Sad Faces on a Saturday Night

Dear Sarah - Day 81 of our daily drawing exchange

Nikki Tate

and

Sarah Harvey

Mar 23, 2025

March 22, 2025
Hi Sarah -

How funny that we were simultaneously doing YouTube tutorials and produced sad faces. I had just finished reading Richard Van Camp’s The Lesser Blessed (the final book selection for this semester’s class) and I was looking for guidance for ‘how to draw a husky.’ My ‘husky’ turned out to be more shepherd-like, but it was a good exercise in drawing hair. I did this on the iPad but only used the 6B pencil in various tip-sizes. I was trying to have as close to a pencil-on-paper experience as I could while working with digital tools. It almost feels as though man and dog belong together. I’m glad they found each other.

LOVE the tulips as an antidote to sadness… I should perhaps draw the dog a juicy bone.

The embroidery project is great! I’ve never learned how to embroider but really enjoy hand-stitching to piece a quilt top. Not that I have had time to do so in forever, but one day, when I retire (?) I would like to pull my fabric stash out of storage and tackle another project. The local quilt guild is very active and I knew a few members and whenever I see them (or their work) I remember how I’d like to rejoin the guild.

Not today, though. I’m turning in after another long, busy day in the city punctuated by some worries about an odd sound the car has started to make.

Ciao -
Nikki

March 22, 2025
Hi Nikki,

How did it get to be 6:45 pm? I've got to figure out a way to draw earlier in the day--in natural light. Today I went on YouTube and did the first drawing tutorial that popped up. It was How to draw a face using the Reilly method by someone named "Rusty Nelson--your college art professor". I followed along as best I could, and I will definitely try it again. This is what I found online about it: The Reilly approach is a constructive/graphic hybrid that emphasizes line and shape design and clear value control. So I did that. Sort of. The face I drew is a very sad man with a very long face. Apparently there is also something called the Loomis Approach, which uses grids.