Quick Sketch With A Belly Dancer...

Even belly dancers need a break. This was a super quick sketch demo I did at CAI today in my teaching class. Wish I could have taken it further.

Ever felt that way?

Orange and blue was the color harmony with two light sources set up on the figure, one orange, one blue, to push the theme. This makes it harder for students because it is harder to see the form compared to a raking single source light.

Quite a few students got frustrated with their work for one reason or another...harder for the teacher! No coffee break today for me. I was working flat out.

The model had to move her pose because she was uncomfortable after half an hour of sitting. People complained the about orange and blue lights being in their eyes; two lights on one pose in a teaching room is going to hit someone the wrong way.

YES, it was one of THOSE days! BUT I believe in shaking things up in the teaching room. Shaken but not stirred. Hmmm....

Glow...

I say a juicy vibrant tangerine will remind you why you wanted to start painting in the first place.

As much I try to keep those orange globes muted, I just can't hold back for long. I want them bright orange. Nothing else will do.

Demo this week, one on one instruction. How I enjoy that type of teaching.

GLOW, demo.

8x6

Oil

GUESS WHO?...365 Days of Drawing

14 DAYS LEFT TO GO...

Can you guess who this is? My drawing block-in of a certain young lady from over The Pond. Come back later to see how I finish it today.

15 DAYS To Go..EXCITING TIMES...365 Days Of Drawing

15 days to go on the daily drawing 2010 challenge...exciting times ahead, a 52 head portrait project, my second sitter painted today which met the drawing challenge.

I can't say much more except my sitter today was THE most amazing man, 97 years-young, painted in a freezing cold studio, with a life story to tell of such intelligence in career, integrity in life, and overall brilliance with a healthy splash of good humor. I am so privileged to meet and paint people like this. For want of a better word. Wow. ...a few people in the studio alongside, recording, photo'ing, and just plain enjoying the moment, as did I!

16 Days To Go...365 Days of Drawing

I am now drawing in my sleep...16 Days To Go...

17 Days To Go...365 Days of Drawing

I have drawn so far for 347 days in 2010, in an unbroken challenge to myself to draw daily for a minimum of 30 minutes (most days way more), NO MATTER WHAT!

I have just 17 days left to go. Barring a disaster, January 1st will be my LAST drawing for this yearly challenge.

At this point, this drawing work horse has left the stable and will reach the finish. A bit tired from all the hurdles and sheer length of the race, not expecting a ribbon or recognition, but knowing she achieved something she never thought she could do. Knowing she grew as an artist from the daily discipline, some days extremely hard to muster.

I am trying not to make it a sloppy, complacent end, falling over the finish line with a splat rather than a leap. I want a grand-stand effort, just for myself!

Here are my drawing efforts for the last three days. The first done over two nights in two half hour sittings, block-in and finish. The third, my teaching class demo at The California Art Institute today. Whenever I have painted a model from life I have counted it for the daily drawing challenge as it sure involves drawing.

Leap of splat? You tell me.

!...365 Days of Drawing

Lots going on this weekend. I only had time to meet the bare commitment of the drawing challenge, to draw for half an hour each and every day.

The first day I did a half hour block-in. The second day, Sunday, I did a half-hour finish.

Mystery...365 Days of Drawing

I wish I could post what I drew and painted yesterday but I can't, especially as I really like it. The mystery will be revealed in the 2011 New Year edition of The Ventura Breeze Newspaper. Let's just say one project/challenge leads to another. This challenge will involved painting 50 people directly from life, the first one of which I did yesterday...stay tuned.

Eggnog Infused...365 Days of Drawing

In the final days of a yearly drawing challenge through the busy Holiday Season you want an easy ride. No fuss, no muss. Hold the Eggnog while you creep under the wire.

December is a hellish month to end a yearly drawing challenge. There is SO much going on. Dare I also say, I WANT TO ENJOY the Season. The drawing for this day was probably one of my hardest days so far to squeeze in.

I drove all over Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, about six hours in the car total, between three lengthy appointments, ending in Beverly Hills for my husband's office Xmas party at night with a certain requirement to look presentable, hair washed etc. No green paint exuding from body parts that non-artists might be alarmed by.

Usually I have planned what I am drawing for the day through 2010, taking quite some considerable time doing so. This day, I looked in my car trunk, usually full of art stuff, and grabbed the nearest 'copy' thing I could find. I spent 15 minutes on it at lunch appointment 'waiting', 10 minutes in the 'waiting' room for next appointment broken up into two five minute segments, completing the last 5 minutes after a long drive home, 'waiting' to go to - BED! This is what it took THIS day to meet the year's challenge of drawing every day for 2010 outside of everything else that is going on. Not pleasant this day. Sorry.

I honestly will never forget the commitment of my year's challenge to myself. And I know I didn't cheat. I am proud of that especially on days like these. No-one would know. I would and perhaps my husband too. He has seen it all firsthand.

Please could December go fast now - and at this point perhaps Eggnog infused.

Top it off...365 Days of Drawing

I have always loved top hats...take me to the circus. Another drawing down. Free me from the tiger cage January 2nd! The challenge will be finally done. Roar.

Simplicity...365 Days of Drawing

I wanted to do a simple still life today after my weekend of Santa demos. The drawing block-in was done in my gifted teen teaching class and counts for the daily drawing challenge, not that it is a good drawing. I forgive myself. Santa wore me out.

Enlargements...365 Days of Drawing

I have started to draw really big, taking some of the earlier drawings from the year's challenge and putting them on large canvas. This one measures up to 60".

Don't ask me why. I just feel like it. And it is interesting to me. You will see the first sketch on the upper right of the large canvas.

I was blown away by the reaction to this large sketch at my Open House. I thought I had just started it. People said "don't touch it - it's done."

What do you think?

Anatomy of a Santa Demo....365 Days of Drawing

Not sure I felt like painting another Santa just 12 hours later but I did. And I had a lot of fun. This Santa was a joy to chat too and very talented in his own way.

Here is the demo...including the drawing which meets the challenge for the day.

Ah.... yes, a class to teach today and another drawing to do.

Ho Ho Ho...365 Days of Drawing..

Ho Ho Ho...another drawing gets done...and another Santa to paint today.

Shake it up...365 Days of Drawing

I have been trying to shake it up a bit in my somewhat brief teaching class demos at CAI -as I talk a lot and work on students' paintings. So much to do in only a three hour class.

I know what I can do around a 16 x 20, or 18 x 24, demo after teaching for a while and doing public demos for lots of art groups in and around LA - but I got a bit tired of the same ol', same ol', I thought I was doing or maybe relying on, around time constraints and getting the teaching message across.

So this semester and last, I have gone for much smaller canvases, different crops, different lighting, not always that successful but pushing me not only as an artist but also as a teacher. This one paid off more than others, 5x9, about an hour of painting. I liked her expression and the simplicity of it all.

Three for One Zorn Special...365 Days of Drawing

Seems like there are 'three for one' Holiday specials in all the stores/online outlets, so I thought I would do one too. The last three days of drawing to meet the challenge I have drawn up three heads hoping to paint them soon. You will see them next to a few Sargents I have done in the past. This is a good exercise. Do the copies small. Put the timer on for an hour. Get out a big brush.

HARDEST drawing so far...365 Days of Drawing

I DID IT!

This was surely the hardest drawing for me in the year's challenge so far. I decided to stick with it and have repeatedly shown up to the paper battling it since Tuesday, so five sittings in all.

I am glad I stuck with it, now ready to move on. The bust of this veiled lady was made by the Italian sculptor Raffaelle Monti, 1818 - 1881, and no

w resides in Chatsworth House in England. I saw it quite some time ago in the challenge and knew I would draw it one day - and I also knew it would take me quiet a while. Getting that expression under the veil with such small shapes to work with was not so easy. I really did almost give up.

I am left humbled by sculptors/sculptures like this. How on earth did they carve a veil in marble when I struggle to do it in pastel???? I remember on my first visit to Rome a few years ago being more blown away by the sculpture, particularly Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1598-1680, Naples, than anything else. His sculptures were nothing short of miraculous. Pure genius. Just look at his work, which I post here.