sandr037

My server is on the blink, blocking access to something I was working on.   So I thought I’d dump some desktop images into the blog for fun.   I have occasionally tried drawing or painting portraits, but being shy, I have usually based any work on photographs.   This allows me to work on my own schedule, and be as relaxed and boring as I want.   Self portraits are perfect since the subject is just as shy and boring as I am, eliminating any embarrassment to all concerned.   Also the subject is docile and follows instructions perfectly (and never needs a break until I do).   Smells like teen… whatever. Normally I would drone on about technique, color and composition, not to mention the need to draw, draw, draw.   But this is for fun, so a line or two will do. Ink, Xerox & watercolor.   My hair was never that red. … and this is your self portrait on drugs.   So sad. First attempt at a real oil portrait.   Thought it was genius at the ti...

Venus Drawing Room Ceiling, Versailes, by R.A. Houasse Look up at the ceiling of any Baroque Church or Palace and you will see chubby cherubs floating around in a framework of clouds.   The other allegorical figures vary, but the cherubs and clouds are a constant.   These ceilings must have driven the artists crazy because, although the viewer was looking up, you didn’t want to see only feet and tush, or conversely, topsy-turvy people.   This is not a post on perspective foreshortening so suffice it to say that figures were oriented to the walls of the space, while cupids and clouds were allowed more freedom to float. This (the clouds, not the cherubs) applies to architectural rendering in that clouds have different shapes when seen from the side and from below.   The photo above was taken at an angle of 30 degrees off the horizon.   The clouds at the bottom are near the horizon and the clouds at the top are nearly overhead.   The horizon clouds are, well, ...