Bananas & Tomatoes in Puerto Rico

Here's my first drawing I created since I arrived last week in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. I've been wanting to draw but I've been so busy settling in, cleaning my studio and working on projects.

In the evenings, I visit family and I always bring my pad to draw but by then I'm tired and motivation is low. Last night was different, though. I arrived at my aunt's house and I thought, no excuses, sit down and draw and I did. It's always tough to get started, especially after a long day, high humidity and mosquitoes! It's so much easier simply lounging on the front-porch hammock. But once I started a quick gesture sketch to block in the shapes, I got hooked and was determined to finish.

It felt good to finish a piece, it always reminds me how much I enjoy drawing. Plus my family members would walk by and watch me, they thought it was cool. One cousin was cleaning table and moved two tomatoes while I was drawing, I looked up and they were gone! I was shocked and I expressed myself, he apologized and put them back.

I actually worked up a sweat on this sketch, it's different drawing in high humidity, my paper felt different, it doesn't feel crisp like in dry climate and my graphite pencils really felt soft so i would lose my sharp tip fast, and if I pressed too hard my paper would burnish. I approached this drawing like a figure and portrait drawing: with a quick gesture sketch to block-in shapes and to fill the page, then slowly began building tone, added depth with overlapping thick and thin lines, and always kept in mind negative shapes, composition, and design.

Two full Figure Female Portrait Drawings

The Saturday morning portrait drawing sessions that I attend has two new models for the next four weeks. One is a young ballerina seated and the other is a casually dressed young woman curled up on a chair. Both poses are nice and since the session is only two hours, I made sure to spend an hour drawing each model. I first created the drawing on the right, the model chose this pose and I like it because it fit my drawing page well. I was able to draw her bigger so it has a bold look to it. Plus the arms to the chair add depth. I like the way the arm chair wraps around her.

On the 2nd hour I sketched the ballerina, it's a nice pose. I ran into a challenge with drawing her, I couldn't get her ballerina shoes right, it drove me nuts. I don't know why, finally after several attempts I sketched a nice looking ballerina shoe, and I'm bummed I wasn't able to fit the tip of her right shoe.

As always there was a good crowed and the DJ played soundtrack to Wicked! Cool musical!

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I was a little sad at this portrait session because I knew I wouldn't be back to continue drawing these two models. Soon I'll be returning to my studio in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. I am excited for my trip but also sad because I will miss my family, my friends, and the drawing groups. I will continue posting drawings I create in Puerto Rico. I will also be creating paintings and will post them as well. I believe I'll return to Toledo end of summer. Thank you Toledo, Ohio. I had a great winter here! :)

Portait Drawing of 1980's Teenage woman

This is the other model from Saturday morning's portrait drawing session. The portrait session hires two models for 4 weeks and I spent the 1st three drawing portraits of my friend AJ. On this last session I finally sat in front of this model and made several portrait drawings, she was dressed 1980's style. It was fun sketching her, I wish I had done a painting of her because her outfit was very colorful.

I created the full figured portrait on the right side first in about 40 minutes. I really enjoyed drawing that one, I thought the leg warmers were a good touch. The portrait on the left was 25 minutes, and I created it towards the end of class. It was rushed and you can tell, the eyes on this one aren't right and I lost my highlights on the pupils, so they now look dark and hollow. Lessons learned, I need to make sure I leave a little high light on the eyes.

I still had a great portrait drawing session, the crowd was nice, one of the artists brought Monavie juice drinks that were delicious, and the boom box played a James Taylor live concert recording.

Figure Drawing of Large Woman

Last night's evening figure drawing session was challenging. I like it when this person models because I can feel my drawing concentration intensifying. When ever I draw her I realize how easy it is for me to sketch the petite female models we've had in the past.

Lately I've been drawing the full figure with all my figure drawings. I remember when I used to focus my drawing on certain part of the pose, but now I draw the figure within the edges of the page. i like this because It forces me to make proportion measurements, its more challenging, and I believe drawing the full figure every time makes my drawing skills and technique progress evenly.

I created several drawings at this session and they all came out nice. I chose these two to post, the drawing on the top left is a 5 minute pose and the drawing on the right is a 40 minute pose. I started with a gesture drawing to help me quickly block in the shapes of the model, I made proportion measurements, and sketched in the negative shapes. I also sketched in the chair to help me with proportions and to add depth and perspective to my drawing.

I had a great session, the evening weather was pleasant, a good company of artists attended, and the boom box played classical music for the 1st half and Nils Lofgren for the 2nd half.