Stacy Weitz Minch

Drawing kids from life is a challenge. They don't hold still for 15 seconds, much less 15 minutes ;) But it's an interesting exercise in mental averaging and being quick and decisive in what I put down. When I know I have 3 hours, I'm probably much less direct, and sometimes I think my portraits could use more of that frank quality. This is probably really good practice (and sometimes seems to be all I can find time for).

45-minute copy sketch after Raphael. It's not terribly accurate, but I was going for the spirit of the drawing more than the letter. It was a fun little exercise, though I really would like to be accurate AND expressive ;) charcoal on Canson Ingres paper.

These are some quick little sketches of the skull after some Colleen Barry studies I found online. Hers are really nice, of course. Looking at her drawings, you can tell that she has such a solid understanding of what she's looking at as she draws. It's more than just copying. Goals...

8x10 12-minute sketch I did of my baby while he slept in the car yesterday afternoon (I know, because I was counting down the minutes until my daughter came out of her dance class as I furiously sketched ;). And is this angel face the same one that unrolled three rolls of toilet paper, dumped and scattered a brand new box of fruity pebbles all over the kitchen, pulled all the stuffing out of one of the couch cushions, squirted a bottle of lotion onto the carpet behind the bed, and in general, caused mass chaos the rest of the day through? Why, yes it is :) For the aforementioned reasons, I didn't get much else done in the way of art stuff yesterday (I've been trying to make time to push a little more paint around on that Sargent copy, but it's just not happening). Anyway, this quick little sketch is actually not a bad likeness (for 12 minutes, anyway)--though, as usual, I wish I had had a bit more time--to refine the head shape and placement of the ear (the propo...

Ack, I think I might have forgotten everything I know about how to draw over the long Christmas break ;) Drawing is just so hard. This is a crazy messy portrait sketch of my son--a little 20-minute thing I did in the car while waiting for my daughter at her dance class. I think the head shape and placement of the features are alright, but I definitely could have spent a lot more time refining shapes. And let's not talk about all that crazy chicken scratch of value, haha. 20 minutes, you know? It's funny--while drawing him I realize how much his features resemble mine. This boy looks like his mama :)

Speed sketching seems to be all I have time for lately (apart from all that Bargue drawing at the studio). Winter is pretty brutal with little kids. They don't want to go outside, they're bored inside, and I don't like going to places where kids show up in mass, because we already have a constant cold as it is. I'm doing all I can to keep these guys occupied. Which means speed sketching for me it is. Each of these is somewhere in the vicinity of 5-10 seconds. It's pretty crazy trying to chase the gestures of little kids. They don't stay still, even for 5 seconds. Most of these end up being almost instant memory drawings. But I think it's a good exercise anyway. I was looking at some Rembrandt drawings recently, and I was surprised by how gestural and cartoony they are, considering his paintings can be so refined. It was probably quite vital to draw gestures before photography came about. That was the only way of capturing a particular moment or pose--...

This was probably a little under an hour of sketching, and it's not as good as I would like it to be. Ha. But it's something, and something is a lot more than nothing (especially when school is out for winter break!). I got a little lost in that jumble of hands, and didn't do a great job of varying the line through that area either. But I really love this painting and this artist, and I should probably do more of this kind of sketching. It's a little more enjoyable (manageable) than trying to control that paint :/ I just finished reading Solomon J. Solomon's book about drawing and painting a last week. It was really good. He describes a lot of mistakes that people make starting out, and well, they're all me. He must have had a crystal ball or something. I like to have faith that I can overcome all my faulty tendencies. But sometimes it's hard to believe, especially when I look around and see all these people doing amazing things. It can be a lit...

I have to very deliberately make time for this stuff--even for things like this quick 30-60 second sketch-of-a-moving-target you see here. It's worth the effort, but in the process of always being in a hurry, I've become rather good at starting, but not so good at finishing. So I'm having to learn to slow down and get out of this "you only have an hour" mentality (not that it isn't true--an hour often feels like a gloriously luxurious amount of time in my world ;).   I want to be a good finisher, but I'm still a big believer in sketching like mad.  98.5% of the time, a quick sketch is nothing interesting (I could show you page after page of hideous things in my sketchbooks). But there's something so urgent and zealous about the process--it helps me refocus and get back to seeing the whole picture when I get a little too wrapped up in the little things. So here's to sketching while simultaneously learning to slow down (I almost feel a fresh...

This guy Tony Sketcha (on Instagram) just kills me with his figures. Some people are so good at stuff :) And imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? I'm not being all that careful about getting the drawing exact here. Just more interested in his description of light and form on the figure. It's so simple yet descriptive. There's a lot of variety in his line--there aren't a lot of long straight lines. They're very specific to the contour. And he softens the line that divides light from dark with some perpendicular hatching that works nicely. Anyway, this was a pretty quick copy, 30-45 minutes or so. But this to say, I'm still here. I don't know if I've been too busy to post here (probably) or that I'm just pulling back a bit (another probably) lately. I had this dream a month or two ago that I was walking across a soft cork floor, watching my feet with each step. I looked up and realized I was standing on an empty stage in an empty au...

This was a quick hour-long copy sketch I did yesterday afternoon in prep for portrait class last night. I forgot to take a picture of my portrait start after class. And I'll probably start over next week anyway. I had gotten the portrait basically blocked in in the first 25 minutes, and then everyone decided to tilt the head in the second session. So I should have started over, but I didn't and it's no good to draw a tilted face on a straight head. Anyway, this copy is done after a contemporary artist, and she's really good. I like how all the shapes on the face connect. It's a little mysterious to me. I'm trying to adopt this kind of thinking, and maybe I need to only look at the model with half-closed eyes for the first little while because I see too much detail/variation in the value structure (I seem to be having that trouble with my roses too!). But something I'm noticing with good painting of any genre is that the darks connect, and the lights con...

vine charcoal and white chalk on gray paper I knew I was feeling off Tuesday night, and when I woke up all queasy-like in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, I suddenly realized why. Being sick on Wednesday was a bummer, because I was really kind of hoping to go catch a portrait session in the evening (I really like the look of the model that was coming), but no such luck. Instead I sketched this squirmy little darling (I like his look too... but he doesn't give me much time). He rolled over before I got to refining the legs/feet, so they're pretty wonky. This was probably somewhere around 30ish minutes. Tricky foreshortening. And I know my charcoal work is a mess. I have no idea what I'm doing--I just go for it, no eraser or anything, yikes.  The one nice thing about sick days is all the snuggles. But hey, universe, enough sickness already--I thought we were supposed to get a break from being sick in the summer.

12x9", charcoal & white on gray paper This sweet little fella has been chanting the mantra "I need you" almost incessantly the past few days, which generally means, "hold me and don't put me down." Poor guy--just about breaks a mama's heart :( He finally fell asleep curled up on the rocking chair, so I grabbed some charcoal and sketched him quickly (about 12-15 minutes, I think).  I haven't been doing a lot of quick sketches lately. But I think the more careful study I've been doing these past few months is definitely helping when I go to draw something more quickly. And the charcoal is not something I'm very comfortable with, but I think I could learn to like it :)

(Later post--the wifi at the cabin was useless). I'm in beautiful Red Lodge, MT right now, just waiting for the rest of the gals to wake up. We stayed up late having an all girl dance party (glow sticks and all ;) in a cabin in the woods. I haven't danced like that in soooo long, but I've still got some moves in me (I guess all the time I spent at church dances as a teen paid off, ha!). We walked around downtown Red Lodge and had dinner at the pizza place, and well, if you're looking for something entertaining to do, try walking around downtown with my soon-to-be-wed baby sis--she could stop a train with her good looks (and probably find random strangers to buy her dinner and drinks for the rest of her life). But that's beside the point--and she's taken, fellas! The point is it's so gloriously quiet in his cabin. And the air is so fresh. And the company is so good. It all gave me a terrible itch to draw something, and since all the pretty girls are buried de...

Nothing too exciting here. It's been crazy busy the past few days with family coming into town (a couple of these sketches are of my sleepy "baby" brother) and all sorts of other house project shenanigans ;) But in the midst of it all, I've been trying to do a little opportunistic sketching when the moment arises. These range from about 15 seconds to 15 minutes, and well, it's better than nothing. I've also been working on another little Bargue figure when I can, but I think I'm losing steam on those guys--may be time for a change of pace, but I will try to get that finished here soon. Happy Memorial Day!

This was a fun one with all that drapery. I think I may have gone a little overboard with the shading, but the drawing went a little faster last night than it sometimes does (I think the sheet formed a nice natural envelope so it wasn't quite as difficult to visualize ;), so I started shading. Also, didn't quite get the portrait quite as well as I would have liked, but oh well. I've been trying to get a little sketching done throughout the day (especially on days when I'm going figure drawing), so I'll be warmed up before jumping into a figure drawing. So, here's a silly little sketch of a ceramic pitcher (10 minutes or so) from yesterday afternoon. I don't usually pencil sketch inanimate objects (people are so much more interesting, right?!), but I should do it more. They don't move, which is always a plus.

After last night's figure drawing, I decided I just needed to try to loosen up a bit.  First, from this morning, 15-second sketches of my 2-year old. He doesn't hold still, even for 15 seconds ;)   Second, Bargue figures. I do apologize to Mr. Bargue--I'm fairly sure this is not how he intended his figures to be used. I promise I'll make a more careful copy later :) But my goal here was to get the lines down quickly and without a lot of fuss. And I'm pretty sure I got the quickly part down--still a little more fuss than I was going for (and too extreme in the the angles! straight lines, straight).  I went from 20, to 10, to 5-minute copies, which is probably a little backward from your usual gesture exercises, but I had to ease into drawing that fast. And no, they are not accurate. I did my best in the short amount of time I allotted myself. Ouch, the envelope on that last one--too wide, Stacy! Too wide (always too wide). \ I migh...

I'm trying not to get caught up in anything too serious this weekend. But I can't seem to just leave it alone either. So here are a few tiny speed sketches of some of my favorite tiny people :) I don't mean to be so moody about all of this, and honestly, I'm not generally a very moody person. But I think the fact that art has the power make me moody just means that it's something deeply and genuinely important to me. That's alright by me :) I've also been reading some Robert Henri when I have a minute.  A few more: Use the ability you already have, and use it, and use it, and use it. Make it develop itself. Paint like a fiend when the idea posesses you. Like to do your work as much as a dog likes to gnaw a bone and go at it with equal interest and exclusion of everything else. It isn't so much that you say the truth as that you say an important truth.

12x9", pencil on paper, 3/1/16 Quick sketch of my boy napping this afternoon. As usual, it would have been nice to have more time before he shifted :)

It's pretty near impossible to get a two year old to hold still so you can draw him :) :) but I try anyway (a little Thomas the Train on TV helps a bit)! I've had a hard time motivating myself to do much in the way of art this week, so I'll take the inspiration when it comes (each of these sketches was probably a minute or less). It's been kind of a crazy week at our house, but ask me about that later :P I have noticed a change in my sketches since I've started learning the "chiseling-away-at-a-block-of-stone" drawing method. I'm focusing more on the general shape and not getting as caught up with the details (which usually ends up in some very very bad sketches when you're trying to capture the motion of kids!). It kind of reminds me of tuning a drum (I played the snare for a couple years back in elementary school). You tighten one nut, then go across to the one directly opposite, then go to the one that's evenly spaced between, etc....

Quick 15 minute or so sketch of my sleepy little girl (who from day one has persistently refused to fall asleep in her own bed ;). I wish I had had just a few more minutes to work out some of the perspective and proportion issues, but she rolled over, so it is what it is. We've had a cold going around here, and it makes for some clingy kiddos. Sometimes (pretty often, actually) a few minutes is all I've got--carpe diem ;)