Sketches from the other day

After all that drawing the other day, I was totally in the mood to just keep going. One thing led to another until finally I just needed to sit down and do a still life. Feels good to draw from life.

Lesson Two: Shape

I currently have the kids working on a shape project. We discussed what a shape was, and the different kinds of shapes. There are two... families, you could say. There are geometric and organic shapes. For the project, they had to start with one big shape. They could pick either geometric or organic, but they then have to fill it with the opposite shape. For example, if you start with an organic shape, you must then fill in in with geometric shapes. I did a small version of both scenarios for them to see, but I will have to post them later since I left it at their house.

In the meantime, today I worked on my own composition of shapes. This is the kind of thing I do when I want to work on something beyond doodling. I love pushing and pulling objects forward or back. And I get really into it. I just kneel on the floor, whip out the conte, and get to it. It usually takes me a little while to get to a comp I like. This was the last of four. The first three weren't going anywhere, so I left them incomplete, and kept going until I got this.

Lesson One: Line

Some weeks ago, I began giving private art lessons to a couple of kids that go to our church. They are seven and nine. They love to draw and make art, so it's been a lot of fun teaching them new things. We meet once a week. I started them off with the elements of art, and each week is dedicated to one of those elements.

There are seven, respectively:

Line
Shape
Space
Value
Texture
Color
Form

For line, we talked about different kinds of lines, why they are important, and how to make them. We also talked about the emotion of line. I had them try different exercises, and even showed them some different artworks to have them identify the kinds of lines they saw, like straight, wavy, thick, and thin. When I returned the following week, I was very impressed that one of them had fun drawing more lines, and that the other remembered the word "elements" when I asked what they were called.

Anyway, I recently decided that if I am going to be teaching these kids art, no matter how foundational, I must also be practicing it. So, in my own way, I will be practicing the lessons along with my students.

I played catch-up today. These are my experiments with line. The first couple are my warm ups. I'm a big fan of line and gesture.

Returning to Fridays

I have a whole bunch of stuff for you today! While things have been a little hectic for me and my husband lately, I want to try to at least post on Fridays. I'll post on Tuesdays if I can. Anyway, so as not to have a long and tedious post, I am separating this into a few different ones.

Above, is a drawing I did during Maundy Thursday back in March or April. I never got around to posting it, so before a finally threw it out the other day, I made sure to take a picture. No, it is not inspired by that "Footprints" poem. I just started doodling and this is what occurred.

Back Burner

No image today. I must appologize to my loyal readers for not updating lately. I still want to maintain the Tuesday/Friday posts, but life has been a little busier and a little less organized as of late, leaving most of my Internet "duties" on the back burner. But I hope to return soon, and hopefully a little more prepared. In the meantime, here is a question for you all:

What is your opinion of art education in the public school system? Do you think it's important to teach art to kids? Is it not that important? Just something for them to do, or is there a benefit beyond the creative outlit?

T-Shirt Design Experiment

For fun, I've been messing around with some different T-shirt designs for youth ministry. Not sure if they will go any further than this, but I'm having fun. I think this one is missing something... texture maybe? I really have to get my hands on a tablet. Done in Illustrator.

PIP Poster

Had to put together another poster for youth ministry. Done in Adobe Illustrator. By the way, since I've been doing more computer stuff lately, my desire for a tablet has severely increased. There have been so many cases that I think to myself, This would be so much easier with a tablet! We'll see...

I've also been bugging Adam about getting a cat. That's not happening anytime soon. So maybe when I get a tablet I'll just draw cats in Photoshop and Illustrator.

Half Bad Day

I only say half bad because the day wasn't completely awful. I started this after a series of events that just sucked. Kind of just wanted to doodle how I was feeling, and then decided to do an Illustrator version of the doodle so I could put some of that negative energy to good use. I was playing around with the various strokes for the outline, and ended up with this instead of the standard, single thickness outline. This one is more fun and more doodle-like, I think.

Friday Night Doodle

Another Batch of Bagels

Today's bagel endeavors did not go as well as I had hoped. Instead of doing four bagels, like the first time, I braved a batch of twelve in hopes that I could share them with the ladies at bible study tomorrow. I even tried a couple cinnamon raisin, sesame, and poppy seed bagels. Well, I'm pretty sure I need a bigger kitchen before I do that many again. When I got to the baking part, there just wasn't enough room in the oven for two trays to fit on one rack. So, I figured I could just put them on different racks and that they'd be okay as long as I switched them after I flipped the bagels. Apparently, that was a bad idea. The bagels on the bottom rack got quite toasted. I still flipped them and switched racks, but I cut down the time a little for the second half of baking. So yeah, they seem to be a little crispier than desired, but we'll see. Maybe they still came out okay... I'll at least bring in the not-so-toasted ones tomorrow. Adam and I can feast on the rest. :)

Certification Tuesday!

Started a new painting today. I'd had this drawn up a while ago and was glad to finally get some paint down. Didn't have a whole lot of time to advance on it, but that's because I was busy studying for my CPR class. Which I got certified for tonight! Certified in CPR (Adult, child, infant), First Aid, and AED. Sweet!

Sweet Friday!

No idea what's gotten into me. Just been on a baking/cooking spree. Not even sure what this is officially, but I guess the closest thing would be "death by chocolate". Layers of chocolate cake and pudding, topped off with cool whip. Just kind of threw things together. Adam and I will be feasting on this shortly, adding heath bar bits to our bowls.

Bagel Tuesday

I made bagels today, instead of actually drawing or painting. Maybe that shouldn't count as my Tuesday post, but it was my first time and I was thrilled that they came out so well. I cut the recipe in half to make four bagels. Of course, there are only three shown here. I am sure you can guess what happened to the fourth. :P

2nd Mini Done

I think I may have overworked this a little. I just couldn't get it quite right. I felt more intentional with this one, a little bolder with my color. But still, I am not entirely happy with this one. I'll be moving on to the next one soon, though.

I'm finding it very difficult lately not to get distracted from this series. My limited attention span has me wishing I could just drop it and move on to something else. And, while spontaneity is not always a bad thing, I just can't let myself fall victim to unfinished projects anymore. I have come up with so many new ideas that I want to do that I haven't really accomplished any one thing.

I am determined to stick with this, even if it kills my ADHD self. Gah!

Friday Delay

Worked on the False Idol poster today. Can't post it right now, though. I don't have anything else to post today, but tomorrow I have a "paint date" with a friend. So, hopefully, I will have something to post tomorrow, to make up for today.

Lip-sync Contest

I've been working on several designs for the event we're holding for the youth at my church. It's a lip-sync contest that we need to promote soon because there is not much time left. A couple weeks, I think. So, the youth leaders got together to brainstorm how we could get the word out, and fast. I'm on poster duty, and whatever other images might be needed for the event. This is only one design. It was intended for the Facebook event, which my husband is in charge of putting together. Whether or not he'll use this one, I don't know. Anyways, I've been having fun working on the various images that go with the flyers. I think I have more fun with design work when I'm volunteering to do it.

Progress Report

Sorry for the lack of updates on the miniature series. I had started this one a a couple weeks ago. Yes, it's the same pose as the first one I did. I was trying to be a little more intentional this time. It's not finished, which is why it looks kind of blotchy right now. It wasn't going how I wanted it to, so I took a break to work on other things, like Illustrator and Photoshop. Anyway, I hope to start up on this again this coming week.

Bud

Sketch for the April Challenge on Open Sketch Book Society.


Plus linear burn stuff.

tuesday night

More Practice with Illustrator

This time I put a photo into Illustrator and traced shapes over it. I think it looks like something you'd find on a diagram or something. Kind of neat. Still working out the pen tool stuff.