Our Vanity

I built this awhile ago along with gutting and redoing the bathroom but it wasn't until today that I decided to take some shots of the vanity completed. Honduran Mahogany and Aspen with linseed oil, shellac, and wax as finish. Hand-sawn, hand-chiseled, and hand planed surfaces, dovetails, and mortise and tenons. I enjoy hand tools over power. I own some power tools to get by but the joy of working with wood in a quiet environment is unbeaten when compared to power tools. I'm still in the learning phase of this self-taught hobby but it is fun trying to master techniques from hundreds of years ago. I'm itching to get back in the shop to finish some other projects but all my interests take a lot of energy out of me as I really need to focus on one thing at a time.

Breaking the Back Pain Cycle

I posted my initial sketch for this drawing Thursday and I just now finished the rendered version. I was hoping to work traditionally but with a lot of edits, it was best that I drew this digitally. I started off fully rendering the two figures on the right and then pushed them more and more transparent to make the main figure stand out. The client's product colors are very high chroma. I had to incorporate the reds and oranges somehow into the illustration and try to still retain my own color harmony. The concept is breaking the back pain cycle. The designer will work with the text. I basically dropped that in there for the time being.

Fun with Figure Drawing

I had a blast tonight at figure drawing. The model had some great poses plus I tried out some new medium for the first time. 18"x24" PanPastel charcoal stuff applied with foam covered palette knives on Strathmore 400 paper. 20 and 30 minute poses.

Couple more orthopedics

Here are a couple more illustrations I worked on today from the same series I posted Friday. The one with the exposure and dissection of the Carpometacarpal joint will probably need revising and additions but the design surgeon wanted a visual starting point.

Orthopedic Illustrations

Here are 2 of 10 orthopedic illustrations I'm currently working on.

Figure Studies

Two 10 minute figure studies from last night in sepia pencil.

Exercise/Stretching Illustrations Revisited

On January 22nd I posted 2 of about 32 illustrations I was finishing up. Well, I've been busy since then doing some changes and additions which the client requested. These two demonstrate taking a pulse. They requested that I add in the Radial artery and the Carotid artery. I wanted to keep it simple but effective to get the point across and not to take away from the illustration. I'm pretty pleased.

Open Figure Drawing

Last night I went to an open figure drawing session at a local art store. Well, not quite local since it's about 35 minutes away. Anyway, it was fun. There were about 8 people there drawing. The model asked if she can wear black thigh highs to stay "warm". I found them distracting. Poses were 1 minute, 5, 10, 15. 1 minutes poses can be fun since they become dynamic as you record what you see very quickly. I'd like to be more efficient in recording more information in the longer poses. I found it odd to see everyone sitting at flat tables drawing. To me, the paper is being viewed at a distorted angle. I found a large easel in the corner and dragged it over. Working like this allows me to back up from the drawing and to use my arm more freely to draw.

AVERY

My daughter, Avery - 14"x17" Charcoal on Strathmore 500 hot press paper. I drew this last night. Somebody PLEASE teach me how to photograph drawings and paintings!