Pop Goes the Artist!

There are a number of things I find very intimidating to draw: clear and reflective objects (like glass), drapery, and trees (something about branches and foliage confounds me, I don’t know why). Lately, though, I’ve been inspired by the example of my lovely roommate, who happens to be a talented artist (she can do watercolor!), and I’ve been spending more time drawing things I find challenging.

Today, for instance, the weather was so beautiful that I practically had no choice but to go outside and draw. So I gathered my charcoal, my sketch pad, and my iPod (loaded up with the Ramones and Edith Piaf) and went outside to draw trees. I mostly focused on the trunks and the bottom few branches (baby steps), but I’m happy enough with the results that I’d like to spend more time drawing trees soon. The combination of willow charcoal + kraft pad makes for particularly nice texture in the bark.

A few weeks ago, I finally sat myself down to practice drapery, which is a fantastic and frustrating exercise in forcing yourself to see exactly what is there, because drawing what you think is there makes for a mess. It takes some patience, and I am not a particularly patient person. But maybe I’m getting there. Besides, who could resist all those lovely curves?

Maybe I should do this sort of thing more often.

I recently decided to participate in the 101 Things In 1001 Days project. I’m doing this for a variety of reasons, including my love for list-making and the feeling that the upcoming changes in my life will go more easily if I take a more pro-active approach to other areas of my life. Not all of these things are about art, so I’m just going to post the art-related ones here. I’ll come back to this post periodically to cross off items I’ve accomplished and link to posts about them as I write them.

So without further ado, here are the items from the section “arts, with a side order of crafts.”

1. Do Illustration Friday for at least two months. Post the results here.
2. Sell a painting.
3. Open an Etsy shop.
4. Finish the quilt I started three years ago. I’m three-quarters of the way done already.
5. Paint a self-portrait.
6. Take a life drawing class.
7. Take (and post) a photo daily for a month.
8. Give all handmade gifts for Christmas or birthdays one year. (Made by me or by someone else.)
9. Fill a sketchbook, cover to cover.
10. Paint in public.
11. Enter a juried art competition.
12. Try oil painting.
13. Participate in a print exchange.
14. Crochet an afghan.
15. Finally do that track scrapbook I’ve been meaning to do since the day I graduated.
16. Buy a big sketchbook (at least 18×24″) and use it.

My 1001 days end on Saturday, December 11, 2010. By that time I’ll be out of college, employed, and who knows what else. We’ll see how many of these things (and the other 85) I’ve finished by then. No matter how well or badly I do, though, someone wins: item #101 is “donate $1 to charity for everything I don’t complete on this list.” Just the right sort of motivation!

On rainy mornings, my first waking thought is not “Oh no, it’s raining,” but rather, “All right! Now I get to wear my cute rainboots!” Never underestimate the life-changing power of a good pair of shoes.

Today was not a rainy morning, but my rainboots were sitting on my floor anyway, so I decided to sketch one of them. The proportions are a little bit funky, clearly, but I think I did pretty well with the colors. (As always, click the thumbnail to enlarge it.)

In other news, it’s only two more weeks until the semester’s over and I can get home and paint! I already have a mile-long list of paintings to finish and crafty projects to do. Luckily, my break is a full month long, so I might get half of them done.

The other day I took a trip to the National Shrine to see a concert for class. On a whim, I brought my Moleskine,* and so I was able to spend a lovely two hours listening to fantastic music and sketching beautiful architecture.

I love sketching architectural forms–the geometry, clear lines, and strong perspectives appeal to me. But, as these three small, ballpoint sketches show, I’m a little out of practice. Which sounds to me like a good excuse to seek out beautiful buildings to draw. (Click the photo to see it larger.)

*I like my Moleskine, but I don’t understand the almost fanatical devotion they seem to generate. They do come in convenient purse-and-pocket sizes, and I love that they’re hardcover, but they’re awfully expensive. (Mine was a favor at I wedding I once worked at.) I’ll enjoy mine while it lasts, but I doubt I’ll replace it.

“In spite of everything, I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.” (Vincent van Gogh)

And that’s what I’m doing. I’m exaggerating, obviously: I have had times of great discouragement in my life, but the past few months have not been among them. No, I just stopped making art a priority in my life, and consequently left behind this blog as well. A few days ago, I realized that I wasn’t happy with that. So here I am.

The problem, of course, when I stop making art, is that it’s a self-perpetuating thing. The longer I go without it, the more reluctant I am to pick it up again, because the first few sketches after a long time away are always clumsy. The part I forget is how good they feel, despite the awkwardness.

Yesterday I had a craving for color, so I picked up my markers and turned for inspiration to a postcard of a stained glass window from Chartres Cathedral. My rendition doesn’t do it justice, partially because I don’t really have the right colors in my pencil case, and partially because marker on paper cannot even approximate the glow of light and glass. Not in my hands, anyway. (Click on the image to make it larger.)

(I also, incidentally, discovered the secret to achieving flat color with markers, which tend to leave those sketchy overlap lines: multiple layers. Why didn’t I think of that ten years ago?)