This is a charcoal 5 second sketch to try Sarah's challenge to me,  "Son Jumping Rope"

 My second 5 second sketch for the challenge, "Spider Moving"

 Gesture, Getting Up (husband)

 Gesture, Getting Up (dog)

 Positive Space Drawing with Contour

 Negative Space with Charcoal

 Contour Line Still Life Drawing

 Still Life Drawing with Charcoal

Second Still Life Drawing with Conte

I still think I have trouble with my gesture drawings being free enough, something I will continue to work on.  The images are not as good as usual, camera one and two died.  I hate charcoal, love conte.

 Here is my sample of gesture line drawing using conte.

My daughter dances and this is her spinning.

 Mass gesture sample using India ink and a brush.

Soccer at its best, we have several players in the family, 

this is my youngest son kicking the ball.

He does this little jump thing when kicking.

This is mass and line gesture using conte and India ink.

Our good dog Calley scratching fleas 

now deceased (the fleas, not Calley).

Morgan Free of Braces

Scribbled Lind drawing done with a brown sharpie.

I wore the sharpie out,

you can see where the lines of her hair are thinner 

and lighter in color as the Sharpie got tired.

Super dog Huckleberry on the alert.

Continuous line gesture with very messy charcoal.

Eldest son on couch watching a show, texting and 

occasionally looking at his college schoolbooks.

Organizational line drawing 

done with graphite pencil.

First and fat grandson sound asleep in his blanket.

Contour line drawing with graphite pencil.

Blind contour line drawing using graphite pencil.

Messy kitchen counter of busy, online, college student mum.

Here are my items painted (mostly) after many coats.  

The square box I made, 

the blue ball would not paint well, 

it kept sucking in the paint, 

so I switched it out for a styrofoam ball I found 

at the last moment.  

The cone is also hand fashioned 

and the rectangle is a block of wood 

that also sucked up the paint.  

The cylinder is actually a worthless can of paint.  

My son wanted to be in the photo so that is his arms you see.

This is the image I choose to define 2-Dimensional space.  

It is flat with no shading to give it body.  

These cats could be reproduced as a silk-screen, 

block print or paper cuttings.  

Good use of negative space and high contrast.

I have seen many of these type of ambiguous illustrations,

 but I had never seen the rabbit and duck 

mentioned in our reading. 

 So I went looking for it.  

There are actually two, but I choose this one 

as I thought it the better.

I appreciate the way the artist used shading to create the double effect.

 This was the original image I choose

 for the illusionistic 3-d example.  

While it is a good illusion,

 it was not created by the use of medium on a flat surface 

to give the illusion of depth. 

 So I went looking for other choices.  

These are two that I found.

 Having searched out another image that conveys 

"illusionistic space",  

I would like to share Michelangelo's "Creation of Eve"

 found on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.  

Michelangelo used pigments to create depth 

with perspective, shading 

and by layering the angels on top

 of the vignette of God creating Eve from Adam's rib.

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/michelangelo/sistine-chapel-ceiling-creation-of-eve-1510

I choose this chalk drawing because so many of us enjoyed

 the illusions created by these sidewalk artists. 

 I find this one particularly good because of the colors used 

and the image it portrays. 

 I would like to know what these artist use; 

if it's chalk, what kind can cover so well 

and if another medium, are they permanent?

Don't you just feel like you could go over and look in?

I am including what I consider to be a Unified Field Drawing.  I tried all sorts of goodies on this piece from oil pastels, India ink, Sharpies, watercolor and watercolor pencils, and salt.  Nothing will layer over the oil pastels although the ink filled in the white spots.  I used lots of different strokes, methods and experimentations.  The kids have decided it looks like a beach and an island during a torrential rain storm as night is coming on.  I was just making travels across the page as I read in one place to do.  It's kind of interesting!?  I wish I had been a little more aware of doing different areas with depth either with strokes or tones and values

In this piece, I experimented with a range of tips and tones of Sharpies.  I had a huge tip, and Ultra, and a Fine in black and than a metallic sliver and several grays.  I really like Sharpies because of their clean look.  There is not much layering and shading has to be done with a sort of cross-hatching or the gray makers.  I suppose if you had a blending pen with some solvent, you could do more.  I really like the blackness of the black and the distinct edges.

With this charcoal/graphite page, I found I like some types a whole lot better than others and I was surprised at how much effort it took to get results out of some of the vine charcoal.  I tried everything I had, which is quite an extensive grouping.  The two streaks are from using a kneaded eraser and the polymer eraser to see which I preferred.  I actually think the kneaded eraser did a better job.  Across from the erasure marks, I tried the blending stump.  It did a fine job blending and kept me from using my fingers and adding oils to the picture.  I really preferred the graphite pencils although I did not think they had the same range as some of the charcoals.

I have included a field drawing where I experimented with colored Conte.  Having used the chalk pastels last week and deciding that they were not my favorite, I really like the way I could maneuver the colored Contes.  I enjoyed the control I had, the rather cleaner aspect to them over the chalk (they did't smudge nearly as much), the much more distinct lines and the brilliant colors. They blended very well and I was able to easily shade the sphere with the brown.

This is my self-portrait.  I had my harshest critics take a look and all five said that this indeed looks like me.  The picture was worked in one continuous line with a Sharpie on regular drawing paper.  I don't look this good everyday.  Tami

Week Two

http://www.fulcrumgallery.com/Albrecht-Durer/
Praying-Hands-c1508_25496.htm 
Albrecht Durer - "Praying Hands"

Albrecht Durer's work has always impressed  me.  I like his intricate line work, the mediums  he uses and his realism.  His piece of work  entitled "The Hands" and by others "Praying Hands"  is what I choose to represent my idea of drawing.   There is a great story of his personal history  behind this drawing at this site http://celestialkitsune.wordpress.com/      2009/02/21/story-behind-praying-           hands-by-albrecht-durer.        I also like his drawing of the hare.

http://www.fineart-china.com/htmlimg/image-55986.html
Albrecht Durer - "Hare"