Self Portrait in semi-style of Renoir

Yet another Self-Portrait

Surprise we have a(n unexpected) final project in my art class. The rest of the class is doing self porttraits and since I haven't really ever worked with color in drawing I decided to try and do one too. We are supposed to be doing an image in the style of. I chose Renoir, but honestly my lack of facility with pastels means there is not style of anyone visible. I think I will have to do a few different versions!  Here is what I have so far. (I may need non oil pastels so I can blend.)

State of the drawings

Hmm, I am supposed to have 11 finished drawings by the end of the semester and I have been struggling to find a 10th and an 11th. As noted earlier, the class has been doing self portraits in the style of other artists. I decided I needed to expand my medium, so I have been working with charcolal and Käthe Kollwitz. None of my sketches really resemble her masterful work and in factthe more I do, the less they resemble her stuff, but I did a third charcoal sketch today and figure I can count the three self-portraits as drawing number 10.  I did work on the first sketch and overhaul it a bit today too.  Todays sketch  is here.

To make it more Kollwitz-like I added dark on the dark side and I don't think I like it better, but worse.

You may remember my first sketch. The face was too narrow.



I've adjusted the eyes and broadened the chin and cheeks - unfortuantely now the crown of the head is too squat, but it is a better drawing.

So the big question was what to do fot the final project. I was so uninspired that I decided to try something completely different. I found a photo of a bunch of women from the 20s seated for a group portrait, but was really taken by their hands and legs, so I decided to do those. I need to clean up the hands, but I kind of like this:

Garden Stuff

I have been so proud to have a new magnolia, since I am accustomed to the majestic magnolias of the south and my tiny little magnolia is going into its third year now and bears little resemblance to my fantastic memories. Nonetheless here it is in all it's glory. (It actually has 5 buds left after the rabbits got through pruning it.

 

My wild tulips are also blooming.

 

Roses From the Spousal Unit

Breaking Ground at the St John's Learning Commons in Collegeville Minnesota

These are the dignitaries observing the ground breaking ceremony for the new  Learning Commons at St John's University in Minnesota.

 

The ground was blessed by the Abbott

and then the ground was broken with golden shovels.

Dog blanket update

Well I'm more than 2/3 of the way done and here is what it looks like so far!

Self Portraits for the heck of it

The class I am sitting in on (sort of - because they are drawing 1 students I am so -called (?) advanced) is doing self portraits in the style of... So I couldn't resist dusting off my charcoal and trying a couple of self-portraits in the style of Kathe Kollwitz. (She is amazing and I am a very cheap imitation - but here is what I came up with.)

 

I used watercolor paper to give it texture, but I don't love it somehow.

Here is my second attempt.

 

There is something I like about this one as unflattering as it is, even though it isn't terribly like Kollwitz.

Magic Mountain and Garden Update

I've been working on my Magic Mountain drawing today and think it is close to finished.

Unfortunately the cat jumped up and got something wet and inky on my picture -so I guess I'll have to whit it out or something, and maybe lighten up the buildings in the middle.

On other news - the garden is blossoming.  Spousal Unit D found this flower in the back yard.

 

 

The snow drops are actually abundant enough to see from a distance.

 

The bloodroot also begn to bloom today!

Updates Drawings and Garden

I bought some flowers at the grocery store, but didn'nt get around to unwrapping them for a while. Unfortunately the tulip stems rotted, so many had to go into a wine glass.

 

OUr first crocuses have been blooming. Seems pretty early to me, but there they are.

Here is the drawing I have been working on.  The building in back represents the Berghof Sanatorium, based on postcards of the time period. Settembrini and Naphta will stand on the right hand side of the page. I have begun Settembrini basing him loosely on Duke Warren of Surrey (I wasn't as crazy about the image of Leoncavallo and couldn't findone of him as a younger man. I am using Gyorgy Lukacs as a model of Naphta as did Thomas Mann. Perhaps the man  in the middle will be Mynheer Peeperkorn, with Castorp sitting to the left.

 

 Updated version below.

 I finished Lukacs/Naphta and added a kind of Gerhart Hauptmann face to the seated man in the middle. I think I will add a few vague building details in the section above Settembrini's head but leave one section to the left of it unrendered.

Here is a detail of Madame Chauchat. I feel like I have caught her slinkiness and forward tilted head.

This is a pen and ink version of a prior picture. It may not get much farther. I haven't been too happy with it.

Viennese Cafe Updated

 

I redid the central figure (Kafka) I think that solves the focus issue, so I also removed the shoes.