Weekly Mind Sketch

Here is the challenge I was given this week...to draw a hand.  I actually wanted to try drawing a real hand with skin on it this time (see my previous hand anatomy drawing) and decided to use my own hand in the same position as the hand anatomy drawing for an interesting comparison. I think it is very interesting to compare the two drawings.  I can see why the different parts of the hand indent.  For example, in this drawing the joints in the middle of the fingers have that rounded indentation to them, and when you look at the hand anatomy drawing you can see where the circular joint in the middle does have a hole in the middle.  Interesting! So it is very useful to draw the inside of the human body, it helps you decipher curves, indents or shapes in the body. I think this drawing feels like my hand, I'm happy about that.  I think it is bold and pops up off the background, I can almost feel the hand pressing down on the paper. Even though I drew this in black & white, I

I was given a challenge to draw hair this week so here is my outcome. It is a sketch of my daughter's hair which is very long and beautiful. I am continuing to work on "painting with pencil" and hope this feels somewhat like a painting. I'm focusing on layer upon layer of colors in the drawing to achieve a bolder painterly feeling.  I find hair difficult to draw because I feel like I'm never done. It reminds me how I feel when I draw a tree with all its leaves...I want to keep drawing more and more and never quite feel like I'm finished which is frustrating to me.  I think my perfectionism tends to come out when drawing hair and trees. I had to finally just put down my pencils and say it's good enough because I kept seeing more shadows, colors and places to improve on.  I suppose I could spend days working on hair if I really wanted to perfect it but suppose this is good enough for now! Standing back and taking in the drawing from a distance I think

O.K. going a little away from what I have been doing ("painting" with pencil) I was given the challenge this week to draw a hand.  And me always wanting an extra challenge chose to draw a hand from an anatomy book with all the muscles and tendons. What was I thinking?  This was a challenge in patience and really studying a picture in depth.  I was hoping by doing this I would learn a little more about the shape and feel of a hand, so that maybe the next time I drew one I may be a little smarter about it - we'll see! Looking at this picture, I am fairly happy with it (despite a few inaccuracies that really don't matter).  It was interesting because as I was drawing this I was thinking about Michelangelo and how he did this same thing (studied the inside of the body before he drew things). I think it may be a good idea for artists to do this from time to time.  It may be tedious but I think by doing this you may grow tremendously with your skills.  I already feel l

Wow I'm very excited that I kept my promise to myself and did another drawing this week!  I came across a recent photo taken of my daughter's eye and just knew I should take the challenge to draw it (I have to give photo credit to my niece who took this amazing photo - I could not have drawn this if it weren't for her incredible photo)! I am still working on making my drawings feel more like paintings with rich layered colors.  I think this does feel somewhat like a painting with the rich colors in the hair and eyes.  What was so striking about the photo was that you could see so many details of her eye including a slight shadow of the photographer too!  The colors that came through her eye were so amazing including greens, browns, auburn and even some yellow & blue tints). Eyes are an amazing thing to draw.  Eyes radiate emotion.  Eyes are the soul of a person.  It's hard to take your eyes off of eyes that are looking right at you (I am reminded of one of the