Small Steps

I've been printing off a photo from the drawing and sketching weekly challenge, but this is the first week i've actually tried to work on one. This is an unidentified leaf in charcoal on 9x12. I used charcoal pencils in addition to the willow, and they did not blend well. This represents almost two hours work and i feel like its still rather crude. But i worked on a drawing today.


That's after i painted this small 6x8 in oils yesterday. I used a bigger brush than i normally do and painted alla prima (in one session) in an attempt to loosen up my painting. My instructor recommended this exercise. I'll have to see if i can do more of these. They might not be good but they are rather fun.

Fruit

This weeks reference for the wetcanvas drawing and sketching thread was a bowl of cherries. Its a nice subject, i would love to attempt to paint it in pastels or oils later. Instead i drew, in graphite instead of my usual charcoal.

I also did a small still life- one apple- in oils. Painted from life using a plastic apple. I could have been more imaginative on my background though.

Already Wednesday

Its already Wednesday and i've only one drawing to show for the week. Here it is, a 14 x 17 charcoal for the WC drawing and sketching challenge.

Simplified

The original photo for this wetcanvas drawing challenge had basil and garlic along with the tomatoes and quite a complicated reflection in the colander. I cropped out the garlic and simplified the reflection, but the basil looked like an unidentifiable blob, so i erased it. This is the result, in my usual charcoal.

Bottle, glass, and apple

I did this sketch (charcoal, 14 x 17) for the weekly sketch challenge on wetcanvas. While i was working, i thought that the glass was a little misshapen but that the bottle was fine. It was only after spraying the drawing and going away for a few hours that i was able to notice how misshapen the glass was and that the bottle was way too wide.

I did step away from the drawing while i was working to view it from across the room, but i didn't notice those problems then. I should have tried looking in a mirror while i was still working. I need to learn to pay closer attention to proportions while i'm working, and to not spray the result with fixative until i've left it for a few hours.

Stretching

I decided to try a couple of challenges on wetcanvas. The first was to draw from a selected photo reference, a picture of the leaning tower of Pisa. I did it in charcoal since i have an easier time rendering value in charcoal than in pencil. Not much detail but the idea is there.

The next challenge was also from wetcanvas, this time from the pastel group. It was to do a pastel painting using only the primaries plus two. Well, i gave it a go, but it wasn't all that successful. The lemons are sort of recognizable, but the towel gave me fits and is not recognizable. The good thing about doing this challenge is that i didn't see any red in the reference photo. But after much staring, and starting to work on the pastel, i did start to see nuances of red. It makes for somewhat of a victory, to see a little better. A little victory though.