Speak through Art, Make Someone Smile.

For some reason, people think that art is magical. That you are born with the "artistic bones" in your body. I think that art is a language skill that you can learn, like learning Spanish or French. It's learning how to speak pictorially, a language that is universally understood.It takes time, effort, practice, dedication, much like learning another language - or anything for that matter. And like any second language, you can learn basic conversation, or strive for fluency. I'm striving for that fluency, and eventually, hopefully I'll have something worth saying. Otherwise, what's the point? (other than a steady job drawing what others tell me to draw.)

Because a lot of people think that drawing ability is a magical god-given talent, it never ceases to thrill and amaze people when I draw them or their pets when I go out and do observational drawings. I love making people happy through art. It makes me feel that what I'm doing is worth while. I did these sketches while at the dog park. I gave the two ladies who owned this dog this sketch and portraits I did of them. One of the girls said "This is why I love Austin. Meet a total stranger and get your portrait done!... This is a day to remember!"

Sorry for the blurry picture, these were taken on the spot because I gave away the drawings so I couldn't scan them.

If you're an artist, go make someone smile with your art! You'll love the way you feel.

Tiffanny

Art Day!

Painted with my best painting buddy Jay today. We decided to paint the dreaded pineapple, our nemesis, because we had such a hard time painting it in the past. This is my first watercolor of a pineapple. My first attempt a long time ago was actually in oils.

Why does the pineapple look like it's rotting? Because it was! It's a week old. It smelled nice while we were painting it though because it was overripe. The painting is a bit sloppy - I was sleepy-painting it because I woke up super early to go to the zoo and draw animals. I think it turned out ok enough to post though. Here are my zoo drawings:

and BEFORE the zoo, I sketched outside of a coffee shop where there was this super cute puppy cocker spaniel:

I hope you had your own good day!
Tiff

observational pen drawings

I do a lot of observational drawing. They're fun and they keep the pen moving. When I draw out of my head, I mostly stare at the paper blankly and get a nosebleed from thinking too hard about what to draw. Observational work is fun because there's no shortage of things to draw. You get lots and lots of practice and it prepares you for when you do have to do imagination drawings. This discipline informs the other. So carry your sketchbook with you everywhere and draw everything in sight!

Is art like brushing your teeth or more like body building?

so here are my sketchies from today:

Because of winter, I haven't zoo sketched in a while. I was a bit nervous that I would publicly suck. but that feeling went away because even though I haven't drawn animals in a while, I feel like I just picked up where I left off. It makes me wonder how necessary it is to be obsessive about drawing daily to be good at it. Is it possible that it's like body-building, where rest is as important as doing the lifting itself?
Or is it like brushing your teeth - do it everyday or your teeth will rot? (Teeth being analogous to skill.)
I really don't know. I'm just rambling. All I know is, it was 80 degrees out and I had a day off, and life doesn't get any better than sketching all day at the zoo :)

ps. drawing pigs are my favorite. just a bunch of circles put together :D I like circles.

5 Ways to Prepare for Zoo Drawing

OK, I plan on going to the zoo this weekend, weather permitting. So I've started preparing by drawing my dogs. I prepare many other ways, and I've created a list I hope you may find helpful.

1) I prepare by browsing through animal drawing books. My favorite authors for this are Joe Weatherly, Ken Hultgren and David Coleman.
2) I watch my BBCs Earth or Life DVD, and sketch some animals while they are moving. This prepares me for the zoo trip where animals wont hold still.
3) I look at my animal action figures from Schleich, I draw them in a pose that is different from how they are sculpted to prepare me for different poses a real animal will have.
4) I go to a natural history museum and draw taxidermy.
5) I draw my dog and cats. I try to draw them moving as well as relaxed.

Now that you have mentally prepared yourself with these tips, you will have a more productive trip! :)

I hate spending hours at the zoo and then ending up with crappy drawings. Best to prepare to make the most out of your admission fee! So, I hope to update with some zoo drawings by next week. I hope you will visit me again.

This is Honker, my short-haired dog. Because of this, you can really see her definition. She's perfect for anatomy study.

 This is Gracie. True to her name, she's very graceful, in movement and features. She's foxy-red and has a deer-like frame, with long thin legs.

 This is Frannie, a friend's dog. She's hard to draw! I'm so unfamiliar with her.

Sketchbook - Trucks, Cars, People, Goats

 Went to the zoo today, drew these...

 I only had an hour to draw the goats before it started pouring!! Bummer. The zoo trip ended quickly.

Watercolor Sketchbook - Sargent Study at the MFAH

Went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston with some friends today! Specifically to visit the Sargent exhibit there. His paintings are jaw-dropping. No photo of the paintings does it justice. At the gift shop, we marveled at how bad the prints looked after seeing the original. Cameras have such bad color accuracy in the blue range.

Anyway, I was able to do a quick watercolor sketch before a docent came and told me that only crayons are allowed for coloring. I couldn't match the sky color well, its not as dark as I depicted...

Here are quick pen sketches of people admiring the artwork. It also shows a sense of scale of the painting.

I really admire John Singer Sargent's paintings. I hope to see the original paintings again someday.

My husband surprised me with a book of his Sargent's Venetian paintings when we got home! (He sneaked off while I was painting). He bought me that book because it was mostly watercolors, which is what I'm consumed with trying to master now. Sargent really cuts loose with watercolors, because he considered them to be studies. I think it's in the watercolors that you can really see the way he thinks.