Monday, November 12, 2007

Sketchy Monday

Copyright Rita Woodburne

Copyright Rita Woodburne


Howdy there, dear reader! So the show yesterday was a success and thanks to all those that stopped by to say 'Hi' and talk art and also a big thanks to the organizers for putting on another great show.

"No ACEO's today?" you ask. Nope, nada. Instead I have some sketches I did from last week in my wee skecth book. I keep this sketch book on my side-table in our family room so in case I get the urge to draw while the Other Half and I are watching t.v. I can. I keep an extra sharpener (with Ziploc baggie for shavings), a white Mars eraser my trusty cheapy HB as well as a 9B and 5B handy so when that urge to doodle comes over me I can quell it.

My sketch book isn't a place for me to create mock-ups of larger pieces, it's a place for my imagination to throw up (I know, I make it sound so...dainty) and it's also a place for me to 'goof off' as it were. Last week I decided that I wanted to spend about 15-30 minutes each night just doodling whatever caught my fancy. I guess it was sort of like Duane Keiser's Painting a Day idea of taking 'regular' objects and putting them into art, although I must admit that 1- I'm no Duane Keiser and 2- I have no intention of doing a sketch a day because my schedule simply doesn't allow for it. Maybe when I'm rich I can pay someone to unload the dishwasher and feed the animals but as it stands now those chores fall on my shoulders. Heck, maybe I can even pay someone to set up and take down my booths at art fairs, now that would be a treat!
I also try to read the blog of Katherine Tyrell entitled 'Making a Mark' at least 3 times a week. She's an avid sketcher and encourages other artists to sketch as much as possible and she always seems to attend the most interesting art and botanical events. Her posts are always very informative and I highly recommend visiting her blog for lots of artsy related info. I had read her blog enough times that I was convinced that I needed to sketch more, because what's the worse that could happen? I get better at art?

So the above sketches are what resulted. My only nits are that I wind up doing them when it's dark outside and all we have is two table lamps with less than stellar lighting. Also, because of the positioning of my chair I wind up getting some weird angles on things, like my dog Rosie's head. Guess that'll be another one to try out sketching, but maybe I'll have her sit up next time. :)

For images that I didn't spend a lot of time on I'm okay with how they turned out and, like I mentioned, I wasn't interested in doing a nice shiny finished piece. This was just for fun and I must say, I rather enjoyed it. Maybe I'll break the sketch book out again tonight...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everyone should sketch more often. Just imagine the leaps and bounds we could make as artists if we all took the time to sketch every day. Then imagine what it'd be like to have servants wait on us hand and foot in our huge chalets, because it'd take winning the lottery to free our schedules that much. ;)

I like the one of your knees & slipper the most. Great folds and foreshortening.

Making A Mark said...

Hi Rita! Glad to see you're sketching. ;)

If you take a look at the lessons from the online class I ran on sketching (on link cited below) you'll see that I start by recommending that people try doing sketches in a limited amount of time. See how much you can get done if you ONLY have 5 minutes or 10 minutes - that then brings the big breakthrough where people start carrying sketchbooks around with them as they begin to realise that there are in fact a few 5 minute slots during the day.

Look at the Advice on sketching page on my website for more details

Hope this helps. BTW I really liked your top down view of the leg!

Rita said...

I totally agree Meg, it's a little thing that artists can do, but what a huge difference it can make in their development...and make us that much closer to getting rich and acquiring some man-servants!

Katherine, I'm glad to see I'm sketching too! I'll definitely take a peek at the online lesson. I must admit that these sketches really would've only taken about 5-10 minutes but wound up stretching out longer because I was watching the Comedy channel on tv. It's difficult to keel over in laughter and draw at the same time...at least not without poking oneself in the eye. :D
Thanks for the link too!