IF 10/31/08 - "Repair"

Here is my Illustration Friday piece. I did no preliminary sketches. Just an idea and a photo reference of my son. It took a couple of hours to draw.

Done with Prismacolor pencils, India ink, on grocery bag repaired with masking tape.

The IF topic for the week is "Repair". This is pretty much the first idea that I had for the topic.

Kids are very resilient, but sometimes the damage is irreparable. As a father, my prayer is that whatever mistakes that I make, they can be a positive learning experience from which my family can grow.

"Something 'Italian' "

During my art lessons yesterday, as I was between classes, one of the kindergarten teachers asked if I could do something "Italian" for the lesson, since the students were studying Italy. I asked her if she could give me any specifics and she simply said that anything Italian would do.

Well, the first thing that popped into my head was Venice because about a year or two ago I had drawn several Venice backdrop scenes for a dinner event at my son's school. But then I thought that might be a little too difficult for kindergarten.

How about a portrait of Marlon Brando as the Godfather? Probably not very amusing and I don't think anyone would get the connection.

So I went with a simple line drawing of a spaghetti dinner scene. This was also a bit of a challenge for the kids, but most of them did pretty well. At the end of the lesson I encouraged all the students by telling them they all created yummy drawings and then I proceeded to take a little bite from the food on each student's plate (pretend, of course).

Here's a sketch of the design, done in a matter of minutes before class.

Daily Sketches - A Good Weekend!

What a good weekend it was for my family and I. We spent our time in Fresno.

On Saturday my wife had to go to a seminar for her teaching credential program. She was able to bring our son with her as the presentation allowed for children to share with the experience. The subject was science and our son and his mom had a blast learning together.

I was able to spend time on my own at the Fresno Art Museum and experience the various exhibitions at my own pace, which is often very slowly (the son and wife usually leave me far behind when we go to art exhibits together). Here are some sketches from the museum.

Today we went to the Fresno Zoo and I was quite impressed with what they had to offer. For some reason I wasn't expecting much. However, the zoo was set up very well and was full of lots of animals that looked well cared for. I even got to touch sting rays. I didn't draw any sketches at the zoo, but took many photos of which I plan to make at least a few sketches.

Below is not a sketch from the zoo, but a drawing from Harry's Bagels where we had breakfast before our animal adventure.

Missed the Deadline!

What a busy week! Just too many things to do and not enough energy to stay up late to work on art.

I tried to whip out a painting for this week's Illustration Friday theme this morning before work (the theme is "Strings"), but I couldn't finish it in time. This is what I accomplished in about 20 minutes.











This is done with acrylics.

Since I have to go out of town this weekend, I will have to finish the painting when I get back.

I'll be in Fresno, Ca. so I plan on visiting the Fresno Art Museum while I am there. I plan to sketch some of the art pieces that I see on display.

Daily Sketches - IF Studies

Here are a couple of sketches for this week's Illustration Friday with which I am working out the kinks. The first is a quick study from imagination, just to get the idea down. It almost looks as if the guitar player is holding an upright bass.

The second is a drawing done from reference photos. I still am having a little trouble with one of the hands.

Illustration Friday - "Sugary"

Here is the final illustration for this week's Illustration Friday. Though I had planned on doing a linocut print for the art piece, on a whim I changed my mind and did a painting.

"Sugarcane Fields", acrylic on canvas

Last weekend my family and I watched the movie "Amazing Grace". When I saw this week's for IF, I instantly thought of a scene in the movie where slaves were being worked to produce refined sugar.

Our society has come a long way since then, yet there is still slavery in the world. I also think of the many migrant workers who are major contributing factor to California's economy (if not the country and beyond).

We still have much work to do.

Daily Sketches - More IF Studies

Here are some more studies for Illustration Friday going along the same theme as yesterday.

Daily Sketches - IF Studies

I am working out an idea for this week's Illustration Friday topic "Sugary".

I know the topic is meant to be light-hearted (or is it?), but the first thing that popped into my head was a scene from the movie "Amazing Grace" where slaves in Jamaican sugar refineries are mentioned. Here are a couple of sketches from my angle of thinking.

Daily Sketches - Oct. 05, 2008

My old blog is dysfunctional, so I created two new sites, one to display my fine art and illustrations, and this one for my daily sketches and blogging. Good ol' trusty Blog Spot!

Here are two sketches that I did today. The first is from a church business meeting and the second is of the boy as we were eating at Micky D's. Done with just a Sharpie ink pen (one of my favorite sketching implements).

Devalued

I am finally getting into the groove with teaching art classes for the school year. I have noticed that at the beginning of the year my lesson plans were very detailed and outlined practically my every move. Now I am comfortable enough to approach my classes with more flexibility, and I have even improvised a couple of lessons by changing the subject matter at nearly the last minute before class.

One thing I am noticing in my short time of teaching is the value that is put on the art activities. With the younger children, much more value is given to their efforts. I say this because I have noticed that after most lessons, their art pieces are often carefully stacked and then later displayed on the walls for all to see.

However, with the older grades, after the lesson is over, the students' artwork is simply shoved aside, often placed under school books, in order to get ready for the next subject to be learned in class. Little value is given to their creative experience, by both the students and the teachers of the older grades. It is just another activity that they have to get through.

It is disappointing to me because my job is to help promote and encourage the arts in schools, and it seems to be make it an uphill battle when the teachers have little regard for the students' artistic efforts.

I think part of this attitude reflects our society's overall outlook on the arts. For some reason the arts are of little value in our society. They might be considered an enjoyable pastime for some, and after retirement it is a good way to stay active and keep the mind interested before one's twilight years. But the arts generally seem to have no practical value or application in our society.