August 16 Drawing & Other Stuff

Another Monday has come and gone, above is my only drawing from our life session last night. I was a bit tired and not in the mood to work with the colored pencils so I just worked on a graphite drawing. This allowed me to spend more time with the face and other details. Scott was back from vacation, and had set up the couch for the model, he likes stronger directional lighting then what we have had for many of the model run sessions so the lights and darks here are stronger. In a way it makes it easier to draw the model. The colors would have been fun to work with, but ... when I try to do two drawings I end up feeling a bit rush, and one of the two usually ends up not very well done. Hopefully you get the feeling that she is sitting/sinking into a couch, with one leg folded under her other extended leg.

Because I only finished the one drawing I though I would upload one of the sketches I have been working on in my sketchbook.  The image below was drawn from a downloaded photo, it is a domestic billy goat, cute isn't he. 

I also have 4 photographs that I want to share. I made these photo's last week when I went out to Stonybrook, one of the MA Audubon Sanctuaries. I was hoping to see a Great Blue Heron, which I have seen out there in the past, but I didn't get lucky that way. Instead I was able to get some great close up insect photo's. Two are of a dragonfly that was perched on a stem, and the other two are of a butterfly feeding at a bush in the butterfly garden.

Note the tattered wings on the dragonfly, the butterfly's wings are also a bit bedraggled. I guess it has been a hard summer for them.

Great Spangled Fritillary

Great Spangled Fritillary

Other than cropping I haven't done anything to the photographs. They were taken with the close up setting on the Cannon Rebel Six. I love the details I am able to get with the close-up mode on this camera. Course my subject has to stay put long enough for me to get into position but I got lucky with these last week. The question of course was what kind of butterfly is this. My sister's first guess was that it was a Painted Lady, but they have more black on the upper wing tips. I did a little research and found a photo of a High Brown Fritillary, but those are found in Great Britain and Europe, so I knew it couldn't be that. Then I received an e-mail from my sister with this link for a Great Spangled Fritillary.  Mine is a bit faded, and very tattered but I am sure that is what it is. Course the coloring could just be a regional variation also. I love the coloring of the butterfly against the flowers with the green background. I am trying to decide if I want to try drawing this or not. Sometimes I do wish I was a painter.

That is it for today, comments per usual welcomed.