Drawing 1

Shea Denahy “Lincoln"

14x11, Graphite on paper, 2021

I took a picture of my dog a while ago and it has always been my favorite picture of him, I love him so much and wanted to draw this picture because it is my favorite.

It took me a while, I used pencils and I started with the frame of the face then I did the nose, mouth, eyes, and ears after I added finishing detailing.

I want them to notice the detailing of the image and his face.

His eyes were the most difficult for me, it was hard to capture the glimmer they had, I used the eraser to make some points light than others. If I were to start over I wouldn’t have shaded them so dark.

This is a realistic drawing, I typically haven’t done super realistic drawing and I am happy that I pushed out of my comfort zone because I am really happy with how it turned out.

Shea Denahy "In silence"

9x7, Watercolor pens on paper, 2021

This moment that I captured in the drawing was one of the most memorable moments in my life. I won’t ever get to relive the moment but I can try to recapture it.

I used watercolor pens and practice for a while the techniques to create a more ombre look. It was quite difficult to have them blend seamlessly together.

I want people to think about life while looking at it. Something as beautiful as a sunset can be so memorable and you need to take it all in.

The most difficult thing was the blending of the colors, I wanted them to seamlessly blend together like in real life while you are looking at the sky. I practiced and practice many different techniques and colors till I achieved what I was hoping for. Although it wasn’t exactly what I was imagining, I do love it, If I were to have to do it again I would try to take more time to really capture what I was pushing towards.

I think it is more of a non-objective type of artwork. This was way outside of my comfort zone, I had never used these types of pens before for a project. I love how some of the colors blended, although it was really difficult for some colors I do like how it turned out for the most part.

Shea Denahy "Trainwreck"

11x10, Magazine and graphite on paper, 2021

At first I wanted to put magazine paper on a newspaper background because I liked how the words looked, I later decided to do song lyrics, I used the Song Trainwreck by James arthur because that is the song that I am dancing too.

It took me a long time to write down the lyrics and at first i wanted them to go all the way down, I later decided that it would be a cool look as if they were running off of the page. I traced the image in pencil and then I cut the magazine pieces to match the size and I then glued it down.

I want them to think about the lyrics and how them go along with the picture.

I really wanted all of the words to be the same size but as I went on I realized I had made the words really small, I didn’t want to restart because it had taken so long to write, I really focused on trying to keep them the same size and I made sure to check the words as I went along and it ended up working out pretty well. If I did start over I would definitely make the words a little larger.

This was more of a non-objective kind of art, I was really excited to use some different materials, I had used magazine previous years in art and I had really like how the work turned out so I was excited to finish it.