First Class with Karl Dempwolf

I had my first class with Karl Dempwolf this Saturday.  I have wanted to study with him for many years but couldn't quite figure it out.  We painted at King Gilette Ranch.  I was very clumbsy out there painting in the plein air with my fancy umbrella and easel.  I felt like I sort of forgot everything that I ever knew about painting.

My paintings were sort of a mush of nothing.  It was weird,  Karl would come over and correct the painting and he seemed to make more of a mush,  He was totally different than other landscape teachers I have had .  He walked around the whole class talking to people and helping them.  My last landscape painting teacher sort of just worked on his own painting sort of forgetting he was teaching anything.

I will post my paintings once they dry.  The are very wet right now.

I liked Karl as a teacher I think I can learn a lot from him. 

My first painting I had a real hard time getting any separation in foreground middle ground and background.  My second painting was more informational than painterly,  I had all the right amount of windows in my building and I had trees,  Karl told me I had a building and I had trees but I didn't have a painting.

I think I will study with him as much as I can.  I had gotten intimidated and afraid to paint.  But now I feel like I have to start somewhere and sometime.

Rick Morris Class

Feel pretty good about this drawing I did in Rick's Class last night.  He said I had a good block in.   My materials suck.  I am going to buy some materials today.  I always say I am going to but I don't.

It was the first time in there that I wasn't exhausted which is a huge plus.  Atleast I think it is a plus.  Sometimes in Bikram yoga they say how you feel before you go in the room doesn't really mean anything to how you will perform in the room.  I don't know if that is they same before drawing.  I have to experiment with that.  You can feel like utter shit before Bikram and then perform well in the room or you can feel great and have a shitty class.

Drawing I think it helps to feel good.  But I haven't drawn consistently enough to be totally sure.

I went to Bikram before I drew and I ate a Trader Joe's salad in my car before the class at 3 Kicks. I guess my goal for next class is to get some good materials and a nice tackle box like a never have had and put a more serious artist face on the whole thing.

Some how my Wolf pencils don't work well for Head Drawing with Rick the way they did with Glenn Orbik.  The generals work a lot better for Tonal Drawing.

Trying to Get My Art Life Together

I have been listening to these self help disc series called - Your Wish is Your Command.   I was really skeptical about the discs in the beginning but they are quite helpful.  I haven't been that productive lately and I have had a real malaise.  I give all my energy to my Set Decorator life.  I give all my energy to crappy TV shows and Telenovellas, low budget movies and TV movies and in the meantime I never get my graphic novel done and a never get as good at drawing and painting as I want.

I take classes at night which I go to exhausted from a 15 hour or more work day.  I am tired all night at class and when I finally get a second wind I get home and can't fall asleep.  It seems like such a diasterous way to live but it is how I have been living for a long time.

It surely isn't working for me but what I am going to do about it??  How am I going to change.  When will I follow my Bliss and give up decorating or atleast take a break from it and give my art a chance?

Will I ever do that or will I die not realizing any of my creative dreams with a least of crappy movies and TV shows under my name when you look me up on IMDB.

I need a mentor.  I need a guide to show me how to get out of this one world and into another.

I am sick of being wonderwoman running from work to class and always being exhausted.  I want to be creative and full of energy and life.  I don't want to be always asleep on the couch exhausted because I have tried to do much but not accomplished anything.

I have to get off the plantation of low budget filmmaking and start realizing my own artistic goals.  I have to give myself a chance.

The disc series Your Wish is Your Command - talks about your teachability index: your willingness to learn vs. Your willingness to Change.  What are you willing to give up in order to accomplish want you want. I have to ask myself I am willing to stop watching Laker Games in order to learn how to draw? Am I willing to give up making so much money so I can concentrate on being an artist?  I can't firmly say yes yet.  I am getting closer but I can't really give myself and emphatic yes.  But I am going to work on getting my teachability index up.  In my heart I know I will never be happy unless I devote myself to my art fulltime.  Now I have to decide if I want to be happy or if I get some kind of payoff from suffering.

Some Work March and April

These are some images I have drawn the last 2 months. I have had a hard time keeping up on my blog this spring.  I have been working way too much and have been generally unhappy. I think this is the first time in a long time that I have been so bad at keeping up my blog.  I hope I can get back on track.

I did this sketch last night in Rick Morris's Class at 3Kicks it is the last semester he is teaching.

 Did this last Thursday in Rick's Class. Left early and started a little later due to Rick's demo (which was great).

 I did this some time last month of Kwante in Rick's class.  Rick criticized me for making Kwante too juvenile.

 I don't remember much about this pose.  It is reading like a little bit of a mess.  I am not happy with it.

 I did this in Howard's workshop after not having drawn for a couple of weeks.  It is the drawing that convinced me I need to keep studying with Rick.

 I did this in the last class I went to the last semester of 3 Kicks so some time at the end of March.  This is one of my favorite drawings. She kept looking at me the week I decided to retake Rick's class. She reminded me how much I have grown under Rick's tutelage and that I needed to take advantage of him being around.

 I remember Rick criticizing this drawing for problems in the point of view and placement of features on the face.

 Tim likes this drawing a lot.  I did it of Maude at Howard's workshop. I think the features may be too close together and perhaps the head is too narrow.

Some January - February work

I have been in a sort of malaise about posting on my blog. I have also been in a drawing funk. I just don't seem to be excited about anything right now. I think I am burned out from all my Set Dec jobs.

I did this a couple weeks ago outside at Howard Marchese's uninstructed workshop. Howard said it was my best piece. I really didn't feel one way or another about it.

I did this at Richard Morris's Class. I liked it. I kept thinking that the model looked like some Jacobean out of Tale of Two Cities. I think I remember something about the name Jaques in the novel. Anyway when I can come up with a story I seem to draw better pieces. Richard thought that the composition was really good which I thought was a great compliment. I wish I could study with him at his studio.

This was another sitting of that Virgin Mary pose at Howard's workshop. I think my first version was better. But as always I am having problems with that hand. It feels so awkward and out of scale. I should have left it out.

This is a picture of Andy at Howard's workshop. I need to address more the separation of the beard from the neck.

Yoga and Drawing - Drawing and Yoga

Went to Stephanie's 6:30am Saturday Bikram Yoga Class. As an aside, I would like to say I really love Bikram Yoga above all yogas. I have been doing Hatha yoga at Yogaworks in Santa Clarita and although I find it beautiful and centering I don't feel like I am getting any intensity.

Anyways,

Stephanie today talked about the last 5 seconds of the pose. And how you really need to turn on the intensity. I started to think about in drawing the finish is really important. Especially in a gesture drawing, you can ruin the drawing in the last moments either by being too timid or too strong.

PLACEMENT/BLOCK IN

As in yoga, when setting up a drawing you need to have a good block in. Really think about all the elements of the drawing and how they work together - just as in the yoga pose. When I am blocking a head I need to carefully make sure the shape of the head is correct as well as the features. Placement is so important. If I don't have good placement, a good block in then the drawing will never come to anything.

In a yoga pose. Let's take triangle in the Bikram Tradition. It is really important to put the feet down in the right relationship to each other, to have the legs the right distance apart. If the legs are not in the right alignment to each other then when you spread you arms and reach your hands toward your toes you will never get the triangle shape. The final expression of the pose can never happen without the proper set up. And the beauty of the pose will never been attained those last few seconds when you shine your chest to the ceiling will never been obtained.


In the end of the pose as well as the end of the drawing you need to not do something rash but then again not be too timid and really finish.

In a drawing you have to keep pushing and not get too self satisfied.

There were many times in my Head Class at 3 Kicks Studio this week that I didn't want to push forward with my drawing because it looked good in the preliminary stages and by pushing I was risking ruining it.

But each time I took a deep breathe and pushed forward. Whether it was putting in the darkest darks. Defining the lips. Massing out the hair. I knew each new layer to the drawing that I risked ruining it (just as each time you do a yoga pose and push you risk falling out of the pose), But as in yoga and in drawing I pressed forward,

I noticed that my neighbor's drawing never really got past the block in stage because he didn't know how or feared pushing forward and taking risks.

In my yoga practice sometimes I don't push forward. I think I know where and what I can do in many poses without seeing where I am that particular day.

Head Drawing - Recent Work

Started a new class at 3 Kicks Studio on Head Drawing with Richard Morris. This is from week one

This is Richard Morris's correction on my drawing.

This is from class number 2. A drawing of Jay Jay.

I did this at Howard Marchese's uninstructed workshop. It came out pretty well. Tim asked me if I had help.