One of the things I find increasingly difficult to do is sketch. But since I'm at home, sick in bed with a little extra time, I thought I post up some of the pages from my sketchbook / binder to show you guys what I like to do when I'm not seriously working away at a finished piece. :)
I make a lot of messes in my book.. I draw, paint swatches, and sometimes document the progression of my paintings (usually to figure out why they're giving me problems). I also like to print out paintings and artists that I enjoy and then write a little mini-review about them; why the work catches my eye, and what I want to take away from it.
In this one, the left page, I took one of my favorite Bouguereau paintings "A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros" and thought about it from a feministic standpoint.. she was fending off Love's arrows, and thus, fending off everything else that comes with it (marriage, babies, etc). A couple of days later, I was watching a movie with a female action star, and I thought about how both the painting and the movie had something similar happening; I felt like both women were defying some kind of convention. So I printed some screen shots from the movie and pasted them in to note the comparison. Maybe I'll eventually use it, and maybe not.
I also still like to doodle for fun. :) Brush pens are especially awesome because I get to experiment with brush strokes.
I'm also still doing blind contour drawings. I originally got the idea from Paul Madonna when he lectured for one of my classes. Though I'd known about the exercise for years, I never really thought about it until he had mentioned how it helped him to loosen up and focus. It's a really simple thing to do, but it helps me, especially when I'm rusty.
This last one is just to give you an idea (I don't actually expect you to be able to read the tiny print). I have just as much notebook paper in the back of my sketchbook as I do sketchbook paper. I write down journal entries (something I saw, or felt, or thought about, earlier in the day), definitions, phrases, to marketing ideas and projects I'd like to pursue at a later time. There are days where I won't draw anything but I'll have six notebook pages filled with stuff.
So that's it for now. There's some other things I want to show, but it'll have to wait for a later time. :)
I disappeared again for a week or so, this time, because my husband (Albert) was in the hospital for a few days. You wouldn't think food poisoning could be life threatening, but when I called 911 his blood pressure was low, he was dehydrated, and running a fever.. It was scary enough that when they were supposed to move him to a regular hospital room, they instead moved him into the ICU.
Of course, Albert's fine and is at home now, but I wanted to note Albert's most recent blog post.. which was posted a couple of days before this happened (which I find a little eerie). He featured a lecture by a dying man, a final lecture about following your dreams. Here's the link:
Al's Brain Blog
It's a subject that's quite personal, and some of you guys have heard Albert's story before (probably from him directly). In 2001, he left medical school for art school, and started working for Fluid Animation a year or two later. At Fluid, he was the Art Director and character designer for Lucy: Daughter of the Devil. There are t-shirts at comic book conventions with HIS designs on them (yeah, I'm bragging). He took a huge gamble and he worked hard; look what happened.
My bottom line is this, life happens suddenly. It can end, suddenly. How many people get to look back (at any point) and say "yeah, I did what I wanted to do"? You just can't measure how priceless that is. And I'm super proud of him for doing what he does. :P Anyway, yeah, mushy stuff.. I posted a link to the blog, so you guys can check it out if you like.
