Cay Denise

In a recent weekly message from Austin Kleon, he mentioned doing 100 days of blind contours in a zine format.  This week I've finished a second sketchbook of blind contours - for a total of 182 images between them.  Riffing on Austin's idea, I created a zine with eight (8) selected blind contours labeling each with a term that, to me, conveys the expression captured.  As you look at the images in the zine below, would you describe any of them differently?   

When you make lines with a pen...you're committed, as they say.  Pen is the medium I chose for a recent drawing from a reference photo.   In the first version of the photo of a sculpture (below), the image was outlined with pen, the features/details were done with pen, and the shading was done with pencil (using 120 lb. Sketchbook paper).  Overall, I'm very happy with the body.  That said, the drawing of the face/hair is underwhelming.  The actual sculpture's face is looking upward with the viewer seemingly looking up to it.  It also has a slight tilt and the eyes look upward toward the baton.  This first face definitely doesn't convey any of those things in its expression.   Taking a sheet of copy paper, I traced the outline of the face and hair above, and then did another version (see below).  You can see there is some improvement -- in that the eyes are looking upward though the tilt and general sense of the face shape are skewed. Meriting...

This is such a charming book -- from the set-up introductory page to the three steps at the end! It is meant for young readers, but I think there is a lot to be said in recommending it for creatives young and older alike.  It is inventive, upbeat, clever and has a good message about rising above one's fears.

In this day and age -- of social media, AI, boundaries (that seem to be indiscriminately pushed), people who don't seem to know right from wrong/respect from disrespect, people who don't regard others' authorship/ownership (of material, products, services, and information, etc. posted online) -- understanding privacy settings and using them appropriately in the digital environment are vital.  I just learned quite a lesson. Earlier in the year, I had a consultation with an artist I respect for his/her retail and design talents.   Our dialogue was captured on video by the consultant to share with me privately via YouTube.  The uploaded video had a privacy setting of 'Private'.  This setting prevents accessing a video through the platform except for those the owner invites/designates.  Unfortunately, I couldn't access it at the 'Private' setting, so the setting was changed to 'Unlisted'.  This setting did allow me to access the video, but little di...

Using plastic shape stencils, the top image is my interpretation of a stained glass window panel photographed while recently traveling.   To begin, the design had to be adjusted because of the paper size used (5.5" x 8.5").  You can see this in comparing the two photos (bottom is the actual panel photograph).  In terms of 'essence', they ailgn very well in color, shape and elements.   This is a Sharpie painting and took hours to complete.  It has touches of Posca Pen and Sakura PenTouch for decoration.  The paper used was white cardstock that has been fully covered with color.