Anatomy and Realism Reference Books
Posted on August 14, 2007
If I am not drawing and sketching then I can at least spend my time reading about it. :)
I spent some time in my local Chapters store and found two more good books on drawing the human form.
Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces by Carrie Stuart Parks is the first book. As well as having the ever repeated notions on proportions, I picked it up as it has a lot of good detail orientated information. Focusing on specific shading, creases and using reflected light.
Human Anstomy Made Amazingly Easy by Christopher Hart is also good as it is more orientated toward the freedom of the pose. It covers others areas of anatomy along with muscle and bone structure and gives you a good look into what makes our bodies up and why they look the way they do.
I hope to be posting some more sketches and painting later in the week.
Filed Under art, drawing, face and figure, portrait, sketch | Leave a Comment
Transcribing - Van Gogh’s Cornfield and Cypress Trees
Posted on July 21, 2007
I am working my way through Jackie Simmond’s ‘Pastel Workbook’ and one of the exercises is to copy Van Gogh’s Cornfield and Cypress Trees. It looked like it was easy enough, but I had a few challenges. One was trying to keep the strokes from touching too much. Another was that I used a paper with a strong ochre tint to it whereas I should have really used a blue/grey paper. Overall, once I got into the aspect of paisley strokes it is quite a fun style to paint with. Please leave your comments on areas of improvement! On a side note, I painted this outside (to enjoy the beautiful day) on my Plein Air Easel to test it out. I put the easel on my SLIK Able 300DX tripod and was impressed at the stability. I had the painting on a 12×12" hardboard and never had a problem with anything moving when applying the pastel. Below is Van Gogh’s painting to compare mine with.
Lighweight Tripod Easel - LT Easel
Posted on July 11, 2007
I have taken the time to design a Plein Air easel with the intention of having it extremely lightweight and portable.
The easel is made from aluminum, weighs 1.5 lbs (0.68kg) and is 24" long. It attaches to any standard tripod. It will accommodate surfaces from 6" up to 24” high. The advantages of attaching it to a tripod are that the entire unit is extremely lightweight, the easel can be positioned at any angle from flat to tilting forward and the height is easily adjusted via the tripod so any painter will be comfortable working on it. Add a ‘rock bag’ to the cross posts of the tripod and you have added stability on softer ground or windy days.
I have had some initial interest so I sent design drawings off to a few manufacturers and am currently waiting to here back from them regarding the cost. When I have a final price I will post it here (price will not include cost of tripod, applicable taxes or shipping). Any shipping will be from British Columbia, Canada.
If interested in purchasing one, please contact me.
Filed Under art, easel, lightweight easel, lightweight tripod easel, painting, pastel, pastel easel, plein air, plein air easel, travel easel, tripod, tripod easel, watercolor easel, watercolour easel | Leave a Comment
Pears
Posted on July 5, 2007
The ‘Pears’ was an exercise in value and colour. Specifically looking for colours that traditionally are not seen in the fruit.
8×10″ on Canson Mi-Teintes paper.
Filed Under art, painting, pastels, pears | Leave a Comment