The Habit of Art Making

This particular art-making habit began the day the espresso machine arrived, an early Christmas present from my husband.  Although an Englishman — and thus himself a steady tea drinker — he nonetheless gets my nostalgia for Seattle’s U District coffeehouses of the 1970s.  Good coffee and hours studying at the Last Exit Coffee House.

Since the espresso machine’s arrival, every morning at 6 am, I sit down at the drawing table with my first americano — steam rising — and do a value study.   A value study is a drawing that catches the shapes and their values (dark to light) of a picture.  My best ones are when I keep the study to 3 or 4 values.

It’s quiet as I lay out my charcoals and open the small ringed sketchbook to a clean page.  I reach into my stack of notecards with pictures that I’d long ago collected. These include pictures from Arthur Rackham and Howard Pyle, film clips from Blade Runner 2049,  Parasite, and Dr. Strangelove.  As well as other images that spoke to me for some reason.   The one I pick is the one that gets studied this morning.  No putting back in the stack.

First, I block in the division of space, then mass in the values — the mid-tones first, then darks.  Erase out shapes within shapes and get those lights and highlights in.

The last step is to jot a few notes about the study before me.  What was the composition? What did I like?  What worked/didn’t with the charcoals.

That’s it.  30 - 60 minutes.

Followed by a second espresso.

A closer look:

These December value studies were a a bit of a mess.  Within the confines of a small 6” x 8” page, the chunky charcoals are awkward. 

But, the important thing is the establishing of the habit.

More to come on the habit's evolution and that of the studies themselves.