Drawings and Paintings

I'm taking another art class at the Cambridge Center for the Arts on Brattle Street. This class is a pen and watercolor class, so I'm learning how to draw with pen. I confess I don't like it as much as my watercolor class, and all the samples here I've been doing on my own time. I'm not sure why the class I'm currently taking doesn't have me too jazzed up, but since I do enjoy practicing at home, I guess it's all fine in the end.

It is really interesting to be doing art again. I mean, I always have in some form or another, but after years of looking at light and working with it as a photographer, it's interesting to see how it effects what I see when I'm drawing.

During the watercolor class, I was able to verbalize, "I can see what the light is doing on the object, but I can't figure out how to translate it onto the paper", and the instructor could teach me how to do that.  Ten, twenty years ago, I wouldn't be able to see what was off.

This time, when I'm at home (and one of the drawings below is a good example) I'm finding that when I go to photograph the drawing itself, that's when I notice the light (or in the case of drawing, the shading) is off. It helps me see if and I can improve it or correct it.

from a photo I took on the train to Bruges. 

Brothers on a walk with Harlow and Bootsie

Uncle Billy in the weeds

Harlow on the couch

 

When I first photographed this one (not this pic specifically but one prior) that's when I noticed that the shading wasn't heavy enough compared to the photo.

With this one, I was doing the face on the right such a disservice that I decided to not make faces.