What are you working on?

[Artyczar]

Interesting. I feel the opposite with sketchbooks to free sheets of paper. Interesting how we are all different.

 

[drizzlewither]

I've picked another task to improve drawing + anatomy: 100 Heads Challenge. It's supposed to be done in 10 days 10 heads a day but there's no way I'd keep up that sort of pace so my minimum rule will be to do 1 head study a day and I'll see how long it takes Using white/sanguine/sepia/charcoal pencils on toned paper at the moment. I always disliked dry media and now I remember why... endless sharpening of pencils and dusty smears everywhere.

Also working on a digital painting. It is going... poorly.

 

[Artyczar]

I bet it's going better than you think drizzle. Hope you post it when you're done.

These challenges: 30 days, 10 days...they seem so daunting to me. I don't know how you people to it!

 

[drizzlewither]

Well I'm not doing it in 10 days! third day so far and I'm only 13 heads in hah. But I'm taking my time and trying to really focus on constructing. Anatomy of figure is something I've never properly studied (actually I've never studied anything properly, couldn't concentrate for long enough to do it until recently!) and I want to get much better because it's so important for drawing from imagination.

The challenge stuff is useful if you want to work on skills but aren't ~*~feeling inspired~*~ with ideas for personal projects. It's nice to be just told "ok do 30 of these", takes all the stress out of deciding what to do

 

[Artyczar]

That makes sense! Well good luck on all of it. Sounds like all good plans to help all around with everything in all ways, inspired or not.

 

[drizzlewither]

Up to 18/100 heads as of this morning. For reference images I'm hitting up DeviantART photo stock accounts and doing whatever shows up. Drawings are going ok, although the paper is cruddy - soft thin and flimsy, won't take a lot of working. It's a weird old sketchbook that I made myself by crudely tying paper together between two bits of cardboard and I have no idea where the stuff was sourced from originally.

I'm sorely tempted to make a trip to Hobbycraft today to see if they've got decent white pencils. I suspect the one in my little sketching set won't last the duration. It was already half used up before I started and it's getting more use than the others.

 

[Artyczar]

You deserve the best paper and pencils.

 

[Artyczar]

I haven't been feeling great, so instead of making much art, I've been doing a good deal of writing about art. I'm working on a few things: a project proposal for an artist's residency in upstate New York, some text on the concept/theme for my next solo show in 2022, and pieces of a printed book I'm working on about my sketchbook technique called the "Eye-book." I had been considering making a class for this, but then decided on publishing a book about it instead. I'm too camera shy to do a video class. A lot of people have been asking me over the years about how to do it, so I figured a book about it would possibly be interesting. I'm trying to get the original inventor of it to write the introduction for it.

Other than that, I've hardly even touched a pencil to a piece of paper. I feel burned out.

 

[Hermes2020]

I am working on a pair of bookends for a person close to me who is going through a rough time. I am interpreting the Egyptian cat god Bastet in my usual slice technique, using rapid set concrete. Each cat is 200mm high. I am at the experimental stage, trying to give the appearance of age with some kind of stained patina effect, but without using paint. I would welcome any comments or suggestions in this regard.

I will post some photos when the project is closer to completion.

 

[drizzlewither]

I am working on a pair of bookends for a person close to me who is going through a rough time. I am interpreting the Egyptian cat god Bastet in my usual slice technique, using rapid set concrete. Each cat is 200mm high. I am at the experimental stage, trying to give the appearance of age with some kind of stained patina effect, but without using paint. I would welcome any comments or suggestions in this regard.

I will post some photos when the project is closer to completion.

That's way beyond my pay grade, I know nothing about concrete sculpture, closest I've come to sculpture in general is making a puppet for a stop-motion. But what a cool project. I went in the sculpture forum and looked at some of your other works, very impressed!

I'm sure you already know all about these but I'll throw it in anyway - looked at the ancient Egyptian cat statues and sculptures for ideas? There are so many beautiful ones in a variety of materials. And they're all super old so weathering and patina comes as standard

This guy for instance - I don't know what stone he's in but that carved pattern would be a great way to convey age, maybe you could make such lines in the concrete then scuff it up some to look battered and weathered

And this one obviously is bronze but that green corrosion pattern makes me think of algae/lichen, those sorts of stains you can see on concrete. I wonder if there would be a way to get that look on the surface with sponging or other technique? Again NOT A SCULPTOR just throwing in my layperson thoughts

 

[Hermes2020]

Thank you for saying nice things about my sculptures in the Sculpture Forum. Thank also for the thoughts on Bastet; I agree they are all gorgeous, but I didn't want to simply copy one of them. I think that would be too kitchy and not respectful of the original. Instead, I sliced it up in my usual way to present a different interpretation, similar to my poolside reclining nude. I think I will stain the concrete a very dark grey, almost black, with some lighter grey patination in the recesses.

 

[ZenDruid]

Two suggestions: Try Min-Wax wood stains, they come in different shades of brown. It will penetrate into the concrete. The other is to make a wash out of an acrylic color. The idea is to get the darkest stain into cracks and crevices to look like centuries of dirt accumulation - and buff off the high spots of the statue to resemble wear from centuries of handling. Try it on scrap of course.

 

[Artyczar]

I can't wait to see your sculptures Hermes. That is really nice of you to help out your friend who is having a rough time.

 

[Hermes2020]

Thank you ZenDruid and Artyczar. My thought was to use a thinned acrylic sealer with a touch of dark grey. I also like the effect of a lighter grey in the lower areas, with darker grey in on the raised parts, as in the head and ear of this sculpture.

 

[KatShealy]

I haven't been feeling great, so instead of making much art, I've been doing a good deal of writing about art. I'm working on a few things: a project proposal for an artist's residency in upstate New York, some text on the concept/theme for my next solo show in 2022, and pieces of a printed book I'm working on about my sketchbook technique called the "Eye-book." I had been considering making a class for this, but then decided on publishing a book about it instead. I'm too camera shy to do a video class. A lot of people have been asking me over the years about how to do it, so I figured a book about it would possibly be interesting. I'm trying to get the original inventor of it to write the introduction for it.

Other than that, I've hardly even touched a pencil to a piece of paper. I feel burned out.

Wow. I'd love to see that book. I hope you get to feeling better.

 

[Artyczar]

Thank you Kat.

 

[drizzlewither]

Just got back from a week long trip caring for disabled family member. Hard work and rather depressing. I couldn't keep on with my 100 Heads Challenge discipline while I was there so instead I did a drawing each day in my Holiday Book - which is so called because it only comes out during trips. It's a watercolor moleskine. I am terrible at watercolor (especially with the trashed worn-out waterbrush from my kit) so I use it mostly to put color on pen sketches - or I go in afterwards with the pen and rescue my watercolor attempt with some drawing Got a few nice pages. Mostly was doing the drawing from photos in the evening which is technically illegal for my "rules" for this book, but it rained constantly every day I was there and it's getting dark around 4:30 now too.

 

[Artyczar]

Sorry about your family member, but glad you got some work done drizzle. Would love to see some of it.

 

[drizzlewither]

Well that pic of the ship (Cutty Sark) I posted early in the "next sketch" thread was from the Holiday Book. I think you put a like on it I'll try to remember to scan a couple of the recent ones sometime today. I guess they'd most appropriately go in Mixed Media and/or Journaling & Sketchbooks

 

[Artyczar]

I think I put a "love" on it.