sketching Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

The Sketch Group Day

Last week during my travels I was chatting with a woman who said she was also an artist. We swapped stories, education, and photos of our work. She was retired, much older than me, and was involved in different activities, one of which was a regular Friday morning sketch group. Like me, she made art since a kid. Cool.

Sketch #1 of model, black, brown, white conte crayons

As she inspected the photos of my artwork on my phone, she critiqued each piece with more and more enthusiasm.

“Look at the composition, how you made the eye travel in and around this work! What interesting shapes! The colors you used in this piece draws me in!”

You get the idea, right?

“I know..” I answered. “You’re not humble at all, are you?” she replied.
Well, I do know my stuff. I do have my BFA diploma. How I work isn’t happenstance, it’s planned. I switched my reply to “Thanks!”

Sketch #2 of artist working, black and white conte crayon

When she mentioned I should visit the Friday sketch group, I thought it’d be a good idea if I could get myself to check it out. A model, a company of artists, a new environment, why not try it? I cleared my Friday and took a ride.

Sketch #3 of the organizer, watercolor in Moleskin

The group

When I arrived I found 10 people at work with a male model sitting against a dark fabric as a background. The woman I had met was thrilled to see me, the others, not so much. It seems there’s a limit of 20 adults, but if I joined them regularly it’d be way too many bodies jockeying for a spot. No problem! I was there on a quiet day, and maybe I won’t make another class.

Yikes!

I set up my travel easel in a corner with a view of the model, got out the conte crayons and sketched away. When I was done with the first drawing I next did one of a student at work. After that quick sketch I took out my small watercolor palette and sketched the organizer of the group. Done there, I decided one more sketch and I was out of there so I did a watercolor of the model as my last sketch. Quick and done!

Sketch #4 of the model, watercolor in Moleskin book

The loud, 1950’s music they played was just not for me. The sing-along they all did as they worked was also not for me, “On-ly youoooooo….”

I need quiet. If not quiet, then low volume classical, or talking, like a pod cast.

Next Time

I timed out at 1 1/2 hours, 4 sketches in2 different mediums, 3 poses, sort of. As I looked around at the other artists, also much older group than I am, retired sorts, but they were there 3 hours working on 1 piece in 1 medium, and the following week were going to continue on the same piece in the same pose.

While a good idea, and a change of pace for me, this sketch group is not for me. I’ll have to think of something else. Next!

Doing What I Can Do

While I was waiting 20 minutes for a reaction, or none, after my shots at the allergist, I pulled out my little sketchpad and rapidograph and started sketching another patient across from where I sat. It was going really well until she got up and left. That left me with myself to sketch.

I have a confession to make: I haven’t painted at all this week. Can you tell? I know, fifty lashes with the wet noodle. Thinking too many things, bugged at some things, things I really can’t do anything about other than ruminate on the things. Things I do, don’t do, did, want to do, can’t do, not sure how to do, etcetera. So, I didn’t paint.

This week I must put aside all that resistance stuff and paint. I have a project I’ve been asked to do now and the thinking and planning has to happen. Negativity in all it’s forms, Mr. Resistance, the stalker (Hi!! I see you!), the weather, all must stop at the front door. I am going to be too busy to bother with all that.

Sketching While Waiting

I finally found a chiropractor I can live with after trying out the “Rock Star” and some others. It’s not easy to put yourself in the hands of any doctor let alone someone who’s going to take your head and twist it around until it pops!

This chiropractor is a woman and after my intial visit I felt very comfortable with her office, her methods and sensitivities. No Rah-Rah-Chiropractic going on here, just normal procedures. She’s also involved in kinesiology, or muscle testing, and uses that before deciding how to proceed. Her office is attached to her house on a main street near where I live. It’s pleasant, cool and quiet, thankfully. The front office and receptionist is low-key like the doctor herself. She’s a mom too and we can relate. I told her my issues and she listened. Not like the other guy who ran people in without asking what their problems were, did some spinal x-ray like thing and said, “Whoa! You’ve got tons of red alert issues, and you need to come for 65 visits, and please pay for them today, in full!” Ah, no.

I had to wait a few extra minutes one morning and while I did I decided to take out my little drawing pad to sketch something. I didn’t want to be obvious and sketch the other lady in the waiting room, which I love to do. In a small room people are pretty aware of each other, not like a big room with lots of patients where I could hide what I was doing. So I fixed on my hands in my lap holding the pad and rapidograph on top of my handbag. You know, when no one else is available to pose I’m pretty reliable! I’m used to posing for me, isn’t that nice? Yeah, you can laugh now, I know it’s nutty, but “myself” is always around!

I’m off to have my body twisted and cracked now. I can’t wait!

The Din of the Light Bulb Moment

In reading the latest of The Artist’s Way books, Walking in This World by Julia Cameron, I had a light bulb moment. Yes, that weird feeling when suddenly things seem very clear. I could feel a “pop” go off in my head. I looked up and around me with a start. You know the feeling when things seem to come together and make perfect sense? That sometimes happens slowly, like a gradual awakening, the fog slowly lifting and you say to yourself, “Yeah, I see. I get it.” No, that’s not what happened to me. I had a rush, boom, clang, got hit on the head moment. Ouch!

Before you think I lost my mind, I should explain. As I’ve been stuck in resistance lately and I had put off the latest Artist’s Way course book, I decided it was time to re-direct, take a U-turn and pick up where I left off. I’ve been very good about writing the morning pages, not so good at keeping up with artist’s dates, but here and there doing small things to stay in the loop: looking at old work, fussing with that bagpipe work, knitting on socks, ordering yarn. Yesterday I picked up the course book and started reading again.

Chapter 3 is about discovering a sense of adventure to gain a greater feeling of freedom and open mindedness. One of the tasks was called Draw Yourself to Scale. Interesting, I thought. The task involves sketching. Nice and easy, right? To paraphrase: “Sketch each moment and enter adventure..The coffee mug, the doctor’s office..Don’t need to sketch well. The adventure of life rushes past us in a blur. Velocity is the culprit. Velocity and pressure. A sketchbook freezes time and is a form of meditation to focus on every moment.” And here I was thinking I had to sketch myself.

CLICK! The light bulb over my head popped really loud!

A couple of months ago I bought a teeny sketchpad and filled my old rapidograph with ink. I don’t like to carry a large handbag for the weight of it, but okay, the one I have right now can fit a few things. So there’s the sketchbook and pen, handy and ready. When I had some time, and no knitting with me, I’d pop out my things and doodle. Most of the time I forgot I had them with me in my bag.

POP! Light bulb! I have doodled waiting at the doctor’s office! CLICK! I drew a little girl in my teeny book after allergy shots in the waiting room! SNAP! I pulled out the little book last week at a coffee salon and sketched the live musicians while my company sipped their coffee! I’m in the loop after all! Where I thought I was out of the game, I really wasn’t. Maybe I was coasting along the whole time? If I hadn’t read this chapter I may have continued thinking I was still in resistance mode. Talk about synchronicity! Things were just falling into place of their own accord. Could it be I just wasn’t really paying attention to myself?

Boy, that was some light bulb.

Sketching with Paint

When I first started with watercolors, I really didn’t have any idea how to use them. As I said in a previous post, I took a class my town offered which ended up being a disaster on the one hand, but a chance to try on the other. The watercolorist who was the instructor, was busy hustling the retirees by adding extra hours to the class, payable to himself, getting paid to frame their work, besides getting paid to teach the class.

What teach the class? He was totally unethical as I have said. He only demonstrated watercolor painting, by using other artist’s work as a guide for the students. He didn’t teach anything. Not how to set up the colors, not how to prepare the paper, not how to manipulate the brush or the paint. Never set up a still life to work from or a model or go outside. Nothing but demonstrate on other’s art.

When that class was over I continued in my quest with watercolor on my own. At least I had a little idea, but I used these paints as I did oils. I have learned that it’s a totally different medium and it needs a new approach. That’s not to say I haven’t applied these paints just like oils, but they don’t work the same way. I can apply watercolor paint as I do the oil, but they get absorbed into the surface differently.

I found I liked sketching with watercolor from life better than from photos. I know lately I’ve been using pictures of what I want to paint. Sometimes it’s unavoidable. But when I can, I paint straight from the real thing.

The first time I used watercolors to paint a live model I used my son playing his instrument. It was summer and he was practicing in our patio room. He planned to be there a while and I ran to get the paints going as long as he didn’t mind. I quickly sketched the general position of his body and the instrument with a pencil then I went in with paint. The paints that I used for the class were student grade. If I was using pro paints I may have had a better result, but I thought it was good at the time. Now that I’ve been working with better paint I can tell the difference.

I liked working with watercolors and the live model so I did it again with my younger son while he was doing homework in the afternoon. He sat across from me at the kitchen table and I sketched him with only the paint this time. Thankfully, that day he sat quietly and he was a fidgety kid!

I know I’m calling these paintings sketching because I really didn’t spend that much time on them. I sat and quickly painted. When I was done, the painting was over. I didn’t pencil out the idea and go lightly with the paints for a few days like I did with the cherry blossoms. I guess each work has it’s own energy and style. Some days a sketch is enough, some times it takes more for the work to end.

Watercolor Class

The opportunity to work with watercolors never came up while I was studying art in college. However, the town I live in was offering beginner watercolor classes and a friend pushed me into attending. She wanted to try the class and needed me to be the “wing man”, side-kick, buddy. I went along thinking, “Ok, I never worked with watercolors before. Maybe I will learn something.”

We signed up and received a list of all the supplies we needed to bring to the first class. They described the class as a guide in the use and application of watercolor and “other water media.” I’m thinking this is going to be good.

The classroom was a big space with a long line-up of tables and chairs. We found a spot and set up our supplies. Other students filed in and set-up, too. Most of the students were retirement age, we were the youngest in the group. That doesn’t bother me in the least, I’m there for the lessons as well as meeting other artists.

The instructor began the demonstration. He pulled out a magazine clipping of a painting someone did of a ballerina in a pose. With his pencil he sketched out the lines of the painting on his stretched watercolor paper. At this point we didn’t receive any instruction in how to lay out the paints, how to stretch the paper and if we should or not, which brush does what, how to manipulate the paint on wet or dry paper, and he’s advocating the piracy of another artist’s art! I am floored!

Compounding my rage at this guy, the other students were all copying his painting of a painting. They were actually taking photographs of his painting of a painting so that they could duplicate it at home! My friend loved the class, socializing with the others, taking phone numbers, emails, and having a ball doing that. I’m flipping out.

I finally asked the instructor when was he going to teach us something. He didn’t answer. When I asked why he was demonstrating on someone’s painting, he had no answer. I asked if he was going to set up a still life or have a model to paint from, he still had no answer, except to say these students want a demonstration each week. Well, I thought, let me teach that class and we’d have some quality art work to show for the time we’re there!

He did not like me and chose to ignore me the rest of the 6 weeks in the class. I decided then, that I was going to paint him and the rest of the students, like it or not. He definately did not. And the students definately did not, as they glared at me while I painted them.

I taught myself how to use watercolor and loved every minute of my rebellion.