day three

here i've flipped the drawing and am starting to work at the top.. more of that will happen today i think, as the spotty-ness of the overall drawing is now really bothering me. i am really liking that atmosphere at the bottom and i am anxious to see it all over now. this is starting to get really interesting.
i am also thinking if this one doesn't make it to the book, i am going to do note cards....it's got a lot going on, but because of the sharp contrast in executing the ducks loosely as opposed to the background, i think it will be fine..... your eye will first see the ducks......then move around and discover the background.
i am now sorry i started posting this series as it would be much better to have you all see it as a whole further down the road... when the magic actually happens
but it's started already

just a bit more of the bottom background developed, i had started to doodle dot at the sides and they suggested eyes....so i put them in, and i will doodle dot them around like the bottom, where you will see them if you are looking for them (although i think that isn't going to be too hard, but it won't be the FIRST thing you see)



now i don't think i can draw monsters, so these monsters are just pretty tame, i should put a hawk in as for birds a lot of times, danger does so come from the skies, but we'll see.....there is a suggestion of a talon at the top of the drawing..... that's fearful for a duck.
i started to lay in some shading for the second duck (phoebe) which also will get more developed as time goes on. it's getting so i can't wait for first light to work on this. which is ALWAYS a good sign.
then if i can't let it go when i am finished, i know it's really really good.
and i may just start another one right away, although i know i really should do a color one next, and alternate. (i am getting back into the groove of working every day again, and getting lost at the drafting table)

now i have to tell you folks, since there are at least 9 of you all, first off thank you again. i really did think i was babbling to the air.

and second of all since it's just us sitting around with coffee........ for years i felt so much conflict with this talent.


on the one hand i knew i had some talent. ( at times even i couldn't miss that fact) but i thought that i was not quite as good as i needed to be. even with my dolls....i kept my nose to the grindstone and worked my ass off trying to be better and to be able to match the pictures in my head.... yes it did pay off. but so did taking a huge break in drawing!


my idiot brother once told me that even though i wasn't actively working, i had an artist's eye, and IT never stopped looking and learning. i hate to say it but boy was he right!
i am light years better now then i was even 5 years ago.
i remember in art school my instructors used to tell me 'that painting is more advanced then you are' now i understand......!
(only what? 35 years later....who said i took my sweet ass time?)


the other thing i am learning, slowly, is that when i am enjoying it......you folks will too
the more fun i have, the more intense the reaction from other people looking at whatever i've just finished
i also realized that under it all, under the drawings, the sculpting of the dolls (i use the d word loosely here as they aren't toys) is a base of story telling.


i truly was born to be a story teller........ i tell stories of the ducks.....now i draw stories of the ducks
i tell stories in words and pictures and sometimes in porcelain and fabrics...
i suppose abstract art isn't for me.... although now i can appreciate composition, design, and color in it...but for me...telling the story is the important thing


that and craftsman ship
the perfect and the exquisitely executed object is adjunct to the story. it shows respect for the way the story is being told
does that make sense to you......it does to me but i may not be writing it correctly.
maybe it is a pride in my work thing?
i still feel guilty about not working for money right now
and at times still question if i have enough talent to justify what i do........
but right now i am just doing what i do....and i am hoping you all like it a bit

this is the corner behind me as i work....we so need to whitewash those walls.. my drafting table is DIRECTLY on the left..you can see one of the two drafting table lights that are in it.. yup it's that close quarters there...and last night bernie put the antique copper washtub with the kindleing in there as well...i have to wiggle by it to get to the drafting table.....
have i mentioned that i don't wiggle like i used to?

oye