the benefit of a live drawing session is that you can take the thing you're drawing and move it around the light source and watch the shadow change. um. i guess that would apply to a nude model also. they aren't as predictable as i thought those shadows. not at all! sometimes both sides of the thing make shadows. so a formula doesn't really work here. you can't for example, just shade in the left side, or the right. but sometimes you can. i'm still sorting things out. obviously.
i looked back in my visual journal to see where my latest fixation with nature drawing began. seems like drawing rocks & shells during my week by the shore last month planted a seed inside my art brain. it was an unexpected development. especially since i used to think nature drawings were sort of dull. oh you couldn't convince me of that now!
sketching from nature is the opposite of dull. probably if i drew with a pencil first my pinecone wouldn't look like a collapsing pile of triangles. but i wouldn't have the benefit of laughter therapy everytime i look at it either. would i? course not!
other things that are gittin' me excited:
THIS mini-series
THIS article about robert redford, the sundance channel, and the aforementioned mini-series
THIS illustrated bird fieldguide in a grid
HIS secret sketching gear.
anything blowing your skirt up that i need to know about? if so, do share!
I adore the pinecone!
claudia that is BRILLIANT and you better believe i am writing it on the blackboard of my mind. i absolutely love having a good explanation for why my drawing may look different from the object i stared at so carefully when rendering it. this is perfect!
I wish you could see the rendering of a pine that I attempted to draw with a pigma pen! That Pine cone was the hardest thing I ever attempted to draw. Couldn’t even do it with a blind contour drawing! After 15 attempts, I told that Pine cone: YOU WIN…done! HA
I do love the nature paintings/drawings. There is something poignant is the turned leaf, the passing of the season, the imperfect perfection of nature.
I saw Top of the Lake a few months ago ~ liked it a lot. Really loved Eliz Moss (haven’t cared for her character in Mad Men so much).
You probably already know this?…that Hollywood was named for the toyon berries in the hills there, early settlers thinking they were holly berries.
Your drawing/painting continues to amaze and delight me!
Have a luscious week. xo
laughter is always good, especially at one’s self. Your pine cone made me smile, I can’t begin to image what my pine cone might look like should I decide to draw one. Your pages and pics are the best, which I why I love visiting every day, I love the ‘realness’ of your art. You do it and share it and that is a sweet thing. Ya know I think you’ve taken a page from your very own’monkey taming hand book’ which is to ‘do it and share it’ encouraging the action of creating ‘something’ anything and being brave enough to share it. I love it when kids draw something and then can’t wait to show it, the ‘lookit what I made’ phenomenon, that what coming here is like and I can’t wait to see your ‘look-its’ see what magic you are pulling out of your bag of tricks. Go you!!!!
I love your “supposedly a pinecone.” Something an art teach said has stuck with me — that when you paint or draw something you see, you’re expressing your RESPONSE to that thing — not trying to copy it exactly, millimeter by millimeter. So YOUR pinecone is an evocative response to the physical one you decided to render.
Lovin’ it all! Shadows! Peach leaves! More, more…
I have always been a great admirer of the highly disciplined art of traditional botanical painting and illustration but nary a one could ever hope to compare to these gorgeous pages of yours- so full of life and joy, I could stare at them for hours. A complete delight to the eye and they fill my heart with pure emotion and happiness – and that to me, makes you a TRUE artist.
Here’s a video I linked to my blog the other day
http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2013/12/amazing.html
you may have seen it but I find it really amazing.
Sorry you’ll have to cut and paste but since you love cats too,
you might enjoy this.
I love seeing how your sketching has gotten better and better-you are an inspiration.
Okay. It’s official. I will have to invent a new word to describe the loveliness of these pages. And the ones before. And actually the ones before those. I just think I will cobble together some superlatives. Deep sigh…..
Okay, so now I had to pre-order Top of the Lake….I am an avid fan of Lapin myself. It was fun to see his sketching gear. Probably not all the different from yours. Or mine. Just put my kit together for my South India trip next month. Woefully behind on journal prep, but it’ll work out. Just have to be loose and flexible….’I am a willow, I can bend.’
Thanks for the continuing tours of your nature sketching. I love it and your shadows are awesome! The add so much in such a subtle way.
Have you read Man with a Blue Scarf; On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucien Freud by Martin Gayford? It’s very interesting and I love that the portrait subject kept a diary of his sitting experience.
XO
I see absolutely nothing wrong with your pinecone. I would have know what it was without your ‘hint’. And I have to say that I enjoy the close-ups, but I think I like the two page spread overview. Your composition is perfect whether you intend it or not. Again, and again thank you for the inspiration.