Hello, I am Elena, your host for this week.I hope you have some spare time for drawing one or two of my reference pictures.

All levels of drawing are encouraged to participate!

The goal of this thread is to enable and encourage individuals to practice their drawing skills, learn new techniques and have fun! If you just want to sketch that’s fine. If you want to create a complex, detailed drawing, that’s great too. You will get out of this what you want. The references used are from my own personal reference library of images that I have photographed and I release them here as not under copyright, meaning you can use them as you wish for drawing.

You will be challenged by some aspect of all references most likely as you all will have different strengths and weaknesses in your ability to translate the images to paper.

Reminder:

This is a DRAWING challenge. Therefore please confine your artistic endeavours to some form of drawing: graphite, coloured pencil, pen and ink or charcoal.

There is no ruling on what size your final drawing or sketch should be. Smaller, sketchbook sizes will provide a smaller file size which is easier for loading onto the thread.

If you would like assistance or advice, please ask for it and I will be more than willing to try to guide you.

This challenge will last for one week. At that time, all challenge drawings should be submitted to this thread.

I have offered 3-5 reference images to choose from. The images are also provided in greyscale. Seeing the images in black and white gives a better sense of basic values.

I have kept the images to simple shapes that still provide challenges. Block out your basic shapes first then work the details into them, rechecking proportion and measurement against other reference points in your drawing.

And now my photos.

Stavropoleos church:an 18c. nuns monastery in Bucharest, Romania; here a view of the courtyard of the monastery in Brancovenesc style.
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My grandmother's mandolin, a vintage instrument from Italy, 1910.

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a picture perfect for father's day

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A Venetian doll,(Venice, Italy)

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red bell peppers

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the bell pepper is a versatile vegetable that can be eaten raw, grilled, roasted, boiled.
raw: stuffed with cottage chese and parmesan, with eggplant salad(baba Ghanouj)or simple in salads.
fire roasted or grilled and then peeled and served with vinaigrette as a side dish
stuffed with minced meat, onions and rice or just rice and slow cooked in olive oil and tomato sauce(Turkish, Mexican dish)
sauted with garlic and mushrooms for a side dish to a beef steak.


and ...something for the watercolor lovers

A pot of geraniums and sunset on the Nile, Egypt.

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wish you happy drawing, painting!

Hi Elena. Great pictures! I have identified a couple that I would like to draw, I hope I will have the time.
And the sunset at the Nile ... it is gorgeous!
Claudio

You are very welcome, dear Claudio.

Hi Elena,
As usual, you have put some very intriguing photos in the challenge this week. I will have to work on at least one this week. Thanks for hosting the challenge. I look forward to seeing what the other folks have drawn too.
Regards,
Trish

Trish, my friend, you are always kind and supportive.Thank you.

Love that Church pic.


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My gosh, Steve this is gorgeous.Bravo, you just sketched an example of the architectural style of the 17-18 century Romania. The best of it. Brancovenesc style.

(I see you left out my handbag from the table . Smart move.)

I'm just going through it now. Not much cash in here!

never had any! I am fully sponsored by my husband who is also my chauffeur and banker.

Wish I had a Sponsor !!!
Great Draw Steve .. !! does the purse match your hat ?

Dear Carol, the purse should match the shoes in European classic fashion .
I would not wear sneakers with that Italian leather purse. here is a close up of my purse I have for 20 years now. And my favorite wallet, also Italian leather.I have a "follie" for wallets (leather ones) even if they are mostly empty .

Here is my 30 minutes play with crayola crayons

Wow! It just goes to show, it is not necessary to buy expensive "artist" quality art supplies to create great art. Elena, this is wonderful, and by using Crayolas, you encourage others to explore other media. Well done!

Thanks, Trish. I just love the versatility of Crayons.But i need a larger selection like 48 or 72 colors set.

I love the way crayons smell !! I even remember those that smelled like fruit .. yummy ...and no ,,,I didn't eat any..

Elena .. nice purse .. Leather is unbeatable.. my purse has pictures of horses on it.. a Brighton with leather and silver .. I think I have had this one (and I use it everyday) for about 9 years now.. sort of like those favorite comfy shoes ..all broke in .. Steve would love it.. you can wear most any shoe with it.. even flip flops

...but you used them as lipstick, now admit it

what you never ate them? poor thing, i bet when i was a kid i consumed at least a box of 36 not all at once of course..lol

and glue...oh how i loved glue, loved the taste and the smell..the paste kind...sticks full..my teacher used to take my paste away...rotten woman

steve that is a great sketch, elena your trees in the tree thread are wonderful, I miss those magnolias, we have lots and lots in louisiana, but only the plate magnolias here, and I learned they have been around since the dinosaur age, something like 65 million years, possibly the first flowering tree..very interesting thanks for bringing it up..
I have had the baby this weekend but I will try to get at a few of these as well. I also chose that church one right away..

and your bellepeppers are lovely too

Thanks, dear Kay.I am looking forward to your aquarelles.

You kept that quiet! Congratulations!

lol..funny guy..

but i do have a funny (not at the time)story regarding crayons. When I was in kindergarten a little boy showed me a trick, he stuck a crayon in his ear and pulled it out of his mouth..i was just amazed at that. so i tried it..i stuck that green crayola in my ear, and couldnt get it to come out of my mouth for nothing, I used a pencil and pushed it way in, it never came out of my mouth so i just forgot about it..a few days later i was screaming with ear pain, as my body heat melted the crayon, i punctured my eardrum and the crayon completely encased the anvil and drum, they could not put me out for a surgery to remove the crayon, they used a big vacuum type thing, they had me tied down to the bed, I remember screaming and the pain was soo great, my mother was standing beside me and she fainted straight away..anyhoot, needless to say, the wax was never able to be completely removed and I am totally deaf in my right ear.

Kay, what did you learn from this?
Never buy...magic from your playmates
Let's hope Steve doesn't have a similar trick to teach us

I'm guessing this would be way more impressive if it actually looked like
the subject. Oh well, I was trying out a new paper and a new
wash technique. There's always next time....

Cheers

--HG

Great pictures Elena!
Thank you for hosting!

Hunter Green, she is adorable. You make me try my hand at the little doll.Great drawing!

Thank you, Paulette.

Thanks! Is your avatar the "Girl with the pearl earing" from the
color challenge over at artpapa? I just saw that thread the other
day and absolutely love that painting. I tried it, but think I
will redo it before I post it, it was my first color pencil effort,
and I had mixed results.

--HG

HunterGREEn, Here is my version in colored pencils which is my avatar.GWPE

Very nice, you really nailed some of those colors. I have a really hard
time making colored pencils look "smooth".

--HG

Thanks, HG.

Hi All,

Great thread Elena - i am really going to try and have a go at one of your beautiful pictures.
Great work to all those who have done drawings, they're all so good.

Crayola Crayons - i see more and more people using them - maybe i need to run out and get me a box (especially for that wax crayon smell LOL )

Warning ... Don't stick em in your ear!!!

I might have time to get some drawing in among other things if I wasn't reading this forum for the LAUGHS....don't you know Kay was a handful as a child. I bet her mother had to be quick with her around. Knowing Steve he is already planning a baby shower for her.

Thank you for the challenge Elena..here is my contribution it was fun drawing

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that is a great pepper Kat,

I took some liberties with the photo, that I find very pleasing,,yes I know my perspective still stinks..but its getting better all the time, and that is why i love trying buildings..argh!!! the frustration, here is my third attempt at this photo, that in my low skill level I found to be a wicked challenge..I love it now though, even with all its little quirks..I imagined myself at the table. Thats what this thread is for to challenge ourselves and elena that is a great picture for challenging perspective..now to add some watercolors and see what we get..
of course the drawing is so very much lighter and it is on 13x20 wc paper 140not




a hug to all
and have a scrappy doo day

oh and that ear thing, you would think it would cut down on half the crap i have to hear, but nope, it ony intensifies on the other side

so sweet HG is your drawing! cant wait to see your finished drawing Kay and thank you

Hi everyone.Tania, Nancy hope you will join the fun with crayons.

Katy, that's a great pepper drawing. My only suggestion would be to go over the two spots where the light is in the picture, with an eraser for the highlights.

Kay, i appreciate your effort with the perspective. Don't give up. Any practice adds a bit to our skill.
Now waiting for that watercolor with hydrus.

Hi Elena,
hi to all,

i like the picture ideas for this weekly challenge.

I chose one picture and here is my version of it. For this picture i used only the very close and lovely view of the father and the daughter.

The drawing was made with CP.

Greetings
Christine

Christine this is splendid!. So tender and delicate. You are just doing great with color.Thanks for joining.

Started this one and found out that I miscalculated the size of the doll so now after one hour of work it looks like this. I am very frustrated and maybe if I try to erase the body and reduce the size of it it will fit. Need opinions

Hey ... come on ... is a good job!

wow! that is really a lovely drawing

I would continue on with it

Me too. trying to erase that much will cause too much damage.

Thanks guys. I actually did erase the body and reshaped it. here it is WIP.

it is lovely elena. here is my rendition, for better or worse

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Wow, Kay you turn the old monastery into a fiesta of colors and food service.Very joyful and fun done.Bravo! You really are bold with your hydrus.

the story goes, two widowed sisters purchased this place and are having it renovated, they have taken in a young boy to raise..one tends flowers, while the boy brings tea and cakes to one waiting

No way.This never happens in my part of the world. maybe in Germany or France where they renovate old castels and turn them into luxury hotels.
But the orthodox religion is still in place in Romania. BTW in 2007 when i took this picture they actually renovated it because is Unesco monument.
wiki about Stavropoleos church

"The Stavropoleos Church
The Stavropoleos Church was built in 1722- 1724 by the Greek hieromonk Ioanichie. The church is a UNESCO protected monument. This Orthodox Church combines late-Renaissance and Byzantine styles with elements of the Romanian folk-art style. Inside are superb wood and stone carvings and a richly ornamented iconostasis."