Crayon-Drawing-A-Day # 33

One of my favorite catchphrases: “We’ve climbed to the top of the mountain. What do we do now? Shoot for the stars!”

Crayon-Drawing-A-Day # 32

A decision has been made: Crayon-Drawing-A-Day continues for the foreseeable future! We believe in Fun-A-Day Forever, and use it as a means to propagate positive energy in every situation.

The top of the mountain has been reached. We take this moment to reflect on the past, and appreciate all we have learned, for without that knowledge, we wouldn’t Be Here Now!

Crayon-Drawing-A-Day # 27-31

Figuring things out: soccer strategy, autoharps, and Johnny Brenda’s layout. This is a collaboration with Mitch.

I picked up a crayon who’s label said “tumbleweed.”  Naturally, some kind of western picture was drawn.

The power of luscious black and white can not be escaped!

I am humbled to know so many amazingly beautiful people. If friends are the family you choose, then I’ve got the best family anyone could ever ask for!

We are all nodes of light energy , connected thru the web of life.

31 drawings have been completed, but Fun-A-Day isn’t over yet…

Crayon-Drawing-A-Day # 26

I had a dream abut this picture last night. I existed in it, this was reality. There was some movement going on with the colors, but it basically looked, and felt, just like this. I  have a memory of the words “secrets”…as I existed in this drawing, I thought ” There are many deep secrets here…”

I don’t fully understand it either, but I feel as if it is my duty to report on any wild realities I encounter. This stood out so much, I just couldn’t not draw it.

Crayon-Drawing-A-Day #20-25

Fun-A-Day continues, with a certain pattern emerging: The use of patterns.

The repeated line patterns were something I used to do a lot long ago when I drew everything with a ballpoint pen. Creating large swaths of black with such a fine point was a thankless, painful task, so various combinations of repeated line patterns were adopted to help the process along.

The blank page gets cut up into various shapes. First was the outline of the wave shape. Then going into the wave and carving out the lighter colors. Then the blue waves lines in the air were cut out. It becomes a game then, of “How deep can we keep carving?”

Getting lost in making the green vertical lines is an interesting experience, a situation of unbending focus. It’s the whole point of it all, it’s the point of Fun-A-Day. It’s doing it, feeling it, being in the moment. This is what’s going on.

We create art and learn the lessons of existing now, so we can apply this knowledge to every situation.

Living now, being in it, creating it.

The focus shifts and realigns with other ideas, such as taking a look at the larger structure of the picture to see how it all looks. Then we laugh and see that some of the green lines are “wrong”, and we say, “Well, all kinds of things are going on behind those blue lines, so who knows.”

There is an internal logic, no matter what!

I drew the model with a pen, almost like taking notes so that I could redraw it in crayon later. It became an exercise in making a pen drawing that stood on its own, some thing that looked cool and had a consistant internal logic, and also clearly delineated the shapes I wanted to make with colors. Many colors were used and blended. How hard to press on the paper became the ultimate game, as the wax built up and was being smeared together. I think it made for some good depth to the colors.

An Epic Encounter.

Rex!

Mountain Climbing can be intense.

Wanna Draw All Day

Thanks to Kara for the inspiration!

Crayon-Drawing-A-Day #19

Standing before the Gaping Maw of the Inconceivable:

This one has existed in various forms for a while now, mostly in lines only. Good to see it finally have some color. It is tremendous fun to keep splitting a page into smaller and smaller shapes, cramming as much info in as possible. Even the strokes of the crayon contribute to the pattern created.

Crayon-Drawing-A-Day # 15-18

More Fun-A-Day crayon drawings:

I recently acquired a guitar. I have no idea how to play it, as in, it’s really fun to rock out and hit the strings, but I have no clue how to replicate noises I hear in real life or in my head. I can sure draw them, though!

This robot is one of those line combinations that is ingrained in my head. I could draw it in my sleep. I have gone through many default line combination in my life…those little sketches or characters that just show up when you are absent mindedly drawing on a blank piece of paper or on the back of a receipt.  Spider-Man was default for a long time, so was George W. Bush! Now it’s robots and scuba divers and astronauts.

This started as a spiral/bulls eye type thing, then it grew legs. Now it’s running off somewhere. The drive to infuse a narrative in these drawings is almost impossible to suppress.

Singing flowers tripped out dream near death profound epiphany wildness. Good call, Sammy!

Crayon-Drawing-A-Day # 13-14

More drawings from models.

I enjoy drawing from models for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which is that it helps me to remember to use my eye to draw.  Often I draw straight from the imagination, or just let my hand take over and do its thing. When drawing from life, we are using our eyes to gather information. That information will be processed thru the filters of our brains, no matter what. When you have a naked chick sitting there for 20 minutes, its almost impossible to realistically recreate the image on paper, there’s just an overwhelming amount of  information available. So we go thru a process of selective editing, glossing over many details, but hitting the ones that contain the essence of the figure. For this, we use our eyes, scanning what is before us, following the contours with our eyes, while at the same time moving our hand to make marks on the page. It’s like there is a string that emanates from the pupil and slowly caresses the form of the model, and another string that connects the pupil to the hand, which  follows the movement pattern, making a recording of it. The editing process allows us to shoot the string consciously, at times keeping it at bay, at times letting it fly.

There is also the trick of looking at the drawing vs looking at the model. We have to remember that we are using the model as a reference point, but the drawing being created is its own world with it’s own internal logic. We must uphold that internal logic in order to make a picture that makes sense. I often find myself looking at the model then looking at my drawing, and going “Oh, I messed up, the arm should be a little to the right, because the line of the thigh comes out of the second finger…” But none of that matters, unless you look at the drawing and have a photo of the model right there to compare it to. The drawing stands on its own, with its own internal logic, so at times when you deviate from the model, you have to “make up” some marks to keep the logic of the drawing in line. It took me years to figure this out! Before I did, life drawing was always an emotionally exhausting experience, which always ended with me saying to myself “We, you still can’t draw, but keep at it and you’ll be good some day.” Oh my, how depressingly silly!

It also doesn’t hurt to draw models at the Plastic Club. This place is filled with astoundingly beautiful people, and just spending time there will boost anyone’s enjoyment of life tenfold. It’s a group of people grooving on wildly different tracks, but they are all bonded by one thing: the love of grooving on those tracks. It’s really an uplifting experience which I cherish with all my heart!

Crayon-Drawing-A-Day #8-12

Loose, free drawing, while still adhering to a structure. Good stuff.

This is a collaboration with The Cork. I drew all the wigley lines, which is actually me drawing someone while they danced. YAY for art parties!

I did a painting of this model right before I drew this. But wait, shouldn’t it be the other way around? Oh yeah, everything is valid! Ha, silly me!

Does the past actually exist? Sometimes it all feels so distant. This was a trip to the past, finding some long hidden memories and bringing them to light in the now.

HAHA. Thanks to Jarret for the joke.