Oak Trees

"Oh oak tree, how they have pruned you.  Now you stand odd and strangely shaped!  You were hacked a hundred times until you had nothing left but spite and will!

I am like you, so many insults and humiliations could not shatter my link with life.  and every day I raise my head beyond countless insults towards new light.  What in me was once gentle, sweet and tender this world has ridiculed to death.  But my true self cannot be murdered.  I am at peace and reconciled.  I grow new leaves with patience from branches hacked a hundred times.  In spite of all the pain and sorrow I am still in love with his mad, mad world."

-Hermann Hesse

Trees

At last the trees are budding and blooming here.  There are dandelions everywhere.  Soft green, pale pink and creamy yellow hues whisper spring melodies.  Some of the trees still in their elegant wintry beauty stretch out their branches toward the sky dancing in ecstasy.

For the next while, I will focus on drawing trees; certainly my favourite subject.  For my studies, I will use books of botany as reference from the library.  Also on a warm day, I may take my camera to take pictures of the trees in my neighbourhood to use as reference for my sketches.
It would be great to be able to identify various trees, as well as hopefully learn to better draw them based on their distinguishing characteristics.

my sister's garden in California

"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.  Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all.  But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself."
-William Blake

Sketches Continued...

 "Birdsong brings relief to my longing.  I am just as ecstatic as they are, but with nothing to say."
-Rumi

Sketches and Scribbles

It is another overcast day; a gloomy sky with various shades of grey.  It is hard to tell what time it is.
It is also a perfect afternoon to add some colour to a grey toned paper, and so transform a dull and dreary day.


Below are a couple of sketches and scribbles as warm ups to enjoy and relax prior to the days of serious painting to come ahead.  I will be working on commissioned paintings; two large acrylic paintings for a bedroom and a living room.  I have accepted one for now.  I will start working on it in a week.  Until then, I will take the opportunity to unwind and reconnect with the creative spirit.

"Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time."

-Albert Camus

Happy Spring!

Wishing you all a wonderful spring season full of love and happiness! :)

A Challenge ... in so many ways!

To test my analytical and interpretation skills, I chose a beautiful oil painting from 1879 by Sir Frederic Leighton (an English painter and sculptor) for my study.

Since I worked with graphite pencils, examining the nuances in value became the priority.  To make it my own, I changed the facial features just slightly. I think it turned out ok.
I now have a better understanding of why Sir Leighton is Sir Leighton. :)

Realizing what could be achieved and what needed improvement, I called this one done.

Anticipating the arrival of spring, I will now take a break from portraits.  

Glasses And The Hat

It looks like I spoke a little too soon.  A regular visit to the optometrist, and a few days later … my very first prescription glasses!

At +0.75, it is very mild.  I will be using them only for reading and drawing.  I now have something to blame all my previous art failures on.  :)

I put them to the test and doing detailed work feels much more comfortable.