Thursday, 12 October 2017

Home Run


Aaaaand, here's the last drawing I did last weekend.

This one is pretty much in the same vein as the city one with the idea of just starting with something, and I kept adding to it, in this case, a house- nay, a mansion!! I had an idea for the style of house I wanted to draw, and the more I did, the more it became what I imagined.

There's lots of things I like in this one. I really like the shape of the structures, and also how they pile up toward the middle, also how there is more house visible in the distance, but seen only in purple-y shadow. I like the colours and how you can tell the house is made of brick, but various sorts, sizes and colours of brick. The flags are fun, as are the tv antennaes and since I was drawing with a kid, of course there needed to be a clothes line with some underwear flapping in a breeze. I like the little trees in there, and like the city, this one has a similar flat perspective, but the shadow suggests depth. The marker line work is interesting, how it isn't just flat, unremitting tone, but lines of tone that go diagonally or horizontally. It's also interesting that even though it is a structure made of many different archetectural styles, it all goes together.

So there you have it. A weekend trilogy of drawings. Not bad, even quite good. The moral of the tale - use cheap materials, try coloured construction paper - delicious texture!! - and just go for it, don't care too much, but have fun. I wonder if this might be a recipe for life?!

Wednesday, 11 October 2017

Building On...


This is the second drawing I did last weekend. Not quite as great as the first (previous post), but still, I thought worth showing, because, lest we forget, for one thing, this blog was meant to be a place where I could put up any old thing I'd done, to put it out there, to share it with the world (not just you, Mr. I Ghost!!) and to feel good about my work, to get over myself and my tendancy not to show anything unless it is "perfect". I ain't perfect, and my work is far from perfect. When one aims for perfection, everybody loses.

So, enough of that, about this...

Green construction paper and Crayola markers again. I suggested my drawing partner draw a city, so I drew one too. I'd thought about drawing a "viewer" close to the camera, looking in toward the city, but... naw. I wanted to draw just the city.

I like is how geometric this one is and, in places, how it is almost abstract. I don't do abstract work, mostly because I don't get it, and maybe because I don't understand it, I don't like it, but I do like when things stray and touch the abstract, like when music becomes noise and then there is music in the noise. So I find it interesting how some of the buildings look less like buildings and more pattern, texture and in some cases, just bars of colour.

And when doing this one, a similar thing happened as when I drew the dinosaur. I found myself really enjoying the tactile quality of drawing. The rough paper, the thick markers that scuttle one's best attempts to make great lines. And then colour started creeping in. Maybe it was because I started with coloured paper already and so colour was less intimidating or maybe because I wanted/needed to define other parts of the city and using other colours seemed the best way to do that but... well, colour happened.

And the drawing happened. It took about an hour. Not sure. I wasn't keeping track of time, just having fun. That's when the best things happen, when you're just having fun.




Monday, 9 October 2017

Dino - might!

So... firstly, yes, it has been a VERRY long time since my last confession... er... submission. This is actually one of three I did over the last couple of days. I might try to post all of them here, 'cause actually I think something pretty magical? amazing? fun is happening here.  

I'm really quite proud of this one. This is a goofy, concerned sort of dinosaur holding a bag of brussel spouts. Why brussell sprouts?! Well who doesn't love them, especially at Thanksgiving? Maybe that's why he's concerned - He's not sure everyone will like his brussel sprouts.

And why do I love this drawing? A bunch of reasons really. One, I just had fun doing it. If you have a chance to do some drawing with a kid, take the time and do it. When doing this in the company of a five year old, my imagination was stretched, my creativity pushed, and I had the time to start and kept adding to and adding to the drawing - I realize the last part may not be possible when drawing with five year old! AAAAnyway, believe it or not, this one took me over an hour to do! I used that time to add the rendering lines that define the dinosaur's form - and I think that is one of the best parts of this drawing - how the form was rendered and that it actually looks rounded. Another thing I really like is the various colours. I could have done it all with a pink Crayola marker, but instead I kept adding form lines with various colours - reds, oranges, yellows, and purple as an outline colour.

It was drawn on pink construction paper with Crayola markers - great texture. Every time I find myself drawing with low tech - kid friendly, probably non-archival quality materials I really enjoy the tactile experience of using the materials and come out with something worth keeping.

I guess this one was just inspiring, not necessarily as a "this is a great concept, and I can do x and y with it!", rather it was inspiring because I was and am inspired to do more drawing. Doing this energized me to do more.