#10 Pastel Pencil; 31 days of rhinos

My horn is my temple, not yours, so go cut off
your own face, jackass!

#190 Pastel Pencil; 31 days of rhinos
Pastel on black paper

This picture was copied from a very important site that you should visit! SavingRhinos.org. One reason I am featuring Rhinos is to raise awareness that they are endangered and mean people in places like Yemen and China don't seem to care that there are only a literal handful left, because they want to butcher them for their horns so they can have some super dust to snort or eat and make themselves feel like a man or some ridiculous medicine ritual. Stupid people are everywhere! I wish they would evolve brains! Saving Rhinos is on Facebook, too!

Pastels rock! Pastel pencils give some versatile fun on the go. You don't have to get your fingers dirty, so they travel well to figure drawing groups. Not that you will often find me in life drawing, because I live out in the burbs and will always find a good (lazy) reason not to drive into the city at night! But, once in a while, I show up and surprise my friends!

To further attest to my total laziness, I even know where all the sketch groups are (especially with my laptop handy) and I still don't go!

If you live in Atlanta and want a really fun life drawing experience, try Mellow Mushroom's Drink and Draw in Decatur, the first Monday of every month! Two models, a husband and wife, dress in the own private stock of super hero costume-ry (or fetish-ry, not quite sure, but I like to make up words). We get to draw them while eating some of the best pizza in the city! See you next month!

For those living dangerously, you may still be able to find Dr. Sketchys at the Clermont Lounge!

So, a relatively minor mention of pastels. It's basically pigment with a binder, like historically gypsum or chalk. We often think of pastel as chalk, because it has chalk in it. Just don't use it on the sidewalk..that would be really expensive.

Pastel may have been first mentioned by Leonardo DaVinci in 1495, although the French didn't actually invent the word until the mid-1600s. I suppose the Italians had a name for it that didn't stick.

I'll delve more into pastels on another day, because I want to emphasize sketching everyday, and life drawing or figure drawing as often as you can. My friends are really good at sketching and I'm usually pretty embarrassed in their company, because I take way too much time to do things. When I try to hurry, well, this piece above is an example of overworked and unfinished...
One thing that is nice about this blog. Letting go. Letting myself just get it out and not be perfect. Writing takes as half as long as the Rhino Art most days. But I want you to know that you will feel a sense of accomplishment to allow yourself to be imperfect! Too much perfection goes unfinished, if you catch my drift.

A friend a mine, Jessica Cook (who is showing in Austin at the market there in May) quoted someone today..."Perfection inhibits progress!"

So, go sketch something tomorrow. (Maybe I'll get back to these drawings someday to perfect them!)

Find Life Drawing in your City:I Googled to find this site to find a local meet up! Don't know if it's good, but you can try! Find a Meet up

Other life drawing opportunities in Atlanta:
Atlanta Artist's Center has several weekly opportunities for live drawing and painting. Click here for Sketch groups
Marietta area find figure drawing at the Cobb Museum

I really hope that my Artist friends, after reading this (as if) will not leave me alone the next time I say "I might make it".

See you tomorrow!

#10 Pastel Pencil; 31 days of rhinos