Tag: sketching

French Café Sketch

FRENCH CAFÉ | Graphite on Paper

Here’s another installment from my January “draw-a-day” self-imposed challenge. While I didn’t draw every single day, I came pretty close. Most of what I did was practice for new paintings, which, as I’ve mentioned previously, can be immensely helpful in determining not only how to approach a new composition, but even if you want to do it in the first place! 

FRENCH CAFÉ is a sketch intended to inform a painting I just started. After having done an initial block-in on the canvas I realized this was going to need further consideration before moving forward. This sketch is that “further consideration”, allowing me to do a handful of things before returning to the canvas. 

For the curious, following is how this sketch will help the painting:

  • People: arrangement, sizing/scale, and simplification. The last point, simplification, is a by-product of drawing whereby one has to convey the essence of the figures purely through shapes, whereas the painted version will also leverage colors. 
  • Focal point: The sketch taught me that I’m lacking a focal point, so the painting will need to do a better job of focusing on a particular grouping of people at the tables. In this sketch, it’s not clear where the viewer should concentrate.
  • Details: Between the umbrellas, windows, people, and trees, there’s a lot going on. It will be important to exclude some elements in the painting to make it effective, and more enjoyable to paint. The vines growing up the walls will get 86-ed, as will some of the ground floor windows and doors. 
  • Values: There will need to be very high contrast of values between the shaded people and those areas that are in direct sunlight. You can tell that this sketch, while effective in many ways, really looks flat with the exception of the overhanging trees at the top. This is where I made a point to do high contrast in light and darks, adding a 6B pencil to the mix.

Stay tuned for the actual painting, which will be a challenge, albeit a well informed one thanks to this sketching exercise. 

#austinart #artbern #berntx #crashboomzip #abplanalp #austinartists #stilllife #drawing #graphite #frenchcafe #sketch #umbrellas 

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Painting Auditions


ROSE | Graphite on Paper | 3 x 3”

This is the first of numerous drawings I’ll be doing over the course of the coming 30 days. There are a number of goals involved with this exercise. Initially, I was going to set a lofty goal of a drawing-a-day, but reality has set in and the target has been tempered to draw-a-day. 

This drawing, ROSE, is from day 3 of the challenge. I’ve done a painting called YELLOW ROSE in the past, based on the same reference photo, so it was interesting to return to this after a few years. I was surprised how quickly this drawing came together; some sort of long-term artistic muscle memory. 

The other benefit of a self-imposed 30-day draw challenge is that it drives me to practice potential new compositions. Doing a quick sketch of a painting subject is helpful in the field for plein air, and for studio work, but sketches are typically done to refine the compositional strategy. However, doing a more complete drawing answers the question, “do I want to paint this?” Sometimes, you get into the details of a painting and realize that it’s not any fun because it’s either beyond your skill set, too tedious, or simply not very exciting. 

In the coming weeks, stay tuned for more drawings auditioning to become paintings!

#austinart #artbern #berntx #crashboomzip #abplanalp #austinartists #stilllife #drawing #graphite #flower #rose #botanical #sketch 

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