August 8, 2016
I managed to work on a few things this week – as well as three drawings.
Aug 5
Aug 7
“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” ― Cesar A. Cruz
Drawing
“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.” Mark Rothko and Adolph Gotllieb manifesto
August 1, 2016
A little more progress on my latest lemon painting, and the completion of my July 31 Drawing A Day Challenge!
July 26
July 27
July 28
July 29
July 30
July 31
What I learned from my Daily Drawing Challenge:
- It’s the commitment that makes the difference – the commitment to post publicly on Instagram and the commitment to each drawing while I’m drawing it. I’ve drawn daily before without publishing and would often start and then scrap the drawing if I didn’t think it was going well. This time I didn’t have the luxury of time for that. Instead I kept going and figured I’d make the best of it. And some of those drawings are my favourites.
- I realized awhile ago that if my finished images look nothing like what I was working from, it doesn’t matter because no one else knows what it was SUPPOSED to look like. With this project I decided that even if the drawing clearly doesn’t reflect reality – as in it’s obviously not proportioned correctly, etc – that’s not actually irredeemable. It can still become a sweet little drawing if the character of line is interesting, and a bit of colour is added with care.
So my intention is to continue drawing regularly – but not daily. I am committing to three drawings a week published on Instagram and here with my weekly post. Let’s see what comes of this…
“Give a man a mask, and he will show you his true face.” – Oscar Wilde
July 25, 2016
A small amount of progress on my new canvas and week three of my July Daily Challenge complete.
July 19
July 20
July 21
July 22
July 23
July 24
July 25
“The only interesting ideas are heresies.” – Susan Sontag
July 18, 2016
Working on a new large canvas – just got it underway. And another week of my July Daily Challenge.
July 12
July 13
July 14
July 15
July 16
July 17
July 18
“Try again. Fail again. Try better.” – Samuel Beckett
July 11, 2016
No painting this week, but I did fit in my daily ink/watercolour drawings each day. Here they are – some worked out better than others. It’s all part of the experiment…
July 5
July 6
July 7
July 8
July 9
July 10
July 11
“Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind.” – Magdalena Abakanowicz
August 9, 2015
A couple of drawings in graphite and white charcoal on paper. I prepared my paper with an India ink wash to provide a mid-grey ground.
“The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.” – Oscar Wilde
May 10, 2015
After a short vacation, I’m back with another blog post. I spent last weekend in Vancouver, BC running my sixth half marathon. It went well – it’s been two years since my last half marathon and I didn’t have high expectations. I surprised myself and ran my fastest race yet finishing in 2:06:55. Vancouver is a beautiful city and I enjoyed the trip very much. I have not painted at all for a couple weeks though. I haven’t had the chance and I haven’t really felt like it. I really need to find some new subject matter to inspire me. In the meantime, here are some drawings that I’ve done recently.
“anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you” – David Whyte
March 30, 2015
No painting done this weekend. Instead I enjoyed a lovely family ski trip to Banff with friends. The weather was warm and the snow was still great for spring skiing. I’m looking forward to the Easter long weekend and some quality time in my studio.
In the meantime, here are a couple of drawings I did this week. I’m still making a point of drawing everyday – even if the result is not something I’m proud of. I tell myself that if nothing else, I am gaining practice at being able to switch into that state of mind where art happens – I consider it an almost meditative sort of focus. Often I feel that I am too busy to take the time out to draw, but with my determination to spend time at it daily, I usually find that once I start I am able to stop thinking about time and what I still have to do and actually get out of my head and onto the paper and to enjoy it.
“If nothing else is left, one must scream. Silence is the real crime against humanity.” – Nadezhda Mandelstam
March 15, 2015
So I’ve started working on a commission based on A Crane Called Frank. And I thought I would play with some of the oil mediums to see if they might be something I want to use in this new painting (which I’m calling Francine at the moment). I tried out Galkyd, Neo Megilp and Galkyd Gel. And in the process this small storm ensued.
And here is the beginning of Francine. I’m just building the background now. Chances are very little of this will be visible in the final painting, but we’ll see. I just need to put on a few coats of clear gesso to seal it really well and I will be ready to go.
Lastly, here are a couple of drawings from this week. One from a figure drawing class that I’m doing – no, she did not have an inordinately large head, I just messed up the scale – and a small drawing I did during the week while thinking about folded paper in preparation to begin Francine.
susanne semchuk 