We drew rabbits at this week's children's drawing workshop, Rockland Public Library. The kids and some adults drew along with me as I demonstrated. See the rabbit drawings by kids and adults. One adult asked, "Why do you always start by drawing the eye and how do you get the right proportions?". I told him sometimes I work by getting proportions down first but I'd learned this 'eye first' thing from Oriental painting. Once the eye is down you have a 'being' on the paper. It is looking back at you. There is life there. From there you can better imagine the proportions. Even if you don't get them right, you still have life in front of you. Just think of caricatures and cartoons. They are often very unnatural in their proportions but because of their definiteness we accept them as they are.

These are my demonstration drawings from the workshop. Click the links for rabbit coloring pages. (Links below the pictures are the same coloring pages of the images.) I hope you'll also try drawing them. Rabbit faces Rabbits with a carrot Rabbit sawing Rabbit wearing a dress and bow Rabbit with a push mower	Rabbit faces
Rabbits with a carrot	Rabbit sawing wood, after Garth Williams
Rabbit in a dress and bow	Rabbit mowing, after Garth Williams

Posted by Catinka Knoth at 8:03 PM EDT

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This Tuesday's children's workshop at Rockland Public Library was on drawing dogs. The kids (and some parents) did follow-along drawing with my demonstrations. These are my demonstration drawings. The links below each drawing will give you a larger view that you can print out and try your own hand at. The kids' drawings are at the links below this table. The kids put their art up on the white board for gang photos. There are repeats where some drawings were turned over to show the verso and others remained.

Dogs' eyes and faces We started with practice in drawing eyes, then did a frontal dog face and a profile view.

Dachshund after Ken Hultgren, silhouette... This simple line drawing after Ken Hultgren is amazing to see how beautifully the kids can do it. Start with the snout, then a sweep along the back to the curly tail, a front leg, a back leg, and a 'z' for the eye.  The silhouette we start by scribbling in the head, then the neck and shoulders, the body, the legs and finally the kids had their choice of tails on the left. The ball was just supposed to show the difference between using an outline to draw and just using scribbling. It turned out to also be a ball for the dog!

Mean bulldog after Ken Hultgren No one wanted to try this bulldog. They all thought it looked too hard to do. But they gave in and of course they all made good scary dogs.

after Scooby-Doo We had brainstormed a list of dog characters the kids knew. Someone happened to have a Scooby Doo book, so we gave it a try. I didn't even know who he is even though I'd heard of him. We started with nose, then the eyes. When I put in the mouth there was a roar of laughter from the kids. I said, "Whaaat?", thinking something had happened that I was unaware of. An adult filled me in, "They like it." Wait til you see their Scooby-Doo's below.

Posted by Catinka Knoth at 7:31 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 16 August 2007 8:01 PM EDT

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Today I set up at Owls Head Harbor just to do some drawing or ink wash painting. I started out hoping I could draw directly with brush and ink to make a line painting that could also be a coloring page. Instead I worked first doing a study in tonal grey wash. Then, still with a mind to making a coloring page drawing, I did a pencil tonal drawing. The pattern of negative shapes and shadows were so fascinating though that I didn't get to doing a linear image.

One thing I love when working at a working waterfront is to be able to hear the banter and stories of the guys on the dock. If I heard right, the lobster catch is finally starting to pick up.

I'm usually painting alone or in the company of students. This time I was painting in the vicinity of another artist. When I got out of the car to set up with my gear and put my stool down I was surprised by the sight of another painter down below me on the beach set up with easel and large canvas.  It was very hard not to ply this fellow with questions about his story. I finally had to ask. "Are you part of a workshop, or here painting because you just do it?" We exchanged our brief painters' stories.  You will enjoy the paintings of Colin Page at colinpagepaintings.com.

Posted by Catinka Knoth at 10:00 PM EDT

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A show of recent studies and watercolors I've painted - many were subjects for classes -  will be hanging at the town library in Searsmont, Maine, until the end of July or mid August. Subjects include paintings after Hopper and Homer, owl studies, a wharf scene, waterlilies, egrets, and a rose garden.

If you're interested in purchasing prints of any of these works please contact me by email: info(@)catinkacards.com. I can scan and upload to ImageKind where you can order prints, including giclees, on a variety of substrates. They also offer framing, however it is probably more cost effective to have a print framed locally rather than paying for extra shipping.

Posted by Catinka Knoth at 7:43 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 25 June 2007 1:49 PM EDT

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