MORE ATTEMPTS AT DRAWING

Well, I was hoping for more drawing from a life model in yesterday's class, or maybe even drawing each other - but instead, Natasha brought in one of her paintings of a street scene in Mt. Adams.  We had to sit around it and draw it.  Of course, if you weren't sitting straight on, it was a bit more challenging, but we all managed - with a lot of sighing going on! ha ha  Natasha told us to use good drawing paper - some that would hold up to a lot of erasing!  She was right - we needed that better paper.  From my angle, looking at the painting, this is what I came up with.  I can't tell you how wrong it is because she didn't get around to me before the class ended to give me a critique.  I'll show her next time to see what she thinks.  We did get our homework from 2 weeks ago back and she talked about that with us.  I did the railroad tracks right - who'd a thought??

And I worked a bit more on the self-portrait.  Not sure how much more work it will take since it's on newsprint.  

Another student who arrived early for class told me a story:
Police sketch artists had people describe themselves and then the artists drew them.  Then they had another person describe the same people.  The sketches made from the other person's description was more accurate and looked like the person - the sketches made from the self-description did not!  Why?  Seems we all have ideas about how we look that are not accurate - like squinchy eyes and saggy chins and so on...

So I guess we have to really let those ideas go when doing a self-portrait so you are drawing the features correctly, and not like you think they look :)  

The next 6 weeks classes - which will begin in January - could continue with getting into ink and washes or watercolor glazing of subjects.  Of course, the foundation of the drawing and the rules of perspective will have to apply before we ever put color to paper - maybe we should stick to black and white for a while longer!  I would really like to learn more about portraits, though, with a live model...someday...

Everyone's in a stew here, looking for our first real winter storm to arrive.  Predictions are rain turning to sleet and ice and possibly 3-5 inches of snow.  I always feel bad for those who have to be out in it when I can just stay home safe and warm.  (Did you hear where parts of Idaho - or was it Iowa? - got 30 inches of snow in one day???)