From sketch book to art book

I call these sketch book drawings. Some people say that they are not sketch books, but art books. I have some sketch books that contain drawings that are very different from these figure studies. In my other sketch books I put drawings of anything: leaves, notes, concepts, etc. In the sketches I am showing on this blog, I only put figure studies. So since they have a theme, some artists call them art books instead. That is a fine distinction, but its OK. I really zeroed in on the face on these drawings. Finally reducing the drawing to just one eye, the nose and part of the lips. The face is so fascinating with all its proportions, yet not in exact proportion. For this book I turned it sideways. Each drawing crosses over the gutter or seam of the book.

Figure Sketch Books

"I'm not in the mood to draw!" My students say this to me a lot; I even say it to myself. You never know when inspiration is going to strike. Many times I get to my studio and I do not feel like doing anything, much less painting. So at times like that, I draw in my sketch book. I draw a lot of different things, but I draw figures most often. Some are made up out of my mind, many are just copied from magazines. The drawings above are from my figure sketch books. These are all in Moleskine books. I bought my first Moleskine book in Chicago on a trip in the 1990s. I had never seen one before. Then, for a few years, I had to order them from Chicago or New York. Now you can buy them any and everywhere. These are bound bristol like paper with a slight yellow tint. I use red prisma color pencils or conte pencils to draw with.

Paintings At Redsky Gallery in Epicenter

In a change from the usual theme of this blog, I wanted to let you know about some of my architectural paintings. This painting and one other are on display in downtown Charlotte. They are in a gallery called Redsky in the Epicenter complex. The painting above, titled " Water Tower at Night", is an oil painting 24 x 18 inches in size. When I paint in oil, I use many techniques that I use in my drawings, for example, this painting was painted light to dark. So, I painted the sky first and then gradually added the darker parts until arriving at black. This is the water tower on Camden Road in Charlotte's South End Historic District. This painting was awarded a second place prize by Joie Lassiter in an urban landscape show in 2008.

Drawing Six Complete

Drawing six is finished to the same level as the first five. I may go back into all the drawings and add some highlights with white color pencil or chalk. I will decide in a week or so. I want to live with all six drawings, at this stage, for a while. Just as in any major decision, I am going to 'sleep in it.' The shadow cast on the ground came out well in this drawing. It allowed me to do some interesting and different things with the shadows in the legs that I otherwise would not have been able to do.

Details of Drawing Six

One of the reasons I selected this pose is because I love drawing peoples backs. They are fascinating, to quote Mr. Spock. The back has a great combination of dramatic bone and muscle structure that is easily seen. Also backs have a lot subtly of highlight and shadow. Above is the line drawing.

The shoulder blades are going to be key to the success of this drawing. I will put a great deal of detail into them before this drawing is finished.

At this stage, I began putting some details into the rock above her head. I did a lot of work on this darwing today.

Drawing Six Started

I have begun drawing 6. I decided that the last drawing should be a standing pose. So there will be two kneeling, two bent over, and two standing poses for these first six drawings in the series. Here is the initial line drawing with a little value added in the shadows.

Now I have begun to put in darker areas. In the drawing above there are only two values of shadows. I filled in the cast shadow on the ground. The cast shadow will determine some of the values in the figure, so I needed to get it in progress. I believe this figure will have short hair. Everyone asks if these are drawings of my wife, Maura. They are not. I used a professional model for all six of the drawings.

Now I have put a lot more detail in the back, darkening the shadows around the shoulder blades, spine, and legs.

Drawing Five Complete!

I finished drawing five today. I say finish, I may still put white pastel highlights on all the drawings, but the pencil is done. I am very happy with this and the other bent over pose. To finish I spent time on details in the hands: more wrinkles and shadows. I also put a few more shadows on the face. I made her hair longer and darkened the shadow cast on the ground quite a bit. On the exterior contour line, I did not put one around the far arm or foot. Lack of the contour line helped push them into the back-ground. To bring the front arm forward, I strengthened the shadows on the through the middle of the arm and around the shoulder. Finally, I darkened the entire upper torso.