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Day 46 22/04/2022
I’ve worked just an hour a day over the last few days, I think partly because I wasn’t enjoying the sketch below very much. I struggled with the shadow areas because every time I tried to apply the paint, the brush only seemed to scrape away the existing paint. I think it must have been due to an imbalance in the oil/mineral spirit in my medium, leaving the surface too oily.
Of the four hours I worked on this, I expect no more than one hour was on the skull itself. The rest was battling with the medium in the shadows and trying to inject some interest into the ground plane (not successfully).
Practice Time: 4h (over 3 days, I must start reporting each day, even if I don’t finish something)
Day 47 24/04/2022
In keeping with my intention to report what I do daily, even if I finish
- I worked outdoors for 1.5 hrs on a landscape. It was a gloriously beautiful afternoon, but man I must be a slow painting as I hardly covered the canvas in this time. The plan is to work on it tomorrow.
- I also started a ‘master study’ of William Wendt’s Mantle of Spring. I’ve spent about an hour on it thus far, will hopefully make some progress tomorrow. I also spent time pulling together an “analysis” of its values, composition, colour, etc., which will hopefully help teach me how to “read” paintings.
work in progress
Practice Time: 2h
Day 48 25/04/2022
- 1.5 hours continuing the master study of Wendt’s Mantle of Spring. I didn’t get much further than laying in some of the approximate colours/values. Hopefully finish it off tomorrow as this is a little off subject for my challenge! Plus, Wendt’s original is almost 6 feet wide, so I should probably limit my expectations of what can be done on a little canvas pad.
- I also spent a good hour on the “analysis” of the piece as I’d like to develop my understanding of art critique, history and philosophy. I read a good guide on the subject here -> https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/how-to-analyze-an-artwork
Practice Time: 1.5 hrs – must prioritise practice more!
Day 49 + 50 26-27/04/2022
Well, I didn’t intend for this master study to take as long as it did. In fact, I could have gone on and on – but I think I got what learning I could out of it. In fact, I even pulled together a little analysis beforehand. I’d add it here but the forum doesn’t allow file uploads.
I also read a handful of pages from Mastering Composition by Ian Roberts. I’ve got to say, I’m not a big fan of it. It’s a book ostensibly about composition, but is really about composing a picture. Which encompasses not just formal composition, but all the elements that go into making a painting. The handful of pages were on “how to draw” and “how to get the most out of museum trips”.
Practice Time: 4 hours over two days.
Day 51 28/04/2022
- A sketch started outside on Sunday, which I reworked for a few hours this evening. Plenty of things I’d improve about this one, but it’s time to move on.
- I also watched about an hour of the Introduction to Animal Anatomy, which at first seems a bit random. But there are a lot of animals nearby, not least horses and sheep, which I might benefit studying from. I’m also keen to give a live class a go.
Practice Time: 2.5h
Day 52 30/04/2022
- I watched week 3 of Villpu’s Elements of Traditional Composition on opposites.
- I also finished watching the week 1 live session and instructional content for Introduction to Animal Anatomy.
- I’ve been reading a bit from a book I picked up “The Barbizon School” by Bouret, to contribute to my art history learning.
- I spent time taking notes and making a few drawings. It’s not exactly in keeping with my ‘drawing from observation’ challenge, but the plan is to get a bit of theory under my belt before going out and drawing some live horses in the next day or two. There’s a handful of pages of this type of stuff…
I’ve never drawn animals before (and have little experience with the figure), so this is something new. My hope is that by Christmas, I’ll be able to paint my partner a landscape featuring her horses.
Practice Time: 2h
Day 53 1/05/2022
- I started the day spending half an hour drawing horses from life. Not terribly productive as I couldn’t get more than a loose gestural sketch in before the horses moved. I think I need to work from references first.
- I watched the lesson from Russian Academic Drawing on the spiral fold. Then I set up my own version of the drapery fold and worked for a couple hours in charcoal.
- I also started listening to Huston’s lectures as part of Finding Your Voice As An Artist. I think I’ve watched this before in one of his other courses, but it’s so good a second hearing can only be my gain. My plan is to review the courses within the ‘Drawing Foundations’ module of the course guide, to make sure I haven’t missed anything out. This is part of the module.
Practice Time: 2.5h
Day 54 + 55 2-3/05/2022
- I watched the section of Russian Academic Drawing on inert cloth, then set myself up an equivalent and got drawing.
- I also watched 40 mins more of Finding Your Voice As An Artist.
- I read a dozen odd pages of Ian Robert’s Mastering Composition. Admittedly, I’m whizzing through it for the odd useful nuggets as, on the whole, the text isn’t doing much for me (and I’ve got juicy books waiting in the wings).
Not the best bit of drapery I’ve done in the course thus far. I got the proportions and placement all wrong, which made it difficult to shift whole pipe folds over. It got messy as the paper doesn’t take much erasing. Oh well, onto the next one!
Practice Time: 3.5h (over two days)
Day 56 4/05/2022
- I spent 2 hours today just working on the Introduction to Animal Anatomy homework. First time submitting anything for a live class, albeit late!
- I started an initial painting for a still life, which I’ll work on tomorrow.
- I also stretched a big panel and ordered some charcoal pencils, in preparation for the final drapery project for Russian Academic Drawing.
Practice Time: 2.5h
Day 57 6/05/2022
Unfortunately I’ve been a bit unwell and haven’t had the time to practice that I’d like. I did spend a couple hours on a still life, but I was finding it energy-sapping and a bit of a chore. I have the still life set up, so I may come back to it later next week. Here it is after two hours.
Practice Time: 2h
Day 58 7/05/2022
Gorgeous weather today, so I spent 2 hours painting outdoors. Admittedly I had strong, “this is hard, perhaps I should just quit” urges, before I eventually just settled into a nice bit of time outside. I’ll give it some studio love to try and turn it into something decent.
Practice Time: 2h
Day 59 8/05/2022
The decent weather continues, so I had two outdoor painting sessions. I’m pleased with myself for getting out twice and just enjoying the process – even if I’m feeling a bit demotivated at the slow progress. The idea was to revisit the same tree at different points in the day for a couple quick postcard-sized studies of the changing light effect. Everything is just so green at the moment…
Practice Time: 3.5h
- I also completed a lesson of Finding Your Artistic Voice.
Day 60 9/05/2022
I spent an hour working on the outdoor painting from the other day. I’m not getting the effect I want – I think the solution lies in more master copies and emulation.
I listened a little bit to Bill Perkin’s in Finding Your Voice As An Artist and read a chapter in The Practice and Science of Drawing on academic vs conventional art. The gist seemed to be, you need academic training to learn the hard technical skills of drawing. But merely reproducing what you see accurately isn’t art. For that, you need to inject your own expressiveness and experience of the subject. Interestingly, the author bemoaned how art instruction was too academic. A sign of the times he wrote in!
I’ve also started watching / doing the lesson in Russian Drawing Course on the clothed mannequin.
Practice Time: 1.5h
Day 61 9/05/2022
- I watched an hour of Russian Drawing Course on the clothed mannequin.
- I drew for two hours, slow going on a large piece but enjoyable. It’ll be a few more days in the making I reckon.
- I also read a chapter in The Practice and Science Of Drawing, which essentially goes through Speed’s drawing process.
- I also watched a little of Finding Your Artistic Voice whilst I was doing something else.
Practice Time: 2h
Day 62 11/05/2022
The breaking of the strict rules of the 100 day challenge continues with more of the final drapery assignment from the Russian Drawing Approach. I didn’t have too much time today, so I continued to work on adding general shadow shapes and overall tone to the different fabrics.
Judging from the fact I’m spending about 2 hours for every 30 minutes of instructional video, there’s probably another 8 hours left to go 🙂
Practice Time: 1.5h
Day 64 13/05/2022
- Same as the previous days really, a mix of watching the Draped Mannequin tutorial and doing the assignment.
Looks like I forgot to take a progress photo, whoops…
Practice Time: 2h
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Day 65 14/05/2022
- I watched more of the Draped Mannequin tutorial, just 30 mins remaining.
- I got outside for an hour to paint a landscape, but quickly lost the light. I didn’t get much further than a lay-in, so I’ll see if I can develop it more from photo reference tomorrow.
- I spent an hour on the Draped Mannequin assignment from Russian Drawing Approach.
Practice Time: 2h
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