Dog Beach

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

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It is interesting to contrast this sketch to the one I did yesterday. The content and media are similar- dogs and people playing at the beach as shown with pencil and watercolor. However, the stories conveyed are different. Yesterday’s was alive and vital but today’s is almost wooden. The girl seems dejected and the couple are walking in a mechanical way.  The sea and sand in both make a difference to the feeling of the sketch. In this one the calmer sea is reflected in the calmer figures and yesterday’s lively people and dog were mirrored by the churning waves. I used more lines in yesterday’s than today’s, perhaps that is why it has more impact.

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Ocean Beach

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

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The beach in San Diego is a great place to sketch. I wanted to convey the enthusiasm of owners and dogs chasing balls and frisbees. I used a soluble pencil to quickly capture the gist of what I saw. I am liking the soluble pencil because its marks can easily be strengthened or minimized as needed in the later parts of the sketch. I exaggerated the movement of the people and dog for emphasis.  Later back at the house I put in some additional lines in color on the male figure and lengthened the female’s hair. I think these additions help move the viewer’s eyes between the frisbee, the two figures and the dog. I wonder if I should have used a bluer blue for the sky and sea.

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Sleeping in my own bed again!

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

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Our dog Luke seems very happy to be home with his assortment of beds throughout the house. Today I used line not only to draw Luke and his bed, but also to suggest the texture of the stone floor, the dog bed and Luke’s fur. I used a soluble graphite pencil, indelible ink and watercolor.

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Alone in a Group

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

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Twenty people or so with name badges were finishing lunch up at the college. They seemed a little old for undergraduates but too young for new staff. A woman sitting alone at a table for four caught my eye. Her shoulders sagged, her head drooped and she looked as though she were mulling over something unpleasant. A man called them and they all got up and left, this woman at the end of the group.

Using line to convey a story continues to be my focus this week. To show the woman’s dejected body language, I used a 0.5 grey line marker and emphasized the expression around her eyes, neck and arm by a scribbling hatch marks. I used a 0.1 grey line marker for the rest of the sketch and put in flat washes for the other people and furniture, using muted color to complement the somber mood of the woman. I wish I had left more room for two more table groups, it would have conveyed her aloneness better.

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Coffee and Pie

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

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We stopped for lunch Friday in Williams Arizona, a small town where my brother-in-law grew up. I sent a few snapshots of the downtown area to him and he commented on how the town has changed, “Williams was a busy town back then, with Route 66 and all that tourist trade. The Santa Fe railroad had a repair station there, and the logging and cattle industry were strong. Then the bottom fell out. I-40 bypassed Williams, Santa Fe moved to Kingman, and the logging/cattle industry went into a real slowdown. The railroad to the Canyon was the beginning of a recovery.”

I caught a couple at the lunch counter having pie and coffee. Even though this couple sat together, I did not notice much talk or interaction and never got a feel for where they live or who they are. My goal this week is using line to tell a story. I quickly scribbled in the figures with a soluble graphite pencil, trying to convey a sense that each person was lost in their own thoughts. Today I finished it up with watercolor and a bit more of the pencil. I attempted to fade out the line and color in the parts of the sketch that are further away and to use it to convey a bit of gloom.

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Layers

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

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On our last evening at the Grand Canyon, a cluster of people gathered to watch the sunset and listen to a flute player at Hopi House. There was an interconnection among the layers of clouds in the sky, the layers of earth in the canyon and the layers of relationships among the viewers. The time scale for the accumulation and dissipation of these layers is all different, but the fact that relationships result from the juxtaposition of related strata was clearly evident.

The story I wanted to capture in a final summary sketch is the meaning that comes from interconnections. In the last four days I experimented with several ways of describing the canyon’s layers visually, and I built on these techniques, simplifying the lines, shapes and colors of clouds, earth and people even more. The couple’s relaxed affection for each other is communicated through the woman’s arm and the closeness of their faces as they speak and listen. I wanted the sky and canyon to mirror this closeness and to use the layers to symbolize how relationships build with proximity and time.

I would have posted this yesterday but it was a long drive home to San Diego and we arrived here early this morning.

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Happy to Be Here

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

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There is something about the Grand Canyon that seems to evoke awe, lift spirits, and cause happiness. I hope this is conveyed in this sketch of a mother and daughter enjoying a moment together on the rim, as it is one of the universal stories I notice throughout the canyon. My goal this week is to strengthen my skill with using line and in this fourth day at the canyon I am trying yet another approach with using line to communicating the shape of the rock formations. I drew with pencil, and then narrowed the color down to the predominate color of the formation and washed it onto the page, in particular trying to use the hard edge of the color to define shapes. I went over parts of the sketch with a grey pen and other parts with more watercolor. I feel this communicated more of sense of depth than the last three sketches, but know that I have not yet come close to conveying the immense distances in the canyon vista. I wanted to use a consistent style and colors on the figures and the background to emphasize the connection between the people and place, but I may have overdone it on the mother.

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