Thursday, June 10, 2021

Change Your Habits / Change Your Life

"If you want to change your art, change your habits."
~ C. Greenberg

The first ten days of Sketching Every Day 2021

 
Day 1 • 2 Minute Gesture Drawings • SketchWithMeChallenge
The First Day of 2021! Come #sketchwithme this summer and join the #sketchwithmechallenge  This little hummingbird figurine is what I used as my model today. Twice a month, throughout the summer, I'll be posting photos that you can draw from. Do them in any medium and style! Just have FUN! Be sure to tag your sketches or paintings with #SketchWithMeChallenge and post on our
Facebook DrawingEveryday Group Page and your other social media sites! 
 
 




 
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Day 2 • Quick Pencil Sketch
This is a quick little sketch I did today, looking out my window as I was sitting
in front of my computer waiting for a file to download.
 
 
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Day 3 • Watercolor and Ink Sketch
This is the first example for the #sketchwithmechallenge drawn and painted from life.

Although you can't sketch this from life, use my reference photos above to do your own interpretation.

 

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Day 4 • Watercolor and Ink Sketch
This is the second example for the #sketchwithmechallenge drawn and painted from life.

Although you can't sketch this from life, use my reference photos above to do your own interpretation.

 

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Day 5 • Watercolor and Ink Sketch
This is the third example for the #sketchwithmechallenge drawn and painted from life.

Although you can't sketch this from life, use my reference photos above to do your own interpretation.

 

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Day 6 • 3 Minute Quarter Turn Gesture Drawings
Inspiring quotes give me the courage to carry on."In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing." – Vincent Van Gogh  Gesture drawings will get you drawing quick like a bunny!
 
 
 
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Day 7 • Watercolor and Ink Sketch in my watercolor journal.
"Drawing is not following a line on the model, it is drawing your sense of the thing." ~ Robert Henri
This sketch was inspired by seeing a cardinal feeding a sunflower seed to a Goldfinch. 
 
 
 
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Day 8 • Pencil Sketch in my watercolor journal
Next time I'll use smoother paper
 "Color gets all the credit, but values do all the work." ~ Sandy 


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Day 9 • Watercolor and Ink Sketch in my watercolor journal
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” ~ W. Elliot
 
 
 
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Day 10 • 8 Minute Blind Contour Drawing
This is a photo of one of the blind contour drawings I did today of an elephant figurine I have. Elephants are really fun to draw because they are made up of so many great shapes. A Blind Contour Drawing is extremely valuable in learning to SEE BETTER. This is not meant to be a great picture. It's a training exercise. This is an excellent exercise that improves hand-eye coordination helps to facilitate the right brain shift and really helps you to SEE. The idea is to refrain from looking down at your paper while you very slowly draw your subject, caressing the object with your eyes. If you lose your way, you can look down and reposition your pencil if need be. But while drawing, you must not look at your paper, concentrating only on following the contours, not just the outline of the shape. The results will not be accurate and more often than not, does not make a pretty drawing, but this 5 - 30 minute exercise really helps you to make the L to R mode shift and produces some interesting studies.

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Join Our Sketching / Painting Zoom Workshop - June 12th - July 17th!

 "Habits can be bad things or good, but the reasons they become habits is because we do them so often, they become natural to us. drawing or not drawing can become habit. It all depends on you."
~ Adapted from C. Henderson

Join us daily on #SketchingEveryday / #DrawingEveryday on Facebook!

 

HAPPY CREATING TO YOU,
X ♥  O

Saturday, June 5, 2021

Everybuddy Needs a Buddy

"The ability to draw from life determines the artist's skill.This is why live drawing classes have always been at the top of the curriculum for properly structured academic workshops."
Igor Babailov




This is my "Study Buddy" Roly-Poly Pony, Rudy. I love this miniature figurine of my real-life fur baby, Rudy who was a big part of my life for 34 years. Anyway, I love drawing this little guy and it always puts me in a good mood. He’s a perfect model because he’s made up of simple shapes.

 Drawing from photos is all well and good, but we also need to draw from life,
because our brains process 2D and 3D information differently.

What do you love?

If you don’t have something you enjoy drawing, it can get really hard to keep going. What do you love? I love whimsical things, but you don’t have to! Get yourself a "study buddy" that fits your preferences and sensibilities. Toys and figurines make great models.

 

 Go to your local thrift shop or to a garage sale with something specific in mind. Or just be open to a little serendipity. The consequence of serendipity is sometimes a brilliant discovery: (happy) chance, (happy) accident, fluke; luck, good luck, good fortune, fortuity, providence; happy coincidence.


I have sketched Rudy and my other favorite "Study Buddies" so many times, that the actions involved in doing so are ingrained into my muscle memory. Just like a musician practices the same piece of music over and over, if you want to improve as a fine artist, you must train in the same way.

"Repetition is the key to mastery."
Sandy Sandy 

See How I Use My Study Buddies To Improve My Skills Here


"Drawing, or in other words 'the art of sketch' is the highest point of all Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Drawing is the source and the soul
of any painting, it is the root of all the sciences in art."

Michelangelo Buonarroti - on drawing from life

Relax and Avoid the Overwhelm of T.M.I
(Too Much Information)

This Summer, My Motto is: K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid)
For Myself and for My Zoom Course Students

 

Even if you are not planning on joining me for our 2021 class,
I'm still hoping YOU WILL get into sketching and painting
this summer!

Join our Facebook Group
and participate in the
Free #SketchWithMeChallenge!


Make Progress and K.I.S.S. This Summer!

• You don't need a big chunk of time. With just 10
minutes a day, you'll see improvement.

• You don't have to show your sketches to anyone
or post anything.

• It's a refreshing and rewarding task if you look
at it the right way.


• No judgment, just practice.

• Do it for yourself and for your sanity.

• Think of it as a pleasant mini-escape
or meditation for your day!



GET MOTIVATED AND ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS WITH US!
so there's no worries about having enough time
to take full advantage of all the great course material!
 
 
 
HUGS & HAPPY CREATING TO YOU,
X ♥  O
 

"Thank goodness for our art!" ~ Maxine Fuentes