Scavenger Hunt from Life #130: Sep 16 - Sep 24

[jmfletch]

Scavenger Hunt from Life #130: Sep 16 - Sep 24

Welcome to the Scavenger Hunts from Life.
The Hunts were started in 2006 by Jamie Williams Grossman as a way to practice with prompts. Artists have come and gone while forming some lasting friendships. We hope you will join in and tune up your sketching skills. All levels and techniques are welcome. We hope you can have some good times here. You can travel the world seeing the sketches of items at hand by the artists.
If you’ve participated in at least one Scavenger Hunt and have time to host one we would really appreciate it. You can sign up by posting your name on the current hosting schedule in the Art From Life forum here:
https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-from-life-host-sign-up-list.2481/
Here are the rules for the Hunt:
*All everyday common items on the list must be sketched from life – not imagination or photo reference
*Each object you draw can count for only one item on the listless, no matter how many shapes/parts/colors that object contains. This was agreed on by unanimous vote among the participants.
*You may place multiple objects together in a drawing or painting, and may count these objects as separate items, but no single object can count for more than one item.
*All items posted must be numbered. Count them as you go. The first item you post will be #1 regardless of its place on the list. Do them in whatever order you wish, but count them in the order in which you sketch them, from 1 to 26.
*Do as many or as few of the items as you like. You don’t have to finish the entire list to participate. The Scavenger Hunt “week” will last for 9 days, with the next hunt starting on the 9th day.
*Please tell us your size, surface, medium, and the amount of time it took you for each sketch. We love hearing about your subjects and setups. Photos of your subjects are welcome.
*Have fun!

*** If you have some hunt sketches completed but little time to read/comment, please post your sketches anyway. Commenting is appreciated but not required

Scavenger Hunt from Life #130: Sep 16 - Sep 24

Animal
Vegetable
Mineral
Living
Bigger than a bread box
Fits in your hand
An Entrance
Street sign
Traffic control device
Something from a garden
Something from outside
Something from a vehicle
Something from the trash
Candlestick
A gift
View out a window
View in a window
Old
New
Keepsake
Something you found
Something natural
Something artificial
Something you never drew before
Something seasonal
Something ???

Challenge 1 Make the in and out window views from the same window
Challenge 2 If you work in color use complimentary colors. If you work in monochrome draw a negative image.

Most important…Have Fun!

 

[jmfletch]

If my math is right. Posted in time for Aii to get on morning of the 16th

Fletch

 

[AiArts]

Thanks for the cool list Fletch.

 

[brianvds]

Fits in your hand.

In high school, way back in the early Jurassic era, I was an enthusiastic chess player. I have since completely lost interest in the game, but I still have a set, because the pieces make for great drawing practice. They're deceptively simple looking, but I find them quite tricky to draw even from the side. Foreshortened, they turn into an artist's nightmare, which is precisely why I intend to interpret the scavenger hunt prompts in all manner of creative ways to give me an excuse to draw more of these...

Ballpoint pen and HB pencil in printer paper, About 8 x 12 in.

 

[Joan T]

Fletch, thanks for the new list.

Brian, what a great set of items to sketch! That would be wonderful practice with all the curved shapes. It will be interesting to see how you fit them into the hunts.

 

[jmfletch]

Brian - Well rendered. Chess pieces make interesting subjects. Be fun to see how you associate to use inthe hints. Looking forward as you get such a great range of tones from HB.

Joan, Ai -

 

[AiArts]

Brian: Great start of this Hunt with cool chess piece sketches. Well done.

 

[Jo Castillo]

Wow, Brian! Great start to the Hunt with difficult shapes. Applause.

Hi everyone!

 

[AiArts]

#1 minerals
a) red jasper ... Tone and I collect it from a nearby deserted rock mining, 3 miles from our country cabin ... done by markers + wc
b) turquoise+ silver earring ... bought at Hoover dam souvenir shop ... done by wc

#2 something I found ... a type of Thai blue bird feather ( possibly an Indian roller) dropped his feather at our lawn some time ago. I kept it.

 

[Jo Castillo]

Ai, you found some great items, too. The feather is such a pretty one. Love the rock and the earring (reminds me of New Mexico).

 

[jmfletch]

Ai - Gotta be honest. First looking at your post my eyes ran around the big shapes first. I thought the earring painting was the earring before seeing the small real earring. The highlight on the earring band makes it look real. All 3 are excellent. Thank you.

Keep sketching
Fletch

 

[Joan T]

Ai, I love the color in the feather. Nice work on the coloring of the jasper and the turquoise and silver earring. The painting of the earring looks real.

I was down by the beach where the Fire Island Lighthouse is located.
1 - bigger than a breadbox - watercolors
2 - something natural (beach grasses)

 

[AiArts]

The park was next to my Univ...so I did this before starting my work day... unfortunately, it was a cloudy day....a bit confused with putting down shadows...

#3 seasonal ...the pink flowers are in bloom at our local park....WC+ pencil

 

[AiArts]

Thanks so much Jo, Joan, and Fletch.

Joan: Beautiful beach and light house scene. Such a great place you live.

 

[brianvds]

This pine cone could fit into several categories - vegetable, something from the garden, something you found, something natural, something seasonal - but I decided the scavenger hunt is far more fun when I don't try to keep track of which prompts I have laready done. Mostly, I find something I want to draw and then decide which prompt it will fit!

It's a good exercise, because it forces me to do what terrifies me: dealing with semi-repetitive complexity. Whenever I do this kind of thing, such as spots on a leopard, or leaves in a clump of foliage, or petals on a sunflower, i.e. things where there are lots of details which sort of repeat, I tend to get lost in it: before long, I can no longer remember which spot or leaf or petal I am working on, and it goes downhill from there.

Of course, one does not necessarily have to precisely copy such things (though trying to is a good workout for the eyes!), and sometimes such patterns can be replaced by a textural effects rather than trying to draw every detail. But making those decisions is part of the challenge: how many spots or petals do I need to draw, what texture should I use, how big is the individual detail compared to the whole, etc.

Get a hi-res version of Millais's Ophelia:

On the face of it, he painted every frickin' individual leaf! But not quite: he very judiciously combined bits of texture with bits of individual detail, to create a highly realistic image.

Well, it took him weeks: he would never have completed even one item in a scavenger hunt.

 

[Joan T]

Ai, thanks. Nice work on the flowers and the park. It is so much easier when the sun is out and you don't have to imagine where the shadows are falling.

Brian, I like your pine cone a lot. When I try doing something like that I get lost in the pieces, so sometimes I just do a few that I can see and then use artistic license for the others. A lot of it can be negative painting or drawing. It's the essence that counts. You did well.

 

[AiArts]

Brian: Thanks. I have the same thought when encounter pattern of small repetition... Nice point to ponder. Great job on the pinecone. I sometimes, do more than one of the same item too ... like Veggie#i and Veggie#2, just go by how I feel and how I can hunt at the moment.

Joan: Thanks.

 

[AiArts]

#4 fits in my hand ...a Japanese ceramic chopstick rest in a blue whale shape...done in pencil+marker... I got this as a small souvenir of our recent Japan trip.

 

[moscatel]

Ai, very good paintings of mineral, earring and feature! Painting before your work day! It shows your passion! Lovely flowers and park scene! Curious blue whale that is small!
~ mosc.

 

[moscatel]

Joan, very good lighthouse painting! I like everything about it!
Brian, lovely drawings, chess pieces are nice.
~ mosc