Two Minute Sketches Push you to the Brink

If you want to become adept at drawing people or doing portraits, “quick studies” offer a way to focus on what’s important. If you’ve never done it, now is the time to start!

Beginning with gesture and motion, focusing on the way a person’s body leans and moves is critical if you want your images to look vibrant and alive rather than just plastic replicas of stick people or flat uninteresting copies. Gesture is what makes each image unique. Exaggerating those gestures makes for a more interesting pose.

Once gesture and movement are identified, then form comes easily. The form makes the figure three-dimensional. Here the weight of the image and the likeness are developed. Completing your gesture sketches with more fully developed drawings of form gives you a foundation on which to build a likeness and imaginative scenes with complex characters.

Practice makes perfect. Some of my sketches are out of proportion. As I become better, the proportions should become more natural. Sometimes I have to slow my drawing hand down to the same level as my brain. I’m hoping my brain will soon catch up to my hand.

C-CURVE (backwards)

S-CURVE Gesture

Portrait studies can be done in the same way. These quick studies force you to see shapes and values before getting into the details. Unless the foundation is solid, the details will still look flat or cubist. If that’s what you want, great! But if likeness and a portrait is your goal, your details need to be placed on accurate solid forms.

Notice the slant of the shoulders

My favorite online teacher is Stan Prokopenko or “Proko.” Here is one of his videos. Practice along with Stan and check out his other videos. If you’re new to portraits or the figure, you need all the help you can get!

http://youtu.be/0I_egPHop9A 

TIPS: Use soft vine charcoal for smooth lines. Make certain you have extra sharpened sticks nearby (they dull quickly). Also use inexpensive drawing paper. The perfect size is 9x12. If you use a larger size as I did below, and try to cram more drawings in on one page, your proportions will end up way off and you'll run out of space to draw.

Online Contest Winner -- First Place for "Hearts Afire"

Online Contest Winner Second Place -- Title: "A Joyful Heart"
Pastel 9x12 on Bristol

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!

"Window on Pine Island" 16x20 wrap canvas; oil

 Years ago, a retirement adviser suggested I diversify my portfolio. “The secret to success,” he said, “is to avoid putting all your assets, all your eggs into one basket.”

He was right. It still didn’t stop me from losing money when the tech bubble burst; my mutual funds were heavily invested in technology. And it didn’t stop me from losing money when my AOL stock tanked. His advice did teach me a valuable lesson: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. They just might break and you'll lose everything!

That philosophy works for artists, too. We must diversify our portfolios and adapt to market changes. A recent visit to some art galleries and consignment stores underscored the need to stay abreast of the changing tastes of a younger upscale market; one that is being pinched by the current economic climate.

I saw smaller artworks, smaller canvases, and artwork being applied to craft items: Magnets, plates, glasses, boxes were plentiful; and more jewelry is being made. Tourists who must fly back home are looking for gift items that will tuck easily into a suitcase. 

"Hey, Coconut Mon" 18x24 mixed media on canvas

Artists must adapt and make these “bread and butter” items in order to bring needed cash into their resource bank. Recycled items were numerous: Palm fronds elaborately painted with shiny enamel to look like fish, jewelry made with seeds and natural items, Paper Mache sculpture, etc. 

Online, I saw an Indonesian artist creating wonderful artwork on Styrofoam cups, probably for lack of money or supplies. Extraordinary skill and talent cannot be kept down, even by money.

I force myself to paint “pretty little things” when what I’d really like to paint is serious, controversial paintings with possible political overtones; but who buys that? Still, if we paint what we love, eventually someone else will love it, too; or so I’ve been told.

I don’t know about you, but when I get discouraged, I’m less creative. When I try to “make myself” create, I come up against a wall. When I stay positive and stay busy, I’m more likely to come up with more ideas than I can use. Don’t give up. Adapt, change and find new avenues for your artwork and your creativity.

Featured Artist:
Dorina Costras from Bacau, Romania. Exquisite, original drawings and paintings may be found on Facebook or at the RedBubble link below.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/doreen01/works/9139709-the-sun-the-moon-and-the-truth

PLUS Stan Propenko Part 3, Drawing of the Head, Sideview

Ever had a Broken Heart; is it Physical or Imaginary?

NEW PAINTING "Prayer Circles" acrylic 18x24 canvas

Down through the ages, writers and artists have tried to describe the pain one feels when a heart is broken by sadness, abuse, or neglect. A tale told in our community was “Cipher in the Snow.” A story about a young boy who had been kicked around from foster home to foster home, had trouble in school, and was labeled as a zero – a nothing by teachers and peers!

The child collapsed in the snow not having the strength to board a school bus. No causes could be found for his demise. The author of the story said the boy simply “died of a broken heart.” There are many people like that in our homes and communities. People who do not receive the love they so badly deserve and need. Our Nation, our world cries out for this kind of love, but it seems to be missing.

"India Rising--Prince of Thieves" mixed media on 16x20 canvas

Some people treat their dogs better than they do the people in their lives. Some people also mistreat their pets. The world is dying for lack of love. There is more selfishness and self-hatred than love; more violence and lashing out.

I saw a person I once loved for the first time after many, many years. Changes of age and personality made it almost impossible to recognize him. But when I saw his profile, I knew. This was the person I had loved, the person who could turn his back on me so easily; who ignored me and neglected even to kiss me goodnight or to say goodbye when he left in the morning; a non-communicative spouse who spoke only to criticize or berate.

When that moment of recognition came, I felt a stabbing pain in my upper heart followed by the swift squeezing of a fist in the lower chamber. What it was I did not know. A heart attack, I wondered? Immediately I felt like crying, and had to leave the people around me. All the pain and suffering of the years we had spent together and the trauma thereafter came back to me. Later I surmised that I had experienced a broken heart. I never realized it could be so physical, so painful!

"India Rising--the Found" mixed media on 18x24 canvas

I labeled my blog: “AnfinsenArt -- my Brush with God,” because God is love. I want my paintings and my artwork to reveal the love that God feels for all his people, even those who may not believe in Him or who act contrary to His will.

Some people may think I’m a kook! Well, let them. I prefer to see the good in all cultures, races, and people. I choose to elevate the people I paint and see them as God sees them. We are all imperfect. We all have faults. If we could unlock the good that is in most of us, we would find the secret to world peace and personal contentment.

"Fish Market" -- acrylic 18x24 canvas

Call me a cock-eyed optimist if you will; my paintings will continue to reflect this optimism, this love of God, this benevolent higher power that is full of compassion and grace. Would to God we had more of this love in our world!

Stan Prokopenko Part 2 of drawing the head

The Exciting Array of Paper, Tablets, and New Grounds

Over lunch, a friend was telling me about her son-in-law “who never worked.” She said this tongue-in-cheek, followed by “he’s an entrepreneur – an inventor; he created transfer paper for T-shirts and such.”

That got me thinking about all the innovative art papers, tablets and grounds available to artists today. I’m currently doing my own exploration and enjoying the possibilities. Recently, I tried some “waterslide decal paper for inkjet printers.” The decals can be applied to glass, china, pottery and wood.

I repainted an old candle base to match the color of a bathroom mirror. After sizing and printing out an original drawing on the decal paper, I allowed the inkjet image to dry overnight. I then soaked the decal paper in water to loosen the decal and placed it on the tray.

Over the next few hours, I continued to use my fingers and a brayer to push the bubbles out. When the image was dry, I used an acrylic medium gel to provide adhesion and a protective cover. I did this three times, allowing the medium to dry between applications. What a fun way to display art in a variety of ways.

Today my works-in-progress include the first under painting of my owl in acrylic. I’m also working on a flyer for a church organization for Christmas. The words will be overlaid digitally in the negative spaces.

Featured Artist:
Stan Prokopenko who has some amazing tutorials on YouTube. If you think you can’t do portraits; think again. Stan makes it look easy! You’ll be amazed with the results of your own first attempts. His simple, direct and graphic teaching video “How to draw the Head from any angle” will make drawing and painting portraits a snap! Stan has additional follow-up videos worthy of any formal class instruction.

http://youtu.be/1EPNYWeEf1U