Having never taken a drawing course, I've never actually learned any of the techniques in the "Making Your Mark" lesson set.  I found, however, that I remembered hearing many of my watercolor mentors talk about stippling, hatching, blending, and the like, when referring to the consideration 0f value as a means of infusing light into a painting.  I'm now feeling a little more comfortable with using value observations and techniques to help make a shape seem to be 3-dimensional.  I started with "Drawing Basics" on February 23rd, after posting my Yellow Warbler entry, did a bit more on the 26th, then didn't return to finish the lesson set until May 20th.  Now it's already June 2nd and I'm only just posting this entry.  I tried to apply the techniques of hatching and stippling recently, when I was drawing some rocks.  It takes SSSsssooo... long to draw a rock as a sketch the size of a postage stamp on paper.  I really do KNOW that practice makes perfect, and that I should practice every day.  In real life, though, it's not possible - especially not in the current state of world affairs, when I find myself practicing child care all over again with my grandson, while his parents are telecommuting because of the COVID 19 pandemic.

I feel pretty good sketching, I tend to use multiple textures and finish up with blending. I could still use the pencil more and make hard lines.

I’m starting to feel a little more confortable with lights and shadows without color. I still think my drawings are too light.

I really like the stippling and blending but my son likes to use cross-hatching and contour hatching and we're both enjoying practicing the new techniques together!

The more time I spent the more I began to see how to use the different marks. As in the last assignment, I began to see the differences in values as I drew...training my eyes I guess. One of the most helpful ideas was how to use the "flower" dots to apply stippling...thanks for that!

After six months (!) of neglecting this class, I decided to get back to work.  I've been having a great time today picking it back up, and am pretty happy with the results.  I think I need confidence in making darker marks, and just overall practicing for confidence. I couldn't resist adding color and ink to this one, where I was practicing values. Chiaroscuro is tricky!  By the time I got to the blueberry, I think I was starting to get the hang of it.  I found a good black & white photo with strong shadows to use for practice.  

I had to laugh when my husband told me my eggshells looked like hamburgers.  I experimented several more times, but have not quite mastered (well, not even close!) the values that make such a difference in definition for sketches.  I know what I need to do, but can't quite meet the goal yet.  I'll keep the lessons learned in this section as I go along.

I am amazed to see improvement in my drawings with the few cues I just learned. The chiarocuro really helps in giving a 3D look. I was aware of that but was not comfortable applying it. To me, there was only 3 shades. Dark, mid, light. Also, I was not that good at seeing them. I never noticed the reflected light under the subject. Amazing! I still wonder how to combine chiaroscuro and the rendering of colors. But one thing at the time. As for the filling strokes, I don’t have the patience of doing straight lines or crossed lines... and it looks ugly when I try it. I would say that my technique is a mix of scribbling and blended lines... I don’t know if it is good or not but I have more fun drawing like that.                                      

It was a little bit. I am feeling more comfortable putting marks on the page. I still need to work on feather features on birds.

I found this very challenging but was amazed how the grapefruit took shape. Its a relaxing exercise to closely observe such everyday objects.  I found this time of day( late afternoon)the light changed quickly so I just had to pick one and go with it.

Not to say I am proud of everything on this page, but I am excited that I filled a sheet of paper with my learning.

It is really like a revelation for me to define the chiaroscuro concept into 6-7 distinct zones. I was already aware of some of it, but to put it all together so neatly is great.

I'd like to work on the perspective.

Here are some of my random sketches of things I have easy access to. The elephant on the bottom of the second page came out cuter than I thought it would.

I'm a perfectionist and often don't start things because I can't decide the best way to go about it or the best thing to draw or whatever. One reason I wanted to take this course is to draw more things without my own restrictions on whether or not it's a "good" subject, or if it's going to make a "good" finished piece. I used to work in an art museum and I did drawings and wrote in sketchbooks a lot over those years, and I have gotten away from it and want to get back. 

I really had to force myself to relax. I found that once I did relax, things went much better. I like the shading process.

I found this hard - it takes patience to observe the nuances of the light. Something I am trying to develop.

Sort of ok. Needs tabletop for context, so it isn’t  floating in space like the ghost of tomatoes past.

It was fun trying to get the lights and darks right. As I was drawing the light started changing and the highlights started shifting around. More practice would be good! I liked the explanation of how to look for the lights and darks and where you may expect to see them.

Taking the photo of my drawing made me realize that I would like to practice getting more definition in the middle values. I like the way you pointed out that when you squint you may be surprised by some of the bright and dark spots. I also kept smearing the pencil marks as I was drawing (haha...accidentally blending where I didn't want blending).

I keep forgetting about using stippling and I love the daisy technique you showed us. I still want to work on ALL of them!

First try at chiaroscuro.  More successful in pencil than colored pencil, I think.  The contrasts on the pepper were much more dramatic and yet I had trouble capturing that.  Maybe because it needs more blending?  I like to look at what others have done and I saw some comments that others felt their own drawings suffered in comparison to others.  When I feel that way, I remind myself that comparison is the thief of joy.  We will all improve and as someone else pointed out, we are not all starting from the same place on the path.  I am enjoying re-discovering this part of myself.

Representing Lights and Darks: the Squint Test I continue to have to make conscious choice each time I set out to draw: discouragement and frustration, or discovery and curiosity. It is not easy, but is a valuable skill. Drawing is completely new to me, and I find it more than a little difficult to make accurate representations of shapes and proportions.  I can see where and how they are wrong, but can not replicate them. It is an interesting look into the brain.  Meanwhile, I have now dedicated a full sized new eraser to my drawing box! I am also very slow. It would take several more sessions to "finish" my stick (which is how I did my "Jump Right In" warbler), but sometimes I don't want to spend repeated sessions on one drawing.  If you are slow and outdoors, the light changes faster than you can capture it. However, the squint test really works! Sometimes squinting helps me "find" the shape, as well. I added a scribbly background of a tree trunk, palo verde sapling, brush pile, and bird boxes, which is not actually behind my "value stick" but was to my right. You can do that when drawing, unlike photography! (Photoshop not withstanding.) I hope my skills improve on shapes and proportions. Next up: chiaroscuro.