Generosity

I have always found that artists, in general, are very generous. In times like these, it is especially true. Almost daily I find from some of the artists I follow free tutorials to help inspire our creative process and help us fill the void and keep us focused.

One artist and one of my favorites is Pauline Agnew. She has recovered from Coronavisus and has kindly given some great free tutorials.  Finding Inspiration is a sort of meditative charcoal drawing exercise.  I did 2 on tinted pastel paper. Pauline suggests using these to find windows of inspiration. Pauline also has a FB page for Artists in Residence and can be found on Instagram as well.
The first charcoal on grey tinted paper. 

Charcoal on gray tinted paper

19.750 x 13.750 "

detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

September 30 x 30 Day 21

Instead of shadows on the wall, this time elongated shadows on the ground. Think I could have made them a bit softer.

Click to enlarge

6 x 8 "

Charcoal and pastels

Grey-paper

September 30 x 30 Day 17

Getting closer with the camera caught this interesting view of the corner of the bench and the bottom of a  tree trunk. Thought it made an interesting composition but not too sure now.

Click to enlarge

Charcoal and Pastels

6 x 8"

Gray paper

September 30 x 30 Day 16

In our area, we have Hooded Crows. Large smart and quite noisy creatures.  They look for treasures on the floor of the Horsha. Across the street, there is a tall Pecan tree so lots of nuts can be found. They are very ingenious at opening the nuts.  Sometimes they come quite close. 

Three crows strutting was first done on a photo with just one crow in PS. He was quite far. I will have to get one closer, maybe bring some tidbits.

Charcoal and Pastels

on gray paper

6 x 8 "

September 30 x 30 Day 15

House beyond the wall. The sun was making patterns on the wall and house behind. Every day new sun shadow games...

Charcoal and pastels

on gray paper

6 x 8 "

September 30 x 30 Day 14

This afternoon the trees were making shadows on the wall. 

Tree Shadows

6 x 8 "

Charcoal and Pastels

Gray Paper

September 30 x 30 Day 20

This Hooded Crow has already started to molt. He was difficult to capture but he's kinda cute! Lots of pickings on the floor of the Horsha, dates and pecans. 

Click to enlarge

Charcoal and Pastels

6 x 8"

Gray Paper

September 30 x 30 Day 13

Close up of the palm tree.

Palm Tree

6 x 8 "

Charcoal and Pastels

gray paper

September 30 x 30 Day 12

Light patterns on the ground. Every time I go to make some more shots of the "horsha" I am amazed at the varying patterns of light as they play on the ground beneath the trees, I usually go there late afternoon because that's Lilly's favorite space, and that's when the light plays.  Sometimes she meets with one of the other neighborhood dogs, Creambo or Snow.  I always, most always, bring my regular camera to get some more shots. I will be putting up most of the references on my Flickr account, probably after the challenge. I shoot in RAW and love to fiddle around in photoshop finding new effects, especially with the Topaz filters. With this challenge my photography and sketching meet. 

Floor Patterns

6 x 8"

Gray Paper 

September 30 x 30 Day 11

A double spread sketch of the tall majestic palm. She rises high above all the other foliage and trees around.  May do a close up of her majestic head!!!

Charcoal and pastels

29  x 21 cm

gray paper

September 30 x 30 Day 10

The wall with shadow patterns and weeds, background foliage from the backyard behind.

Charcoal and pastels

6 x 8 gray paper

September 30 x 30 Day 9

The area from which I am working is a small wooded area. At one time there were a few children's swings and slides but they have been taken down for security reasons. All that is left is one lonely  metal bench. Lookin at it now I think it could use more lights.

Charcoal and white pastel

6 x 8 gray paper

September 30 x 30 Day 8

This greatly overworked. Tried some different effects which didn't turn out the way I wanted,  Part of the learning process. Have to keep these very simple because the paper is so smooth for charcoal and pastels. 

6 x 8"

Charcoal and pastels 

Gray paper 

September 30 x 30 Day 7

Still seem to be getting a bluish cast on my photos but I am going to live with it, till I find the correct lighting to take photos.  Taking the photos with the camera really saves time!!!

Another corner in the "Horsha". There is this very tall date/palm tree which I will try to photograph and sketch in the next few days

approximate 6 x 8"

Charcoal and white pastel with 

red conte stick

September 30 x 30 Day 6

Black and white tonal sketch with a touch of red conte stick

Charcoal and pastels

6 x 8 "

Gray paper

September 30 x 30 Day 5

Decided to go on the whole page, hey why skimp. Also added a bit of color with a reddish conte stick  I like the effect. Another close crop of the wall in the wooded area. 

A rough 6 x 8 " sketch 

Charcoal pastel conte stick

Medium gray format

September 30 x 30 Day 4

Oop,s why does this have a bluish overcast. May do a retake of the photo although it is still monochromatic. Did a quick fix on the phone... looks much better although I am leaving the toned image as well. Oh and learned a new how to edit on the phone... don't schedule!!!!

In the Horsha there is a concrete wall that gets some interesting shadows when the sun is setting. This is mainly what drew me to making the shoot there in the first place.  There are lots of dry weeds at the base of the wall.

5 x 7 " 

Charcoal and pastels on gray paper

September 30 x 30 Day 3

Well, I think I have learned how to take advantage of the camera. Taking a shot,cropping,resizing, rename and maybe some exposure evaluation. One click, sharing on a new post on Blogger App. Less than 5 minutes.  Now ready to open on the PC YAY! Only thing it seems to want to save after each fix, can live with that just have to remember to delete the ones I don't need. All photos are automatically backed on Google Photos..Cool!!!

This is a section of one of my shots in the the Horsha (wood) near my house. Still feeling my way with the gray paper which I wish had more tooth with various sticks. 

 5 x 7 " charcoal and white chalk

September 30 x 30 Day 1

Again I am taking up Leslie's challenge.  Maybe taking on more than I can chew because of health issues and my intention of combining  photography and my sketching. 

My main theme will be tonal sketches of my own references and some from Unsplash.  This was done from one of my references taken from the nearby wooded area opposite my home, I use the term very loosely. A few trees  and a bench where Lilly, my dog, loves to wander and smell to see what's up!!!

Some of my references I will be manipulating in Photoshop to get some double exposure effect and some impressionistic effects.  I will be posting my photos on my Flickr account in an album I will call Impressionistic.

I am using a new sketch pad that I bought which is heavy medium gray smooth paper and will be using charcoal,graphite pencils, white pastel. May use my colored crayons... will go with the flow.

One of the reasons that I chose the format and medium  to keep my work as fresh as possible and not to get into details. 

5 x 7" Sketch on gray paper

One of my workshop friends and artist Neomi Levin is also taking up the challenge.  Neomi's blog.