Sunday, December 7, 2008

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.

6 comments:

David Lobenberg said...

You are always playing with new things! Very nice line work on these. I too met a fellow internet artist in person last Fri... you know him well...Mike Bailey! He did a killer demo for my water color class. Remember, next Fall semester I'd like to invite you to my water color class at Sac. City College.

winna said...

Boy, are you talanted and these classes etc will benefit you forever in so very many ways. All your things are smashing!

Myrna Wacknov said...

I accept your invitation, David. Let's talk. Mike is a great showman as well as a very talented artist! Delighted your class appreciated him. He is a legend in our area.

Anonymous said...

I knew you would put the book to good use Myrna.The drawings are fabulous.I am really on a roll with the old book making.Any scrap of paper I find gets made into a book.

Sunny said...

FIY: That is Japanese paper book that you were using.
I love your gesture drawing!

Anonymous said...

Myrna,
FYI, the Asian type is Japanese.
Phyllis

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