Landscape of Virginia

The new day brings art into the realm of possibilities. So it has gone this summer once awake I can see how making something new and thoughtful can happen with a little bit of effort. I gather my cat and check to make sure he is ok, that he has water, dry food and that the A/C is on for him. Once that is taken care of I gather my equipment and the new fresh canvas that I put together a couple of months ago just for this quick exit purpose and I split. My car is my artbox, it has my traveling Julianne easel and paints, medium with my brushes in a box with them all. I take off. Once out, I have a preconceived idea of some possible sites along a street I decided I should concentrate on for this summer's work. In the previous days I have driven up and down it slowly looking at the various vantage points with houses of interest in view. I think of a part of the street where there might be a house or two with interesting architectural features and so that is where I park....

In becoming a member of Mc Guffey I am able to access their drawing group that meets three times a week with a live model which one may draw from in order to improve one's drawing skills. Some people think all one gets out of doing such drawings is "a bunch of drawings of a nude standing around" when one is done. I have to disagree, if one becomes disciplined in drawing the human body then one can move on into the world around us. Due to the fact that to my thinking the human being is one of the most complicated forms to master drawing. To be convincing one must master many abilities in drawing and art before one can say they 'have it down', I always find the human form to be the very best challenges in art to draw and I doubt anyone actually ever masters the skill because each model brings so much new forms to light. But maybe that's just me. I plan to attend as many groups as I can to get into the skills it takes to do the human being convincingly enou...