dolphins_log

I've ruminated about how I don't have time to write or draw because I have a 9 hour shift 4 days a week, and how all the chores I don't get done in those 4 days  need to be done on the weekends.
Tonight at writer's night, I took note that typographer was taking any moment he could to get something written to present tot he group.  Now admittedly he types at about  a billion words a minute and I hit about 25, but still...   I can type fast enough to get a thought down before moving on to another time consuming chore.

Art may be a different issue.  It is the nature of creating art which  makes time go away.  If I started to work on something then another task would get neglected.   Perhaps that's why I'm afraid to start.

It's a little rushed, but I'll share anyway.

I dreamed of Edward last night. It's only the second time I dreamed of him. Apie was there too. Perhaps I've been thinking about him. I don't remember the dream... only that I dreamed.






Hope everyone has a great time at the convention. If you can, post some entries and let us know how it's going. I'll be conventioning vicariously through you all.

( In Which Things Start Getting Fixed )

And this is why I don't want to watch Television.

It's going to freeze tonight. I spent a good chunk of the day getting plants moved into the garage. I'm waffling back and forth about the Yucca plant, whether I should leave it out for the winter or hall it in. Right now it's in, but I may move it back out as soon as the threat of frost is over.

Drawing.... I need to kick start myself. I know that as soon as I start I'll get into it, but the inertia of getting started is a problem. Simply writing this has helped a little.

Juli and I will be packing up tonight to leave in the dark and early tomorrow. We'll go by way of Shelton and stop in Centralia for breakfast. I've got the camera set up. The computer is ready. Internet will be available in the room. I need to decide what art supplies I'll bring. What else... Oh, Clothes!

But first, draw something.

Addendum:




This past month I've been doing some intense focusing on drawing what I see, and changing the way I look at things. As a side effect I've found that I've been sketching things in my mind as I drive down the road or walk through the neighborhood. Things like trees, power lines, the car in front of me, the Narrows Bridge [old and new]. After last Thursday though, because of time constraints, I haven't been able to draw anything. Yesterday I found that this mental sketching was fading.
This is one of the reasons why instructors and books say "Draw every day!"

No, I can't say today was wasted, but I don't really have anything to show for it. Today was spent questing for supplies for the final exercises in Betty Edwards' book. She has added a chapter introducing color. In my other experiences with art education I've done a lot of the exercises that she is having us do. Things like the color wheel and the like. Things that I'm actually embarrassed to say I'm doing again. They seem rudimentary and childish.

But I told myself I would start from the beginning and follow through. And Betty Edwards has a way of explaining the processes, and the reasons behind them, that appeal to me. For example, I did a self portrait before, for a class at Olympic College back in 1992. Just for Jazz here it is.



As you can see I had already progressed beyond the October 9th "before" picture. This one even has Bill the Cat in a Buckaroo Banzai headband! And it's 18" x 24". Still, yesterday's self portrait is a little more in proportion, and IMO somewhat better.
I understood far more yesterday, before I started to draw, then I did back in 1992. Most of the changes are mental. I understand the frame of mind I want when I set out to draw something. Now I look forward to the shift rather then fighting to find it.
...That alone is gold, and well worth going back to the beginning. So I'm willing to build another color wheel. I'm willing to play with colored paper. It's worth it.

Today was spent looking for large sheets of colored paper, and then later, specific prismacolor pencils. I have had a box of 72 colors since the last Orycon I went to (That was with miko2, whaaay back when). The artist who did the Dragon Rider Graphic Novels covers did a demonstration with prismacolors. They were the media he used to draw his cover illustrations with. I was impressed enough to spend the bucks. I've only sharpened about 15 of them. Some important ones are missing. My quest took me all over Port orchard, and then finally down to Tacoma. I've had enough success where I think I'm ready to proceed.
...So, no, today was not wasted.

Today I reached a point in Betty Edwards "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" that was previously the end of the book. This last chapter dealt with light and shadows. There was one warm up exercise. That was to copy a self portrait by Gustave Corbet. The the primary drawing tool we were to use was a sharpened eraser. Here is Gustav's in charcoal, and mine in graphite.



Tomorrow will be, in effect, a final exam. I will be drawing a very detailed self portrait using everything presented in the book up to this point.

This version of DotRSotB then goes into color, and then makes a brief mention of drawing from memory and imagination. We'll see how it goes.

Juli had to skip he coffee yesterday morning because the truck in front of her at the coffee shop ordered 6 lattes. So after my gym workout, and because I needed to make a run to Silverdale for art supplies, I brought Juli her coffee.

I gave chuck_melville a call from Silverdale, to see if he needed a ride to Writer's Night.

Then I returned home and sketched a Harbour Lights sculpture of Point Arena.




Now Juli and I are watching Footsball. I may stop to sketch.

I seem to have developed some odd sleeping habits. About 4 times a week I wake up at 4 AM. I can't get back to sleep unless I get up for about an hour. I used to get up regularly at 5. Very curious.

My father tends to ignore the clock. He has all his life. He may crash around 3 in the afternoon, and he may be working at 2 in the morning. He may put in a 32 hour day or a 4 hour day. Now that he's 80 things have changed a little, but he still ignores the clock. Maybe it's genetic.

So today, after going back to sleep at 5, I gout up at 8 with Juli. While she worked on her needle work and read throughout the morning, I paid bills and did laundry. After she left for work I hit the gym for an hour, came home and took a shower.

...then I fell asleep for about a half hour. There it is again.

I did accomplish great amounts of satisfying progress with the Betty Edwards book. Sure, I read for about an hour, but I also sketched for 3 solid! The exercise this time was "drawing in perspective" by "sighting" or "eyeballing". The task was to find the most complicated corner in the house and draw it. I chose the library desk in the bay window alcove. ...with the mantle clock, stack of books, the figurine known as Jake, a hurricane lamp, two candles, and a piece of art Juli bought at Norwescon. Also included... a book shelf containing CDs, vinyl, the old stereo, a cookie jar, and [the fun part] a 15 year old Christmas Cactus. This was fun, relaxing, enlightening, and.... I was surprised to see how small the mantle clock was in comparison to the rest of the sketch. I wanted to draw it larger. This was a very satisfying exercise.

There you have Wednesday. And I suppose I feel okay with uploading it.