Sketch of a Woman with her Dog at Union Square
This was my first drawing in my pocket sketchbook that I got while living in New York. It was a gentle reminder that drawing live figures can be tricky - especially dogs.
Art
Exercising the right half of my brain
I primarily use charcoals and water colors, as I find them to be the easiest to travel with. When I first moved to New York, I lost this hobby to time better spent catching up with friends I hadn't lived near in years. However, as I slowly socially retire I sought out the pretty scenery of the city's parks, museums, and skylines. I have a pocket sketchbook and simple charcoal set that I bring with me along my adventures in the city. Because it's small, I am able to quickly draw something in just the right amount of detail, where I can't get lost in my perfectionist tendencies, but I can still explore intricate values and volumes.
Keeping the Lights on
I began this drawing with the intent of focusing on values. I wanted to capture the transparency of the lighting fixture, and the intricate shadows of the articulated pole and detailed trim. Once I was finished, I wanted to give it more personality, so I added the three tiny people trying to reach the light switch.
Bank by the Garden
The strong columnns of this building caught my eye while walking through Madison Square Garden, and I thought it would be a fun thing to draw. This tested my ability to let go of details when using charcoal in my tiny sketchbook. As a detail oriented person, allowing myself to forego trying to capture the intricacies I could see with my eyes - but could never recreate with the tools available - was more of an internal conflict than I would have guessed.
Delicate Leaves
In a private garden in west village, I found this delicate tree branch by the park bench I was sitting at. The lighting shining on and through the leaves seemed like a fun challenge to practice my values. While I don't think I did them justice, they made for a good learning experience.
Many More Leaves
I really had fun experimenting with an impressionist style of drawing the leaves on this tree. They grew in such dense bunches, and had very interesting lighting effects, as if they were little clouds. Instead of trying to draw each leaf, I tried to capture the motion they had in the breeze, and the texture of their pointy, cloud-like structure.
Curved Figure
The idea for this drawing came to me while walking through the MET. After seeing an architectural exhibit that showed an artist's incredibly creative and detailed buildings, with these phantom-like figures, and then the abstract art wing of the museum, I had this vision for representing the human figure with fluid geometries. I want to expand this piece into a collection, and experiment with adding value and more form.
Curved Torso
During the same visit to the MET, I spent a ton of time in the sculpture atrium. I found a sculpted torso that had this slightly askew posture that I wanted to try and capture with my new idea for fluid geometries. I believe that I lost my core idea by focusing too much on the values, before capturing the shape of the curves, and I feel it strayed too far from my vision.
Stallion
Drawing animals can be hard, so when I found this statue in Union Square I thought it would be a fun exercise. It turned out a little flat, but I was happy with the way the shape turned out.