Friday, March 08, 2024

"Green Bikini" - mixed media figurative

ink, watercolor, oil pastel, figurative, green, drawing
I bought some cold press 8 x 8"watercolor paper at Hobby Lobby and was just trying it to see how it would work for oil pastel, but ended up doing mostly watercolor on it.  And you know, I'm no watercolorist!  I think it would be really good for tight watercolor work - meaning the watercolor didn't spread much - at least,  that's how I plan to use it.  (I don't really know watercolor terms, but it was easier to control on this paper.) I love Hobby Lobby and while I used to be able to find sheets of very "different" drawing papers, like one with inclusions or interesting surfaces, haven't found them lately.   Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but I'm a paper addict.  You should see my studio.  Paper!  All kinds!  Everywhere!  I'm trying to organize, but what a task!  

I did this loose drawing with Derwent Line Maker 0.3.  This ink isn't water soluble, so I could do some  watercolor over it, and worked a tiny touch of oil pastel over the inside of her hair.  Worked well for OP by the way.  She actually began life as a nude, but I gave her a green bikini.  I love green - it may be my favorite color.  And I love Line Maker.

Alas, due to my not being much of a photographer, this piece looks warmer that it really is.😟

Thanks so much for stopping by - great to see y'all here! And I love your emails!💚


Monday, March 04, 2024

Which Pose to Choose?

flamenco dancer ink drawing, black and white art, expressive, motion, movementI was trying to decide on a "pose" for a flamenco painting - so I went through a few of my drawings to find one I liked.  The first one I did from life and was quickly drawn - much lighter because I was using a smaller nib and I was scribbling furiously to capture the dancer's motion.

 But the second one below is one that I did while looking at the first drawing - because I didn't really like the position of the dancer's left arm in the first drawing.  My take is that the first one is much better and has more energy to it.  (All the lines on her arm help me when I'm dealing with foreshortening.). The second drawing seems so still by comparison.  I do like the lines on it, but I had more time to incorporate a variety of lines with that one.
So I guess this post is just about me telling myself once again that drawing from life is the absolute best way to record movement!  Will paint from the first one - maybe move her arm a little and paint quickly while I listen to music for flamenco dancing.

Yesterday afternoon was spent at South Llano State Park near Junction, Texas, drawing trees.  I thought I had done a pretty good job with a cedar stump and was going to post it today.  But no.  It looked so ridiculous.  However, I will get brave and post the next tree drawing - am lately interested in doing dry point etchings of trees.  Stay tuned.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Thursday, February 01, 2024

"Marilee in Pastel Pencils" - original portrait sketch in pastel pencils

portrait drawing, woman, pastel pencils, portrait


Here's a 7 x 5" Pastelbord sketch of the model Marilee that I did using Caran d'Ache pastel pencils.  I do love this medium  - the only problem for me with soft pastels is the framing.  And I really really love to work with the pencil version!  We didn't have as much time as I would have liked, but that's always my complaint and I think "not having enough time" pushes us to work faster, which is good practice.  Anyway, it was fun drawing her and I appreciate your stopping by my blog!
 

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

"Jacob" - portrait drawing from life


loose oil pastel portrait drawing from life

Nothing more interesting or challenging than drawing from life.  I've participated in life drawing groups  for many, many years and I never tire of them.  A lot of this piece was done using the side of my oil pastels which contributes to a looser drawing - and I'm so pleased with how this portrait turned out - my approach was to begin with shape and when nearly complete, I added a bit of line.  It was fun doing a drawing this way - maybe it's my new method.  Painted with Caran d'Ache and Sennelier oil pastels on 5 x 7" Pastelbord.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Saturday, December 02, 2023

"Flower Sketch" - original oil pastel drawing of a flower


 Trying to get sketches of the last flowers in the garden, I did a quick sketch of this one, a floribunda rose while I had some light.
Done on Bee 6 x 9" watercolor paper which I coated with gray acrylic paint then applied lots of Caran a'Ache and Sennelier oil pastels.  A fun thing for a Saturday afternoon.  Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

"Three Guys" - pen and ink drawing from life

ink drawing, male model, black and white drawing

 I was running out of room on my page so just drew over previous drawings.  I love doing this sort of thing.  The drawing is on 6 x 8" paper from a Strathmore Bristol board sketchbook.  It's useful sometimes to use a smaller piece of paper than usual and crowd everything on it. A big piece of paper can be a bit intimidating, so for warm-ups I often use a sketchbook this size or maybe 8 x 10".  Plus you never know what will develop when there are overlapping figures. 
On this one I used an Itoya calligraphy pen with two tips (mostly used the smaller one), an ultra fine Sharpie,  and a Derwent Line Maker that was included in a little painting/drawing kit that I received as a gift.  Mine is a 0.3 and I really like it, and would like to try a couple more sizes.  
Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

"Monday's Model" - charcoal drawing from life

Lately I've been indulging in life drawing sessions on Zoom and am loving it!  This drawing was done  with General Pencil Co. Peel 'n' Sketch charcoal and Primo charcoal - both SO wonderful - on Strathmore toned paper.

It's kind of a different experience using Zoom since I can connect with a life drawing group anywhere.  In this case, instead of my studio, I was in my kitchen, of all places.  And although this was a 40-minute pose, there seemed to be a few distractions that cut into my drawing time (possibly due to my usual disorganization😉),  but it's still a great way to get life drawing time in without having to drive.  I highly recommend it!  Thanks for stopping by!


 

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Black and White Variety - drawings from life




Here are some of my life drawing efforts - mostly quick pieces, which are my favorite.  I learn a lot from this kind of work even if I don't finish and there are mistakes because it sharpens my drawing skills.  I used Sharpies and charcoal on these fun pieces.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Sketch of Janie - original oil pastel portrait drawing

oil pastel, loose, colorful, expressive, portrait

 This loose drawing is one I copied from a more serious piece that I did in a life drawing group.  I was getting ready to send the first one to File 13, but gave it another life here.  I allowed myself maybe 10 minutes and went crazy.  Done on sanded pastel paper with mostly Sennelier and some Caran d'Ache and CrayPas Specialist oil pastels, it's about 7 x 10".  I never stop loving my oil pastels - more artists should try them - whether drawing or painting, they're up for anything!  Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Chess Game - Original oil pastel portrait drawing

oil pastel portrait, loose, colorful, expressive

 Kind of intense game between these two and I had to make my move while I could.  I'm always so happy to have models even if that's not what they had in mind!  I scribbled this one on 16 x 20" Canson Mi-Teintes board with Sennelier oil pastels.  It was so rewarding to draw quickly without thinking - just one's reaction to the model(s) is really deeply satisfying.  Same way with the "Seated Nude #45"  that I posted a day or so ago.  Somehow looseness (is that a word?) in artwork is so gratifying for
me.  Thanks for visiting my blog!

Friday, September 15, 2023

Seated Nude #45 - original charcoal figurative drawing

charcoal drawing of a. nude, loose, expressive

More loose and fun for me than usual.   About 6 x 5" on toned gray Strathmore paper.  I'm working on some 4 x 4" paintings and other   
pieces that if they work out okay, I'll post in a couple of days.  Drawings are my thing, though, and I'm really enjoying doing these.  And there are life drawing groups online that I've been "attending".  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Drawing Practice - Original charcoal figurative drawings



 
Every day I draw something - here's from yesterday.  The day before that it was two or three landscapes.  I'm kind of hooked on the male torso from ancient times - someday, maybe, I'll do it perfectly.  Maybe.  The first of these is an improvement on a drawing I did in a drawing group.  The last is a copy from a book - and I admit it needs some work.😀 Thanks for stopping by and looking at my efforts!

Friday, September 08, 2023

More Jivers - Original Figurative Drawing

Figurative Line Drawing, Black and White, Movement, Loose

 This 11 x 14" charcoal and ink drawing on Bristol board was a challenge because of the woman's turn of her leg - always kind of tough to depict, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  Just put on the music and drew these two jivers - much fun! I teetered on overworking this piece but held off - thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, June 22, 2023

"My Favorite Season" - original ink and watercolor figurative drawing

ink line drawing, movement, sports, baseball, drawing, loose, action
Quick drawing of this slugger - so much fun to draw from baseball games - was in Baltimore the other day to see  the Orioles play KC!  And Orioles won - Yay!  I even love the sounds of a baseball game.  I'm guessing the new rules are making it easier for people to watch now that games are a little shorter.  The length never bothered me though - there is so much drama going on that it's just great to watch - or listen - I also love baseball on the radio!  This little piece is 8.5 x 5.5" on cold press watercolor paper, using a Sharpie with a bit of watercolor.  Thanks for stopping by! 
 

Thursday, June 15, 2023

"We Demand to be 'Just' a Drawing!" - ink and charcoal figurative line drawing

line drawing, black and white, ink, charcoal, movement, loose

 Here's a drawing that I love but simply cannot paint.  Painting from this piece just eludes me.  This happens a lot - I guess because when I do the drawing, so often I'm actually looking at the dancers (in the dark, I just move the pencil or pen on the paper without looking) and the drawing actually captures what I'm seeing. Painting it later just doesn't seem to do it justice sometimes.  Too stiff, maybe?  You can see a few lines I drew later to see where to place on canvas.  Anyway, I love this couple because they're determined to be what they are and I support them in being a drawing and never feeling they must be represented in paint.  All of this said by a Lover of Drawings!!!!! It's about 10 x 10".  Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, May 28, 2023

"Sketch of Alexis" - mixed media portrait sketch

mixed media, portrait, figurative, sketch, drawing, woman, quick, loose
This drawing is one of those "catch them while you can" drawings.  Not often enough do I have a live model all to myself! Alexis is a model I've drawn from before, but this time it wasn't in a group setting. For this fun drawing, I used acrylic with touches of oil pastel and charcoal.  The acrylic did 95% of the work in this piece.   It's done on acrylic paper by Strathmore - a really tough support that I love - has a definite pattern to the paper that really works when using acrylic and I even like it for other media (obviously).  The size of the paper was originally 12 x 12" but I cut it down to about 11 x 6" and did something else with the rest of it.  One of the most fun things is using scrap pieces to do something experimental - and sometimes it actually works!  Thanks so much for stopping by!
 

Monday, May 15, 2023

"The Violinist" - original charcoal and oil pastel portrait drawing

male violinist, musician, charcoal and oil pastel portrait, loose drawing, Connie Chadwell

Totally loved doing this drawing, beginning with vine charcoal
and then moving to Caran d'Ache oil pastel.  The (unsuspecting) model was in a quartet I was lucky to see and being close to the musicians, I zeroed in on this violinist. It's totally a memory drawing, but I think really pretty accurate.  I love drawing musicians as much as I love drawing dancers.  Gotta have music to dance, right?  The support for this piece is the carton board (carton is supposed to have an accent over the "o" but I don't know how to do it) from Guerrilla Painters.  I love this stuff.  It's great for oil pastel, charcoal, oil, acrylic and others, too, I'm sure.  If I use it for oil, I use clear gesso so I don't lose the beautiful color, which would happen if I used regular gesso.  With oil pastel, I just draw directly on the paper since OP contains a different type of oil that won't damage the support.  And the carton will then be bonded to museum board for extra strength.  Thanks for stopping by!





 

Sunday, April 30, 2023

"Maiko #5 "- original oil pastel portrait

Japanese geisha make colorful oil pastel painting
I did this painting with Caran d'Ache and Sennelier oil pastels on black mixed media 7 x 5" paper.  A maiko is a very young woman who is training to become a geisha. These young women have so much to learn of which every bit is fascinating to me.  I do get to draw from life a few Japanese models dressed as geishas and it is such a thrill!  I so enjoyed doing this one - thanks for stopping by!
 

Monday, April 17, 2023

"Zara in a Peasant Blouse" - original oil pastel figurative

oil pastel figurative woman colorful loose drawing


More fun for me - a few minutes with this young woman and her colorful outfit.  The black lines that outline the figure are from a General Pencil Company Peel and Sketch charcoal pencil - I loosely filled in the drawing with Caran d'Ache and Sennelier oil pastels.  The paper is Stonehenge and is about 5 1/2 x 4 1/2".  This quick little drawing is a perfect illustration of why it's good to always have a few art supplies at hand.  You never know when something good will turn up!  I might not have used charcoal and oil pastel together in this case (although I have used this combination in other pieces) but it's what I had in my bag, so I just went with it.  I love spur-of-the-moment art!💖 Thanks for stopping by my blog!
 

Thursday, February 09, 2023

"Just A Little Ink Sketch"- original ink life drawing of a nude

ink drawing of a nude, line drawing, black and white drawing
Not an easy pose to hold with the feet in that position and one arm over the other - just increases my respect for models!  I used a Sharpie pen to 'feel' the model and since the lines this left around the subject couldn't be erased, they're still there.  Actually I think it gives an interesting look of lightness to the drawing - resulting, I think, from using the Sharpie Ultra Fine Point - the lines are so fine that they are not a distraction from the drawing.  Drawn on Strathmore 90 lb Mixed Media paper, it's about 7 1/2 x 3 1/2".  Thanks for stopping by!  Click here for a bit of Sharpie history.
 

Sunday, January 29, 2023

"40's Jive" - original ink and watercolor figurative drawing

ink and watercolor drawing jive dancers loose energy colorful movement

 This drawing is totally loose and undirected with absolutely no thought to the end result.  Shouldn't admit it, but yeah, that's the truth.  I just put splashes of color here and there and basically had a great time.  Sometimes I think I'd like to make wire sculptures of dancers and this sort of has the same fun feel to it.  About 5 1/2 x 8" on Canson mixed media paper. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

"Loree" - original graphite portrait drawing of a woman

woman, original, black and white, drawing, portrait, graphite
Although I love to draw with charcoal, occasionally I will use a graphite pencil to do a portrait.  I used HB and 2B on this one -  the support was Canson mixed media paper.  The paper is white although with my great photography, you wouldn't know it😞.  I also trimmed it to 8 x 4 3/8".  Thanks for stopping by!
 

Friday, December 30, 2022

"Salsa!" - original oil pastel figurative




salsa dancers, colorful, loose, oil pastel, man and woman

Salsa dancers are figures I don't draw much, but now and then, I do see a pose that appeals to me and here's one.   Some of my dancers go on to become larger oil paintings and this may be one of those that "graduates".   I painted it on 7 x 5" Ampersand Pastelbord with mostly Sennelier and some Caran d'Ache oil pastels as well. Thanks for stopping by - and Happy New Year!




 

Monday, November 28, 2022

Seated Nude on Cream Paper - original charcoal life drawing

Seated Nude on Cream - original charcoal life drawing
This drawing was done on a 9 x 12" cream colored paper that was in a stack of my acid-free papers.  I never tire of drawing nudes - that's where I started my formal art journey and I think that's the best way to understand the figure.  It was really hard during the shutdown, so a lot of my drawings are sort of "elderly".  But now life drawing is back and so am I! Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Corinne - original oil pastel portrait

Although I absolutely prefer working from life, this piece was done from my photo of this model.  It's on 10 x 8" Ampersand Pastelbord with mostly Sennelier oil pastels from their portrait collection as well as some Caran d'Ache oil pastels.  Thanks for looking - and Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday, November 18, 2022

A Nude from Summer - original ink drawing

nude ink seated loose life drawing black white
Here is a nude drawing done this summer - can't believe it's been so long since I posted!  I used a very thin dowel - so thin that it kept breaking until finally I was left with a piece about four inches long.  Must have been using a bit too much pressure - and then brushed with water.  It's loose without much thought and that's the way I like it, so I consider this one a success.  The paper is Canson Mixed Media, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2".  Thanks for stopping by!
 

Friday, August 19, 2022

"Lainie" - ACEO original oil pastel portrait


ACEO original oil pastel portrait young beautiful woman impressionistic

I love to do these tiny art pieces (3.5 in x 2.5 in) - and although they are so small, they really do take a good amount of work.  Lainie was a model at one of the life drawing groups and was so good at holding a pose.  Being a model is tough work - I know this because when the model doesn't show up, the attendees are usually pressed into service!

For this one, I used mostly Sennelier oil pastels plus some Caran d'Ache Neopastels on Strathmore illustration board - all completely archival.   Thank you for visiting my blog!

Saturday, June 04, 2022

Portrait of Laura - original charcoal portrait




Connie Chadwell, charcoal, portrait, loose, drawing

 I was so lucky to see the exhibition "Degas at the Opera" when it was in Paris and while my model perused the catalog from that fabulous exhibition, I did a sketch of her.  This drawing was done using vine charcoal on Canson Mix Media 12 x 9" paper, 138 lb, so a good weight.  Would liked to have had more time for this drawing but was glad to have even this much - thank you for stopping by!  

Monday, May 30, 2022

Clara's Hat - original oil pastel portrait

oil pastel, loose, portrait, design, Connie Chadwell


I used a rather casual approach to this little piece which always seems to be my best option. Loose and inexact makes me so happy - not just in what I do but in most all artwork.  Her pose was perfect as a design, I thought, so I kept her over on the side.   My tools were Sennelier oil pastels on 7 x 5" Ampersand Pastelbord.  Much fun.  Thanks so much for stopping by!


 

Sunday, May 15, 2022

More Valentines - original oil pastel portrait



Another oil pastel done from one of my charcoal drawings.  I do love the beauty and emotion of dance - whether waltz, two-step or tango (or actually any other kind).  It was so apparent to me that these two were really happy to be together.  This one is on 8 x 10" Judson's Guerilla carton board - two of my favorite artists from the past, Vuillard and Toulouse-Lautrec used cardstock, but I could never find any that was archival, but now - thank you Judson's - comes this great surface which is so wonderful for oil pastel!  If you want to use oil paint and want a little extra protection for the surface from the damage that can be caused by oil (not the same as the oil in oil pastel, which is not a problem) clear gesso is a great option.  After it gets a little more dry, I will bond it to museum board.  Thanks for stopping by!