Trying out some new things

Yesterday, I went to the Evergreen Classic horse show in Carnation, WA to do some sketching. I had a grand time. Although I'd planned to go back today, a nagging foot injury made me think that resting it was the better part of valor. So I used a few photos I snapped the day before to some more sketches. You can see the rest on my Flickr stream here.

In the interest of improving my sketching and design skills, I did some hard thinking today about how other really good sketch artists present their work. Fortunately, I follow a great many sketchers through my RSS feeds. Armed with their inspirations, was able to really put some thought behind my designs today.  Below are the results.

Sketch 1 - "Don't let him get away!"

Sketch 2  - "Alternative Transportation"

I'm quite pleased with these two sketches. I'm also really excited to continue exploring the design side of sketching. Onwards and upwards with pen in hand!

Copper Bracelets, Crosshatch, and EDM #32

I seem to be putting on the steam to get through the variety of pen and ink marks that I've been practicing lately. Thus far I have done: contour, stippling, parallel, criss-cross, and crosshatch lines. That leaves two discrete marks in the Claudia Nice book from which I've been doing my review. The two remaining ones are wavy and scribble lines. I have virtually no experience with scribbly lines and as they are so useful in landscape and urban sketching I'm eager to try them. Wavy lines I've used for some time when drawing wood grains. They're also useful for things like agates and other patterned stones. Perhaps I'll do my wavy line sample from something like that.

But for today back to my favorite pen & ink mark, the crosshatch. It's useful in so many instances that I can't imagine not using it. But it isn't good for everything, and fur is really an example of something it doesn't do very well. (For that I remain delighted by the usefulness of criss-cross lines.) Today's experiment was to render a copper and turquoise bracelet that I've had for many years. The patina on the copper is so interesting, I did my best to capture it with colored pens and crosshatch marks. Ultimately, I decided to add a little colored pencil on the top as I just didn't have the range of gelly pens necessary to capture the color as closely as I want to.

Here's the sketch page from my journal then...and it's all about the crosshatch mark!

Crosshatch page from my sketch journal today

The bracelet also serves as Every Day Matters challenge # 32 - Draw Something Metallic.

Jack and the Criss-Cross lines

Here's a pen & ink sketch of Debbie Nicely's "Jack," the Jack Russell terrier I met last Saturday. This piece was interesting as I did it as pen & ink & gelly roll (gel pen.) I liked the way the gelly roll pen handled the subject. Very smooth and interesting.

"Jack," the Jack Russell Terrier

This piece is also an example of "Criss-Cross" line work, which is very good for animal fur/hair. Ironically, considering all the pen & ink work I've done over the years, this was not one of the pen & ink marks I have commonly used. Considering how much fun it was to do AND how well it handled the dog's hair I'm amazed that I haven't used it before. (If I had it would have saved me a lot of textural frustration rendering animals, let me tell you!) Now that I know about it I will certainly want to do more with this type of line work.

Fun Sketching Day at the Gift Horse

Quickie sketch day at the Gift Horse

I had so much fun today (well at this hour it was technically yesterday(!)) I spent the afternoon at the Gift Horse Saddlery doing quick sketches of people’s pets from photos they brought with them. It was a really successful event. Word had gone out in the Gift Horse e-newsletter the week before that I was going be there doing inexpensive sketches for people if they brought in photos. I got there on “horse person’s time,” (that is to say a few minutes late) and people where actually lined up waiting for me! I got a chance to see some old friends and clients and meet some wonderful new people and, one really cute Jack Russell terrier named, what else? “Jack.”

Here are some pictures from the day.

My table complete with art prints and my sketching stuff

Sketch of Marsha Murray's Beuford (I love the shape of this horse!)

Another quickie sketch

Debby Nicely's dog "Jack" - what a gentleman!

Such a fun day, I certainly hope that we can all do it again sometime soon. :-)

Addressing Composition

Ok, I’ll admit it, designing a composition for a painting is hard. That’s kind of funny to me because I have an excellent eye for composition through the camera lens. When composing for a painting it seems like an entirely different exercise. I take pieces apart and then put them back together in an entirely new shapes, formats, and colors. Do I do this in my head while composing a photograph? Do I think about armatures (the directional lines through your painting) and the use of color and light at instant speed? If so, how? How do I do it?

When I compose shapes for a painting my head feels like it is stuffed with wool. How did I  learn to do this upside down through a 4x5’s viewfinder so many years ago? But perhaps that is the answer right there. I did learn to compose through a camera lens looking at shapes and light upside down. Those images made no “sense” to my brain and so had to be looked at as compositional elements only. Back in the day I remember cursing silently as I tried to get images in focus through the top of my ancient TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) Ricohflex camera. The tiny, upside image in the shadowed viewfinder on the top of the camera was a pain in the butt to use. Composing images in an old 4x5 Press Camera was easier, but still not easy…and upside down too! Funny how today…23 years later, I not only remember those events but bless them for their teachings.

I guess I really need to start looking at the world upside down once again. *chuckle* Clearly, this is my answer to clearing out the mental wool.

A pause here while I apply my new insight to my compositional sketches…and voila! It works. In the interest of science here is a look at some of my compositional studies on masses and shapes for the new painting. Color studies and accurate thumbnails come next and then…the actual painting! Is it possible to be sweating and enjoying oneself at the same time? Apparently so…*lol*

Compositional sketches looking at mass shapes

Two new sketches

Monday I took some time in Seattle and sketched in Volunteer Park. It was wonderfully relaxing! Although the Conservatory was closed it made a wonderful subject, especially in my long Moleskin sketchbook.

The Conservatory at Volunteer Park, Seattle

 Today's sketch is of my horse Percy. He was supposed to be getting his teeth done today but the vet had to reschedule until Friday due to car troubles. I decided to hang out with him over lunch. He's such a sweetie to hang with and so handsome too!

Percy at lunch today

On reflection I can see that my sketching is improving. I'm glad of this as it makes recording my world so much easier! I plan to turn some attention to a few fine art pieces over the next few days. I'm looking forward to that but hope that I don't miss my sketching too much. I suppose the beauty of a sketch journal is that it's supposed to be a relatively quick way of recording experiences.

I'm finding keeping a sketch journal quite addictive. Danny Gregory speaks about that. Well, I guess I'm hooked now. There are certainly worse things to be addicted to! ;-)

An Art-ful Afternoon at the Gift Horse Saddlery

Come one, come all! This Saturday (8/7) I will be visiting artist at the Gift Horse Saddlery from 1-4 in the afternoon. I’ll be answering questions about how a portrait can be created of your pet. I'll be showcasing my current work by demonstrating my painting process while at the store. People are welcome to bring in a clear, sharp photo of their pet/horse and get an on-the-spot sketch for $10. If you're in the area I hope you'll stop by and say "hi." It’s going to be an art-filled afternoon at the Gift Horse on Saturday!