I hope everyone is as excited as I am for the beginnings of 2013!  I consider New Year’s Day a do over.  So, anything that wasn’t accomplished in 2012, here’s your chance 😉  I was able to accomplished ALL of my last year’s resolutions.  The reason I was able to complete such a feat was because I was resolved not to have any resolutions.  This year, I do have a couple, I won’t bore you with the details, but I do have them written down to give myself atleast a little accountability.
There has been a lot going on in the Ottaway household.  And as I type this, my D.H. is hammering away in our kitchen.  Yep, the remodeling is well under way and David is doing a beautiful job!  I’m telling ya, he’d make an awesome contractor.  He’s very meticulous in what he does and has a good eye for detail.  There doesn’t seem to be much that he can’t do.  I really admire that quality in him EXCEPT when he’s paying attention to what I’m doing.  Then? Not so much!
Also, I celebrated a birthday this month.  I thought I was turning 46 and come to find out I was turning 45, so its pretty awesome to gain another year.  The above photo is a present that I made myself.  It’s a black cord wrap bracelet with stone(ish) beads.  This bracelet took  many hours to complete, but man this thing goes with everything.  As a matter of fact, I’ve made myself quite a few pretties that I will be posting soon.  The big joke around the house is that it was my birthday month, because every time David or Alana looked at me I was either making myself jewelry or painting my nails, reading or something.  It’ my fault I guess.  Alana asked me why I was beading so much and I told her I was making myself presents for my birthday….
Well,  I guess that’s about it for now. I hope you guys have a wonderful start of a new year and I wish you all good things!

****This post was written and the picture was taken on my new Galaxy Note 10.1 that David gave me for Christmas. I’M IN LOVE! Sooo….if this doesn’t look right, I’m still trying to figure everything out and I can’t find spell check ,LOL

Be Well and Happy Tuesday!

 

Barn Front

Graphite on  Smooth card

   I found this drawing while I was cleaning out some papers.  It was about a quarter of the way completed, so I thought since I haven’t drawn in a while I would just finish this.

  I don’t know what it is about old barn and building faces that I find so appealing, but I do.  I just love the rustic worn out boards and chipped bricks.  I guess it’s the country girl in me.

The only thing difficult about this piece was  the grass.  Drawing grass and trees are still pretty hard.  I’m not too thrilled with the paper.  I don’t know what kind it is but it’s has a pebbly tooth to it.  I had a hard time getting a sharp line even with using a mechanical pencil.

Be Well and Happy Monday!

Julie Christie

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

  Anytime I’m on my Facebook page, my cousin always has a picture (or two or three) up of this lady.  He is so enamoured by her that I thought I would draw her for him.  He’s such a good fella and  I was drawn (sorry could not help myself) to do something special for him.  He loves it so that was a pretty special payback;)  HOWEVER, David thinks she looks like Barbara Streisand…I would be insulted but in those days most of the actresses did look-alike, so no harm done to my ego.

        She was pretty easy to draw except for sweater.  All those little yarn fibers gave me fit.  I don’t think I did too good on that part, but I tried and unless you get really close it doesn’t look that bad.

  Not too much going on, on this end so I guess that’s about it for me for now.

Be Well and Happy Tuesday!

Orange Rose

Colored Pencil on Bristol Vellum

    This is the colored pencil piece that I was telling you guys about from my last post.  The rose was painted using Derwent Coloursoft. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.   The orginal is much brighter and has a lot more yellow than the picture above.  It took about a week to complete, it was difficult mapping my way through, but I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to actually complete something else in color (YAY ME!)  I want to add a few more floral close-ups to my collection to hang  in my new kitchen hopefully….sometime in the not so distant future…if the planets line up…and David gets some time.  He wants the kitchen done as bad as I do so  he’s not stalling, but scheduling has not been my friend.  One thing I am excited about is the demolition.  WOW WHAT A RUSH!  There is nothing quite as cathartic as taking a big ole hammer and tearing something up on purpose that is.  And if you ever get a chance too? Do it!

     Another thing I have been working on is organizing my stuff.  Not art stuff, but just my stuff in general. I got really tired of my make up being stashed everywhere in the house, so I turned my tall shallow cabinet into a vanity.  I need some better storage containers and more shelving but it’s coming right along.  What makes this cabinet really great is that when David put the cabinet together he put in an outlet.  So when I made the change he took the back components off of my tri fold lighted make up mirror and attached it to the back of the cabinet (used Command strips).  So when I need to get ready I just plop my fat tail in floor,  and paint away.  When I’m finished, I just close the doors and everything is nice and neat.  And no one sees my guilty pleasure.  Guilty?  Not really..

     Other than that, I’ve haven’t been doing all that much in the way of art and some of it isn’t even art.  I do have a fan art to post, but I can’t until my cousin receives it. I really need to finish my first season’s cast of Once Upon A Time, before Season two starts.  I have Rumpelstiltskin started, but he’s so hard I may have to file 13 that one and do his Mr. Gold face.  I hope not but we’ll see.

     I hope everyone is enjoying this nice weather while we have it.

Be Well and Happy Monday and Tuesday!

Peaches

Colored Pencil on Bristol Vellum

       I was going to post a colored pencil practice piece that I finished, but instead I found this little nugget in my Dashboard drafts.  Yep, pretty sad posting.  Sorry 😉

      This is a colored pencil practice too.  I can’t decide if it looks good or bad.  On one hand, I’m like “YAY! Something completed in color!”  but on the other hand, “UGH! I’m no good at color!”  All things considered, I’m  not embarrassed by this piece, so that’s a good thing. Right?

    I’ve been practicing exclusively using Prismacolor, but this time and in the next piece I used Derwent Coloursoft.  And I have to say, that except for the newness of using colored pencil these pencils really worked well for me.  The pencils aren’t as waxy and as smeary (is that a word?) as the Prismacolor brand seems to be and they work well with my heavy hand.  My only drawback?  Prismacolor has at least 120 gorgeous colors to choose from and Derwent Coloursoft only has 72 😦  I know we mix colors by layering, but I have to keep in mind that I only have 4-9 layers that I can lay down before the tooth of my paper is obliterated.   So, If you are like me and are having trouble with colored pencil try switching brands.  I won’t say that I’m not struggling, but using another brand allowed me to complete two pieces back to back.

Be Well and Happy Tuesday!

Macy

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

     This precious girl is the latest commission that I completed.  The owner was so happy with the portrait and I was,  as always,  very relieved!  Macy was pretty easy to draw and the only part I had issues with were her eyes.  In the reference photo all the detail in the eyes were lost and what was left behind was two black circles. I think I pulled it off and gave her some gorgeous sparkly peepers:)

What I’ve been up to?

I have been playing in color again, well actually, I think color is playing with me.  Not having much luck it seems, but I am going to keep trying and see what happens.  I am in awe of artists who can pick up any medium and just go to town.  It seems I’m not one of those artists…but I sure would love to be!  If someone could recommend good instructional DVD’s of  acrylic and colored pencil I’d really appreciate it…just please no books, LOL they are no help to me at all.

I have about a trillion wine glasses to paint.  Not really a trillion, but definitely a bunch!  And I’ve been trying to come up with some designs for those.  I have about 7 patterns already, but I’m trying to come up with something fun.  I have been tinkering around with a smart mouth woman, but so far I’m having trouble drawing a good line art.

I’m still reading…Alot!

Well, I guess that’s about it for me, exciting stuff, huh?

Be Well and Happy!

Sea turtle

Crayola Crayons on construction paper

Alana was on Facebook declaring to all of her friends that she wanted a pet sea turtle.  She’s young and she bounces back, but David and I have yet to get over losing our Samoyed  Sam,  so to us, another pet is out of the question.  But I did tell her that I would draw her a turtle.  I meant that as a joke, but I realized that a promise is a promise.  So, I found a sea turtle that I could draw. And began to get to work.

I don’t know what possessed me to use crayons as my choice of medium, but I had a good time with them, and I’m pleased with how it turned out.  Alana seems to like it too, but she doesn’t have much empty wall space to spare, so I don’t really know what she’s going to do with it.

I wish I had a whole bunch to share with you, but all I have is a commissioned piece.  I would have posted about that but I was more excited about my turtle!  The only thing I’ve been tackling with gusto, is reading.  Book after book after book.  I can’t get enough of the “And they lived happily ever after.”  

Be Well and Happy!

Yo-Yo (Carin Terrier)

Graphite on Bristol smooth

This sweet little thing is my latest commission piece.  Yo-Yo was as loveable as could be, which is a very good thing, because I actually had to go to Yo-Yo’s house and do a photo shoot.  It was a new for me and it’s a service that I never offered because:

#1 I’m horrible with a camera

#2  Taking photos of an animal that is a stranger to you can upset the animal as well get you bit.

#3  An owner can take much better pictures, if they can provide you with 4-5 reference photos.

      So, since Alana is just an awesome photographer and since she received a pretty awesome camera for her birthday, she jumped at the chance to be manager of the photo shoot.  I was still a little apprehensive, but I told Alana that we were just going to sit in the floor and wait for Yo-Yo to come to us, play with him a bit, and if he enjoyed our company we would take pictures…(If he didn’t we were outta there!)

    As usual,  me and my worrywart self worried for no reason, and Yo-Yo was a complete and utter HAMMMMM!  Barbara (Yo-Yo’s Mommy) was so nice and helpful and we had so much fun that we stayed for quite a while after taking pictures and Yo-Yo was pretty sad when Alana left.

   The only problem we had was which picture to choose from and I was tickled to pieces that she loved the portrait.  I doubt I would ever do an on site photo shoot again, but it was overall a good experience.  Thank Goodness!

 Other than there isn’t too much going on,  I’ve been working on some patterning, I have another commission to post later on,  and I’m participating in another Bible study called “The Resolution for Women.”  So far, it’s a pretty good book, I found my copy at Kmart, so it’s easily available.  The Author is Priscilla Shirer, the creator of the Fireproof and Courageous movies.   Her you tube video “Who’s your Daddy?” Is what sold me, hook line and sinker.  When I watched it, I got chills from the top of my head to the tips of my toes!  I have watched it so many times that I can recite half it, LOL Below is the link if you’re interested:

Oh!!!! I almost forgot!  David bought me a bike:)  It’s pretty, and white, and has a seat as big as a couch….well not really, but it is pretty big.  All I need now is a bell and a basket.  David, Alana and I have been riding every other morning.  So, far I can only make it 2 or 3 miles before I’m ready to go home.  I’m not tired and my legs don’t hurt that bad…it’s just the bicycle seat…OUCH!  I do hope to get use to it by Fall, so we can ride the bike trails in Williamsburg.  Colonial Williamsburg in the Fall would be beautiful!

Welp, I guess that’s about all there is tell right now, besides my new addiction to Pinterest.  I made some make-up remover (from Pinterest) that was by far better than store bought!  I put heavy black pencil eyeliner on one eye then heavy liquid eyeliner on the other (Think Marilyn Mason or if you’re my age Alice Cooper) and it worked so good removing the make up. I didn’t have to scrub and I even accidently got some in my eye and it didn’t burn!  Here’s the Receipe:

1 cup water , 1-1/2 Tbsp. no tears baby shampoo, 1/8 tsp. olive or coconut oil (i used olive oil)……….and mix!

Okay, I’m really going this time, LOL I hope you all stay where it’s cool and have a great week!

Be Well and Happy! 

   S wich Blade

with a variation

     I thought I would share this pattern with you.   This patterned would look really well in fantasy zentangles or maybe the wings of a goth chick or maybe a dragon.  The pattern does strike me as a little dark, but i do like it. I hope you do too.  I did find it hard to incorporate in a zentangle so I made it the focal point in the pattern..

ENJOY!

Be Well and Happy!