Fail...

Well...just worked for several hours and failed miserably....ugly awful artwork .... you'll be happy it's destroyed! Maybe I'll do better tomorrow. Think maybe I'm sad today......just so you know what I'm capable of. Ugh.

Working art into busy schedule. . .

Photos taken with and without flash of same art; much difference from the original which is somewhere between warm and cool light. I'm experimenting in pastels flesh tones. Interesting....I'm trying to figure out what colors and methods work that gives me luminous living flesh. I'm also continuing working with wash drawings and attempting to gain control of the water and edges in that medium.

Oh to have nothing to do but just art!!!!! How delicious that would be.

Recent...

Impossible to explain...the anchor holds firm.

anchor_wikipedia_image (one side of the anchor is the Promises of God to man and the other is God's Oath to man...in other words his covenant. This is what we "hope" in and put our trust in the fact that God cannot lie. This is why the Word of God is so essential to the believer and where we find strength for the storms of life.)

How truly blessed I am Lord; how satisfied and how comforted am I. What joy there is in my heart and peace . . . impossible to explain. Knowing you, Father, is an anchor to my soul in the midst of life's great storms.

Hebrews 6:¹⁷ Accordingly God also, in His desire to show more convincingly and beyond doubt to those who were to inherit the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose and plan, intervened (mediated) with an oath. ¹⁸ This was so that, by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before [us]. ¹⁹ [Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it -- a hope ] that reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil [i.e. literally reaching into the Holy of Holy's in Heaven], ²⁰ Where Jesus has entered in for us [in advance], a Forerunner having become a High Priest forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek [i.e. Melchizedek ... meaning an eternal High Priesthood never ending for all Eternity].

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's working...drawing exercises.

The drawing to the left was done with three crayons ... gold, green, blue. The task was to enlarge the figure and make it exceed the frame. The gold was the quick gesture, the green was refining the drawing and corrections; finally the blue was to define the negative shapes in the background and with the remaining time firm up the figure. We were given about 5 minutes.



The other drawing is a rapid contour drawing I did last night...a three minute sketch and this is designed to state the gesture - figure as quickly as possible with as little line as possible.

We also put paper over our drawing surface and drew three different poses blind...that's right. We could not see what we were drawing. The point of this exercise is to force the artist to concentrate on the the contour line of the figure, never taking our eyes off it. It was best done without lifting our charcoal pencil from the surface ... I do not have any pictures of these but I can say I was amazed how accurate my "mental drawings" are becoming. In this exercise you must think and imagine where you are on the page without using your eyes. It is very sensory.

Very good drawing night. (happy)

Something Truly Great Happened...

Frankly, I can't even believe it. I EXPERIENCED something at class last night that I can not even explain. We were doing an exercise where a piece of paper is put over our drawing/hand so that we draw blind. As I was drawing something happened in my brain...I FELT where to draw. OH MY!!!!

Pentel Color Brush Pen

I'm employing a new tool for figure drawing practice. Here are my early attempts.

How does one place in mid tone values with this medium...hum. Maybe I should just leave them out.

Can't make any mistakes . . . not very forgiving but not too bad so far. The next drawings are getting better and you can see that I'm beginning to figure out the brush ... the absorption of the paper is a bit tricky.

Now this drawing looks so pin up-ish (ugh)...but I'm beginning to get the feel for the brush.



Drew this pose twice...

I'm working on expressive strokes. The object of this work is to draw precisely, keeping the figure in balance, in proportion and showing movement ... what the figure is doing.






I know these look rather cartooned but that is not important right now . . . I'm learning something . . . I'm not concentrating on beautiful faces or aesthetics per se. I don't want to draw in a formulaic way . . . so I have to be careful here. This is more to help my eyes and brain see and increase the simplicity and structure of forms . . . I am understanding better the power of thin/thickness of strokes appropriately placed. I'm learning to see into the blankness of the paper first before drawing the stroke and "SEEING" where and what to drawn in my mind first and "SEEING" what to leave out. There is a place to for a heavier line and edges are still important even in high contrast drawing . . . . Seeing bigger and bigger shapes which is extremely exciting. I feel like I am gaining tools . . . physical human tools to put in my artistic tool box.

Soon I will see what this will do on canvas with a brush. Very encouraged my hard work is finally paying off. . .













These are my first effort using a Pentel® Color Brush Pen ... Sepa, black/gray, and a water brush (I haven't incorporated that yet).

Recent sketches...

Random sketches...and a few class work sessions.





















Here are some done with ball point pen...my favorite is a Zebra.

Watercolor study #1

This is a study . . . to learn to control watercolor. In this case, the secret is controlling the water first, the color and then edges.

Blindness....slavery versus freedom

⁴For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.

This is heavy on my heart today. How true. Blindness.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT....R E L A T I O N S H I P S
¹⁴For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.

¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another [in partisan strife], be careful that you [and your whole fellowship] are not consumed by one another.

¹⁶But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).

¹⁷For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.

Come, let us reason together. . . if one is a slave to his/her flesh, does that one really have a free will? Can there be a choice?

That is why God has to intervene. Every good work and every good deed is orchestrated by God in this world . . . ponder that. If you think you are the originator of goodness in your life, you do not give credit where credit is due and there is no recognition of man's true plight and why he must be saved from himself.

God has to step in and do for man what he cannot do for himself.

If one is born again by the Spirit, he/she will finally gain a "freed will" to choose righteousness over unrighteousness. With a new spirit, a new heart, he/she has the power to choose and the flesh is conquered and subdued.

Otherwise, if one can save himself within his own power to choose, why would you need the Holy Spirit or Christ's cross? In essence if man can save himself, he gets all the glory and can boast . . . when clearly salvation is "not of works lest any man can boast." Salvation is a gift given man by God. A gift.

Ponder that. . . a deep thought.

¹⁸But if you are guided (led) by the [Holy] Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.

¹⁹ Now the doings (practices) of the flesh are clear (obvious): they are immorality, impurity, indecency, ²⁰ Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies), ²¹ Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, ²³Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge] ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.

²⁵If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.] ²⁶Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another.

AMEN . . . there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ. If you are free, you are free indeed....not unto perfection and sin-lessness but free from the slavery to sin. Freedom to choose.