There Will Be (cadmium red) Blood TONIGHT!

fun with new pens

There is a battle going on nightly in my house.  It is waged with pen, pencil & paper.  It is waged between the Pinterest-pinning, doodle-loving, letter-making whimsicalist (yes I totally just created a word) and the Leonardo-admiring, charcoal-wielding, traditional-technique-practicing realist.  The whimsicalist doodles on the realist with her new color pens.  Meanwhile, the annoyed realist can't find the good pencil sharpener and the drawing exercises never turn out perfectly anyway.  Sigh.

When imagining this journey, I saw myself sitting down daily to work through drawing exercises and sketching life around me.  Enter the world of art journals.  There is a whole genre of art out there I wasn't really aware of.  People who create fun pages of words and doodles and patterns and textures and color  - with some or no realistic drawing incorporated.  It feels more crafty to me, but it is tempting.  I try to mix it up - do a little of both.  Whimsy is winning lately.  I want to believe it's my inner illustrator at work.  I've created motivational sketchbook (art journal) pages trying to convince myself it's okay to veer off a bit.  So far I'm not falling for it.  Sometimes I think, "Hey, that turned out kinda' cool."  However, usually I think, "Okay, that was fun, but tomorrow I need to do some 'real' art."

Hence the dilemma.  Is this helpful, useful, or does it matter?  Does any kind of practice advance my skills?  Or is it just lazy and another form of procrastin(art)ing?  Someday there may be answers.  The journey continues and I'm wondering how many diverging roads there will be in these yellow ochre woods.  Onward ho... or ... to the battlefield!  There will be blood tonight! (best movie ever!)

Art practice for the realist.  Blind contour giraffes - a lesson from the Drawing Lab book.  I must admit - I used to hate this technique, but it's growing on me.

Happy Doodle Cats

Day one seemed a successful start to this journey.  Then Tuesday was crazy and I was tired, so stuck with happy/silly faces.  Wednesday was long & I was tired, so it was a doodling day.  (I justify it as showing my imaginary readers that you don't have to do realistic drawings to keep a sketchbook.)  Today was busy & long and I just got to my sketchbook at 9 pm.  My brain - "Now what?!? Don't you deserve a break?"  The other side of my brain - "NO - Don't give in already.  Draw EVERY SINGLE DAY!" ... sigh

a few of the faces

So, instead of deciding what to draw I grabbed the Drawing Lab book and did the first exercise - draw a bunch of really quick cats... I mean quickly draw a bunch of cats.  I believe you're then supposed to play around with your favorite one - redrawing, adding color and such.  I'm making the rules & I declare this lesson a two-parter.  Part one is done & so is this day!

doodles

1 of 30 cats  

Proceeding With(out?) Caution

How do I start?  Too many options for an indecisive soul.  I'm that shopper staring at toothpick boxes for 10 minutes deciding between round & flat.  I need a plan for this journey.  (Fail to plan and you plan to fail...)  Work through the Drawing Lab exercises or stick with 642 Things to Draw?  Sketch a traditional still life or the cat or the dog or my feet on the couch?  Indecision is a bit crippling.  Ugh.

I have maybe decided to simply start making marks and see where the line takes me.  Realism, cartoon or abstract, we'll see what happens.  Yeah, we'll go with that.  Then we can mix it up as we go.

Open the Sketchbook Day aka D(raw) Day aka aaaaaaaagh . . . is tomorrow.  I know there are much more important and serious things going on in this world, but in this little corner - I'm excited, anxious, nervous, elated, scared, brave, sick, giddy, paranoid . . . you get the picture.

The Art of ProcrastinArting

 Continuing from the last post . . .  The nudging of my daughter began working on me.  I researched books to revive my artist.  I bought An Illustrated Life, Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists and Sketchbook for the Artist.  All wonderful, but the first was especially inspiring.  Hmm - yes, I could start a new sketchbook, but I didn't - yet.

The final tipping point, that final heavy straw, if you will, was an unexpected sale on Prismacolor pencils.  I had a 60 piece set from my college days, but many are nubs and some are lost and I've long wanted a new set.  We were traveling and shopping and I was in the mood to splurge.  So I did.  On the drive home, I sampled the new pencils in an old sketchbook I'd begun carrying, but never used.  My brain began scheming how I could "do" art again.  I formulated a plan - document the lovely colors of my new and old pencils.  Get the feel of it again.  Then, I'd finally be ready to create.  So, I organized my pencils by color and made pages of shades & lines.  Hmm, now how would they look in number order?  More procrastinating. . .  Come on already - you need to be held accountable!  Then I stumbled upon a few art blogs via Pinterest.  AHA!  I already blogged (infrequently).  I could do this.

Well, imaginary reader - you and me - yep, we're almost there.  Almost to D(raw) Day & we're going to kick this artist in the indigo blue heinie!

ProcrastinArting - Page 1 of 8

ProcrastinArting Page 7 of 8

WAIT - don't go yet.  Speaking of kicking in the heinie... A few of you have mentioned wanting to join this journey.  Well, now is the time people.  Grab a sketchbook, journal or random notebook & a good pen/pencil.  We'll start together Monday.  Prior skills NOT required.  Make your own rules.  Sketch, doodle, write, or draw blindfolded.  It's not about what you can do - it's about DOING!  So let's DO!