Discovery

Heard a great piece of advice on finishing paintings this week and thought it was time to sit down and do just that instead of warping through another page of thumbnails.

 

This one started out as one of those thumbnails several months ago.  This was a good experience in taking a piece from a tiny composition to a full blown painting and it's rewarding to bring it to fruition.  Makes me hopeful for the hundreds of other paintings of mine that are still at the thumbnail stage.

Just plane yogurt

Final field trip week.  Hit a childhood favorite this time, the Omniplex.  Unfortunately, I went there to draw aircraft and most of their aviation collection has been put into storage during their renovation of that portion of the facility.  There was not much left that lent itself to simple sketching.  Made the best of it though and got a chance to draw some trains and spacecraft as well.  It was amazing to stand next to (and touch, shhhh) an engine from the Saturn V.  Still the largest and most powerful rocket ever built by humanity.

Beyond relieved that I get to spend my halfday doing what *I* want this week.  No field trips, no errands, no appointments.  Just me and the dog and likely a nap...

 

 

This is the end for weekly updates.  While I'm thrilled to be close to doing my work again, I know that my posting rate will ebb from the pace I set in school.  There will still be entries, just more sporadic.



On this day we give tanks...

Military vehicles this week.  Another great local museum that I probably wouldn't have gone to otherwise.  The 45th Infantry Museum has a large collection of vehicles indoors as well as a large "park" outside with dozens more. 

This week is a perfect example of why I took these courses.  I never would have drawn these with this much effort without having to turn them in.  After next week's planes, I'll basically be done with the full courses that I'm taking this year.  Going to do some specific workshops and then get back to my personal projects, complete with all the knowledge I've gained over the past 7 months.  Looking forward to that. 

Wheels on cars?  Stressful since you have to nail two of them really well.  Wheels on tanks?  There's so many that as long as I get most of them right then I can goof a couple and still come out okay.



They call me the fireman.

That's my na-uh-yame.

Car time.  With no classic car museums closer than a four hour round trip, I made do with the Firefighter Museum.  Was able to draw from their numerous truck collection as well as cases and cases of models showcasing firetrucks through the last century plus.

Not my best week.  Lots of ellipses and linear perspective by hand made it stressful.  It was a good challenge though.  Staying in the same mode this week with military vehicles.  I think I can draw military ANYTHING so my birthday trip tomorrow to the 45th Infantry Museum should provide interesting subjects for me.  Stay tuned to this station for more...



Zoobooks

Does anyone even remember Zoobooks? It seems they're still around.  I loved them as a kid.  Between all those back issues and actually going to a wonderful zoo during breaks and field trips I had a love for animals take hold early.  They've always fascinated me so I was pleased to have a chance to draw them for an assignment.

Hit the Oklahoma City Zoo last week with a good friend of yore.  Fun trip but I wasn't happy with my output that day.  Decided to take the opportunity to dive into full marker and gel pen use on top of my drawings.  I've been holding back so that my actual sketching was the star, but needed something to experiment with. 

All of these were drawn from life with the exception of the male lion, Aslan, who was put down due to illness in early 2012.  He's drawn from my personal photographs of him roaring and if you've never heard a male lion roar in person...add that to your list.  It's an amazing display of power that you can FEEL all through your core.  This was my tribute to him for letting me hear his declarations of territoriality.

Term 2

Been a while since I posted so I'll make up for it with drawings from the first three weeks of Dynamic Sketching II.  The flowers were a bday gift for my girlfriend.  The insects and dinosaurs were drawn from observation at Sam Noble Museum on the OU campus.

The remaining skeleton pages are from a local gem, the Museum of Osteology.  It's America's only skeleton museum, is one of my favorite museums that I've ever been to and is about three miles from where I was raised.  Check it out if you're close; it's well worth the admission.

 

 

 

 

 

Recently had a rough weekend with the pup.  Here's a drawing of him resting comfortably.  Love that boy.

 

Astounded

So CGMA has posted their student gallery for last term (Spring 2013).  I'm incredibly humbled by their selections.

I hold 5 of the 16 gallery spots for Dynamic Sketching I.  :o

I completely expected to have 1, possibly 2 of my pieces in the gallery because I feel really good about my work last term.  But having a third of the available slots in a class with ~35 students is shocking to me.  I'm looking into how the pieces are selected for my own curiosity and will update this post when I find out.

In a humorous and slightly boggling turn of events, I also have a piece in the Intro to Perspective gallery even though I took that class two terms ago.  :D

So thank you to CGMA for teaching me the methods to make better art and then showcasing it for me.  This has been an amazing experience so far. 

Damn Polaroids...

Here's my final piece for Dynamic Sketching I.  Designed a series of ambush predators who hide amongst the orchids.  I am not completely happy with the finished product.  I feel like I tightened up early and it constrained my drawing. 

Overall, very pleased with the course.  Even after drawing for years, I'm just now starting to feel the confidence that I can fix any mistakes that I may make during the process.  Next term will be a continuation of these techniques and will feature extensive drawing from life.  I've got all my field trips planned out and am grateful to live in a city with such a wealth of museums to visit for my artistic purposes.