February 24, 2019 February 24, 2019

As I mentioned in my last post, this summer I visited the fascinating city of Oxford, England. It is full of ancient colleges, robed students, interesting architecture and one of the greatest university museums in England. I was able to spend almost an entire day in the Ashmolean Museum and was impressed with its wonderful collections. The focus is art and archeology. I even made time to do a little sketching. Off the main entrance is a wonderful sculpture court and I happily spent about 30 minutes sketching Clio, the muse of history. She was quite beautiful – even without her head! Here is the statue:

And here is the sketch:

For more information about the Ashmolean Museum look here. For more information about Clio look here.

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?

 

 

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.

 

May 24, 2012 May 25, 2012

This is my final sketch from my trip to New York City. I made this one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is graphite in my little Bee sketchbook. This sketchbook allows wet media but that is too much weight to lug around NYC – even using aquabrushes!

Temple of Dendur

This piece of history is displayed in a huge light filled room. I have barely hinted at the texture and carving in the huge old stones.

May 20, 2012 May 20, 2012

Another sketch from New York’s Central Park. This one is of the Belvedere looking across the Turtle Pond. This is an incredibly beautiful vista. I had to darken my original sketch.  It is amazing how light all of my sketches turned out. Bright sunlight definitely plays tricks with a person’s vision.

The Belvedere in Central Park

This is graphite in my 6″ X 9″ Bee sketch book.

November 28, 2011 November 29, 2011

I’ve been doing some sketching and I love to work with faces. My first is done with black and gray Sharpie markers.

The Ancester

and the next one is just graphite pencils. Both are in my little 6″ X 9″ sketchbook.  Both are inspired by photos in the latest Smithsonian magazine.

The Navigator

October 9, 2011 October 11, 2011

Last Thursday and Friday were spent at the Simon Cancer Center as we  went through Ken’s third round of chemo.  This is a journey…we just don’t know yet how it will end. I always use this time to explore – this time I am still trying to get my arms around automatic drawing and I am struggling. I have used the internet to try to understand the definition and have used YouTube to watch artists creating using automatic drawing. Some of these are clearly NOT automatic drawing. Anyway on October 7th, 8th, and 9th I created automatic drawings. I think they got more exciting as I created each new piece of work.

Automatic Drawing - October 8, 2011

Automatic Drawing Oct 7, 2011

On October 7th I started with a spiral shape and went from there. I have trouble moving away from my first shape so as I shifted I used derivatives of a spiral – ovals, circles and dots…in this case pretty ho-hum!

On October 8th, I started by drawing some intersecting lines and then began adding trapezoidal shapes. This did not fire my imagination so I began thinking about the boomerang shapes on 1950’s tabletops. I drew kidney- bean shaped amoeba like shapes and then embellished with circles and dots. ..a little better.

On Sunday, October 9th I watched several videos on YouTube, and while I don’t believe I had a break through in understanding, I was able to draw a swirling homage to nature. Not sure if it is automatic drawing but it is very pleasant to view.

Automatic Drawing - October 9, 2011

I still wonder…how is automatic drawing different from doodling?

September 15, 2011 September 19, 2011

I have been intrigued by the recent posts that discuss automatic drawing. Leslie’s post is here. Take a look, it is fascinating. Chris Carter has also written several posts about squiggle drawing and this is mentioned in Leslie’s post. This looks like fun to me so I tried it last Thursday when Ken and I were at the Cancer Center for his latest chemotherapy treatment. I’m not showing my first drawing – it looks like a demented skull – but I will show my second.

Auto drawing 09152011

I started with the ball in the lower left and as you can see I had trouble getting off it. Just spun round and round. When I did, I had fun and a vision of two ladies sitting on a park bench talking emerged. Do you see them? Fun, relaxing, destressing. Thank you Chris and Leslie!

July 4, 2011 July 5, 2011

I have had a “room of my own” but it has been full of furniture intended for other purposes and in a room that used to be a small dining room. Last winter I bought a Cheap Joe’s taboret and I love it. It is robust and the drawers slide so easy. It inspired me to buy some attractive boxes to organize my art materials – one for watercolor, one for drawing, one for acrylics and one for all the other stuff. One thing let to another and I recently asked my daughters and husband for gift cards from Cheap Joe’s so I could get the matching drawing table. It arrived last Friday and I spent the weekend organizing and sorting and throwing out. I love the table and have painted my first painting on it (which I will post tomorrow). I thought I would show you “Linda’s Room” at the Halcomb house. I even hung some of my own art along side that of Monet. I love seeing other artist’s work space and feel really lucky (after having spent 30 years painting on a kitchen table off and on) to have this space. I hope some of you will share your space as well.

My Desk

This photo shows the small dining table that I use for a desk. Also the firewood holder that my brother made and I now use to hold my large pads, drawing boards and sheets of paper. You can just see a 4 pound toy Pomeranian furball behind the music stand I use as a “living with it” easel.

Studio 2

For this photo I’m standing where the music stand is. I’m going to put a small table with a plant or lamp or a small light weight rolling cart with drawers between the chairs. Love my Monet! Especially in the winter!

Studio 3

Here is my taboret and table. I love them! This was taken before I inaugurated the drawing table. You can see a couple of the four bookcases in the room. I have sixteen bookcases total and I think that’s why we never discuss moving.

Studio 4

Nuff said!

 

June 27, 2011 June 28, 2011

Ken had another appointment today and I am becoming good at picking up a magazine and selecting an image to sketch. This little guy was in a recent copy of Real Simple magazine. I couldn’t find out what he was but isn’t he cute? He was bright yellow with just a hint of orange around his beige beak.

Says Who?