Weekend drapery -

This summer has me feeling all artistically academic apparently. After finishing the cover in the last post, I noticed a 3-day workshop at the Gage Academy on drapery.

I had wanted to take it about 5 years ago, and had never gotten around to it. I finally decided that if I wait until I feel I 'have time', I may never do it (or any number of things). I had a tiny window, so I spontaneously, once again, jumped in.

Can I say how surprisingly relaxing it was to just draw what I was looking at, rather than composing and collaging multiple elements - some of them made up - and making them into a cohesive whole. I haven't done this in more than snatches for.... I can't remember how long...

The first day consisted of demos and then hour long studies of variously draped cloth. Charcoal on paper. It's been a looooong time....

For the next two days, we worked on a 'long pose' of drapery cloth. Here's three hours worth -


- six hours -

- nine hours - (I'm starting to peter out a bit here... I've observed, and observed, until my observer was sore....)

- 12 hours now - brain-tired (needing chocolate for sustenance - this was a lot of sustained work), and blending finger all tuckered out, this was as done as I was going to get. Overall, very fun, and about all I wanted do at this pace (without longer breaks and more chocolate :-).

I'll have to see when I can fit more of these academic things in!

Sketching at church...more -

I'm sitting here at my desk sipping a cup of Yogi "Cold Season" tea for my ever-ongoing illness and taking a break from *working*. This particular book has ended up with quite a few pictures requiring forays into perspective - necessitating long rulers and vanishing points and much double-checking.... A brain-pain for someone as 'spatially-challenged' as I am... So instead I will give you another peek into the much-less-strenuous sketchbook-in-my-purse.

Lot of small faces of folks who are standing up for about 5 minutes. You make it a game - how much of their facial shape and structure can you capture in that time period? What if you only get 2 or 3 minutes? How much can one get roughed in?


Added points for vertical orientation (tiny 4x6 sketchbook is precariously balanced on my crossed-legged knee (for height) - things don't always get drawn straight on...).


Some of these folks 'posed' for a bit longer. They end up looking more like themselves. However it is *amazing* to me how much we all *move*. Even when just sitting and looking in a common direction! Very few people sit still for more than 30 seconds at a time. Have you ever noticed that? See how long you can catch anyone (who is not sleeping) holding a position.

But mine are amateurish scribbles compared to some folks out there. If my work schedule eases up some after the new year, I think it time once again for another class at my favorite local fine arts school. Some days I wish I was a professional student. With a much smarter teacher than I have at present (currently self-instructed)....

*sigh* Back to perspective drawings... And another cup of tea I think.

An Evening at the Gage...

Had another art-filled evening out this weekend. Most of our critique group headed to the U district in Seattle for dinner (you can either leave home a bit early and eat in Seattle, or spend dinner-time inching along on the freeway during rush hour. Not a hard decision. You can catch the report on dinner on our POBL blog-). After a yummy, noisy, talk-filled hour we headed over to the Gage Academy of Art (where a number of us continue to take classes) for an art showing and a lecture.


Michelle, one of our most avid class-attenders as well as a fabulous artist and instructor, had a piece hanging in the still-life corridor. We browsed the paintings - ignoring the wine, punch, cheese and snacks since we were terribly full from dinner...

We then settled in to listen to a lecture on horse anatomy - several of our number are avid riders and painters of horses. I recently got an assignment that entails accurate horse anatomy, and I realized that I have never really delved into it as an adult... I'm still kind of depending on my "How to Draw Horses" books from my childhood - so this was very opportune -

We had a couple of guest lecturers, but the real star of the evening was 'Norman', the fully articulated, actual horse skeleton that the Gage has recently acquired. It really was amazing to see in its full-scale, 3-D glory.

Gudrun, another instructor and horse artist from our group, got rather 'hands on'(well, lips, really) with the skeleton. Much as she does with her own horses at home.

It was great *really* getting into my head how horse anatomy mirrors human anatomy - those backwards-bending, huge hocks are really the calcaneus (heel) bones! and the rest of the lower leg corresponds with feet bones. Ha! All of the sudden all of the articulations finally! made sense.

So, just another great evening of food, art and bones!