Finishing Up the Drawing Class

Giving portrait drawing a little try.

The first one--not so good.

The second--a little better.

A proportional divider is a device to help artists get proportions correctly.  I am also trying out a new eraser called Vanish.  

This is a very small 4 x 5" pencil sketch.  

Janet Roger's workshop Day Two

Well, one thing a workshop with a professional tell you is how much you need to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!. Wow.

I think portraits and figures are THE most challenging things to paint in any medium...but especially in watercolor.

These two portraits are my work for today and obviously need a lot of work...getting the colors, the expressions, the eyes, and etc. So much to learn.

We asked Janet for a lesson in "features" today and I have put her demo last on the blog today.

I think portraits are HARD!

This is my second portrait class. The first class was where I was painting that generic child that no one knew. (In a previous post.) This time I picked one of my nine grandsons to practice on.

The eyes are SO hard to paint! But I plan on hanging in here a little longer. I don't think portraits are my thing but it is fun to try. Some people in the class are so good that it is intimidating!

It got to 56 today in FL. Wow a heat wave. The sunshine felt warm but the wind is still biting. We are all winter-weary here.

Learning a new skill is always a challenge. I took the photographs of this painting in two different places under two different lights. Thus the challenge of comparing these two. Sigh. But I think you get the idea. The little boy is just a generic boy that the teacher is having us all paint. I have a ways to go on it. Next week I want to try painting someone I know. It will have more emotional content then, of course.

Boy if you don't work with portraits you forget everything you were ever taught! I will probably just work on the boys face...it's the only important part of the painting. The boy is really a blond like in the first painting...not a red head like he looks in the second photo.

Portrait Challenge at Hawthorne Park

The first of the portraits done in the challenge here at the Fine Arts Club at Hawthorne Park have appeared.

Each one wonderfully unique! Jane's is a kind o a Mary Englebreit take-off with a the most magical mischievous smile. Just like Jane. The middle portrait is Sherese whose pencil drawing is a work of art and an absolute image of her!!! You will recognize my portrait...the blue and white silhouette in shadow and light I learned how to do in Lynne Ferris' class last winter. And then Martha's portrait at the right with images of north and south reflected in each lens of her glasses. Even the logo on her shirt is about where she grew up. I am so pleased! I think there may still be a few out there that haven't come in yet. No art making for me today...I was busy all morning at the art club and then the afternoon seemed to slip away.

I baked homemade banana bread from scratch and a batch of Greg's favorite chicken tetrazzini. Cooking takes so much time! But the temperatures dropped today into the high 70s and it felt like a day to open the kitchen windows and bake! Tomorrow is another day.

The Very Special Hat

This is a very special hat for me.  And I do wear it a lot so maybe that is why this portrait actually does look more like me to me.  

My eldest daughter, Beth Albright, wore this hat when she walked the 60 miles for the Avon Breast Cancer walk.  She did it in THREE days.  It was shortly after I had been diagnosed with breast cancer and undergone bilateral mastectomies.  (1995).  

I was there when she left Kenosha, WI and then 3 days later, I was there when she walked into down town Chicago.  The events raised a TON of money for breast cancer research.  And she made the walk in my honor.  I'll never forget it my whole life long!  As she finished...she handed me this hat.  

The portrait was done on Canson Montval watercolor paper and is 8 x 10.