Life Drawing

Two minutes

Five minutes

Two Twenty Minutes

Some days I can draw and some days I might as well go home to bed. Life drawing is one of the most efficient ways there is to improve my skills as an artist. The challenge is accuracy within a very limited time frame. Being consistent in the challenge is the key to improving…. Consistency. Yes, well, now that I am in the city I am scheduling life drawing for one afternoon per week instead of once per month which derails into once per year. Another factor is inspiration. Some models possess a certain grace that is totally inspiring. Models who have dance as part of their repertoire often possess this grace. Sometimes it comes naturally. It does not take much. A carefully placed hand, a little twist in the spine, one foot in front of the other, a glance and something magical happens. Drawing becomes easy. I use a number of different mark makers. One of my favorites is ink. I do not erase. This time I used a new product called watercolour sticks. I have a few colours, three to be exact. They came in the sample packages I pick up at a promotion; quinacridone burnt orange (PO 48), carbazole violet (PV 23) and undersea green (PB 29 and PO 48). I got excited when I put the violet and the orange together. At first I used the sticks as crayons. Then I dipped them into some water before putting them to paper. I love uneven lines, unpredictable events. I continued dipping. Then I took a paint brush and smudged some colour into shadow shapes. So much fun! I’ll be back.

Christian Contribution

Pencil drawings do not photograph well. This is the latest in the long line of mural projects with which I have been involved. It has been a lot of fun. We met before Christmas to discuss common themes and some focus points upon which I could build an image that expressed Christian contribution within the community. As I developed the drawing it became apparent that the most important elements were the people themselves. Church is all about people. As one theologian put it: we put skin to God. As we pray, play, worship, praise and touch each other, God’s love made manifest. The best examples of this are in how we care for the weakest and the poorest among us. As a whole I think we are getting better at it. In any case the image celebrates the victories and the joy. Now that it has been approved the next step is to paint it. I have already begun with the undercoats: one coat of primer, one or two coats of exterior house paint on the back, gesso on the front, a coat of molding paste then a coat of gesso mixed with colour and gel medium just to get started. Today I put on the other layers of colour, there are at least three of them, before I transfer the image. That is today’s work. Tomorrow and the next day are painting days. Done by Thursday… that is the deadline. Sigh. Thank God for deadlines….

Pictureless

The chaos has caught up with me. I forgot to take a picture of what I have been working on lately and so… there is no picture. Actually it has been many weeks since I have spent any productive time in my studio. I have been going to life drawing once per week and that helps. Today I intend to go again, if I have wheels…. The transmission went out in the van. I am very thankful I got my fifteen pictures to CAVA before that happened! The show is on! The opening was grand! The drawings will be on display until March 20^th so do drop in if you can. I am so poetic… Once I got my fifteen drawings framed I helped move our stored furniture into a storage unit and I am in the process of cleaning up the leftovers that did not fit. We decided keeping my studio in Legal is the most economical for now. I also bought a panel for the latest mural and sealed the edge with silicon in preparation for the primer and protective coats that I put on the back before I begin painting. As part of my planning for effective use of car and mileage I am at home today, doing bookwork (year end is approaching fast), taking in life drawing and ferrying my oldest daughter to an appointment this evening. Tomorrow I go to my studio, I think… It means my husband has to catch a bus to his commitments during the afternoon. Our youngest daughter should know what to do about that. It has been a long time since we caught a city bus. Where there is a will there is a way. One thing for certain, I will pick up a brush this week if only to stave off insanity!

Normal

I often hear people say “I will do this once things get back to normal”. My tolerance for waiting expired some years ago. My husband encouraged me to use the five minute time slots I had at my disposal instead of waiting for a block of time. It took a while to retrain me but I am a much happier camper now. Lately my normal has come to mean disruption and insecurity. In the midst of chaos there is still a choice. I give myself deadlines which get put aside temporarily for exterior demands. For example, I am presently using my studio time to frame pictures so I can deliver them tomorrow. Shortly bookwork and year end will be moved to priority number one for a personal deadline of March 31^st.  There are a number of exterior deadlines that I will deal with as they come. Somehow disruptions are easier to manoeuver  than insecurity. At the moment we are living in temporary accommodations and I am working out of a temporary studio. I know the situation will work itself out I just do not know how long it might take. The five minute plan has become essential. What I could use is a clear scheduling of computer time and studio time as the two are about an hour’s drive apart. So just because I do not always make it to my studio every day does not mean I cannot draw every day. I prefer corners and negative space. In our tiny apartment there are lots of interesting compositions available. Drawing I can do on a regular basis. It is just a matter of booking my hour or two per day.

All will be Well

One of the results of going on holidays is backlog. I opened my email and discovered that I had been accepted into the jury process for an upcoming show in Vancouver. There is always something new to learn. I have never shipped a painting anywhere to which could not drive. Did I mention I work well under pressure? I had three days. The email had been sent eleven days ago and the painting was due at the gallery in three days. Back on the internet I checked out shipping companies. When it got too complicated I phoned. That was an interesting merry-go-round. Relax. All will be well. There is no benefit in entering into negative energy. So I had coffee and lunch with some surprise guests and I kept my promise to myself to attend some long longed for life drawing. Result: complete satisfaction and way more energy, positive energy. Yes, all will be well. And those who live with me are much happier too. In the end it is not about the results so much as it is about the world I have created around me by choosing how I respond to circumstance. Self-flagellation deconstructs relationships. It destroys not only personal well-being but interpersonal well-being. I honour myself and those around me in keeping my cool, rolling with the punches and choosing to have fun. Joy is the result. Suddenly the stack of ‘to do’ seems less formidable. All will be well.

Key West

O.K. I am spoiled. I have spent the last two weeks lazing beside a pool, sitting in the shade (to avoid sunburn) and gazing at the palm trees. I had no idea that there were so many varieties of palm trees. I also discovered why they do not break in a hurricane. Did you know they are hollow, filled with flexible fibers that transport water to their tops? My bother had several varieties in his yard, two cabbage palms, five or so royal palms, a coconut palm, a bismark (lovely big gray-green fan leaves) and another variety that fans out in a diagonal line and gets bigger than the side of a house, not to mention the orange, lemon and grapefruit trees… Nature walks introduced us to alligators, birds of all kinds, plants in abundance and quaint boardwalks straddling three different ecosystems in one two mile walk. The most fascinating plants were the air plants. I thought they were nests. I also thought Spanish moss (an air plant) killed the host tree. Not true. A little exercise and then back to the side of the pool with something tall and cool as we waited for the steak to cook. Evenings brought the possibility of honing our bridge skills. Unfortunately the opposition (my brother and husband) were the ones who bid the seven no trump and made it… Still we had a lovely holiday and now it is time to make use of all those impressive photos I took. One of these years we will revisit Key West. An extraordinary place filled with extraordinary people. Life is good.

Selection

Well, they are done! Amazing! I had decided to finish twenty sketches before I selected the fifteen that would be in the show. It proved to be more difficult than I anticipated, the selection I mean. The movement in the cape and the patterning left by a little water sprinkle and some ink drops was fascinating. I decided to keep the five extra in reserve so I filed them away. Taking out my fun metallic foil I noticed how static cling provided some resistance to extraction from the cellophane bag. I dumped most of it onto a sheet of white paper and cut the bag open to retrieve the remaining bits. The colours were more varied than I anticipated and I divided it into four groups, each on a separate piece of paper. I carefully unscrunched the pieces, much easier to handle than real gold, and I began to apply it to my drawings. I created a circle around the model following the path left by the cape and eventually came to the conclusion that smaller is better. Most of the time there does not appear to be much of a difference in the drawings but as I walk by the light catches the metal and lights up the surface. Beautiful. Now I have fifteen circles moving with the capes in various colours, some pure gold, some copper, some more green than blue, some more red than green. Yes! All I have left to do is sort out the order in which I wish them to be displayed, sign, code and frame them. I code all my work. It is a simple method I read about some time ago. Do not remember the author. The information about each piece is right in the code. For example, one of the drawings will have a code reading ISMKB000112D. I is for ink, S for sepia, M for metallic, KB my initials and 000 enough space in case I manage to draw more than a thousand drawings in one year…., 1 is for the first, 12 is for the year and D is for drawing. I use a similar method for my paintings except I drop the D. With this method I can see at a glance when each were made and with what. They go on display on the 1^st of March at CAVA, 9103 95^th Ave Edmonton. I will be in attendance at the reception on 2^nd March at 7pm to 8:30pm. The wine is always good! Hope to see you there.