part of a gorilla

I had to crop my gorilla as he is, like the previous rhino, too large for my scanner. I didn't feel like photographing him as the light is really bad at this time of the evening. He ended up being very colorful, didn't he? He looks much better with the top of his head, I do have to say. I've cropped the tops of other gorillas' heads off before, but this one really needs the top of his head. Poor poor gorilla....

So, I just finally had my dinner at about 7:30. I made lentil soup and some fresh bread. I was really impatient for my first loaf of bread as the soup had been ready since about 2:30. My bread was "done" at 4:00. The problem was that it actually turned out to not be bread, but some sort of compacted, sandy mess. I had added some other ingredients (not in the instructions_) to the mix before I got started and it seems that, in the process, I forgot the water. So, rather than crying over messed up bread, I just made a new loaf. Yes, I had to wait until 7:30 to eat, but it was well worth the wait.

That's all for the tonight. I'm off to movie night at my friend's house.

rhino painting in my pajamas...

This morning I painted a rhino while still in my pajamas. Pajamas are actually good painting clothes as you don't worry so much about getting paint on them, especially the ones that I am wearing now as the pants are my least favorite pajama pants. So, paint may actually improve them. Unfortunately, it seems that I painted clean, so they are still my least favorite pajama pants. This rhino is fairly large (about 12x16), so I couldn't scan him or her. I wanted to work larger than usual and just sort of messily apply the paint, so that's what I did. He actually looks better in person as I had to photograph him with a flash in not the best light. I prefer scanning, even though you can never get a perfect scan either. I decided to leave the graphite elephants in the background, rather than crop them out. So, it's a double (or triple) pachyderm photo. I also used my easel for this painting rather than painting on my lap, so that's a departure.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. It's time for me to get out of my pajamas and get going. Happy Friday everyone.

long time no post...

It's been a few days, hasn't it? I've been slacking. I had a good week, with some socializing, after having been pretty much a prisoner in my apartment while I was waiting for my car to be fixed. So, I wasn't at home all that much, and then when I was at home, I was doing a lot of reading and not a lot of drawing. But I do have this one sketch I did before going to work on Sunday morning. I was sitting on my couch, computing, as I tend to do before going to work, and I suddenly had a flash of a rhino playing a ukulele, so then I had to stop computing, pick up a pencil and sketch it. Unfortunately, my vision of a rhino playing a ukulele was much more interesting than the actually sketch. Then I was inspired to look at a video of an actual person playing a ukulele and found this. He has a whole series of lessons, if you ever want to pick up the ukulele and play along with him. That's all I have for today. I have to get ready for work. I will have to check out others' blogs when I get home tonight as I've piddled away my time and now have to rush. And I see that I spelled ukulele wrong on the sketch. Disregard that...

Just a quick rant...

Doorbell ringing saga continues... More ding dongs today. Asked neighbor why he never has a key. He looks at me sheepishly: "You know how it is. I have to look for it." No, I don't know how it is. I tend to not leave home without my building key. It's kind of essential for opening the door. Oh no--wait, not if the neighbor is home drinking coffee, in her pajamas. Why would one need to look for one's key then?

Upside down, right side up...

I've been having issues with drawing lately. Sometimes it comes easy to me, other times, it is more difficult. It has been the latter, more often than not, lately. So, I decided to take out my favorite and the most famous drawing book that I own, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards, and do one of the exercises from its pages. I have always had plans to make my way through the book in its entirety and do all the exercises, but have never had the discipline. It's always like "oh, I'll do this one--it's more fun. That one seems boring, etc..." I guess if I had had formal training, I would have had to do many exercises that I didn't like, so maybe I should force myself to go through the whole damn book. Or maybe not... Anyway, I chose the upside drawing exercise, which is one of the fun exercises, I think. What it forces you to do is look at the lines and shapes and to copy the drawing without having your brain be so concerned with the subject matter. Yes, it's a person (even though this particular drawing that you're copying is a Picasso, so it is a bit exaggerated or distorted person), but you're looking at it upside down, so it doesn't look as much like a person as it does a collection of lines and shapes. You want your brain to shift from that left mode way of looking at it as person, into the right mode way of looking at it as lines and shapes that connect with each other and fit together, etc... You're supposed to give yourself about 30 to 40 minutes to complete the drawing. Of course, being one that can never fully follow directions, I did it in about 10 minutes, so I don't think I gave myself time to fully make the shift. And there is such a temptation to turn it right side up, just to see if the drawing is looking correct. I resisted, but it drove me a bit crazy. I do think that my upside drawings always end up looking more expressive than my right side up drawings. I guess it's the whole letting go thing at work. Anyway, this is all I have for tonight. Not quite as cute as a rhino in pajamas...

Rhinoceros in Pajamas

Since I heart rhinos and I heart pajamas, of course it was only a matter of time until I combined these two loves. This sketch is actually from about a month ago and I don't know why I haven't posted it yet. If you look closely, you will see the rhino is having a sleepover, but his friend is not wearing pajamas. I don't think birds would like to wear pajamas. They may be too constricting if they need to get up and fly in the middle of the night. Right now it is 11:38 and I am still wearing my pajamas. Unfortunately, it's just about time for me to get out of them and get ready for work. Do I have time for oatmeal this morning? I don't think so as I want to piddle around on the computer, in my pajamas for a bit longer. I guess I'll just have to go to work hungry. The sacrifices one makes to hang out in one's pajamas for just a little bit longer...

Oh, and jb, I didn't change my settings. I don't know why it is doing that...

Giraffe sketch and E.T.

So, I often think that I don't actually see something until I try to draw it. I found that to be the case with giraffes. I have only drawn one other giraffe and that was in profile. Observing one straight on and trying to duplicate him/her (I can't tell) I was struck by a certain resemblance to E.T. of cinematic fame. See below.



Note the long neck and the gigantic eyes. Yes, I know that aliens traditionally have gigantic eyes, but there is just something similar between these two. I have always noticed giraffes' huge eyes with long, mascaraed eyelashes, but it wasn't until I had the shape of the head sketched in with the eyes, that I noticed the resemblance to E.T.. I do think that when people are creating creatures that they must be inspired by nature. Obviously we have these images floating around in our heads and when we are creating something, we are going to draw from that inner library, but I do feel that it's often conscious. I don't create creatures for a living nor have I ever really listened to people talk about creating creatures, but I just have a feeling that maybe the person or people creating E.T. could have possibly had a giraffe photo tagged up on their bulletin board. And I could be totally wrong...

On a related note, I do think that the person/people creating Shrek were partially inspired by rhinos. I mean, just look at these ears and compare.