Socializing in the way of artmakzing. . .

Once a year, I have to do my part and make dinner for our Bunco Babes ... a social group of women who meet, eat and play bunco and such. Been working three days on this and two days on my mother's estate inventory and you wonder why I haven't posted any new work????? The week is blown .... Aaaaaaaargh. Soon this will pass and I will focus back down on art.

Edit: By the way...it was scrumptious if I don't say so myself.

Thoughts for this day for me... thinking out loud.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

¹⁰And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved. ¹¹Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false, ¹² In order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely on] the Truth, but [instead] took pleasure in unrighteousness.

As C. S. Lewis writes in the Great Divorce... heaven to the ungodly would be hell. They despise the truth and take pleasure in unrighteousness.

But for those who have been transformed and have a heart that loves the Lord and righteousness ... a far different experience:

BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. --Psalm 1:1-3

Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. -- Psalm 3:6-8

Wonderful promises. God never changes.

How sad that many delude themselves into thinking they are followers of Christ when all they are doing is giving lip service, being "religious", and the truth does not abide in them. How dark is their darkness. From their mouth come cynicism and darkness and you know...I'm not interested in crossing paths with such unless they are seeking truth...another matter indeed.

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.