Drawing from male model

Nothing seems to challenge artists more than the human form. Nature is usually so forgiving, but when it comes to people, even a little distortion throws the whole drawing off. Then throw a little perspective and foreshortening, and I can see why artists work from live models regularly. "Regularly" for me seems to be once or twice a year, but its better than nothing.

Sketchbook randomness

My car...

Animals caught out in nature
 while camping...

A lighthouse while hanging
 out at the beach...

I have been carrying my sketchbook around with me everywhere recently. Although I used to carry my watercolor materials with me everywhere but my tubes of paint and brushes were getting damaged. So I put them away and traded it for pencils and sketchbook. There is quite a bit of randomness in my drawings, because I am pretty spontaneous as to when l get it out, which is whenever the mood strikes.

Random guy hanging out at
a hotel pool...

Well it's been a while...

It has been way too long since I posted anything. Life gets it the way, and posting on my blog has fallen off my list of priorities. Now, that does not mean I have not been doing anything creative, but less putting it down on paper. I have not sat down and worked on any major art projects but what has gone down on paper has been mostly sketches.
It is surprising how easy it is to stop blogging, even though it is very hard for me not to have an outlet for my creativity. But the name of my blog is "creative journey" which definitely has its ebbs and flows, but my journey never stops.

Here is some randomness from my sketchbook. More to come soon.

Oak tree in pencil

A beautiful sunny day was calling me out to nature, so I found a spot along the bluffs along Lake Natoma. I pulled out a sketch pad and pencils and sat down at an empty picnic table. The oaks along the bluff each have their own personality, with their scraggly branches turning in all directions. Even though some of the trees are already getting their leaves, the oaks still have not figured out spring is here.

Crocker art museum pencil sketch

To celebrate the 20th annual Sacramento Museum Day, I thought I would post this sketch of the Crocker Art Museum from last year. Using pencil and a notebook, I just stood outside for a little while after I had walked around the museum. The museum is really quite extensive. This section that I drew is just the original gallery section which used to be the main entrance before the new Teel Family Pavilion opened in 2010.

The Crocker Art Museum, located at the corner of 3rd and O Streets, is the longest continuously operating art museum in the West. The museum was originally conceived by Edwin B.Crocker (not his brother, Charles Crocker, known for being one of California's "Big Four", as I had originally thought) and his wife Margaret, back in 1869. Crocker had been appointed as California's Supreme Court Justice in 1863, and then served as legal counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad Company. He was forced to retire due to a paralyzing stroke in 1869, but he decided to use his money that he had made with the railroad to bring some culture to Sacramento. He commissioned the building of an art gallery next to his home. In order to fill it, and still being able to travel, the Crocker family went on a grand tour of Europe from 1869 through 1871 collecting many paintings and drawings, that became the core of their art collection. Once they returned home, Crocker commisioned many pieces of art as well as purchasing art from Californian artists. He died in 1875 at the age of 57, and in 1885, his wife gifted the E.B. Crocker Art Gallery and the collection to the City of Sacramento "in trust of the public". The original gallery building is an art piece itself, which was specifically designed for displaying their art collection. The 3-story building was designed by Seth Babson with a Victorian-Italian design inside and out and is now listed as a California historic landmark. The ballroom, just past the ornate staircase, is particularly spectacular. Margaret Crocker donated her home next door to the gallery in 1900 to the Penal Rescue Mission, but was later incorporated as part of the museum. In 2010, the Teel Family Pavilion was added just to the west of the original gallery creating an additional 125,000 square feet to the museum, tripling its size. This new building was designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates and has a sleek modern look to it that greatly contrasts with the other buildings, but "works together as a whole" according to the museum.

Acrylic randomness

These acrylic paintings are done on two half sheets of watercolor paper, front and back. There way no planning involved with any of these. I just put the paint on the page and decided later what it would be. I worked on all four at the same time using relatively few colors. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the planning, I never get to the painting.  So these whimsical pieces were just pure creative juices flowing. Which one is your favorite?

Dancing

Meditatio

The Mind

River

Patterns #2 - orange circles, blue triangles

Still working with the idea of submitting artwork to the Rancho Cordova city council's art show in patterns, here is piece number #2. I started with circles again but instead of aligning them at 90 degree angles as before (Pattern #1 - stars), I aligned them at 60 degree angles, and created a Star of David within each circle by drawing lines to each point that the circles meet. After I had it planned out in copy paper, then I recreated it on watercolor paper. I chose orange and blue because they are on opposite sides of the color wheel, complimentary colors. I had thought about red and green, but it seemed to Christmas-y, and it made sense to have the Star of David be blue. 

The challenge again was to get an even wash. I think I did pretty well with the orange, and after finishing about 5 or 6 triangles, I got the hang of it and I think most of the rest of the triangles are even. (can you tell which were my first ones?)