Untitled Still Life

I completed another colored pencil piece Thursday, March 8. I didn't give it a name or much thought about framing, because the original has a defect in the paper that I didn't notice until this piece was nearly finished. Other than the defect that you won't find in this scan, I kind of like the piece.

Poppy

There's a number of things wrong with this, the shape of the flower being just one of them... but there's something else, too. The longer I look, the more I like this poppy.  The original sketch was done based on a photo of a flower, but done in the style of Georgia O'keef - where the flower was enlarged to occupy nearly the entire paper.

Watercolor on Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor paper. 7 x 11 inches

The River

Once again, the trees here look nothing like the photo reference used to create them.  This one was fun, though I probably should have tried putting a boat on the water.

Abandoned

I love old barns.  I used a photo reference for the basic shape of the barn, but I didn't try to replicate much other detail in that photo... Watercolor again...

Beach Scene

The use of photos to get shapes right is one thing, making a direct copy is another. My chair in this painting doesn't look much like the chair in the photo I used as a reference... but it does look like a chair.

Three Skulls, after Cézanne

My version of Cézanne's famous painting. You can see the original here: http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/80336 (well, okay, that's really just a more accurate reproduction of the famous painting), you'd have to go to Chicago to see the real deal. Mine is Graphite on Mead Academie heavyweight sketchbook paper. Roughly 7.25 inches high by 11 inches wide.

My brain must have been on vacation when I watermarked this... It's among drawings I did late in 2008, not a 2009 effort.  My sketch book tells the truth... when I bother to date the work.

Original Art

Like many others, my first exposure to art was during elementary school. While I was granted opportunities to experiment with different media during school hours, there was little or no encouragement at home and fewer opportunities at school as the years passed.

For a very long time, I've wanted to draw, but did nothing much about it. Four years ago, I found what is - to me - a marvelous website, Drawspace.com now full of over 200 different lessons on drawing and painting. The artist who created the site, Brenda Hoddinott, speaks to me through her art... so I began following some of her lessons and purchased her book, Drawing for Dummies in which the author/artist does not assume the reader has any previous knowledge of drawing... which is exactly what I needed.

All too often, my efforts prove unworthy of showing, but over the last several years, I have drawn and/or painted a few pieces that will be posted here. Comments are active and constructive criticism appreciated.

This is the sole picture I don't actually deem worthy of being here, but it's something to compare with my more current pieces to help see my progress.

Original sketch dated 11/04/2007, this is a blend of a Drawspace lesson on atmospheric perspective and some ideas (loosely) taken from a couple of photos of Mount Lassen, located in northern California; one taken from Kings Creek meadow, and the second one taken from the vicinity of Hat Creek. Unfortunately, my second source photo is no longer online.

I used a standard 2B pencil for the line drawing, several colors of Derwent Graphitint pencils for most of the shading, and a blue Faber Castell watercolor pencil for the stream. The paper is from the little sketch pad Derwent included with their pencil set, which is 80lb paper suitable for multiple media. Because the Derwent and Faber Castell pencils are water soluble, I could do a very similar drawing with the same pencils and get a very different look if I used them wet instead of dry, as you see here.

As you can tell, my result doesn't much resemble any of the source materials or anything remotely real either. I jokingly say it's nowhere on earth... but I'd really like to be able to be more realistic with my drawing.