I saw a black and white photo of some circus people on Flickr and decided to convert it to a sort of overly bright, bold disjointed acrylic painting. The proportions are a little screwy but they’re supposed to be. Its reminded me a little of Paris in the 20’s.
There was a terrible snow storm last night and I was unable to attend my beloved figure drawing class and I really felt like creating something, so I ravaged the house and found one tiny canvas and started to paint. I haven’t painted much since summer. I really miss it. I also really had no idea what I was going to paint. I looked through some art magazines. And then amongst my MySpace art friends, trying to find an idea. I finally saw a falling man image and took it and made it my own. Its definitely mine. Yup.
I haven’t painted for a while, but I happened to see a photo of Johnny Depp on the internet last night and next thing I knew I was drawing it on a canvas and then painting it. I paint really fast, as in I did this in about an hour and a half. I don’t know if it looks exactly like him, but I think I caught his essence. I am still drawing every day. Will try to submit more in the coming weeks. Thanks.
Hi,
I’m Andrea—happy to have heard about DrawMo! I have no natural drawing ability at all!! When my children were young they used to fall out laughing when I tried to draw something for them. But I desperately wanted to draw and bought several instruction books—all about cylinders and cones and boxes—and all no help at all. I decided you were either born with it or you weren’t and I clearly wasn’t so I gave up. But then I read a review of “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” and rushed out to buy it. Changed my life. After working my way through the whole book (drawing my hand to look like a real hand was a peak moment) I came to believe that it was a skill one could learn. So I’ve taken lessons and generally thrown myself at art over the years. I still probably don’t have the facility of those with a natural talent but if I work hard enough I can usually get where I’m going. I have a website (andreasart.doughtie.com) if you’re interested in looking at my paintings.
I’m retired and live in rural Vermont and paint obsessively. The month of drawing every day will be an excellent exercise. I really look forward to seeing everybody’s work.
Self Portrait (“At Last!) alkyd on masonite
Finished the fourth painting yesterday, while it was still April.
An imagined window with an imagined view.
The first day of spring, and I’m thinking about the brighter and warmer days to come. This morning I imagined I would paint a view of a salt marsh, but as I began working the painting evolved away from literal (littoral) representation and into something more abstracted.
The materials from my Curbly prize arrived last week: canvases, brushes, easel, sketchbook, etc. – everything needed to create a painting for every month in 2007.
Twelve blank canvases.
I decided to hang them all on the wall in our bedroom for the time being – as a large-scale calendar and reminder of the painting-a-month project. Each canvas is 12″ x 12″, so after I figured out where I wanted to put the bottom left one, I measured in 15″ increments from the first nail. (Nothing in our house is plumb or square, so I just eyeballed them, rather than going down to the basement for the level.)
After sketching and brainstorming and note-making, I have decided that my theme for the year-long project will be landscapes from memory – real or imagined.
Today I painted the first one:
Decided that it would be more fun to fill in the grid in a random way, so I did.
Here’s a close-up of the painting, a seascape:
I had no certain idea of what I wanted to do until I sat down at the easel. This landscape is based on memories of Ipswich Bay, near Gloucester, Massachusets.
I felt a great feeling of escape as I painted – it was like a little vacation to think about the wind and water and the smell of salt.
Thanks again to all of you for the opportunity to do this!
I’ll post the next painting in mid-February, and keep drawing every day in the meantime.
DrawMo! 
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