Sea Ducks

In art class it's always *people, people, people* and I just get tired of painting people all the time! Just not had much time for art outside the classroom for a while though. But this week I squeezed out 30 minutes and did this quick sketch from a photo I took earlier this summer. It's only a rough 30-minute shot, but it felt so good to be doing something other than a person. :-)

Portraits of John

I took a two-session workshop at the museum on pastel portraiture. Portraits are still a struggle for me, and not even a primary interest, but I figure working on them has to help me develop my eye. Being the speed demon I am I finished a portrait the first night of class, while all the other students were still struggling with their drawing.

So since I had this one already finished I started a new portrait the second session. I took this one about as far as I could, but am not as happy with it as I was with the portrait from the first session. He looks far too "flat" and 2D.


And even with that portrait being done I still had about 25 minutes left in the workshop, so the instructor suggested I move to a different vantage point, and try a quick charcoal sketch of John. I don't like working in charcoal nearly as much as I like working in color, but it was fun to try, and I was pretty happy with the result for a 20-minute effort.