Pastel Fruit and other assorted ramblings including Anthony Waichulis

Buzy buzy buzy! But thought I'd just check in with some randomness.

So, I recently purchased Anthony Waichulis' Drawing Clinic First Steps - which is designed to help his new incoming students tackle the first skills he gives them.  I am believing he must lose a lot of students due to the constraints he first imposes so I think doing this beforehand would help - but as a DVD I wanted a bit more. The exercises are called pressure tests/skills and he makes his students do hundreds of them before moving on. I first saw his hyperrealism pencil drawings a few years back and just about fell over. http://www.aniwaichulis.com/gallery/anthonywaichulis/  So incredible.! 

(Eeek! I added a mouse to my block )

 

I also did some drapery/cloth studies and, randomly, a bit of barbwire  Gonna have to work on the cloth studies a bit more

And then some soft pastel fruit

Not really thrilled with the fruit..... I want more "zing" to them and the soft pastels just don't do for me.

Cheers from me to you!

Fallen

Blazingly hot here
tomorrow is supposed to be about the same or HOTTER!
So,
sitting inside and enjoying the luxury of still life drawing from a LIVE subject (hee hee its really quite a dead and still subject)
Charcoal, Kimberly Graphite sticks, General's earth colored pastel chalk and white charcoal, and a touch of Reeves soft pastel (I don't care for soft pastels - I like the bite of harder stuff) on blue-gray Mi-Teintes pastel paper

Watercolor hotel

Been around but have been doing so much random heres and theres that its almost like I've been on a vacation - so I'll call it that.
Anywhoo, I started this about a week ago and "when I got back" I decided I was done with this. Just kinda lost interest. Straightened a few lines and pronounced it "DUN"!
watercolor on 300lb a mix of tube paint and pencils and that lovely paint brush I commented on before.
From a photo I took while on last year's vacation - a real vacation at that!

(Note to Azra: haahaha! If I find 7 people I'll join in! Thanks for including me in your list! You're the sweetest! :)

Hand Study - Watercolor

 I started this with a light blue watercolor pencil on Arches 300 lb watercolor paper (I taped off an area of about 9x11")

here using only Kimberly Watercolor pencils (of the 12 colors in the pack I used ten, not using light green or lemon yellow.

 It rather looked like a colored pencil drawing at this stage, before any blending. On the lightest parts, I only used a few light strokes of straw.

 Of course, my inclination was to start with the darkest darks but reason took hold (this being a watercolor) and I did the lightest lights first. Kind of interestingly (to me at least) is that I only used one brush -a Lowe-cornell 10 ultra round (7020). It has an excellent point on it and yet could do the nicest bit of wide swatches.

Now I need to get over to deviantart and thank Chamberstock for this portion of her purplescarf pics. She has lovely stock photos.

Wave Runner

Watercolor on 300lb
I was feeling OK about this one - wanting something "cool" to paint
And then I pulled out my new issue of International Artist and there was an article on Dennis Nolan, illustrator.
GASP! His watercolor work is so smooth. OOOOoooo.(eyes blink brightly)
 Other watercolorists who thrill me are Mary Whyte,  Henry Dixon, and Dean Mitchell just to name a few.

Joseph Two Bulls

It is so funny, trying to capture a likeness of someone. Here, I have to say, I got sooooo close.... and yet its just off the mark. As though I caught the likeness of his brother instead of the man. When I look at it I think I can see my error.... I shifted the paper at some point. I had measured and measured and still....  hm...  Its always a learning lesson. So darn close!
On my favorite Canson Cagrain drawing paper. 11x14 just pencil HB 2b 6B
Based on an image from the 1900s of a Dakota Sioux

I Now Can Say No More

So I asked a very talented photographer I know over on deviantart if I could draw a self portrait she took of herself and she said yes. So here is my progress on it. I submitted it to the "Strokes of Genius" drawing art book contest (like I'm some kind of a genius!!) but no go on that. And I think I can see why it was rejected, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. Stop by her page to see the original and some of her other wonderful stuff. Cheers and love. ks (Oh, and I entitled it after a line from a song by Robbie Robertson - who was originally in "The Band" with Bob Dylan. Robbie decided to investigate his native american roots and then organized a whole album around different native american musicians from Canada all the way to Florida. Its called Music for the Native Americans and I listen to it at least once every couple of months.)
Michelle's page is http://michellevarela.deviantart.com/

Lakota man

So I was searching around for clothing references for a painting and I stumbled on the photographs of Gertrude Kasebier from the early 1900s. I was so struck by them I printed out several and just started drawing. Here is one of the Lakota men she photographed - from, I think - a western side show. And in my true fashion, I dropped the nose down too far - thus not truly capturing his face. (My youngest daughter pointed it out to me. She has a good eye for that.)
 Slightly darkened in the computer, but on my favorite Cagrain paper using faber castell pencils.

End of the Last Day

So I started this back last year - in fact the first picture I took is dated July13 2010 - and now almost a year later I've returned to it.
The sky and sea have been glazed, her hat, hair and skin tone have been glazed and "mostly" finished.  But I'm not happy with the lower half of the painting. I feel like it just drops off the canvas. Even though I've toned the blanket behind her down I'm not liking the color of it. And I almost feel as if the two men looking off lead the eye off the canvas. I am seriously thinking about adding two inward looking characters. I'd appreciate comments and opinions. Thanks and cheers. ks

Woman of Mystery final

Well, it's as final as I want it to be.
I've been so.... unenthusiastic.... bout everything. I've had to put my beloved 7 year old kitty down and it's torn me all up. That, in NO WAY COMPARES to seeing your beloved husband - Azra, are you listening? - in a hospital, but it has just been a capper to a couple months of "yuck." It happened so suddenly. sigh