old tricks, new tricks, dirty tricks

Well, it’s been so long since my last post that I almost forgot how to do it. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but what about teaching an old dog tricks that he’s forgotten? Once the trick is forgotten does it become a new trick? Everything old is new again?

Speaking of tricks, I'm still working on the trickiness of drawing on an iPad (or in my case, iPawed). There is much to learn. It isn't completely different from drawing on paper, but there are some tricks, some advantages and some disadvantages. It is thoroughly enjoyable though, and I love learning new tricks, despite my age.

My friend Margi is creating a digital drawing per week (plus one) for a whole year using an app called Paper53. You can see her weekly drawings here. http://pinterest.com/margil/paper-53/

It’s a great way to really get to know the idiosyncrasies of a particular app or program. I can’t seem to maintain focus (or a schedule) to do this so I jump around from app to app whenever I have the impulse to draw digitally.

For my own edification and for your amusement (I hope) I decided to try drawing the same subject several different ways. The first example is on real paper in my sketch book. I did a rough sketch in pencil, then once I was happy with the lines, I went over them with a Pentel Pocket Brush pen which has a black waterproof  ink. From there I added colour with pan watercolours.

Sasha sketch in ink and watercolour on watercolour paper

The next one I did was using the Paper53 app. I've been playing around with a graphic style with this app, breaking the subject into blocky sections.

Sasha digital sketch done using Paper53 app

Finally I did another digital sketch using the Sumo Paint app. I particularly like the natural looking ink lines with this app. It’s very similar to the lines I get with my Pentel Pocket Brush pen.

Sasha digital sketch done using Sumo Paint app

Obviously I’m only licking the edges when it comes to all the possibilities for creating sketches. Life is just one big bowl of kibble and I’m eager to try all the flavours.

If you’d like to see more of my digital drawings, follow this link to my Clibe journal. http://myclibe.com/marketplace/journals/77613/spreads/1#0

Clibe is an app for creating and posting journals of any sort. Anyone can go to the Clibe site and browse the thousands of publicly shared journals there. If you have an iPad and install the Clibe app, you can follow the journals that you like and actually download them and read them offline, at your leisure. Whenever one of the journals that you follow is updated, it will automatically be synced to your iPad the next time you open the Clibe app when you are online.

On a final note, I must thank everyone who voted for my drawings in the Adonit contests last September and October. We managed to raise a total of US$800 which I donated to several animal shelters here in Portugal. Sadly, (and this is the "dirty tricks" to which I refer in the title of this post) it appears that one of the shelters may not be as worthy of our donations as I thought. It’s through no fault of the animals, of course. When I have more concrete news about this, I will post it. Let me just say that people can be deceiving, their motives can be hidden, their intentions can be less than honourable. With dogs, what you see is what you get. I really wish people were more like dogs. The world would be a better place.

afternoon quickie becomes marathon

How does an afternoon quickie turn into a marathon? Allow me to explain.

It was mid-afternoon. 3:00. I hadn’t been doing as much sketching as I would like to have been doing. I thought “I’ll just do a quickie. Or several quickies.” Não é um problema. So first I looked through the stash of photos I’ve taken lately. "Hmm… here’s one of three friends in Vale do Boi."

over-exposed

But the photo was pretty crummy. Over-exposed. “Well, I’ll just do a quick fix on it. Perk it up a bit,” I said to myself. (No one else was there to talk to.)

touched up

That’s a little better. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be able to salvage it, but it’s okay.

“Now to get down to business. Hmmm. Pencil first? Or straight to pen?” Well, I started with pencil. “I’ll just rough in the basics, then switch to pen.” But I got a bit carried away with the pencil. Then I thought, “I’ve put so much into this it’s going to look strange if I ink in all those pencil lines. It’ll be too busy.” Some of the pencil lines were indicators for where shading or colour values change. “I guess I’d better use coloured pencil to take advantage of all the details I’d sketched out.”

So, three and a half hours later (yeah yeah, I’m slow) I'd managed to turn what was meant to be a quickie - or several quickies - into a full afternoon of cross-eyed, mind-numbing, pencil-pushing productivity.

one of my friends in Vale do Boi,
coloured pencil, 17cm x 16cm

Now I really need a nap! Then a coffee.

I can fall asleep anywhere.

caffeinated drawings

Isa makes a perfect cup of cafe com leite.

Most mornings I start with a romp on the beach and then go up to Varandas Bar for a cafe com leite. As soon as Isa sees me trotting up from the beach she makes it for me and leaves it sitting on the tiles. By the time I get there it has cooled down to the perfect temperature. I used to drink galao but it comes in a tall glass and my tongue isn't long enough to reach the bottom of the glass so I switched to cafe com leite. I love coffee but it does tend to affect my drawing.

As you can imagine, finding ways to hold a pen steady can be challenging at the best of times. But I've practiced enough by now that I can make pretty smooth marks. But when I've had too much cafe com leite my steadiness goes out the window. The problem is I love the mental buzz I get from coffee. Coffee makes me feel smart. And creative. Ideas flow and tumble and dance and I feel confident that I can make marks exactly how I see them in my head. Unfortunately this isn't the case in practice. The caffeine makes my paws jumpy. If I put the pen in my mouth I find that even my jaw is jumpy. But I can't suppress the urge to create, so I make the most of the situation and embrace the jumpiness of my mark-making. Here are a few caffeinated drawings from my sketchbook.

caffeinated sketches

Lively drawings, but can anyone but me see that these are dogs?

I think I'm starting to get the hang of jumpy, caffeinated drawing.

I suppose they have a certain lively quality to them. I wonder if I can make drawings like this without caffeine? Hmmm. That will be an exercise for another day.

emus make me smile

sketchbook emu

After yesterday's sad post I decided I needed something to lighten the mood. This is a pen and watercolour sketch I did at the zoo in Barao de Sao Joao. How can you look at an emu and not smile?  At least he made me smile until he poked me in the head when I was focused too much on my sketchbook and not enough on him! And if that doesn't lift your spirits, try this: the Muppets sing Oh Danny Boy

First post

So here it is, my first post. I'm getting into this whole blogging thing on the insistence of my bookstore friend, Rita, who is a pretty with-it dog. I will have to drink from that porcelain bowl of knowledge at numerous points along my internet/web/blog journey, I'm sure. I'm pretty naive when it comes to all this technology stuff, but Rita's a patient guide. And honestly, any excuse to spend more time with her is fine with me.

Rita's says I need to connect with more like-minded dogs (and even people) so that I can get a taste of the wider world. She says that sharing experiences, observations, opinions, and perspectives is healthy for dogs, and especially dogs who are artists. She thinks it will help make my work more universal if I'm able to put my experiences and observations in a world context. Sheesh, she can get pretty wordy by times. But I guess she's right. Time will tell.

So, if you've read my profile you already know that I became an artist gradually, starting with making random marks in the sand and progressing to the point I'm at now, keeping an illustrated journal of my life.

an assortment of my illustrated journals, made by me with my very own paws (and teeth)

As a taste of things to come here's a page from one of my sketchbooks (or illustrated journals - I never know what to call them).

self-portrait, relief print, ink and watercolour

You'll soon see that I do a lot of drawings or paintings of dogs, but I tackle other objects as well. I'm just trying to capture the essence of something I love or am affected by. Having a tangible representation (something on paper or canvas) of the object of my affection or interest allows me to re-visit my feelings for that object. It's a way of having that feeling available to visit any time I open up my journal or look at the painting. If I could keep all this in my mind's eye maybe I wouldn't need to do it on paper. But it's so much fun to draw and paint, I think I'm glad I don't trust my memory to retain all my experiences.

Well, now you know a little about me and what I'm up to. I hope you'll come back and visit and please leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you have something to say about anything I write or draw about.

Tchao-wow!
Ruca