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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Seersucker Bucket

The Seersucker Bucket, graphite, 6 x 8", TMDD Series

While bucket hats do amuse--they are totally functional and not at all attractive--I wanted more from this gal.  I wanted her whole pose sitting on that bottom step her arms hugging her knees to her chest, her hands clasped, gazing out  at the sea, but I cut off her feet!  I was too slow minded to think turn the camera vertically, zoom out a bit,  focus, shoot and shoot again!    Head hunting is not an unskilled sport.  There's no room for total relaxation when hunting future subject matter!

The skill of drawing with pencil doesn't demand a lot of stuff that weigh down heavy satchels.  Here's my stuff when I get serious.  The drawing bridge--that paint stained ruler like item--is one that I made from a paint stir paddle simply by cutting off two sections from another paddle and gluing the pieces onto this one.  I made it for another series of smaller drawings. If my drawing had ever gotten larger, I'd make a larger bridge out of sturdier materials.

 On these quickies. I use a piece of vellum tracing paper under my palm. When it falls to the floor, I resort to cleaning up the smears with the knead. There's no time to bend down looking for it.  There's not a lot of formality--or stuff-- at six thirty in the AM in my drawing room sitting in front of the Sun Torch.  One pencil, maybe two, a knead, the General sharpener--and sometimes, like today, the smallest erasure template. Get serious about this drawing, and an accurately drawn reflection in the sunglasses become something to consider for more than a minute. Erasure Templates would be a must have.  While I have stubs--and they are on every drawing class supply list--I don't use them.  Smooth is not the texture I'm going for.  But I have used dirty ones to draw with.  The smudgy line has been useful for rendering fabric. As for the drafting brush, you don't knead it with a knead--but need any stronger erasing and  it becomes handy. Pieces of erasers, left where they fall, pick up graphite and  can really mess up a drawing.

These are the key things in my pencil box.  The stubs, the bridge and the brush are secondary.
I included them in the photo because they make the photo more interesting. :-)) 





 

4 comments:

  1. Another great drawing. Love the cool kit - the whole world is being made in china these days

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    1. I don't know if I'd call it a kit; it's stuff collected over time. My mechanical pencil is a remnant from my designing days. That sharpener isn't here, nor are my many boxes of leads, graphite sticks, straight edge, T squares, angles, protractor and compass--and somewhere, I have a sanding block I made for shaping leads. The pencil, albeit graphite, has been my main mark maker for decades. At art exhibitions, I gravitate to the works done with graphite. There's a precision in those works, I really dig. --Thanks John, I wish I had recorded the rest of her.

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  2. I am still amazed over the energy you put into improving yourself, sketching, studying and leaving no stones unturned. I wish I had your patience.

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    1. Don't be impressed. I ran out of patience on that Venetian grisaille self portrait. I've been sloughing off ever since with the exception of my pencil drawings. Good to see you back. The landscape you posted is spectacular.

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