nanke's stuff

OK, so she's proving herself to be a worthy adversary.  I've been working and reworking her face and I just can't seem to get it right.  Of course, part of the problem is what I mentioned in her first (very faint) appearance, which is that right out of the gate I had the angle of her head wrong.  But, since I decided to forge ahead anyway, the problem only magnified itself as I drew.  I had the eyes at the wrong slant and the line of her right side (the one on our left) is wrong.  Howsomever (I know, not a real word, but it seem to fit the bill), I valiantly (or stubbornly, which is more to the point) struggled on with her until I just had to stop..... which is not to say that during this process I didn't walk away from her a number of times, giving each of us a much needed time out.  I turned her upside down and sideways, trying to get a better feel for the lines, and the acrobatics did help.  She, however, didn't agree and complained bitterly.  So in the end, I told her we were through for the day, leading to a giant sigh of relief from us both.

Today one of my daughters is running her first half marathon in Nashville.  She's been training faithfully for it, and I'd love to be there with her other cheerleaders to lend my support and encouragement.  I'm waiting to hear from my son to see how well she did - I just hope it's not really hot down there right now!  Tonight my other daughter is skating in her final roller derby bout of the season ... Yes, she's a Detroit Derby Girl, and she's amazing!  Last year her team won the championship of the league - alas, not so this year, but they did great!  I'm so impressed with my two wonderful girls who married my two wonderful sons.  How did I get to be so fortunate, anyway? 

I between many other things, I did manage to spend a bit of time with Ms Fourment, although not as much as I'd hoped.   She  I am having much difficulty with her, but then I always do when I try to copy these drawings.   I'm using a softer pencil now, so it shows up better than version 1.  I like to start out with hard pencils because I'm such a chicken - it takes me awhile to get plucky enough to go for the softer, darker pencils.  I'm not at the softest I'll use yet, but I'm getting there.  So, without further adieu, here she is!


 

Meet Susanne Fourment (sister of Helene Fourment (1599 - 1643).   Now you know as much about her as I do.  I plan on trying to find out a bit more about her, but for now, she's serving as the reference for my most recent attempt at copying drawings of the Masters.  As you can see, I've only just begun, after several days of busyness and being away from home. 

I can already see that this drawing is off - her head is too straight.  I haven't decided yet if it's so early in the game that I might just scrap this one and start over.  Or, I may continue, knowing that it is flawed, and then attempt it again another time.  So, anyway, here's the original, followed by my beginning (as if you couldn't tell which was which!). 

Every time I scan my drawings and compare them to the reference drawing, I see things in them that I totally miss when I'm in the process of working on them.  I wonder why that is.  I'm not talking about little differences,  I'm talking huge, glaring, jump-off-the-page differences.  Things like a totally wrong shape for something that's as plain as the nose on your face. ...... yes, I'm talking about the nose on Her face.  However, even in the face of that, I've decided that it's time for me to move on.  Mrs. Butts and I are finished with one another.  She's tired of looking at me, and all I can say to that is, "Ditto, Mrs. Butts, with the unfortunate name". .......  I can be soooo mean.

Soon we'll be going on a wee trip, so I've been slowly getting ready for it.  There were presents to buy and wrap, Easter cards to get ready to mail (and mail), groceries to buy, packing lists to do, etc, etc.  And, of course, I've been using the new treadmill 5 days a week .  (By dividing the number of times I've used it into the cost, so far each session has cost $44 - a number that is acting as a motivator for me, who Hates to Exercise).    We haven't told Abby (our dog) that we're going yet, because she'll be going to "camp" (the kennel), poor dear.  They love her there and do their best to spoil her, but she doesn't really like to go.
In spite of all the preparations (which aren't finished yet, I've also set aside a bit of time to work on my Holbein drawing..... not a lot, but some.  I'd like to finish it before we leave, because I know I won't be working on it while we're gone, but on the other hand, a break from it will probably give me a whole new insight as to what I need to adjust.  With that in mind, I won't be spraying it before we go so that upon our return, I can fiddle with it if I want.    Enough of my babbling .... here is WIP 3, followed by the reference drawing, as always.

I didn't have a lot of time again today to draw, but I did do a bit more on my Holbein copy.  I'm finding her mouth is posing a special challenge for me - there really isn't much mouth there to work with.  With just a few lines and shadows, Holbein was able to create a mouth that is just perfect for that face.   I'm having trouble with the line itself, as well as its angle.
As you can see from my version, I have been working with relatively hard pencils.  The softest one I've used on it so far is a 2B.  I'm not ready yet to move to the softer, darker, lead - I'm still feeling my way along with this.  I've only just started doing her headpiece.  I can say this about it, though, I'm Oh So Grateful that I don't ever have to wear anything like that on My head, aren't you?

Well, after a busy day and being away from the house most of the day, and then finishing ironing my sweetie's shirts (a birthday present to him - he irons his own shirts .... isn't that just the best?), fixing part of the dinner (he did the main course - a recipe of his own invention that was really very good), doing the dishes,  and giving the dog a bath, I finally sat down to do a bit of drawing.  A very little bit.  I still have a few things to do before hitting the hay.  So, here is the start of my newest Master's copy.  As usual, I'll post my WIP and the reference photo so you can comment and give me suggestions.  It's just a bare beginning, but what the heck - you go with what you got, right?  p.s., Of course, now that I can see it here in the post, I can immediately see what's wrong with  the nose, just for openers.... but, that's why it's a WIP!!

When I was a young mother with 2 growing boys, I worked part time, was the president of a co-op nursery school, volunteered at my son's elementary school, was a consultant for a non-profit agency, and had time for my art .... not a lot, but still, I did it.  I sewed Halloween costumes, baked, cooked, wall-papered rooms .... well, you get the picture.  I was a normal American mom, doing the things normal American moms do.  Now my children are grown.  I volunteer at our county health department, but only one day a week.  There's only my sweetie and I and our dog, Abby, here at home, and for some reason,   all too often I have a heck of a time finding time for my art .  Why is that, I wonder.  It's true, I exercise every day now, but I'm finished with that most days by 7 AM, and I'm not locked into a schedule like I used to be.  We do go to bed early most nites (Sweetie gets up at 4:00, so of course, I'm awake then, too) so I don't have the evenings to work like I used to, but still .....

Here's what I think.  I think that one of the big obstacles (as well as one of the blessings in my life), is the internet.  I get tons of email - things I'm interested in, mind you, but still, it takes me a lot of time to visit all the blogs and leave comments on all the wonderful work I see others doing.  People send me links to interesting sites that I just have to check out!  I had every intention of doing some art after dinner tonite, but since I was gone all day, I had tons of email that I wanted to check (in part because I knew if I didn't prune it, by tomorrow it would take me most of the day to go thru.  I think I need to find a way to be more organized and efficient in my internet use.  I'll have to ponder that.

In the meantime, I've decided on another Master's drawing to copy.  This one is by Holbein,  and I like it because it's an older woman.  Her name is Margaret, Lady Butts, Wife of Sir William Butts, physician to Henry VIII; lady-in-waiting to Princess Mary.  It's done with Pen and brush ink reinforcement and metalpoint.  Mine will be done with pencil.  I'm planning on starting it tomorrow morning, but here is Lady Butts, my newest model!

My next copy is based on  a DaVinci study for The Battle Of Anghiari.  One of the challenges in this one for me is the many values in it.  Another is that it's a face (yikes !).  I find faces very difficult to do.  I have a hard time getting proportions right, correct angles, and the proper relationships between the various features.  So, this one seemed like a good one for me.  DaVinci did so many faces - many of them quite monstrous.  I'm thinking that at some point I will do some of them.   So, here is my reference photo, followed by my initial go at it. 

Well, I'm getting close to calling this one done.  I have some tweaking left to do and also some darkening in some areas, but other than that, I think I'll leave well enough alone.  I'm sure someone who's studied art history knows the answer to this, but I can't help wondering why so many of the masters used  seemingly nothing but  lines to fill in areas of their drawings.  I have to say, it does make it very difficult to copy them.  Duplicating the lines done by another hand is next to impossible (at least it is for me).  Maybe it was their way to copyright their work since there were no copyright laws back then!  lol  So, once again, here's my drawing, followed by the reference photo.

Another rather busy day today without a lot of time for art, but I did manage a bit of time to spend with Rafael.  As you can see, I'm still struggling with the foreshortening and the proportions, but little by little it's beginning to come together.  So far I've done all of it with a 2B pencil (and, of course, a kneadable eraser, lol) and when I get it further along, I'll darken some areas.  I used the "auto contrast" thingy in Photoshop, which makes it look darker than it really is.

As always, your suggestions and comments are more than welcome!

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.