Language of Drawing...Challenge #1

The folks at Ani Waichulis just posted the first "Sketch Challenge" for students working on the Language of Drawing program. The first challenge theme is "Botanicals"...with a one hour time limit! So...here's what I've sketched:

A "Leaf" from www.paintmyphoto.com

I used an HB graphite pencil for the majority of the sketch...with a little 2B graphite for darker values. Let me just say...that was the fastest hour ever!! But then I could play with this for hours and hours, I suspect. So a time limit is actually a pretty smart idea!! I wonder what next week's theme will be!

After Susie Pryor...

I've been working on a little 5"x7" painting for the past several days. I painted the background first...let it dry...then added the figure.

after Susie Pryor

This work was painted with palette knives. I think it's sweet...looking forward to seeing it matted and framed!! And that's it for now...working on a couple of other pieces...will post when I'm done!

Another Sorolla...

Oil painting class today. Added another layer to my fruit painting...and completed this little color mixing exercise...

After Sorolla

More to come...

Classes...

Today was a busy "art" day!! I had my Classical Drawing class in the morning...and a "make up" painting class this afternoon! Here's a still life (from life) in charcoal & white pastel...a work in progress....

Here's a "warm up" color mixing exercise I did...with a palette knife...after Sorolla...

After Sorolla

I added another glaze to my "fruit"...

Plus...I discovered a new artist...Susie Pryor! Her work reminds me of Sorolla's...and she has created some gorgeous paintings (with a palette knife) of children!! Very impressionistic!!

Susie Pryor

And that's it for me...another painting class on Thursday! Yay!!

Here's what I've been up to...

I'm still working on my Ani form box...

Ani Form Box Set-Up

My version of the "House" section

...and I've been adding glazes to my fruit still life...

Finally, here's a color mixing exercise I did today...applied with a palette knife...

After Caillebotte

That's it for now! Back soon....

Pastel landscape...

I spent a couple of hours this morning working on this little landscape. It's an exercise in "Overlap Theory"...

I loved playing with my pastels this morning...and am looking forward to learning so much more... experimenting with different papers and boards...not to mention adding to my growing pastel collection!

So...am off to work on my Language of Drawing "Form Box"...that's going to take me some time. It's a slowwwww process.

Henry & Isabella Gardner....

...just back from spending a fast and fun couple of days in Boston...meeting our newest grandbaby, Henry...and hanging out with his mom and dad!

Henry's morning bath

It's completely appropriate to take new parents and their 7 week-old baby to a local vineyard for wine-tasting, right?!! 'Cuz that's exactly what we did. Henry slept, so he totally missed out on the delicious wine!

On Sunday, my husband and I had the most amaaaazing day at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Much to my surprise (and delight), Isabella Gardner was good friends with John Singer Sargent! Needless to say, I was thrilled to see so many beautiful works by Sargent (both oil and watercolor) as well as works by Anders Zorn, Degas, Titian, and Rembrandt (to name a few)!!! Unfortunately, neither cameras nor cell phones were allowed in the galleries, so...no photos! (There were big burly security guards everywhere!) But here's a pic from the website....

Sargent's "Incensing the Veil" watercolor

And now I'm home...and back at work on the Ani "Language of Drawing Program" (I should have an updated pic of my "Form Box" progress tomorrow) and my drawing/pastel and oil painting classes! Here's a still life "study" (drawn from life). I've been working on it for a couple of weeks...and finally finished it yesterday! My very first pastel....

All I can say is that I have so much room for growth! And that I am loving pastels!! I started another still life today (also from life)....

And that's it for now.