Language-Food for Thought on Autism

I came across this video earlier this week.  I found it very thought provoking because it addresses the issue of language, communication, environment and perception.

The video opens with the view of a woman who is humming and doing very repetitive actions.  When I first saw it I wasn’t certain if the noises she was making were an accompaniment to her tune or if both were independent.  As I viewed it I was disturbed I found the repetitive actions as confusing as her haunting singing.  I am so glad that I decided to continue watching,

Please take a moment to watch this.

Glass Class

I’m heading out for a two-day workshop on glass casting at the Washington Glass School.  I will put up a post about the class last night with Rob as well as details about the class at Tim Tate’s school this evening!

Friday Evening Drawing Class

Anna Class Demo, by Robert Liberace

 

Last night I attended class with Robert Liberace.  This was my first class since December and I’ve missed seeing my friends in class as well as simply sitting/standing in front of a model and drawing or painting. I arrived early so I could grab some coffee with a classmate.  Rob painted this as a demo for is afternoon class.  Isn’t it wonderful? 

Our model’s name was Keith and Marjorie (Rob’s assistant) draped in this incredible languorous pose.  Since I’ve missed three classes (inauguration and then sickness) I had no idea where we were starting.  So I just brought materials for 3 color chalk.

I ended up dithering for a bit trying to decide between silverpoint or the sanguine

Male Torso

colored pencils but ended up just drawing with the pencils. 

This was created using some twinrockerpaper that has been prepared with a wash of yellow ochre watercolor and some shellac.  I don’t think I used as much shellac as I should have because there were spots the pencil seemed to have trouble ‘grabbing’.

Now the legs aren’t right and there are issues withforeshortening and distortion (i.e. both arms are accurate but look bizzare).  But the torso is dead on.  I was pretty pleased with it and Rob gave me some guidance about an hour into the drawing. 

Close up of Male Torso

I took his advice and when he came back he talked about the torso for a bit and said it was the best one I’d done in class so far.  That really made me feel good.

The model (Keith) was posed so that you saw the majority of the right side of his ribcage.  He had some fat overlaying his ribs but not much and you could really see the ribs as well as the intercostalspaces between them beneath his skin. 

When you look at the drawing it might be a little difficult to interpret the anatomy.  You can follow the rib cage down to the 10th-12th ribs (just above where you see the indentation), if you follow that line across the abdomen you will see the navel as well as the bottom portion of his  (rectus abdominus).

We have Keith for one more evening so hopefully I will be able to rework his arms and legs next Friday.

I’ve Been out of Pocket

Or rather knocked off my feet a bit.  In spite of a flu shot I’ve gotten a very nasty case of Inaugural flu that I am having trouble shaking. 

I will post more tomorrow on my class tonight that I attended with ton-o-cough drops and dayquil (it’s been seven days so far so I don’t think I am contagious). 

I also thought I should give the link to the political blog I started.  The blog name is An Independent Shift and I placed it on blogger to try their platform out.  So far I prefer wordpress far more than blogger but we’ll see.

On the Lighter Side

Love Hurts Heart

It seems like there has been a flurry in my neighborhood to rush from selling inaugural memorbilia  to pushing St Valentine’s Day gifts.  Now I like romance but I’ve always been a tad irreverent towards St Valentine’s Day.  

I found this candy heart generator online.  What I love about this one is the goth heart generator option.  Now all this does is make an image of a candy heart for you to save but imagine the possibilities.

For the Goth black candy heart, the lettering color options are: icy

Poems bleed

heart (blue), fiery heart (orange), blood heart (red)  and necro heart (black).  I’ve never been a goth so I couldn’t think of anything suitable to write (um that could be posted here).  I thought these were pretty funny so I figured I’d post them.

Wait until my twin sees the one I made for her.

ZOMBIE UPDATE.

Raptors Ahead, Caution

Apparently, Zombies aren’t the only thing to beware of on the highways.  It seems some raptors are roaming wild as well.  Drive carefully.

note, ran across this somewhere on the internet can’t remember the source, but will try to track it down.

Art Jam

Wild Shore by Ed Hahn

 

A classmate from my Robert Liberace painting class called me last week and invited me to her open studio. Trisca’s studio is about a 40 minute drive from my house but I am very glad I went.  I’ve been battling with the flu for the last few days and was going stir crazy.

Open Studio is somewhat of a misnomer, think salon with artists discussing art, their own and others in swirls of groups with good wine and food. 

It was a nice mix of people.  There was a gallery owner, several full-time professional artists, some of Trisha’s students, as well as several folks like me who enjoyed making arts.  Trisha told me to bring some work, because we would all show our works and talk about them. I had no idea what to bring so I grabbed a sketchbook from my anatomy class and the DaVinci silverpoint drawing I was working on as well as my beloved salt shaker painting.  

At one point in the evening, Trisha placed 4 similar paintings of two onions done by her and another attendee.  It was great seeing the differences between them and listening to how they created them.  I really loved one that wasn’t as polished as the others but the colors were so beautiful and the harmony between the  colors made my heart sing a bit when I looked at it.  She had these bluish/greenish grays, whites, oranges, and purples hitting the green tops of one of the onions.  It probably sounds odd but it was very beautiful.

Fog Rocks, by Ed Hahn

I felt very lucky to meet Ed Hahn a talented photographer who made the jump to full time artist this September.  We talked about how he made his decsion to work as a photographer (he does professional work as well as fine arts) and about his upcoming show at the ArtSpace in Herndon, VA.  The show will hang from April 7 – May 3 and the opening is scheduled for April 18th from 7-9pm.  

I love Ed’s photographs.  They are moody, evocative, and timeless.  He brought this great photograph of piers from Ocean City MD.  He’d exposed the picture for 30 seconds and had this gorgeous swirling cloud of waves that appeared like fog around the pilings.  Ed explained to us how he took the shot and when another photographer asked him specifics he explained his technique and a little about the artist who inspired him to try this type of shot.

After DaVinci, Antique Warrior (in progress)

 

While we were chatting, Ed asked me about my watch, which started the conversation off on another angle-I was wearing my vintage watch and he was wearing this huge gorgeous Glashütte.  Because of the questions he asked, I asked him if he was on a TimeZone which is a watch collectors site I visit and low and behold he is a moderator there! We both knew one of the members so we chatted about him for a bit (talk about your six degrees of Kevin Bacon).  

I was too shy to put my work up, but I did show it to Ed and then some other people nearby (one of thse swirls I mentioned).  I explained to them that drawing/copying the DaVinci silverpoint is how I learned Leonardo was a lefty!  They seemed to like my salt shaker and liked the sketches in my anatomy book as well.

I also told Ed how hard it was to photograph the silverpoints.  The one on the left has been fiddled with a bit to darken the color of the silver, since when a silverpoint drawing is new it’s -well-its silver.  And must tarnish to darken.  So it’s very difficult to photograph correctly.   

Silverpoint Torso Study

Ed suggested the diffused lighting but also buying some black velvet and laying the work on the velvet while photographing it.  That way the silverpoint can reflect back the color of the black.  What a brilliant idea.  He also suggested using a very good tripod.  Sadly I don’t think I have one of those, just a featherweight one from Jerry’s for my pochade box. 

One of the highlights of evening was witnessing Trisha introduce one of her younger student’s work.  It was a still life grissaile and it caught the interest of one of the guests who owns a gallery in Vienna Va.  Apparently the gallery owner hosts an annual student show and she seemed quite recepted to the happy gal’s work.  Yeah!