Leonardo Pastel Portraits

Leonardo’s da Vinci’s portraits are beautiful.

Something about his unfinished sketches draws the viewer’s eye to the glorious shading and luminescence of these faces.

We used an extract picture from “The Virgin of the Rock” (because it was on the font cover of my Leonardo art appreciation book – just using what we have )

I made a simple outline drawing ~

Free download ~ Leonardo da Vinci portrait

We all started our own “incomplete version” of a Leonardo portrait.

1. Cover the entire page with orange, yellows and browns and ‘fist it in’ or blend it well.
2. Do all the hair with dark browns and even black areas and cover the areas around her face with dark browns and blacks.
   
3. Add shadows to the face – under the chin, the neck folds, the  lower cheek, the creases in the eyes, the bags under the eyes, the nose and lips – and blend lightly.
4. Then add skin color or light beige or cream for highlights and blend slightly.
5. Now it is time for details – dark, dark brown or black on the upper eyelid and the pupil of the eyes and the nostril.
6. Add shading to the eyelids, the nose and the lips.
7. Emphasize what is really dark and those areas that are light.
8. Add light yellow swirls to the hair.
9. Maybe add some white to her collar.
   

There were moments of frustration … add in “wanting to give up” … when fuzzy pictures were difficult to ‘pull out’.  We also all struggled  for a moment when the picture was ‘almost done’ and it became fuzzy again and we ‘lost it’.  (It is best not to “over-work” this type of   pastel art.)

But pastels are wonderfully forgiving and you can just layer on top of the colors or textures you need to change.

It is phenomenally difficult to capture the pristine beauty and luminescence of the original … but we all felt quite happy about our efforts.

A spritz of fixative and our portraits were done.

Blessings,

Sketch Tuesday ~ Favorite Food

This week’s Sketch Tuesday‘s theme is

Favorite Food

A bowl of soup!

Soup?

I was shocked.  I really thought it would be something with chocolate … a pudding, or a cake, or some sweets … or Chinese food … or fruit …but, she really surprised me with this sketch

I love Chinese food … but my hubby doesn’t, so we rarely eat out of my beautiful china Chinese set.  I enjoyed painting a quick watercolor of a still life.

Stir fry is on the menu for tonight!

What’s your favorite food?

See you at the slide show!

Blessings,

Sketch Tuesday ~ Summer Fun

This week’s Sketch Tuesday‘s theme is

Summer Fun!

But our winter has started here in South Africa …

our warm AGA stove is burning …

darkness creeps in earlier each week …

we all enjoy hot soups and hearty stews …

But, not so long ago, we were swimming in our dam!

See you at the slide show!

Blessings,

New chalk pastels!

Last week we did our first chalk pastel tutorial

and I realized our pastel set was under-stocked and inadequate.

So I splurged on 2 sets -

a 24 set of chalk pastels

& my waited-so-long-on-my-wish-list set of pastel pencils!

When I put both sets out

and opened a new Hodgepodge chalk tutorial ~

Wind in the Tree

EVERYONE joined!

My older girls seldom do art with us,

but the new array of beautiful colors drew them closer …

and we all enjoyed a relaxing time with our pastels.

(The pastel drawings done from top to bottom by 10-year-old, 13-year-old, 18-year-old and me.)  

Several of us did a 2nd pastel picture not shown here.

Thanks Tricia for making our first lessons so easy!

Here are some pros and cons of chalk pastels ~

Pros ~

• bright colors
• covers a large area with very little effort or work
• layers of colors can cover up ‘mistakes’ or smudges
• limited colors layered on each other produces new shades and tones
• blending with finger or paper nub makes beautiful shading
• quick lessons because you can’t ‘work it too much’

Cons ~

• smudges easily
• lack of fine detail frustrate some kids
• can become messy if not careful
• chalk pieces break very easily
• some popular colors are often finished before most the other colors

Even if you only have a small set, or limited time, go ahead and try a chalk tutorial!

Blessings,

Sketch Tuesday ~ Dogs

This week’s Sketch Tuesday theme ~

Dogs

Miss.L10 quickly sketched several pictures on one page …

all her enjoyable moments with our 3 little Border Collie puppies …

And I used my new chalk pencils to sketch her with one puppy and the mommy dog when it’s eyes were still shut …

See you at the slide show!

Blessings,

Buy Big Art Sets & Share

We recently did one of Tricia of Hodgepodge’s chalk pastel tutorials  (see all her tutorials here)

A Waterfall

We loved her simple tutorial and enjoyed the layering of colors, smudging and blending, and the overall result.

But we were limited … our chalk pastel set was fairly small, old, and some important colors were used up …

I need to buy a nice new chalk pastel set  …

the widest range that I can afford,

with some extras of the popular colors too,

if they sell them loose.

And we will all share.

It works well with all our stationery sets,

except our paint sets, we each have our own.

Rather than buying sets for each child,

I believe that you can buy 1 good quality set for the family ~

felt-tipped pens (with at least 24 colors)
gel and glitter pens
the largest range of good quality colored pencil crayons (their color is clear, wood doesn’t splinter and lead doesn’t break)
a massive range of wax crayons (go for 24 or more colors)

& place them each in separate containers.(How do I organize the stationary?)

We pull the container out and put it in the middle of the table and share.

We seldom have squabbles.

The young kids learn quickly to close pen lids properly and not to drop the pencils.

All our art supplies are available – all the time.

When we use new or messy art supplies, I usually give brief instructions on how to work with and how to clean up the materials.

A short tutorial or demonstration also helps.

Thereafter my kids can experiment and “play” with new supplies.

How do you organize and inspire your children’s art?  Please share in the comments.

Blessings,

Frame & Name

As an art teacher, years ago, when I taught all the grade 5, 6 and 7 art classes at school, I’d hand each child their paper and say,

“Draw your frame and name.”

Obviously I wanted their names to keep track of each student’s work, but somehow, just the physical act of drawing a freehand line along all 4 sides of the page changed the terrifying blank page into a clearly defined (and now not-so-perfect) working space.

I love how Tricia of Hodgepodge encourages her children to not only write their names, but to actually “name” the art piece … but that comes at the end of the art lesson … and at the back of the art work.

I like to use the frame.

Drawn nice and wide, break in into blocks and use these for tonal color swatches, texture techniques, reinforcing the technical concepts that we will use in the actual work.

But frames “complete” a page. Just compare these 2 simple sketches:

without a frame ~

with a frame ~

And I sometimes encourage the kids to “break through a frame”~

Do you know how to draw quick fairly straight frames?

1. Hold your pencil clenched under the last 3 fingers so that the pencil points past the thumb at right angles to the pointing finger. 
2. Extend the pointer finger and grip the thumb on top of the pencil.
3. Drag the pointer finger along the paper’s edge while gently pressing the thumb down to angle the pencil tip on to the paper.
4. Your frame width is determined by how much of the pencil points out past the thumb.  Simply hold the pencil closer for a narrow frame, or further away from the fingers for a wider frame.
5. Turn the paper to draw each side, and hold the hand and pencil still, at the same angle.  It is easier and quicker than moving the pencil to each side!

Go ahead and give it a try!  Draw a frame and jot down your name on your next sketch and don’t forget to add a title and date.

Blessings,

Sketch Tuesday ~ Mushrooms

This week’s Sketch Tuesday theme fitted right in with this past month’s Outdoor Hour Challenge studies of Moss, Lichens and Fungi ~

sketch mushrooms!

Based on some mushrooms that grow regularly on our cow dung pile,

and the photos Miss.L had taken on her nature walks,

 identified as Mottle-gill Panaeolus papilionaceus mushrooms in our mushroom field guide ~

done simply in pen …

during an enjoyable hour relaxing and sketching one evening …

See you at the slide show!

Blessings,

Sketch Tuesday ~ Zipper

We’ve been away visiting family over the Easter season and missed the past few Sketch Tuesdays.

But while sitting overlooking the Breede River estuary at low tide one morning, I felt the need to sketch and quickly penned this zipper on my boot ~

With my younger 2 daughters still enjoying the last week of their April school holidays, we should only return to our normal homeschool routine next week and look forward to joining you all at the slide show!

Blessings,

Sketch Tuesday Shoes

Shoes

What a great topic for this week’s Sketch Tuesday!

Here’s what Miss.L10 sketched ~

I love her pen and pencil detail and the painted background.

My sketch is really my rough drafts of different angles of my sandal …

In the end I penned over the different angles and painted the background.  Maybe I should sketch again try one angle in close-up detail?

Which one would you chose?

If you haven’t done your sketch this week, go on, take out your favorite shoe and sketch it!

Enjoy your weekend!  See you at the slideshow!

Blessings,