I did this portrait of Jill with colored pencils and ink pen at the first meeting of our artist group. I set up a still-life for the group to sketch, but then I asked the group if it was OK if I drew one of the members. Jill said it was fine, and she also approved my posting this particular drawing on my blog. I did two others, but I felt this one looked more like her, although maybe a Jill Caporlingua who is twenty years younger. I left the spiral on the left of my sketchbook in the reproduction for the web to give the viewer the idea that this is a sketch and not a finished portrait.
I did the pen part of this drawing without looking at the paper; I just stared at Jill’s head and let my hand do the work on the paper. This is called “contour drawing.” It is a great way to learn how to draw.
In case any of you would like a drawing exercise, here’s one for our next artist group meeting:
Draw (or paint) an everyday object. It can be depicted as realistically or as abstractly as the individual desires.
Suggestions: scissors, salt shaker, pillow, curtains, stapler, fork
I did a few sketches and then I did a painting of a salt shaker. I looked in Google Images – lots of other artists have also drawn salt shakers as a subject.
I hope you like onions. This post features onions. One onion is red. One onion is yellow. The scallions are green. The garlic clove in the photo is white (but it doesn’t appear in the art below).
I am showing the onions art in the reverse order that I did them. I am so happy with this watercolor. It is painted in a sketchbook of textured watercolor paper that Jill C. gave to me. I have a drawing of Jill that I did at our first artist group, and I will show in a separate post. I don’t want to take it out of the book, but it does mean I have to photograph the art instead of sticking it in my scanner, which is easier.
I did this drawing of the onions and scallions with an ink pen.
Red and yellow onion are drawn on paper with colored pencils. With colored pencils, it is good to work with different shades of a color and with different colors within an object to produce form, texture and light. I erased a bit to get the light to shine on the onions.
The theme for Thursday Challenge is SIGN (Commercial, Traffic, Funny,…), so I decided to highlight a favorite store in Highland Park, New Jersey. I have bought a fair amount of clothing for my daughter this year at this Covered Girl Clothing shop. Recently, we bought her a black skirt so she could dress as Mary Poppins for Purim. I have bought nothing for myself this past year, as my father died in October, and it is Jewish custom not to buy new clothes for one year after a parent dies, in memory of the parent. The owner is quite friendly; you can enjoy chats with her while you shop the dresses, skirts and blouses.
In an unrelated news (or perhaps it is related, as everything is connected, no?), we had the first meeting our newly-formed artist group today. A few of us got together at my home, talked about art, and sketched together. I’ll write more about that soon, in a separate post.
I have been reading a lot of writers’ websites. I’ve noticed as they make their lists, I often say, yes, artists think that way as well. For example, A. K. Andrews asks, Can Your Computer Drain Your Creativity? One could certainly make this argument for writers or visual artists. In this post, I’ll explore what artists and writers share in common.
Here is my list:
- If you don’t write, you won’t have good or bad writing. So write. If you don’t draw, you won’t have a good or bad drawing. So draw.
- Creativity drives the work of both artist and writer. Artist’s block or writer’s block can hamper that creativity.
- Artists and writers can both make use of blogs as platforms to show their work.
- Inspirational exercises can stimulate both artists and writers.
- A blog can be used as a platform to teach art or writing. An artist or a writer can thus demonstrate their skills.
- Artists think in images. Writers think in words. Both tend to hyperfocus when at work.
- An interviewer asked Hemingway, why did you rework the ending so many times? What was it that stumped you? He replied, “Getting the words right.” An artist in a similar fashion can rework a painting many times, especially one or two details.
What do you think – what do artists and writers share in common? How are they different?
Note on the drawing: I found the drawing of a young girl in a sketchbook – it must be from almost ten years ago, when my daughter was a toddler.
Red peppers are red. Green peppers are green. Thursday Challenge is RED. Red books were once seen. What would you do with a red pepper?
