Post Your Favorite Sketch from Life (1 Viewer)

colleenc · Jul 28, 2009

I thought it would be fun, and to me anyway, instructive to have a thread of favorite sketches, can be yours or an artist you love, and say why it is your favorite. It should be a sketch from a live bird, not photo or stuffed.

Here is mine, done at the egret trees I've been observing for the last 2 months, nearly every day. Yesterday I did this and this is why it is so perfect in my eyes. First absolute minimum of lines, that exactly describe the forms, to the point I can see it's a snowy and not a great egret. The lines are sure and graceful.
pencil about 3" tall
now lets see others:t:

solitaryVSong · Jul 28, 2009

Great idea, Colleen! I'll have to go through mine when I return home this evening.

I do think that my favorite art, both my own and that of others, is often quick sketches. I could never get past Rembrandt's sketches to look at his paintings. There was just too much in the sketches.........

Beach Birder 561 · Jul 28, 2009

solitaryVSong said:
Great idea, Colleen! I'll have to go through mine when I return home this evening.

I do think that my favorite art, both my own and that of others, is often quick sketches. I could never get past Rembrandt's sketches to look at his paintings. There was just too much in the sketches.........

Im not worthy, yet :-C
Ill be checking this thread regularly though....
Right now I am looking for ideas on various textures mostly
regarding feathers and how to do them without overpowering the
drawing with too much minutiae's detail, and Pen & Ink vs. Colored
Pencil or a hybrid of both(?).
I have gone back to one of my favorite artists, Albrecht Dürer and
spent some time studying the way he does angel wings...
Its absolutely incredible !! :eek!: Im not if he is a genius or insane :eek!:

colleenc · Jul 29, 2009

whoa Beachbirder, this is not a contest, or making like perfection , it's just posting YOUR favorite sketch and saying why you like it.....or you could post one of Durer and say the same..most of his work would have to be from life wouldn't it? and centuries later he is still the peak of draughtsmanship.

..just getting a collection of ideas, approaches and personal insights, level of skill is not the issue... If it was I would not have anything to post

solitaryVSong · Jul 29, 2009

I just went through my very small collection of live bird sketches and was somewhat surprised at the one I chose. But after you see it I think it should dispel any notion that this thread is about finished, high-quality work. As Colleen says it is just for our favorite live sketches. I hope that this will change over time and that we can all add new ones. So I'd encourage everyone to join in.

I've only been doing live sketches for a month or so, at least out in the field. I have made attempts the last two winters to draw yard birds but generally give up after awhile, both dissatisfied with the results and with the small repertoire of yard birds that are available.

I thought most likely I'd choose the great blue herons, or maybe the juvenile wood duck, from my last post in my other thread. But instead I chose this pigeon from last winter. The reason I did so is that the pigeon was behaving very oddly, constantly throwing his head far back. I really couldn't figure out what the cause might be. But I think this very quick sketch caught that unique moment in time. And that's why I chose it. I do think that is one of the thrilling things about life sketching. You can almost capture the instant, but with a closer connection to the subject than I think is normally true with photography.

I'm sure over time I'll post new favorite live sketches. But for today it is the very oddly behaving pigeon.

Beach Birder 561 · Jul 29, 2009

colleenc said:
whoa Beachbirder, this is not a contest, or making like perfection , it's just posting YOUR favorite sketch and saying why you like it.....or you could post one of Durer and say the same..most of his work would have to be from life wouldn't it? and centuries later he is still the peak of draughtsmanship.

..just getting a collection of ideas, approaches and personal insights, level of skill is not the issue... If it was I would not have anything to post

I reread the original post and see what I missed first time around :-C
Ill be interested to see yours ! :t:

But, I cant really pick favorite art because it changes daily !!
Im inspired by all olde fashioned, hand drawn art and trying to
understand what might be going in on the artists mind to inspire
the work I am looking at. As for current favorites, I offer these Dürer illustrations...
They are not birds per sè, but as a study of the way a Master has
done wings, they are very inspirational. The detail, the way they fold,
the way the feathers look so real but with an economy of line....
To me these drawings are spectacular on many levels.

Sorry about the links, my

colleenc · Jul 29, 2009

Ken that's a marvelous sketch!
beachbirder, great post for the wings, you can tell he had studied some from life. As for favorites, they are not forever, my second husband was my favorite for a while but that ended completely after 2 years of marriage to him

I hope to soon have a new favorite, bird sketch not man that is....

Woody · Jul 30, 2009

It's difficult to pick out favourites from one's own sketches but I think it's possible to pick out one or two that have been successful in capturing something of what you were seeing. So here's the marsh harrier of mine that I talked about elsewhwere.

Mike

colleenc · Jul 30, 2009

Its so amazing to me how beautiful a few simple lines can be, and isn't it a wonder when it happens, it seems to come out from somewhere beyond what the mind can think of, the action of seeing and drawing become one....this is wonderful Mike

Andrew Ellis · Jul 30, 2009

Woody said:
It's difficult to pick out favourites from one's own sketches but I think it's possible to pick out one or two that have been successful in capturing something of what you were seeing. So here's the marsh harrier of mine that I talked about elsewhwere.

Mike

Mike this is beautiful , Economy of line is a term that is over used but
this is a perfect example of it here. Perfection

Andrew Ellis · Jul 30, 2009

Here is one that I liked from a while back. I posted it on here last year
so sorry for the repeat. I was just happy with the way these turned
out.It was just such a nice encounter with an old favorite

Woody · Jul 30, 2009

Lovely collection Andy, not surprised you were happy with those. I'm off to Norfolk next week so I'm hoping for some barnies.

Mike

colleenc · Jul 30, 2009

Being new I haven't seen these Andy, totally wonderful, and the flight sketches are amazingly well done. My fav is the one on the far right of the first page, perfect!

ARTHUR BISHOP · Jul 31, 2009

These still make me smile . Not so elegant Little Egrets on a windy day a couple of years ago.

Gretchen · Jul 31, 2009

Arthur, they made me laugh! It's such an unusual, but totally believable way of seeing them! I can feel the wind.

solitaryVSong · Jul 31, 2009

ARTHUR BISHOP said:
These still make me smile . Not so elegant Little Egrets on a windy day a couple of years ago.

Very nice Arthur. I'm smiling myself.

solitaryVSong · Jul 31, 2009

Andrew Ellis said:
Here is one that I liked from a while back. I posted it on here last year
so sorry for the repeat. I was just happy with the way these turned
out.It was just such a nice encounter with an old favorite

Very impressive Andrew. To me birds in flight are among the hardest to draw, and then I rarely see owls. So that makes these particularly striking.

Ken

solitaryVSong · Jul 31, 2009

Woody said:
It's difficult to pick out favourites from one's own sketches but I think it's possible to pick out one or two that have been successful in capturing something of what you were seeing. So here's the marsh harrier of mine that I talked about elsewhwere.

Mike

I might have a harder time picking out favorite sketches if I had more to choose from! But even in my older abstract work I had favorites and they often were surprising both to me and to people who knew me. That's one reason I thought this was such a good idea for a thread when Colleen started it up.

I can see why you picked this one. It elegantly captures the sense of the harrier in flight in the fewest of lines. There's always something a bit like magic in that.

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