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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

My Prolific Week in Ink, Paint, and Colored Pencils



This was the last week of the six week semester at Sketchbook Skool. The teacher for week five was Roz Stendhal. She had us drawing animals, first quickly  in gesture and contour drawings to loosen ourselves up. I drew Henry V while he lay on my husband from chest to legs and caught him in motion changing positions so it looks like there are three Henrys across two pages of my art journal.


Our next teacher for the final week was Tommy Kane. He got mixed into this cat drawing which is more a doodle than anything else, but fun for me to do.



Tommy Kane's assignment was to slow our drawings way down. To take hours to do one drawing like he does when he travels all over the world drawing cities and everything that fills them. You can own a huge collection of his drawings in his just released book "An Excuse to Draw" from The Book Depository. It is worth every penny! Such a tome of absolutely awesome art.

So I slowly drew my kitchen in ink. I spent a little over  two hours on the drawing. Going slow, trying to capture every detail.



And then another hour or more went into painting it, and adding colored pencil on top of the paint; and then a little bit of cross hatching. I am very proud of these endeavors. Tommy Kane liked it too.
He is a very personable teacher giving each student feedback. Amazing.



I wasn't done with my kitchen so I decided to draw the dirty dishes in the sink that sat there waiting patiently while I drew.



Roz Stendhal encouraged us to go to a museum to draw animals in the dioramas there. I went to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco with another Sketch Skool Klassmate, Kate Merriman, at her invitation. We met up with two more artist friends of Kate's at the museum. In the African Hall I sat and drew these Sable Antelope. I used Tom Bow and Copic brush pens to color it there too.



Then I turned to the end of the room and drew these very much alive penguins who were standing on rocks and one swimming in the water. It was a lot of fun.



And finally, because Tommy Kane had done it, I tackled the huge dinosaur in the entrance to the museum. I had my little fold up chair where I sat and drew in pen this huge Tyrannosaurus Rex.
I loved it when little kids came to see what I was doing and ogled and said I was good.
Even their dad said it was awesome! With that kind of feedback you can't help but soldier on, even when the task feels as daunting as this did.



 His rear legs were too big to fit in my drawing so I drew one of them horizontally and added my entry ticket to the museum to the page when I got home. What a fun day that was.
We all gathered for lunch after a morning of drawing and shared our art with each other.


My art journals are for noting what I am doing in life. On this day I was waiting in a long line at Costco for gas. It was just enough of a wait to do some cross hatching of the car in front of me. Cross hatching is very meditative and fun to do. I didn't mind waiting at all. Tommy Kane made a special video in Sketchbook Skool for us just about cross hatching!


That evening I decided to draw myself as I used the reverse camera on my iPad and drew my image, again using a lot of cross hatching. Practice, practice, practice.



Here's another one I am really proud of. It's a portrait from a photo of Tommy Kane. I see my mistakes (ear too small, etc.), but over all I got something of his essence and guess what? He LOVED it! What better feedback could I ask for than that?



Today is the last day of the first semester of Sketchbook Skool. I decided to draw this view of our living room. I used the Uni ball vision elite pen and it did bleed a bit with the added watercolor paint. But it bled where the color was actually darker than shows here on the couch so it was A Okay.
It didn't bleed anywhere else, just where I had added a lot of cross hatching.




I cannot recommend this class highly enough. The teachers are knowledgeable, helpful, inspirational, generous with their knowledge, tips, teachings and feedback. You can take the same class I did in July; I'll be taking Semester 2 at the same time. And in the meantime, the klassmates gather in a closed Facebook Group and we share our art and comments and conversations with each other there. It's really great fun. My life is greatly enriched from this experience.

Thanks for coming by to see what I am up to. I appreciate your visits and your comments!

Happy Paint Party Friday!

I hope Alexandra is feeling better at Sunday Sketchers.

And remember to visit and/or join us at Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens where we draw to a different theme together every two weeks.

Have a creative week!

32 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, you have been busy. Lovely to see all the work you have put into the Sketchbook Skool and I'm sure you have gained a lot from it.

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  2. Wow, wow, wow Lynn! I love the T-Rex, it is awesome! And the drawings of your kitchen and living room, wow. And I love that you drew your dirty dishes! (and so well :) ) You made me smile.

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  3. what a busy week!! you always do such a great job of capturing the moment. i so love your work!!

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  4. Margaret said just what I was going to start with - Wow, Wow, Wow. and all that in a week. There is so much to take in and be knocked over with that by the time I go to the end I forgot what I was going to say on the earlier ones. So what stood out was the drawing and then painting of your kitchen, so detailed and what patience you have. And the painting of the dirty dishes.
    Some of the others I've seen and commented on in admiration on PPP&P, and the portrait of Tommy Kane is excellent. Phew, I'm tired just thinking about it!

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  5. I am SO IMPRESSED with what you have learned! All your instructors gave you a tool to improve, yet define your art! Well worth the time!

    Love Henry x3..., your Kitchen and the Dinosaur! ♥♥

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  6. Lynn! Great job - I'm particularly impressed by your self-portrait and portrait of Tommy Kane. So happy that you've enjoyed the class - your work is inspiring!

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  7. Dear Lynn- You really found your thing! Drawing and sketching! It is so awesome to watch what you do and see the progression at every turn! The Tyrannosaurus is amazing!!!!! Love your selfie...but the nose...not so sure!!! LOL. Love the car cross-hatching at Costco! I think cross-hatching is definitely under rated! It is a wonderful art technique! I happen to find it extremely pleasing!
    xoxo- Julie

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  8. Wow Lynn. What terrific paintings, sketches and all. Your really are doing a lot of great drawings. Love them all especially your living room. Awesome!!!

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  9. fantastic Lynn... I confess the cats are my favourite -
    HAPPY PPF!

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  10. Oh my goodness! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing every sketch and page. You are learning a tremendous amount and it shows!
    xo

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  11. Wow, you have been busy! I particularly enjoyed the kitchen drawings, nice work! And happy PPF!

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  12. Fantastic work, you have been very busy. The cats and the dino are my faves. Valerie

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  13. wow you have been so very creative, lots of fab sketches. Happy PPF, Annette x

    http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

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  14. Well, massive gosh to everything here! I'm impressed by your drawings and paintings of your kitchen, that looks very difficult. And how amazing (and skilful) to paint the dirty dishes. As Van Gogh said (I think) if you can't find anything to draw then paint your stove pipe.
    Happy PFF.

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  15. Wow, wow, wow...that's all I can say....WOW...I am so incredibly impressed..your talent in deep and wide.. I love your self portrait and that of Tommy Kane... I want to see more of those portraits...amazing... I love the detailed Kitchen both sketched and painted...everything is sooo good... Just wow Lynn.. Best money you ever spent.!! So inspiring!

    Hugs Giggles

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  16. OMGoshhh you go girl!!!! So many great pieces. I do like the portraits. Very nicely done. Each piece has it's own specialty and shows just how talented you are.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  17. Just fantastic! I absolutely adore that very first drawing, and it is awesome to read about your enthusiasm with the act of learning. Just a joy. <3

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  18. LOVE the penguins! How cute! And very impressive since they were moving! Great job!

    http://www.artworkbyjm.com/

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  19. Let me add another Wow. Your work is so expressive -- it looks like sketchbook skool has given you a giant leap forward in your art -- what an awesome collection!

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  20. WOW!!! Your drawings are fantastic! The class sounds like so much fun too. Your cat is precious and I think I like the kitchen the best...lots of details that looks like my kitchen, down to the Palmolive! Great job and Happy PPF! Hugs, Rasz

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  21. So many different things this week! that drawing of the dirty dishes is genius, love it :-) And you make me want to try out cross-hatching .... Love the detailed drawings too, and that drawing of the dinosaur sleleton looks impressive. Must've been so hard... I think I would get the bones all mixed up ;-)

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  22. Glad you enjoyed the sketching Skool. Some pretty impressive work came out of it..or out of you .:))

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  23. Prolific is an understatement, Lynn. You continually inspire me.

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  24. You are definitely stretching your talent. I love the work, it is so intricate and telling. Crosshatch is something that drives me crazy, I know, Patience, Patience. . . .the museum looks fun too. You have a good teacher there. I am glad he is helpful. . .those are hard to find. I love the motion in the cat picture.. .I would not have thought to draw it like that. . .Excellent. Blessings, Janet PPF

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  25. Awesome, awesome sketches!!! Each of the instructors have such different styles and you seem to have jumped right into each of them with both feet. I love the "Tommy Kane" style sketches but can't imagine spending that amount of time on something that is just a sketch. You make me wish that I had signed up for the class, but with all I am doing I was afraid I just wouldn't have the time. I'll have to check out the next session.

    You might be interested in this video. It was posted on the NYC Urban Sketchers page. It is long but really interesting and luckily has English subtitles. http://vimeo.com/40228552

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    1. Wow, thank you so much for your words and for this awesome link. I will share it over at Sketchbook Skool, as my classmates there will love it too. We are all becoming daily drawers!
      I do hope you decide to join us there Joan. I know you will love it. It takes as much time as you choose to devote to it. Thanks again for sharing the video.

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  26. Have not been here for some time. Always love to visit your page. No taco this week?

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    1. No, SIgga that will be next week. I have done the drawing, but wasn't soon enough for this post. So hang on and come back next week! :-)

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  27. Oh Lynn! I love love love all these drawings that you are doing! I am not 'up' enough yet to draw, but the class you're taking sounds so awesome! The idea of drawing at a museum sounds like so much fun, and you're right about getting positive feedback from random strangers--its inspiring!

    Exciting news--Joel is going to be at Sac State next year! So I'm hoping that means that at some point I will be able to meet you in real life--he's old enough that we probably won't be up there much,but I'll be up that way more than I am now (which is not at all ;). My dream is to have a taco with you at lunch time :)

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    1. Karen, you are one of my longest supporters of my art from my very beginnings, earliest endeavors to draw. You even sent my books by artists you thought my art was like. Those words still ring in my ears and are the encouragement that has brought me to where I am at this point in my journey.

      I would LOVE to meet you for lunch at Tacos Jalisco. Let me know when you'll be in the area.

      Congrats to Joel. I hope he'll be happy at SAC. My husband got his teaching degree there!

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  28. WOW - what a creative week!
    Love your cat-drawing - and all of the kitchen-drawings are great too :)
    Well - all of the drawings and paintings are great. I can't choose one...

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Thanks for leaving your comments as I love hearing from you. Your words of encouragement are why I continue to draw!