Breaking Rules

Ok, so two weeks ago I broke my self-imposed rule and I am glad I did! At the spur of the moment, or rather when I was bored out of my mind during one of those endless internal IBM meetings, I pulled out my cell phone and idly googled an Art school in VA. 

The thought of looking for an Art School had been lingering on my mind since after I spoke to Sonya - a very good friend of mine who also started drawing not so long ago. She told me how much she was enjoying art classes she was taking in her native city of Novgorod and it got me thinking...

It was my luck that there was an Art School only 10 min away from my house offering Basic Drawing for beginners starting that very same Friday. Without any hesitation I signed up for 5 art classes offered on Friday nights.  Below are a few drawings I made during the two classes I had so far. I learned to use chalk and conte crayons in my drawings to achieve some very cool effects with shades. It would take me light years to figure this out on my own. Seriously!

For the first drawing below, our instructor asked us to pull our keys out of our purses and draw them on a sheet of newspaper. We had only 15 minutes before we had to put our pencils down and walk around the room studying each others' work.

 My House Key, Oct 21, 2011

 A Jar, Oct 21, 2011

 A White Cup, Oct 28, 2011

Napa Lamb, Halloween Night, Oct 31, 2011

Three weeks - four sketches

     These past few weeks were extremely busy both at work and at home making it really challenging to carve out time for drawing. I've been out of town 3-4 days a week each week working late hours and finding no energy at night for anything other than curling up with a book and falling asleep five minutes into it.

     Sundays are different though.. By then I am usually fully relaxed, work anxieties not looming over me and I can really get lost in the process of sketching. I find it to be very calming as it gets me into some sort of a meditative state of mind... Love it!! Below are four drawings that show my progress in learning how to draw faces and objects. 

Angelken

Eine Kirsche

Un Homme

Une Fille

Charcoal Sketch

I hope everyone had a great Saturday! I know I did. :-)) And the best part is that it is not over yet. A few minutes ago I finished this drawing which I started in Raleigh earlier this week. The beauty about this new hobby of mine is that I can take it wherever my travels take me and it doesn't require more than a notepad, a pencil and an erasor to continue to practice!

By the way,  I noticed that I like to draw people so much more than still life, therefore I might skip the chapters dedicated to fruit and flowers and go straight to facial features. People are just so much more fun. And I can't  wait to get better so I can draw my family and friends!!!