These are a few of my favorite things…

EDM #222 Draw your favorite drawing instrument

Graphite on Sketch paper

This is a drawing of my electric eraser, clutch pencil, drafting brush, kneaded ereaser and a Q-tip. The drafting brush was the most fun to draw. I think it was because of the bristles. The Q-tip was a little lonesome on the big piece of paper so I added a few of my other favorites. I have stumps and tortillions aplenty, but q-tips are my very favorite drawing instrument. They are very soft and don’t wreck havoc on the tooth of my paper. I think stumps and tortillions work really well with paper that has a deep tooth, but on smoother paper I like the light blending touch of a Q-tip to make up for my heavy hand. I have used Q-tips in spite of my (ex) art teacher’s ridicule and will keep on using them…

This was a hard exercise for me because I love art supplies. I just don’t know how to use all of them yet.

Mom in Graffiti…

EDM # 67 Draw something Mom

Colored pencil on card stock

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” -Washington Irving

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms! And a special Mother’s Day wish to my mom and Mrs. Ottaway. We Love You!

Carol and David

VSD-April (in color)

Rhododendron Bud

Derwent Coloursoft colored pencil on Bristol Smooth

I like the graphite version better, but either way I should have included a background. Also, I need to work on my heavy hand. I use too much pressure and I hold on to my pencil for dear life….not a good thing for building layers of color. This is from VSD-April and the picture was taken by Jeanette Jobson.

VSD-April

Rhododendron Bud

Graphite on Bond

Virtual Sketch Date is a blog that posts a picture once a month and those who want draw the posted reference in any medium they choose. This drawing is from a picture taken by Jeanette Jobson. Don’t be surprised if you see this in future. I think I’ll want to do this in color later on.

This image goes well with the warm and sunny weather we have been having. I love it. You can open the windows and smell cut grass and grills stokin’ from around the neighborhood. There is nothing like it in the world. It reminds me of going to my grandma’s house in North Carolina. All I’m missing is the smell of Pine-Sol.

My new drawing table

We went to see an art friend of mine and she gave me this big drawing table. She likes to paint in her bedroom or in the kitchen so she had no use for it. But I sure did and made David load it in the trunk before she came to her senses, and laying on my beloved 2nd hand table is a commission of a dog that I have been working on. Yep, you heard right. It’s my very first commissioned piece. SCARY stuff. It’s difficult, because the ref. photo is from a cell phone, so I kinda have to make up the details as I go along. If the dog came from one breed, I could study other dogs of that breed. But she/he ‘s mixed and her/his parents were mixed and so on and so on…. So I have no idea. The dog had passed away, so the cell picture is it. The owner of this dog is very sweet and easy to work with. So it isn’t as scary as it could be. I’ll post, after she gets the drawing.

Vicki has been making color palettes derived from photos. It would be really handy for mixing colors in painting. She also showed me how to link so I thought it was only fair that she was my first. Also, while you are at it, browse her blog, it’s full of all kinds of neat stuff!

A Cockatoo in Color

Colored Pencil on Bristol Vellum

Photo by Lady Carol

This is a little bit of a cheat. I completed this before I did the other drawing. I don’t like this version very much. I changed the branch and added feet to my graphite drawing. I wanted to play with color, but vellum is not very kind to colored pencil. I think the paper is just too grainy. But there it is.

We have been really busy working on redoing Alana’s bedroom. We didn’t get started until Saturday afternoon, but I managed to paint the ceiling, walls and trim, and throw in painting the same in the closet…all painted by 6:00 Sunday night. David put in a ceiling fan, stained the trim and is putting in 2 replacement windows and 2 doors. The room is really pretty. The ceiling is white, and the walls are lilac (ish) with cream trim. I am a little disappointed that we didn’t get the room done. David had to go out of town again for the week and we still have to put up the doors put in a window and put up the molding. It is nice to know that if we start a little earlier we could probably get a room done in a weekend.

A Cockatoo..

Cockatoo

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

Photo by Lady Carol

This is the drawing I was speaking of in my last post. I really don’t know my birds, so I think it’s a cockatoo. I haven’t been drawing that much. I really don’t know why, except that I just don’t feel like it. I think forcing myself to draw or paint is counter productive, because it usually ends up in the trash. But, fortunately for me these moods don’t last long.

Alana is out for spring break. We have been hanging out, sleeping late, and doing as little as we can get by with. But playtime is soon coming to an end. We are dejunking her bedroom. Most normal people usually “spring clean” but her room is too bad. But it has to be done, so we can paint her room over the weekend. And just so ya know, painting a room is nothing like painting a picture. The only excitment to painting a room is after it’s done.

Slide Show

I have new drawings, but I can’t post them right now. I had to get a new computer and I have been trying to reload some programs and feel my way around. This computer is different from my little Gateway notebook. I have a program now that will make a music slide show. After I found that reloading fell by the waist side, and I spent all morning making slide shows from my pictures. I made a good one from last summer with the kids swimming in the pool (I’ll post if I get permission from their Mom). Then, I made one of the animals that I have drawn so far. I couldn’t upload it to my blog because I don’t have the upgraded version. So I tried to do the same thing on One True Media, uploaded the code to vodpod then to wordpress. There has to be an easier way, but not being computer savvy…It was the best I could do. So many gadgets so little time.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Animal Drawings On Parade at One True…“, posted with vodpod

Storm

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

EDM# 36 Draw in Public

I usually draw or read while Alana has soccer practice, but I sit far enough away that no one can see what I’m doing. So Saturday I pulled my chair up with everyone else pulled out my supplies and began to work on this drawing. Everything was fine at first, then questions started. What are you doing? Why are you drawing that? Are you an artist? And then they were silently watching me . I got very nervous, and my face was getting hot and my ears starting to burn. I knew they were turning red . So with my embarrassment meter on high alert, I made an excuse to put my art supplies back in my bag. I don’t know if I was bothered by the questions or that fact that so much attention was focused on what I was doing. Very thought provoking…

Now about the dog. Her name is Storm and she is my friend’s pit bull. She is a very sweet natured dog. I know there is a stigma attached to this breed, but this dog loves children and is constantly socialized. To tell you the truth I couldn’t pick a pit bull out of a line up, and I certainly would not have guessed that Storm was a pit bull.

I wish I was an Ostrich…

EDM #37 Draw some keys

Graphite on sketch

(Panic: The Beginning) I woke up this morning to get my daughter off school. We did our normal routine she got ready, I threw on clothes, put on coffee and drove her to the bus stop. After the bus pick her up I came home and made a hot cup of coffee and settled down to my desk to check my emails. I noticed that Sam (the dog) was no where to be found and I thought I may have left him outside. At this time it’s still early and I didn’t want Sam to bark and wake up the neighbors so I went outside to get him. I looked around and he wasn’t in the back yard so I thought maybe he was still in the house and I just didn’t see him. I went to the sliding glass doors he was staring at me. So problem solved. I went to slide the door open and it was locked. Crap. I can see the through the sliding door to the front door and it was locked. Crap. So here I am standing outside in the wet cold grass wearing a ratty worn crazy looking jogging suit, unshowered, hair not combed, teeth not brushed, barefoot , David’s out of town and I’m locked out of the freakin’ house. Craaaaaaap!

(Panic: Part Two) I thought Karen! she hasn’t left for work and she has a spare. I walked to her house. She doesn’t live that far away but cars were passing by and slowing down to stare at me in confusion making me fully aware that I looked like a barefoot lunatic who just escaped the ward. By the time I got to her house my toes were numb, my jogging pants were wet and I was embarrassed. She told me that may have the key, but guess what? She left it at work if she has it at all! Craaaaaaap!

(Panic: Part Three) I thought Alana! she has a key! I got in touch with her and she had a key in her book bag!!! Sweet relief. I couldn’t go into the school, so I borrowed Rob’s car and followed Karen to the school. And she went in and got the key for me. By this time I am gitty with relief and drove home to unlock that @#$* door. And I did…. except the lock at the top of the door was in place and the door would only open six inches. Craaaaaaap!

( Panic: The Final Chapter) I sat on the front step trying to figure out which would make David less mad… Is it better to break a window or axe the lock on the back door… Keep in mind even I called a locksmith something was going to be busted up… So I figured I would do the busting for free.

Then I remembered that I opened the window in my bedroom when the weather was warm. EUREKA!!!!! And I noticed that David left the ladder outside, (This is when I heard the angels singing) I went to the bedroom window and was able to finally get into the house. Here I thought Friday the 13th was last Friday but I may be wrong! This experience has taught me five lessons: 1. Don’t get locked out of the house. 2. If I would have stayed calm I would have remembered the window and saved Karen and Alana a lot of trouble. 3. Come up with a plan B in case I get locked out again. 4. I am completely safe in that house when David’s away. 5. Lock my bedroom window for lesson 4.

Drawing these keys was the obvious choice for the weekly challenge. And I am going to put my head in the sand until tomorrow.

Carol Ottaway

Back to the drawing board…