Back to School

If you like most of America, has started back to school, I wish you or your children a good school year.  The first few days are always stressful getting back into the rhythm of getting up and going to school.  As a child, I always loved going back to school but with a little bit of anxiety about new friends and new teachers.  School always came at just the right time when you have gotten all you could out of summer.  Today, I do not have a long blog for you because most of you are ready to rest after a long day of work or school.  So, I will leave you with this....try and leave a note in your child's lunch, a doodle, a joke, or whatever fits you and your child's relationship.  Let them open their lunch to find something fun from their parents.  Maybe even use that napkin as your daily drawing exercise.  They will enjoy it and you can keep drawing to keep your skills fresh.  Below I have a link to an artist I stumbled across who does food art.  I am currently following her on Instagram to see her newest food-related artwork.  Enjoy!

Learn more HERE

Drawing Exercise

Every person who has taken an art class knows that the teacher usually has you do some sort of exercise to master your drawing ability.  Of course, we all know that some people are better then others at this skill.  I am not the best when it comes to some of the exercises so bare with my drawings as I walk you through the different ways to practice and master your drawing skills.

First, let me start with the object I chose to draw.  A pineapple candle.  In college, my roommate and I picked this up at a garage sale because we read somewhere that the pineapple is the symbol of "hospitality".  So we knew that our home needed a pineapple to show our guests we were hospitable.  Years later, I have the pineapple candle in my home.

Blind Contour Drawing: 

drawing without ever looking at the paper you are drawing on.  This was the first of my drawing exercises today I wanted to show you.  This is the one I hated the most doing but it really challenges your hand-eye coordination.  You have to really think as you explore the object with your eyes and translate that onto the page.  Below is my attempt at this exercise after many years of avoiding ever doing it.  

Timed Gesture Drawing:

 a gesture drawing is completed quickly in timed intervals (20, 30, 60 seconds) using fast, expressive lines.  In order to do this, you need to break down the object into basic forms to capture it quickly onto your paper.  Below are my timed gesture drawings with the time I did to create them.  

I clearly moved quickly to get as much of the object on the page as possible.  

In this one, I thought I would have more time then I clearly did and focused more on the top.

Upset about the previous drawing I spent more time on the bottom then the top but managed to get more of the pineapple then before.

Continuous Line Drawing: 

when you never lift the drawing instrument from the paper.  So, you must continuously be moving the pencil from one part of the drawing to the next without lifting it.  This creates darker images unless you lighten your pressure on the pencil.  This I found hard mostly because I have been using dry erase board and marker for this exercise.  This one is good to help you really explore the object and understand it's shape in relation to itself.  Helping with proportions along the way.

Contour Drawing:

 shows outlines, shapes and edges of a scene, but omits fine detail. The best way to describe this technique is think of cartoons and how they only have the outlines of the character.  This one was hard for me because I wanted to add more detail but had to stop myself.  You want to show the basic shape of the object.

I hope you enjoyed this post and hope you will try some of these drawing exercises at home with an object in your home.  Maybe even get more daring and use a person to be your drawing subject.  This is a fun way to exercise and master your drawing skills.  The more you practice the better you will become.  As always I am here to help you be the best artist you can be!  Have fun drawing!

Reference for this blog: link

Art History

There is no doubt that art has been around for a long time.  When words were not an option, pictures were the earliest way to communicate by leaving a symbol/image for others to see.  One of the first drawings was a cave drawing left several thousands of years ago.  From primitive artwork to the complex work we have now has taken thousands of years and a lot of learning.

When we create artwork now, whether we know it or not, it has come from previous education.  There is nothing that has not already been photographed or drawn.  We can not keep repeating the same thing over and over again without learning a lesson from the previous image or work.  Everyone has drawn a flower, but how can you make it different from other people's flowers?  That is the challenge here, to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary.  But in order to do that, we must have complete knowledge of our past and history in art.  So below I have given you links to different timelines in art history.  Study them, and learn so you can continue to be the best artist you can be because without knowledge of history, how could we learn?

Timeline ONE

Timeline TWO

Timeline THREE

Create

It is good to be home.  I was unable to write a post last week because I was out of town for a funeral.  When I wrote my last blog I did not know that later that day my grandfather would die.  A few days after that my son and I were off with my parents and sister to go to his funeral.  Unable to write any updates I have been busy handling family matters.  We returned home Friday afternoon tired and missing my husband very much.  I have not prepared like I would normally for my blog this week.  So all I have to say today is to try and find some time and create something....anything.  We are all creative, just in different ways so create something.  Hopefully, I can find the time to sew and create something with the pile of fabric I have been collecting.  It isn't my usual go to but, I want to get the things on my to-do list done.  So, go and create.  Have fun!  And remember to be the best artist you can be!