winter in Tehran

We had a heavy snow on wed. jan.2nd in Tehran. These pictures are taken in Melat park and Vanak st. with Olympus digital camera.

Winter in Tehran

Isfahan bazar

These sketches are my new experimentation with acrylic media. the brown color is watered down to show the effects of watercolor.

Cob Gallery

Having my own gallery to collect my paintings and art books and other related stuffs been a perspective in my mind for so many years. Since 1999, the year that we chose to live in Canada, my paintings and sketches been scattered there and here in Tehran with not knowing well what is where.
Setting up my gallery became true this summer which I rathered to stay in Tehran and go to our garden West of Tehran near Hashtged, Karaj on weekends. One day I thought it would be a good idea to build a cozy building in a vacant spot of the garden. The idea was discussed with a local builder and since there was no sign of indigenous cob buildings in nearby villages, I preferred to use mud and straw in this building. Here you see some pics taken of the building in the process and finished ones. A sketch of the outside is attached as well.

New sketches

It is been few weeks that I've not posted any new images. My sketches are ahead of postings. Last night I was introduced to a new drawing class. Quite different from the classes in Toronto. Still it was good enough to draw a closed pretty girl with tight jeans. i'm going to start a new blog for this class to post the student drawings. Here you see the sketches that I've done recently

watercolor landscape

This is a commissioned watercolor that I did recently. The composition is taken from a painting by Atashzad. The colors are changes slightly.

TV sketches

These sketches are part of images that I've done while watching a TV talk show recently.

Happy Nourooz

Today is the beginning of spring and first day of Iranian year, 1386. Wish a year of prosprity, peace and happiness for everybody.

Two sketches

It is a pitty that Ican't pase up with the sketches that I do and post it on my weblog on time.
These two images are part of the sketches that I've been doing since Jan.07. The portrature is after Rubens and the drawing is after an unknown photographer.

watercolors

Back to my home town Tehran, while missing the sketching that I used to do a lot in Toronto, I did these two watercolors at home. the two figures is from a photo taken in Poerto Vallarta. The other one is depicted , with some changes, from a work by john yardly the well known British watercolorist.

New sketches

Nowadays, I sketch at least one in a day. Whenever i'm outdoor, especially when the weather is cooperatve, I do live sketching. At home, I usually go to my photos' album. The color and atmospher would not be the same as the original image necessarily. In other word, I change it as I like.

sollitude

We have all passed through the moments like to be just by ourself and experience sorrow or some other feelings deep inside. This quick sketch reminds me of this glorious moments.

Poerto Vallarta, city bus

I did this sketch from a photo taken in a city bus in Puerto Vallarta during my recent visit to this city.The basic lines are in watercolor penci, highlighted by watercolor ink and fountain pen. Waterbrush filled in with light w/c ink was added in last stage.

Puerto Vallarta sketches

Louis

I met Louis and his younger brother in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico wandering around a beach while their mother was selling mexican hand crafts to tourist. while I was sketching some scenary, I asked him and his brother to come and sit by me. Though they did not know English at all and neither me Spanish, we could communicate very easily. To get them attracted, I handed a paper and pencil to the younger boy to draw. And while he was busy with drawing, I made a sketch of Louis, the older boy.

What is a sketch

What is a “sketch”?

Browsing old sketch files in Wetcanvas, I ran to a posting by : Katherine Tyrrell, dated Aug. 04 which sounds very interesting and practical for
sketch lovers. You may read the main part of her writing bellow .

"A sketch, in art terms can be a way of practising and refining your skills in drawing and mark marking
* an exploratory drawing – exploring how something works/might work
* a quick drawing – e.g. sketching in public tends to be time-limited rather than open-ended
* a rough description – it’s OK if they lack detail; don’t fill the page or are not even completed
* a record of something you’ve seen
* a record of one or more aspects of something you want to develop into a painting e.g. a colour study
*a preliminary study – for a later painting (done before you start to check how your painting will work rather than as an underdrawing on your final support)A sketch may be an imaginative or a creative interpretation of reference material – but it does not involve meticulous copying of a reference photo.
Very often a sketch is a study of a subject that the artist can see – and consequently involves working and drawing from life. This is the sort of sketch we will focus on in this lesson.
Why sketch?
Sketching broadens and enhances your basic skill base. As you practice and progress, sketching will also help you to:

• Develop your freehand drawing, mark making and observational skills
• Draw something everyday – an exercise which will bring fluency and confidence to your drawing
• Get a better record of the colours and tones you see
• Practice how to crop a scene and compose a picture
• Develop finished artwork without relying totally on a reference photo

People who sketch gain value from the following activities:

• Practicing freehand drawing skills – tracing reference images and using grids can mean that some artists lose their fluency in freehand drawing skills or fail to develop them at all. Sketching improves freehand drawing. With practice comes fluency and the ability to draw more quickly and make more creative and interesting marks.

• Drawing with minimal aids – when the only drawings aids you have are your pencils and maybe a viewfinder, you soon learn to develop your observational skills. Looking more carefully means you get better at measuring judging by eye alone. You also understand much better ‘how’ a view works – you understand the architectural perspective, the aerial perspective and grasp the recession which often gets flattened in a photograph.

• Ability to see values and colours – unless you are an expert photographer, once you start to sketch and compare your sketch with photos you took at the same time, you will learn very quickly just how poor photographs are at capturing the true range of tonal values that you have seen. In addition, because you learn to look more carefully at colours, you will also begin to understand how most photographs can distort both contrast and colour, particularly on very bright days. Take photographs to record details and check drawing and sketch to get values and colours correct.

• Ability to see ‘pictures’ - Once you start to sketch and practice looking at your environment more, you will start to “see pictures” everywhere you go. For many people this marks the point when they know they are beginning to think like an artist. You’ll find you will start using your very own fingers and thumbs to construct a viewfinder to check out potential images to sketch. (Do try to avoid driving the car at the same time!) You will soon find yourself wanting to learn more about about the design and composition of your drawings and paintings. You will want to practice sketching to develop your skills in making choices in this area.

waterbrush

After reading an article abour waterbrush by Russ (www.sketching.cc) and viewing some of his waterbrush works, I thought it would be a good idea to start with it for sketching. So, yesterday,I bought a hulbein brush with some transprant watercolor fluid and started to sketch right away. After experimenting some lines and cures, I rathered to dillut the watercolor with more water for softer and more managable effects. The images posted are done with waterbrush and in some cases addes some pen & ink. I should thank Russ for initiating me to this new brush.

Drawing class

Today it was the last session of the 5 weeks drawing class I took with Erick Budovitch in Toronto. though before taking this class, I had done lots of drawing, sketches and paintings, he simply showed me that for a fundamental drawing, it is better to start from the very beginning. Through some hard and sometimes boring training he demontrated that for a good drawing I should forget the details for a while and just try to see the shapes in big masses and geometrically , eather in figures , lanscapes or still life . Seeing the values and contrast of lightness and darkness of the model come in the next stage.

The following is taken from the article : "In praise of drawing " by robert Genne in " Painter's Keys , published : Aug. 1st. 06 http://www.painterskeys.com

Did you know that between 1820 and 1860 there were more than 145,000 "How to Draw" books ublished in the USA? In those pre-camera days, gentlemen and ladies kept memories alive by drawing them. A book by J. Liberty Tadd instructed young women to sketch pigs while standing in a pigsty--"in order to more accurately reflect nature." Many of these books are now on the trash heaps of history, but they nevertheless remind us of other times and other values. This is being made clear in a current exhibition in New York's Grolier Club. "Teaching America to Draw" is worth taking a look at if you happen to be in the area.

Show reviewer Michael Kimmelman says, "Drawing used to be a civilized thing to do, like reading and writing. It was taught in elementary schools. It was democratic. It was a boon to happiness." He notes that these days we have acquiesced to playing a passive role as receivers. We consume drawings rather than make them. There are easier ways to collect images than to draw them.