Lilly Oncology on Canvas - Tripler Hospital

I went to an Awesome event at Tripler Hospital this weekend called the Lilly Oncology on Canvas.

From their site...

This biennial competition, presented by Lilly Oncology and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS), invites people from the United States and Puerto Rico diagnosed with any type of cancer - as well as their families, friends, caregivers and healthcare providers - to express, through art and narrative, the life-affirming changes that give their cancer journeys meaning.

I met a whole bunch of powerfully strong people and it is really hard for me not to go into details here. I spent the evening doing portraits of people there. I did four drawings that afternoon. Above is my favorite. I think I will redo the piece in a more controlled circumstances. It has a neat feel to it and  is called "The Three Musketeers."

My mother is a cancer survivor and worked for a few years at the local branch of the American Cancer Society. I can empathize with many of the people there at the event. I was very moved by the feelings of appreciation and gratitude that I received from every one there.  They filled my heart with love and light.

This is such a great event.  

"We are survivors from the moment of diagnosis." 

~ Peter Jennings

"That is the beauty of cancer, it tells you that your days are limited, 

that you could die at any point. 

It is that perspective that allows you to

 live a better life while you're here."

 ~ Shelley Hamlin

"Cancer is not for sissies."

 ~ Suzanne Somers

HMoA Figure Drawing 04/15/13 - Sergio

Another Monday drawing class at the Honolulu Museum of Art. I missed class last week to watch a movie at the film festival. Just one week away from the museum seemed like a long long time.

The model was Sergio and as always he was a blast to draw. I have started judging my figure drawing sessions by the number of complete works I post to my Pintrest page. This week was excellent a 3/3 week.

Above is my favorite of the night. My thought after the pose was done is "I have to do a painting of a battlefield and include this poses in on the ground." It looks like a battle casualty.

I am really happy with how the piece of this pose are fitting together. Often in poses like this it's easy to get lost in detail, so the things like the arm will look well rendered but not fit with the rest of the pose. I am really happy with how the hand and foot look in this pose.

Above was the second 20 minute pose of the night. When Sergio took the pose I moved to the floor to get a more dramatic view.

I like how the figure seems to unravel as the right leg trails off the page.  I like the forensic look at how I composed the figure sketch.

I keep regularly going to classes and figure drawing sessions and can see a difference in the quality of my work.  A lot is judging how much I can do in a time frame. However, as I try to explain what I'm doing differently I really am having a rough time doing so.

But in that leg I can see the Burnt Umber I drew the general shapes with. I then smudged it along the edges and added Yellow Ocher as a highlight. Normally I would hide the transition going back into the drawing with both the light and the dark, but in that leg I kept the transition more clear. I then will use highlights to blast out a detail or lines to extenuate a shadow.

It's even difficult for me to see what I did on a page after the fact, but in that leg I can see exactly what I did.

This is an interesting page.  It is the earliest poses, the 2 fives and the ten and the last pose of the night. The two fives are in yellow ocher and blue and are mostly covered up by the ten minute pose on the right and the 20 minute pose on the left. 

After the 10, I immediately regretted using the blue and the green in the earlier poses. I thought the colors were too bright.

Sergio likes his difficult poses. So in the 20 minute pose he was pulling down on a bungee cord that was attached to the back wall. I was really tempted to move because there was very little light dark contrast in the pose; he was entirely in shadow, with some simple highlights on his shoulder and arm.

I stuck with my spot and played up the play with the burnt umber and the blue. The end result is a page I am pretty happy with.

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 class fee.

IOOF - Inside Guardian

There was an Odd Fellows Meeting on Tuesday.  I had enough time to do this drawing of our inside guardian. I love the shadows in this drawing. I did manage to capture his pose and gesture well.

At Coffee Bean - Man on his computer.

On Tuesday I had some down time so at the Coffee Bean in Foodland Kailua, I drew this sketch of a man on his computer. I really like how I rendered the man's legs through the chair in the foreground.

"A work of art comes only from inside a human being."

 ~ Edvard Munch

LCC SUN Life Drawing - 04/14/13 - Elaine

So this is the second week I have gone to the drawing class at Leeward Community College. I am enjoying it a lot. It is not all that crowded and the lighting is awesome.

Today the model was Elaine, the same model from Zwick studio's on Saturday.

I had a pretty good morning. My favorite of the morning was this one. There is a really nice feel to the drawing.

I am really enjoying the lighting at this class it is making for some really dramatic poses.

When Elaine took the pose, I was struck with how pretty it was. I was ready to do a drawing over another pose, but instead grabbed a fresh piece of paper and began to draw on it. 

There is not much to this pose or drawing, but it works. I sometimes am caught up in trying to add more and more to a page but this is a good example of simple being elegant. Its just more to contemplate and think over.

The blue is really setting off the Burnt Sienna nicely. 

Mark, the professor who is running the class and teaches at LCC, spent a good amount of time changing a burnt out light, then apologizing for the light not being strong enough. I was so impressed with the lighting there regardless. Mark has a theater background and it shows in the lighting.

I like how this page come out. I like how the figures are interacting with one another. I also really like how I rendered the central face. I applied the oil pastel in a very painterly way. I really love the entire left side of the page.
 

This was the second pose of the morning. I am a little unhappy with this sketch. I will probably take some turpentine to it and try again tomorrow.

The last pose was only 15 minutes, so I decided to do a portrait. I am on the fence about this one. It looks good for 15 minutes but still is not all that great.

The  Leeward Community College Sun Life drawing class is located at the campus Art Room. The class begins at 10:30 and will run until 1:30. There is a $10 class fee. 

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; 

the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” 

~ Plato

Zwick Studio 04/13/2013 - Elaine

 

So, on Saturday I went out to Zwick Studios. The regular model, Betsy, was sick so Billy called a replacement for the session. The replacement was Elaine.

I took a walk down the street to Fisher's Hawaii in downtown to get a canvas. 

I was surprised how everyone at the class didn't know there was a Fisher's downtown. I think I may have spurred a few more painters to use that store.   

I am happy with this painting. I need to put about two more hours into it to get it complete. There is a nice mood to the painting.

Let's see what I can do with this.

Woman at Starbucks

So, I was waiting for some friends and headed over to Starbucks. I decided to draw while I waited.

I, for some reason, toned a bunch of papers in this book. It seems like an odd thing to do because I don't think I planned to use white on the page. Still the tone is light, too, and it leaves a lot of room to play with.

I am debating whether to put something in the background here.

"Be who you are and say what you feel 

because those who mind don't matter 

and those who matter don't mind."

~ Dr. Seuss