Charcoal; landscape

Winter orchard

Art and learning

I find that as I draw I start to see the world differently. I visualize in planes and values. I’m constantly seeing potential that my skills can’t match yet. I really feel my lack of technical ability is holding me back. Thsi blog is going drive me forward by making me practice. Nothing worth learning in life comes easily, so I have to keep moving and working.

I think I see small improvements in each effort.

Nude drawing number 15

This is the last life figure for a while due to winter holidays etc. Time to switch to winter landscapes and still lifes. I like nudes because I feel they are more challenging to draw and more interesting to the viewer. Anyway here it is. I’m finishing off one more before i start the new series. I’m trying to simplify.

A quote from Robert Genn

Find a sanctuary where you can comfortably work.
Dedicate at least two hours a day to your art.
Have more than enough equipment and supplies.
Set short- and long-term goals and keep track of progress.
Think of your work as exercise, not championship play.
Explore series development and exhaust personal themes.
Work alone with the benefit of books and perhaps tapes.
Replace passive consumption with creative production.
Use your own intuition and master your technology.
Feel the joy of personal, self-generated sweat.
Fall in love with your own working processes.
Be forever on the lookout for the advent of style.
Try to be your own person and claim your rights.
Don’t bother setting yourself up for rejection.
Don’t swing too wildly and damage the well-being of others.
Don’t jump into the ring until you’re feeling fit.

You can see this and more at Painters Key, linked to the right.

Multiple versions

I typically repeat the drawings any time, each one is different and it seems to revolve around my mood at the time. A lot of what I do is motivated by my subconscious, the weight of the strokes the hardness of edges. These 2 I did last week.

Graphite vs Charcoal

I like the drama of tone in charcoals vs the subtlety of graphite. Here is a sketch from my notebook done in pencil

I do 2 or 3 a day. This is the model for the charcoal in the earlier post.

The importance of practice

I try to draw for a couple of hours a day. My goal is t least one drawing per day. I am only posting my recent work though. I see the best results when I slow down down and get into a rhyhmn and then things just seem to come together. I’ve been reading the Painters Key and I am impressed with work being done there. Its tough maintaining any kind of internet site and still make time to work on art.

I am still obsessing on female nudes and here is a couple of my recent charcoals. I try to stay loose and not get too focussed on details. I like the light and shade produced by charcoal better than graphite.

More on the figure

I like the incomplete image of this one as well as the strokes. Don’t like the overall tone. I think it lacks range and looks flat.

Figure studies

I’ve been obsessing on charcoal and graphite figures. I am slowly understanding how to define edges by shading and showing volume through tone. Practice, practice, practice,

The Figure Exercise

Why is drawing the figure important? I like the form, the subtle shading that expresses that form. The effect of shadow and light. Figures have a long history in art education and I think fill a deep psychological need in both the artist and viewer.