IF - Wild

This week's Illustration Friday prompt was Wild.  Although I actually drew this a few weeks ago I thought it fit perfectly with the theme.  I typically stay at my boyfriend's house a few days a week and let me tell you it's like the wild kingdom in their backyard!  We feed the squirrels everyday and they must have told some friends.  Just this morning there were six squirrels, a male and a female duck, birds and a bunny.  I love just sitting and watching them and was inspired to do this little guy.  They each have their own personalities and are just so stinking cute!

I've been trying to get a good picture of the ducks, the male is absolutely beautiful but they are a little more timid than the squirrels and don't venture too far from the edge of the pool.  (They have a huge in ground pool that goes 11 feet deep at one end so the ducks have plenty of space to play right now.)  If I get a good photo of one I'm going to attempt sketching one or both of them as well.

I just love nature and watching the animals and what inspiration just outside my (err, my honey's) back door!

Read more...

Paint Party Friday - Drawing Drew

Pencil Drawing

Does a pencil sketch count for PPF? Hmm. I was hoping to get some painting done this week but I have not been home for days so I used what I had with me and decided to try a portrait.  Rather than do a family member I wanted to do a celebrity as they are typically more recognizable.  I would love to do some pencil drawings of my bf's nieces and nephews for his mom for Christmas but definitely need some practice to further my skills.  Why Drew Barrymore?  No particular reason other than I think she is adorable and it was a great reference photo to work from.  Thoughts? Tips?  Not sure what happened with the bottom right portion of the pic, I had to use my camera phone again and something went awry with the editing of the photo but for the most part you can see the contrast and all that good stuff.

Side by Side comparison with the reference photo.

As I was searching for images and looking for some videos on portrait drawing techniques, I happened to come across a post about it not being legal to sell portrait drawings of celebrities. Not that I have any intentions of doing this, it just peaked my curiosity because I see many artists selling pencil drawings of celebrities on Etsy, Ebay, etc.  Anyone out there ever come across this issue before?

In other news, I had two interviews with Walmart for their bakery department yesterday.  As a cake decorator.  I worked in a grocery store bakery a few years ago and loved it.  I have a third interview with the store manager today.  Keeping my fingers crossed that things are finally starting to look up!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend.  We've been having nothing but rain and cooler weather the past few days.  I think I have forgotten what the sun looks like.  BTW, this sketch took me about 10 hours to complete.  I'm definitely not the fastest sketch artist that ever lived. :)

Linking up with Paint Party Friday.  Stop by to see the many wonderfully creative artists, you won't be disappointed!

Read more...

Sunday Sketches - Water Lily

Good morning and happy Sunday!  I'm linking up to Sunday Sketches over at Blue Chair Diary so hop on over and take a peek at all of the wonderful sketches this week.  Sorry for the bad pic, I was drawing late last night and wanted a quick pic as I'm going to be using watercolors to color it in later on today.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Read more...

Sunday Sketches

Lucy

Very rough sketch of Lucy.  Having a bit of a rough patch and just don't have the energy to do a full blown drawing.  For more Sunday Sketches visit the lovely Sophia's blog here.

Read more...

Daffodil

"Daffodil" Pencil and Sharpie Pen

I did another flower at work yesterday.  These are kind of fun and I'm thinking of doing a little series on different flowers to hang in my studio/bedroom.  They're quick and easy and quite pretty.  Still having tummy issues, although I looked for herbal remedies online and tried some chamomile tea and ginger root and had a reprieve for a few hours and was even able to eat a little.  Yay!  Gotta love the internet!

Thank you for the kind words and well wishes yesterday.  :)

Read more...

Columbine Flower

Columbine Flower

I sketched this at work last night and while I don't hate it, I know it's not my best work.  I haven't been feeling well since Saturday afternoon.  Extremely nauseous and haven't been able to eat much because most of it comes right back up.  It was so bad at work last night I was sketching just to try to keep my mind off of it.  Not sure if I have a bug or if it's my GERD, change of seasons is typically bad for my tummy but I haven't been this sick because of it since I was first diagnosed.

Ok, enough whining.  I tried my new Prismacolor turquoise pencils and while the graphite is definitely softer, I did notice some scratching just like with my cheaper set.  It's much easier to get the dark colors with the new pencils though, which leads me to wonder why anyone would need a 9B and why they didn't include and H or an F?  I'm happy with the color I get from them  though.  I added the black lines with my new Sharpie pen, which again, I absolutely love.  

I was trying to keep this short and sweet and I've rambled on again.  Happy Tuesday!

Read more...

Sunday Sketches

Good morning!  Happy Sunday to you all!  Here's my submission for Sunday Sketches this week.  I drew this at work the other day so I still haven't gotten to use my new pencils. Hopefully I'll get to try them out tonight.  I'm very curious to see if there is a big difference between those and the ones I have used for the past two years.  To see more wonderful Sunday Sketches hop on over to Sophia's blog here.

Read more...

Sunday Sketches

I don't have much of a sketch this week as I have not been feeling too good the last two days.  I'm also still trying to cope with losing my boyfriend as today is exactly one month since he passed.  I did try to color her with my watercolor pencils but it was not a good thing.  The paper I used was too thin and buckled so I started over and decided to just leave her alone for now.  I'm thinking of bringing her into Illustrator and playing with adding some color but that will have to wait for another day. 

Hope you all are having a good weekend.  Be sure to check out all of the lovely Sunday Sketches hosted by Sophia of Blue Chair Diary.

Read more...

TGIF!

So happy it's Friday!  I don't have a normal weekend like most people but I do get Saturdays off so I'm super excited that it's finally Friday!  I drew this little guy last night.  I took my time with this one and I'm really happy with the results.  I normally get so worked up with a new design that I work straight through from start to finish and I think by the end sometimes I'm not focused enough to try to get all of the details right.  This time I did my graphing before I left for work.  I sketched in the main areas at work and waited until I got home to do the actual shading and everything.  I'm planning to frame and hang some of my favorite pieces in my bedroom/studio soon.  Still planning to take some photos once I'm finished.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Read more...

Learning to Walk Before You Can Crawl

Meet Kevin.  I did not think Kevin up on my own.  He was a fun little exercise I found on drawspace. And while he may look cute, he doesn't look much like the example but that's ok.  He's my little piggy and I don't think he needs to be an exact replica.

One of the things I have recently come to realize is that I learned to draw before I knew how to sketch.  Kind of like learning to walk before you know how to crawl.  I love my Lee Hammond books and have learned some really great techniques from her; however, I discovered that I don't really know how to sketch.  Sketching is much looser and freeing than actual drawing.  Sketching can look very realistic like drawing but typically takes less time and is more of a rough image.  I love that I can draw but don't always have the time to dedicate to one piece.  So I am trying to learn how to sketch.  Big difference for me is that whenever I start a drawing I always graph, I am really bad with proportion so it is a must for me.  Trying to sketch something just by eyeballing it seems so much harder to me for some reason.  Or maybe it's not harder but that I'm not letting go enough to just do it without thinking so much.  Either way I am going to keep trying as I know practice makes perfect.

Speaking of not having time, I have been picking up extra hours at work and when I'm not at work I've been busy working on setting up my new studio space in my bedroom.  I've gotten the closet cleaned out, the furniture rearranged, my desk and computer set up as well as my bookcase with my books and supplies.  Now I just need to go through the hundreds of other craft items in the spare room to make room for my son. lol.  I'm so exhausted that I haven't had time to draw/sketch or do much of anything else.  The good news is that I'll be way organized once I'm done going through it all.  I hope to have some pics of my space once I'm finally finished.

Hope you are all having a good week so far.  ;)

Read more...

Sunday Sketches

It's so nice to be sketching again and I'm so excited to be contributing to Sunday Sketches again!  I love sketching birds.  They're pretty easy to do and they're just so darned cute.  I sketched this little one from an image I found on the web.  I'm trying to work outside of the sketch books I have as it's easy to draw something that has step by step photos of how to add the shading and everything.  I think it turned out pretty good.  Much better than the last few things I tried sketching.  I guess it's partly because I really love the subject and I'm not just doing it because it's one of the exercises in my books.

I found a really good watercolor book at the library so hopefully next Sunday I'll have something in color for you all!

Read more...

It Has Been a While

It's hard for me to believe that so much time has gone by since I last updated this blog.  A lot has happened in the past several months, with the most devastating being the passing of my boyfriend.  He suffered from a chronic illness for many years and succumbed to complications caused by the illness on February 13.  I miss him everyday and it's hard for me to try to work on my creativity as he was such an inspiration to me.  He always encouraged me, no matter what medium I chose to work in and helped give me the confidence to believe in myself as an artist.  I miss him dearly but I know he is finally pain free and no longer suffering.

Now it's time for me to heal.  I think I just need to take some me time and get back into my drawing as it always helps bring me a sense of peace.  If you know of any challenges or classes hosted by other blog owners, please feel free to leave comments for me as I would love to have something that will help keep my mind off of things and the creativity flowing.

Read more...

Flamingo Sophisticate

'Flamingo Sophisticate'

Pencil on Sketch Paper

Have you ever seen a pink flamingo look this good?  Me neither!  Sketched this at work today.  We had a full crew and a relatively slow day.  (A slow day for us is somewhere around 250 calls in 8 hours.  A busy day would be over 400.)  Anyway, I picked this one so I wouldn't have to pay too much attention to detail but I really like this one.  Might have to frame him or her, not sure what sex this birdy is but it looks male to me.  lol  

This was the first sketch in my new sketchbook from Hobby Lobby.  I think it's their brand, Master's Touch 60 lb paper.  It's fairly smooth but it is a little thinner than the paper I typically sketch in.  I have one that I bought a few years ago that is very textured which was great for when I first started drawing but I find I don't care much for it now that I've been doing it a while.  I have a Canson Field sketchbook that I do most of my sketches in but it's kind of heavy to transfer back and forth to work all the time, which is why I bought this one.

I also got a Mead Academie (yes, that's the way they spelled it) Sketchbook; however, I don't know the paper weight, it's just called heavyweight but it's thicker than the Hob Lob paper.  I like it because even though it is in a spiral notebook, it also has the perforated tear off sheets.  I thought it would be good to do ink and watercolor or watercolor pencils without using the more expensive watercolor paper if I'm just practicing.  I'll let you know what I think after I actually use it.  Of course, they're all acid/lignin free.

Off to check out everyone's blogs.  Have a great day!

Read more...

Sunday Sketches - Through the Trees

So I've finally made a landscaping picture that I absolutely love.  Not sure if you can see it so much in the scan (well, photo that I brought into photoshop and edited) but the background is supposed to be trees off in the distance.  Don't care so much about them as I do the tree in the forefront.

I am one of those that hates drawing trees.  I think my limbs always look bad and leaves, forget about it!  I would do many more buildings and landscape sketches if it weren't for having to draw the trees and bushes.  lol.  Somehow this one worked out very well and I am thrilled with it!  Please also keep in mind that I worked on this at work in between all of the phone calls today.  We were understaffed and somewhat busy, but I am grateful that there were no major catastrophes this weekend and I only received one call.  A new girl didn't know she was on the schedule yesterday and I had to call her in.  No biggie.  :)

Baby bird seems to be doing a little better today.  I had to splint her leg again, the first one fell off so I waited until my wonderful boyfriend was in bed so he didn't freak out ( I handle ers much better than he does, remind me to tell you about the day I cut off part of my fingertip with a rotary cutter.)  I think she may have been in shock yesterday as she was very listless.  Today she is back to her feisty self and biting us when we try to hold her.  Have no fear, it's not because she is in pain, she always bites us when we try to hold her, except for yesterday.  She still can't use her foot and she may never be able to but the fact that she's eating, preening, interacting with the other birds and moving around a little bit makes me think she's going to be ok in the long run.  She's a very strong and brave little bird.

Don't forget to visit all of the wonderful artists participating in Sunday Sketches hosted by the wonderful Sophia over at Blue Chair Diary.

Read more...

A Birthday Gift

'Serenity'

Pencil on Sketch Paper

My boyfriend's mother's birthday is on Tuesday and he wanted to send something to her that I made.  I had just drawn this at work and I have to say, this is my favorite sketch so far.  The picture really doesn't do this one justice because of the extreme lights and darks.  This is the first sketch I have done with a water reflection and I think it turned out pretty good.  This was another practice sketch in the book I'm working out of so I didn't just dream it up or get it from a photo, but I'm still very proud of it.  As soon as my bf saw it he immediately declared this to be the gift for Mom.  I happen to agree so I framed it in a 4 x 6 black frame which really brings out the graphite even more.  Loving it!  Going to be hard to part with this one.   lol

I also wanted to tell you about my great finds at Hobby Lobby and Walmart.  At Hobby Lobby I found a 16 piece Oil Pastel Set on clearance for $3.59 which normally runs $9.99!  The end of the box was smooshed so I'm guessing that's why it was marked so low but all of the pastel crayons are intact.  Then, we went to Walmart and I happened to stumble upon a small but nice selection of fine art materials.  I got another set of oil pastels, this one had 25 colors for $4.99, they are slightly smaller than the Hob Lob ones but look to be of similar quality.  I got a pack of three 8x10 cotton canvas boards for $3.96, a pad of acrylic paper for $3.96 and a set of twelve 0.4 oz tubes of water colors for only $6.49.  It was like Christmas for me.  My boyfriend's birthday is Sunday and he received some b-day cash from his parents and let me buy some art materials.  Isn't he the sweetest?

Now, does anyone know what I'm supposed to do with oil pastels?  lol.  I've watched a ton of U-Tube videos and I think I just may like this medium.  Anything I can stick my fingers in to blend is a plus in my books!  

TGIF and hope you all have had a great week!

Read more...

Inspiration Avenue - Books

'Books'

Colored Pencil with Marker on Sketch Paper

I was really excited about this week's word prompt for Inspiration Avenue's Weekly Challenge.  As an avid reader I have lots books on my bookcase shelves, so much so that I've had to resort to stacking them two deep and on top of each other wherever possible.  I'm a huge fan of scary, gory, murder, mystery type novels and have the likes of Stephen King, Patricia Cromwell, Dean Koontz, John Saul, Michael Connelly and many more author's adorning my shelves.  In fact, I am reading a new Dean Koontz book titled, "Relentless" but have only just begun the first chapter.

I love working with colored pencils and marker.  If you've never tried this technique, I really urge you to give it a whirl.  You can use any brand of colored pencil, I happen to have a very nice set of Prisma Color  Premier colored pencils and Markers.  I use the colorless blender marker all over and use varying shades of gray for shadows.  I need a new 10% gray though, didn't get the cap on all the way and it dried out.  The colorless blender is awesome though.  It removes the waxiness of the pencil and makes it look more like a pigment ink or something.  Pretty cool effect with little effort.  I have some colored markers but have not tried those with the pencils yet.  The best part is, you can use ordinary sketch paper as long as you don't overdo the marker.  

That's my art lesson for the day.  lol  Hope you are having a good week.  Only one more day and I get a day off!  Not sure why I'm excited, I'm going to be on call for ers as my boss is going to a Toby Keith concert this weekend, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed I won't have to go in.

Read more...

Another ACEO Attempt

This little guy was my second attempt at making an ACEO.  I think he turned out pretty good.  It was very hard to get all that detail into such a small space!  I have learned that I should not start out with such intricate designs when trying something new.  Then again, I've always been that way.  The very first quilt I made was for my mom who has relocated to Arizona.  I wanted the quilt to reflect the region so I used Native American Indian signs for the quilting part with a Kokopelli as the center  of attention.  Not an easy task for a brand new quilter, but I love challenges.

Anyway, I got the design idea from one of my Goodwill artbook finds.  I used watercolor pencils and added watercolors where I thought it needed a little extra oomph.  Now, if I could just get up enough nerve to try my acrylics!

Still having back problems but I am moving a little better.  My right leg keeps going numb all the way to my toes so I think I'm going to have to go back to the doctor.  She told me to give it two weeks and we're at about 1.5 right now.  Somehow I don't see it getting miraculously better in the next few days.  :(  At least I'm back to drawing and painting!  :)

Read more...

What Was I Thinking?

This was the first sketch I did after being laid up for a few days due to my back.  (Drawn before my Sunday Sketches sketch.)  Maybe it was the pain that I was trying to work through, or the meds I was on or a combination of both but there are so many things wrong with this picture it's not even funny.  First and foremost one of the recurring issues I seem to be having is making my eyes too large.  I think it's because I feel like you should be able to see the iris, pupil and light reflections but this isn't necessarily true. 

Secondly, babies don't have thick, long eyelashes like this little one does.  The reference photo is a girl baby and this looks more boyish except for the lashes to me.  Finally, the head should have been longer.  Overall, it doesn't look bad as a sort of illustrated, generic baby similar to the Gerber baby. 

I'm learning new things with each sketch I produce.  I have also noticed I make faces slimmer than they really are.  Constructive criticism is always welcome.  Please don't feel that you have to say, "Great sketch" every time I post something.  I know I have produced some 'sketchy' pieces.  Oh boy, meds kicking in.  lol.

Read more...