Yet another 10-minute bodyless head. Hopefully soon I’ll get a little faster to be able to put bodies on them.
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Back from a lovely holiday in Turkey, I managed to win the battle against jet lag for long enough to attend life drawing class again. I certainly did miss it! Here’s the best from tonight’s efforts. One of my neighbors said he thought I had really captured her likeness, which is such a fabulous compliment: but I don’t quite see it in this one; maybe the mouth.
I am very much enjoying portraiture with a Copperplate nib. I think I’ll continue this way for a while and see where it leads me. I need quite a bit more practice with them, because the point is so fine and pressure exerted so miniscule that it’s very hard to keep my hand steady. I’m still doing the Emotion of the Day and I got quite a few hats in during our trip to Turkey. Maybe I’ll keep on them and see what comes of it. Yesterday, I had a great idea (as always just a take off on an idea from someone else) to do a portrait (or several) using my brand new Copperplate calligraphy nib. I tried it tonight during life drawing class and – wow – what fun!! I still need quite a bit of practice with the copperplate nibs, as I’ve only used them 3 times now. But I really like this!!!
But really what I want to say here is that I’ve finally found a way to draw every day. I’ve turned my nightly journal into a bit of an Emotion of the Day sketchbook. I still write a lot of words, as I’ve always done since I learned how to form the letters; but for the last month or more, there are lots of pictures in there too. I have to say, it certainly makes it more interesting to look back on! Here are a few of those.
After much hard work (probably 10-15 hours in total of practicing), I finished the menu for our friend’s wedding that took place in our backyard. I was quite happy with the menu, despite the major typo – who knew that “pistacio” is actually spelled pistacHio?? Oh well. Makes for a good story I suppose.
Our friend Mondo and I were on the ‘decoration committee’ and did a pretty good job we think. We turned our back garden into an altar-of-sorts and lit nearly 70 candles I think. Lots of flowers too, that you can’t really see in the dark. But Mr Groom & Mrs Bride really liked it and were quite happy with how it looked. And of course we all loved the dinner that Nick cooked
I’m doing lots of life drawing, tons of quick portrait sketches, and lots of calligraphy lately. Just not enough time to post on here! I’ll put up some of my portrait sketches maybe next weekend. What does that mean?! Calligraphy workshop was about Versatile Uncial script – so much fun! I made this card using a copperplate nib. It was my first time using one of these nibs and – wow! – it’s quite difficult. But I had a lot of fun and hope that Auntie Vi will like the Get Well Soon card I made her. Time to go buy a few copperplate nibs!
Oh how much fun! The 2nd calligraphy term has begun, and we will spend the 8 weeks learning different orientations of italic and flourishes on italics. I have a feeling this will be my favourite term! Here’s my first week’s homework. In the first one, I wasn’t happy with the gigantic space in the centre nor the gaudy flourish in the centre, and the lettering is a bit shaky (everything looks good from a distance!). In the second one, I put too many end-of-word-flourishes and so ran out of room and had to edit the poem, but I think the writing is much better. It’s not-surprisingly quite difficult to write at a constant 15deg angle to a curved surface. Oh well, I’ll get it right – someday!
I haven’t had much time for much art lately due to work & other obligations, but I found a tiny sketch book hidden in the bookcase that works great for quick <30 min sketches before heading off to sleep. Here are two of my favorites:
I must admit that I worked on the man for about 5 minutes the next day too, just to enhance the tonal contrast. I quite like both of these folks. Definitely added to the favourites, especially the man. I’ve managed to attend life drawing class for the last few weeks too. The nice thing about having something consistent, even if it’s not as often as I would like, is that I am starting to be able to see a bit of improvement – slowly. Interestingly, I was looking at the Heston & Gordon sketches the other day while waiting for my husband to pack up (they’re hanging in his office), and I can now critique the works, instead of just marveling that I was able to do it. My eyes are getting better at “looking”, I suppose. Here are two of the portraits from last night’s life drawing. The one on the left was 10 min; on the right, 20 min. When it turned out that I would have a perfect profile view, I nearly moved my bench seat – but decided instead rather to stick with it because it’s quite rare that it happens and maybe something good will come of it, or at least it’ll be good practice. Hence the inferred nose
While I was processing these photos, I stumbled on a sketch from life drawing class nearly two years ago. I always liked this one – the pillow in particular, but also the exaggerated perspective. Not sure why I never got around to posting it before, but here it is.
Nick has been away for the better part of 3 weeks and returns home tomorrow, so I made a little card.
More interesting perhaps is that I’ve been drawing again! I rejoined the life drawing classes at the community art centre in town and am really enjoying it. I don’t have anything to show from there (I’m a bit rusty), but here are a few sketches that I’ve been doing in that 20-min to relax in bed before going to sleep. They are a bit unrefined because of this, but I quite like them that way. (Does anyone recognize them??)
and a few hands. It’s pretty obvious to me, but can you tell which of these belong to me or Da Vinci ??
I finished the birthday cards (but of course cannot post them here yet) and got a bit of time to play with other text this weekend so far. Here’s my first flourish, but we haven’t covered them in class yet, so after next Tues I expect to be much better after learning the tricks. Regardless, I think it turned out alright.
Oh, this Graham Berry script is from mid-1800s, one of the earliest Australian examples. We did it for the calligraphy workshop a few weeks ago. Here’s another example of it, the scanner is ever so slightly small and the scan was ever so slightly crooked, but it nicely cuts off a smudge on the right border, so I think I’ll just leave it like this
I nearly forgot, here’s my homework for the week. This is one of numerous trials, that will become numerous trials more for a much bigger work….
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Superb!
