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Showing posts from 2012

Branch and Leaves Study

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Today I decided to draw a nice picture of branches and leaves in pencil.  I've been working on a new strategy where I'm trying to make pencil drawings look richer, more like paintings.  I don't think they look totally like paintings yet, but definitely have some qualities such as rich layered blends of colors.  What I really liked about this image was how the large branch pushes towards you with its lighter colors, and how the green leaves curve and contrast against the tans, browns and blues in the background. When I think of a pencil study of branch and leaves, I think it sounds pretty dull.  However, when I saw a nice photograph taken by my daughter, I felt it was rich and artistic in its simplicity so I decided to draw it here.  It is rich with its deep brown, blue and violet background, vibrant with its green leaves and yellow ochre hues in the large center branch.  Also it is artistic in the way it focuses in on just a segment of a branch (also I liked that circul

Painting With Pencil

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I've been wanting to draw for a long time, but life gets in my way every time!  Finally I put my act together and started up again.  Here is a recent drawing of family members vacationing in Rhode Island.  I wanted to capture their joyful mood with the evening shadows and colors in this portrait. I think what I loved about this picture were the golden and rose tones created in the sky and water, and the contrast of the floral pink dress that I felt brought out a somewhat modern impressionistic feeling to the drawing.  As I contemplated what style this drawing reminded me of, I found an artist names Gustave Caillebotte (born in Paris in the 1800's) who was an impressionistic yet photo realistic artist. I think that is kind of my style, but at the same time I feel I have a child-like expression to my art which adds a different quality than just impressionistic or realism.  Well, I think maybe I'm still learning who or what I am as an artist. I plan to have another dra

Up Close and Personal With Cows

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I went on a really nice hike 2 weeks ago at the Stanford Dish (owned by Stanford University and right near the campus).  A beautiful February day - you'd hardly think it was winter, felt more like late spring.  What struck me the most about this hike was how many cows were roaming around this open space preserve right next to Stanford University, and you can walk right up to them - they seem very unaffected by humans getting "up close and personal" with them.  This was a great chance to take some nice photos of cows.  I thought the cows were extra beautiful because their coats were soft (almost like a thick coated dog or sheep).  I don't usually think of a cow as having a soft coat, or as particularly pretty or elegant.  However, these cows really were beautiful and I wanted to try and capture that in my drawing this week.  This particular picture was more intimate than the other photos I took, so I chose to capture this intimacy in the drawing.  I also wanted to

Pink Magnolia Tree Blossom

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So I wanted to draw another flower this week (guess I'm stuck on colorful things these past 2 weeks).  My daughter took a close up picture a couple weeks ago of this pink Magnolia flower, and I really liked how it turned out.  It showed everything in the flower petal - veins and all. As I drew this flower, it occurred to me how it's strange that a beautiful pink flower could bloom in February.  So I researched the Magnolia tree and found that some Magnolias are "early bloomers" starting their blooms in February while other Magnolias are "late bloomers" waiting until late spring/summer to bloom.  What I really loved about this petal was how it looked delicate yet strong. I actually felt like I needed to draw the flower with bold strokes and colors to mimic how it looked so hearty.  Also, I liked how the veins in the petal were violet just like human veins.  Maybe this is a sign we have a connection somehow to flowers.  Or maybe it signifies that flow

Red Rose Shadow Play

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This beautiful red rose image was what I wanted to draw this week.  I loved the way this rose appears to float in the middle of the picture, and the way the shadows create different colors and patterns on the hardwood floor.  The actual rose is sitting inside a glass vase (which you can't see at this angle).  I think the image has an interesting combination of both realistic and surrealistic elements with the realistic red rose appearing to hover above the odd angles and shadows underneath. Flowers in a vase are one of those subjects all artists should attempt at one time or another.  It's a classic image most famous artists have attempted early on in in their career as well as later in their career.  The interesting thing that I find about this rose is that it looks simple and uncomplicated to draw, but it was actually one of the more difficult things I've drawn. I somehow got lost in all the small details of petals that lay on top of one another, as well as all the