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Salt and Pepper Hair
More volume, varied textures. Check, check. But here we’ve got salt and pepper hair. Lots of white hairs, lots of streaks of black hair, some hair that seems in-between because it is, or because it is in shadow. How many different ways can you think to approach that? On this day I decided to let […]
The Simple Volume of Hair
Sometimes the best way to capture hair is to look at the volume and capture the large value shapes. It can be more striking than fussing would be. It can make real the cast shadows because of its suggested substance. (Have you guessed yet? October is about hair. I get asked about hair all the […]
The Importance of Space
Is the hair in this sketch exaggerated? It’s hard to say. This woman (a contestant on “Project Runway”) had mounds and mounds of curly hair. So much hair, in fact, often not tied back, that I wondered how she got any work done without it always getting in the way. But remember that thought comes […]
The Final Lectures—Self-assessments, Goals, Working with Intention, Lies of the Internal Critic, and a Pep Talk
This is part 4 of my farewell to teaching series. That’s a long blog post title, but that about covers it. This 46 minute video is excerpts from my Wrap Up Webinar with my final Drawing Practice online session. I talk about the topics in the title. For past drawing students just showing up […]
Papers Buckling When Using Wet Media
Awhile back a student wrote to me about her problem with buckling papers in her journal. Buckling happens when wet media is used on papers. The moisture soaks into the fibers that make up the paper. The fibers swell, the buckling ensues. The artist may become grumpy. But that’s like being grumpy at clouds for […]
In Context: Playing with Faces while Making Soup
My pen was running out of ink and then I had some left over paint—it’s fun what you get up to when you are using little bits of time between doing another task. (The soup was great! Though I only stayed up to put it away for the next day.) This is from an 8.5 […]
Virtual Fair Sketch-In Wrap Up 2020
Thank you to everyone who stopped by, whether to check in, sketch, or simply ask some questions at today’s Virtual Minnesota State Fair Sketch In 2020 We used “out” in the event hashtag (shown below) because I’d already set it up on Facebook. You’ll be able to see some posts already there. You’ll also find […]
Accessories for Today’s Virtual Minnesota State Fair Sketch-In
Today at 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. CDT I’ll be live streaming a sketching demo. It’s a Virtual State Fair Sketch-In because I won’t be at the Fairgrounds—the Minnesota State Fair was cancelled this year due to the Pandemic. I’m glad we are staying safe but I’m always at the Fair on this day in […]
What Kind of a Wise Ass Are You?
Look, I’m known as a bit of a wise-ass. No, let’s be honest, I’m a total-wise-ass-pain-in-the-butt-[expletive-deleted]. As such I really respond well to the wise-assery of others. Ryan Reynolds’ movie characters are a particular favorite of mine. Reynolds has the untrainable ability to talk fast, clear, and sassy while still pushing a plot line forward. […]
Canson Heritage Watercolor Paper—Remembering the Fun
I’ve been catching up on some scanning and filing lately. Last year was all about just getting work done, using every moment of eye-viability as I came to think of it, for work, and not any of the supporting tasks I’ve always done because I like being organized. Well in catching up in the scanning […]