nanke's stuff

OK, this time I really mean it!  This is the last version of my DaVinci copy.  I darkened the values, although it still isn't quite right.  But ol Yeller and I are parting ways.  It's time for me to move on to something else .... not sure just what yet, but definitely something else.  He was a good model (you know, he Never Moved At All!!), but I'm a tad tired of him.  So, one last look ....

Well, I got wonderful suggestions from you, and I tried them.  I had already been doing the "upside down" method for the beginning, and I continued to use it as I went along.  I also tried lightly penciling in  his body, and that did help me some.  It isn't shaping up to be a perfect copy (again), but then, I know none of these will be.   The reason I'm doing them is to glean whatever I can from the process.  The other reason I'm doing them is that it's fun .... oh, and one more .... I don't have to come up with an idea of what to draw for awhile, which for me, can be the hardest thing of all to do!

We had a bit of a birthday party here last nite for our son Andrew and Carrie, his wonderful wife.  Their birthdays are just a day apart, so we celebrate them together.  I've spent the last few days shopping, wrapping, cleaning,  planning and cooking, so I haven't had the time (or energy) to spend making art.  Also, since I'm not in the habit of staying up late, I must admit that today I was a tad slower than usual.  Oh, and in a non-art aside, I got a treadmill delivered on Friday, and today was the first chance I've had to give it a go.  I have to say, I do love having it here .... now all I have to do is develop the habit of using it!  No easy feat for a person of my athletic persuasion ... that is to say, I really have a strong dislike for working out.   Enough of that, tho.

I finally decided on my next attempt.  Rafael wins the day!    The name of it is "Study for a Soldier, His Leg Repeated", done in black chalk.  I found the drawing in one of the books I recently bought, and it's filled with really complicated, difficult, sketches.   Part of the challenge of this project for me is that each artist has his own style and "hand".  Switching from one to another has been hard for me.  This is the first one I've done that involves the whole body, and I'm finding  the position of this body especially difficult. I don't know if I'm going to include the second sketch of the leg in my version of it, but I'm thinking probably not.  As in my previous drawings, I'm using pencil.    As you can see, I've only just started it, and even tho there's almost nothing to look at yet, I'm going to follow my practice of posting the day's outcome, no matter how small.

Well, I tweaked it a bit more today and while it still doesn't look like the reference photo, I think it's getting close to  being all I can do to it to make it better.  I think I still need to make the left cheek (as we look at it) rounder - the face still looks a bit flat.     I can't tell all of you how much I appreciate your suggestions and comments.  This has been a challenge - but the truth is, every master's drawing I've tried to copy has been really difficult for me.  That said, I'm so enjoying doing them ... good thing since I bought all those books!  So, here's my version of today, the reference photo, and then another page from my RR book.

This one was done by Anne Downen, a wonderful artist in Washington who is also a blender and seller of the best tea ever!  She has a blog, which you will find in my blog list (Eccentric Pastiche) - just give it a click, and you'll be there!

Well, I've done some more on the drawing, and here is the next version.  I decided that since the angle of the head is wrong that rather than start the whole thing over, I'd just make the best of it, forge ahead, and then sometime in the future, try this one again.  I like the eyes better now.  They are more nearly looking in the same direction, unlike version1.  Oddly, I think this little person is beginning to look like a former neighbor of mine!  lol  As before, I'm going to include my reference photo with each posting so comparison is easier.

Recently I went nuts and bought a bunch of new books.  True, most of them weren't expensive, but still, in the last week or so, I bought 9 new books, and they do add up.  Anyhow, one of the new ones is called Rubens Drawings, published by Dover.  It has 44 plates of drawings by Peter Paul Rubens.  So, in my on going desire to improve my drawing (starting with the most important aspect of drawing which I think is Seeing), I've begun another copy of a master's drawing.  This one is entitled "Portrait of a Child" done around 1619.  The original was done with red, white and black chalk and pen and ink.  I'm planning on doing the whole thing in pencil.  I have charcoals and conte crayons, but for the sake of tidiness, I'm going to stick with pencil.  So, here they are - my beginning and my reference photo.  As you can see, I'm having great difficulty with the eyes.  Also, the angle of the head is wrong.  I'll post my progress as I go along.






This is a picture of the second spread in my RR book.  This was done by my friend Teresa Stebbins, a wonderful artist and maker of books.  The photo doesn't do it justice.