Hibernation Sketching

Dang, it has been cold here.  Car door frozen shut, crunchy underfoot, nose-hair freezing cold.  So yesterday I stayed in all day working on the Roy Chapman Andrews piece, reading and doing sketches of Jeff Bridges from a recent American Masters program on PBS that we videotaped. 

I have a new sketch book that I use for doodling, practicing zentangles, and messing around.  I liked the close-up shots of Bridges, directors and other actors, all dramatically lit.  This was the first in the series of quick-draws, and probably my least favorite.  Its a modified contour drawing, completed in the time that the pause button holds on the VCR (yes, old technology).  It forces me to work FAST.  I'm not sure how long the picture holds before the screen reverts to whatever is on the TV, but it can't be more than three or four minutes.  I added the textured background later. 

 

I realized as I watched the program that I have seen most of Jeff Bridges' movies, and many of them are favorites.  The top sketch here is from The Fisher King, not really a favorite, but I couldn't resist the expression.  I knew Bridges was a musician, but I didn't know he paints and does pottery.  In the bottom pose he was quickly drawing something with white paint (or maybe soap) on a clear screen.  He was clearly enjoying himself.

These two are from my husband's favorite, The Big Lebowski.  I remember being put off the first time I saw it, but a second viewing of the Dude had me gasping with laughter.  You have to admire that scene in the cosmic bowling alley, with Lebowski headed down the starry lane between the shapely legs of dancers, headed for the ultimate strike.

  

The Big Lebowki has its points, but I vote for Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in the recent Coen brothers version of True Grit.  In this scene the girl Mattie is assuring Cogburn that she is eager and ready to join him when he heads out into Indian Territory after the man who shot her father, and Bridges stares at her in drunken disbelief, legs akimbo, belly poking out of his undershirt.  I loved the movie, and maybe that shows in this quick sketch.

My last sketch from the television screen was of Bridges in his Oscar winning role of the washed up country singer in Crazy Heart.  I don't seem capable of economy of line, but I sort of like the combination of sketchy scribbly lines and the textured background that I added after the figure was done. 

I enjoyed the fast and furious sketching that working from a paused video recorder afforded, enjoyed watching the show again, and liked the spontaneous results  achieved from working this way.  It sure beat freezing out there in wonderful Wisconsin winter.