I love the dynamic between these two people. The man has something to say and the woman is listening. One can see this by each person’s posture: the man leans forward and the woman leans back. Her legs seem to be crossed, even though only one leg is showing.
Conversation
Pencil Sketch
8″x5″ 110# Moleskin Journal
When we first got to the waiting area, this lady was the only one in our section. This sizable seating venue was a staging area: patients were called away for one test, then another; in between they assumed their perch (if still available) and wait for the ultimate call, the call from the person who will escort them to the place where the causes to all problems will be revealed.
Fast forward 10 hours. We meet again on the bumpy yellow rubber mats that interface between the sidewalk and where our cars will pull up so we can go home. I recognize her by her striped dress, but now her face is more important. We talk for the first time, sympathizing about our different experiences bracketed by the same long wait.
Fellow Waiter
Pencil Sketch
5″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
If you can avoid it, avoid emergency rooms on Mondays. But any time you walk through the ER doors, this is where your wait begins…
Waiting Begins Here
Pencil Sketch
5″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
(Note: one way to avoid this is to come via ambulance.)
I remedied the enormous forearm problem in today’s portrait. The most important feature in the sketch below is the delicate positioning of the young lady’s hand. Therefore, the forearm-to-upperarm ration is consequential.
I’m having second thoughts about the title of this sketch. The subject’s pose does not suggest that she is leaning very hard on her bent wrist. Perhaps she’s not concentrating very hard. If I were deep in concentration my hands would be holding the whole weight of my head. So instead of concentrating maybe she has a headache, or is reminiscing or day dreaming.
Young Lady Trying to Concentrate
Pencil Sketch
5″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
When concentrating on individual parts of a portrait sketch, sometimes itty-bitty errors add up. In the case of the image below, the cumulative inaccuracies were bridged by the enormity of the young lady’s arm upon which her head lay. When I began the sketch, her head was gracefully touching the apex of her angled wrist. Had I followed through with this original pose, the forearm would not have been as extended.
Young Lady with Enormous Forearm, Concentrating
Pencil Sketch
5″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
In the sketch below, I rendered the general idea of the scene before my eyes. However, if someone was standing behind me viewing what I saw, they probably would not recognize it from my drawing. In fact, the picture below is more like a cartoon than a sketch from life. This may or may not be a bad thing, but sometimes a general idea is good enough.
Waiting Room Patrons
Pencil Sketch
8″x5″ 110# Moleskin Journal
Nice walk to the lake today. Half hour to the lake, half hour to sketch and half hour back. That was the plan. I brought different pencils with me: a very soft 8B, a soft 4B, another soft 2B and a harder HB.
After 30 minutes sitting on a bench, I finished the sketch you see here:
Landscape Before Wash
Pencil Sketch
10″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
The softer pencils I used were water soluble. When I got home, I applied some water to the darker areas and touched up some of the background. The final stage in this landscape’s evolution is below:
Landscape After Wash
Pencil Sketch
10″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
Originally, I wanted to do a few quick vignettes of some of the people in the cafe. I wasn’t quick enough. Before I could render one arm position, the person I was going to sketch next was gone. So I decided to focus on this woman as she changed the orientation of her arm.
Woman with Three Arm Positions
Pencil Sketch
5″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
Having not had any face time today, I resorted to copying a photograph. The photo was taken during a visit to the Japanese garden a couple of weeks ago. An enlargement did not show much facial detail, so I used this sketch to practice shading technique. I used different pencils with hardness ranging from HB to 8B.
Man Sketching at Japanese Garden
Pencil Sketch
5″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
Usually, waiting rooms are filled with people. Today the receptionist was the sole person there and only visible from the neck up thanks to the high counter surrounding her. When I was done, her likeness looked like the ones you see on foreign coins. Unsatisfying. Fortunately, I had another opportunity to sketch. A young man stepped up to the desk. I had to be fast since I knew he wouldn’t be there long. This portrait, at the bottom of the page, is the best of the day. The final subject person was across the room. Since he was far away, I focused on his posture rather than details of his face.
Face Time – Practice
Pencil Sketch
5″x8″ 110# Moleskin Journal
