Friday, January 20, 2012

A Week of Random Sketches

Crosshatching: Some people love to do it. They find it meditative, like knitting. I knit, but I don't much like to crosshatch. Still, I keep thinking there must be something to it, so I try again.



It's January, it's raining and I look around the house without much inspiration. I drew the bathroom sink...



the pillows on the dresser top....



corners of the living room....



until just playing with a grid was the most satisfying.



I went to an exhibit of Japanese prints at the Portland Art Museum. I've always loved them, but this time I noticed that they don't have very accurate perspective and they don't usually have shadow, but the composition, line, shape and pattern are wonderful. I was thinking about the prints when I drew my favorite drawing of the week, without shadows and with very little regard for size and dimension. I enjoyed drawing the patterns and going over the lines and crossing them...but not really crosshatching:)




4 comments:

Karla said...

I really like your crosshatching, ironically I was doing some crosshatching exercises this evening. The chairs look great. Do you pen over pencil or draw directly with pen? Wonderful sketches! Karla

Vicky said...

Karla, I really like the look of crosshatching (on other people's work), but I don't particularly like to do it.

As to pencil or just pen, I wasn't sure until I looked back on things. I realized that when I'm not at home it's usually pen only. If I'm at home, I often sketch some parts in pencil first.

When I went to the Urban Sketching Symposium in Portland a couple of years ago, I found out very quickly that there wasn't going to be time for pencil first. I think going right to pen gives a much more spontaneous look to sketches.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
How are your drawings coming along?

barbaraschn said...

Vicky keep doing your rain dance. You're right, the warm colors are great on a rainy day in Portland. Ahh the bathroom sink always provides inspiration 8-) I finally made it to Katharine's blog. Keep posting I love looking.
Barb

Vicky said...

Thank you for your nice comments Barb! Now that the weather's turning nicer, I might actually get outside and away from such inspiration as the bathroom sink!