Day #215 – STILL LIFE WITH BOVINE

It’s rainy here in Rhode Island and my sister came for an impromptu visit to go to the beach. Bummer. Not looking like a beach day.

She told me she’d take the kids bowling for a couple of hours and let me paint.

There was one condition, when she got back, I had to be finished. Not finished with the painting necessarily, but finished for the day, post and all (Like OK Mary this 365 business is getting old…come on already!). I hear ya sister, Doing a 365 isn’t always convenient for everyone around me….”Sorry family, I just need 4-5 hours to myself if you don’t mind!!!”

So I thanked her, looked left, looked right, looked left again….and tried to find something in my periphery that I could paint.

This is what I had on hand.

I opted to do a pencil contour drawing instead of trying my darnest to render the scene. A contour drawing is a lot looser. You stare at the subject matter, not your paper and you focus on the contours (outside lines) of all of the subject matter.

Contour drawings are always a little loopier than a concentrated rendering. Lines overlap, some areas of the drawing are larger and some areas smaller, they can sometimes even look cartoon-like. It’s your eyes sending a signal to your hand, not your brain applying draftsmanship principles.

So I did this because it’s like going “live”. There’s no eraser, ruler, or compass to make perfect circles. No over thinking = faster. At least in my case.

I got my drawing done and then I decided how I wanted to crop the drawing for interest. I then taped it down and started to watercolor. Writing or blogging about my art can sometimes take an hour in itself, so I stopped after 45 minutes, photographed my progress and came over to the computer.

It’s still quiet here, no sign of the 4 kids…. I think I will finish blogging right now, and then use whatever few minutes I have left to continue painting….