My First Life Drawing Session

My dear friend, Nancy, found out that there was a life drawing class in Jackson yesterday and she and I attended. First of all let me say I was blown away by her charcoal sketches. She is even better than I thought she was - and that is saying a lot. I am hoping she will share hers with you on her blog.


I have never been to a life drawing class and didn't quite know what to expect. We were warmly welcomed by the Jackson Civic Art Association members that were present and made to feel right at home. The model was the daughter of the association treasurer and was a very pleasant and good one. She held her poses quite steadily.  I began really tight - I was nervous, but by the last post (there were 5 in all) I was fine. There were no 1 minute poses as warm ups. All the poses were for 20 minutes. For what it is worth, I will show you my sketches in the order in which they were produced. I apologize for the quality of the photos, but if you click on them I think you will be able to see/critique them better.

I can see that I need to really work on my skills. I don't seem able to get the figure correctly. I am quite pleased with parts of these, but the body seems to be bunched and hunched forward. I will continue to work on this. I am planning to attend the next session which is scheduled for August 25 at Ella Sharp Museum (the same place as this session).

I am having some serious issues with my internet access and have been for some time now. This morning I called and they diagnosed some kind of equipment problem on my end. They will be sending a technician some time in the very near future and were kind enough to waive the fee. I will post when I can and hope to get a bit of painting done this weekend to share with you on Monday.

Tomorrow I am teaching my Intro to Repurposing Books class from 9 to 4 at Small But Mighty Arts in Haslett and am looking forward to it. I will be scheduling a repeat for some time in September when most of us have simpler lives and more time to engage in this kind of activity. I will also offer a more advanced class with an open decorative binding some time in the Fall. Stay tuned.....

Meanwhile, I did start a watercolor yesterday following along with a lesson I purchased from Annette Raff. If you don't know this artist, I highly recommend you check her out. Right now she is having a wonderful deal on her lessons in pdf format. They are only $2.20 each - a steal to be sure!

I am having some issues, but will show you what I have so far:

My biggest problem so far is that I didn't read about a beaded wash on dry before putting the first layer on the church and I have made a mess. I will try later to lift a bit of color to see if I can improve it a bit before continuing. I think I must have "charged" color overtop previous color instead of beading. Last evening I watched the video about this process and get it now. I haven't thought about that phrase "RTFM" in a long time, but think it is appropriate here.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I am planning to have lots to share with you on Monday.

xoxo

WoodBurning, Sketching, Baby Shower and More

The hubster has been playing with wood burning for about a week and is getting quite good at it. I love the smell of the burnt wood when he brings it in to show me. I want to try to paint some of them so he made me a practice piece. I have put a layer of Acrylic Glazing Liquid on it (I don't have any GAC 100) which I think will act like a primer. Once I get a second layer on it and allow it to dry I am going to try using acrylic paint to see how it looks in color.

They don't really need paint, but I thought it might be fun to try it. Here is the one he brought in yesterday.

I am so jealous. I want to try to transfer one of my original sketches to wood and burn it to see how I like it. And perhaps I will. Stay tuned.

For now I just attempted a quick sketch of this scene.

It would appear I still need to work on perspective and relative sizes.

We had a very busy weekend. The hubster's sister came over on Saturday morning and she and I went to the baby shower. This may have been the best baby shower I've ever attended. Her family were the hostesses and her aunt's house had a huge kitchen/dining area with a long rectangular table that seated about 16 people quite well and there was a large island in the kitchen that seated the overflow. Her family is warm and friendly and I felt sincerely welcome.

There were about 30 adults and 6 or 7 little girls and except for a few minor skirmishes (among the little girls, of course) it was a lovely, peaceful afternoon. My daughter and her two little girls were there and my son's little girl was there and another sister-in-law was there. She drove over from Ann Arbor and it was lovely to see her. The mother received oodles of lovely gifts and looks exceptionally cute at 8+ months pregnant. 

Afterward, we went back to my house where the hubster made dinner while his sister and I played on the computer and visited. She brought her laptop with her so I could do some troubleshooting for her. We had a lovely evening visiting and watching tennis.

On Sunday morning, the hubster made coffee and breakfast and then after his sister left for home, I took Miss 8 and Miss 7 1/2 out for lunch. We had a lovely time. The girls colored pictures while waiting for their food and when we told the waitress that we were celebrating Miss 8's birthday, she brought out a large piece of chocolate cake with three spoons. I can't have cake so the little girls worked on it a bit. 

After doing a transfer of girls to my son I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some odds and ends and then made a quick stop at my daughter's house for a little bit more holding and hugging of Little Miss 3. She felt a bit left out when she didn't get to go out to lunch with the big girls.

When I got home I was really tired so I took a nap on the couch while the hubster was watching a football game. I found that a football game is practically as good as a baseball game for taking a nap. The hubster made dinner - brown rice with black beans and fried eggs over top - yummy!! I was supposed to do dishes, but got interested in the tennis matches so they are still in the sink even as I type this. I am going to have do the dishes before I go to my friend's house this morning for our book binding learning/teaching get together.

I am getting ready for the day packing up some book binding supplies and eagerly looking forward to this. Nancy and I always have a great time when we get together and there is bound (pun intended) to be a great deal of laughter as well as some really nice books being made today. I will share with you tomorrow.

For now, I'd better get the dishes done and have a bite of breakfast before showering and packing the car for my day's adventure.

I hope to see you tomorrow.......

xoxo

Wandering Wednesday

I feel somehow as though I am wandering through the day with no definite purpose at all. The plumber came at 9 am to replace the kitchen faucet. Is there really a law that says all plumbers must expose their butt crack whenever they bend over???? I had to leave the room. I am not a big fan of butt cracks.

He left about 10 and I must say the kitchen faucet is pretty nice and he replaced the undersink plumbing as well. It is a great improvement.

I've done nothing except to eat breakfast and sweep the entrance and my work room. I am trying to get my book binding stuff organized so packing it up to take to Nancy's on Monday will be easier and so I will not forget some essential tool. I am so excited to have a book making date with my dear friend. I anticipate we will each learn something valuable from each other and their will be plenty of laughter and fun. I will tell you all about it on Tuesday.

For today I am hoping to try a couple of lessons in my Watercolour for the Absolute Beginner book and maybe make a hardcover two needle coptic book. I am tutoring in Stockbridge at 2:30 and the Australian open is on from 7 pm until about 1:30 in the morning. I am going to try to sketch a tennis player in action this evening. I've never tried drawing anything from the TV before and am hoping I can capture something of the action and posture.

For now I thought my screech owl in my SC journal was a little lonely so I drew a wren (one of my favorite birds - not for his personality, but for his song) to keep him company. It is a quick sketch in pen.

I suppose I should have put him on something, but I am feeling a little ill so just quit and took this time to do a quick post.

I think I am going to go lie down. I hope to see you tomorow.

xoxo