Matt

I cannot believe I forgot this one of the monotype portraits I did last year. It is actually one of the better ones of this series of Monotypes.

This is of my good friend Matt. It actually has a great likeness of him.

This print came out really crisp. I obviously had fun with the paint scrapper working on Matt's always-present overshirt. I like how I played with the two tools in this print: The hard paint scraper and the soft rubber pen.  The scrapper's crisp streaky shapes juxtaposes nicely in this piece with the soft scraper and the finer lines it creates.

Italy Sketchbook 1 : Piazza Della Signora

I have been looking though my previous posts, labeling them, tying to figure out what is up on this blog and what I have left to input.  I realized I didn't share with you some of my favorite sketches from my study abroad trip to Italy.

It was a fabulous trip, a joy to remember. I am so happy to share.

I prepped a book full of toned paper before my trip with the goal to try and draw as many marble statues as I could. I had already done cast painting in the Atelier with Snowden Hodges and had been quite successful. 

There is no place like Florence, Italy!

The Piazza Della Signora is an an L-shaped square in front of the historic city hall of Florence as well as the Uffizi Gallery. There are many marble statues in the Piazza including a replica of Michelangelo's David. The David was originally in the piazza until concerns of the weather, riots, and falling roof shingles caused the people of Florence to find a safer home for the beloved David.

So all these statues are located in the Loggia Dei Lanzi which has an outdoor sculpture gallery. I spent several afternoons drawing in my sketchbook.

So its been 7 year since my trip to Italy and looking back at these drawings gives me a good idea of how far I have come artistically. I am struck as I look at these how heavy my hand is.

My favorite sketch from the Loggia Dei Lanzi will be in the next post of my Italian Sketchbook. 

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart."

~ Italian Proverb

HMoA Drawing Class 09/24/12

Drawing Class at the Honolulu Art Academy on Monday the 24th. Here are my Drawings from that night. Overall, I had a pretty good night.

Above is two gestures and a 20 minute pose on top of it. I think it is the best of the night. I am really loving that blue ink wash background. It really makes the Burnt Sienna pop forward.

Here are four 2-minute gesture drawings with the two 5-minute poses and the 10-minute pose on top. I like how the figures look. Not bad, considering the model interlocked her fingers during the 10-minute pose; that is so rough to draw.

I need to dye the rest of this book.  I meant to dye the pages a Sepia brown or a Olive Green. I didn't have a chance this weekend, so maybe this upcoming weekend.

I tried to compensate for it by doing extra figures in black on this page and heavily-shading the gestures so there is something besides the white of the page to work off.

I actually was pleasantly surprised how good this pose came out. I was sitting on the ground, because I came late that day to class. I changed position because I didn't want to do another profile. 

When I got situated in a place I liked,  I was afraid the model looked really short because of the foreshortening of the body. The drawing however looks right. I'm  also really happy with how the face came out.

This was the last pose of the night, the dreaded reclining pose. I think I made the arm a little to long in the sketch, but it doesn't look that off. I really like this kind of pose, with the model laying down with their head toward the front.

The HAA classroom has an odd shape to it and because of that the models tend to sit with their feet coming forward toward the class.  So just because of that simple fact, I kind of dig this drawing.

This life drawing class is on Monday at 7PM. It is located at the The Honolulu Museum of Art School, formerly the Academy Art Center at Linekona. There is a 10 dollar class fee. 

Little Mountain Book 25-28

So this is the last of this sketch book.

We took a trip to Koko Head this weekend and I did the above drawing of the Koolau Mountains from the top.  It came out rather nice, I like how some of the watercolors pooled near the center of the page.

Like rain... and inspiration.

This is the entrance of Hanauma Bay, a popular snorkling spot that is located along the southeast coast of Oahu about a half-hour drive from Waikiki. My watercolor is the view as seen from the top of Koko Head.

I am not really happy with this above drawing. I had a difficult time capturing the water along the edge of the shore. This is the first time I did a shoreline watercolor and the water crests are a little tricky.

On the other hand, here are two from my hike up Ka'au Crater. The one above is overlooking Kailua. Is there anything more beautiful than Windward Oahu, my hometown?

This last one was from the climb down Ka'au Crater looking at the back of Palolo Valley. My grandparents grew up in Kaimuki, near Palolo Valley. 

Study Group at Starbucks

So I decided to hangout at Starbucks one day and managed to paint this watercolor.

It was a group of people studying for what seemed like an economics exam. I thought this would be a challenge. Rendering multiple people in a group is often challenging because of their little movements and relational perspective. Its really easy to end up with a group of well rendered people of noticeably different sizes.

I think this watercolor was rather successful in these regards. The figures are correctly propotioned to one another. I also like how I rendered the chairs in this.

I started the sketch in yellow watercolor pencil and then added the color. It is kinda neat how cool  and blue dominate I was able to keep the painting despite the yellow pencil base.  My heavy often leads to pictures that are dominated by the base drawing. 

Little Mountian Book 19-24

So, almost done with this sketch book, my friend and source of creativity. Will be sad to say goodbye, yet excited to start a new book. 

Here are five more of my drawings.

The above view is from Kailua High School on the Windward side of Oahu where I work. I had some time in the morning while waiting for one of my students to arrive.

The next few are from a hike I did up Ka'au Crater. 

I decided to try one of these in black ink instead of the red. It has a really cool, color-wise that is, look. I am unsure if I like the landscapes with the black pen in them.

This is a view of Olomana from the overlook. It's unusual for me to look at the peak from that side. 

 I like how the clouds came out on this one.

This one above is looking at the ridge line on the Koolau Mountains from the top of the hike. I had a little difficulty with the red ink in this one, though the effect it creates is kind of growing on me.

This last one is the ridges leading up to the Koolau Mountains on our descent down the trail. I like how I'm using yellow in these last couple sketches.  I may do a few more like this with the remaining pages.

Student in the Library

I used to work as a math tutor for a student who attended Kailua Intermediate.  He would watch me draw other people and one day he finally asked me to create his portrait.

I used the yellow ocher watercolor pencil; it gives an interesting glow to the figure. I'm not sure how it works as a watercolor though. I do like how his hands came out.