Creative Path Studio » sketches

Holiday sabbatical from blogging

trish — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:37:41 +0000

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped drawing. I’ve been attending my weekly figure drawing sessions and have several sketches to post. These will be the last drawings I post this year since I need to focus on other projects that are currently on the forefront of my headspace.

Without further adieu, I wish you all Happy Holidays and Blessings for a wonder-filled New Year!

I've been having a hard time focusing in my figure drawing sessions. I know I just have to get past the point of feeling overwhelmed but sometimes, I can't get there...

Karen, 20 minute study; I was amazed as to how well Karen held that difficult pose!

Karen, 30-minute study; I was playing with my pencils, trying to figure out how well my pencils would work with each other. Overall, I didn't like the result.

Karen, 30-minute study, this time, drawing with one pencil.

Karen, 10-minute studies

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An etching, a doodle, and some figure sketches

trish — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:57:35 +0000

I can’t believe it’s been nearly ten days since my last post. I didn’t think that my dog’s death would affect me so much – this just means that I cannot underestimate the bonds I share with my animal companions. Siwa was very special and will never be replaced.

However, I haven’t been entirely useless. I managed to make my first etching in close to ten years! It felt good to work with copper, and to finally run a plate through my printing press! This etching was done for a charity event for Locks of Love, the organization that collects hair to create wigs for disadvantaged children who have lost their hair for medical reasons. I am in the process of growing out my hair and am hoping that it will be long enough in a couple of months to donate the ten inches they require.

Below are the various states I needed to get the plate to a point that I was happy with. The final print was on Arches paper and approximately 8″ x 10″ with a plate size of 5″ x 3″. The print is an edition size of 16 and is a combination of hard and soft ground techniques. It was a lot of fun!

The first state was a simple hardground line drawing.

State 2 involved a softground texture with cheesecloth. Unfortunately my stop-out was a little thick and hard to control so some texture and open biting occurred on my hardground lines.

State 3 required burnishing away some of the unwanted lines and textures created by state 2, then re-etching the figure with another hardground bite. I also drew more lines for the heart/hair wings of the heart.

State 4 was more burnishing and more etching of lines that I wanted to stand out.

The final state... for now anyway... Not the best print since I sent that out for the charity/show. This print in particular was over-wiped. Oh well, I'm out of practice.

A fun & whimsical doodle:

Tree creature with owl.

These figure sketches were done the day after my dog passed away. I didn’t have much sleep but I knew I needed to draw so I got myself to my figure drawing class. These sketches showed my lack of concentration but hey, I think showing up to the class was half the battle!

Quick figure study - I was trying to focus on the hands. My concentration was off that night!

Anothe quick study ~30 minutes. Again, my lack of concentration felt obvious.

More quick, unfocused studies. But it's the effort that counts right?

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Figure drawing & other marks made on paper

trish — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:50:42 +0000

These last couple of weeks have been challenging so finding the time for drawing was not only difficult but absolutely necessary.

I did a couple of figure drawings but both my camera and scanner are too inadequate to capture some of the large gesture drawings that I did. Oh well. I did manage to photograph the long study I did. The photo is of the full figure and the detail image is a scan of the drawing.

Photo of the full figure study of Stephanie

Scan of the full figure study - I need a bigger scanner to capture some of the larger drawings I make.

Quick charcoal sketch of Siwa. We had a rough night last night: Siwa's mouth bled for almost 30 minutes until a lemon-sized part of her tumor dislodged. It was nasty but she feels better today. She ate all her food & had a full tail wag on our short little walk.

Back to doodling - I don't know what's up with her hair - it just wanted to get big!

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Drawing marathon finish line & beyond

trish — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:07:20 +0000

My intent in pushing myself to draw everyday, or at least close to everyday, was to make drawing a daily habit. It’s been an interesting exercise – one that has been good for my soul. I plan to continue this on a daily basis, not only because I’ve realized I CAN do this, but also because I am curious. This process is very much a journey and I am intrigued as to where it will lead me.

There were certainly days when I didn’t feel like drawing, but I made sure to just make marks on paper. There were also days when I didn’t have the time to draw – and on those days I felt like something was not quite right, but the next day would inevitably bring many scratches made on paper.

Although these past several days have been busy, I’ve managed to make it to day 30, and then some. Woo hoo! Below are the results:

Day 30:

Fast sketches of kitties

Hand & foot

Day 29:

Shoe - can I count this as Everyday Matters Challenge #1? On another note, my feet are entirely too big for my body & I'm not referring to the drawing!

Day 28:

Creek bank in one of the beautiful parks in Oakland, CA. I'm trying to expand my tool kit and am now playing with carbon pencil. It has a very different tactile feel than my pen. I'm not sure yet if I like it.

Another mirror image - again with the serious look! Also carbon pencil on paper.

And a bonus!

The text on the book says: "Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties."

When I started this marathon, I decided to become an active participant of Danny Gregory‘s Everyday Matters Yahoo Group. Not only have I found new online friends (hi, EDM-ers!!), but I’ve also been inspired to start dabbling in color since a number of the artists in the group are accomplished watercolorists.

No, I haven’t done any watercolors yet, but I made this sketchbook to get started. (My moleskine hasn’t arrived so rather than wait, I decided to make one. It was fun!) Anyway, I’m just as curious as you are to see what I fill in those pages.

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Drawing everyday is cathartic: day 27

trish — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:35:31 +0000

Drawing everyday has not only been good for me but has also been quite a transformative experience. The changes are subtle but I’ve noticed how I’m starting to “see” differently. I’m starting to perceive the world in the language of drawing, that is, seeing form, shape, line, and depth. The last time I experienced this was the last time I drew almost everyday, back in college, which seems like a very long time ago.

It feels good to draw. I’m also looking forward to expanding my vocabulary of drawing to include color and texture. This will require that I move beyond my trusty and comfortable ball point pen and start experimenting with other tools.

In the meantime, here are several drawings with my trusty ball point pen on day 27:

This is Siwa, my 14 year-old dog, who has been fighting cancer for the past 2 years. She's one of the sweetest souls I've ever known. Jon laughed when I showed him this drawing. His response was, oh, just like the other 47 drawings of her in this pose. Yeah, this is pretty much her only state of being right now. But I still love her!

My walks with Siwa right now goes like this: get in car, drive to park, walk 20 very slow paces while sniffing trees, bushes, grass, other dogs, then plop down somewhere nice & shady, nose up in the air to catch the passing scent. I sit next to her, pull out my sketch book and draw. Life can't get any better than this.

Essence of tree trunk.

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Drawings: days 22 & 23

trish — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:14:03 +0000

Wow, I’m actually posting these sooner than later. I’m so far on a roll with drawing everyday ~ I did miss yesterday but I made sure that I made time to draw today.

I also did a self-portrait for the first time in about a year. It turned out ok. I was a bit frustrated with the ball point pen because it was not making the marks I had anticipated. I think it’s time to invest in a good mechanical pencil. Anyone out there have a favorite they can recommend?

Day 23

My tool of choice for my journal is a papermate ball point pen. I'm starting to feel its limitation, particularly when I make a mistake and need to rework a section. It gets messy and trying to redraw over erased pen marks smudges the ink. I think it may be time to find another tool. On another note, Jon doesn't think this portrait looks like me. Oh well.

Day 22

Jon's arm while on the phone & Jon watching TV. He looks a bit stiff in the TV watching mode, maybe because I kept chiding him about moving too much so he overcompensated ~ at least that was my interpretation.

Jon wasn't really posing because he was tired of posing for me so I had to draw him as quickly as I could in the amount of time he would give me.

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Doodles & Drawings: days 17-21

trish — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:26:35 +0000

I’m starting to get bored with doodling so I’ve started to sketch my pets and hubby to contine with the mark-making. That is really my purpose in this 30-day exercise. I’ve also been copying
George Bridgman’s figure drawings to improve my life drawing skills.

Here are the drawings from most recent to earliest:

Day 21

Jon reading a book & patiently posing

Diemos & Jon sleeping

Day 20:

Sleeping Sammy

Sleeping cat

Day 19:

Veronique - life drawing

Montage of doodles & sketches

Day 18:

doodles & sketches

Day 17:

Copying from the master, George Bridgman

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The drawing fool

trish — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:34:06 +0000

That would be me.

We spent a nice long weekend in Tahoe. (Actually, it wasn’t long enough!) It’s a trip we make annually to get our fix of snow – yes, Jon and I are from the Northeast, and yes, we actually love snow. The fortunate part about living in the Bay Area is that we have the option to drive to winter, unlike the Northeast, where one does not have a choice in the matter…

We rent a house with our good buddies, drink beers, snowshoe, play scrabble, ski, and not necessarily in that order. And this time, I actually drew in the sketchbook that I brought up with me. I drew almost every day. And here are the results:

The drawings above are of the one and only Siwa, sleeping, of course.

The drawings below are of Jenny’s dog, Bailey, who was an excellent model because she actually has form, and not so much fur, though she moved a lot… I couldn’t quite get myself to do gesture drawings of her, and that would have been perfect for her.

Where is Sammy in all this you ask? Well, our young pup is maturing. He tolerates only so much from us. After Jon had his fun with him, he decided to tell us in his own special way: “Screw you guys, I’m going upstairs…” (do you hear Cartman?), and immediately his fuzzy butt could be seen going up the stairs to the loft where Jon and I slept, no doubt climbing onto our bed to get away from all the hands groping him.

Sho ’nuff, there was the monkey butt on our bed:

And finally, I had to attempt a landscape. It’s funny how even with drawing, using the wrong tools can make or break the sketch. Guess who had the wrong tool?

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Some facts on canine melanoma

trish — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:36:34 +0000

Needless to say that I’ve been scouring the web for information on canine melanoma. Here’s the important stuff:

it is an aggressive form of cancer that typically appears in the mouth
dogs that are beyond the initial stages will not survive beyond five months with conventional therapies
treatment often includes radiation and surgery
the cancer spreads rapidly and is often unresponsive to chemotherapy
it can be incredibly painful
most common in dogs with dark pigmentation
there is a vaccine that has shown promise in clinical studies; published reports have included individuals whose cancer completely disappeared!!

Here are some facts about Siwa, based on the lab results from the vet:

though she is 12 and has cancer, her blood work apparently had a healthy dose of all the good things (sorry I’m a little fuzzy on the details)
she has a healthy appetite (loss of appetite is a bad sign)
she still has control of all her bodily functions (thank goodness!)
she can still see, hear, and smell
though she has slowed down on the trail, she still exhibits a playful enthusiasm when she hears the word W-A-L-K
in short, if it weren’t for the cancer, she would be perfectly healthy

Back to the vaccine. The vet said she is a good candidate for the vaccine, which is administered four times in two-week intervals.

It’s expensive (~$700/shot) but not as expensive as the less successful surgery and radiation (~$5K-$8K), nor is it as uncomfortable. If the tumors grow back after the first two shots, then we know the vaccine is not working and we discontinue with the treatment and just give her painkillers. My biggest concern has always been Siwa’s quality of life. This was the least intrusive, least painful, and least expensive option.

Siwa was with me at the beginning of my journey into adulthood – she put up with a lot from me, including every significant relationship I’ve ever had, five moves (one of which involved crossing several state lines), two cats, and Sammy. It’s the least I can do for her.

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Water is water…

trish — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:11:24 +0000

(Siwa at Lake Faucherie, foothills of the Sierras, California, August 2007)

From Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi:

…the water comes down like a curtain thrown from the top of the mountain. It does not seem to come down swiftly, as you might expect; it seems to come down very slowly because of the distance. And the water does not come down as one stream, but is separated into many tiny streams. From a distance it looks like a curtain. And I thought it must be very difficult for each drop of water to come down from the top of such a high mountain. It takes time, you know, a long time, for the water finally to reach the bottom of the waterfall.

And it seems to me, that our human life may be like this. We have many difficult experiences in our life. But at the same time, I thought, the water was not originally separated, but was one whole river. Only when it is separated does it have some difficulty in falling; after we are separated by birth from this oneness, as the water falling from the waterfall is separated by the wind and rocks, then we have feeling.

You have difficulty because you have feeling, you attach to the feeling you have without knowing just how this kind of feeling is created. When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water.

Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact we have no fear of death anymore, and we have no actual difficulty in our life.

And here’s today’s sketch … Jon said he would sit for me, so I drew him:

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