Jennifer

Beauty, the adjustment of all parts proportionately so that one cannot add or subtract or change without impairing the harmony of the whole.

                                          Leon Battista Alberti

          Well, Jennifer's neck has grown considerably.  We have spent a fair amount of time together since my return from Seattle.  I think her proportions are perfect ~ God's work, not mine.  A little more attention to some shadows and highlights will bring her forward a little.  I have been spending a bit of time studying the works of Caravaggio and realize how important subtle changes can be.  While I have left the background empty on the recent animal drawings I am seriously considering adding some foliage to this one to better accentuate her size and shape.  Maybe.

Another Look At Jennifer

In the creative state a man is taken out of himself.  He lets down as it were a bucket into his subconscious, and draws up something which is normally beyond his reach.  He mixes this thing with his normal experiences and out of the mixture he makes a work of art.

                                                E. M. Forster

              Well, I have been spending some evenings with Jennifer and she seems to be coming along.  I am still surprised at how many colors I am able to see in her.  Even the smooth surface of her neck fur hide multiple colors among the light and dark browns.  E. M. Forster's quote above really spoke to me ~ putting into words what I find so frustrating (or enticing) about making art.  Most days I can't even find the bucket let alone lower it into the well.  Why is is that young children are so adept at scraping the bottom of the creative well ~ and just joyously let their findings spill out?  They don't meditate first, or feel the need to have special music or lighting or brushes or supplies or shoes.  They don't worry about critics or patrons.  They don't overdo or underdo their work.  They do, however, believe strongly in their own capabilities.  They do find a great deal of pleasure in the process.  And they do, beyond anything else, love their accomplishments.  Good things!   

Miniature Bouquet

Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change.
                                                     Bertrand Russell

 OK, I will admit it ~ I am a Pinterest junkie.  I can fall down one black hole after the next ~ finding new crafts and new techniques and new patterns and new tutorials and new ideas.  Well, you get the idea ~ tread into Pinterest carefully.  Anyway, I found these cross stitch patterns online for miniature bouquets and decided it would be a nice change from drawing.   Now that I have stitched this first one up I have decided it looks a little old fashioned.  But I love it.  There are five more in the series.  No rush to get them all done but they definitely moved to the top of the list (for now).

Jennifer the Giraffe

Art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes it visible.

                                                 Paul Klee

           Since doing the drawing of the steer (see last post) I am spending a lot more time looking at my subject before I put my pencil to paper.  The one most important thing an aspiring artist should learn, in my opinion, is how to see.  We are all always in such a rush to do something that we miss countless opportunities to actually see something.  So far in Jennifer's face I have used various shades of green, orange, red, purple, blue, black, white, yellow and brown.  Who knew Jennifer was such a "painted lady?"  This time I am working from a photograph not a painting so it is a little more difficult to see all the colors ~ but they are definitely there!  I find that I am enjoying the search for them ~ delighted when I find a new one.  Try it.

The Steer

In creating the only hard thing's to begin; A grass blade's no easier to make than an oak.
                                                  James Russell Lowell

 Teresa Elliott painted this steer and I fell in love with it the moment I saw it.  The above is my colored pencil attempt at capturing his charm.  As usual with my drawings I started out with a simple sketch and then worked from the top left corner across and down.  While I was pleased with the horns I must admit that the mop of hair on the top of his head gave me lots of problems.  The bottom line, however, is that I just don't care for his hairdo.  I finally convinced myself to move on and when I reached the bottom left hand corner I was much more pleased with his tail.  Google Teresa Elliott ~ her work is amazing.

Inspiration could be called inhaling the memory of an act never experienced.

                                                           Ned Rorem

 My initial intention when I started this blog was to show my works as I progressed.  This one was pretty far along when my patrone reminded me of this original objective.  So here we go! There is just a quick underpainting on the leaves and the pot so far ~ lots of glazing still left to be done.  Also, since this is a pretty simple composition I am tempted to put something else in it.  And, as usual, I will attempt to keep some of my strokes loose.  Already I can see myself tightening up on the leaves ~ small progress on the pot.  Relax, relax, relax. 

Jasper

                              Dogs come when they are called; cats take a message and get back to you.
                                                                
                                                                          Mary Bly

        Well, as I stated in my last post I was getting tired of drawing flowers so here is Jasper.  Jasper and I have never met ~ this is done from a photograph I found on-line.  We only had one dog ~ her name was Maggie.  But if we ever get a dog again (very doubtful) I hope he looks just like this guy and I am going to name him Jasper (or Sotheby).  Anyway, I am still learning lots of things about using colored pencils.  They are more like watercolor than I thought ~ very difficult to blend and very difficult to cover over dark colors.  In other words, you need to plan ahead.  Oil paint will always be my favorite medium.  If you're not happy with your work, wait one day and paint over it!  That said, I hope to always have at least one colored pencil work in progress on my drawing board.  It has been a real pleasure having a dog in my life again for a few weeks!