I'm still in the midst of my summer dilettantism. I thought last week's bird was surprisingly successful, so I went back and finished the other two birds in the demo. Following are the Great Tit...
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...and the Robin. They're listed as "garden birds," but they're nothing like the little brown sparrows in my garden. Even my robins are darker and less fluffy. I think they're British.
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While neither of them came out as well as I had hoped, I do like the branches. Other than that, I did a blind contour and experimented with shadow colors on a scrap of watercolor paper...
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...and made some new curtains, which I documented in my sketchbook.
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And I finished a sketchbook, so I did a quick self portrait to close it out. I look like a mean schoolteacher asking, "Are you sure you filled ALL the pages in that sketchbook?"
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I like the great tit but I’m not sure about the robin-it certainly looks British.
ReplyDeleteAgain I love your contour drawing. Are you sure you never looked up. I can’t do it. I have to peek. Make a series.
I’ve been thinking of doing some interim sketches of my dwellings. You encourage me.
Love your self portrait. Did you fill all the pages in that sketchbook?
Yes, I did fill every page! As for the blind contours, I don't look but I do tend to brace my little finger on the paper. Then I use that to give me a sense of where I am when I want to jump to another feature without a continuous line. Sometimes, I gauge the distance well....other times, not so much.
DeleteThe trick with doing blind contour drawings is to set yourself up at the table so you can't easily turn to look at your paper. In other words, your paper is on the table where you typically would put it, but you turn your chair (or yourself) askew so you are sitting perpendicular to the paper. Your subject is in the direction of where you are seated and easily viewed. If you wanted to glance at your drawing you would have to twist around to see it.
ReplyDeleteYes, the bird branches are the best part! And I do luv your contour drawings, and now in color too. Not to mention your sketches. A mean schoolteacher...hmmph...perhaps the glasses have to be lower.
Love your self portrait, and everything else. You look intense because you’re concentrating on looking at yourself! Especially love the first bird. He seems so well balanced on those little legs.
ReplyDeleteI love the tit. The robin not so much because it looks like he has hair on top of his head.
ReplyDeleteWhat an enigma of a smile on Contour Boy, or is it maybe a girl? Still an enigma.
That expression on your face reminds me of teachers doing the Holy Hell. That's like when the sub is taking his kids to the bathroom and the kids are acting up and some regular teacher walks up and gives them Holy Hell. "I declare I have never seen such bad behavior in the halls, call yourselves fourth graders, you act like a bunch of first graders and furthermore and more and more and it lasts maybe a few minutes and the kids go right back to acting up and the sub is wondering what the hell good is the Holy Hell? Later I realized that it got three or four minutes of blessed peace, not to be sneezed at.