A great few hours spent sketching in the,
did I mention?
Sun!
Totally opposite, equally lovely...
Or perhaps not, depending on your point of view. Although there’s plenty to be said for the life giving vitality of the city, if I had to pick, I’d take the quiet by a river with coyotes and deer wandering through any day. A weekend of slowing down enough to see. The freedom of sketching is in taking the subject the way it comes and not having a perfect rendering when I decide to stop. The drawing is good enough the way it is.
Not an April first joke...
Today I’ve pondered thumbnail sketches. The history and value of the miniature pictures. Proponents extol the virtues of thumbnail sketches and I agree a smaller sketch can enhance larger works by solving problems before they happen in the final painting or drawing. A traditional “thumbnail” is so small I find a series of them irritating - like swarming gnats. I have no problem with preliminary sketches if they are actually big enough to see and effectively use - 4” x 6” at the least. I’m just sayin’. If a thumbnail doesn’t work for you make it as big as it needs to be to serve a useful purpose in your artistic endeavors.
Same Old Lady, New Spring Dress
The grey cracked open for a few minutes today and I grabbed my sketching pack and headed for the park. Trying some new materials with interest. Cranky geese, kids on the swings, other intrepid artists out. It was great.
Death Mask for the First Half of Life
This drawing was the first I’d tried with colored pencil somewhere around twenty years ago. I retired colored pencil as a medium until recently. About 12 x 16 or so inches.
Elva
Pastel and acrylic, 27” x 23”, 2008
Here’s the painting we talked about, Mom. I think it’s the same one from the photograph you described. Hope you enjoy it.