Hat

It is cold here as I mentioned in an earlier post. My mom has knit me a few sock hats over the last few years including one that would fit under my motorcycle helmet. Unfortunately they are all lost, stolen, or kidnapped awaiting a ransom of pop-tarts and chocolate milk. (Yes, that was the ransom my son demanded Sunday as he nabbed it to take home with him.) Instead of asking for another i have decided to make my own. That's right, I can knit, crochet, sew, cook, clean, launder, and do all the other so called "women's work." One of the benefits of being raised by my mom and having three sisters. I am pretty much self-sufficient. (The sewing earned me a lot of extra $$$ in the army when I was living in the barracks. We soldiers are hard on our clothes lol) I decided to crochet my hat. I am more comfortable with crochet than knitting and by making it myself, i can ensure it will be big enough and be long enough to fold over in the watch-cap style. Here is my beginning. I've chained 50, did one SC for the turn and am now SC in each stitch. My idea is to make a rectangle and then do a permanent type of basting stitch to seam it. I found out earlier that the sailor's watch-caps of old were made in this way except they were knit. Very few were made in the round due to the fact that it left a hole in the top and I guess the magic loop hadn't been invented yet.

Not Mine

This is not my work. In fact I do not even know the person. My sister sent me a link to a person on Facebook The link below will take you to her clay sculpture of a baby. This one looks so real, that if I wasn't told it was made out of sculpy I would have thought it was real.

The artist's Facebook page to view this wonderous doll is here:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=424016426004&set=a.218600481004.173620.217269001004

Art comes in many forms and to me, this is art. It is enough to make me feel humbled in my own meager attempts.

Copying

My daughter had a friend text her a fairy holding a skull sitting in front of a tree with a large moon behind it. It is a great pic but the problem is/was she wants me to draw it for her. I do not like copying other peoples art for obvious reasons. However Edgar Degas told one of his students that, "The masters must be copied over and over again and it is only after proving yourself a good copyist that you can reasonably be permitted to draw a radish from nature." Now this drawing of the fairy is certainly not by one of the Masters, but it does raise a good debate question. When is it okay to copy some other artist's work? Here are my beliefs on it.

• Never copy another's work, no matter how trivial or unknown, if your point of doing so is for profit or fame.
• It is fine to copy another's work as long as you are doing it to either further your own art or your understanding of the original artist
• It is okay to copy another artist if you are wish to work in their style
• It is okay to copy another's work if it is for your own pleasure

That being said, I guess I will make a hard copy of her text message picture beings it falls into the criteria. I am not doing it for profit, I will not claim it as my own, and it is going to be hung on my daughter's wall for her pleasure. Guess I need to get started on it.

Trees, cats, coffee, and books.

Have had my two youngins since Wednesday so not much art has been getting done. I know this is an art blog, and as much as I love creating, I love my kids more. Yesterday we put up the tree and a few other decorations such as an inflatable bear and mechanical lighted reindeer outside. I am against the commercialization of Christmas but my wife likes it and I haven't found a kid yet that doesn't, so I joined in.

It is Wildflecken and Bindlach type of cold outside! Coffee and a book is the best thing to do today. (Wildflicken and Bindlach are two cities in northern Germany for the un-geographically educated) So as I sit here with my daily ration of coffee I am getting ready to start re-reading Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series. Long live Rand al'Thor, the Dragon reborn!

For the longest time after my cardiac condition was diagnosed I didn't drink coffee at all. I used to drink a pot and a a half daily. To much stress on my heart now because of the caffeine. Since the doc told me to abandon hope about getting better I have allowed myself one, just one cup each morning. If I am not getting better, then what does it matter? I won't drink enough to give a chance to a chemically induced tachycardia which was the initial concern. At least this way I get some of my 'beany-goodness.'

I woke up this morning around 0600 as I normally do, and thought I would play in my corner studio before the kids got up at 0800 for church. As I settle myself down at my desk I notice my cat, Panterra, is on the desk also. Knowing I am going to use my watercolors (I wanted to practice mixing greys and blacks; I really do need to make some color swaths) I ask her politely if I may have my paper towels. She told me no. It was a soft pillow and she was safe from Gracie, my poodle mix, up there. I told her I really needed them. Below is her reply:

This is what I did today.

Not Much

Not much was done art wise yesterday. I went over perspective and shadows with my daughter. She pointed out that she didn't like my nose or my wife's sunglasses in the drawing she gave me. I explained how a nose has very few hard lines and how it is mostly made up of shadow. Next I showed her how to use various body parts as a reference for adding other parts or items to a drawing.


I wanted a calligraphy pen but money is tight around here and probably will be for quite a while. I used to fish a lot before I got sick but never used a bamboo/cane pole, so that was out. I did have a fiberglass pole that was broke, so I sawed off a piece and whittled it down. It work good. Despite the reservoir hole, it doesn't hold ink very long, but it works. Proud of myself for that accomplishment.

Excuses

I have a fairly decent excuse for not posting the last couple of days. I was in the hospital for my cardiac problem. After an extremely elevated BP (for me anyway) and after a lot of browbeating from my friends (who are also all medics to the last) I went to the local ED. My sick Sinus Syndrome was causing an elevated BP, CP, palpitations, dizziness with syncopal episodes, diaphoreses, and sob. (That translates for you non-medical as chest pain, dizzy and passing out, high blood pressure, profuse sweating, and shortness of breath. All of your classic cardiac/heart attack signs and symptoms. The 12-Lead EKG showed no ST depression and only minimal ST elevation; less than 1mm. (No ongoing heart attack on only minimal ischemic (lack of oxygen) damage from the past.) The doc gave me some Cardizem which worked great and my civilian cardiologist admitted me to the cardiac step-down unit for observation. The staff on the CSU did their usual wonderful job. While there I conned one of the nurses into getting me some paper and a pencil so I was able to entertain myself a little for my 24 hour stay. The first page is just some doodles and sketches. The second started off as Iggy Pop but my mind's eye kept switching over to the undertaker in the movie Van Helsing. The face is to round for either of them. The pic on the bottom is from my Budding-Artist of a daughter. It is a drawing of my wife and me from a photo taken at Ft. Massac. I have been giving her art lessons on the weekend when I get her and my son. (She is 12 and he just turned seven) Beings she could barely draw a smiley face last Spring I think she is doing great, so I included her work here, I LOVE graphite and charcoal with watercolor running a super close second. I also have experience with ink, acrylic, a little oil, and colored pencil. What does she pick as her favored medium? Pastel lol. The one that I know basically nothing about. (Does sidewalk chalk count lol?) Luckily a lot of the concepts translate easily for all mediums just like some rules apply to all. The blending is simular to pencil/charcoal. Rules for proportion, foreshortening, composition, etc are the same whether you are using crayons, paint, or a camera.

I have my turkey in the oven, the other sides are basicly done, and everyone will be getting here around noon to 1300. I have a cup of verboten coffee. Happy Thanksgiving, all.

This is what I did (for the last three) todays.

The Old Masters

I have been studying the old masters, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and others from that time frame. I love their use of colors and lines and was feeling a little down on my own creative abilities because I was trying to copy them. While reading a biography of Edgar Degas last night I came across his quote to one of his friends. "The Masters must be copied over and over again until you become a good copier and only then may it be reasonably permissible for you to draw a radish from nature." It seems I was following the footsteps of those great artistic geniuses of the past without knowing it. (Yes, I know Degas was a 19th century artist, but he is a Master nonetheless.)

I have been working on anatomical sketches today. I have done a study of a hand, a female from the back and also doodled around on the drawing of my wife and myself I started yesterday.

My sister sculpts babies from modeling sculpy. I never had much luck in modeling with clay as it is too malleable, but in my pursuit of the Renascence masters I have become interested in sculpting again. I am a semi-accomplished wood carver so I know I have the general idea of changing one shape to another in a hard (wood) medium. Last night I made a plaster block about 6" cubed. I am going to try my hand at sculpting that later. One of my favorite quotes about carving is: "It is easy to carve an elephant. Get a block of wood and whittle away anything that doesn't look like an elephant." I came across a quote from the artist Ingres last night that says, "It is easy to draw. First draw a line then draw some more lines."

This is what I did today.

Yesterday

This post is actually for yesterday. I got caught up in life and didn't get around to publishing it.

I experimented with shading on charcoal drawings by using powdered charcoal (from sharpening my compressed stick) and an old paintbrush. The blending in it is all kinds of great. Much better than I have been able to get by using a stub and/or my finger. I don't know if it will work for subtle tones but for large areas it is perfect.

I also started a drawing of my wife and me.

That is what I did today... yesterday

Side Ramble One

We are having my my two kids, my mom, and my in-laws over for Thanksgiving. While my beautiful wife (Check out her pic... she is!) is at work I decided to help out and straighten up a bit. I have the living room done and 1/2 of the bathroom. That is good. What is bad is that it has taken me three hours to do 30-minutes worth of work. Not to mention I now have CP of 4-5 on the 10scale, diophoreses (despite me having the temp in here set to 65) and palpations. The SOB and dizzyness are so common anymore I'm not even going to count them, The medic in me says to call the local crews to take me to the Hosp. However the non-medic part says that the hosp won't do anyting. What do I base this on? Past visits to our wonderful area EDs. My condition is called Sick Sinus Syndrome. There is no cure and they (the docs) can only mask the symptoms until my body self-converts. hell, I can do that here at home. In the meantime, I will sit here and play on the comp until I do. Then I will get back and finish the bathroom.

This is what i did today.

Well That Explains It

Well THAT Explains It - Mechanical pencil on printer paper - 8.5" x 11"


My son has been having some problems lately. I am not saying my son is evil, just that if our current Commander in Chief is not the anti-christ then my boy may have a good shot at it lol. I bet his pediatrician, Dr. Sara, would have a hey-day with this. She never liked/understood my humor to begin with and I would constantly be getting yelled at during his checkups. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my son (and daughter) with all my heart. I just thought this was a neat concept.
 

This is what I did today.

What I Did Today

Worked on speed sketching. I try to do a two-minute sketch of something everyday. This sketch could be a person, item, place, literally anything. This is a good exercise because unless you are an uber elite, you are not going to be able to render a full drawing or painting in that amount of time. You can use a speed sketch to catch a small moment in time of something that interests you so you may later do a full rendition in your studio, Sketches are great ways to capture a souvenir. Let's say you are at the zoo, and a certain monkey catches your attention. You can do a speed sketch, jot down some notes as to color, lighting, atmosphere, etc. Later, when you are home, you can use your sketch to recreate the moment.


I also finished my self portrait by reworking the ear and mouth. I am still not happy with the mouth but anymore re-working of it will damage the paper, so I stay weird-lipped.

I also did a page of sketches. All four images (rear torso, foot, side nude, and Tom Baker as Doctor Who) were taken from images off the net. No, they don't have to be perfect, they are just sketches. Each one took about 5-10 minutes with the exception of the Doctor which was around 15-20 minutes.