Practise makes perfect.... or at least better

I came across a quote attributed to an 'old school' art teacher who answered, in response to the question "how do I improve my art?", " take a stack of paper equal to your height, draw until the stack is gone and you will have got a lot of bad drawings out of your system". 

I have to do more drawing and stop worrying about how 'good' it may or may not be. I seem to have 'drawing block' again and I need to just draw. Of course, I won't inflict the results on you via this blog!

Raven - Charcoal

Second Raven in charcoal;

Raven-- pastel

More experimenting with pastels.

Pencil Raven

Not happy with this but I've put it up now. I'll try to fix the shading on the feathers.

Portland Island-sunset

 

A flock of ravens is called a .........

I wanted to check that what I read was correct that a flock of ravens is called a "coven of ravens". According to http://www.birdnature.com/groupnames.html it is NOT. A group of Ravens is a "congress" or an "unkindness". Other interesting ones are  a "tidings" of magpies, a "parliament" of owls [ I'm sure a flock of owls is probably as rare as a sitting of our own parliament!], and a "host" of sparrows. Since unkindness sounds disparaging, i'll go with a "congress of Ravens"

No drawings yet, just trying to be sure the title is correct.

New Series of drawings

In order to get over some recent 'drawing block' I decided to set my self a bit of a challenge; I will do a series of drawings of Ravens, using different media. I chose Ravens because I find them a fascinating creature. Stay tuned for the upcoming "coven of ravens" posts!

Bison Sketch

 

This is a large format [18 x 24"] charcoal sketch I did as preliminary to a final drawing that I have not gotten around to actually doing yet.

For Adrian -- "Backyard Friends"

 

This is a set of ink drawings I did early on for Adrian. However, I don't think his Dad thinks of these as "friends" when he is trying to protect his garden!

Sun Flower -

I'm still struggling with the pastels I got for Xmas from Leah; colour ramps up the complexity another order of magnitude from charcoal/pen/pencil.

new cow toy

 

Adrian was admiring a bouncy wooden toy at Eidleweiss and so I was given the challenge of making such a toy. I drew a cartoon cow head and then carved it out of a piece of maple. the body and feet are from purchased wooden items. Grandma did the ears from leather. 

I cannot find a low tension spring to make it bounce properly, so for now she will sit on his own potty!

I've not given this to him yet so keep it a secret if you see this before he gets it.

Wyatt's new blog site

I've helped my friend Wyatt with a simple blog site for him to help catalogue both his sold and unsold art work.
Check it out at www.westernskies101art.blogspot.com

Zen Drawing?

I drew this with no plan in mind while listening to a radio program and it was a very relaxing experience. I've since stumbled across a whole genre called "zentangle" which is a form of unstructured doodling that has been used in everything from mediation to anger management. Google it and see what I mean.

I'll post a zentangle that i've done soon.

Portland Island - ink wash

From my sketch book.

Chinook Arch

I drew this from a photo that Mike took from Nosehill while on a bike ride.

WoodWork#1 - tricycle

I made this for my grandson, Adrian, for Christmas. It is solid maple and all the shaping was done by hand since I don't own a lathe.

Wood Work?

I quickly made this blog as a demo to show a friend what he could do for himself regarding a webpage without having to find someone with html skills. He is an artist who needs a way of showing clients what he has done and what is for sale, since he doesn't have a permanent studio space.

Now that I have banged this together I may keep it and expand it. Perhaps I'll put up some of my wood working efforts - these can be thought of as art as well I suppose.

Stay tuned.

West Coast Scene

Old Barn

Every abandoned building has a story to tell.

Elephant closup

Have had some good comments on this from art site I belong to.