Still practicing

Posted: April 16, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Adventures in art, drawing, home | Leave a comment

(Practice lesson. Pencil drawing & photo by Robin. April 2007)

I’m still practicing drawing. I don’t know that I’ll ever be very good, but I do enjoy it.

This was my second attempt at drawing a face. My first took place a couple of months ago when I attempted to draw my granddaughter from a photograph. She came out looking a lot like a hobbit. Not that there’s anything wrong with hobbits, but as far as I can figure, she’s not a hobbit.

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live. ~Mortimer Adler

A light dusting

Posted: April 5, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Adventures in art, drawing, family, home, snow, Spring | Leave a comment

Today’s weather shot:

We got a light dusting of snow overnight. The lake effect snow machine is working now, causing snow in a variety of forms (flurries, showers, brief but heavy white-out conditions). The ground is too warm for it to amount to much.

I’ve been sitting here for about 20 minutes, just watching the snow and listening to the wind. Mesmerized by it, actually. Or it could be an endorphin high. I had a great treadmill workout followed by trisets (a total body strength workout using weights). I miss the gym in Sabbaticalville, but I can manage well enough here at home. My treadmill isn’t nearly as good, but it wasn’t nearly as expensive as the two in the gym. Not nearly as cushioned or high-tech either.

We’re down to two stubborn geese hanging around the pond. The M&M’s went out on Tuesday while the weather was still nice and put up the anti-geese gear (fishing line, CD’s, windsocks, and anything else that bars the way or flaps in the wind). The two that keep coming back don’t seem to like it much. Maybe it’s a test of wills, them against us. I don’t think the geese will win. They never do.

The M&M’s cut and split some firewood yesterday, getting us ready for the snow and chilly temperatures. We have two fireplaces in the house, one in the basement and one in the living room. Keeping a fire going in the basement usually warms up the rest of the house pretty nicely. The living room fireplace is gas and mostly for decoration although we did buy a type of ceramic log that puts out a little bit of heat.

The spring cleaning continues. I should be able to finish the kitchen tomorrow. It’s been quite a challenge to clean after three months of M the Younger learning to cook for himself. He’s turning out to be a good cook, but he’s messy, messy, messy about it. It took several tries to get the stove top cleaned to my satisfaction. Sometimes I think I ought to lower my cleaning standards. Life would be much easier that way.

I’ve been practicing my drawing when I can. Yesterday I drew what was supposed to be a cartoon bunny, but it looks like a puppy. A blue puppy. Maybe a little like Blues Clues or something. Today I did a little better, the bunny actually looking like a bunny.

Back to the kitchen and cleaning. Perhaps I’ll take a few photos once it’s shining like it should.

We interrupt…

Posted: March 9, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Adventures in art, drawing, sabbatical | 1 Comment

…the walk along the Potomac to show off my latest masterpiece. Yes, I’m like a little kid, wanting to hang my artwork on the fridge. If nothing else, that at least says something about my enthusiasm. Or my sanity. I’m not sure which.

Seriously, though, as I was just mentioning to a friend, I’m not particularly shy about showing off my artwork because I’m not being particularly judgmental about it. I’ve been trying to take a childlike approach and just enjoy it. If it turns out later on down the road that drawing and painting are not for me, oh well. At least I had fun while it lasted.

I struggled with this particular art assignment over the past week. Actually, the whole section on abstract art has had me struggling. In spite of what I said about childlike approaches, I’ve found it hard to just let go and scribble. During those moments when I did manage to accomplish it, I found it fun and relaxing. If I could just hold on to that… but that would be defeating the whole purpose of letting go, wouldn’t it? Therein lies part of the dilemma of trying to take a childlike approach when one is a (slight) control freak.

I did manage to scribble (I won’t be posting that one) and make my way through the unstructured doodling assignment. The third part, structured doodling, was a tad easier for me because, well, it involves structure.

Here it is:

I will say this about structured doodling: It’s a meditative and relaxing process. I should keep that in mind the next time I’m feeling stressed out from the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause.

Do you think I should send this off to the Tate Modern?  I dunno…it’s not any worse than some of the stuff they have in there, that’s for sure.

Learning to draw (2)

Posted: January 17, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: drawing | 2 Comments

(Photo and drawing by Robin. 2007)

So, what do you think? Should I take up drawing cartoons?

LOL!

I’m thinking that may well be my niche, if I have one, when it comes to drawing.

Yesterday I sat down with a photo of my granddaughter and attempted to draw her. It’s a long distance between cartoon penguins and portraits, that’s for sure. When I finished, Emma looked a lot like a hobbit which is not, of course, how Emma really looks. It did, however, confirm that I’m better (at least for now) at cartoons and cartoonish drawings.

I may not be (and may never be) a master of drawing, but I am enjoying the learning of it.

And cartoons are fun. 🙂

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life. ~Henry L. Doherty