Hi, there - Drawing 101!

Hi old friends! Where've I been, right? Well, I've missed YOU. And I didn't have the mental energy to blog hop or visit blogs or comment much anywhere. The stress from Bruce's illness was extremely hard for me to get back up from. But he's even back to work now, 2nd week!

I won't go into all the details but will just say my husband is better and so I am - Bruce with his heart and tummy, and me with my back surgery (hey, I can stand up straight and walk upright again - slowly and not far, but a little less pain now)!

Being stuck in bed recovering I searched around online and signed up for some of Sandy Allnock's classes. So I haven't been just laying around watching soap operas (are there any left?) and eating chocolate. In fact, I've lost almost 30 lbs since going on a more careful menu (not diet) since August 4. I have not increased activity because of my back. I have to take it reaaaalllly easy for 6 months (still have 4 more months). My goal is to walk to the mailbox but I can't do it every day because of spasms in the back and (shall I say it? Buttocks).

And I've been sharpening pencils and using a lot of the squishy eraser lol! I hope you will consider taking her course. You will get waaaay more than you thought. It didn't feel like a 101 course!

Here is a link: Sandy Allnock's Online Art Courses!

We simply used pencils (mostly a regular #2 and for me a 5B, 6B and Prismacolor White. The first part of class we used a white paper sketchbook and for second part, I used a tan color paper sketchbook. (We could use gray or tan paper.)

After a few lessons (ok a lot of lessons) about simple shapes and shadows, combining shapes and lighting, and 2 point perspective and vanishing points, we got into some challenging photos to draw. After the first few, I quit using a ruler because I just wanted to wing this and see what happens.

Remember, This is 101 for me. I felt like I was kicked out of the nest too early, but I flapped those wings 'til I only had a feather in each hand but I flew!

You can see the 2 pt perspective in a simple picnic table. (All drawings are based on photos at "Paint My Photo" where we have the drawing group discussion.) These images are not in the order we drew them, but sort of.


1. Picnic Table

2. An old building, "Dorothy Church" in Alberta, Canada. (I could not really locate the right side of the 2 pt perspective, so will need to study up more.)

3. Stack of cups

4. Hellbrunn Castle Grounds

5. Chichester Cathedral Steeple (this is about where I gave up with a ruler).

6. Still Life (um, the crumbled up paper in the foreground is supposed to be some calla lilies lol). This is where we began using a color paper and added white pencil.

7. In the Cottage

8. Locked

9. Garlic Bulb

10. Wormsloe State Historic Site (tunnel of trees sans the moss because there wasn't any moss in the original photo) I added green Prismacolor pencils.

11. Oil Lamp or Lantern

Ok dear ones - hug your loved ones!

Much love to each of you and

thank you for visiting ♥