Day 55: Mask

"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and we know we cannot live within."

-James A. Baldwin

This year for Christmas I drew portraits for my family. Christmas seems a while ago now, but I was not in a place that I could post these from/ didn't think of it until now. These are the celebrity portraits that I drew as gifts:

Bruce Springstein

Mel Gibson (as William Wallace in Braveheart)

Ryan Gosling

Lady Gaga

Day 54: Another Face

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

-Howard Thurman

I know this drawing is very similar to the one I did yesterday, but I really enjoyed this style or portrait so I wanted to try it again.

Day 53: Pretty Face

"I once knew a pretty girl

And she was in love with the world

And she loved a young man

Who loved her body but never saw her mind.

He took everything she had kept,

And then took everything else that was left"

-First Aid Kit, Our Own Pretty Ways

I've decided to stop following the themes strictly (I'll do them at least one day per week, but I'd rather be able to just draw what I want every once in a while as well). The thing I like to draw the most are faces, and that was the only thing I wanted to draw today. 

Day 52: Hot Chocolate

This picture doesn't even deserve a quote. I've hated everthing I've drawn lately; I don't know why I can't draw anything right. I also can't get the internet on my computer to work so I had to take a picture of it on that computer and email it to another computer, hence the terrible quality...again.

Day 51: Breeze

"Break open a cherry tree and there are no flowers, but the spring breeze brings forth myriad blossoms."
-Ikkyu Sojun

Day 50: Cake

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie."

-Jim Davis

This week's theme is yummy.

Day 49: Drinking Tea

"Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things."

-Chaim Potok

10 health benefits of drinking tea include:

• Tea contains antioxidants.
• Tea has less caffeine than coffee.
• Tea may reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Tea protects your bones.
• Tea bolsters your immune defenses.
• Tea protects against cancer.
• Tea helps keep you hydrated (unless you drink more than five or six caffeinated beverages at a time).
• Tea is calorie-free.
• Tea increases your metabolism.
• Tea lowers the chances of cognitive impairment.

Day 48: Smiling

You're never fully dressed without a smile.

Why is smiling beneficial?

• It makes people more attractive.
• Smiling changes your mood.
• It's contagious.
• Smiling relieves stress.
• Smiling boosts your immune system (most likely because you're more relaxed).
• Smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin.
• Smiling makes you seem successful.

Day 47: Sunlight

"Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight."

-Benjamin Franklin

"In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!" And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see a whole lot better.

-Ellen Degeneres

Day 46: Teeth

"If suffering brought wisdom, every dentist's office would be full of luminous ideas."
Mason Cooley

I haven't had access to a scanner for a few days now, and so I've been taking pictures of my drawings instead. The problem with that is that even if my phone isn't being held exactly level, it warps the proportions Of the drawing get warped and make it look yucky.

Days 44 and 45: Broccoli and Sleep

"In sleep is the only place I get to see him, get to love him."

-Lissie, "In Sleep"

This is today's drawing. Sometimes I need to remind myself that sleep is a good thing.

Yesterday's, which I couldn't upload in the car, got super smudged overnight, not to mention that I could barely see when I drew it so I hate it anyways. Here it is:

Road Trip

Due to the fact that my family is currently on a drive from New Hampshire to Florida it is not possible for me to post my drawing for today (although it is completed). I'm very frustrated by this but there's nothing I can do. I guess I'll just post it when I get the chance.

Day 43: Stairs

Change happens one step at a time.

It's Saturday, which means it's the first day of a new theme. This week's theme is healthy.
Most of my friends (at least the ones that live on the fourth floor of my building at school with me) know that I highly dislike elevators. Not because of a phobia of them or anything, they just make me feel really lazy. So I pretty much always try to take the stairs.
According to a study done by the European Society of Cardiology in Munich (and common sense), people that use the stairs regularly have better fitness, less body fat, slim waitlines, and lower blood pressure. In the study, subjects' blood pressure, body fat, cholestrol, waist circumference, and lung capacity were measured, and were asked to take the stairs regularly rather than an elevator at work for three months. On average, then went from walking up about 5 floors to 23 floors of stairs per day. At the end of the study, the participants had better lung capacity, smaller waists, and lower body fat, blood pressure, and cholesterol. This equated to a 15% reduction in the chances of dying prematurely on average.
So I guess it's a good thing I like to use the stairs regularly. And on days when I've done nothing but sit in class all day so far, it's actually fun to get your heartrate up with a jog up a few flights of stairs. Not to mention the energy conserved by not using the elevator.

Day 42: Shadows

"A human being is only breath and shadow."

-Sophocles

I had very little time for this drawing today. Once again, I spent a lot more time working on other drawings.  So once again, this will have to do for today.

Day 41: Demon

"I am not a demon. I am a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion."

-Nicolas Cage

I've been doing a lot of extra drawing lately to get ready for Christmas, so today I was not really feeling very patient when it came to my sketch for this blog. I just drew something from my brain instead of a drawing of a photo, and wasn't at all happy with how it came out, but I know that I won't be happy with my sketch every day. The important thing is that at least I did something, and that's still practice even if I don't like what I came up with.

Day 40: Footsteps

"Let me walk three weeks in the footsteps of my enemy, carry the same burden, have the same trials as he, before I say one word to criticize."

-Anonymous

Day 39: Child's View

"The ability to retain a child's view of the world with at the same time a mature understanding of what it means to retain it, is extremely rare- and a person who has these qualities is likely to be able to contribute something really important to our thinking."

-Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book

Day 38: Underwater

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."

-Andre Gide

Day 37: Coal Miner

"Fear has many eyes and can see things underground."

-Miguel de Cervantes

Day 36: Feeling low

"Happy is the heart that still feels pain, darkness drains and light will come again."

-Ingrid Michaelson, "Everybody"

This week's theme is down low. As you can see, my obsession with charcoal continues. Although, if I decide to draw something that includes a lot of small details, I'll definitely have to use graphite for that. For example, yesterday's drawing ("Tightrope") definitely had too many small details (the face) to turn out well with charcoal. But I think charcoal was the right choice for today's drawing.

Day 35: Tightrope

"A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life."

-William Arthur Ward

Day 34: Looking Up

"Cause when I look to the sky something tells me you're here with me and you make everything alright."

-Train, "When I Look to the Sky"

Day 33: Pretentiosity

"A proud man is always looking down on people and things; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you."

-C.S. Lewis

I used charcoal again with this drawing. I realized the other day that lately I've been drawing only women. I think it's probably because it's easier for me since I'm more familiar with the features, angles, shadows, etc of a woman's face than a man's. So I decided to do something different today and draw a man; it was actually pretty difficult. To add to that, I also found it difficult to draw from an angle of looking up at the face slightly rather than looking directly at the face, so the proportions of the face were different than I was used to. But I'm pretty happy with the way this came out regardless.

Day 32: City View

"All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful: but the beauty is grim."

-Christopher Morley

I'm in love with charcoal. It's my new favorite substance. More than chocolate even. In fact, I even accidentally let my hot chocolate get cold because I got so wrapped up in this drawing. And anyone who knows how much I love hot chocolaty drinks knows that's saying a lot. It feels so much more alive and malleable, you can shape it into whatever lines or movements you want to on the paper. Something else that I'm happy about is that I'm relying far less on the pictures that I use when I draw. Today, I used a picture of someone's profile because I struggle (a lot) with getting proportions right without looking directly at something, but I changed some things (such as the facial expression) and I didn't use anything for the background (ooooohh a bunch of boxes...I know, it's sooo impressive). One thing I did not change was the hair style, because I absolutely love this model's hair (I just changed the color; this model was bleach blond). I go home tomorrow for three weeks-ish for Christmas break, and I think over break I'll probably try experimenting with watercolors just to see what happens. 

And, as an added bonus, here's a big doodle I drew on a whiteboard while I was studying for orgo last night:

I'm so glad finals are OVER!

Day 31: Falling

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising ever time we fall."

-Confucius

I did this one in charcoal again today. Charcoal is fun! It's also kind of scary to work with because you can't erase it like you can when you use pencil. So inevitably, there are some things I would change about it, but I can't, so I'll just have to deal with it, I guess.

Day 30: Climb

"I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while climbing it."

-Andy Rooney

I drew this using charcoal (for the first time).
Also, I forgot to say yesterday that this week's theme is "high above".

Day 29: Bald Eagle

"Eagles come in all shapes and sizes, but you will recognize them chiefly by their attitudes."

E.F. Schumacher

Some facts about the bald eagle:

• Bald eagles fly to an altitude of 10,000 feet. They can reach a speed of 30 to 35 mph.
• Bald eagles have 7,000 feathers.
• Wild bald eagles may live as long as 30 years.
• The bald eagle is a strong swimmer.
• Once paired, bald eagles remain together until one dies.
• The 35 days of incubation duties are shared by males and females.
• The bald eagle became the national emblem in 1782 when the great seal of the United States was adopted.
• The main causes of death include fatal gun shot wounds, electrocution, poisoning, collisions with vehicles, and starvation.
• The bald eagle is the only eagle unique to North America.

Day 28: Witch

"I've always thought Prince Charming in 'Cinderella' was the most boring role; I'd rather be the Wicked Witch."

-Jude Law

To decide what to draw today, I took a quiz that was something along the lines of "which fairytale creature are you?". It told me I'm a witch, so that's what I drew. I'm not sure what that says about my personality (maybe I'm a good witch, like Glinda or Hermione?), but I'm kind of glad because this was fun to draw.

Day 27: Evil Queen

"One bite, and all your dreams will come true."

-The Queen, Snow White

Day 26: Angel

"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly embracing each other."

-Luciano de Crecsenzo

Day 25: Fairy

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

-G. K. Chesterton

This week's theme is fairytale; I figured I should draw at least one fairy... 

Anyways, here are some "facts" that I found online about fairies:

• The best time to sight one is in the "'tween" times (dusk, dawn, autumn, spring)
• Fairies live in places that are not really anything, called shadowlands. This includes places like river banks, a bend in the road, and offshore island.
• Fairies hide themselves from human eyes using glamor.
• Signs that a fairy is near include: sudden cold, unexplained trembling of leaves, a whirlwind or dust devil, or a feeling of something crawling in your hair when there is nothing there.
• Fairies are immortal (although this one confused me- doesn't a fairy die every time a child says they don't believe in them?)
• Fairies love to dance in a circle and use music to lure a human inside. Once inside, escape is impossible unless a human chain is formed to pull them out from the inside. They also sometimes lure humans to their islands from which there is no escape. Those rascally fairies. 

Can you guess what I'll be doing tonight at dusk? 

*

*

*

*

*

Nope, not fairy hunting. Studying for finals. 

And a reminder to all, if you see small, glamorous humans dancing in a circle and love their music so much that you feel the urge to jump right in the middle and boogie...STOP! Think about what you are doing. Unless there is a human chain nearby, in which case, please, enjoy the fairy party.

Day 24: Mermaid

"I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living."

-Anais Nin

Magic 

Sandra's seen a leprechaun,

Eddie Touched a troll,

Laurie danced with witches once,

Charlie found some goblin's gold,

Donald heard a mermaid sing,

Susy spied an elf,

But all the magic I have know

I've had to make myself.

-Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

A few facts about mermaids:

• The first mermaid was actually a mermad, and he was the god Oannes from Babylon.
• A two-tailed mermaid is the basis of the Starbucks logo. It has been edited from the original because some people found it too sexually suggestive.
• It is believed that creatures such as mermaids represented our understanding that humans were one with animals but also different from them. 
• Columbus reported seeing mermaids in his log

Day 23: Allison

"My favorite kind of weather is Halloweentown weather."

-Allison Harvard (Creepychan)

I wanted to do a portrait today, since they're my favorite. When I think of my theme for the week (fairytale), this is the first real person that I think of. She always reminds me of some kind of dark, evil nymph or fairy. Allison is probably one of the most insanely (literally) beautiful people in existence, and has one of the most interesting personalities to match it. She's know on the show for her social awkwardness and her fascination with blood (she says it's pretty). She's so great! And, she's an artist. I've looked at her work, and it's really neat!

Here are some interesting or funny things she's said:

• "I have a really big fascination with blood."
• "Yes, I have big eyes. They're on my face. Sorry, they're not going anywhere."
• "I look like the woodland creature, or something that crawled out of the woods."
• Another model (angrily): You don't want to go there with me!

          Allison: Where am I going?

• "[Another model] makes this speech from the staircase, and it's a bit too, like, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul for me."
• Allison's response to Tyra telling her she used to get nosebleeds all the time as a child: "Jealous!"
• "I'm really interested in hemophilia."
• In high school I was sort of introverted. You know, I didn't really hang out, too much, with people."

Day 22: Snow White

"Famed is thy beauty, Majesty. But hold, a lovely maid I see. Rags cannot hide her gentle grace. Alas, she is more fair than thee."

-Magic Mirror, Snow White

It's officially the start of the fourth week of my blog! This week's theme is "fairytale". I think this week's going to be fun. Today, I drew Snow White. She was always my favorite Disney princess when I was a child. I think my favorite item of clothing was a Snow White dress that I had. Until I outgrew it. What a sad day that was. Thinking back, I must have been a very shallow child because when you think about the storyline of Snow White, it's really quite terrible. A pretty girl who is waiting around for a prince is forced to flee from her step-mother who wants to kill her because Snow White is prettier than she is. But it's okay, every man she meets loves her and she is saved by them in the end. What a great story. Good job, Disney. But she was always my favorite and I'm still a big fan of the movie despite the fact that it doesn't necessarily send a great message. It was Disney's first feature-length film after all!

As far as the drawing itself is concerned, changed some details of Disney's drawings of Snow-White to make it less cartoon-ish and a little more realistic looking. Not like a real person (I don't think anyone exists with the facial proportions that Snow White has, seeing as her eyes take up half her face), but I guess I was hoping it would at least look more like a doll than a cartoon.

And, because I could spare about 5 minutes from my studying, here are a few quick fun facts about the movie Snow White:

• As I said, it was Disney's first full-length movie.
• It is based on the fairytale by the brothers Grimm
• Originally, there was a song titled "Music in Your Soup" written for the movie, but it never appeared in it.
• Disney won 8 Oscars for Snow White.
• Before the names of the dwarfs were decided upon, some other names that were considered include Awful, Biggy, Blabby, Dirty, Gabby, Gaspy, Gloomy, Hoppy, Hotsy, Jaunty, Jumpy, Nifty, and Shifty.
• The woman who played the voice of snow white was the casting director's daughter.

Day 21: Doodling

The entire point of doodling is that no matter what they turn out like, they are perfect.

So, obviously I was doodling in class today, But here's a blurb from an interesting article from Time in 2009 called "Study: Doodling Helps you Pay Attention":

Before the tape began, half the study participants were asked to shade in some little squares and circles on a piece of paper while they listened. They were told not to worry about being neat or quick about it. (Anderade did not instruct people explicitly to "doodle,"which might have prompted self-consciousness about what constituted an official doodle.) The other 20 didn't doodle. All the participants were asked to write the names of those coming to the party while the tape played, which meant the doodlers switched between their doodles and their lists. 

Afterward, the papers were removed and the 40 volunteers were asked to recall, orally, the place names and the names of the people coming to the party. The doodlers creamed the nondoodlers: those who doodles during the tape recalled 7.5 pieces of information (out of 16 total) on average, 29% more than the average 5.8 recalled by the control group.

So obviously, doodling isn't just a waste of time...which I guess would make this post not really fall under the theme of "free time". Except I wasn't even doodling to focus in class today, I just was really getting nothing out of being there. So I guess this works.

Day 20: Time Flies

"Time is flying, never to return,"

-Virgil

Day 19: Free of Time

"Clocks slay time...time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."

-William Faulkner

Day 18: Sleep

"From reading too much and sleeping too little, his brain dried up on him and he lost his judgement."

-Miguel de Cervantes

Story of my life around exams.
I hate sleeping, but even so, if I had time to sleep longer I definitely would.

Day 17: Drawing

"What do drawings mean to me? I really don't know. The activity absorbs me. I forget everything else in a way that I don't think happens with any other activity."

-John Berger

Today, I did things a little differently. Rather than drawing a photograph that I'm staring at, I instead drew my own hand by just lookin at it. This is the first time I've tried drawing something three dimensional rather than a flat image, so it was rather challenging. It's a completely different way of viewing things. Although it's not great, it's not as much of a trainwreck as I was expecting. You can't expect to be perfect at something on the first try, after all. I think I gave a good effort.

Anyways, the drawing represents one of my new favorite hobbies that takes up much of my free time: drawing (obviously). It's amazing how much just drawing for a few months has changed (literally) how I view the world. I'm finding myself noticing shadows and lines more often, especially in faces (which, if you've looked at the rest of my blog, are my favorite things to draw).

And now, to wrap up today's post, here are some drawings that I found about drawing that I feel really capture the essence of why I'm doing this blog or why I've come to really enjoy drawing:

• It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character. -Camille Pissarro
• Draw, as much and as often as you can. When drawing lies fallow, the skill diminishes. -Gene Black
• No one can walk away from a fine drawing session and feel downcast. -Catherine Robertson
• Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worth while, and it will do you a world of good. -Cennino Cennini
• Drawing is touching at a distance. -Sigmund Abeles
• Drawing is like the first kiss. It carries within it the deepest emotion and the challenge of the first step. It is the first cry after birth. -Ala Bashir
• Drawing not only develops hand-eye coordination, it teaches one to really observe, to see, as nothing else ever will. -Nancy Marculewicz
• Before you are able to draw, you have to learn to see, and you learn to see by drawing. -Mick Maslen
• To 'draw' implies everything the word stands for: to pull or to drag or to draw forth, as from the earth, a vein, or well. -Lance Esplund
• Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad. -Salvador Dali
• Drawing is the simplest way of establishing a picture vocabulary because it is an instant, personal declaration of what is important and what is not. -Betty Goodwin
• Draw as if the object being drawn has never existed - because it hasn't. -Andrew Hamilton

Day 16: Reading

"The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read."

-Abraham Lincoln

This drawing actually fits under the theme of free time. If I had any free time, this is the first thing I would do with it: read (from my Nook!). As you can see, I don't have much free time, seeing as I obviously did not spend a lot of time on this sketch. But it'll do. Lately, I really like historical fiction, fantasy, or science fiction books...basically anything that takes place not in this time and place. College life is so stressful, that if I can find the time to read, I want it to really take me FAR away for a little while. This week is the week before finals, so I know I won't have any time to do some reading, but a couple weeks from now I'll have all the time in the world to read for a few weeks! I can't wait until then!

Day 15: Anniversary

"Love knows not what time is."

This week's theme is free time...and I guess my drawing for today is more about just the second half of that phrase. I drew this picture for my grandparents' 50th anniversary, which we celebrated today. I was not going to use it as today's drawing, but seeing as I do not actually have any free time, as much as I wish I did, I am using this as my drawing for today. This drawing is based off of photos of my grandparents from high school. They got married and are still married 50 years later, so I figured the occasion could fall under the theme of time (maybe not free time, but...it'll have to do).

Also, the picture of the drawing is once again terrible quality because I once again used a photo of it I took with my phone and not a scan of it. Sorry.

Day 14: Spider Monkey

Spider Monkey

I don't have a scanner with me at the moment, so the quality is terrible (not to mention the fact that the quality of the drawing was terrible to begin with since I spent minimal time on it) but here it is. It's a spider money...and that's really all I have to say about this one.

Day 13: Ladybug (Happy Thanksgiving!)

This drawing is by my younger brother, Scott.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was 'thank you', that would suffice."

-Meister Eckhart

And now, for my drawing of the day:

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving! Eat lots of pie!

Day 12: Happy Giraffe

"It's an incredibly difficult thing to bring a giraffe down. They can kill a lion with a single blow from their feet."

-Joanna Lumley

Today, my younger sister complimented me on the "giraffes" I drew yesterday. Apparently I didn't do such a great job drawing those elephants. Hopefully her compliment was more a reflection on her inability to recall the correct noun than my inability to draw en elephant. 

Anyways, giraffes are actually pretty amazing animals. Here are some fun facts about them:

• The giraffes neck contains only 7 vertebrae, despite it's amazing length. Anchor muscles on its shoulders help to hold it up. 
• Males undergo "necking" contests to compete for mates.
• Giraffes can run up to 34 miles per hour. However, due to the high blood pressure required to pump blood up to their heads through their long necks, they cannot sustain this pace.
• A giraffe's kick can decapitate a lion!
• The hooves of a fully grown giraffe are about the size of a dinner plate.
• A giraffe's tail, at 8 feet long, is one of the longest in the world. 
• Giraffes also have extremely long tongues (of a purple-black color) at 18 inches in length.
• Giraffes love to eat acacia, a thorny tree. Thus, their saliva is antiseptic in order to help their thorn-wounded tongues heal correctly.
• Female giraffes remain standing while giving birth, and the baby drops to the ground. Despite the long drop, the calf is up and running a few hours later.
• A giraffe consumes about 140 pounds of foliage per day.

(All of those facts are from http://www.kenya-travel-packages.com/interesting-facts-about-giraffes.html)

Day 11: Elephants

"I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one hundred percent."

-Horton the Elephant (Dr. Seuss' Horton Hatches the Egg)

This is a drawing of a photograph I found on nationalgeographic.com. Who doesn't love elephants?

Day 10: Mother Nature (Take 2)

"People in cities may forget the soil for as long as a hundred years, but Mother Nature's memory is long and she will not let them forget indefinitely."

-Henry Cantwell Wallace

Start over! I was not at all happy with my sketch yesterday, so I decided to do the same thing again today, but this time do it right. This time I used a photo of myself for the face because I really just cannot sketch without looking directly at something at this point. I'm much happier with this sketch...besides the fact that I used my own face for Mother Nature, which seems really egotistical but it's just easiest to take a picture of myself than to search for another model to use. 

Unfortunately, I accidentally dropped my sketching pencil down two stories of a building and when I went down to the floor it fell to I couldn't locate it...maybe it bounced on the eraser end and went flying? I dont know. I'm just glad that nobody was standing beneath it! But moral of the story: I'm going to have to find another pencil to use sometime soon.

Day 9: Mother Nature

"If you can't be in awe of Mother Nature, there's something wrong with you."

All I have to say about this is that it's terrible and I wish I had any time to actually draw something halfway decent. The sight of it actually makes me cringe. Oh well...there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything we want to do.