May 13, 2019 May 13, 2019

During my time in London the British Museum was one of my favorite haunts. I visited at least five times and during my last visit I did some sketching in the galleries devoted to Greek art. The museum has one of the world’s great collections and the galleries also have seating where I could be out of the way to sketch. 

I sketched this massive horse from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

and this Nereid from the Nereid Monument at Xanthos. During this rainy, cold weather we’ve been having, I wish I was there again pencil in hand.

For more about Nereids click here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nereid

April 18, 2019 April 18, 2019

During my time in Great Britain I visited York. I fell in love with the city. It is easy to walk, has loads of wonderful restaurants and a diverse group of fascinating museums. I knew I was in “Linda country” when the first restaurant I found was the Chocolate Cafe (best hot chocolate I’ve ever had!) York also had wonderful theater and I saw a whimsical, musical version of the Secret Garden. I was also lucky enough to find that York was the summer home of the “pop-up” Shakespeare Festival. I saw an incredible version of Mid-Summer Night’s Dream. In fact there was so much to do and see in York that I had very little time for sketching. I did take one blowy afternoon to do a couple of quick sketches.

March 30, 2019 March 30, 2019

This week I have spent most of my time creating collaged notecards and bookmarks but I have been planning out some time for drawing or sketching – something I also enjoy. I want to share another location that I sketched this summer while in Europe. I only spent two nights in Lincoln but I was overwhelmed by the majesty of the massive Cathedral and the size and power of the castle. These two sit next to each other with a small square between. On each site a protecting gatehouse guards the important sites. I started a sketch of the gate that guardsthe cathedral. Here is the original.

 

 

 

 

And here is my sketch…I didn’t have time to work out all the problems with perspective. I do not have good visual intuition about perspective so I make many mistakes as I sketch and then have to correct them… guess I need practice! practice! practice!

 

 

 

PS I am having a horrible time working with the new block editor and am sorry for all of the odd formatting. I just don’t seem to be able to get my posts to look the way I want 😦

February 17, 2019 February 17, 2019

I did a little sketching as I travelled around Great Britain last summer. I visited Oxford University twice. My first visit was with a guided tour out of London. We only had a couple of hours in Oxford as we also visited Windsor and Stonehenge. (It was a long day!) Luckily I had scheduled three nights in Oxford later in my trip. The architecture is quite wonderful and I particularly appreciated the Sheldonian  Theater. The Sheldonian Theatre was built from 1664 to 1669 after a design by Christopher Wren. The building is named after Gilbert Sheldon, chancellor of the University at the time and the project’s main financial backer. It is used for music concerts, lectures and University ceremonies.  Since 2015 it has also been used for drama until 2015. It is very important to the culture and history of Oxford. I did a sketch of part of the building. Below I have also included a photo I took during my first visit.

 

 

 

I think I should have erased the smudges before I took my photo!

February 4, 2019 February 4, 2019

I love to draw. Every time I spend several months painting and then begin to sketch I remember how much I enjoy it. When I was in Europe I did not have time to do much drawing but while in Great Britain everything I did do was sketching or drawing. I did not take any materials to Europe but shortly after I arrived I bought 3 small (3″ X 4″) notebooks and two pencils at the British Library, two weeks later I bought a set of watercolor pencils when I was in Scotland (there was a lovely art supply store right across from my hotel!) and a month later I bought a larger sketchbook at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. That was it…easy to pack and light to carry.

This sketch was the first thing I completed. It is of the Medusa Head gracing the ceiling in the Sir John Soane House Museum. (to learn more click here ) He was an important architecture and collected ancient and modern architectural elements for display in his home. This Medusa uncharacteristically looks like a placid, young man with flowing locks rather than the fiery, angry women with snakes for hair. Why? No one knew! Do you have any idea?

 

 

February 1, 2019 February 1, 2019

How time flies! I cannot believe that it has been over a year since I posted. I am very unhappy with myself but have a good excuse for part of the time. I spent three months attending classes and traveling in Great Britain and France during 2018. And it took months to prepare for my trip so that’s my story. This was a special once-in-a-lifetime trip that was inspired by the six months my husband and I lived in Germany while I worked at Roche Diagnostics. It was also inspired by the loan of a book titled Without Reservations which is worth a read if you like unplanned adventures.

During my time in England I took two class at Cambridge University. Shakespeare in the Gardens was in full swing. Here are two small drawings I did of two of Shakespeare’s most fascinating characters – Shylock from the Merchant of Venice and Cymbelline from…drumroll…Cymbelline.

Cymbelline

Shylock

 

During my trip I carried my own luggage and made my own arrangements. I didn’t have much room for art materials so these were drawn in a small moleskin notebook that I bought at the British Library and with a No 2 pencil. I am glad to be sharing again and will post more from my trip later.

 

December 26, 2017 December 26, 2017

Working with my bamboo pens I am finding it very difficult to do a finished drawing. It may just be the pens I have but none have a fine or very fine tip so my drawings look rustic at best and crude at worst. In my National Wildlife magazine I found an image I wanted very much to draw. It is of a large bighorn sheep. He is regal with powerful muscles and an alert posture as though he is on watch. He is the protector of his domain – at his prime. I did most of the drawing with my bamboo pens but finished the drawing/sketch (in a fit of frustration!) with a standard ink pen. The ink pen gave me the fine lines I needed to feel better about the drawing. It has some positives but I see some “kludgy” (to use a software term) areas that look smudgy and the head is too dark and short and I don’t have the eyes quite right. Ink is so unforgiving. Even more so than watercolor… Practice, practice, practice!

 

 

 

December 23, 2017 December 23, 2017

I have been engrossed in Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Leonardo da Vinci. The content is encyclopedic – rich and well written. The book is printed on elegant paper with a beautiful font and wonderful, clear images. The book includes many examples of Leonardo’s pen drawings. His mastery is dazzling and also inspiring. I will never approach the capability of Leonardo but I did get out my bamboo pens again and created a new practice sheet. I used images from my latest copy of National Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation monthly magazine). I love and am continually inspired by nature. I completed three rough sketches, the last of which I finished with colored pencils. The top drawing is of a monarch butterfly enjoying a blazing star, the second drawing is of three coneflowers, which are native to Indiana, and the third sketch I did is of a Southern Masked Weaver. I was fascinated by the colors shimmering through the feathers of this bird that is primarily yellow. He is weaving greenery into a nest.

 

 

 

December 9, 2017 December 9, 2017

Recently, while I’ve been creating my ATC collages, I have been itching to pick up a pencil or a paint brush. Yesterday, I finally had a lull in my volunteer activities. Inspired by the great teacher and artist Barry Combs I decided to try out three bamboo pens that I purchased several years ago. Barry recently had a post on his blog that described a drawing class he taught using reed pens (to learn more look here). I was not familiar with these pens and I think drawing with a pen is particularly unforgiving but I felt brave so I pulled out my bamboo pens and my Higgins “Black Magic” ink and began to doodle. Here are my supplies

 

 

 

I began to draw straight lines, curved lines, to write my name, to use hatching to shade, to make shapes and to try to give them volume and shading. Each of my pens had a narrow and a broad tip and my largest pen would not fit in my ink bottle so I only have four columns of doodles. Here is my practice page. Can you tell I love to draw apples?

 

 

 

 

After I was warmed up I decided to try a couple of heads. I have been looking at the lovely heads done by the Renaissance artists so I decided to work with women’s heads. I have also been watching a series that takes place in Canada before World War I so I wanted to give a “heritage” look to the heads. I wanted a low bun and downcast or closed eyes. I originally wanted to give a feeling of peace or reflection. As you can see my second lady (in profile) seems to have taken on an attitude! I had tremendous trouble with shading and you can see I’ve touched up my botches with opaque white watercolor. Once I took an Ink and Wash class and am much more comfortable shading with a wash rather than hatch marks. I clearly have more work to do. It was fun and I like the physical feel of working with these pens so…more to come!

 

March 6, 2017 March 8, 2017

This Monday I had my second Life Studio experience. Our model was male, lean and muscled and very good at holding challenging poses. I am using large sheets of newsprint for my sketches and am drawing with charcoal, ebony and graphite pencils. I also tried a sanguine Conte pencil this week. I want to draw with different types of drawing materials during this 5 week program. This is not a class. It is open studio and we all do our own thing. One artist works in watercolor and one uses her computer and completes her drawings digitally (the model was fascinated by this option).

I am working on my biggest challenges – hands and foreshortening…grrrrrr! Also for some reason I had trouble with proportions during this session. My eye-hand coordination was not as good this week.