Friday Sketches

Table lamp. Sharpie and conté crayon on sketch paper. © Krista Simurdak

Krista says, “The best thing to do is to be with discomfort without thinking: how long will it be till I’m ok?

In drawing, if you’re thinking about how cool the end result will be, what people will think, you’ll miss it.  the drawing will look like you’re making it for some important audience.  It will look the same as manipulation looks, like when you’re with people who have to prove themselves to you.  Better to have mistakes and tell the truth.

The magic is in not knowing how things will turn out.

I had no idea how this drawing would end up.

Isn’t it cool, wondering what it might be?  Maybe today I’ll be a star.

But it doesn’t really matter if I ‘make it’ or not.”

Marbled hatchet fish, quite dessicated.

Nik had some hatchetfish in the aquarium.  They are notorious jumpers.  You open the lid to feed them, and they just leap right out, as if they are anxious to see what they’re missing in the wide world.  This one jumped without being detected, until who-knows-how-long later.  Now he’s a fishy mummy.

As I was trying to sketch this little guy, it occurred to me that Stu was like that.  He would just jump.  If something was new, or interesting, or exciting, he wouldn’t really think much about it.  He would just jump.  Krista and I had a good giggle about that.  She remembers somebody recalled the same thing at the memorial.  We loved that about him.

Sakura pigma Micron and watercolor in Strathmore Mixed Media journal. © Lisa M Harkins

A Little Sample

Did a little stumpwork last month.  I was working on various ideas in this little sample.  There are some little things that could use improvement, but overall, I’m pretty pleased.

I’ll be giving a one-day, introductory class at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center in June.  Keep an eye on my web site for further details.

Friday Sketches

Both of us were pretty busy this Friday.  Krista had family in town, and I had dinner with friends.  No matter, we did our sketches on Saturday.

Silver salt shaker. Sharpie on prepainted page in Strathmore Mixed Media journal. © Lisa M Harkins

Mine was just a quick grab for something more architectural.  It’s a little out of my comfort zone, and got me thinking more about perspective and relationships of shapes to one another.  I worked for about an hour and then moved on to the next part of my busy day.  I have to say, even though I sort of crammed this weekly activity into a packed schedule this weekend, it was nice to “force” myself to do it.  It makes you slow down and think a little.  That little window of time was for myself and my thoughts.  It was pretty wonderful.

Krista has a cool asylum bed in her apartment.

Asylum bed, © Krista Simurdak

Here are her thoughts on this week’s sketch.

You crave that special thing about the person who passed away.  You can’t find it anywhere else.  Were they taken because they were so special?  Do they have elevated work to do somewhere else?  And how do we down here make it, without access to them?

Sometimes you feel them here anyway.  You’re not as scared or lonely as you used to be, you feel their influence, their “watching over you,” you have new skills you didn’t have before.  Something’s been handed down to you.

That’s why people who have had loss are more interesting to be with.  Things that aren’t real or earned are boring now.