"My Favorite Season" - original ink and watercolor figurative drawing

Quick drawing of this slugger - so much fun to draw from baseball games - was in Baltimore the other day to see  the Orioles play KC!  And Orioles won - Yay!  I even love the sounds of a baseball game.  I'm guessing the new rules are making it easier for people to watch now that games are a little shorter.  The length never bothered me though - there is so much drama going on that it's just great to watch - or listen - I also love baseball on the radio!  This little piece is 8.5 x 5.5" on cold press watercolor paper, using a Sharpie with a bit of watercolor.  Thanks for stopping by! 
 

"40's Jive" - original ink and watercolor figurative drawing

 This drawing is totally loose and undirected with absolutely no thought to the end result.  Shouldn't admit it, but yeah, that's the truth.  I just put splashes of color here and there and basically had a great time.  Sometimes I think I'd like to make wire sculptures of dancers and this sort of has the same fun feel to it.  About 5 1/2 x 8" on Canson mixed media paper. Thanks so much for stopping by!

The Model Napping - original oil pastel portrait drawing

 Such a relaxing pose for the model - she couldn't help nodding off - especially since there had been a couple of hard poses before this one.  This drawing helps me to blend my love of line with a painted part of the piece - there's always a dilemma regarding exactly how much to describe with paint vs. line drawing  and I could have crossed the line (pun) 😀with painting more of the hair.  If I'd done any more, I might have needed to go ahead and paint the whole piece.  Just one of those things you never know until you've actually done it - so I stopped - maybe 'quitting while I'm ahead'?  I don't know, just did.  This one is on Canson pastel paper on the rough side, which I didn't realize - just had that urge to grab the paper and get started.  Actually, though, it's done with Caran d'Ache Neocolor 1- which I love - and then a bit of "touching" with Caran d'Ache oil pastel.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jive Scribbles No. 7 - how I draw jive dancers

I've had this drawing for months and finally decided to post it since at the moment, all I have are pieces in various stages of finish.  This drawing was a lot of fun to do - just scribbling gestures all over the paper with smaller scribbles on the bottom.  I used an Itoya Calligraphy pen, along with fine  point Sharpies.
 I was lucky to be at a jitterbug exhibition where it would have been so awkward to pull out my pencil and paper, plus it was really dark where we were sitting.  And anyway, I've decided that in these instances, memory is better, even if you can only remember one bit of the dance.  (The reason for that approach is that when you're drawing - unless you're doing a blind gesture - you'll miss lots of the actual dancing because it goes so fast.)
So when I returned to the studio, I streamed some oldies jitterbug music like "Tutti Frutti","Whole Lot of Shakin Goin On", "Rock Around the Clock" - great jive music.   And, using the fine point pen, drew just a bit of what I remembered from the dancers' movements and then keeping my pen on one part of the gesture, began another drawing of the same subject in a slightly different position.  I love that layered look for drawings!  And having the jitterbug music on is kind of an inspiration and helps me to remember more of what happened on the dance floor.  It reminds me not to get tight and to just let the lines flow.
Worked my way across the page - only drew a couple of gestures before the main drawing, but sometimes I do a lot more of the fine line gestures - and then end up doing a bolder line drawing.  I added a few smudges of charcoal in the center.  The little gestures on the bottom are there because I was just fooling around while listening to the music - I never meant to post this - it's just a stream of consciousness kind of thing.  This drawing is on 16 x 20" Canson board.  Thanks for stopping by!

Drawing with My Fingertip IPhone Art - portrait drawing

Something to do while waiting - drawing on my iPhone - usually I just use it to remind me of a scene, but occasionally I get brave and post one to my blog.  It's just fun - never know how it'll turn out, but I guess that's the way with just about everything. 😊

Red Lines Flamenco - original Sharpie sketch

A fun little thing (about 8.5 x 5.5").  The paper looks slightly green, but in real life, it's white - just my lackluster photography skills.  Thanks for looking!

Dancers In Lines - original ink marker figurative drawing

Just about my all time fave thing to do - line squiggles that form people.  Used an Itoya Doubleheader calligraphy pen for this one.  Great drawing instrument, btw - gives such variety of line.  This one is about 8 x 11 1/2"  - thanks so much for stopping by Hackberry Street Studio!

Lavender Nudes - original ink and water soluble crayon drawing

I held a Penstix ink marker pen at the end next to me, so that I couldn't control the pen very well, plus the cold press watercolor paper with all those hills and valleys also makes the job a little more iffy.  SO much fun to do  - I can get a looser line and somehow it's just so satisfying to my soul.  Don't know what it says about me that I don't like to be in control - just an artist for ya, I guess.  It's about  9 x 10 1/2".  Thanks for stopping by!

Three Linear Nudes - original ink drawing of nudes

When picking the name for this drawing, I looked up "linear" in the trusty Merriam-Webster (love getting Word of the Day from them) and decided that linear would, indeed, apply.  I've heard about linear thinking, linear regression, linear algebra, linear garage door openers, and on and on, so thought maybe the way I've used the word as applied to art might have been wrong.  But it's a perfect use of the word and these nudes ( 9 x 12") are SO linear - totally nothing but lines.  Again with the Alex Powers thing - you like line or you like shapes.  Me, I'm a line woman.  I would  love to have a poll as to which of y'all like lines or shapes.  I think there may be a poll gadget on Blogger somewhere, but I'll probably never figure it out.  So anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Shayna In Line - original nude ink drawing

I used a brown ultrafine point Sharpie on Strathmore Mixed Media paper - love that stuff - about 8 1/2 x 10".  Thank you for visiting my blog!

Winter - original oil pastel portrait

As a lover of line, I'm always trying to keep the drawing from being covered by the paint.  This is the method in my madness here on this 7 x 5" oil pastel on Pastelbord.  Thanks for stopping by!

Line Jive - original ink and Crayola figurative drawing

Just fooling around with ink and Crayola  - these are regular Crayolas - the ones to die for are the construction paper ones.  Couldn't find mine, so I just used the usual in robin's egg blue.  This drawing is about 8 1/2 x 7 1/2" on Borden and Riley Paris paper.  Thanks for stopping by!

Blue Jivers Again - original ink and watercolor figurative drawing

I must have a new fave - black ink or marker with touches of blue watercolor.  Actually I love so many kinds of media - no end to the fun!  As much as I adore my tango dancers, I'm crazy about the energy of the jivers - they never tire.  For this 6 x 6" Bristol paper piece, I used a black Sharpie.  Other favorites are Prismacolor markers and Itoya.  Added a little watercolor just for fun.  Thanks for visiting my blog!

Seated Dancer - original ink figurative drawing

Line is my favorite drawing method and I had a really good time with this little drawing - squiggle, squiggle.  It's done with an Itoya Doubleheader and touches from my Niji Waterbrush on Borden & Riley Paris paper, 12 x 9".  Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Matisse Attempt - original ink drawing after Matisse

Today I went to the Matisse exhibit at the San Antonio Museum of Art and it was just so interesting.  Here is a (pathetic, I know) attempt at that kind of art.  Now that I look at it, I realize how far from Matisse it is.  His work is more difficult than one would think - MUCH more - but it's kind of fun to try.  I bought an exhibition catalogue (of course) and a print of Embroidered Dark Blouse, plus a few tiny prints, two French song CDs, and I was waiting to look at some other prints being unpacked, but I thought 'I have to get out of here before I spend any more money!' - I love shopping at museums - so many delicious things.  My husband would probably say that I love shopping anywhere.  I drew this on 140lb cold press watercolor paper - thanks for stopping by!

More Jivin' - original mixed media figurative drawing

Well, the jivers are still jiving and I'm still following them around!  Initially, I had planned to do something with Caran d'Ache watersoluble crayons, but all I could find at my studio were the wax crayons by the same maker, so the best laid plans etc. etc. - anyway, this quick little drawing was fun to do.  It's on 9 x 12" cold press watercolor paper.  I used ink, graphite and wax crayons.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Black and White Flamenco - original ink and stick drawing of a dancer

I did this drawing on Borden & Riley Paris paper for pens, 9 x 12", using a balsa wood very, very thin dowel - so thin that it could almost not be called a dowel, with both permanent and non-permanent inks.  It's so important to work quickly doing this even though it's far from perfect, because I seem to lose the momentum if I slow down.  I did a lot of scribbling plus some brushwork, too.  Thanks so much for looking!

Ink Jive - original ink and crayon figurative drawing

Here's another version of my jivin' characters in a larger format than usual, 9 x 12", on Bristol board paper.  Roger, my able assistant, is sitting in the chair with me and it's really crowded, but he insisted - I just hope he doesn't press 'publish' before I'm ready!  I used an ink marker with a thin point, then scribbled the colors onto the figures.  There's a little bit of charcoal here and there, too.  Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Jivedoodles All Over Again - original figurative mixed media drawing

For this 5 x 17" drawing, I used Strathmore sequential Bristol board paper, then drew with the fine end of a Prismacolor drawing pen and colored with Caran d'Ache Neocolor I crayons, or wax crayons.  I may add a little more color.  Or maybe not.  It's really, really late, so I'll see what I think in the morning.  Thanks for stopping by my blog - sweet dreams!  Sold

Three Evening Nudes - original ink drawings of nudes

Three more nudes, from two different sessions, on 9 x 12" Bristol board paper.  Thanks for looking! Sold