LAST SLIDE SHOW FOR FRENCHMAN: LINE AS COLOR

WOW! You are all getting so creative! I hope you enjoy this slide show. If I accidentally missed posting some images you have sent, let me know. I will post the next set of challenges for October tomorrow.

I have had a frustrating week regarding getting any painting done. It has been hectic hosting my nephew from Israel for a few days, helping a son move out of his apartment (I got to pack the kitchen and wash down the inside and outside of the cabinets, frig. and stove), pick up and deliver paintings in two far flung directions, cook for a holiday and attend religious services. Monday I will be starting a portrait workshop for some folks in Oakland. Hopefully, there will be a few days in there to start a new painting. Life just seems to bunch up at times.

SLIDE SHOW FOR FRENCHMAN: LINE AS TEXTURE!

Here are some truly creative solutions to the weekly challenge using LINE AS TEXTURE! Tomorrow I will reveal the next week's LINE CHALLENGE for our Frenchman. I hope everyone is having fun with him.

SLIDE SHOW OF "FRENCHMAN & LINE"

Here are the submissions so far. Still working on yours? Send me an e-mail when it is done and I will add it to the slide show.
I was working on a new painting today. I need to finish it up tomorrow and then I will post. I made some new discoveries so I am excited. The house stayed cool enough so I could work. The heat wave continues.
Monday I will modify the challenge for week 2!

MY FRIST PAPER CUT DRAWING + SLIDE STUDENT SLIDE SHOW

Here is my first attempt at the paper cut drawing. I just colored it in with markers instead of cutting it out. I think I will copy the image onto heavier paper and try cutting it out, just for fun and to see if it holds up! I decided I needed a border so I started with that. This is an image of 3 figures (cropped very close) The dark areas are the part I would cut out. Mostly my plan is to cut out lines to define the figures. I think I want to try it again and have the lines the parts that are left. While I was working on this drawing it occurred to me that unlimited options are the enemy of creativity. By creating limits, we force ourselves to come up with some new solutions and stretch.

Maggie Metcalf and Hilda Hall sent me their drawing series. It shows how multiple efforts really pay off. Each one found a face they couldn't resist! Great work, ladies. Thank you for sharing.

EVEN MORE DRAWINGS! JOIN IN THE FUN!

These charming drawings were done by Lyn Lynch. Lyn tells me she is self taught. Wow, quite impressive. I noticed a slight problem with the features, so I sent Lyn a message with a suggestion for correction. I decided I could share this tip with all of you, as well. It is part of what I teach in my portrait workshops. Often we know something is wrong but we either can't figure out what or we don't know how to fix it.

"There is an imaginary center line that cuts the human head, when looking straight on, into two equal halves. That line is the axis and actually would go down through the skull from the top of the head and come out under the jaw. Now, each of the features ie. eyebrows, eyes, nostrils, lip, ears...they have imaginary horizontal lines that cross over the center vertical. The central axis is the first thing you need to establish. This creates the angle of the head. It will not always be totally vertical, in fact most often is at one angle or another. Once you establish this angle, then you need to establish the lines for each of the features. NO MATTER WHAT ANGLE THE CENTRAL AXIS IS AT, THE FEATURES MUST BE AT A PERFECT 90 DEGREE RIGHT ANGLE TO THE CENTRAL AXIS AT THE JUNCTION WHERE THE LINES CROSS. You can take a piece of tracing paper and lay it on top of your drawings and then take a ruler (a plastic triangle with a right angle works great) and check your placement."

Last night "Art Laisons" headed up by Gail Sjoman, my art representative (and very good friend) had a reception at the latest installation of her artists in a beautiful office park. It was a great turnout and I was happy to see so many friends come out for the celebration.

At the workshop on Wednesday, one of the participants told me about another exciting pen...it is the Vis-a-vis wet pen used for overhead projector projects. This black pen bleeds out brown and pale orange! She showed me a sketch and It was terrific. Naturally, I was on a quest to find this pen. I dragged around to four stores before I found it. It was at the Office Supply store. The other thing I was on a mission to find was a small portable photo printer. I am going to take it with me tomorrow on our trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where we will be seeing the beautiful scenery of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. I will have lots of time to paint at night, so thought it would be great to have a few new photos to work from. I will be doing a little bit of plein aire but it will be just small fast studies or sketches.

Check out the latest feature of my blog. It is the "Blog List". It is something new that lists the blogs in order of the latest posts and gives you a little preview of the posting. This way you don't have to keep checking to see if there is anything new on your other favorite blogs that are linked to mine.

ANOTHER SET OF DAILY DRAWINGS

Abeer Sakkejha is the artist who created these charming drawings of a simple but interesting object. Looks can be deceiving. Ellipses are devilish to draw. Here is what Abeer had to tell me about her experience: "Attached are 5 drawings that I did over 5 days, I chose a simple subject ( brush) and gave it about 20-30 minutes a day, I noticed how I developed by the end of the fifth day and I started interpreting more than just copying (which I usually do), I also became more relaxed and the lines were looser day by day( which is always my goal). That was a nice little exercise that I enjoyed while lounging on the sofa in the evening." Be sure and check out Abeer's blog. You can find the link by scrolling down the blog to the links on the right side.

Tomorrow I will post another submission. I like being able to create a little slide show of one person's set of drawings rather than putting them all into one big slide show.

Yesterday I participated in the California Watercolor Society's (CWA) Educational Outreach program. During the year, volunteer member artists go to various schools and present a lesson for the students. In the summer, they put on a one day seminar for teachers at the Gallery Concord. I was pleased to be able to be one of three volunteer artists to participate. I asked who taught art...about a third of the group raised their hands. Then I asked who personally did art...another third raised their hands. Someone said there was a third category represented...those who buy art! A very important group to know! I shared the Elegant Writer Pen and then I showed them how to paint on Tyvek. It was a very fun day complete with a delicious lunch. The wonderful person responsible for making this program work is Carol Smith. What a tireless, dedicated hard worker and always cheerful with a big, big smile on her face. CWA is so fortunate to have a volunteer like Carol. What a treasure she is.

I belong to 3 local art organizations and all of them function because of the tireless efforts of volunteer members. Like many members, I help out a little here and there but these organizations only work because of the amazing generosity of a few members who are willing to devote many many hours of their precious time to do the big jobs. Be sure and let those in your local groups know how much you appreciate their efforts.

8 SKETCHES IN 8 DAYS

Peggy Stermer-Cox is the first to send in her sketches from the 7 day challenge. They are very creative and exciting! I can see a series of paintings from these sketches. Peggy is an artist from Ocean Shores, Washington and is part of the team that is putting together my workshop up there in October. Check out the link for the workshop and check out Peggy's website at
http://peggy.stermer-cox.com
http://www.stermer-cox.com

I was doing some very simple drawings of a single cala lilly. Peggy was really going to town! I think I need to pick up the pace a bit.

I look forward to seeing what the rest of you are working on. Send in those drawings!

2nd MARCH SLIDE SHOW & NEW CHALLENGE!

Here are the drawings and paintings sent to me so far. Notice how drawing improves each time it is redrawn. The old "practice, practice, practice" philosophy at work. The ink lines are so interesting when the paper is wet.

I am struggling with paper work but hope to get back to the paint and brushes this weekend. Here is the new challenge. It comes from the book I bought in the Denver airport. I thought this one looked like fun.

#1....Pop some popcorn.
#2....DON'T EAT IT ALL! Pick through it and select 2 popped kernels to draw. Now you can eat the rest.
#3...Select a format (piece of paper to draw on) They used a square but you can use a rectangle if you want to.
#4...Compose the 2 kernels within the format greatly enlarging the image. They used a dark grey paper and white charcoal pencil. You want to be sure and get the full range of values present in this image.
#5...Now here is the fun part. Look at your image from all directions and see what comes to mind...like seeing things in clouds. When you have decided what this image is, do a painting the exact same size as your drawing, in full color. The kernels have to be in the exact same position in the painting as in the drawing. You can add additional elements to complete the image if necessary. Example: One of the students saw flower heads in her popped corn so she needed to add stems and leaves to complete her painting.

Have fun with this idea. Get your family or friends involved after you do your first popcorn drawing and see what image they see in the kernals. I can't wait to see what you come up with. I wish I could show you what the kids came up with but I think I would need permission from the author, so you will have to do your own thing with just a verbal description of the project.

COLOR MADNESS!

Here are some very interesting color combinations people have been working with. Not room to list the color combinations in the slide show, but you can ask me in the comment box about a specific painting and I will post in a return comment what the color combination is. Cecelia did the cross contour drawing challenge with great results. I saw some wonderful December challenge works on Thursday at a critique group. As soon as I get them in e-mail form, I will include them in the next slide show. As the holiday draws near, our resolve to paint or draw every day gets to be a greater challenge. I hope you are able to continue trying new color combinations.

I received the final approval on the sunflower painting, so on to the next one. Perhaps I can finish it this weekend.

I had an inspiration for a new workshop this morning! I am excited about the possibilities. I spent a few hours working on it this afternoon. I need to get ideas written down before they float away into the mist, never to be thunk again. Once I get it worked out, I will look at my schedule and find a time and place to try it out. Until then, the topic for the workshop will remain under wraps.

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.

FRIDAY CHALLENGE #7 DRAWING "SHAPES"

Here is the challenge: Take one of your digital images - any subject - and open it in Photoshop Elements (or a similar program) Find the "posterize" setting. In Elements it is under image, then adjustments, then posterize. Set it to 4 or possibly 5. If you want smoother shapes, proceed to Filters, then "noise" then "median" and put in a low number. This simplifies the shapes. Print out the results. What has happened is the program has broken down the image into 4 or 5 values. Each value has become an interesting shape. Now, draw these shapes to get your image. Think of it as a puzzle. Once you start seeing "shapes" instead of "things" you will automatically draw more acurately. I have posted an example of what I am talking about. You can click on any of the images (including the slide show) and it brings up a new screen with a larger version of the image so you can check it out better.

I found this very cool sketch book with recycled paper which is tan at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Hillsdale Shopping Center. I used the Elegant Writer pen in brown and then a little in black for accent. It doesn't bleed as nicely on this paper but I like the effect.

When I am in a bookstore, I always check the art department. I noticed they did have a copy of the Kaupelis Experimental Drawing book if anyone is looking for it. I bought the book "Strokes of Genius" which is a fabulous compilation of different drawings by contemporary artists full of inspirational work and great ideas! It is a North Light book similar to the Splash series but this one is about drawing. Can't wait to try some of them. Especially the one where you partiallly wet the paper (outside in the yard) then throw powdered charcoal all over it then throw a bucket of water at it!!!!! How fun is that going to be! That would be such a fun summer party idea for a group of artists friends. I was reading through the book and found a wonderful drawing by Jane Ferguson. It is a big accomplishment to be published in a book!

The slide show tonight has some fabulous work in it. More and more of you are sending me what you are doing. Some of these images don't relate specifically to the challenges but I wanted to share them with you. Check out Mike's initial drawing for the November challenge. He has a more detailed explanation on his blog. Abeer has completed last month's challenge using Matisse, Van Gogh, Picasso (my personal favorite) John Lovett and a few others. Great Job!! Nava and Joyce both are excited about color with rich results. Carrie and Bonnie are first timers on the blog and round out a great Friday show!

COMMENTS & CHALLENGE RESULTS!

I am getting some really great e-mails from some of you and more of you are sending me your efforts. Today I am posting some of your comments to go along with the slide show. It is inspiring to me to see what you are doing. Keep it going!

Hi Myrna!
I'm sending you some things that I did from last week's challenge-scribble drawings with a contour drawing around.
I don't get out much since I don't drive anymore (flunked the eye test to renew my drivers license, due to Macular Degeneration and cataracts). But, I have plenty of wiggly subjects at home to work on!
This is one of my 21 year old Manx cat, Bitsy, who moves, as do my other pets, everytime I try to draw them!
Actually, I start out most of my people drawings with gesture drawings and do things like gesture drawings while I am at football games, pep rallies, and other places that I would rather not be!
Cecelia Heinrich
http://cecelia-throughmyeyes.blogspot.com/



Took photos before the ink fades... ;-)

Dome on Bristol Smooth Surface drawing paper, mixture of colors, from the movie "Enchanted April", that offered a wealth of expressions and faces! These Elegant Writers are lots of fun, but I think they work best when you just let them do their thing, and not go over and over it to death, like I tend to do...

Not sure about #3 (the woman with the wrestler broken nose... didn't have time to finish it and better render the form).

Nava


I painted at the gallery yesterday and played around with my continuous line drawing on hp paper and used gouache. He looks a little like an Indian I used so many bright colors. He's taken from your image you put on your site. I'm enjoying your drawings and the info about your sketchbooks and how you manage the bulk. I've put some mat medium + water on a watercolor paper and drew in a self portrait with red ink (water soluble) and will work on sometime this week. Regards, ns
Nancy Standlee


Hi Myrna,
really enjoyed your demo yesterday, I find watching you very inspiring and your enthusiasm is contagious.
Here's a couple of sketches I did using the elegant writer. I can't seem to find the plain water pen so I used an old WC brush and water.
Belinda


While looking at your web site, I discovered that you are the artist whose work I fell in love with in the Watercolor magazine. In fact you inspired me to do a painting on gesso which was stamped with a texture from an old curtain. I love the way the watercolor pools in the textural areas. (also won an award at an art show with it!)
Regards,
Barb Sailor

FRIDAY CHALLENGE #5 FAST SKETCHING

One of the challenges I have in sketching is that I like to do people... and people MOVE! It is so frustrating. Just when you are starting to get the gesture, everything changes. So the goal is to learn how to sketch really, really quickly. Also I keep promising myself I am going to train myself to hold an image in my mind so I can remember the "pose". This is a skill I have not spent any time on. It definitely requires practice, practice, practice. I did come across this technique I am showing today, in a book this summer and shared it with Mike Bailey's group that went to France this year. Using a pencil, very quickly block in the general shape moving from top to bottom in a back and forth motion. Then go back and do a fast contour drawing over this beginning, making corrections as you go. Depending on how much time you have before the person moves, you can refine the details. The more you try this technique, the easier and faster you get. So, your challenge this week, if you accept it, is to go out and find some people in a coffee shop, park, shopping center, etc. ...just somewhere to work from life...and do some fast sketching. Everyone will be waiting to see your results, so be sure and send them to me. Below is the slide show from this weeks efforts. I am getting wonderful feedback that everyone is enjoying having the challenges to spur them on. We all need some kick-start. I am seeing that your creativity is kicking in as well and you are going beyond the initial idea.

Nancy had asked me to post the size of my painting that is in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society show. It is a little smaller that 1/2 sheet. Each segment is 5 x 7.

I am off to another wedding this weekend, this time in Southern California. I will be doing my sketching in the airport waiting areas. See you back here on Tuesday.

FRIDAY CHALLENGE #4 SIMPLIFIED DRAWING & FIRST SLIDE SHOW!

Here is your Friday challenge: Take your wire sculpture drawing and see if you can pare it down to one continuous line. Here are some of the drawings I did taking on this challenge. I found this challenge required some interesting thinking and unusual choices. I am thinking what I can do to incorporate some of these images into a painting. I was glad to be working on somebody else's face for a change. I am getting really sick of my own. I have been painting little practice paintings all week and getting nowhere. I am thinking that the clear gesso surface is best when using liquid watercolor. I am really struggling with regular watercolor. Sometimes we learn more from failure than success. That is what I am telling myself today, anyway. It reminds me of the line from the children's books The Berenstein Bears: "This is what you should not do!"

We leave Friday for a wedding in Phoenix and return on Monday, so I will be taking my sketch book and camera with me and look forward to finding lots of your submissions in my e-mail box when I return.

A free drawing for having 5 friends subscribe to the blog is an on-going offer.

Wow, the first slide show! Let me know what you think. Can you see the details well enough? Do you prefer having each one posted separately? You can click on each image to stop it. You can click on "view all images" and see it larger.

MAGNIFICENT MAGNIFIED DRAWINGS

Finally, I am back home and able to share with everyone these exciting contributions to the "Magnified" drawing challenge. This is from Kathy Mitchell and here is what she had to say about the process: "I have to say this was a difficult challenge for me.
I do not have your courage andI tired quickly of
staring at at my wrinkles. Therefore, these are relatively
quick sketches done with ball point pen
and calligraphy marker. The angle of the mirror
and the curve have distorted the features just
enough that I am familiar, but not exact."




Did you recognize Nava? Here is what she had to say: "I look very worried in the first one, so I decided to kill the seriousness, and went for a more unique pose....and so, here I am in the second one, making fish face. It was a truly fun exercise. Though I do not have a serious magnifying mirror (I used the Mary Kay one I got from you), it did force me to really, really look at myself. I discovered some interesting things about the inside of my eyes, found new chins I never knew I had (thank you very much for that!), and - in the second version, I worked hard on trying to render the smile I had in my eyes. It was fascinating to see how little wrinkles and puffs below the eyes make the smile, even when the lips are so distorted! On the other hand, holding the fishy pose for 30 minutes is truly painful.... I do suffer for my art!"

If you enjoy Nava's delightful writing as well as her great drawings, check out her blog by clicking on the link on the right side of the page.

I am going to post a separate post for this Friday's new art challenge.