Retriever completed…

Retriever

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

      YAY!  I just knew that I wasn’t going to go back and finish this and it would get lost in my stacks of  TBFL (to be finished later).  But I did it and I’m very pleased.  I’ve been drawing with a 2b mechanical pencil and use a 4b for my darkest blacks.  This time I went back to my few months of art training and used 4H, 2H, H, HB, B, 2B, and 4B.  I really don’t see much difference between this portrait and any other portrait that I’ve drawn, except maybe an increase in the total of hours.  I’ve never timed myself, so I really can’t say for sure how long a portrait takes to draw as I only draw in 1 – 2 hour sessions with plenty of stops in those sessions.  In the future I may just have to time myself. 

    I’ve been researching tutorials on acrylic painting.  I think the internet is both a blessing and a curse.  Sure you can find whatever information you need, but there is A LOT of it and A LOT different opinions on techniques.  Each artist claiming to be the top authority.  It’s kind of overwhelming, but I had obvious problems that need to be reconciled before I develop a bad habit and they are:  

1.)   I get lost in color choices, and I often times wonder why an artist chooses a particular yellow over the 50 other yellows. 

2.)  Warms and Cools are irritating me also.  I mean, I  know the obvious Red-Warm and Blue-Cool, but there are also the not so obvious…like a cool red or a warm blue?  Seriously? 

3.)  Strokes.  I had no idea that this was a method to madness type of thing.  I thought you just slapped paint on the canvas  the best way you could. That’s the way I did it anyway…who knew?

      I found two tutorials on Jerry’s Artarama website by Dick Ensing that I found very interesting.  I just may incorporate his palette technique.   If I were a wealthy woman, I would most definintely fly out to take one of his workshops.  He is just an awesome artist!  On the tutorial he shows you how to make beautiful grays without being muddy,  intensify colors, color complements and how to adjust your mixes properly.  I’m sure it would work with any medium you choose.  You’ll have to scroll down from the website  for the videos, because I couldn’t upload the video to my blog.  

 Dick Ensing – Color Intensity

Dick Ensing – Color Wheel

 I really wish I could’ve uploaded these videos…both together are less than 15 minutes and I promise you that it’s worth watching.

Be Well and Happy!

Zentangle

        This Zentangle is bigger than I what I’ve been drawing and I am a little bit rusty.  My intention was to draw Zentangles more often, but like everything else…didn’t happen.  BUT with this Zentangle I think I may have too many conflicting patterns and it looks a little heavy on the left side.  I really don’t have a clue what  the Zen Guru’s have to say about this, because I’m self-taught and I really didn’t think that a Zentangle COULD actually be messed up.  Who knows….It was therapeutic and I guess that what counts, right?

   Well, that’s about all I have for now….Have a fun and safe July 4th!

 

 

 

 

Be Well and Happy! 

     

    

Butterflies….

 I was trying to wait to post this until I was sure that it was on the skin, but I decided to post the design and leave the identity a secret.  She couldn’t decide if she wanted a butterfly or a flower.  So I did a little of both making the wings look like flower petals.  There will also be names on or in the tattoo so it will be more horizontal than the vertical position that I scanned. 

   I guess that’s about all I have for show and tell today.  I haven’t been drawing lately.  But I hope this will be corrected soon.  I have family staying with us, and I really can’t get to my art supplies.  That’s ok though…I’ve been catching up on my chick trash novels….cause you gotta love those,  “and they lived happily ever after” books.   Well, I hope you guys have warm weather and sunny skies for the weekend:)

Be Well and Happy!

Still A W.I.P. . .

This drawing is really irritating me.  I wanted to try a different drawing technique to get more detail in drawing animals leaning more toward a hyper realism (can that be a real phrase) that is lacking in my drawings.  I guess want the strokes evident  close-up as well as far away.  Usually, when I draw I use my own technique which involves:  Stroke, Smudge, Smear, Squint and repeat.   Yes, I realize smudging and smearing is highly ridiculed and Yes, that’s just how I roll.  I do spend time drawing the fur on the neck following how the hair naturally grows.  But this drawing is causing quite a bit of stress because I’m completely lost.  I have so many graphite layers and not only is the portrait a little more than half finished I have also ran out of tooth on my paper.  I can probably spray a workable fixative  to finish the piece, but its looking no better than what I usually draw in half the time.   And the nose looks like it belongs on Mr. Potato Head.   This drawing has lost it’s romance with me and I think I need to move on to something else and add this to my best intention, to be determined pile.  I guess what works for some doesn’t work for others. 

  To change the subject completely….. I have been wondering how to respond to comments left on my blog.  Although I don’t get many, I like to show my thanks or someone will say something that I want to respond to.   I am going to follow suit and respond in my blog.  I’m just telling you first before it gets aired on Fox News tonight BAHAHAHAHAHA.

Be Well and Happy!

ATCs and Art of a Different Kind…

 Zentangle ATC – Ink on Bristol Smooth

and

Bleeding Heart Flower ATC – Colored Pencil on Bristol Smooth

   These images keep getting worse….I’m sorry about that, hopefully I will get this resolved soon.  These ATC’s are the cards that I sent Chrissy Marie.  I think the Zentangle was her favorite out of the two and it’s mine too.   Love those Zentangles!

      Thank Goodness we only have a couple more things to do before we are finally able to put the house up for sale.   Yipee!!! They are pretty big jobs and will have to wait for the weekend. So this week has been pretty easy.      I could not bring myself to finish the W.I.P. of my retriever. Maybe I’ll be in the mood to finish it soon…I hate to leave unfinished projects.     I did  get a strange request this week that I could not resist.  I have been asked to draw a lot of things (mostly dogs) but this was the first time I got a  request to draw and design a tattoo.  And let me tell you, I had a blast!  I’ve always thought I would have been a pretty good tattoo artist.  Not to mention, with what they cost now a days?  Good Living to say the least.  What bothers me is the places people choose to get them.  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!  I’m a tad bit bashful…well…. a lot bashful  and I don’t think a tattoo done with my eyes closed would look too good…  Anyway, I can’t wait to show you the design, but it has to stay under wraps until it’s on the skin.    Heck, forget the fame and fortune!  You know you’ve made it when someone wants your artwork with them forever….I’m just joking of course, but it’s still pretty cool.  Have a great weekend and I’m wishing blue skies for everyone!

Be Well and Happy!

Did I do that?

As you have read we have been working on the house so we can put it up for sale.  It is taking a long time because aside from all the painting that I completed, the rest of the jobs are pretty big and I can’t do them alone.  David works out of town and we have to tackle the big jobs on weekends while David is home.  I am happy to report that the inside of the house is showroom ready.  So now it’s time to start on the outside.  The first order of business was to take down the pool.  We could have left it I guess, it is definitely a nice BIG pool that is only a couple of years old, but we thought it would put buyers off as a liability.  So that was on the list for this weekend.  First, I unscrewed the top caps and started to remove them.   I was very careful for fear I’d find a creepy crawly or a spider, but surprisingly they were really clean.  I said to myself, “piece of cake” and began just to zip them off.  Then I unscrewed the last one and it was full of straw and I saw something pink.  For some reason I thought to myself….SNAKE!!!!!…and I flung the cap across the yard!  Well, come to find out it was a bird nest with 5 baby birds and 3 of them were laying in the yard.  I felt terrible because I just knew that I had killed them.  Thank Goodness they were still alive.  Alana and I wrapped grocery bags around our hands and placed the babies back into the nest and put them in our flower bush.  I sure hope the mama finds them.

Here’s a picture of the babies.   They were moving all over the place…I hope that’s a good sign?

Here is their new home.

  I have been getting some drawing in, but it’s only a few little bits at time.  I am drawing the same Golden Retriever that I drew in colored pencil.  I think it will be awhile before I can get it done but here is my work in progress:

Be Well and Happy!

Saturday Suprise…..

   Saturday was feeling pretty lousy.  I woke up already dreading David heading back out-of-town, even though he had just come home the night before.  I was so tired and dreading what work lay ahead, fearing at the same time that we would never get done, so we can sell the house.  Overall, I was headed for being depressed the whole weekend.  Then, I received this package in the mail.  Needless to say, this little treasure added a lot of sunshine to my Saturday.

    Chrissy Marie made some ATC’s as part of her art therapy and of course being a huge fan of her work, I jumped at the chance to trade Artist  Cards with her.    She also sent a beautiful booklet that included the rest of her ATC’s with quotes and poems and a lovely handmade card.  She’s a has a great blog filled with art, amazing photography, knitting and paper crafts.  Chrissy’s blog is never boring which is why she rates as one of my favorites:)

    Chrissy’s Art Therapy project can be found  (here).

      It is such a pleasure getting to know her through her blog and I so look forward to reading her blog for many years to come. 

Thank You Chrissy and your ATC is on it’s way!

FYI – ATC Cards are 2.5 x 3.5 Artist Trading Cards in any medium that is signed and dated on the back. 

Be Well and Happy!

Moving…

     All those mundane tasks that weren’t worth mentioning?  Well, the picture to the left is one of them.  Let’s see…so far I have painted 2 rooms and a closet twice (hated the color), guest room, took down the paneling and painted my artroom, painted 12 doors front and back, the garage front and the fronts of the windows.  I can’t tell you how sick I am of painting.  I have sanded some of my fingernails off and possibly a top layer of skin…So Bob Villa I ain’t.  If you were wondering why we are doing so much work so soon?  Well, it’s because we are putting the house up for sale. 

     David got a  job (which he started Monday) in Danville.  So between now and summer we’ll be preparing to move there.  We are from near that area, so it’s no stranger to us.  I guess what I’m most happy with is that David won’t have to travel.  Although I was use to him traveling, It will be great knowing that he’ll be home every night.   The only thing I am really worried about is that I really want Alana to finish her 8th grade year at the school that she attends now.  Since she’ll be transitioning  into high school in the fall, it would be a good to wait until summer.  But I guess we’ll  let everything fall where it may.

     I think this move is a good thing, but as we work on the house, we are finding that with a little… no… alot of work and updating, it’s really pretty.  I can’t believe the transformation.  At least I’ll get to enjoy it a little while before we have to hand it over to a realtor. 

   I hear my drawing board calling to me late at night…saying, “Hey, pick me up! Quit ignoring me!”  I don’t know how much more I can avoid him.  Yeah, My drawing board is a he! (Hubba Hubba!)   So, I have a bit more work to do over the weekend, but I am hoping to get squeeze some art in next week. 

Be Well and Happy!

Bewitched….

Elizabeth Montgomery

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

     After taking a billion pictures, this was the best of the lot.  It’s very frustrating, but I didn’t want to let another day go by without a post.  I was able to sneak away and spend some QT with my drawing board.  It felt really good to lay down some graphite!  I really don’t know if this looks like Elizabeth Montgomery or not.  I like to think it does, but my sister thought it was Grace Kelly, but David knew exactly who it was  soooooo…. I’m not too insulted because both of them are pretty ladies and I mainly wanted to draw blonde hair so capturing facial features would be a bonus.   I still need to draw a man though…is there any beef cake any of you would like to see in graphite?

Be Well and Happy!