Sunday Potpourri

Good morning, friends and Happy Sunday!!

1. For Christmas, my sister and her family gave me a Troll Bead charm bracelet with a very beautiful glass bead. Because the beads are somewhat pricey, it's going to take me a while to fill up the bracelet.

In the meantime, I found a youtube tutorial (click here for the link) on how to make beads from paper and made eight of them yesterday! I might make some more today. They aren't as stunning as the glass beads, of course, but they still look great I think.

2. The results of last weeks life drawing class. It was a whole different story to draw someone with glasses - so much more going on with the shadows: deep shadows, lighter shadows cast by the glass, shadows through the glass, etc.

I kept having to tell myself to just draw what I saw and not what my brain was telling me. In the end, the drawing pretty much looked like the model and I was very happy with it.

3. I did some more tweaking with my oil painting and it is now done. Signed and done!

 I am so pleased with it and enormously proud! She is hanging in our living room until she's completely dry and ready to be varnished.

After that she might wander into my Etsy shop or she might stay put in our living room. I'm still quite attached to her.

4. I had mentioned before that last year there was a lot of emotional upheaval in my life and for that reason I somehow felt I needed to hang on to everything, including my art. That energy has shifted and I listed most of my artwork in my Etsy Shop. I am ready for my babies to fly the coop... You can click here to have a look or on the Etsy links on my left sidebar. I'll be adding more as I create more.

5. I am also selling my knitting, crocheting and sewing again, but I have migrated that shop from Etsy to eBay. I seem to be doing better selling my scarves and things on eBay. If you want to have a look (there is lots to choose from, crazy knitter that I am!), click here or on the eBay link on my right sidebar. I'm adding new items all the time...

That was it for the potpourri of stuff on my mind...

I wish you a wonderful and relaxing Sunday!!

❧ Silke

From Class this Morning

I had my life drawing class this morning with a really great model. His face was a joy to draw. 

Here's the funny part I never share. Every class I have the same internal dialogue:

At the beginning of the class when I first see the model: "Oh, my god, I can draw him. No way. That's too hard."

Then I sit down completely overwhelmed by the empty paper in front of me and think: "Ok, start somewhere. Just start. You can't be the only one sitting at your easel not drawing." 

Ok, so I start somewhere, usually with a dark shadow. This time I started under the bottom lip and just observed and drew from there. 

And after about three minutes (3!!): "Oh, that looks awful. It doesn't look at all like him." Well, of course not! He didn't even have lips yet or eyes or a nose. 

Usually after that I get absorbed and the chatter in my head stops until the end of class. And that, dear friends, is how I constantly entertain myself... 

Wishing you a beautiful day filled with everything you love!

❧ Silke

Self Portrait (cont.)

I've been doing some more work on my charcoal self-portrait (you can see the beginnings of it here). This was done from life - looking in a mirror. There were some parts where I had to trick my mind into being quiet. When it came to the ears, I caught myself thinking: "Oh, no, ears are so hard to draw." I actually wished I still had long hair to cover them...

But ears are no different to draw than a mouth or a book or a cup. It's just shapes of shadow and light. Actually I worked on the ears a little more last night and changed them slightly, but haven't taken any more photos of the drawing since.

I think I'm done with the charcoal part of it. I think it even though it doesn't look like me exactly (I think it looks like a younger version of me), I can tell it's supposed to be me.

I drew this on canvas and sprayed it with fixative so that I can now add some color to it and turn it into a painting. I'm not yet sure how, but I think once I get started, I'll figure it out. And of course I'll share my progress with you all...

Wishing you a color-filled and happy day!

❧ Silke

Resemblance

As homework for my class, our teacher told us to set up a mirror and practice doing self-portraits. So, tonight I did just that. This is still in the rudimentary stage. I only worked on it for 30 minutes or so, just following the shapes of the cast shadow and trying not to think about what I was drawing. And then something really interesting happened.

As I stepped back, I saw a likeness to pictures I have of my mother. Normally, when I look at myself in the mirror, I can see a strong resemblance to my dad's side of the family. And my beautiful sister looks much more like my mother's side. I never thought I had any resemblance to my mother. But in this drawing I see it. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe the softness around the lips. I don't know, but it really touched my heart in a way that was very unexpected.

And I guess maybe those are the things a drawing or painting can capture that a photograph might not. I'm very intrigued...

❧ Silke

Drawing from Life

For a long time now I've wanted to take a life drawing class, but I didn't want to take it at SCAD where I've taken classes before. I just don't have the time right to take a 10-week class, plus they are so intense and time-consuming leaving little time for my own play.

So when I saw a Portrait Drawn from Life class advertised at our local museum, I enrolled immediately. It's being taught by a former SCAD professor who is now getting her masters in painting. I like her a lot!

The class is six weeks long and every week we have a new model to draw from. We'll work exclusively in charcoal and it's so much fun! Today's task was to just follow the shapes of the shadows and don't try to draw features. I got totally absorbed and the three hours were gone in a flash.

And in the end, when I stepped back I was surprised that all those shapes and shadows put together resulted in a drawing that actually looked a lot like our very patient model. As homework, we have to work on self-portraits. Fun!!

Wishing you a beautiful day!

❧ Silke