Thursday, July 16, 2015

Banjo!!

I brought my sketchbook along to a banjo performance Wednesday night. I was a little hesitant, wondering what kind of view I would have--would I even be able to see well enough to draw? 

But I am so glad I brought my supplies!

My friend snagged great seats in the third row and I had a fantastic view throughout the performance. It was so much fun to sketch the banjoists as they played. It was a real challenge to get the musicians in proportion with their banjos.

It was pretty easy to draw the male banjoist from the start. Which is why I didn't draw him very much--I was obsessed with trying to get the female banjoist down perfectly. 




And after four or five attempts, I finally cracked the code (whatever it was!) and got it down. She was much more animated than her counterpart, so she presented a greater challenge... and greater reward: more animated, exuberant drawings...




... including gesture drawings of her dancing.



I had a blast! Might need to try to make it to more musical/theater performances.



The music was beautiful, too. Very peaceful and fulfilling to do what I love while listening to beautiful music being played by someone who is doing what they love.




New Portrait Commission

I'm starting work on a new portrait commission--playing around with possible compositions right now. Here's a thumbnail I sketched up tonight.


Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Portrait from Life


This is one of several sketches I did a couple of weeks ago over pizza with one of my best friends, Michelle. The funny thing about drawing people is that some are easy to draw, and some are hard. I suppose it must have to do with their features--but I've never identified any one feature that makes one person harder to draw than another. Michelle has always been easy for me to draw, ever since the first day I drew her in art class eight years ago.