Continuing Covid Challenge drawings

 It's fun to see how busy you all have been over this break. Me, I have been watching the Olympics - did you all see the Matilda's FANTASTIC win last night? AHHHH!Straya!

And in other fantastic news, all classes return next week. So there will be no new Challenge drawing. But don't let that stop you if you haven't done one yet. Still time to put something down.

Like KM has with this drawing of a souvenir from Rome. I must say KM, this has to be one of the most fabulously tacky snow globes I have ever come across, and I thought mine was bad. lol. What a great drawing of a Centurion Snow globe. The Faber Castell pens on 110gsm Canson paper were a perfect choice for this item. The subject is a busy item but the pens help simplify it by creating flat areas of color. It's bold, bright, and the yellow glue running down the side emphasizes the cheapo nature of the item - although I bet it wasn't 'cheap'! Great fun - I love it.

Centurion Snow Globe by KM

OLE (formerly CursedGirl) joins us this week with the ultimate souvenir from Bali - the ubiquitous Sharks' Tooth necklace. Using an HB graphite pencil OLE has created a pleasing drawing of fluid linework to create organic shapes representing the beads and the sharks tooth. Deceptively simple, it works well and is a very good drawing.

Bali Souvenir by OLE

Hope to see some more works from a few of you this weekend!

Covid Challenge Works continued...

 Nice to see you all so busy!

A couple of very nice submissions from JMcG; starting with this well observed and drawn painting of the Peppermint Gum. Attention to detail is quite good, especially the joints where the stems meet and form 'elbows' and nubs. JMcG did this using Inktense pencils which can be tricky to use if you are not familiar with them, but she has handled them well and the color is rich and intense.

Peppermint Gum by JMcG

JMcG's second work is that of her souvenir pottery doll she got while in Japan. I like the descriptive wording that tells us all about the item. And the inclusion of the torii (gate) is a nice added extra. The torii is the gate to a Shinto shrine relates well to the wedding doll. A good drawing in the linear style with nice attention to the details of the features and design on the piece.

Japanese Wedding Doll by JMcG

JH has chosen to draw one of the first souvenirs she ever bought on her very first overseas trip
 - to New Zealand -  a big adventure that started a lifelong passion for travel. JH was concerned that the feet don't look anatomically correct, but this is a plush toy and I don't think they were too concerned about anotomical correctness when they produced it. lol. Drawn with graphite H, HB, 2B and F on 300gsm hot press paper this is an excellent work demonstrating JH's technique and continued improvement in drawing fur/feather textures. He is very sweet.

Kiwi Plushy by JH

Tacit Gallery will reopen on Friday August 20.

And my 'Spoons' exhibition will continue there until August 28. Hopefully there will be another Meet and Greet session organized and I will update you all soon.

Covid Challenge 2 and other news

EM has done this fun drawing of her tacky souvenir - a Vespa 'fridge magnet from Rome. I remember seeing these exact 'fridge magnets when I was in Rome - and just like EM once out of the city I never found them again. EM says she wishes she had bought more when she had the chance and I just wish I had bought one. Those Vespas are everywhere in Rome, you take your life into your hands crossing the roads at peak hour (and pretty much any other time as well). And they seem to park them everywhere!

EM has done this fun drawing of her tacky souvenir - a cute little graphite series of drawings showing the Vespa magnet from 3 angles zipping along the page. Fun!

Vespas by EM

I'd love to see some others join this challenge - or the first one. Come on, get your pencils out and do a little drawing!

Covid class News

Monday afternoon classes at VAS returns August 2nd.
Thursday afternoon and evening classes at MMAG are still in limbo. Hopefully returning soon.

Pencil Extenders from Pencilly

Have you got some pencil stubs kicking around with enough pencil to use but not hold comfortably? Pencilly have just brought in some elegant, slim pencil extenders. Check them out and order soon before they sell out!
Extenders@Pencilly

And while you are there, check out all the great other items in the Pencilly shop. This is an Australian owned and run business that carries some of the finest pencils to be found anywhere in the world. Support your local trader!

Extra Covid Challenge Nature Journal drawings

 Just because I posted a new challenge last night, don't let that stop you from working in your Nature Journal or sending me something from it. The aim is to keep drawing and my suggestions are just that - suggestions.

And I did receive a few more works late last night and this morning - so we will start off with another submission from JMcD - nice study of a Daphne sprig in flower. JMcD has tried out her new Inktense pencils with this work and they have given the piece a bright intensity of color. Your observation of the shapes and forms of both the leaves and the petals is very good! Unfortunately the jpg was very low resolution so I cannot see much detail or read your script, but the quality of the drawing stands out even in this small size.

Daphne Sprig by JMcD

KM has also utilized color, rendering this Silver Princess eucalyptus in Derwent pencils on 185gsm cold press paper. This is a nice observational drawing showing the stages of the flower from bud through blossom to fruit. She has used graphite to add levels of tone to the shadow areas. Great use of the color lines to emulate the flowery puffs of color. Those flower heads are super tricky to draw and you nailed it!

Silver Princess by KM

DH has drawn another eucalyptus, the Eucalyptus Nusancii. Is that it's real name I wonder? When I google it I just get info on invasive California gum trees. But from DH's comment, it seems the tree might just be a bit of a nuisance in the backyard! Another fine observational drawing, great attention paid to the formation of the gum nuts and the leaf shapes. I especially like the gnawed holes in the leaf. Good drawing DH.

Eucalyptus Nusancii by DH

Keep up the good work peeps! Draw more in your Nature Journal or try the newest challenge. To read about it go HERE

 

Covid 5 Lock Down- Challenge #2

How long has been now? So many of us have family and friends we cannot get to see - and even if we could leave the threat of quarantine or being stuck somewhere is too large. Worse still, the thought of getting sick! But, we can't seem to stop thinking  about those holidays in Noosa, days on the Mediterranean, nights in Paris... sigh. 

And we are all guilty of bringing back some old tat. A tacky souvenir that you really wouldn't dream of buying at home. But it reminds you of the trip, brings back good memories.  So that is your theme for this week to draw a:

TACKY HOLIDAY SOUVENIR

It could be a garish fridge magnet. Perhaps a dashboard Hula girl. An ugly Tiki carving. A plaster model of David... something that really says useless souvenir. One of my favorites is my New York snow globe. It is one of those cheap plastic things that were around (and still are) in every souvenir shop. I bought this when I visited New York in January 2000. I saw it in a shop on Broadway and had to have it. It is kitsch and super tasteless but I love it. And... because I was there the year before 9/11 it still had the Twin Towers in the diorama. Every snow globe showing this was destroyed after the Twin Towers attack. 

The 'snow' has solidified and no longer floats, the paint and wording is fading, but it is still wonderfully ugly. Who knows, although there were probably millions made, maybe if I save it and give to the grandkids, when they give to their grandkids they can go onto Antiques Roadshow and it will be worth a small fortune! Stranger things have happened.

More of your Covid Challenge drawings

If you have never drawn or kept a Nature Journal before, remember, there are no real 'rules' to what or how you draw. It can be as much or as little as you wish, botanical, mineral, animal, whatever. Details, prose, poetry... all is applicable to your response to the natural scene or item you have chosen to illustrate. In this challenge, due to Covid restrictions and inclement weather I suggested you choose a leaf or vegetation from your garden or walk because it was easy.

So, JH, there is no need to worry that you have not created a perfect 'botanical' drawing as you emailed to me. Nature Journals can be as precise or as loose as you wish - it as purely personal rendering of your object or scene. Which you have done beautifully in this gum-nut drawing. The use of Graphitint pencils work very well. I use them a lot in my nature drawing as well. The choice of a rougher cold press paper suits the pencils. I cannot read your prose as it is too faint, but as I said, it is for your personal record and as long as you can read it that is fine. A lovely little drawing!

Plenty River Trail Gum-nut by JH

EM had drawn some Nasturtium leaves three ways - tonal, linear and color. She has added a pressed leaf to the page. A good composition with well observed drawings. Attention to design and placement of the items works nicely - you could maybe add a wriggly bit of the stem work in that white space between the prose and the bottom leaves? Just to add a bit more interest. Nice bit of research on the plants' history as well.

Nasturtium studies by EM

Here is something I did in one of my journals a few years back - not botanical, but animal! Just to demonstrate you can draw whatever you like in your journal - whatever interests you when you are out and about in nature.

Flying Fox Wing study on site by Linda 2018

NEW CHALLEGE will be posted late tonight - once I have drawn it!

Covid Challenge continues

Good to see you all picking up pencils and drawing away during this tedious Lock Up.

First up today is GW and her observations about Mana Gum. she has done some great research about the plant and good tonal studies to support the prose. Adding the pressed leaf makes the double page spread more interesting. But the best thing? IMO the koala foot reaching for the pressed Manna Gum leaf makes this study something special. I love the linking of the story, to the animal that depends on the plant to the appeal of planting more trees. Great work GW.

Manna Gum Nature Study by GW

SW also brought in a bit of the outdoors to draw - but it is just a touch too large to press into her journal! 😁 This is an intricate tonal and linear study of a twisted piece of driftwood - I suspect it is a piece of Coastal Banksia as they often twist like this. Drawn in graphite the darks, lights, lines and tones SW has created represent the driftwood very well. SW is also going to do a larger, work of this same subject in color and more detail. I hope she shows us that too.

And SW, love the old school desk. Goodness, it dates me, but I remember sitting on one of those!

Driftwood Study by SW

RB (Rosalie) has also been busy. She has joined The New England Society of Botanical Artists and has been doing some of their online courses over the past lock downs. RB had done some great work with this group and she recommends it for anyone else who is interested in doing more Botanical work.

RB's drawing is on the NESBA website as part of the Virtual Member Exhibit, 'Flower Stories'. Click the link and then view the works by clicking on the thumbnail. Scroll through the works and you will find RB's lovely color work of a Protea. Well done!
Flower Stories

Some Happy News!

Tacit Gallery has let me know that my 'Spoons' exhibition will continue after the lock down is finished in Late August , with a Meet session that Sunday. I will confirm all dates with you once things have settled down and we are all back open. Until we are sure this outbreak is under control I do not want to get my hopes up too much - so watch this space.

JMcG takes the Challenge!

 JMcG tells me that she has never drawn botanicals before - well, I think she should do some more because she has nailed this sprig of bamboo! And she also discovered one of the 'joys' of drawing botanicals from life... they wilt and die quickly so you cannot wait too long to get it onto the page.

JMcG has observed the plant very well in this graphite drawing, noting the Alternate placing of the Linear leaves on the stem. She has also included a cast shadow which really helps to give the leaves a 3-D feel. Her notes read:

"Bambusa Multiplexer. Upright clumping bamboo originates from cold areas of China and Japan.
Fen Suān zhu shŭ"  (then some Japanese/Chinese characters I cannot reproduce)

Upright Bamboo by JMcG

And for those of you who are thinking 'gee Linda knows a lot about leaves', nah, I just use this handy  simplified reference chart I found on google from Sarah Abbot

KB takes the Challenge!

Not wasting any time, KB took up the Covid 5 Challenge almost as soon as it was posted!

A nice tonal drawing done in graphite pencils! Not sure what paper/journal KB has used, it looks like there was a bit of tooth to the paper which has given her a nice texture to the leaves. Shapes are well observed. KB does excellent wood textures and she shows off this ability with the work in the peeling branch the leaves are attached to. Would love to see a color version of this too KB (hint, hint).

A Covid drawing challenge

 Sunday, 18 July 2021

Whew, lock down #5 is proving somewhat tedious, eh? So, if like me you are at loose ends, feeling a little Melbourne Winter blahs and 'over it', here is a little challenge for you.

Drag out your old Nature Journal (remember those?). Now between rain showers, dash out into the garden or down to the local park - masked up and within your 5k radius of course - and find a leaf or branch or bit of bark that interests you. Now scurry home and do a nature study page in your journal. Think about including:

➼ A color study
➼ A linear study of the shape, measurements, etc
➼ Fruits, nuts or flowers if available - or go online and find a photo
➼ Name of the plant, species etc
➼ Some information about the plant, location found,  leaf type, stem type, etc
➼ Google the history and add some of that 

Japanese Sacred Bamboo study - July 2020

You can make your page as scientific as you like, or fill it with poetry and prose. Make it pretty or make it plain. Take 5 minutes or 50 minutes or as long as you like.

Photograph it and send it to me and I will post it here!

Three leaves: Tonal, color, linear studies with pressed leaves

Covid cancellations

 Sigh. Victoria is in lock down again, for the 5th time. I wish it wasn't so, but it is needed to keep us all safe. As a consequence, several things are cancelled for the next 5 days.

MMAG - no Thursday night class tonight. Hopefully we will extend the term to make this up
VAS - no Monday evening class. Again, we hope to extend the term.

The Sunday, July 18 Meet and Greet at Tacit Gallery for 'Spoons' is cancelled as the gallery will be closed. If there is a new date I will let you know, at this time we have to wait and see.

Take care everyone, mask up and be safe and stay well.

😷

Meet and Greet

Thank you to all who braved the cold and the Covid Queue to come to the opening of 'Spoons' last Wednesday night. It was fun and a great night with a few 'sold' dots appearing!

But if you weren't able to come out and would still like to see these works and perhaps have a bit of a chat with me, I will be at Tacit this Sunday 18 July from 2 - 4 pm. Would love to see you there, consider yourself invited!

Minnie Spoon Sold!

  

Tonight at Tacit Gallery

 'Spoons' Opening 6.30pm

Hope to see you tonight at Tacit Galleries, 191 Johnston Street, Collingwood, Victoria. All welcome!
Please wear your mask and remember to contact trace.

If you cannot make the opening tonight, the show will run until 24 July so please drop in anytime.
You can also preview the works on the Tacit website HERE.

Or, come to the  Meet and Greet session on Sunday, 18 July, 2021; 2 - 4pm. 

Hope to have the chance to catch up with you all.