started with the widest pen (0.7mm) and a countour drawing, then went to the smallest pen (0.1mm) to shade with. Interesting trying to get the intermediate values with pen lines. Working on the plaid took every ounce of patience I could muster. I kept looking at my watch to see how much longer I had to go but after awhile I settled into it and found myself trying different ways of marking etc. Well. this is how far I got in one hour. At this rate, I may complete the 24 hour challenge after all. I think this looks very old fashioned but it is challenging and I feel myself stretching.

FRIDAY CHALLENGE #9 "5 HOUR INK DRAWING"

Yes, it is Saturday, but I will still call it the Friday Challenge. I have been thinking about the 24 hour drawing and think I want to build up to that, so I figured I could work on a drawing for an hour a day and since I may miss a day or two I am making it a 5 hour drawing. The hour can be broken up into smaller segments throughout the day. It will be relaxing to sit and make marks. I need to go through some of my European crumbling walls and tiled roof photos for some complex, detail riddled image to obsess over. It should be fun! Anyone else want to try? I have posted some pen and ink drawings I did this summer in France to give you some ideas. It didn't take me nearly 5 hours, but you get the idea. Any subject is fine, but it needs to be something that has enough detail to spend a lot of time on it.

This has been one of the most exhausting weeks that I can remember. The studio was so trashed, I couldn't work out there and couldn't find anything, so I bit the bullet and spent three days going through everything and throwing stuff out, giving stuff away, rearranging all my books and supplies and now I am excited to get in there and really do some work! I was able to give Ronald McDonald House tons of craft supplies and took some art books and magazines to my students today so everything has a happy new home. After the big clean up it was on to cooking for Thanksgiving and then spending time with my visiting children and my grandson home from college on Friday. After teaching all day today, I am ready to retire early and start painting tomorrow!

1st TYVEK WORKSHOP SCHEDULED & ELLIPTICAL DRAWING #1

I am excited to schedule my first Tyvek Workshop! SWA in San Bruno, Ca. will host a 2 day workshop where we will explore different ways of working on this interesting paper. It will be Saturday and Sunday, February 2nd and 3rd. They have a very big room to work in so we can accommodate a large group. If you are interested, let me know and I will pass your name on to the co-ordinator. This is process oriented, so any subject you want to work with is fine. Now that there is a reliable source for the paper, I want to push the envelope as much I can to explore it's possibilities.

In the meantime.....I challenged myself to do ellipses this week, so I thought I should get to it! I used a Micron pen in a very fine point. I think the pen is pretty much shot, but I kept going. I will probably need a new one to do the 24 hour drawing challenge. I chose to work in pen because you can't erase. I'm sure I could have done a better job if I could erase, but I wanted to train my arm to make smooth arcs. Lots of practice needed. Interesting that I could work in one direction much better than the reverse direction. I started shading and then thought better of it for this pen drawing. I don't know if it is possible to draw an accurate ellipse without a tool or template but I'm sure I can do better than this with more practice. Years ago, when I was attending San Francisco State University, I took a class in Chinese Brush Painting. Lesson two was lesson one and lesson two. Lesson three was a repeat of one and two plus three, etc. By the end of the semester, I was going through newsprint like crazy and drawing for hours. All that practice created a steady hand and sure movements to make the characters. Your arm is never braced for steadiness in Chinese brush painting, so it is miles and miles of brush stroke practice that produce quality results. The "Carnegie Hall" principle (practice, practice, practice). Painting Still Lifes probably helps as there are vases, bowls, cups et. al. often in the arrangements. It's interesting how certain subject matter gets some people all jazzed and others not too excited. If required, I can get involved in most things, but left on my own, images of people always win out. This image is an unusual small clay Chinese Tea Pot set on a round mirror with the lid sitting next to it. There is a lazy suzanne behind with a cast shadow so lots and lots of ellipses. I hope to do a small drawing each day this week with curves.

DRAWINGS FROM ALL DAY MARATHON

Oh my gosh, I can't believe how tired I am. I don't think I have ever spent as much time drawing continuously, either! I went to the Bay Area Model's Guild drawing marathon at the Palo Alto Art Center. I usually stay in the room with the long pose and do two paintings. Today I decided I wanted to do the fast figure drawing with gesture and modified contour, set up in a second room. I arrived at 9:30 am for the 10 to 1 session so I could get a good spot. It wasn't so crowded today, probably because of Thanksgiving coming up. Anyway, we took a break for 1/2 hour to eat lunch and then it was 1:30 to 4:30. I stand to work and sit when the models rest. I can't imagine how the models felt because they were fantastic and really contorted their bodies for great images. I have created a slide show of some of the gazillion drawings I did today. I took my phone book for the really fast poses. I used the really wide Copic marker in Brown to quickly mass in the gesture, then used the point to go back and do a contour line. These drawings were one and two minute poses. Then on the 3 minute poses I just used the Elegant Writer for strait modified contour. I switched to newsprint for the 4 and 5 minute poses. I used a large brush with walnut ink for the mass and then used a bamboo pen dipped in ink for the contour. I think these are some of my favorite. I switched to another paper pad that had heavier paper than the newsprint but isn't great for wet work. I was disappointed in this paper and wanted to use it up. I brought some acrylic inks to try. Not so great. Will leave them home next time. I also brought a watercolor set that had blocks of dry color. It is Cretacolor Aqua Brique XXL with 8 colors. I originally bought it thinking it would be great for travel but I was disappointed in the quality of the paint. Kind of chalky. I thought I would try it out today. It was perfect for a fast tonal massing and then I used an elegant marker to do the contour line. I like the look of these, too. I was playing around with different combinations and materials and luckily I had plenty of room to spread out. It is always good to find uses for stuff you buy and then don't like! I don't feel so wasteful now. If I can muster up the energy, I think I would like to go on a regular basis to the Tuesday model night at the Art Center to keep in practice. Drawing from life is very different from working from a photograph. Also, the poses are so intricate, one would never see them under ordinary circumstances.

MY STUDENTS WORK & 24 HOUR PEN & INK DRAWING

Today was the 3rd session of my watercolor portrait workshop. Everyone was finishing up their first portrait. I always suggest painting it again if there is time because they always get better. Working with shapes helps everyone get a better likeness. We do a lot with color, shape and composition ideas. I thought I would share a slide show with everyone to show off these great paintings. For many, it is their first portrait, ever.

Rita Hellyer (the inventor of the bleeding Elegant Writer drawing technique) happen to bring in two incredible examples of the 24 hour ink drawing idea. I think she spent more than 24 hours total on each of these but it gives you one idea of an approach to take. Rita broke her image into two values - black and white - and then used the shapes that would be black and filled them with detailed root drawings that she did over a period of weeks. She used a fine pen nib. I start to see animals and other images in the roots. They are really amazing. Be sure and open them in a separate window for an enlarged detail view.

I am not ready to post my demo painting for today. It needs some work yet.

Hope you enjoy today's art show.

FRIDAY CHALLENGE #8 DRAWING ELIPSES & SLIDE SHOW

I am thrilled that the slide show is expanding as more and more of you are sending me your solutions to the challenges. Some great work happening out there!

I actually have two challenges for today. The first will take longer than the week so I thought I would put it out there and see if anyone besides me wants to do it. It is from a wonderful book of 100 drawing lessons from different college instructors. A number of the lessons require an entire class to do but this one struck me as an interesting challenge: Using a pen and a large sheet of paper (a full sheet of hot press watercolor paper would work) create a drawing (subject matter your choice) and spend 24 full hours to complete it. Break up the time as you have time to work on it...just keep track of the hours. I don't think I have ever spent this much time on a drawing but the concept intrigues me. You can't erase and you can't start over. Part of the idea is to find ways to cover up errors or parts you don't like, etc.

The other challenge is to do drawings of objects that have ellipses. I have a difficult time drawing them accurately free hand so I thought it would be good to spend the week getting better! Coffee cups and mugs from every angle and perspective, plates, vases, spoons, wine glasses, pitchers, what ever you can think of. Try different drawing materials, holding the mark making tool different ways, using your whole arm...or not!

A reminder to Bay Area artists. There will be a drawing marathon on Sunday at the Palo Alto Art Center. I am very excited that I can go this time. Most of the time there is some other obligtion in my life that keeps me from going. I usually do the long pose but this time I think I am going to do the fast paced gesture drawing, at least for half the day. I am going to bring a phone book to work in. Hope to see a lot of you there.

MENLO ART LEAGUE DEMO & SKETCHES PLUS TYGERAG SOURCE

I spent yesterday morning traveling again! I am so tired of cramped airplanes, rediculous regulations (they took my yogurt away still sealed, that I had purchased at the airport - seems it is classified as a "liquid or gel") long waits, yada, yada, yada. I did take the time to do some additional sketchs of my old man from the Toronto airport as I intended to do another version for the demonstration for the Menlo Art League. I got home in plenty of time and enjoyed meeting everyone at their meeting. They were a very attentive group and were intrigued to see painting on Tygerag synthetic paper. I have posted the sketches and demo painting plus a detail. You can see them in greater detail by clicking on the image. It will come up larger in a new window.

As promised, here is the contact information for the Tyvek source I discovered. The company is Material Concepts and the Sales Specialist is Lisa Conway. This is a wholesale distributor of Tyvek products. The toll free number is 800 372-3366 and the email address is lisa@materialconcepts.com. Company web site is www.materialconcepts.com The product that looks the most like what I have been using is Tyvek sheets for printing 7.5 mil (18#) I am going to order a carton of 500 sheets (that is the smallest order!) in the size of 25" x 38". That way I can do a large piece or cut in half for 2 pieces 25 x 19 which is a great size for me. I will be sharing this box with other artists in the area. I suggest others get together and share an order, too.

Tomorrow is the slide show. I have been receiving very exciting work from many of you. Everybody is really getting into the challenge and stretching their imaginations!