Watercolor 84

Beginning of Autumn

More Art Homework and Practices

From Leah:

Figure Drawing class. Practicing drawing some off poses. I'll be working on my final soon!

Portrait class. Mapping out the face of my final project. Very scary looking, but makes sense in the long run. Usually I just use my eye or a ruler, but it's good to learn how to do things differently!

A 1-hour drawing that we'll be graded for. I did well, but needed more contrast of course. But I wanted to get as much done as I could in an hour. Timed drawings aren't so fun, but good for learning!

Another drawing project from class last week. Crooked, but again, had to draw in a small amount of time!

From Sarah:

The 1-hour drawing homework from last week. The first page, on the left, was just my practice drawing so I could see kind of how the shapes and things went before I used the Bristol paper for the real assignment. The practice drawing took me about ten minutes longer than I was supposed to have for the time limit, but I didn't set my alarm for that one.

Bottles, drawn with different time limits in class. The idea is to practice drawing faster, and not to take forever on one little detail, although in theory you can go back and add details later or something.

(Apologies for the gruesome lighting job in my photos...)

Watercolor 76

In Progress

This one was started a while ago, and has been adjusted probably a hundred times and still isn't right. It is an example of do what you can then move on.

It is small, about 4 1/2 by 6 inches.

And, by the way, I am having computer problems and noted that some comments did not go through, and emails are not working. fyi

Watercolors 82 & 83

End of Summer

Embossed Metal

A Figure

Without having much experience yet, I decided to try embossing a figure in metal. This is obviously much more complicated than a simple block design work, because a figure needs layers of relief and I have neither the tools nor the experience with the medium to do this advanced work. But I ventured forth. The first one was quite bad. (Not shown.) The second (below) a touch better, but it showed me how much I would need to learn to get proficient at this medium. I do not intend to put in the requisite number of hours and "the first hundred" to get proficient, but I it is something I have wanted to try and now I did. I could use the medium in future works and know what I can and cannot do with minimum practice.

I would urge everyone to delve into new media now and again, even if they won't be your life's work. Stretching exercises are good for us.

Watercolour 81

Smokey Haze

This is from a photo by Leah. I hope, Leah, you don't mind my borrowing it.

Watercolor 80

European Goldfinch

This little bird with a big beak is often seen in paintings of the Virgin Mother and Child, as a symbol of dealing with hardships and troubles. It is apt for some now.

Now let's see if this post actually publishes this time. It is what I tried to do on Monday.