Remember the 3 giant collages, a commission that the customers let me put on hold so I could work on the Giant Project?? All three are now ready for customer approval! Once they have passed muster, I will spray fix them to prevent smearing and then add color. Here is #3 for you to enjoy. The challenge on this one is getting the blurry blobs of the photos to translate into blurry blobs that look like people in the drawings! One little mis-stroke, a microscopic fleck of graphite catches on a thread of paper and oops, there’s Frankenstein. A wee dab of the eraser and oops, there’s Mr. Clean! If people this small even resemble people, I consider it a great accomplishment. If the customer recognizes the blurry blobs as her people, I am over the top with the thrill of it all!
The rest of the story
This is called “Coffee or Tea”. I may have shown you already, but if I can’t remember, maybe you can’t either! It is sold, so don’t get too attached. . . or, maybe I could be persuaded to draw it again. (Hi Linda!)
http://cabinart.net/wordpress/?p=470 This posting was about drawing pencils, and I ended with several questions. Last week I received an answer to “What in the world does F stand for?” It stands for Fine, which is because that particular pencil can be sharpened to a fine point. This leaves me with more questions, as usual. (I have always asked questions because inquiring minds NEED to know! My dad used to say to me in exasperation, “Don’t ask any more questions!”) So, why single this pencil out for a fine point? All pencils can be sharpened to a fine point with a decent sharpener? How does this F pencil fit into the H and B categories? Why is it necessary? Who decided this was a necessary pencil?
Drawing versus art
In college, I had an art teacher in a design class or some other esoteric subject who said to me, “Just because you can draw doesn’t make you an artist”. I was devastated, insulted, dismayed, shocked, and any other adjective you can think of for the situation – how dare he say that to me!! Now that I have the advantage of 25+ years life experience and wisdom, I know he was right, even if it was an insensitive and snotty remark. Drawing is a skill that can be taught, learned, developed and is sometimes just innate. Art has to be something that one learns about, develops over time, and comes about because of a love for the subject. Art can encompass many skills, forms and be useful in many careers. Drawing is a skill that is useful regardless of one’s career, and it definitely is useful in any art career. One can become an artist without the ability to draw, particularly in this age of multiple tools. Tonight at The Downtown Gallery I had an interesting conversation with my friend Lisa, the art teacher and MFA student. (That means Master’s of Fine Art, which is the highest degree possible in art). She is teaching her junior high students more than any of my college professors ever taught me – she goes into principles, elements, styles and history. My college professors may have had their MFAs but mostly they walked around the room while taking a break from their own work, and offered criticism and snide remarks (“Just because you can draw. . .” or “You need to work on composition”) without ever bothering to actually teach, to demonstrate or share information! I have been teaching people how to draw for almost 15 years. (and that is without an MFA – imagine that!) It is a skill, and in teaching the skill, many other things about art can be shared. We talk about different styles, ways to set up a drawing from the beginning, ways of arranging the elements in a drawing, and lots of technique. (The main thing I ever want to learn is HOW and the second is WHY, so that is what I share with my students.) Through the years, only two of my students that I can think of have pursued art as a career. Two!! Everyone that has stayed long enough to learn to draw has learned to draw, and they each have drawings they can proudly show off to prove that they know how to draw.
Tonight I saw 3 former drawing students. Louis is in the Navy, Stephanie is thinking about occupational therapy, and Mark is just thinking. Maybe. Maybe he is just enjoying being 19 and trying out this and that. Drawing lessons were not a waste of time for any one of these wonderful young folks – they learned to draw (duh), learned to communicate with people of all ages (that is the way my classes are), explored a type of art in a comfortable environment, got to display their work in a show or two, developed a bit more confidence, and made new friends. I enjoyed every moment spent with each of these people and love seeing how they are turning into adults. We have an easy friendship that transcends age and that has lasted through time and changes. (And I can draw AND am an artist, so there, you Snotty Professor who are now probably just a retired teacher! But I’m not bitter. )
And another day
Today involved more work on the giant project that will be revealed in a week or two. These things take a tremendous amount of planning, and also an acceptance that no matter how much planning happens, changes will occur. Then, I painted. This is still rough, but coming together. I was really on a roll, and then the clouds came in, the light was gone, and it was time to go into the studio. It would be very good if I could finish the large pencil drawings before the giant project commences. Very good, indeed! (and it was way too dark for photos of that picture.)
You can see that I am working from the top down to the bottom, because while the top looks a bit unfinished, the bottom is definitely rough! But don’t you think this will be beautiful?? One of my students brought this photo in with the idea that she would draw it in class. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the picture and blurted out, “Oh wow, I’d LOVE to paint that!!” What do you know? I am getting to paint it! Here is an unrelated thought: how many of you listen to a song you love on a fuzzy radio station when you own the CD and can hear it clearly any time you want?? I do this! Why?? Any answers out there? (or do you all have more sense than to do this?)
Another day in the life of an artist
Today included some drawing, planning for a huge project (more will be revealed later, a week or two or three) some painting, and cleaning up the studio so some folks could stop by and I wouldn’t scare them away with the mess! (Nice to meet you, Chuck and Patricia!) Anyway, the painting is a commission, and instead of showing you how rough it looks at this stage, you can see my palette! (and Perkins and Zeke too).
The Rules
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=110323380537 Remember to check the Lotus painting! There have been many art teachers in my life, and each one seems to have hard and fast rules. Several colored pencil teachers have said NEVER USE BLACK. Another c.p. teacher said, “If you aren’t supposed to use black, why do they manufacture it?” Makes sense to me! One c.p. teacher said to ALWAYS put the darkest color as the bottom layer and work up to the lightest color. Another said ALWAYS start with the lightest color as your base and then add layers in order of increasing darkness. I have done both on the same drawing and gotten the same result! My best drawing teacher in college only let us draw with a 6B, which is a very soft black pencil. He did not let us smear or blend with any tool, including our fingers. His premise was that if you could learn to control that one pencil, you could make any pencil do anything you wished it to do. It took me years to be able to use the entire range of pencils available because his idea was so deeply etched into my head. This is a drawing from his class: 
Some of the painting teachers I have listened to say “NEVER use white alone”. (What are you supposed to use if that is the color you need??) Most say, “NEVER use black”. At the Peppertree Art Show, one of the artists I spoke with told me of his layering process and it included black paint!! Go figure. Many of my students ask me how to hold their pencils. I show them how I hold mine, and tell them to try it, and to try anything that feels comfortable to them. The point is that there are some places in life where there are absolutes, but in art the only absolutes are determined by the results you desire.
An Art Show and A Commissioned Piece
I will be attending the Peppertree Art Show this coming weekend, Lord willing and the creek, et cetera. This will be the last ever Peppertree. It is a huge privilege to visit this show, to see the work and meet the artists. To learn about it, go here: http://www.peppertreeartshow.com/ 
Meanwhile, remember this piece? It embodies many of the principles followed in my art business, particularly the commissions. 1. Take your own photos. There are many little parts to a subject, and unless you really know the subject, you won’t know which little parts are necessary until you begin drawing. 2. Real life is messy and artists get to clean it up. 3. Plan, sketch it out, try different arrangements, and have your customer approve the plan before beginning the picture. 4. Communicate with the customer. This customer has been very gracious about allowing me to put this giant project (3 18×24 collages) on hold while dealing with other urgent and inflexible deadlines. 5. If I can’t see it, I can’t draw it. Whenever possible, work from photos printed on photographic paper rather than plain paper. I want the sharpest clearest photos possible, and the older my eyes get, the more necessary this becomes. 6. Add the color last, after the piece has been spray fixed so that the graphite doesn’t smear. (yes, I know there is no color in this yet)
Dr. Done For Real
I thought this was finished, but it wasn’t. After the show preparation, 2 more commissions, the event, Thanksgiving and the boutique, it was time to sit with this man’s face again and get ‘er dun! With much prayer, a little worry and a big eraser, we are now all happy! (and this is a pencil drawing, not a photo, for those of you who are wondering)
Flags should be in color!
This little gem was fun! Seems to me that any time there is a flag, color should be applied. On the last commission, the customer and I discussed adding color to the flowers. We concluded that there was only one place it would work, and then the front door would no longer be the main event. With this drawing, the color is conveniently located next to the front door, so that is not an issue. (Ick, that word really bugs me. However, note its proper usage here.)
And here is an admission: I am getting old. I know this, because 8×10 feels very very small. Much of this drawing happened under a giant lit magnifier. Those diamond shaped windows next to the front door took an alarmingly long time to get right – no pencil point can be sharpened small enough. This used to be normal work for me, and now it is so very very tiny that I can’t believe I used to draw this way! And to any of my drawing students who are reading this, please please forgive me for expecting the same from you if you are over 45 years old!!
