Sometimes You Just Want to Draw

Think watercolor, or
Ink and Watercolor.
Plans. Colors. Techniques.
Thinking. Creating. Calculating.
Glazes. Hazes. Transparency.
Loose hues. Tight mixes.
Rope that muse!
Hold tight - (s)he might get away!

Or sometimes you just want to draw.
Sometimes you want to attack the paper.
Sometimes you want to smuuuuuudge.
Sometimes you want to scrub, scrub, scrub.
Sometimes you just want to rub that paper.
Sometimes you want to dirty that hand.

Sometimes you want to grab the rough.
Grab the dusty conte' pencil.
Sometimes you want to do what you will.
Sometimes you just want to black, grey and white.
Sometimes you want to turn off the light.
To be color-blind and that's all right.

And I felt like that the other day.

Calisthenics in the Park

I try to at least sketch from life a little bit every day. Although some sketches are good and some sketches are horrid, it's okay either way. For me, it's calisthenics. I figure that each time I sketch I am getting just a bit better at observing, or depicting what I observe. I also hope that I am developing "muscle memory", and that my hand just might move the right way next time.

As you have seen if you have followed my blog, a lot of my sketches are done at eating establishments, but sometimes I sketch parked in my car beside a small neighborhood park.

The pencil drawing above and the conte' pencil drawing below were drawn in my Moleskine on different days. [The first meets Everyday Matters Challenge #214 "Draw something representing a favorite hobby" because I love to read.]

I think it is interesting how differently they came out even though the subject matter is similar.







Other quick sketches in my Moleskine at the park include this small sketch in pen (while not quite horrid, this one leaves a bit to be desired):














And this sketch using a watercolor pencil (she left before I could add more detail, but I like it).






All in all, sketching is just another day at the park, don't you think?

Gravitas

I'm fascinated with faces, as you probably know. If you've followed my blog you've seen some of my sketches from life in pencil, and some of my pen drawings. I've also done a few drawings from photographs with Conte' pencil. The mark on the page feels completely different than lead or ink. It is heavier. It has, (clearing the throat), gravitas. When I pick up a conte' pencil, the drawing feels like it should be serious. With the conte' pencil, I mostly ignore the line, and concentrate instead on value. This is an example.



Hmmm, he looks disgusted, doesn't he? Critics, everywhere..

P.S.-I will gladly supplement this post by crediting the photograph that this drawing is derived from but I have lost track, and do not know the name of the photographer. It's a great photo though. I drew only part of the face and liked the way it almost seemed to emerge from the page, so after debating myself (I won, incidentally), I left it incomplete.