Day Dreaming and Drawing....

Graphite.....my watercolors....images....all enticing my brain and I'm caught in a daydream....somewhere between the past and the future. Sometimes the only way to get the images out is to share them fully....and so I share. These are the very best two from the drawing session yesterday.

The eternal dance....

"On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined"
~Lord Byron


Graphite and watercolor on bristol


Graphite and watercolor on bristol

Of Mice and Muse

Graphite and watercolor on bristol

Start of the new year equals new revelations of the joys of home ownership. Yearly sewage bill, garbage bill and school taxes......

Wow.

This week brought forth all of that plus other insurance bills and a revisit of important documents. All real life drains on "The Muse."

The "Art Muse" wants to know nothing of real life. It doesn't care what time it is or what official documents need to be resigned cause the lawyer messed up. No, "The Muse" just wants to go and create NOW and gets fussy when you tell her, "No". Unfortunately when real life isn't in order "The Muse" does suffer and suffers greatly from awful accommodations the artist can give her. Panic, negativity and general laziness are her accommodations brought on by not dealing with real life issues. Such accommodations render her very cranky.

In visiting these real life issues, in particular some official documents, I was struck with the thought of how much I would push "The Muse" to the side in my old life. "Wait here for just a moment" I'd say, and then I would push her to the back and tell her to wait, "Just a little longer, I'll be right there." And then Id visit late in the night when everyone was asleep. Of course there were nights Id wake everyone up (clumsy me) and mayhem would break loose and the best remedy of the situation was to leave "The Muse" waiting and waiting. And when I would show up she'd always say the same thing. "You're sooo not being true to you."

I knew that, but real life had greatly taken over and there was no changing it. But sometimes The Universe steps in and changes things greatly for you and you find that all you have left is yourself and "The Muse", who is of course giving you that, " Toldja so..." look.

Now there is all the time in the world to be myself. To spread wings and fly. And on days like today when real life is pounding down my door I'm reminded to not push "The Muse" aside for too long, to never get in over my head with worry as everything does work out and to always be myself and let "The Muse" guide. I believe the Universe and God knows where and how to guide you, but why on EARTH I've got an infestation of mice in my brain as of late is well...... I guess God only knows.


Graphite and watercolors on bristol

Graphite and watercolors on bristol

Graphite and watercolors on bristol

Affirmation during morning meditation
and angel card reading to...
be myself....

Sonnet and Graphite

Graphite on Xerox paper
Quick Sketch

My beautiful cousin Bianca posted this lovely poem on my Facebook wall this morning. I've been lost in the words ever since. Wanted to share:

Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
― Pablo Neruda


Graphite on Xerox paper
Quick Sketch.

Beautiful. Perhaps someone loves me without me knowing. The thought inspires me to create....

Live Sketching...Before Christmas Eve

The day was spent doing nothing. I forced myself to just sit and do nothing. I have to be honest, it was a most difficult task for me. By 5PM I was going stir crazy and thoughts of sketching people filled my brain. By 6PM I was preparing my little sketching knapsack for adventure. By 7PM I was out the door and headed out to sketch. I put a call out hoping my cousins or friends might be hanging at some bars. I would have dropped by because I need a new place to sketch, but it is a very busy time of year and no one really responded so just the knapsack and I headed for the casino and to the old standby Tommyboy's Bar and Grill.

I had a bit of a breakthrough drawing wise last night. I was able to draw men easier. I don't know why it was so, but it was and I ran with it. I normally shy away from drawing men because women just come easier. Perhaps its because I can relate to the body structure of a woman better and it just comes natural. I don't know all I know is I loved that so many men were sporting facial hair. It was really fun to capture on paper with the Prismacolor pencil.

Here are the best drawings from last night.

More Bar Sketching

Last night proved to be another successful live sketching night at Tommyboy's Bar & Grill. Perhaps it was the company of my very best friend Abbigail whom I've known since my first week of college that made drawing so easy. Perhaps it was the wings? I have been craving them for several weeks now. Perhaps it was the creative vibe that permeated through the room from Three Imaginary Boys...Abbi and her husband John's nephews. They played their hearts out and their drive was infectious.

I stayed out much later than I ever anticipated and got a TON of great sketches. My sketching was on which made up for all the disasters that happened in the studio earlier in the day, including spilling an entire jar of linseed oil everywhere on my desk and carpet in the office. Thankfully I've learned to leave serious artwork alone when I get clumsy.

Well, here are the best sketches from the night:

He was so serious.
Must have had a bad day?

Loved his head and neck.

There was a theme that kept repeating itself during this session and that was skulls. I had to really concentrate on skulls in order to get the drawings correct for both balding men and for those wearing hats. It all started with this guy who was bald. His head had a great shape to it and he was thin so the neck was all muscle which meant I couldn't flub anything. I had to draw this guy spot on. In an instance like this you have to visualize the skeleton underneath the skin. I think I captured the shape well. This is my second favorite drawing from the night.

She had the cutest pigtails

A hat with glasses proved
to be a challenge.

A different type of forehead

Bouncy!


I couldn't resist drawing her. Her bra was too tight and her camisole too small which caused an interesting effect in her chest to draw. It was line upon curve, upon line. She moved too much though and was way too bouncy to keep up with. I stopped struggling to capture the line when she asked the female bartender to pop a Beef Jerky down her cleavage. Sorta took the fine art aspect out of it and I couldn't help but wonder if the female bartender got tipped well when all was said and done.

Loved the tuft. Had to draw it

She was GREAT to draw.
Completely Reubenesque.
She left too soon.

My favorite drawing
of the night. She was so graceful

Awww...my cowboy!!
This was by FAR the most difficult
person to draw. That HAT...so hard to draw!!!

Hard to capture him.
Im still undecided about whether
this was a success.

Farrah is alive and well
in Nanticoke!

And last but not least, the best body to draw in the entire place last night belonged to this girl:

Full drawing


She had beautiful form and a gracefulness that I couldn't ignore. I believe I captured her dead on. She was such a pleasure to draw. Everyone was a pleasure to draw. Thank you. :)