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Sketches

Wednesday nights find me lurking in the corner of my daughter's ballet class, sketchbook in hand. With the permission of her dance instructor, I've been allowed to sit in on the lessons.

It's been a great life drawing experience, one that's especially challenging to me because of the movement. My models hold a pose for all of 10-15 seconds. I've worked out a method where I can keep 4 or 5 different sketches going simultaneously, moving from one to the other as the model shifts into a new position.

Why life drawing when I specialize in pet portraiture? Because there is no substitute for training my eye from real life. Photos are convenient, but they can never replace the actual bloom of youth or the depth of color in a shadow. It's only through practicing, regardless of the subject matter, working from real objects in real time, that I can hone the sorts of skills I need to take my art to the next level.

Today I focused on the angle of the head and neck, how the one feeds the grace and poise of the other. I was especially pleased to capture several likenesses today, and am already looking forward to next week.

If you would like to see more of my ballerina sketches, I have an album of them on my Facebook page.

Thanks, as always, for looking at - and sharing - my artwork with your friends and family.
Kim

SHOP ORIGINALS & LIMITED EDITION GICLEES: at my Etsy shop
ORDER CUSTOMIZED NOTECARDS & REPRODUCTIONS: at Imagekind
COMMISSION A PET PORTRAIT: contact me
GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE: contact me
READING MATERIAL: Preview and order each of the Dog a Day books at the publisher's website: The First Year (2006-2007) and That's 14 in Dog Years (2008). If you would like your copy personalized, order them through me.

Comments

  1. Anonymous9:57 PM

    awesome Kim!!! i'm having visions of Degas!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kimberly Kelly Santini6:48 AM

    thanks, Jenn! am wishing now I paid a little more attention during the years of life drawing I took in college..... ;)

    ReplyDelete

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