Quick Studies

Three very quick sketches I did with a pen of my daughter. I wish she would hold still just a little longer! We used to do sketches like this as warm ups in art class--the model would pose for half a minute then change positions. But Irene is in constant motion and my drawing hand just can't keep up. Still, I used lines so at least that works with this week's reading!

Of the three, I like the lower left one best. I think I captured her posture and a little bit of her sturdiness.

Real Live Design Problem

Not very interesting images but these do actually reflect a design issue I'm working on right now. Coincidentally, it has something to do with balance. I'm designing and knitting a sweater for a book of children's knits. The sweater itself is very simple but I'm adding a flower motif using a technique called intarsia. I've finished the back of the sweater but I now have to decide what the fronts and sleeves will look like, i.e. where the flowers will be placed.

The pattern for the sweater will be available in several sizes, probably ranging from ages 2-14, but the flowers will remain the same size regardless of the sweater size. I'm also under some time constraint. The back took much longer to knit that I thought it would and the sample needs to get to the editor within the next week or so. The fewer flowers I include, the faster I can finish (and I really want to finish this thing--I'm sick of it!).

Irene Sleeping

This is a picture of my 16-month old daughter Irene asleep (at last!). I've captured something of her but it's not quite a good a likeness as I'd like it to be. Still, there is something very satisfying about drawing children, especially your own. Maybe it's just having the opportunity to stare at them and appreciate how beautiful they are.

I drew her by lamplight and I wish I'd been able to do a better job of capturing the shadows on her face. Also, I think the picture would have had a bit more depth if I'd made an effort to draw in the mattress and blanket behind her head but I was lazy and concentrating on her face which I found much more interesting. I cropped the picture to include the title/date as I rather like the extra negative space that's included. I think it's more interesting than it would be if I'd cropped it right around her face.

Lilies

Getting back into drawing after a very long time: a stem of lilies that Blue, my four-year-old, picked for me. I've always preferred drawing living things to other objects. Flowers (unlike children) hold still long enough for you to draw them.

The four elements of the picture aren't identical but they're of similar weight, style, color, and size which pulls them together. I didn't set out to consciously create a "composition"--I just wasn't really happy with the first sketch so I tried another, and another--but I think the four together make a nicer picture than any of them would alone. It makes them look more deliberate and it's a bit easier to overlook the flaws in any single sketch.

I cropped the original a bit but it's essentially the same as on the page. Because it's on a white background on the blog, you can barely see the edges of the image. I rather like the negative space within it but the complete lack of a frame leaves the images sort of hanging in space. (I tried adding a border to it but couldn't figure out how to do that in Fireworks--sigh!)