Artwork

“I’m only trying to do what I can’t do.” – Lucian Freud

| ssemchuk

April 9, 2017

Three months complete in my 2017 Drawing A Day Challenge! Here is all of March in one place:

Mar 1 and 2, 2017
Mar 3 and 4, 2017
Mar 5 and 6, 2017
Mar 7 and 8, 2017
Mar 9, 2017
Mar 10, 2017
Mar 11, 2017
Mar 12, 2017
Mar 13 and 14, 2017
Mar 15 and 16, 2017
Mar 17 and 18, 2017
Mar 19 and 20, 2017
Mar 21 and 22, 2017
Mar 23 and 24, 2017
Mar 25 and 26, 2017
Mar 27 and 28, 2017
Mar 29 and 30, 2017
Mar 31, 2017

Thoughts so far:

  1. My drawings take me anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes to do and although I often don’t feel I have the time, I have continued to make it happen. Generally once I start drawing I stop thinking about time – generally. There are many days I struggle to get into it. And it shows in the quality of the drawing.
  2. What bothers me most about my drawings is the lack of accuracy. For April I will focus on improving on this.  I will work with diluted India ink at first and then darken up final lines when I feel I have them where they should be.

“Art has always been the raft on to which we climb to save our sanity.” – Dorothea Tanning

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March 20, 2017
Another Cezanne Lemon, Mar 18, 2017, Oil on Canvas, 10" X 10"
Another Cezanne Lemon, Mar 18, 2017, Oil on Canvas, 10″ X 10″
Only a couple of things to post this week. The first is a new copy of a master lemon painting. This one is from “Fruit and a Jug on a Table” as featured on the Museum of Fine Arts Boston site.
Colour Wheel 1, Mar 18, 2017, Oil on Canvas Paper, 12" X 12"
Colour Wheel 1, Mar 18, 2017, Oil on Canvas Paper, 12″ X 12″
I completed the next lesson in my Craftsy class – creating a colour wheel with Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Titanium White and Mars Black with a 50/50 mix of black and white standing in for blue. It was an interesting idea and I thought it turned out fairly well – especially as I avoided using multiple brushes by working with a palette knife instead.
Colour Wheel 2, Mar 18, 2017, Oil on Canvas Paper, 12" X 12"
Colour Wheel 2, Mar 18, 2017, Oil on Canvas Paper, 12″ X 12″

I liked this format for a colour wheel so much that I decided to go on and do another one using primaries and secondaries directly from the tube based on Betty Edwards recommendations in her book Color: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors. Colours used are Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Orange, Cobalt Violet and Permanent Green. I added Titanium White and Mars Black for the tints and shades. I could have done some smoother gradations on this one, but it serves its purpose all the same. And no brushes to clean!

“One must go on working silently, trusting the result to the future.” – Vincent Van Gogh

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March 6, 2017

February 1 & 2, 2017
February 3 & 4, 2017
February 5 & 6, 2017
February 7, 2017
Feb 8
February 9 & 10, 2017
February 11 & 12, 2017
February 13, 2017
February 14, 2017
February 15, 2017
February 16, 2017
February 17 & 18, 2017
February 19, 2017
February 20, 2017
February 21, 2017
February 22, 2017
February 23 & 24, 2017
February 25, 2017
February 26, 2017
February 27, 2017
February 28, 2017

So my February drawing challenge was to draw from photographs using black ink and grey markers. I had thought drawing from photos would be easier, and although the actual drawing was easier as everything is already flattened, I did not enjoy it as much. It was a pain to find images that I liked and I doubt I’ll do it again. The grey markers were to help me notice value more, but it wasn’t until the 13th that I clued in that I needed to shift how I was working and focus on the various values of the forms rather than drawing outlines in black and filling them in with grey. There are a few drawings that I like in the group, quite a lot that I don’t care for and some that I consider cringe-worthy. And that’s ok. It’s an experiment and it’s all good.

What I gained most in February was more ease in jumping in and being less precious about the result. I’ve reached the point where I care less about how each drawing turns out and more about the practice of drawing.

I completed the second and third lessons in my Craftsy class with the result of the third lesson below. And although I understand the point, I’m getting a little tired of painting the same subject over and over. Apparently I have a short attention span. We’ll see what lesson four brings.

2017 March, Paint & Palette Essentials, Lesson Three, 14″ X 11″
2017 March, Paint & Palette Essentials, Lesson Three, 14″ X 11″

“Embracing the vulnerability it takes to rise up from a fall and grow stronger makes us a little dangerous….

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February 23, 2017

“Embracing the vulnerability it takes to rise up from a fall and grow stronger makes us a little dangerous. People who don’t stay down after they fall or are tripped are often trouble-makers. Hard to control. Which is the best kind of dangerous possible. They are the artists, innovators, and change-makers.” – Brene Brown

Between family ski trips and a lack of inspiration to paint, I decided to work on a Craftsy class that I purchased (and began) awhile ago. The class is called Paint & Palette Essentials and since I had very little recollection of my experience of completing the first assignment, I repeated it. Both versions are below. This was a Monochromatic Wipe Out Study – something new for me. I generally keep a lot more paint on my brush than this technique involved, so I found it a little frustrating getting the hang of this style of application. It turned out better than I had thought it might and I see the point of this approach. I kind of like my first attempt more than the one I just did though. I’m glad I avoided looking at it until I had completed it the second time around. I am looking forward to the next lesson to see where this leads.

2015 July, Paint & Palette Essentials, Lesson One, 14" X 11"
2015 July, Paint & Palette Essentials, Lesson One, 14″ X 11″
2017 February, Paint & Palette Essentials, Lesson One, 14" X 11"
2017 February, Paint & Palette Essentials, Lesson One, 14″ X 11″

 

“Draw lines, young man, many lines, from memory or from nature; it is in this way that you will become a good artist.” – Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

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February 7, 2017

Thirty one days of pencil drawings complete! I think it went well. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I had thought that I’d run out of things to draw or things that I felt like drawing, but that didn’t happen. Even if sometimes my drawings were of very simple things like spheres or apples. It’s all practice.
Jan-1-2
Jan-3-4
Jan-5-6
Jan-7
Jan-8
Jan-9-10
Jan-11-12
Jan-13-14
Jan-15-16
Jan-17-18
Jan-19-20
Jan-21-22
Jan-23-24
Jan-25-26
Jan-27
Jan-28
Jan-29
Jan-30
Jan-31
For February, I’m trying something a little different. My medium is black fine tipped pen and grey markers. And I am drawing from photographs or other printed images. The switch to pens is to push myself to draw more confident lines. The grey markers is to help develop a better sense of value. February is looking like a busy month for me too and I am hopeful that marker will be quicker than my pencil drawings were. So far it’s been a struggle, but it’s still early.

“We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice.” – John Berger

| ssemchuk

January 16, 2017

My work from the last two weeks:

Panel 1 WIP, Jan 14, 2017, Mixed Media on Birch Panel, 11″ X 14″
Panel 2 WIP, Jan 14, 2017, Mixed Media on Birch Panel, 11″ X 14″
Panel 3 WIP, Jan 14, 2017, Mixed Media on Birch Panel, 11″ X 14″
Striped Lemon, Jan 14, 2017, Mixed Media on Masonite, 10" X 8"
Striped Lemon, Jan 14, 2017, Mixed Media on Masonite, 10″ X 8″

The latest in the 6″ X 6″ Circle Composition series:

Circle Composition 13 WIP, Jan 14, 2017, Oil on Canvas, 6" X 6"
Circle Composition 13 WIP, Jan 14, 2017, Oil on Canvas, 6″ X 6″

 

And my daily drawing challenge so far:

January 1, 2017
January 2, 2017
Jan 3
January 4, 2017
January 5, 2017
January 6, 2017
January 7, 2017
January 8, 2017
January 9, 2017
January 10, 2017
January 11, 2017
January 12, 2017
January 13, 2017
January 14, 2017
January 15, 2017
When I did my drawing a day project back in July, I decided to use the same medium all month – black drawing pens and a bit of watercolour. I used a small watercolour sketchbook to work in that had 28 pages to which I added 3 more small sheets that I tucked in the back to contain the entire month’s work. I’m carrying both of these ideas over into this new project. I’m using a 2017 Moleskine planner set that consists of 12 small 3.5 x 5 soft cover books. Each has a different colour cover and a page for each day and they can all be contained in a hardcover. The lines on the pages don’t bother me, but the show-through from one page to the next does. So I’m experimenting with gessoing every second spread to avoid that. For the month of January I’ve chosen graphite as my medium. It’s been awhile since I’ve messed with graphite and I’m enjoying it so far. I’m not as fond of the way the graphite responds to the gesso on the pages, but I’m working with it and trying different things – sanding the gesso a little and using harder pencils, or just dispensing with the gesso and accepting whatever show through results. So far it’s going well. Two weeks in, 50 to go.

 

“Let frustration fuel inspiration.” – Sonia Boyce

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January 2, 2017

Panel 1 WIP, Jan 1, 2017, Acrylic on Birch Panel, 11″ X 14″
Panel 2 WIP, Jan 1, 2017, Acrylic on Birch Panel, 11″ X 14″
Panel 3 WIP, Jan 1, 2017, Acrylic on Birch Panel, 11″ X 14″

This is a group of three panels that currently don’t look like much, but will hopefully evolve into something interesting. I want to play a little with shallow space, text and layers. I’ve started them in acrylic, but will shift to oils with cold wax medium to see if I can work with translucency as well. I have a lovely vision – time will tell how close I manage to come to what is in my head.

With the beginning of the new year, I’m full of ambition. I want to make 2017 a more prolific year than I’ve had for awhile and I am focussing both on developing skills and on experimentation. This isn’t anything new, but I have a renewed energy to bring it about. I intend to draw daily this year and post at least some of the images to Instagram and some here as well from time to time. When I look around my studio I see too many unfinished pieces, so I will be trying to finish work on them. And I seem to have developed a habit of painting over canvases and boards repeatedly if I’m not fond of how they look – again – this idea of layers that I find intriguing. We’ll see what other trends come out of the year. It’s a new year and I feel there are endless possibilities ahead. We’ll see how they unfold…

“To embrace luck, you have to enhance your tolerance for ambiguity.” – Twyla Tharp

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December 19, 2016

Circle Composition Six, Dec 17, 2016, Oil on Canvas, 6” X 6”
Circle Composition Six, Dec 17, 2016, Oil on Canvas, 6” X 6”

I managed to work on three different pieces this weekend. This one was looking so much like a bullseye that I decided to add the eye.

More Reclaimed Pears, Dec 17, 2016, Mixed Media on Panel, 11” X 14”
More Reclaimed Pears, Dec 17, 2016, Mixed Media on Panel, 11” X 14”

Possibly too colourful, but I thought I’d try a different approach and this is where I ended up.

Seven Apples, Dec 17, 2016, Oil on Canvas, 48” X 36”
Seven Apples, Dec 17, 2016, Oil on Canvas, 48” X 36”

And I have decided that this is now finished. Unless of course I decide to come back to it at some point. For now though, it’s done.