More Randomness

Wishful Thinking Grid

After several days of heavy rain, I stayed in and made another grid. It was pleasant to focus on warm colors and the thought of sunshine. It must have worked. The rain has stopped!

The Portland Urban Sketchers went out sketching on Saturday. I stayed inside the whole time, but did  a few quick drawings of some of my fellow sketchers.

To see their sketches, including some really nice ones of Portlandia, go to http://urbansketchers-portland.blogspot.com/

I'm still trying to make glass look like glass. What I have learned is:1) stems appear to break when they touch the water and when they're seen through the neck of the bottle  2) there is a bright white reflection in several places on the bottles 3) the color of the stem looks brighter when it's under water. These things aren't shown in this sketch, but now I know that they should be.

I also learned that I'm going to have to start paying attention to windows and what they really look like. I know they didn't really look like these that I put on the barber shop.  I painted this when we got home. The building is actually yellow, too,  but my paints seemed too bright. Also, I'm sure the windows didn't look like this, but I don't really know what they looked like.

When you draw something, you really see it, but if you're not looking at it, you really find out what you don't know. All my life I've been around windows, and now I realize that I don't really know what they look like!

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:)

Just a Few

Sketches of the New Year

Mantle

Values Study: Upstairs Doorways