Summer has come and past…thanks, Green Day, for reminding me. Who needs a reminder, really, when September is a blur of back-to-school preparations, routines, and new beginnings? Autumn is officially here now as of September 22, and we have settled in and begun to find the groove of the 2013/14 school year. My iPad drawing time has limits. Real limits that make want to develop some “go to” methods for quick and successful Every Day Drawing Challenge sketches.
As I look at my iPad drawings for the Every Day Drawing Challenge during the month of September, I see some decent work, but for the most part, would like to have had more time with the drawings. Typically, the drawings take about an hour, at which point I have to remind myself that “it’s just a sketch”, and be done with it. I have been focused on pushing the digital medium, especially watercolor, so that the result looks like something I would have accomplished with the real deal. Oil paint on ArtRage really feels like oil paint and seems to behave the way the gloppy stuff would really work. The watercolor though, is pretty fickle. I can’t seem to get it just right, the way it would look with the real medium. It’s either too dry or too wet, with not enough bleed or overwhelming bleed. I imagine this will continue to be my focus throughout October.
As I enter the last quarter of this year-long commitment to make a drawing daily on the iPad, I acknowledge that I’ve come a long way in 9 months. That said, I know I still have a lot to learn in the next three months. The October task list is posted after the gallery. Please join me in the Every Day Drawing Challenge. Posting information is on the task list. Come on. Do it. You know you want to…
September 1 (#243): Draw something September
App: ArtRage Tool: Paint – Apples in the orchard and apples in the classroom…
September 2 (#244): Draw the oldest thing in your refrigerator
App: ArtRage Tool: Pencil & Paint –
I love that the oldest thing in my refrigerator just happens to be Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice and I’m drawing it on my niece Rose’s birthday… Happy birthday Rosie!
September 3 (#245): Draw a pillow
App: ArtRage Tool: Pencil –
My niece, Tina, painted this peacock feather pillow just for me in response to the “handmade” Facebook challenge. The post goes something like this: “I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here.
THE CATCH: You must in turn promise to post this and send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave you a comment.”
September 4 (#246): Draw some gloves
App: ArtRage Tool: Pastel
– My kiln gloves for opening the cover when it’s hot, hot, hot..
September 6 (#248): Draw a lock
App: ArtRage Tool: Oil Pastel
– “Locks keep out only the honest” – Jewish Proverb
September 7 (#249): Draw a coffee pot
App: ArtRage Tool: Oil Pastel
– I should fill this baby up and bring it to Brimfield today…early start to the day and it’s cold!
September 8 (#250): Draw something free
App: ArtRage Tool: Oil Pastel –
Beatrix came to us in late August. She had lost her partner to an illness and was lonely for goat company. She is smiling here because she is loving life with her new barnyard pals. They say “The best things in life are free.” This goat and her smiles are 2 good examples of that…
September 9 (#251): Draw perfume or a scented product
App: ArtRage Tool: Marker
Got a little carried away embracing my inner hippie with this one. Patchouli was the signature scent of my generation. Am I showing my age?
September 10 (#252): Draw a pine tree
App: ArtRage Tool: Watercolor –
When I think trees in art, I think Winslow Homer … these from his “The Blue Boat”…
September 11 (#253): Draw your socks
App: ArtRage Tool: Paint –
No socks for me until November (that’s my goal anyway)… here are some mismatched socks to brighten up your day…
September 12 (#254): Draw something that represents joy
App: ArtRage Tool: Paint –
Sorry to be so shallow, but after a 97 degree day at school where the floors were so wet with humidity that they seemed to be melting, I spied this AC vent in an office when I stepped in for a meeting at the end of the day… the cooling of AC? It was pure joy…
September 13 (#255): Draw someone near you on a bus or in a car
App: ArtRage Tool: Pencil and oil pastel –
How about “someone near you in the family room”? Mr. G., works for me!
September 14 (#256): Draw something bubbly
App: ArtRage Tool: Watercolor –
Polar blueberry seltzer on ice…yummers!
September 15 (#257): Draw a houseplant
App: ArtRage Tool: Watercolor –
Air plants (bromeliads) are warm weather plants that don’t need soil to live. I like them so much I made an air plant pot from coiled clay for them, the top of which is seen here…
September 16 (#258): Draw the inside of your closet
App: ArtRage Tool: Oil Paint – No way…it’s dark in there…
September 17 (#259): Draw something from a pet’s point of view
App: SketchbookX Tool: Pencil and paint –
Breakfast – from our cat, Wedgwood’s, point of view… Yummers!
September 18 (#260): Draw a filled suitcase
App: SketchbookX Tool: Pencil and Paint
Flip flops, sunscreen, and a good book…this looks like my kind of vacation…
September 19 (#261): draw something from a fall sport
App: SketchbookX Tool: Paint –
I was a high school field hockey player… It was fun…
September 20 (#262): Draw your bathtub or shower
App: ArtRage Tool: Watercolor –
Okay, so this is not my bathtub, but somewhere someone took a bath in a tub like this not long ago …
September 21 (#263): Draw your favorite cleaning product
App: ArtRage Tool: Watercolor & Pencil –
Mr. G couldn’t imagine that I had a favorite cleaning product I guess I should be using this, not painting it
September 22 (#264): Draw your floor
App: SketchbookX Pencil & Flood Fill
Took advantage of this task to develop a lesson in perspective using the straight line tool…it works!
September 23 (#265): Draw your neighbor
App: ArtRage Tool: Pastel and Paint
My sweet neighbors, Sophia and Laura, and little Mona, too…
September 24 (#266): Draw something or someone you cherish
App: ArtRage Tool: Watercolor –
I cherish these two right here…
September 25 (#267): Draw something flexible
App: ArtRage Tool: Marker –
Loop bracelets like this are indeed flexible AND all the rage in middle school right now. I hope to make some with art club next week…
September 26 (#268): Draw something you need
App: ArtRage Tool: Pencil & Watercolor –
I need an eraser when I draw on paper. I need the “undo” button when I draw on the iPad. I need “do-overs” and second chances in life…
September 27 (#269): Draw something annoying
App: ArtRage Tool: Pencil & Watercolor –
This guy on the bird feeder is so annoying…
September 28 (#270): Draw something you’d like to preserve
App: ArtRage Tool: Oil Paint –
The innocence and complete trust of infants is something I’d like to preserve…
September 29 (#271): Free Choice
App: ArtRage Tool: Watercolor
Glad for a free choice today to redo the twins in watercolor. Trying to catch their soft, innocent quality…
September 30 (##272): Draw your interpretation of a line from a song
App: ArtRage Tool: Watercolor –
“Oh, take off your thirsty boots and stay for awhile…” From Thirsty Boots by Eric Anderson and recorded by Bob Dylan here: http://youtu.be/O_Hq817vQd4