nanke's stuff

This is a little drawing I did in one of my small sketchbooks that I'm determined to fill up.  I've been dropping in on this book from time to time over the years (yes, Years), and I've decided that it's time to wrap it up.  I've never dated any of my sketchbooks .... I think because it would depress me to know for sure how long they've been languishing.  I actually have some that are over 30 years old that still aren't finished!  I can tell about how old they are by some of  the drawings in them.  They're of folks I haven't seen in many years.  I don't know if I'll go back to those oldies but goodies or not - I sort of like the history and may not want to add up-to-date things in them.  Maybe I'll just remove the blank pages and use them in a handmade sketchbook.

The model for this drawing came from a National Geographic Mag .... I think that magazine may be becoming a favorite source for models!

Well, while the Tigers were busy Beating the Yankees (yea!!), I sat with a National Geographic Magazine and drew some noses.  Noses are very hard for me to draw, as you can tell by this crop.  Speaking of cropping, since I lost Photoshop with the installation of the new software, I can't do all the things I used to do that makes my drawings show up better, such as adjust the values and contrast.   I did find a free on-line photo editing site, but it doesn't do the job that p.shop does.  There's probably other ones out there, and I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you may have for me.

Today while the Tigers play (and win again, I might add), I'm planning on starting another copy of a Sargent portrait.  I'll post it when I finish it, OK?

I decided to take a wee break from copying Sargent's portrait drawings and drew some eyes in one of my many, little, unfinished, sketchbooks.  I think I mentioned drawing eyes in a previous post, saying that my "models" came courtesy of Newsweek Magazine.  The models are perfect, they never complain, no matter how long it takes me, they remain very still, and they never even blink!  What could be better?

Today I just might draw some schnozzes to accompany them while I watch the Tigers play ball.... I sure hope they do better than they've been doing lately!

The Detroit Tigers lost a game yesterday due to a bad call by an ump (no really, the replay showed the call was Wrong!!).  Anyhow, while the game was on TV, I sat with a sketch pad that I've only used for copying the drawings of masters, a box of pencils, and a book entitled "Sargent Portrait Drawings, 42 Works by John Singer Sargent" by Trevor J. Fairbroher.  It was published by Dover.  These were the first drawings I've done in a long time, and it felt good to be back.  I only intended to do 1, but once I got started, it was so enjoyable that I just kept on going.

Once again my scanner wouldn't work, so my sweetie scanned them on his to a thumb drive, then took them to work to send to me in an email because our speed here is so slow.  I'm going to get me a new scanner, just you wait and see!

So anyway, here they are ... originals first  and then my copies.  Thanks so much for looking!



























































I have to say that it never ceases to amaze me how all the faults jump right out at me as soon as I post the pictures.   Of course, I could see a lot of them after I finished them, but many more presented themselves to me when I saw them on the screen.  That said, they were intended to be rather quick sketches.  Most of them took me about 20 minutes or so to do.    Maybe I'll pick one and spend more time on it .... but probably not! lol  p.s., for some reason while the pics are side by side on the "working" screen, in the published post they're all mixed up.  You won't have any trouble knowing the originals, though, I'm quite sure!

Well, she's been sitting for a long time waiting for a bit of attention.  Fortunately, she is a very patient woman.  So, today I picked up some pencils again and did a bit more on her.  I'm not going to tell you a fib..... the only reason I did it was because I left her so unfinished the last time she was here on the blog that I felt compelled to do Something for the poor thing.  That said, this is the last version.
It has a number of problems, but I have to say, she has perhaps the weirdest hairstyle I've ever seen.  I kid you not, that's what it looks like.  OK, not exactly ... the back of her head isn't in the picture, so you can't see what it does there.  I wonder how she did it!

So, without further ado, here she is:

Well, I've finally started portrait number 4, and it's the wife of  my sweetie's great grandfather.  Her name was Nellie Humes, and they had 9 children.  Their first child was a daughter named Mary, who was my sweetie's grandmother.  She married a man named Harry Cleveland Ryan, who died unexpectedly at a very young age.  When he died they had three children who  were very young when their father died.   Sweetie's mother, who was the middle child, was only 9 years old.  As a result, their grandfather assumed a major role in their lives.  There are many wonderful family stories about them that I love to hear.   Just as an aside, when our older son was in college, one of his professors talked about William B. Thompson in his capacity as mayor.  I asked him if he ever told the prof that he was his great, great, grandfather and he told me he didn't.  I probably wouldn't have either.  What would be the point?

So, anyhow, here's my beginning drawing.  I have quite a bit to do yet, but I thought I'd post it anyway.   Her left eye (on our right) definitely needs some work.

I have a gold ring that looks like a wedding band.  The inside is inscribed, "To Mother from Will .. April 26th  1887".   I inherited this treasure from my mother-in-law,  Pinny, whom I loved very much.  The ring used to belong to her great grandmother, who was given it by her son when he got married.  His name was William B. Thompson, and eventually he became the Mayor of Detroit.  Before he became the mayor he was a butcher, and in our kitchen hangs one of his campaign posters framed in its original black wood frame.  It has a photograph of his face with a caricature body holding a butcher knife in one hand and a length of link sausages in the other.   I'm guessing our sons both covet that poster!

Anyhow, besides that photo, we have one more of him, along with a photo of his wife.  That's the photo I used to draw this picture.  It isn't a good likeness, so I will have to draw it again .... and again .... and again, in order to get it right.   I can see several places that aren't quite right, but for now it serves as the third drawing in my mini-series of five portraits.   Oh, by the way, I wear that ring often.  It has become a sort of talisman for me and I'm confident that it brings me good luck ..... I'm a tad strange that way.

We've been having a lot of problems with our internet connection, and finally got a whole new system.  I think this one will work better than the last one (meaning faster).  We live in an area where our choices are dial-up (we've had that and it's slow enough to make you crazy), satellite, or wireless.  There's actually another choice which we've tried,  it's like another cell phone or something.  Can you tell I'm not very skilled or informed about these things?  We just switched to wireless which we began yesterday, and after having a wee problem with it, I think maybe now it's working ..... I really, really, hope so.

Anyhow, I've finished the Man.  Well, that is, I've done as much on him as I'm going to do this go around.  I'll probably tackle him again, but it may be years .... no really, before this dance with him, it had been many years since we connected.  As you can see, his hat and clothing weren't the focus of this drawing.  I find his face both compelling and challenging to draw, and as interesting as I find him, I also lose patience with him after awhile.  He really doesn't say much, though I talk to him constantly when we're together.  So, without further ado, here he is:

I can't tell you how sad I am that Border's Books is being liquidated.  We've been going to their bookstores for decades - mostly to their flagship store in Ann Arbor.  We've watched with dismay as they made changes in their inventory.  It used to be that when you went into the store there were thousands and thousands of books covering all manner of subjects.  Browsing was such a pleasure, and we always left with several books apiece.  In spite of the changes (most of them not for the better as customers, but we understood them from a business point of view) we continued to be loyal customers.... which won't stop until our store is closed.

I was in one of their stores yesterday and bought a couple of books.  One of them is called Keys to Drawing With Imagination by Bert Dodson.  I was fascinated by the cover - such an unusual view with great, wonderful, detail.  It's a hardcover with a spiral binding, so it lays flat.  It contains the work of many artists, and is a series of exercises designed to help improve one's drawing skills starting from the ground up.  I decided to start at the beginning and work my way thru.  The first exercise is called Doodling and Noodling.  The doodle is just a continuous line that ends where it started.  The noodle is adding things to it.  So, here is my first lesson - some of my additions were the ones suggested in the book, but not all of them.  It's similar to Zen Tangling, except instead of using a variety of patterns, only one is used. 

I included a picture of the cover so you could get an idea of what drew me to this book!


                                                      

Well, I had a pretty busy day today doing a variety of things away from home.  I needed some work on my hair and the place where I go is about 35 miles from my house, so it's a major time-eater when I go there.  After that I had to go to a shopping mall (I avoid malls as much as I can) to have a picture frame engraved.  It was a gift from some dear friends in honor of our little grandson, and they weren't sure of the birth date of his older brother, so only 1 of the 2 frames was engraved.  I had to wait an hour for them to do it, which was fine except it ate up a bit more of my day.  Then I had a few other stops to make as long as I was out, so in short, the whole day was spent doing things other than drawing. 

However, after dinner I went back to the little old man I've been playing with (don't tell my sweetie, please), and did a wee bit more on him.  Little by little he's beginning to emerge.  I like fussing with him, even though it's slow going.  I don't care - it seems to suit me right now! 

On another note, apropos of nothing, after being so sick back in March and April, I've lost almost all of my sense of smell!  It's very odd, to say the least.  Enough of that .... here's my little old man.

I've been in Nashville tending my grandchildren while my daughter in law had surgery.  She's doing fine, I had a great time with the children,  and I've returned to the Mitten.  I decided I brought the N'ville weather home with me because it's been beastly hot and humid  (Temp in the 90s!) ever since I got back, much like what was going on down there.  I don't do well in that kind of weather (does anyone?), so I am ever so happy that I live in a time of air conditioning.    My friend, Vicki, told me today that it was hot before I got here and that it might Not be my fault (she's very nice that way)! 

So, now that I'm home, I started drawing again.  I decided that the Dot Man had served his purpose by getting me back to work, but I'm still not quite bursting with creative energy.  Today I started on another version of him, this time in pencil.  This is just the preliminary drawing done with a hard pencil lead.  I put on a CD of Trumpet Concertos, turned up the volume,  and started.  It didn't take long before I was totally immersed in it and the time flew by.  It felt really good to be back!  Here he is, in his humble beginnings.  The scan isn't very good ... perhaps next time I should close the cover of the scanner - wadda ya think?

It's been way too long since I've posted, and I've missed it.  Well, it isn't just the posting I've missed, it's all of you.  I've also greatly missed  playing with art.  But, I'm back, I'm in fairly fine fettle, and I'm ready to move along the path of creativity once again.

I'm getting back in the groove of exercising (I didn't stop using my treadmill,  I just haven't been doing it as regularly as I want need to).  I used to go to a Yoga class regularly, but for a variety of reasons (including the fact that my teacher is now 45 minutes away) I stopped doing it.  Today, however, I ordered a Yoga DVD which is supposed to arrive tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to starting to do it again!

We were blessed to have our whole family together for Christmas again this year, and being with our wonderful grandson was a true gift.   He'll be 3 in April and  is more interesting and more fun the older he gets.   They live over 9 hours away, and it's just Too Far!  I cried off and on the whole day they left, including laughing and crying at the same time that night when our son called to say they'd arrived home safely.  We'll see them when our new grandson-to-be is born (due March 1).  We'll drive down as soon as labor begins and scoop up our little darling to wait with him for his brother to be born.

So, here are 3 sketches I did of my right hand.  I find hands very difficult to draw ...... who am I kidding?  I find everything hard to draw! 

I wish each and every one of you the very best for the coming year .... peace, health, and happiness!

I tagged this drawing a portrait, but only because it's a face.  While I do think it resembles Jackie Kennedy (some of you actually guessed correctly in a previous WIP post, much to my amazement!), it's far from a  finished polished drawing.  So, I'm calling it a drawing of a face instead.  I found I had been avoiding meeting up with her again.  I'm not sure why, but I have to admit, I'm relieved to be able to give her a spray of fixative and move on down the highway.

I'm not  sure what I want to do next.  My mind has been awhirl with thoughts of watercolor painting, mixed media, doing something with fabric that includes embroidery and applique .... I'm feeling sort of restless.  Then, to add to my angst, in a corner of the closet in my studio is a sweater I started knitting last year (or maybe even the year before).   It's in there grumbling and complaining, and the noise is getting louder.  One of these days I'm going to have to pay attention to it.  Actually, it's almost finished, but the the thing is, I got to a part where I'm not exactly sure how to proceed, and I find myself hoping the knitting fairy will deign to visit and beg me to let her finish it.  I'll be sure to let you know if that happens!

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!). 

Today was a wonderful day.  The weather was beautiful ... windy, warm but not hot, sunny, and filled with two dear friends.  Kathy and Jennifer have been my friends since our children were very little - babies, in fact.  But, as sometimes happens in life, our paths diverged, one by one we moved away, our children were in different grades (and sometimes in different schools), and we lost touch for many years.  We all still lived in the area, but our paths rarely crossed.  Then about a year ago, when I started volunteering at our county health department, Jennifer and I reconnected.  She's worked there for a long time, and now I get to see her once a week ...  lucky me!  So we hooked up with Kathy again through a planned lunch, and now the three of us get together  every couple of months for lunch.  We'd do it more often, but there's schedule conflicts.  Today they came to my house and we had lunch.  We talked - there were tears and laughter, and best of all, there was the love shared between friends.  I'm so grateful that we have each other again.

Now, what does all that have to do with Albert Einstein, you might ask.  The answer is Nothing!!  It's just that I got to thinking about him after working on a bulletin board at the health department, and decided to draw him.  He continues to be a very stubborn man, even as he was in real life, so what I'm thinking is that this may not  actually  be Albert at all, but rather his little known brother, Alfred.

We were in Nashville to celebrate our little grandson's second birthday.  It was so much fun to be with him, our son Ben, and our daughter (in-law), Sarah.  CC (our grandson) is talking and gets more interesting everyday.  He declared in no uncertain terms "I wuv birthdays!", and who can blame him?  Neighborhood children came over to play almost everyday we were there, (all considerably older than CC), and they treat him kindly and with generosity.  The food was great, the company was great, the dog (Monkey), was pretty good .... she has a habit of running off.  She's the only dog I've ever known who can do some sort of flexing of her body and maneuver her way out of a harness (that's as tight as it can be without cutting off her circulation).  She does it in a nano-second, and then off she goes to "visit" someone in the neighborhood.  We started working with her using treats, but it's slow going.  I do dearly love her, though.

I've done no art since before we left, so I thought I'd share 2 things I did in my journal 2 years ago.  The first one is a collage I did when Sarah was pregnant and we were so excited about the new grandbaby, and the second one is a rather quick pencil drawing I did of him when he was just a few hours old.   As you can tell by the note on that one, it's version 2 - I really didn't like version 1 at all, so I did it again.   It's fun for me to look back on that time and remember how excited we were!

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.