Homework for class

This is homework for class...to do a b&w drawing of an oil painting. This is Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Tribute to the Sunday Comics

Fish Inchie

This was really unpleasant for me. Even though I am a Pisces I am not a big fan of fish. The pictures in the books I used were just creepy. Ugh...never again.

Eloise in Paris and Eloise in Moscow

I just had to do more Eloise. I love Hilary Knight's line work and his ability to express so much with so few lines.

Feet and moleskine update

Done Friday at lunch on Life Drawing Friday

Done at church (part of first moleskine post) and first life drawing class

Feet done for class study

Another Mammal Inchie

This mammal inchie includes animals from Africa. The last one was North American mammals only.

Tribute to Eloise

Eloise was one of my favorite books as a child. I lived in the south and wanted to live in the north. I didn't make it to New York City to visit until I was 17. I have always harbored a desire/wish to live in New York but never felt I would have the stamina to do so without a lot of money. The closest I got was Philadelphia, an amazing city. I loved doing this page. Hiliary Knight's drawings are delicate yet expressive with the fewest of lines.

Tribute to the daily comics

I am not sure I should admit that a favorite part of my day is reading the comics in the newspaper. While drawing these I realized how little a line is needed to make something expressive. These are not necessarily my favorites (which is Mutts right now) but since I had 30 to do it pretty much covered what was on the comics page in the Oregonian. I would have drawn Doonesbury but the days I drew from didn't have any characters I was familiar with. Enjoy.

Homage to Insects

This was kind of creepy for me as I am not a big fan of bugs. The color I added was true to the color in the book. I added what I thought was unusual enough to be interesting.

Homage to Winnie the Pooh

This is probably one of my favorite books (actually it is two, Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corners). For some reason, the older I get, the more I like chidren's books. Something about their simplicity appeals to me. This was so much fun.

My hand

This is my homework for my life drawing class today. The assignment was to draw your hand holding something.

Another kitty inchie

Another cat inchie, this time drawn from the Drs Foster and Smith catalogue.

North American Mammal Inchie

homage to Frida Kahlo

Inchie homage to dogs

Click on for a better view

Dogs are cool. I like all the different breeds. I am still not getting a dog. The cat is queen and she still rules.

Fairy Inchie

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These drawings are based on Amy Brown's fairy wisdom deck. I found it interesting to draw from someone else's art work as this helped me see how the artist accomplishes what they do. Not that these come close to her wonderful work.

Inchie Homage to Cats

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Homage to Saul Steinburg Inchie

Click for a detailed view

I loved doing this one. Saul Steinburg is one of my favorite artists.

Homage to Alice in Wonderland Inchie

(Please click on image for a better view)

I am doing a series of inchies for this week. I am following a blog called Creative Every Day and her theme this month is play. I am doing this to play and also use it as an exercise to draw in pen and not erase. I want to draw out and about and have a steadier hand and doing these inchies is hopefully a practice that will help me with this. This one was done based on John Tenniel's drawings for Alice in Wonderland. What was really interesting in drawing from his drawings is seeing his use of line. I found a lot of his lines were just suggestions which made the drawing work.

First Moleskine post

(click on for better view)

Well, I jumped in and here is my first drawing in my moleskine sketchbook. I decided to start small so this is the small book. I am not thrilled with the drawing but, hey, it is a start.

Make Believe #2

Make Believe #1

This is part of my attempt to keep drawing people. I like the way the drawing turned out even though it doesn't look like the photo of the child it was taken of. This was drawn from a copy of a photo taken at the fairy fair mentioned previouly.

Masked Magician

This was drawn from a photo in a book on the carnivale in Venice.

Happy New Year / The fortuneteller

Happy New Year to everyone. I am still formulating my goals for 2009. I realize that I don't like to make a lot of resolutions so I am not disappointed when I don't keep them. My art goal will be to continue to draw everyday and post a drawing everyday until the end of July 2009, which will make for a year of doing this. My other art goal will be mainly to continue to improve my drawing skills, especially around drawing people. My concern is how am I going to continue to do this? I am signed up for a life drawing class starting next week which I hope will be good. Mostly my concern is I feel I am in a rut with my drawing but maybe the "rut" is a style? Other goals: start using the moleskines I have. Draw out in public more and become better at drawing spontaneously. If anyone has any suggestions on improving one's work please leave me a comment. Thanks!

Inchie recap for December

This is my inchie recap for December. I love this format so much I am including more in my montly drawings. Stay tuned.