SELF PORTRAIT IN 7 STEPS

I have been fighting with my printer all day trying to get some images printed to start a new painting. I was lectured by my son that I don't have enough memory left on my laptop because of all the photos. so I have been transferring many of them onto an auxiliary hard drive trying to get 10% of the memory freed up. I can't believe how many photos that is!! In the meantime I thought I would try the printer again but it is printing only half the photo. What's up with that???????

While I was messing with the two hard drives and all the photos, I came across one of my self portraits done with a random watercolor wash background, then a brush pen drawing and pastel on top. I did this painting looking in a mirror without a photo reference. It is distorted but I really had fun doing it and I like it a lot. Most people don't like it because they think it is too unflattering. I don't really care about flattering myself in my work. It is so freeing not to take yourself so seriously.

I sometimes take the time to stop and photograph along the way. Here are the steps to the finished painting. I started with wet into wet on watercolor cold press paper. When dry I used a Japanese brush pen which holds an ink cartridge. I love drawing with this tool. Unfortunately I don't know the manufacturer but it is quality hair in the brush and was around $60.00 Then I started applying hard pastel and finally some soft pastel in the end.

Quote for the day: "PASSION: There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart. Pursue these" Michael Nolan

A BIG THANK YOU TO NAVA WHO CREATED THE HTML FOR THE PHOTOS SO I COULD POST THEM! I have spent 3 days trying to upload the images to no avail. It pays to have great friends who share their genius with you.

2 MORE DRAWINGS OF WILLIE NELSON!

I don't usually obsess over famous people. In fact, I usually avoid drawing them. There is something about this face that is fascinating plus he has been photographed by so many outstanding creative photographers. The variety and clarity of the images are toooooo tempting for me. It keeps my skills up, too. I usually don't try for an accurate likeness but have been doing so with these drawings. It is amazing how a hair's breath difference changes the likeness. I still haven't really "nailed" it but am getting close. I have not been measuring and comparing the way I teach portraiture, just eye-balling it. I would probably come closer to a perfect likeness if I took the time to measure but I wasn't feeling the need. I think I will now move to simplifying and maybe doing some "wire sculpture" type drawings.

I really wanted to start on another painting today using my "expression" photos. I took these myself, so a better use of my time. My printer is acting up again and I couldn't print them out so I just left my desk in disgust and went to draw Willie in another room. I guess I will draw directly from the computer screen tomorrow and get moving on the new painting. I bought the laptop so I could work directly from the computer but I still prefer to have the print. It's hard to totally embrace the new technology at this stage of life, but I am working hard to stay on top of things.

I found a couple of wonderful tiny little books for a recent Grad and will share some of the inspirational quotes.

The first book is called "Do What you Love"

PURPOSE: "There are many wonderful things that will never be done if you do not do them"...Charles D. Gill

EXPERIMENTAL PAINTING FAILURE

This is a painting I have been playing with the past several days. I tried to paint watercolor on a regular canvas. I thought because it was coated by the manufacturer with gesso, that it would accept the paint. Well, not so! The paint just beaded up. I tried massaging it and working with it but not much success. I did get some color to stick, so I sprayed it with an acrylic spray. Let that dry. Then I coated it with full strength Clear Gesso so I could save what was underneath and then tried painting again. The paint didn't bead up but it crawled beyond the lines and generally was a mess. I was ready to totally cover the whole thing up but decided to play with what I had since I could hardly "ruin" it. It was already "ruined". This is a very freeing situation when you have a dog to play with. I added line with a pen and full strength liquid watercolor. I used some watercolor crayon here and there. Overall, it turned out fair. I will probably wind up reusing the canvas later. In the meantime, I will leave it as is. I think I prefer laminating watercolor paper to a canvas rather than painting watercolor directly on the canvas. There are still more experiments to be tried.

WATERCOLOR TRAVEL KIT SET UP

Here are some photos of my drawing and painting kit that I take with me when I travel. One could have it with them at all times because of its' size but I save it for when I am on the road. Please note that my hand is not that fat!!! It is the camera angle. I wanted to show the size in relation to my hand. Hotels have miniature bottles of shampoo, mouthwash etc. for the guests. I use such a bottle cleaned out as a small water container. It fits in the kit nicely and doesn't leak. I have several Elegant Writer Pens in this kit, two regular travel brushes, one brush that holds water in the handle and a small mechanical pencil as well as a pen with permanent ink. A purse size packet of tissues complete the set.

WILLIE NELSON CENTER SEAT STEERAGE CLASS FROM DALLAS TO SAN FRAN

Here is the sketchbook page from my return flight from the Cedar Hills workshop in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area last week. I was crammed into my middle seat next to two big guys. I felt like a contortionist sketching and painting in the limited space but it passes the time and is a fun activity while flying. The first drawing was done with the Elegant Writer caligraphy pen. I started to put some color on it but the ink kept bleeding and I decided it wasn't a good decision to add color, so I started the second image drawn with a pencil and then full color applied. I love my little art kit. I still haven't put any paint in the second Altoids box but the clear plastic water bottle lids are in place so I will probably fill them before my next trip. I don't really need a second box but there is room in the small makeup case I have everything so I will take advantage of it. It just occurred to me that I should photograph the whole setup. I will take care of that tomorrow.

I heard that you can paint watercolor on regular gessoed canvas (not the "special watercolor canvas") so I am intrigued. I spent part of the day transferring one of my drawings onto a 10" square canvas and will start to paint it tomorrow. I suspect I will finish it in a few hours. This canvas has a gesso coating so I don't see why it wouldn't work as gesso accepts watercolor very nicely. I will post tomorrow the results of this experiment.

Speaking of experimenting, I just booked a workshop in Minneapolis for next year and they want a short version of the "Vern" series as the focus of the workshop. Ideas are flashing around in my head how to present this material in five days. I am looking for some "guinea pigs" in the Bay Area to try these ideas out on. If you are interested in such a class, send me a note and I will find a place and time.

GRAPHITE SKETCH OF "WILLIE"

This morning I awoke at 6 AM and stayed in bed for an hour drawing this sketch of Willie Nelson. It was so nice and quiet and a great way to start the day before rushing around.

While I was in Texas I bought a magazine with the most amazing photos of Willie Nelson celebrating his 75th birthday. He is a big hero in Texas, beloved by all. He has the most amazing face and I have been collecting images of him. The photographer is so talented and created some very unusual photos. The detail and camera angles are incredible. I like to draw very detailed graphite sketches in an Aquabee sketch book. I cannot see this kind of detail without a photograph. It is just for practice and fun. Working from someone else's photographs means I can't display or sell any of them, but I find great joy in the process of drawing. The magazine has a website with a video interview with Willie. You can stop action the video. I plan to do that and draw from the "still". Website is texasmonthly.com. The photographer is Platon. I went to his website and loved, loved, loved his work. He uses a slightly distorted camera angle much of the time. My new Photoshop Elements 6 has a feature that will distort in this manner. I think I can get some of my photos to have this same effect.

If you want to improve your drawing skills, there are no shortcuts. The old "practice, practice, practice" still applies.

FINAL DAY OF ADVANCED PORTRAIT CLASS

Here is the slide show of the work completed and shared on Saturday, our last day of the Advanced Portrait Class. We worked on head with hands in the portrait. Everyone did a great job. Hands can be challenging. Lots of painters avoid this aspect of portraiture.

It was a fun class and everyone put forth a lot of effort . I don't have any more classes scheduled in the Bay Area at this time. I hope to focus on my own painting for this summer. I am starting some preliminary sketches for my next idea. Right now my printer and my computer aren't talking to each other. Technical help in the form of my son should arrive tomorrow. I am hoping he can figure out what is wrong. Why can't all my machines just get along?