Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Final design

I decided to redo that drawing I did a few days ago.  I think I like this one more, the angle of the features is better but there is still something NQR about her, neck is too thick and that right side of HER face is way too wide.  Anyway, I've decided this is the design I am going to go with for my canvas!  Trying to paint her will be a whole different story, I have no experience using paint so wish me luck!


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

ideas

Just working on some ideas for what I'm going to paint on my canvas. I quite like this pose, not sure about the hair though. I was working off a reference and decided to do it twice, amazing how different they both turned out.
I've only been doing this workshop for just over a week now and already I feel my drawing skills have improved so much!

Portrait Idea

I'm trying to decide what kind of portrait I am going to paint on my canvas, so I'm going to sketch out some ideas.  This is a drawing I did yesterday.

Collage done

In the weekend I bought a canvas and collaged it with scrapbooking papers.  This is step 1 for my portrait canvas I'm doing through the Portraits & Papers Workshop.  Next step will be to varnish it and then start painting over the top.


Friday, June 24, 2011

Profile sketch

Profile sketch I did this morning.  Really loving this workshop, I'm learning so much.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Six Heads

These girls aren't going to win any beauty contests but they sure did teach me a lot.  This was an exercise in different lighting.  It's funny how different each head turned out as they all started out the same.  I really like the three quarter lighting.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Facial proportions

With this drawing I mapped out the facial proportions, actually measured where the features should go and how big the features should be in relation to each other, this is the result!  She looked weird at first and I think her eyes need to be lower, but I quite like her :)

Sunday, June 19, 2011

First attempt at charcoal

I went out and bought some charcoal pencils and a kneadable eraser yesterday.  I sat down and this is what I drew from my imagination using techniques from the Portraits and Papers workshop.  It's the first time I've ever worked with charcoal and I really love it.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Contour Drawings

Okay, don't worry when you see these drawings (I can actually draw better than this, I promise!). These are called contour drawings, drawn in one continuous line without lifting the pen.  I did these drawings as part of the Portraits and Papers workshop.  The self portrait is a blind contour meaning that I didn't look at the page while I was drawing it, I was only focussed on the subject (in this case a photo of myself).  It turned out quite Picasso-like I think.  The second drawing depicts one of my antique dolls.  It's an interesting process that's for sure and very challenging.

Self Portrait Contour (blind)

Contour (not blind)

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new blog.  As some of you may know I make teddy bears and cloth dolls (under the name Caya's Cottage), but I also have a keen interest in traditional forms of art such painting and drawing.

I have always had a deep appreciation for art and sculpture and art was one of my favourite subjects at school but I always felt that I didn't have much talent for it myself.  But I'm hoping to change that and this blog will document my journey.  I have several artists in my family so I'd like to think that I have inherited a little bit, it's just a matter of discovering it.  I have just signed up for an online art class run by Jane DesRosier called Portraits and Papers (see link to the workshop in the right hand column).  I'll be sharing photos of my work as I work through this class.  Wish me luck :)