Sketchbook Practice Workshop

I am so excited to be offering a Sketchbook Practice workshop at the Northshire Book Store in Manchester, Vermont, starting January 10th!! The idea for this has been sloshing around in my psyche for a few months now, and it has finally come together.

Give your inner artist a little breathing room this year beginning with The Sketchbook Practice Workshop. You will get a creative workout, but in a relaxed, supportive setting, where experimentation and play are encouraged.

Read the rest of the description here.

We will draw:


Paint:

Collage:
Combine techniques:

And PLAY!

I know most of you reading this blog are nowhere near Manchester, Vermont, but let me know if you are interested in an online version. It is something I would like to try later in 2012.

New Online Class - The Self-Portrait

Thank you so much for your encouraging comments! I am officially offering the self-portrait course online now, starting January 2. Some of you may want to use it as a guide to doing a self-portrait-a-day, though that is not required in the class. In each lesson we will do warm-up self-portraits using various drawing implements, and then move onto the main project.

Blind Self-Portrait using white crayon and watercolor

The main projects focus on experimentation with materials and techniques rather than the finished outcome, and my hope is that this will take the intimidation factor out of the self-portrait. Meanwhile, along the way you will draw so many self-portraits you can't help but gain the skill of making a realistic one if that is what you wish. Read the full description here, and e-mail me with any questions.

Hand Drawings

For this Friday Drawing Practice I wanted to find a way to combine contour and gesture drawing techniques. I was going to set up a still life and draw it in various styles, but couldn't find objects that inspired me, just the same old jars of brushes and paint bottles that fill every available surface... So we're drawing hands this week. This is a real branching out for me, as I have never drawn my own hands before.

Here is my first attempt:

I am left-handed, mostly, so I drew my right hand.

I thought the hand might be more interesting if it were holding something, so I gave that a try:

For someone who was starting to feel somewhat competent drawing, I sure was feeling out on a limb with this exercise!

So why not take it a bit further and try drawing with my non-drawing hand?


Not a whole lot different from the one done in my drawing hand. But I was having fun now, and decided to do it again, this time bringing in a bit of gesture drawing from the last drawing practice session.

Here I'm holding the brayer in my right hand, drawing with my left:


And holding it with my left, at a different angle, drawing with my right:

This week's drawing practice became less about combining contour and gesture, and more about switching hands and drawing something new. This is one I definitely want to practice! Thanks for visiting.

Branching Out - Out on a Limb

Here is my post for the Sketchbook Challenge this month:

Since the Sketchbook Challenge began I have been using it as way to stretch my abilities, challenge my perceived boundaries, and expand my vocabulary of artistic expression. It is evident from the hundreds of entries on the flickr site that many of you are doing the same. You can usually tell from looking at a drawing/painting/sketch whether the artist is playing it safe or taking risks. I love seeing the entries on flickr that teeter on the edge of the artist's comfort zone!

This month's theme is Branching Out, which means expanding your skills, sprouting new ideas, discovering unknown territory. The flip side of that is Out on a Limb, which means taking risks, facing fear of failure, getting into your discomfort zone, facing your Inner Critic, and taking the plunge with courage.

Getting out of your comfort zone, pushing your boundaries, sounds all well and good, but being uncomfortable does not. Sometimes being uncomfortable leads (me, anyway) to art tantrums, or worse, running back to the safe zone. However, if you practice allowing that discomfort and continuing on with courage (and without judgment), you will find that, more often than not, you will branch out. You will learn to recognize that queasy feeling as an indication that you are about to discover something new. It is like the City Limits sign on the edge of your comfort zone.

I am suggesting to you that this month try at least one page in your sketchbook (and I know you'll do more once you experience the freedom that Branching Out inspires) devoted to trying something new, something that really challenges you, even something that inspires fear of failure. Do something that your Inner Critic knows you can't do! There is no failure or "can't do" in branching out; when you are honestly challenging yourself you will always be treated by a surprise. Remember, only you can know if you are truly branching out. One person's safe zone is another's unknown territory. Oh, and don't forget to have fun!!!

Here are two sketchbook entries in which I am branching out and out on a limb. I'm searching for some way to use these circles, some layering, maybe masks and stencils.... I don't know what I want the pieces to look like, but I am deliberately throwing myself off balance. I LOVE that about the skektchbook: I don't feel any need to "resolve" a piece or find an answer. Just sending out the question is enough.

Friday Drawing Practice, Drawing Through Freezer Paper

Hello, and welcome to the fourth post in the Drawing Practice Series. Today we're going to explore a kind of "gesture drawing", in which you work quickly and try to capture the gesture and volume of the object you are depicting. I chose my iron, just because it was handy.


In gesture drawing, you look at the object and at your paper, but instead of trying to capture the precise outlines or contours, you use your lines to capture more of the attitude of the object. In the following video I did speed up the gesture drawing a little, so it wouldn't take too much time, but I am definitely working quickly. I first do a drawing directly in my sketchbook. Then I draw on the back side of freezer paper that has been coated with black acrylic paint. The effect is interestingly textural.



This is the first gesture drawing:

This is the drawing on done with freezer paper:


Thanks for visiting! Hope you enjoy this practice.

Don't forget to go over to the Sketchbook Challenge today for my April theme.

A couple brush and pen drawings

I was playing with the watercolor and pen drawing practice from last Friday, so I thought I'd share a couple of the resulting images.

This one is my dog, Zeke. I wanted to add a little more detail, but he moved.



This one is my Bad Hair Day self-portrait. I really don't look that somber most of the time.



April is my month to post the theme for the Sketchbook Challenge, so don't forget to look for it on Friday. I will copy the post on this blog next week, as Friday this week is another drawing practice tutorial.

I've just put my FIRST ONLINE WORKSHOP up on my web site, Unlocking the Secrets of Color. It is open for registration now, and begins May 4. It consists of six sessions, one per week, and I expect we'll have a blast! The next workshops to appear online will be Scribble Collage and a Drawing Practice workshop (similar to what you've seen in my Friday blog series, but much more fleshed out). Please e-mail me or post comments if you have suggestions or requests for online workshops.