Gypsy…

Gypsy

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

I sent my cousin an email asking her if she would like to see her picture now or let it be a surprise. She replied, “NOW!” So I sent it, she loved it and put it on her Facebook wall. I am so relieved and since she has seen the picture…I can post it!

The picture she sent me was so cute and the dog is adorable, but I laughed the whole time I was drawing him! I don’t know what Gypsy was looking at when his picture was taken, but he was cross eyed as could be. So Thanks for the Laughs Gypsy!

ROCK ON…

Rocks

Colored pencil, watercolor with watercolor pencil, pastel and ink

on Strathmore 140 lb. coldpress watercolor paper

My rock models were variations of grey, black and brown. I thought it was really boring so I added different colors. It looks more like something you would find in a fish bowl. This took me three days to complete and I can’t decide if I like it or not, but it was good playing with all those mediums at one time.

It was brought to my attention that my poor blog has been neglected, and it has. I had been doing so well with keeping up with my posts up until this month, and I promise I will try to do better, but this is what’s been going on:

1.) I have three portraits I have been working on. Pretty easy… One lil white dog, and one portrait drawn twice. It’s for my cousin, and we are trading services, she is making me two handmade wall hangings and I am drawing her portraits. I’m sure the portraits are Christmas presents so I can’t show that, but I’m pretty sure I can post the dog after she gets it.

2.) I was trying to participate in the Drawing from the Masters group. This month its Van Gogh. Almost two weeks of work, and it looks h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e!! (so far) I’m not disppointed I knew it would be a big stretch for me BUT even if the painting tanks, I’ve studied the life of the artist and you’ll will have to suffer through a mini report.

3.) I have been trying to think of a new name for my blog, trying to come up with my own banner and changing the format. I like the black, but I think it just too hard to read.

4.) I have been working on a way over the top, Top Secret project that even the hubby knows nothing about it!

Throw in sickness, soccer, and school and that’s about it. I will try to better, I promise.

Young at Heart….

Canis Lupess

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

From a photo taken by Canis Lupess at Wet Canvas

I have drawn so many dogs that they almost have become second nature. When I have too many flops and my trash can over flows, somehow drawing doggies always make me feel better about about my drawing ability. This dog is the result of feeling really bad about my struggles with trying to learn other mediums. The process of making art can be so overwelming at times, well most times really and sometimes I lack the patience that art requires. I have faith that I’ll get it eventually and I guess that will have to be enough for now. I’ll just have to press on.

Saying Goodbye….(for now)

EDM #116 Draw something green

Graphite on sketch

Sorry, the image is a little crooked. But I’m feeling rather crooked at the moment. This is my third week of no soft drinks, chips, cookies, cheese, white bread, pasta, candy bars, ice cream or any thing else that tastes really good but is extremely bad for you. I have already lost about 6 pounds which is really good considering that I haven’t been working out, but it’s still very hard. I still drink a half a cup of coffee in the morning and tea if I start getting caffeine withdrawal headaches, but mostly its water for me about 3-4 liters of it a day. The whole family is in on it, so it could be worse… But eating healthy? Counting calories and fat grams? It isn’t fun so don’t believe the hype!

I’m not giving up on junk forever. But like most things are fine every once in a while, but not fine everyday. I was promised that I won’t miss them after a while.

HA! I still want it, so we’ll see.

Beach Baby…

(click on image to enlarge)

Nathan

Graphite on Bristol smooth

I learned a lot from drawing Nathan and I’m glad that I stuck with this portrait to its completion. What I have learned is that there’s a fine line between drawing a button (nose) Benjamin and a Benjamin Button. Drawing this little guy took four attempts and to be honest I didn’t think I would ever get him drawn right. When rendering portraits I do not like any of the paper showing through on a face. And though it may seem funny, I draw as though I am applying make up. It just makes it easier for me to break down the shading elements. The only white (color of the paper) I have is the white of the eyes. I really don’t know how I would draw a man considering the few portraits that I completed were women, but I know this does not work for children, because it ages them too much. In my earlier attempts, I had an elderly man’s head sitting on top of a toddler’s body. GROSS! So, I didn’t know what to do…I knew that I couldn’t shade a whole lot, but I still felt that not filling in the space with graphite was just wrong because unless you were a zombie or a vampire a person’s face is not stark white. So, after much thought I shaded the entire face in a fine layer of graphite and used a tissue to wipe the graphite off the paper leaving a slight stain. Then, I used an old blending tortillian to do the rest of the shading on the face. Now he has a more youthful appearance. That’s what I love about drawing…it is never what you expect, you always find little surprises and you’re never bored.

Draw a pencil…

EDM #240 Draw a pencil

Graphite on sketch

This is a sketch of one of my Derwent Graphic pencils with a value scale. I have drawn more value scales than I can count. When I first started drawing scales, I used (light to dark) 2H, H, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B and 6B. Now, I just use a 2B mechanical pencil and blend and blend and then I blend some more. This technique was gleaned from reading Lee Hammond’s book Lifelike Drawing. Great book by the way. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their drawing.

Remember those lost in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

We Will Never Forget…

Beamer…

Beamer

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

I guess summer is officially over now as today is Alana’s first day back to school. It makes me a little sad and lonesome. We had a fun time together even though her idea of learning to draw was to color drawings that I completed! She’s a slick one! I hope she has a great year! Well, enough of being melancholy, on with the drawing!

This is Beamer the dachshund. I have never met a more camera-shy dog in my entire life. Beamer would be playing along happy go lucky then when the camera came out the only shots that I could get were of his backside! I didn’t use a flash, so couldn’t have been the light. This was a really strange situation because even though I ended up with this shot, there was a lot of unnecessary stress that was put on the dog by me. I don’t like that. I really don’t know what to do if this comes up again, maybe I could let the dog sniff my camera or something… Beamer is a sweet loving little dog. What if I get a big, not so sweet, not so loving dog who is as camera-shy. I don’t want to get my arm taken off to the shoulder! Maybe I should talk to the vet when I bring Sam in for his shots. Better to be safe than sorry.

Thank you Beamer’s Dad and Sorry about that Beamer!

Finished!!!!

Bird of Paradise

Acrylic on 7 x 9 Canvas Panel

Wow, this took a while but I am very pleased how it turned out. I used thin washes, so there are many many layers to this piece. Using thin washes is time consuming, but it adds a lot of depth. AND I didn’t have any trouble mixing color which was a great surprise. I do need to work on blending and I need lots of practise with brush strokes. I’m still very excited that I finshed it! I am going to live with this for a couple of days before I varnish it just in case I want to change something, but I am calling this done and I’m ready to move on to something else.

I wish I had some words of wisdom for painting in acrylics, but this medium is still foreign to me. The only thing I can say is just to paint and if you mess up just throw on some gesso and try it again!

Have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!!!!!

Still At It…

I really don’t like to post unfinished paintings, but at the rate I’m going this will be completed sometime next year. This is a cropped close up of a bird of paradise, I believe it’s called. It’s not nearly completed and is definitely in a ugly stage of the process. I have read that this is the stage where alot of artists give up. I understand why now because I am completely lost. If I were in school this is the point where I would raise my hand and ask for help from the teacher. But despite my trouble, I am enjoying painting again.

I think I’m going to walk away from this painting for a little while, so i can come back with a fresh set of eyes. I have a couple of commissions that I should be working on anyway. I will probably start on those Thursday (hopefully).

I do have something good to share. I found this paintbrush holder with two water reservoirs. One reservoir has a grid at the bottom so that you can knock the paint off your brush and the other you can use for mixing. I bought it from Joann’s Fabric. It is from the Donna Dewberry line for decorative painters. I love love love it!

With a price of under $10.00, you can’t beat it. I also have their stay wet palette, but I’ll have to let you know on that one, but it looks promising. Right now I’m using small dabs of paint and mix colors on my brush, but I feel certain I’ll need it when I start painting on a larger canvas.

Well, I’m off. David is in Canada, Alana is at a sleepover and there is a new J.R. Ward book with my name all over it.

Back to Normal…

Zentangle 8-9-2009

Pigma Micron Pen and Graphite in small derwent journal

This little Zentangle is the only thing I have completed since my last post. I haven’t had much time for art with my niece in from Bassett. To tell you the truth I spent most of my time in the kitchen. The girls were hungry 24/7. Then Friday Alana had a slumber party that lasted until Sunday morning. We went to VA. Beach Satuday. It was really hot and the water was ice cold…It was kinda wierd. Oh, and while the girls were playing in the ocean, three dolphins were playing in the water about 20 to 30 feet from them! And me, as usual, without my camera! I feel certain that when the girls got home they were good and tired. I know I was, and still am!

I still have an itch to paint though. The library books were horrible and of no use… (the poor trees that died for that garbage) Like always, I guess I’m going to have to do it the hard way.

David leaves tomorrow and won’t be back home until Tuesday. I hate it when he goes out of town, but I am going to use this time to my advantage. First, I’m going to get him to fix my easel and then I’m going to drag out every brush, canvas, every bottle of paint that I have, throw it on the kitchen table and paint until I come up with something. Sound like a plan?

Carol Ottaway

Back to the drawing board…