nanke's stuff

First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who left such helpful suggestions and encouraging comments.  I can't tell you how much help all of you have been.  Secondly, thanks to everyone who noticed that I've been misspelling Raphael's name all this time and didn't point it out publicly.   You left it for my sweetie to kindly point out (and he did it very gently, too, bless his pea pickin' heart).  The thing is, I've always known how to spell his name, and yet, time after time I spelled it wrong.  I wonder if I'm drifting into the stratosphere and just not thinking about spelling shortcuts... lol
So, here it is, the final adjustment to a drawing that I've loved doing.  Yes, it has been difficult for me, but I've learned a lot, too.  All in all, I feel satisfied with the outcome.  Of course, every time I look at it I see something else I could add (or subtract), but for the most part, I think I've reached a point where I'm ready to move on.  And yes, I have chosen another drawing to work on.  All I'll tell you right now is that it's another DaVinci .... did I spell that right? 

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!

Tuesdays are always full days for me.  It's the day I volunteer all day at our county health department, then get home, have dinner & do the clean-up, etc.  Then since Wednesday is recycle day, I finish bagging all the recyclables and load them into the car and take the dog for her last walk (at least I hope it's her last one ... if not, I'll be getting up at about 1:00 to take her out again) before getting ready for bed.  Somewhere in there is reading and responding to my email, which usually takes me quite awhile.  Anyhow, all of this is to excuse me from not adding to my Rafael drawing.

Instead, I'm posting the last 3 spreads in my round robin book.  The first one is by Tanya Peacock, and it's full of wonderful textures which, sadly, don't show up in the scan.  It even has a bit of braille on it - how cool is that?  The second one is by Pam Hartman.  What I love about this one is the fabric butterfly - it's very delicate, and the piece of lace.  It has interesting text relating to sewing, pattern pieces, and of course, the adorable ATC sized card on the right side.  And, last but certainly not least, is the spread by Candace Wareham.  Each book she worked in had small, hand made little fabric quilt block, embellished with the most wonderful things.  Mine has buttons, beads, charms, lace, beautiful fabrics and beautiful stitching.  It's simply exquisite.  What can I say?  I feel very blessed to have this special book and am so appreciative of all the effort each participant put in. 

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.

I've been pretty busy the last few days and haven't done much with art except look thru some of my new books to decide on a new "masters"  project.  I've narrowed it down, but no decision, yet.  So, I thought I would share a couple of watercolors I did some time ago.  I took reference photos in a local greenhouse, then painted them in the studio.   They were hung in a solo exhibit I had a few years ago, and I sold both of them.  I have a hard time letting go of my paintings sometimes, and yet, I also have a nice feeling knowing they are "living" someplace where they are appreciated.  We are complicated little beings, aren't we?