Art & Fear

Airborne

Solid Ground

I've not read the popular Art & Fear, which sounds as if it helps artists overcome interior mental and emotional obstacles to making art. Since my sketches are kept in an illustrated journal, as a personal record, I've not been inhibited by fear of creating them.
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I've been more interested in art as an aid to coping with negative emotions: fear, sadness, anger, or stress. Drawing the cabin of the airplane, above, turned my focus outward for a few minutes, during a recent plane flight. The physical movement of my eyes and hand anchored my thoughts, and pushed fears of  flying to the side.

When you're looking for a job, the people of the world are divided into two groups: employed and unemployed. When you're in great pain, people are either pain-free or they're not. When you're airborne and afraid of flying, people are either in the air or on the ground.  This post documents my grateful transition from group one to group two, in the latter case.
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In the lower drawing, I focused on the interesting pattern in the rock wall of the terrace overlooking Red Rocks Park in Colorado. The architects did a wonderful job allowing historical structures of the region to influence their use of local materials in creating the hardscape of the park.

I found the Colorado hills and mountains especially interesting because I have watched both Gay Kraeger and Shari Blaukopf draw them in their Craftsy classes (which I recommend).
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Both of these sketches ended up with several layers of different media, applied over several days. Re-working helped process connected emotions and re-live enjoyment. Enhanced memory is one of the benefits of keeping an illustrated journal. Drawing fixes experience in the mind more securely than does pressing the button of a camera.
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If you are interested in Craftsy classes, and are on a budget, keep your eyes open for a holiday sale over Thanksgiving weekend, on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday. You will find discounts on individual classes and on the monthly or annual Bluprint subscription (full access to all classes).

An evocation of roses

Phones and Roses

People with cell phones have become an urban sketching trope; they pose quietly, for long periods of time, everywhere you go.
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I attempted to sketch these roses directly in watercolor, and added a little pastel pencil later. I remember trying to sketch a similar rosebush in front of Anna’s Greek Cuisine a few years ago. Small, intricate blossoms are difficult to depict, with a water brush.

Standing in line, Panini Opa

When a sketcher first ventures into drawing people, it is easier to draw them from the back, in a situation where they will hold still, for at least a few minutes.

Texture test

I did this line drawing early one evening, while waiting to pick up a pizza, adding watercolor pencil and watercolor later. I experimented with adding texture by scraping through it with a piece of old, cut-up credit card.

I have seen several urban sketchers use this technique--most recently, Paul Wang, from Singapore.

Re: past

Weekend repasts

One of the best parts of childhood Sundays was coming home to the smell of my mother's roast beef dinner in the oven. Nowadays, we occasionally go to Cracker Barrel for a throwback to those meals, which were—themselves—a foretaste of the Marriage Supper to come.
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These sketches brought back the memory of Lyle Lovett's tribute to everyone whose stomach ever rumbled embarrassingly in a church service.
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The lower Sunflower sketch was begun in watercolor pencil. Ink was added after watercolor, to give definition where needed.

In the meantime

In the past few years, I have found that, if I waken during the night, a hot drink and a drawing will center my mind and allow me to fall asleep again. The snack in the lower sketch was drawn in the wee hours. I added a little colored pencil over the watercolor, later.

The gentleman in the upper drawing was waiting for his meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was kind enough to carry our food over, when it was ready. Here, I was trying some of Anne-Laure Jacquart's techniques for drawing people.

Remedies for cabin fever

This has been a long hot summer. A few weeks ago, I dealt with a brief spell of cabin fever by sketching the telephone.

The next day, we headed west of town, to where the sky is larger. We encountered a long curving line of vehicles, waiting for a freight train to pass. Again, a quick sketch, and time sped by, at the speed of the train. Watercolor added later.