The Artistic Biker

Sketches and Musings

  • Daily Drawings

    A couple of years ago I committed myself to the first 200 drawing challenges from the Everyday Matters group on yahoo. I made it to 152 before I let myself get distracted. The purpose of the group is to point out that it's the every day matters that make every day matter. The mundane is what makes life special. Today, I decided to pick it back up and look for other sources online as well so that I will be challenged to draw every day. It is how I want to start and end every day.

    There are about thirty that I haven't posted, but you can find the bulk of the previous drawings here: https://www.artisticbiker.com/the-gallery/every-day-matters/

    #ab

    In album Daily Drawings (1 photo)

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  • 5 Minute Nudes

    NUDITY ALERT
    Duh! :)
    I have this continuing project that I like to do called 100 Days. The premise is that if you want to get better at anything, do it every day for 100 days. It doesn't matter what you want to get better at: drawing, painting, public speaking, dancing, making love, WHATEVER. Do it for 100 days in a row, even if only for a few minutes, and you can't help but improve. After the 100 days, take a break, try something else, or just do it again, especially if you are trying to improve your love making…

    On Twitter, I'm tagging it #100DaysArt because 100days was already being used by another group and the nude drawings were freaking some people out. Speaking of nudes, back to the point. This time around I'm drawing 5 minute nudes. I find that I am not satisfied with my ability to capture the figure quickly, especially a dynamic figure. So I am limiting my time to capture as much detail as possible. The nudes are "figure models" from around the internet. I have found a few good sources such as posespace.com where the nudes are purely artistic and in common everyday poses. I have also come across many other sites that I won't list here, but let me just say "artistic nudes" searches bring up some interesting poses and closeups.

    Anyway, just to get the G+ album caught up, I'm posting the first 37. I'll make this a weekly posting so you can track the progress with me. There will be rough spots along the way, but in the end I believe it will make me a better artist.

    *Please note the dates written on each one as Google didn't load them in order. If anyone knows how to sort photos in an album, I would LOVE to learn.

    #ab

    In album 5 minute nudes (37 photos)

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  • Drawing Class 8: 2b or not 2B

    Tonight in Drawing Class I gave a brief explanation of what all those numbers mean on the ends of your pencils, why you would choose one over the other and why it matters. I touched briefly on the concept of surface "tooth" and grain.

    To illustrate the point, I used one of Boy2's toy cars with different pencils clipped to it to draw lines across a page. This demonstrates how the darkness of the pencil varies while the working pressure remains relatively constant, thus preserving "tooth".

    The class is free and online at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19418035
    The password to get into the class is in the newsletter here: https://www.artisticbiker.com/newsletter

    #ab

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  • A Brief Note 26DEC2011

    Hello Peoples!

    I hope everyone had a wonderful ChristmaChanuKwanSaturnalia weekend!  My family celebrated Christmas in style! Christmas Eve: presents, lasagna, and midnight mass with The Bride’s ancestors.  Christmas morning: Orange icing biscuits, caramel coffee, and presents under the tree at home. Christmas Day? Fried chicken and presents with my ancestors, as well as a visit with Girl1 and the G1+1up (pronounced “gittyup”).  Christmas evening: movies on the couch, leftovers and then I retire to the tub to relax with my new bath spa water jet.  THE perfect place to write a newsletter. :)

    As most places were closed this weekend, there was PRACTICALLY no construction on Oasis.  We did manage to plan out the model dais and begin working on the plenum for the central heat and air.  I have the week off so we are planning to get tons done this week.  I’ll let you know how that goes.  This time of year we are ALL severely limited on fundage so we may be building with used pallets.  If you would like to help with that, you can go to artisticbiker.com and look for the DONATE button on the right side column and donate what you can.  If you can’t do that, please share this newsletter with everyone you know to help get the word out.  That helps more than you know.  Or better yet, Click Here to Join! artisticbiker.com/membership and help promote the arts in rural Oklahoma.

    If you have any announcements you would like made in the newsletter or tweeted about incessantly, drop me a line and I’ll toot your horn for ya.  ;)  There were no announcements this week.

    This week’s password: peace

    The Classroom site is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/oasisgalleryok

    Drawing Class: TOOLS! – Tuesday night 6pm central. This week I want to discuss what all those dang pencils are about! Charcoal pencils, graphite pencils, colored pencils, sticks & stones!  2B or not 2B will be answered on Tuesday night’s drawing class.

    Painting Class: Hydrant III – Wednesday night 6pm central. This week, I’m going to finish the hydrant watercolor.  I will decide then whether to use it as a color study for a larger painting, or add a more illustrative look to it and keep it as a watercolor sketch.

    The past classes are moving into the Pay-per-view side of ustream and on artisticbiker.com as well. $2 lets you view them online at Ustream, $5 lets you download them at artisticbiker.com, and a $10/month membership gets you unlimited downloads from the site.

    Click Here to Join! artisticbiker.com/membership

    See you

     

     

  • Daddy Daughter Breakfast 24DEC2011

    Our weekly trip to the cafe to sketch and have breakfast together went by WAY too quick. The fact that we slept until almost 10 AND that it was Christmas Eve meant that we had COMPLETELY avoided any rush at the restaurant. I swear our food was to us in less than 10 minutes. Of course, the owners have started to recognize us and start our food when we walk in the door. The waitresses all know us by name and bring our drinks to us as soon as we sit down. We may have to start drawing AFTER we eat if they keep this up. :)

    #ab

    In album Daddy/Daughter Breakfast (1 photo)

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