"EDM #19: Draw Something You Made"

"EDM #16: Draw Your Favorite Tool"

Draw your favorite tool.  This one gave me some trouble, couldn't get motivated to do this one.  Too many tools to choose from: hammers, pliers, ladders, etc., etc. 

Got to thinking about perspectives and how I might be able to sketch one of my Pigma Micros pens in the upright position while it magically draws my hammer, all by itself. 

It came out ok.  Not sure the shadow does much, but hey, it's just a simple, and a rather fun sketch to do.

16 of 324 EDM Challenges completed.  Feels good to be coming into the "stretch."  lol

"EDM #12: Draw What You Had For Dinner"

This is a re-draw of not a dinner, but a lunch I had at Cheese Louise a couple of months ago. It is the Cheese Tray with four different cheeses: Barely Boozed from Utah, Lamb Chopper also from Utah, Gruyere from Switzerland, and Fiscalini Cheddar from California; a few grapes and strawberries, some nuts and crackers, and a glass of Fat Bastard white wine from France.

The tray was excellent and the wine was superb!  Highly recommend this if you haven't tried it. 

"EDM #11: Draw Your Sunglasses, or Glasses"

EDM Challenge #11 is to "draw your sunglasses, or glasses."  Since I figure that would be just a little bit uninteresting, I went online to find something else and found "steampunk goggles."  Don't ask how I discovered the term "steampunk" but somehow in my searching it popped up.

The one is very tame compared to many others which are adorned with watch-gears and springs, and jewelry and all sorts of interesting things.  Few of them are actually functional, I don't think anyway, and all are designed in the name of art.  So there you go, my "steampunks."

Someone locally must be making these because I've seen them displayed at "You & I Framing & Gallery."

"EDM #10: Draw Your Hand or Hands"

I messed this one up. 

Wanting to copy the original drawing below that I did a couple of years ago of this older man's hands with the bocci ball, I printed the original out and laid beside my sketchbook.  I didn't notice until I was completely finished that I had placed the original in a portrait position and then went ahead and drew it from that perspective.  Once I posted the ink and watercolor copy, I realized it was incorrectly positioned...so for this posting I corrected the lay-out by putting it on its side. . 

My original sketch is a graphite drawing, for this challenge I copied it here in ink and watercolor. 

"EDM #9: Organized Chaos"

I rent a small room in a large two-storied building as an art studio.  The work surface is an office door lying across these cupboards that I found in another room.  It is where I keep my paints, brushs, water bottles, paper towels, acrylic and watercolor pallettes, oils, a small radio with a set of speakers, etc.  It works well for my purposes.      

I have a bunch of my figure drawings and other drawings pinned to the walls along with a few paintings; I have a small refrigerator I picked up at a garage sale for $25; a work table where I can sit at my computer when I bring it in to work on, or play some music on it.  

My decades-long love affair with Paris is represented by the city map I have on the wall behind the table easel you see here.  

"EDM #8: Draw Your Watch"

I drew my watch, eventhough I don't wear a watch anymore.  I haven't worn a watch since I retired in 1999.  And this sucker still runs.  Amazing, "takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

"EDM #6: Draw Your Favorite Well-Loved Object, or a Childhood Toy"

This isn't actually my old baseball mitt.  Mine disappeared about as long ago as the moon landing: maybe even before that.

The one you see here is one of the three I purchased at a yard-sale so when my grandsons come to visit we can go outside and play catch.  Those boys are growing up fast, the youngest is 7 and the oldest will be 11 on Valentine's Day.

My old mitt was something I dearly loved.  It was a three-fingered affair, and with my little and ring finger snuggled into the third finger of the mitt, it was a perfect fit.  If I close my eyes I can still feel how it hung on my hand, almost falling off, but still secure; and how a ball blazing off the smack of a bat and into the meshing brought no pain. Odd isn't it, how one can gain life-long attachment to an old piece of leather, and a dog?  But that's another story - the dog.

I loved baseball; and I guess I was pretty good at it until I decided in high school to run hurdles instead: big mistake.

"EDM #5: Draw Your Bed"

Ok, this is the last of the first five I did two years ago.  Yes, it is my bed.  If you haven't figured it out yet, most of the people in the Everyday Matters Group are women....shoes, lamps, bags, beds. 

If us guys were doing this it would have been bolts, nuts, saws and jock straps...well, maybe not that last one. Anyway, there's plenty more to come where these come from and they're all just good practise anyway, so I'm not too worried about it.

I like to think that if I were to draw this again I wouldn't miss the perspective as badly on the bed as I did this on this one.

Hope you're enjoying these for a fraction as much as I am and remember, you can get the list of EDM Challenges at this link.

"EDM #4: Draw Your Favorite Mug, or Cup"

Today the challenge was to draw your favorite mug, or cup, so I chose my favorite mug that holds, or used to hold, my Pigma Micron pens.

Actually it was two years ago that I started this sketchbook to be filled with the Everyday Matters challenge list.  I had already completed over 50 of them, but I wanted to do them over, better, sequentially, and all in the same sketchbook, or series of sketchbooks.

I got through the first five and never touched the book again until this week.  So what you've been seeing here with the first four posts, and the fifth, tomorrow, were done two years ago.  However, so I am operating within the spirit of Art-A-Day, I have been adding new drawings (1 or 2 a day) that will I will begin posting on the 6th in this blog.

So far, I think the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th are better than the first five.  We'll see. 
 

EDM #3: draw a purse, wallet, or bag..

For this 3rd challenge I just didn't quite see any interest in my wallet, but my wife's new bag, now there was a challnge. 

All those folds and stitches and pockets and keys and shadows...sheesh.  I didn't think I could pull it off.

Well, here it is, and I think it came out pretty good.  I like it. 

If you want to see the EDM challenge list, click here.  I'm on a quest to post one each day in January here in the Art A Day blog.

The first five were done two years ago, but I'm working ahead and have the next three completed and ready to go.  Would love to post them all today, but one-a-day, that's my goal.

EDM - Everyday Matters 

EDM #2: Draw a Lamp

Number 2 on "Everyday Matters" list of 324 is to "Draw a Lamp."

This lamp hangs in our kitchen nook over the table.

The real one is much more symmetrical and therefore not quite as interesting. And, as I studied it this morning I found one of those dreaded cobwebs.

It's gone now.

The cobweb. 

"Everyday Matters Challenges: #1"

A few years ago I came across a book written by Danny Gregory entitled, "Everyday Matters."  It was from this book, filled with sketches and commentary, I began to understand the power of the simple sketch, and started shifting my aristic pursuits in that direction.  

Some snooping around the internet led me to a yahoo group, "Everyday Matters," initiated by Danny and a couple of his friends. In no time a list of things to sketch was developed.  People began sketching those things and posting them on the yahoo group.  The list grew, and more people joined the group.

Today there are over 320 items listed and the group is still a place where sketchers can discuss Danny's vision, discuss their own visions and post their sketches.  In the beginning, people posted the items listed ina fairly sequential manner, but long ago, the emphasis moved more toward people posting whatever they wanted to post.  It is still mostly sketches, and sometimes it's a sketch of something off the list, but mostly it's just "show and tell," and a lot of fun for those involved.

But like all good things, nothing stays the same and now there's a spin-off:  a Facebook page.  It works well and the number of people involved there continues to expand as well.     

My plan this January is to begin anew with the Everyday Matters list - beginning with #1: "draw a shoe."  Each day this January I plan to post a new sketch from this list here in Art-A-Day. 

I might post some other stuff too, because it's just too much fun doing and sharing. 

Here's the first: