6 weird facts

I was tagged...um..I'll look up the url in a moment...
1 I have a terrible time speaking. If I'm tired I am
even worse. I have a slight Mexican accent....and
I find it is worse if I'm tired or stressed...also I stutter
when under the same circumstances that make my accent worse.
2 I really believe in rules...but have a painfully hard time following them.
I seem to always fail to do as I'm suppose to do....and I live in fear of my
children finding out this fact about their strict Mother.
3 I am unbelievably polite and kind to cashiers and waitresses, etc...
also to anyone else I happen to meet in my day.
but let them act like a jerk and they will remember me for awhile
. I don't take shit off of my fellow man.
I don't yell, cuss or be nasty...but I am very admant, and blunt about
what they are doing and how they will rectify it. I make them feel small.
...and a bit scared. I also will tell other people's kids to knock it off if they
are infringing upon my space, person or rights. I find myself amazed that the
parent usually will not do this.
Never argue with me unless you can use logic better than a Vulcan.
If you do win..I will gracefully acknowledge that fact.
4 I pride myself in being a good loser and a brilliant failure. It is
through these events that one learns.
5 I would go out of my way to be nice to and even loan money to someone
I don't like. I would even give them rides to work, and let them live in my
home rent free if they had a problem.
I feel one should raise above petty dislikes, and be as noble as possible.
The Golden Rule should apply regardless of your personal feelings for a person.
6 I have no feelings about myself. I neither like nor dislike myself. I often forget
that I even am myself. It's such an odd concept to me.
I guess I should tag someone..but I don't really know anyone.

Well, I know Pat... but she was the one who tagged me.
So....feel free to do this if the mood hits....or don't.
Yeah...number 7..I can be apathetic on occasion...especially social type occasions.

I still exist

Been awhile.
I am sick...so, that's that.
On top of excruciating pain from the main...whatever it is...I'm scared to go to the Doc...

I have an ear infection right now.

bleh

Anyways, I have also been drawing...A LOT.
Been trying to learn a new medium....colored pencil.
Drawing really is about seeing.
My own personal proof?
The one subject I draw better than any...my Mother.
Perhaps because except for a short period of time here and there,
my Mom and I have shared a residence all my life.
Including my adult life.
I see my Mother constantly...every tiny nuance of her
face is etched into my mind.
My best subjects after her...my Father, then my children,
then my cat....then Bill.
All individuals that I see constantly.
I draw the cat better than the husband because the
cat is always at my side.
I see him constantly.
Husband is running errands for wife all day...
so I only have him by my side at night.
Cat does not appreciate this intruder to our
cat /woman love fests...eiw..that
didn't sound right.
Why isn't my sis among the list of people I can draw with
my eyes closed?
I suppose because during the time we lived together and
saw one another every day, she was a child and her face
changed a lot as she matured...then she married early.
When I draw something unfamiliar, I look like a total idiot.
I sit and stare at it intently.
I turn it around and around or walk around all sides that are
available to walk around.
I touch it with my eyes, milimeter by milimeter...I find the lines,
then I take off my glasses...you people who can see well, can just squint.
When I take off my glasses, I then see dark and light. ( values )
If I am faced with a difficult perspective, I work it by site not
formula, and make sketches as I do this looking in order to get it how I see it.
Perspective is my weak point..so that extra step is needed...otherwise,
I do all my intent staring, and then I start drawing...usually a line
drawing. When I finish my line drawing...on cheap paper..I trace it.
Then I can use that as a template in case I screw up and need to start over.
I also use this template several times during planning.

From there I work out things like composition, and color
through thumbnail drawings.
When I have the compositon and color how I want it, I make a test run.
I transfer the finished compositon onto a cheap peice of paper, using
any elements from tracing paper that were drawn seperately...or I redraw
them free hand if size or angle has changed.
I then transfer the finished composition to another sheet of cheap paper,
and color it.
this is fast coloring to make sure the ideas in my
thumbnail will work out in a full sized drawing.
This also insure the VALUES are good...and if this is
going to be a graphite drawing...that's very important.
Color isn't even a factor in that case.
Values are the MOST important aspect of color and light that
there is...understand it and understand it well.
If I am going to use colored pencil as the final paint
medium then I write down which pencils I used for my
test painting/drawing.
If I am going to use graphite I write down what pencils
I used, and have my visual map all ready.
I then transfer the compostion/linework yet again
to my final surface.
Um...sometimes that is again cheap paper if this entire
thing is only practice.
I do a lot of things using this entire process that I never
intent to show anyone, but the kitty.
He loves everything I do.
This entire process is also used for paintings using watercolor, acrylics, or
oils...for any art work except for digital.
I do some things differently in with digital painting.

A word about family, and pets who want to sit with you as you draw.
Or in the case of my cat..ON the drawing..
Get a drawing board if you can.
For humans it gives people the non- verbal message that I am serious here..
I'm not playing around with pencils and paint. ( well..ok..I am but..)
I am working.
I have to constantly remind my humans that this is for money.
But even if it isn't for money in your case...
drawing and painting take thought, and planning, and concentration.
You are serious about what you are doing even if you do enjoy it.
Others need to respect that.
A drawing table says to others..."Hey..I'm working here!"
As for the cat..if he tries to sit on my tilted drawing table..
well..he slides right off!
Another message to others that you are serious...establish
a space that is for art work only.
Openly and blatantly call it your studio...even if it's just
a small space behind your sofa.
Real artists have studios in most peoples minds.
This is good for the new artist who struggles with the
concept and question of "Am I really an artist."
We all go through that period of wondering if we deserve to join the ranks
of those who are called artist. We blush when others call us that one day..
and many even deny it.
My way of knowing if one is truly an artist?
If you decide you are...then you are.
But having a space dedicated to art helps one with that decision.
It also helps those around them see that decision.

And a painting too!

It's Kes from Star Trek Voyager.

Digital painting using real media principles.

I am having issues from working between moniters...on this one there is too much orange...I am not seeing that on the montiter I painted it on. It's irritating and like the issue with the scans in the last entry...makes me feel powerless.

new drawings

really just practice....except for the bones...that's a not so much practice as a doodle thingy. The pic of the girl is my daughter Donna...it was extremely fast. If you have kids then you have an idea of how much they move...and just how fast the sketch was.

All are traditional media..mostly pencil and/or graphitints ( basically ...pencil, but a lightly tint, water soluable type.)

All done in the last week...longest took about 2 hours?

Terrible scans.