Crude Gestures - Lesson 3

Welcome to Lesson 3 of Carla Sonheim's Book, Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artisits.

In this Lesson, we are supposed to do super quick gesture drawings of a moving pet.  Using a charcoal pencil or other soft utensil and just seconds per drawing, the goal is to get the idea of the animal and it's position and/or movements.

But before I show you mine, I want to give a  Thank You to NatashaMay for nominating me for an award on her blog!

Part of the requirements is to share 7 things about yourself. The other part is to pass it on to 15 other Bloggers....and I just don't know how I'd choose....so I'm going to skip that part.  I always love finding out more about my Blog Friends, so feel free to consider yourself nominated and spill some juicy beans ;P

Anyhoo....back to the lesson!

I used a 6B pencil....otherwise, I'd be covered in charcoal!

1. I'm one of those left-handed people that has their hand all curled upside down....smearing everything in it's path.  I usually succeed in transferring it to other parts of me, clothes, surfaces, etc. when I use anything soft-leaded :)

I found this exercise to be difficult for me.  I like to take more time than the allotted 2 seconds Carla recommends.....and trying to draw a moving kitten (more spastic than an adult cat, I think,...haha!) was more than challenging.  I found myself more than once trying to "fill in" where I thought limbs and such to be after Sally had already changed positions.  I guess I don't follow directions very well :)

2. Which leads me to my cooking style, too. Some of my family's favorite recipes of mine are ones where I've just thrown stuff together.  I like to tweak ingredients and add more than the usual stuff....I put veggie puree in my meatballs, cilantro in my turkey chili and sour cream in my pancakes....I make Island Water (that's what we call it, anyway) for my daughter and myself with a splash of coconut milk, sliced ginger root and water over ice.  I love French Toast with a hint of orange zest in the egg mixture and I eat them with a layer of berry preserves instead of syrup...

I know, I'm zany....what can I say ;P

3.  I loathe washing dishes!!  I will scrub toilets all day long over hand washing a sink full of dishes.  I bring this up because our dishwasher is broken!  I never had one in the 13 years we rented.....and ever since having one here at the house, doing dishes has been fine....pleasurable, even!  But now, aaarrrgghh!  I never seem to catch up :(

This one is my least favorite of what I'm showing you today....but, trust me when I say there were others that were worse.  I just don't want to show them to you  ;P

4. I used to have a huge dark side.  Brooding and depressed, I'd entertain fantasies of running away, waste a lot of time feeling alienated from what "normal" people wanted and enjoyed, was convinced that no one understood me.  I always thought that this is where my creativity came from...that this darkness made me special.

But, once you have a child, this way of thinking can be detrimental.  It can cause resentment to build.  Motherhood has been the most wonderful experience I have ever undertaken, but it made my demons feel trapped and angry. A lot of things began to suffer....including my marriage.  Something had to change. I originally started Blogging because I was tired of feeling torn....

The name of my Blog was another attempt at me being clever....and was to elude to me "painting" myself in a better light....to put the best of me forward and focus on that....to paint myself pretty, rather than the ugliness I felt inside...

Had I known, though, that it was going to be such a great experience, and that I'd be opening a shop, too....I would've picked a shorter name....haha!

5.  I still love dark, brooding images and places.....all things forbidden, gothic, scary and macabre...I adore cemetaries, fairy tales with unhappy endings and blood and gore......but, I've learned to not dwell there.

6. Blogging really is better than therapy!  It allows me to connect with real artists....moms....women...who have taught me that I am not alone in my struggles....and who give me a reason to paint and laugh and share and rush to my computer every day!  I can't imagine my Life without it now ;)

This one is my favorite.  Sally had put her paws up on my lap and was watching my pencil as I sketched her.  Everything that moves is potential prey to a kitten....so it was time to stop.

7.  Trying to think of something you don't know....hmmmm....let's see.....

How about this.  I always knew I wanted to be an artist since the first time I could hold a pencil.  I decided I wanted to go to a prestigious art school  in Laguna Beach, jumped through the hoops to get in, took out the loans...and didn't even complete 1 semester.  And I am SO GLAD I didn't!!

As much as I feel foolish for being so flakey....I never, then, would have gone to Bartending School and gotten a job at Embassy Suites.  I would have never met the cute, polite, interesting Room Service guy who would later become my Husband.  I would not have my daughter....sure, I might have a daughter, but not this daughter, who is all the goodness I strive to be :)

Please link your gesture drawings here:

I am really so honored to have you here with me...on my little journey to become a better artist and all around happier person :D

I hope you paint yourself a wonderful weekend!!

Group Hug,

Cam