Drawing Work: Torso Practice

 

 

This was the last session of classroom drawing before the semester wrap-up next week. To me it was simply an exploration. Overall there were gains and losses.I seldom did a soft pastel which presented the image in so imaginary lighting. In the process I enjoyed learning the  textual expression with pastel even though I had to readjust the color relationships constantly. The biggest loss was the paper. I meant to use a blue charcoal paper, but there were no blue paper left in the pad. I should have started a new pad but just hated to see leftover paper everywhere. I ended up using the green paper. As soon as I started, I knew I had made a big mistake with the choice color of the paper. Even though they were both cool colors, blue and green didn't go well with each other.



Portrait Sketches in Acrylic Lolita and Beverly

 Lolita, Nursing Home Resideent

Acrylic 9 x 12

 

Beverly, Nursing Home Resident

Acrylic 9 x 12

 

 

Today I went to Winkler Court Nursing Home. Instead of the hall, I was working in their group living room. It was much better because my models could watch TV and they didn't even ask for break. Beverly was a happy lady. Anatomically she was pretty typical for her age. The part between nose and mouth was longer than the lower part, between mouth and chin, due to the aging of facial skin. Lolita happened to have visitors, who thanked me again and again. I feel I can handle acrylic better thanbefore . Compared with oil, its difficult is dring too fast. Hope you like the sketches.



Two Sketches Made at the Cinema Theater

Waiting for the Movie to Begin

Signing up for a Regal Card

 

I went to see the movie Lincoln this afternoon. It was pretty good. It gave me a crash lesson on American history. I believe the movie makers spent a lot of time doing research so that history could be authentically reflected in terms of language, facts, mannerism, and everyday life. I grabbed a few wketches. Above are just two of them.

Landcape: Beautiful Sunshine

As you may tell, this is Fort Myers Yacht Basin. Originally I didn't plan to paint it a second time. First I went to the First Presbyterian Church. The church was beautiful with huge oaks on two sides. After walking back and forth around the area, I realized it was difficult to compose the picture. Anyway, I didn't find an acceptable angle, so I went back to my car and drove down to the waterfront. I was impressed by the contrast between the white color of boats and building and the dark color of the water in midday time. Therefore, I decided to paint this view. It is not a standard size icture. Actually I used a 11 x 14 panel but left out the bommom part so that the composition fit the scene.

While I was painting there, I made friends with Jazz musician Jonathan.Dunnicliff. He happened to come and watch me paint. Suddenly, he asked me why I was painting outside the concrete short fence on the sidewalk instead of inside. I responded by pointing to the"Private Property"sign on the steel cable. He was very nice and told me that next time if I could get a better view inside, even on the dock, just give him a call. He lived in a 32-foot sailing boat docked nearby. I love this kind of friendly help-offerings because after my recent experiences with con-artists, con-dentists, con-rental agents, con-builders, con-insurance businessmen and other con-people, people like Jonathan remind me that there is still a beautiful side of human nature, too.

Landscape: Getting Ready for the Next Voyage

 

 

It was a miscommunication. Yesterday my friend called me asking if I would help him have the name written on the fishing boat. I said no problem, but  forgot to ask when he needed my help. I took it for granted that it was today since he told me their Thanksgiving holiday extended into the weekend. When I got there, I was told that my friend was out to get some tools.  I thought I could do some sketches while waiting. However, It made me panic to realize that my sketchbook was not in the car. Fortunately I had my painting kit in the trunk. So I set up and made this 8 x11 size sketch in oil.



Landscape: Watching the World Passing by

 

 

This afternoon I was driving along Highway 78, thinking of painting some farm animals. I saw some cows on the farm. There happened to come a country mail delivery lady. I asked her who owned the farm. She answered the Forster family and told me to drive down a winding country road and their house was at its end by the Caloosahatchee River. When I got there, all the doors were open except the screen doors. I knocked on the door frame and hollered, but no one responded except the dog barking behind the screen door. I had to leave. By the time I almost got back on Highway 78, I ran into Mrs. Janet Forster's grandson who told me that his Grandma must be napping and couldn't hear me. Therefore, I kept driving along 78 till nearly reaching the Owl Creek Boat Yard when I saw the horse standing there watching the traffic leisurely. I pulled over on the road shoulder and set up. The painting was finished not even two hours. Hope you like it.

Portrait: Fourth Grader Rebecca

 

 

This is Rebecca, who is the sister of Sandra, two years her senior. She is pretty and has a sweet smile. The sketch is done in acrylic. Hope you like it.

 



Sketch: Waiting to Have a Picture Taken with Santa

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A girl was waiting patiently for her turn to have a picture taken with Santa as her father was watching her with love.



Landscape: Heavy Boat Lift at Owl Creek

This morning I went to Owl Creek Boat Works. It was a beautiful day. The workers had pulled out the heavy boat lift and left it there on the main road for the weekend. There was a lot of overlapping of objects. I tried to depict the giant machines and the sight at the boat yard which seemed to be in disarray but actually was very well organized. I left my car there as part of the scene to increse the complexity and backed out all the way to the waterside. You can see in the lower left corner of the picture a little bit of what they called "slit" at the boat yard. It was for boats to come to the cloest spot to be lifted and then repaired there. Hope you like it.



Portrait in Acrylic: Second-Grader Sandra

 

 

I did a quick sketch in acrylic this afternoon. Hope you like it.



Popcorn Line at Movie Theater

 

 

This afternoon I went to Bell Tower Movie Theater to see Argo. It was supposed to be a thriller but not so much as to make one hold his breath. The plot was a little too simplistic and characterization wasn't, to my mind, fully developed. It was a good serious movie, though. It won't make you feel regretable after you watch it. There was about 15 minutes before the show began and I happened to have my sketchbook with me, so I grabbed two quick drawings. One was done in the hall when a number of people stood in a line for their popcorn. The other I did inside the theater before the lights went out. A couple behind me diagonally on my right-hand side were eating popcorn. It was pretty dark but I managed to catch their images, I think.





Landscape: Owl Creek Boat Works Office, Alva, FL

This morning I went to Owl Creek Boat Works. They seemed to have good business. Not only did I see quite a number of boats which arrived there recently, but also see an unusual large number of boat owners there, either checking out the boats they docked there or getting ready to sail. Anyway, it was weekend. I loved the scene with a yacht jacked up right in front of their office and a SUV parked there. It worked perfectly there to break the rigid rectangle of the door frame. There was a rich variety of different geometric shapes in the picture. The soft green color of the building blended well with the boat and the SUV. I didn't have to do any changes.  A few employees of the boatyard looked at my painting and told me that it was a shame that Mr Butcher, the boatyard owner, wasn't in the office. Otherwise he would have liked it very much if he had seen it. I  hope you like it, too.



Subjective Composition

 

15-Minute Life Drawing

(Part of the Subjective Composition Requirement)

 

Subjective Composition (Unfinished)

 

Subjective Composition II

 

 

 

This is a two-week drawing class work called "Subjective Composition." The same model did two 15-minute poses first. Each student, based on his or her perspective and poses sketched on paper, drafted a number of thumbnail compositions and decided how one should goup the two poses in the same picture. While the model repeated the two poses by turns, students should form his/her own composition and fill in the details. We will continue the process and try to finish the drawing next week.

 

In the second-week session, instead of continuing my composition last week, I started a new one. I liked to play with the medium -- charcoal mixed with soft pastel. It is very expressive and fast. so for the new one,  I simply reversed the two poses to see how they looked differently. That's why I edited this old post instead of writing a new one.





Sketches in Acrylic: Zilda and Jackie

Zilda

Jackie

 

Yesterday I called Kirsten, the Manager of the Reflections Unit (Alzheimer) at Winkler Court Nursing Home, saying I was going there to paint today and that I also intended to do two portraits. So when I got there around 9:30 AM. Zilda had been chosen to pose for me first. Zilda was a very amiable lady. She didn't need a break even when I asked her. She was quiet and didn't smile much. I used about two hours including settling up and waiting for Zilda. She finally cracked a sweet smile when I showed her my completed portrait of her. In the middle of painting, Ellen, whom I painted before, recognized me and came to talk and distract me, but she was nice and I have learned to cope with this kind orf situations at Winkler.

 

I gave myself a lunch break since it was also the lunchtime for Winkler residents. When I came back from lunch, an interesting thing happened. I saw an elderly lady sitting in a wheelchair stuck right in the middle of the hall. As I was about to pass her, she suddenly asked me, "Could you push me that way?" I immediately came to realize that in their world anyone who could walk fast and straight must be a Winkler employee. What the heck. "Of course," I responded. Then she navigated me like a ship captain: "Make a right turn... yes...Slow down, please..." Following her directions, we arrived at her room at last. It was Room 303. Then she told me that I might leave.

 

My model in the afternoon was Jackie. Jackie was also quiet, but, unlike Zilda, she was unable to sit still. She seemed to be bothered by the Band-Aid on her hand. I would have been very happy if she could have sat straight for twenty seconds on end since she frequenly bowed down to fondle the bandage. I was proud of myself for handling a situation like that. Even the janitor noticed that, saying "You did this one really fast." In fact, they are both just sketches in acrylic. Hope you like them.





Colorful Umbrella

 

Late this morning, I decided to go to Fort Myers Beach, thinking the weather was so great. It was the first time in a year that I was on beach. Everything stayed the same except for the fact that it cost more to park there than a year ago. I remembered it was $6 for the whole day but I couldn't find this line any more on the meter. OK.

At first, I saw a group of old Germans sitting in the shade. To be cautious, I went over and asked them how much longer they were going to stay. I didn't want them to take off when I set up and got started. The answer was 20 minutes. Of course, I couldn't paint them. Then I noticed, not far from where I stood, a young couple were reading with their opened umbrella leaning on the sand. Chances are they would be stable if they kept reading. So I set up to paint them. I didn't go into details in the picture because I reminded myself that they might leave at any minute. I had to catch the images as quickly as possible. Fortunately, when they got out of their chairs and wrapped up their stuff, I was done with the picture. Hope you like it.



Louise' Kingdom

I use this title because "Kingdom" is the name of the fishing boat and Loiuise is the owner's name. Fortunately I finished painting the two boats before they sailed out of the dock.I think  digressed a little so it took a little longer than it should. Hope you like it.

 

Drawing: Bag Lady (Model Celeste Borah)

 

 

This is a drawing exeercise in class, for one session only. Celeste Borah, the instructor's wife, posed for us as an urban bag lady with a bottle of liquor in her hands. I felt comfortable with soft pastel. Hope you like it.