Day 13 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing On the Masters
Let whoever may have attained to so much as to have the power
of drawing know that he holds a great treasure.
Michelangelo

Fall leaves, by Julie Ann Terry. "These leaves have been on my drawing table since fall and their colors are still amazing." Julie Ann Terry. Good use of cast shadow here to give us all an idea of the relationships of the leaves to each other, and the two long stems give this drawing a lively air.

 

How About: Make sure you have inspiration by saving specimens to work with when you have a moment. Save the plastic containers you get deli items or other food stuffs. Give them a good wash. You can pop a specimen or several into the container, pop the top on, and have your specimens in a safe, easy to store space.

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Day 12 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing On the Masters
Sketchbooks in general... seem to contain mainly studies for paintings... For me, the sketchbooks are more like a secret and wholly spontaneous jeu d'esprit and some of them I like as much as anything I have ever done. They are invariably without premeditation. I mean not only that I have no plan when I make them,
I also have no plan to make them.
Robert Motherwell

Grazing pony, ballpoint pen on toned paper, by Libby Kyer. This little mare was nibbling fast enough to move frequently, but in a very ordered step-wise fashion. So I started the image when she had her left foot forward, and waited for her to hit that pose again in 3 steps! After 3 or 4 repeats, I had her.

In drawing, patience actually IS a virtue.

 

Sometimes, its just as important to see what others are doing in art as it is to look at your own goals and skills. This book provides just that, a look into the minds of other artists committed to drawing.

 

Click HERE to go directly to this book and page through for more information.


How About: Head for the library or bookstore and check out a number of sketchbook and drawing volumes. Spend some time with at least 3 disparate artists' styles. Take a moment and sketch a nearby object in the style of each artist. What have you discovered about yourself?

 



Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Day 11 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing On the Masters
Let the object draw the picture using the ink brush as a tool.
Chinese saying

Scarlet Paintbrush, graphite on paper, by Jan Boyd Haring. Even though this is a limited drawing - we don't see the whole plant here - Jan has arranged the 3 items for great composition and strength. There's also a wealth of detail, and form. There's even atmospheric perspective, moving from left to right you'll see the depth

of the pencil tone lightens a fraction, making the front left item the star of this event.

 

 

How About: Design and create a drawing that uses the basics of all good drawings: format selection to suit the subject, create great form, add great details, manage atmospheric perspective. You'll love the results. 

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Day 10 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing On the Masters
Drawing is the root that keeps painting alive.
Connie Sharp

A great watercolor drawing/sketch of a garden in Taos. From the deft management of mass and light, we know we're looking at hollyhocks, the centerpiece of this garden. Watercolor and graphite on paper, by Marj Leggitt. Watercolor has a fluidity that makes drawing a sensuous and satisfying exercise.


How About: Make your drawings today using watercolor or brush tip colored pens. You'll have the benefit of color in your drawing, as well as the power of well managed strokes.

 

Click HERE to see another artist's take on drawing and sketching with watercolor.

 

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Day 9 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing On the Masters

You can never do too much drawing.

Tintoretto


Osage orange, actual leaf, detail of stem, brief colored drawing of leaf on toned paper, graphite and colored pencil, by Libby Kyer. Taking along some good tape is a great idea if you are going out to the field to draw. You can pick up a specimen and tape it into your sketchbook for future reference. Yes, it will shrivel and change color a bit, but it is still a reference, with good information about details. The touches of color provide a reference of true color of an undried leaf.

Here's a book that is fun and has a lot of good points.

 

Click HERE to go directly to Amazon.com and page through this 6-week course in drawing.

 

How About: Put a roll of tape in your drawing kit. That way, you have a way to affix your specimens while you're still in the field. Notes written directly next to the specimen, including color swatches, make it easier to complete your drawing or start a painting in the studio. 

 

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Day 8 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing On the Masters

I do not know if you bridle your pen, but when my pencil moves, it is necessary

 to let it go, or - crash!... nothing more.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Great little graphite drawing of a homes, with format clearly marked with borders, tonal values indicated to the right, range of hues indicated left, by Marj Leggitt. Close attention was paid to details and aspects of perspective, with

nice blocked in tree shapes in the back.

How About: When you are planning your drawing, think about the format you want the drawing to occupy. Mark it out with borders, and create your image within that space. Then, analyze the drawing to see if you might prefer working the same subject in a different format. Draw the same subject again, using a different format with borders clearly marked. Compare. Do you find a significant difference in your finished drawing? Do you like one better than another? Format is a great tool for focusing attention where you want it to be focused.

 

Click HERE for some ideas about how to get past a block if you just can't get into drawing today.

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Congratulations Claret Cup Cactus



Today, Governor John Hickenlooper has declared the Claret Cup Cactus as Colorado's Official State Cactus. This great little cactus has proven itself in high and low locations, with a variety of water availabilities and on a wide range of soils. For the botanical artist it is a feast, with rich red flowers mounted on complex limbs covered in needles. Challenging and fun! So, congratulations little Claret Cup Cactus, we hope to see many celebratory drawings of you from our members.

 



 

Day 7 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing On the Masters
Assiduus usus uni rei deditus et ingenium et artem saepe vincit, or, as we say now  'Constant practice devoted to one subject often outdoes both intelligence and skill.'
Cicero

Dried buds, graphite, colored pencil, white ink on toned paper, by Libby Kyer

Take advantage of your media. Mixing it up provides a bit more depth, good edges, and a little "pop" to the composition.

How About: Experiment with materials you have and find a set of 4 or five ways to make marks that suit your style. Anything from graphite pencils to opaque markers works. One really good white choice is a white Gelly Roll ballpoint. Provides great line, great dot work, on top of toned or colored paper, as well as on top of graphite, colored pencil or inks. Gotta love technology!

 

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

You're invited...

Carol Till sends this invitation to us all, to see her work and others at a great print exhibit at Art Students League Denver tomorrow. She tells us:

Hi Everyone! I’ve got two etchings into this juried regional print show. I’ll be at the reception Friday if you want to come see me, very fine prints and eat some little cubes of cheese.

Carol

Pressing Matters:   ASLD Celebrates Mo'Print     First Friday Artist Reception:   March 7 | 5:30-8 pm  Art Students League of Denver | 200 Grant St. | Denver 80203  Celebrate Mo'Print with ASLD! From woodcuts to photo etchings and everything in between, this exhibit showcases the breadth and depth of contemporary printmaking in Denver and beyond.   JURIED SHOW: REGIONAL ARTISTS  JURORS: MARK FRIDAY | THERESA HABERKORN  JOE HIGGINS | MARK LUNNING Pete Christensen | Sue Crosby-Doyle | Sarah Fukami | Barbara Hale  Katy Havens | Anthony Holmquist | Gayla Lemke | Linda Lowry  Andrea Martens | Mary Mcauliffe | Mary Nehls | Jonathan Nicklow  Elizabeth Rouland | Barbara Sanders | Marlea Taylor | Carol Till  Chris Warot | Douglas Whittier | Sherrie York      Exhibition Dates: March 3-April 23, 2014 Art Students League of Denver | 200 Grant Street

Day 6 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing On the Masters

One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil.

Balthus

 

 

Check out this sketchbook. Toulouse-Lautrec was a master of line. His drawings of moving race horses are the closest thing to photos one can see. Go HERE for a look inside.

Sketches of a mounted duck from varying angles, by Carol Till. Even with just one subject, you can create a drawing that presents multiple views of our subject. Carol made several drawings of several species in the 80" minutes we had of

unfettered access to some great specimens.

 

How About: Make a contour drawing in ink. Then, use hatch to create tone for form.

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

This Just In...

... Billy Showell, wonderful British botanical artist, has begun a series of tutorials available online. Every two week there will be a new tutorial for you to work through with her guidance in a video. For more information, click HERE. It's good to have a tutor! Billy is so accomplished, and willing to share her knowledge.

This is Billy:

 

And here is a sample of her lovely watercolor botanical art. She is a master of interesting and unique composition! Note the heart created by the placement of leaves.

 

 

Day 5 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing on the Masters

 Drawing is a frame of mind, a loving embrace if you will.
Susan Avishai

 

Graphite contour, Vanessa Martin

"I am preparing to give a friend, who recently lost (cat died) one of her cats in this illustration, a graphite painting of both of her cats from a picture I have. To warm up I did several blind contour drawings of the images in the photograph so I could loosen up. The photograph is very portrait like, this exercise allowed me to feel the cats lines and start to get a sense of their personalities before I dive into the final drawing. Thank you for letting me share." Vanessa Martin

New Image:

Hawkmoth, graphite on paper, Susan Rubin

"This sketch of a hawkmoth ended up including a sketch of the paper and pushpin.  I loved the perforated edge!  It then became part of something bigger and more interesting.  The hawkmoth was a little uncooperative, getting up and leaving after a short modeling session." Susan Rubin

How About: : Make a contour drawing in graphite. Find the edges that are important to you.

For inspiration, take a look at Terry Miller's beautiful work HERE. His website shares a lot of thoughts about how he gets to where he's going, and you'll see a lot of good shading for form in his work, not to mention great edges.

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Day 4 - A Drawing a Day

 Drawing on the Masters

Drawing is the 'bones' of art. You have to be able to walk before you can run.

Dion Archibald

  

Click HERE to see a great book, Notes on Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters, with examples of using highlight and lowlight shadings on colored paper to good effect.

Note the use of toned paper, white and dark marks.

Study, colored pencil on black paper, Annie Reiser

"Just today I prepared this exercise for my Luiz Melendez still life class at the Gardens. We are working on black and I wanted to show how well black works with reflective surfaces like glass and silver. I sketched a contour from one of Melendez's beautiful paintings and quickly worked it up in CP on black. Unfortunately, I didn't have

the time to show what is reflecting on the silver plate and in the glass -

but it relays the message I think." Annie Reiser

How About: Try your hand using colored or toned papers. As you can see, you can great drama, action and light in a drawing very quickly, using the paper color or tone as your foil.


New Image! This is from Connie Sayas, and is a leaf study; the steps in painting a geranium leaf in watercolor. She says it's more than a drawing, but you can see the drawing process at the beginning in the first leaf, with some color applied, and then the progression to a finished, and beautiful, geranium leaf. You can see more of Connie's finished works HERE.

 

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

 

Day 3 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing on the Masters

"Remember that the relationship of a foot to a leg is no less critical than its relationship to the head. When a student says, 'I know this is right,' I ask, 'Compared to what?'

Nothing stands alone in a drawing."

 James Adkins

Thumbnail in graphite, with full drawing with watercolor, by Marj Leggitt

 

This drawing is a great example of drawing as a sketch thumbnail, and quick WC drawing of more information surrounding a wooden gate. The WC drawing is a value study, and incorporates color swatches used to determine value/hue relationships.

How About: Trying this method yourself, with a thumbnail first, then more completed work, side-by-side.

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Day 2 - A Drawing a Day

Drawing on the Masters

Learn to draw. Try to make your hand so unconsciously adept that it will put down what you feel without your having to think of your hands.

Then you can think of the thing before you.

Sherwood Anderson

Suggested activity for today: Sketch/draw an object in your home or office. Work on getting good edges. Use ink and pencil combined. Find the contours! Here's a neat book you can check out. Click HERE to find it online.

It has lots of partitioned pages with suggestions for what to draw in each block. Always nice to have someone think ahead for you!

Here's a good drawing from Jan Boyd Haring, who encounters a lot of deer on her property and in her neighborhood. So, seemed like a good idea to draw a few, as they generally make themselves at home and provide the observant artist with plenty of to time render an image!

Doe and Fawn, graphite, Jan Boyd Haring

 

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

Day 1 - A Drawing a Day

It’s the first weekend of March, the first day of Drawing a Day.  Why not  spend some time finding visual references from magazines, flyers, or photos. Keep them together in a small binder. Also, spend some time looking around home/office/outside settings for things you want to draw. Gather them up, or jot down the location where you found them. These can be your first line of work or your fall back work if nothing inspires on a given day.

Here's a perfect quote for our first day of this adventure:

"In pictures, I may perceive clearly a single theme; but in a sketch, how many things I may imagine that are only faintly indicated!" -Diderot, 1767

Contributed by Susan Rubin. You can find her work HERE.

 

Brown brush point felt tip pen on Strathmore toned paper, Libby Kyer

"I had about 60 seconds to sketch this horse who was a bit anxious, awaiting the vet to suture a bad cut on her left front leg. When you only have 60 seconds to capture a scene, go for it, and give felt tips a chance. They are fluid and "run" well when time is short. The mare recovered nicely."

 

Click HERE for one of my favorite drawing instruction books, it’s an education in and exploration of drawing.

 

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to send your drawing scans to share.

February Member Meeting with Bird Drawing at DMNS a Hit!

On 21 February 2014, 12 RMSBA members experienced the joys of working behind the scenes at Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Carol Ferguson had arranged for us to use the bird mounts and study skins for illustrating birds. The study skins comprise the feathers, skin, beak, legs and feet of the bird specimen. Eyes are stuffed with cotton treated with arsenic or mercury and then the body is also stuffed with impregnated cotton, and the resulting torpedo-shaped arrangement of the skin et all provides a long-lived accurate representation of the species.

Jeff Stephenson, Zoology Collections Manager, was our guide and mentor. He's a fountain of knowledge about the collection at DMNS, has a great sense of humor, and was able to accommodate all the requests of the gathered artists, having located us. Mounted hawks, coots, ptarmigans, blue jays, road runners and other species were brought to our table, as well as study skins for requested species and full skeletons of a macaw and a variety of other birds. The skeletons were favorites of several artists, and provided us with a chance to really understand the underlying mechanics of birds. And bones are fun to draw!

Check out the pictures below. If you would like to attend the next RMSBA meeting at DMNS on March 7, 10 AM to 12 PM, contact Carol Ferguson HERE. There are two places available in March. Guidelines for attendees are:
1. We will be able to draw from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, which includes some introductory words and a brief tour from Jeff, so drawing time is about 1.5 hours.
2. Please enter the museum through the Staff and Volunteer's Entrance, which is the single door on the north side of the building. Look for the flag pole and the bronze wolf sculpture. We will gather at in front of the Gift Store after checking in through the Security Station. 
3. No Food is Allowed and only water in a container that can be resealed may be brought into the work area.
4. No necklaces.
5. It is OK to use the media of your choice, i.e. water color, pen, color pencil, pastels, etc.

Julie, Heidi and Cyndi checking out specimens, with a roadrunner in the foreground, a macaw skeleton on the right, and a parrot in the center.

 

  

Karen appears to have drawn a couple of spectators, skeletal and feathered

 

 

 

Lynne, Sharon and Carol hard at work

 

 

 

Heidi, Cyndi, Libby and Dorothy working with specimens at the large table.

 

 

 

 

Lark Bunting, graphite and colored pencil, by Julie Terry

 

After Jeff introduced us to the specimens and the DMNS collection, we got our materials and specific specimens, and had about 80 minutes to draw. Most artists were working on recording identifying features, such as foot arrangements (3 toes forward, one back in most songbirds for example, two toes forward and 2 back for arboreal birds who feed on trees, like macaws and flickers), feathering patterns and "standard" bird anatomy. Look for the drawings to appear in March in our Drawing a Day adventure. And don't forget to submit your images for publication on the blog during the entire month of March. Each day will have drawings, words and inspirational tidbits for you to embrace drawing as a daily event in your life! Click HERE to submit drawings for our March madness! 

Denver's Month of Printmaking Opens Today

March is Denver’s Month of Printmaking. It alternates each year with Photography in celebrating traditional hand made prints, bookmaking and printmaking.

There are a slew of events and exhibitions in virtually every gallery and college in town. The most fun thing will be a Steamroller Print event which will use a steamroller to print 4 x 8’ prints.  Tonight is the kickoff with the reception for Denver’s Open Press, 25 years of Printmaking by Master Printer Mark Lunning. 

Click HERE to go to the Event Page.

 

Our members Patty McAuliffe and Carol Till have prints showing in the juried exhibition Pressing Matters opening at the Art Students League of Denver on March 3.

 

‘Snowstorm', a polymer plate etching printed on silver flecked paper, by Carol Till is one of her prints that can be seen in the exhibition Pressing Matters.