Drawings

This first drawing is of the side of a string bass.  I enjoy the simplicity of form, movement.

Drawings

Drawings

Drawings from sketchbook

The next few days I will be sharing some drawings from my sketchbooks. Some show examples of the drawing techniques that I shared previously.

Mothers Day card

My 4 yr old son and I made a mothers day card for my wife.  I drew the rose and my son colored it in.

  I enjoyed watching my son color - he was using both hands at the same time with two different colors. 

Stained glass design for office window

This is an interior office window next to a door entering the office.  It is approximately 5 ft by 3 ft.  The door is to the right and the design flows into a window in the door.  This would have clear textured glass and hand beveled glass to allow privacy yet have light flowing through.  The opposite wall in the office has an exterior window that looks out at one of the surrounding hills of the Palouse.  This design compliments the rolling hills as well as tying into the flow of the space.

Drawing Techniques- Line thickness

Changing the line thickness in a drawing creates a more interesting and dimensional piece.  Making a line thicker can pull a section forward making the thinner line recede.  A thicker line can make a section look more weighted like someone putting more weight on one foot than another.  I also do this in creating leaded glass windows-  using thicker and thinner lead within a piece to move areas forward and backward.  

Drawing Techniques- using symbols

Use symbols or shapes as background, texture, shading or to define an area.  Matisse is a good example of this.  Shapes and symbols are used in aboriginal art and each shape has a particular meaning.
The painting below is titled Dancer which I painted in 1994.

Drawing Techniques- shading/light to dark gradation

This technique helps to develop light to dark gradations using pencil.  The trick to this is to layer building from light to dark.  If you try to draw light and then dark it will not have the gradation look.  You will end up with distinct lines showing the difference of light and dark.  You can also do this exercise doing hatch and crosshatch.

Drawing Techniques- drawing opposite side

This will stretch your brain- as you are drawing something think of what the opposite side looks like and draw it into the piece.

Drawing Techniques- hatch/cross hatch

Hatch and cross hatch are used to shade areas, add definition and shape.  If more shading is needed cross hatching is great. 

Drawing Techniques- timed drawings

A great way to change the way you see things and draw is to do timed drawings.  Warm up with 30 second drawings to get the flow, idea of the object/ person down.  After a few of those do 1 minute, working your way up to 5 and 10 minute drawings. You can even mix it up- do a 1 minute drawing then a 15 second, 30 second drawing.  These are also great for group and class settings.

Drawing Techniques- both hands at same time

Drawing with both hands at the same time is a very challenging technique.  You are to have each hand at opposite points in the drawing; the tendency is to be close together in the drawing so try not to. 

I drew in pencil with one hand and pen in the other.  I started at the head with the pen ending at the hand and the feet with the pencil ending in the torso area. It really makes you slow down and focus. 

Drawing Techniques-Class or group setting

A fun activity in a group setting is to have  large banner paper, split up in several groups of 2-3 people who will draw on each sheet.  After a few minutes have 1 person from each group move to another group and continue drawing for the same amount of time and keep rotating until everyone has drawn at each group.  This teaches people to tie things together and is very fascinating to see different styles on a sheet. 

Drawing Techniques- Blind contour

One technique that I use most often in drawing is blind contour or even gesture drawing "blind".  What I mean by "blind" is not looking at the paper 90% of the time when drawing.  The idea is to keep your eyes on the object to study it and observe it.  The hand will go with what you are seeing. Examples of drawing this way can be seen on the opposite hand posting.   

Drawing Techniques- gesture

Gesture drawing is basically very quick drawing to capture the movement, placement of something or even the composition. 

Drawing Techniques- opposite hand

A great way to warm up is to spend 20 minutes drawing with your opposite hand.  It gets you to not think so much and just allow the drawing to come.  A lot of times the composition or capturing the moment comes easier drawing this way. 

Both drawings were done with my opposite hand. 

Drawing Techniques- drawing from the cube

One thing I have found very helpful to get more dimension on a 2 dimensional surface is drawing from the cube.

 Start by drawing a cube-square or rectangle to create the illusion of 3 dimensions.  Then it is a matter of drawing a figure or object within this cube, pushing and pulling the object to create more dimension.
When I was first learning to draw everything seemed flat and did not seem to come forward.  This helped me tremendously to think about pulling forward the areas that are closest to me and pushing back the areas furthest from me. 

Drawing Techniques

I thought it would be fun to do a series on drawing techniques that I have found helpful and, to use the word again, fun.  Examples include drawing from the cube, blind contour and gesture.  I will start next week on this series. 

Oil painting titled Growing

5ft tall by 2ft wide.  I had a plant that draped down from the pot a certain way and really liked the flow of it.  The shoot at the bottom of the plant shows the plant is continuing to grow which also signifies myself growing in so many ways.  After completing this piece it struck me how much it looks like a Japanese screen.

Half dining room window

This window is in a dining room and the client wanted privacy from the street.  He had wood shutters which blocked out a lot of light.  This gave privacy and allowed the light to come in.  The lines flow with the texture in the surrounding walls and ties in with the background trees.  It was fun to have the design go outside of the frame on top and have the top be diagonal instead of squared off. 

Stained glass trifold room dividers

The following are room dividers that I have for sale.  I enjoyed making three panel divider with designs flowing through the three panels.  A friend of mine made the wood frames.

The first two pictures bring out the image differently.  I originally had the glass in the first wood frame but changed it to the white oak frame in the second image.   Hand beveled glass with color pieces beveled and bonded on top.  I enjoy the flow of the design.

 Measures 6 ft tall and each panel is 18" wide.

This one stands 5 ft tall and each panel is 18" wide.  Ash wood frame.  Both dividers have double joint hinges so they can be folded/unfolded in different ways.  I love how the different textures of glass pick up the colors and light/shadows from the background.

Oil painting-figurative

The human figure is a fascinating subject to draw/paint.  Very expressive, complex and at times difficult to draw. Body language is how we understand what a person is thinking, feeling or doing and trying to capture that on paper, canvas or even glass is a challenge for me. I enjoy using different colors to paint to form to express different emotions. 

Looking at these remind me again how the glass and painting intertwine with each other - FUN!

Oil painting- figurative expressing anxiety

I was going through a period where I was anxious about a lot of things, much like I am now.  I wanted to express that through this pose with the muscle tension, tension in the fingers.  "What do I do?" is what I see when I look at the hand on the head.
I enjoy the depth and love the anatomy in this pose.  I also enjoy the intertwining of glass design and painting. 

Oil painting reproductions

If you are looking for special cards to give someone or art prints, please visit http://IsaacDSmith.imagekind.com
for reproductions of my oil paintings and glass images.

"Gusty"- stained glass process- completed

I enjoy the movement of this piece and how the design flows outside of the frame. I also enjoy the painterly feel that it has. At some point a wood frame/stand will be made and this will be a freestanding piece.
The inspiration of this piece was during a windstorm I watched some trees get blown pretty hard and I had a mental image of a design for glass. 

"Gusty"- stained glass process

Cleaning the hardened uv adhesive.

"Gusty"- stained glass process; bonding beveled glass

This is the bonding process.  I use uv adhesive to bond the beveled color piece onto the clear beveled piece.  The uv lamp cures the adhesive.

"Gusty"- stained glass process

I had drawn the middle shapes of the clear bevels and placed the above colored glass over the clear bevels, drew the outline, scored and broke the glass to get the above shapes.  They were then beveled and now ready to bond onto the top of the clear bevels.

"Gusty"- stained glass process

Soldering the lead came outside of the copper frame.  I enjoy moving the design outside of the frame to add more interest and movement.

"Gusty"- stained glass process

Whiting is used to help the putty dry faster and to clean oils off of the glass.

"Gusty"- stained glass process

This image shows the soldered joints and the putty in the channel and preliminary cleaning of the glass.

"Gusty"- stained glass process

All pieced together and ready to solder the joints.

Reproductions of my oil paintings/glass images

Reproductions and prints of my oil paintings and images of stained glass can be purchased at http://IsaacDSmith.imagekind.com    Anything from note cards to full size reproductions on different kinds of paper as well as on canvas.  Matting and framing is also available. 

Frosted trees-Hyouju

The following images I took on Friday (Dec 31) morning and evening of frost on the trees.  Our son's name is Hyouju which means frosted forest or trees.  It was beautiful. I find it interesting how my photos seem to be compositioned similar to my painting and glass work.

This was soon after sunrise and the fog is still in the distance.

I took this pic after the fog lifted.  I enjoy the color change from the pale orange to the blues.

This one I took in the evening.  I love the light and shadows on the snow.

"Gusty"- stained glass process

Cutting glass and piecing everything together.  I tack solder some joints just to hold areas together so I can move on to the next piece.  With some of the curves this piece became a little complicated in cutting and putting together.