Because...

Red and I took our annual trip to Mystic Village in Mystic Connecticut. Puttering through Franklin's General Store, I found giant colored pencils made from small tree branches. Why? Because everyone needs a giant blue pencil just for fun. I think I'll wrap it with twine to hang from the Christmas tree.

Tessellation

The word of the day is tessellation. A tessellation is a repetitive pattern of one, two, or three shapes. Each shape fits perfectly with no gaps or overlaps. The pattern must be able to repeat indefinitely. We see tessellating patterns all around us. Brick walls, bathroom tiles, chess or checker boards. M.C. Escher is the master of tessellation.

Technically, my drawing isn't a true tessellation as the cat faces are all different. I just wanted an excuse to play with a 12 pack of Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils, but this would be a fun project to combine math and art. Search on tessellation to find sites that show how to make a simple pattern to tessellate.

The Inktense pencils certainly live up to their vivid reputation. They have a lovely, creamy texture when applied dry.  I did make a discovery, though. The set of 12 isn't enough!

Have you used these watercolor pencils? What do you think of them?

The Friday Five

The last sense to complete the assignment: touch. Five touchable things.

1. I love to pet Ink especially his ears. His fur is so soft and silky and his ears are like velvet.

2. Clay. I love the feel of clay. When my girlies were little, and I was in the throes of my Earth Mother phase, I used to make play dough for them. I would cook oil, flour, water, and cream of tartar to form a clay. What I especially loved was to knead the clay while it was still hot. Perfect for the arthritis is my wrists.

3. I love the heft of my mechanical pencil. I have three or four of these running around. They are my writing tool du jour.

4. You can't get much better than the feel of worn blue jeans. When they are the perfect color combined with the perfect broken in-ness. Course by this time, they are also the weight of a handkerchief and worn in places making them unfit to be seen in public.

5. I love those fluffy, chenille socks. Cushy comfort for tired tootsies.

What are some of your favorite touchy-feely things?

Perfect Pencil Sharpener

I was on a hunt for a pencil sharpener, one that would sharpen colored pencils. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is. The small, colored plastic sharpeners sharpen but just when the pencil is nearing the perfect point, the lead breaks especially if the razor in the sharpener is dull. Electric sharpeners have an auto stop when the perfect point is reached. Unfortunately, electric sharpeners eat lots of lead. You start with a nice long pencil, and by the time the auto stop kicks in, you're left with a stub. Not good especially using colored pencils. Battery powered sharpeners seem like they would be convenient but the batteries wear out quickly especially if you're trying to sharpen the big colored pencil sets. Then there's the pencil shape factor. Some pencils are round. Some are hexagonal. Some are thin. Some are thick. Some fit the sharpeners. Some don't. I wanted one tool to sharpen them all.

While searching online, I came across Jerry's Artarama and Multipoint Professional Deluxe Sharpener for $27.99 (plus shipping). The packaging description boasted "virtually no waste of lead. automatic self-feed clutch design with auto stop, takes large diameter pencils (8mm - 12mm) in most shapes including triangular, round, hexagonal, and sharpens in a choice of 5 point shapes."  Sounded perfect, almost too good to be true, but I bought one.

I have to say this is a great tool and does all that the packaging said it would. I was even able to sharpen the Prismacolor Verithin Pencils as well as a couple of Husky pencils. The grinders didn't  eat the pencils down to a stub. The pencil sharpener also comes with a table clamp.

Two pencils up for this product.

Mugs, Thugs, and Lugs

This exercise was a combination of Labs 16 and 22: Draw 100 Faces and Modigliani Parent Portraits. My original idea was to do a yearbook spread. At first, the 70 spaces seemed daunting. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to draw different faces. A couple of silly faces dropped out of my pencil, and then I just started having too much fun. The spread was completed in five or six days. I suppose I should put a disclaimer that any resemblance to real or imaginary persons is purely coincidental. cough, cough Pigma pen, watercolor pencils.

I was going to ask do you recognize anyone, but then thought of the time I was making a torn paper collage of lilacs for a wedding. The Young One was four years old at the time and as she walked by I asked her "What does this look like?" I expected "flowers" and instead she said "Gwapes." She turned out to be correct as the lilacs were decidedly more grape shaped and needed more tweaking. So, I'll just ask: What's been keeping you busy today?

M.A.H.O.D.

Another study of hands. I found the left hand exceedingly difficult to draw. Just couldn't "see" the shapes and get my head and pencil to go around them. Barbie says, "drawing hands is hard." I'll set it aside and come back to it later.

Have you found a task difficult to comprehend and execute? Do you just plow through it or, do you set it aside for a later time?

M.A.H.O.D.

Another view of MAHAND. Anybody but me remember the ventriloquist from The Ed Sullivan Show? He had a face painted on his hand, moved his thumb up and down to make the face talk. He rested his hand on a wood stand with a little suit. I thought it was hysterically funny so of course I painted my hand with a little face and made it talk.

Anybody else do this as a kid? Anybody still do it?

In case  you were too young to remember The Ed Sullivan Show, you can see a clip of Señor Wences on YouTube

Work In Progress

A sheet of Diploma parchment, at least I think it's Diploma parchment, it feels like Diploma parchment and looks like it too, was cut down to 10 inch. square. The guide lines were laid out. The text lightly penciled in. The piece is ready to be inked.

I can see some raised eyebrows, hear a tisk of the tongue at lightly penciling in the text. Being lefthanded, I write over my own writing. Fact of life. So I must letter a few letters or words, be very patient, and let the ink dry thoroughly or I'll end up putting my hand in the wet ink and smearing the writing. Not a happy picture. Because of having to start and stop frequently, I can lose the rhythm. The pencil text helps me keep the rhythm so the piece looks like it was done in one sitting instead of piece meal.

I haven't penciled in the dragon illustration in the center of the circle. This in case I make a mistake while lettering the text. Rule of thumb, letter first and artwork last. It's easier to fudge a mistake in the artwork, but sometimes one mistake in the lettering and the entire piece will have to be done over. And that mistake always seems to happen on the last letter of the last line.

Oh, the Diploma parchment isn't that parchment paper you might find in craft stores. That stuff is nasty. Ink will just bead up on that paper. This is a beautiful weight paper with a creamy color. It takes both ink and gouache well. The paper got it's name because this was the paper diplomas were printed on a long time ago. At least that's the story I heard. I have no clue who the paper mill is. Just hope they don't discontinue this paper or change the formula.

How's your work in progress coming along? How do you keep the rhythm in what you're working on?

Work In Progress

With the size and layout determined, time to think about the illustration for the inside of the circle. Taken from the book How to Draw Dragons and Other Mythical Creatures by Emmett Elvin, is my rough of his sleeping dragon. Still needs some work. I want the eye to look sleepy and half opened. At least this dragon isn't smiling. Color choices still remain. Most likely I will work in the traditional red, blue, green.

How's your work in progress coming along? What decisions are you making?

Drawing Class - Second Portait

After the critique and the model's break, we were back to drawing. The model was sitting with her head downand downcast eyes. I tried to draw her in large scale, but couldn't seem to get the proportions right. So I scaled down and was gently reprimanded for going back to my comfort zone. Lol.

While working close to my drawing, I was convinced I had the correct tilt to the head , but stepping back saw that was not so.

This drawing is "better". Recognizable as human though seems to have a china doll or Stepford wife quality. Still did an awesome job with her hair. Lol.

Have you ever tried to do something out of your comfort zone, but then reverted to your old, comfortable ways?

Drawing Class - First Portrait

We had a live model to draw. She was a very attractive, young woman with the most beautiful big, dark eyes. She sat in a chair at the front of the room. The instructor had a spotlight and adjusted the lighting on the girl's face.

We had easels arranged in a semi-circle in front of the model. We were to draw her portrait. That's when a ripple of panic went through me. This was my first ever drawing class. The work method and the tools were so foreign to me. I've never drawn a live model, and I don't work standing up. Not usually. I work sitting at a drafting table. I sit on a tall stool so I am over my work usually a piece of paper small than 16" x 20". I work with various inks, paints, and pens. Here I was standing in front of a wall! (The 18" x24" drawing pad looked huge!)

After a few minutes of dithering, I got my trusty and comfortable, blue mechanical pencil and began making timid, light sketch marks. Then with a 4B graphite pencil tried to work on shape of her face. Oval but not too pointed at the chin, and not quite square. Add the eyes, nose, lips. Add shading for depth and to bring out the features.

We worked for an hour or so and then had a critique session. We talked about problems we had. I had lots of problems: depth perception, proportion, shading. Most recognized the drawing as looking sort of human. I was pleased with that. The class did like the way I drew her hair. Guess I could always specialize and draw hair. The eyes drew the biggest comments. The models eyes looked so big and dark to me. Someone said I made an emotional drawing.

At first, I did not like this drawing. But then it started growing on me. The large eyes remind me of the eyes drawn in anime (Japanese style comic book [manga]). My young woman looks moon face. Like some woman in the moon.

But I think I should go back to drawing pears.

Did you do something outside your comfort zone this week?

Drawing Class

We got to take our sketchbooks and pencils to the gallery to draw. We could chose to draw any of the marble figures in the Roman/Greek sculpture gallery or anywhere in the Renaissance court. My favorite place in the museum is The Chapter House, a room from a French monastery, circa 12th c.

Around the arched entrance is a carved floral design. The simple floral shapes looked like x's to me. That's what I tried to draw along with some of the stonework. I enjoyed the detailed work of the flowers. The quiet of the museum made the work almost meditative.

Wordless Wednesday

Beginning Drawing

I'm taking a beginning drawing class at the Worcester Art Museum where I teach calligraphy. I missed the first class because of the rotten cold so I was a little nervous when I walked into the studio and sat down. I've never had a formal drawing class. I can draw letters, doodle, and trace, but that's about it. I thought I would be completely lost. Needless worry. The instructor, Patti Kelly, put me at my ease.

We will be using pencil, charcoal, and Conte crayons on a honking giant 18" x 24" pad of drawing paper. I don't like to work big so so I'm definitely out of my comfort zone.

Our first exercise was to draw a tonal bar with pencil working from black to white. This gave us a chance to vary pressure to see all the gradations. It sounded like a very easy exercise. Easy in theory but not so easy in practice.

Our next exercise was to copy a drawing of a woman's face. I nearly went into a panic looking at that huge white wall of a sheet of paper. Then we were told to look for the shapes we saw. What shape is her nose? Her forehead? Her face? Triangles. Very lightly, using a 4B woodless graphite pencil. I sketched some triangles where her nose, forehead, and hair would be. Tentatively, I began to color and shade. The pencil was smooth and creamy, and I began to relax. Was rather nice being a student again.

If we asked if we were doing it "right", Patti offered constructive suggestions. One point she made was we all had our own unique style and she didn't want to impose her style on us. This was a non-threatening class and we were encouraged to experiment.

I surprised myself with my first effort. When I showed it to The Young One, she recognized it as a face. I was relieved she didn't say "looks like grapes."

Blind Contuor Drawing

Another exercise. In blind contour drawing, you are supposed to look only at what you are drawing and not at your paper.

The Young One and I recently watched Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. So I thought I'd try my hand at drawing Edward. The Young One didn't recognize the character, but neither did she say "grapes" when I asked her who it was. (I had done a torn paper collage of lilacs for a seating scroll. The Young One was four. I was feeling rather pleased with what I was producing and when she walked by I asked her what it was. She said "grapes" and I went back to the drawing board.)

This technique takes away the "I can't draw a straight line" concept. The idea is to pick up the gist of the image. I really enjoyed this technique and will visit it again. I'll just have to remember to bear down harder with the pencil so the scanner will pick up the image better.