First Attempt for Art Exchange

Here is my first attempt at the art exchange. Don't ask me what I was thinking when I chose this particular image to work from (morguefile.com, btw). The sketch wasn't terrible, but the colors that I chose were dark and gloomy. It wasn't at all what I had imagined! Having made this disaster, I was a bit frozen for a few days. I doodled with my ball point pen and played with the watercolors...doing thumbnails, etc. Just doodling my way past the block. (The sketches below are small ones, the smallest a little over an inch squared. They were all on the same scan, so you get an idea of the size of the other two.)

This was a scary moment for me. My confidence was shot! I didn't think I could do it and wished that I had not agreed to the exchange. Then, one morning I woke up, said I HAVE to get this done, and I did it. It surprised me how easy it was. I'll post that picture once I know the recipient has received my picture.

My Sketch(non)crawl 25

I had intended on going out on Saturday to have my own Sketchcrawl 25. I just didn't feel like the one hour drive to Houston, or the two hour drive to College Station to participate.




The weatherman had said we would have a wonderful day with cool temps and sunshine. My favorite weather! But, I woke up to rain, gray skies, and wind. So I wimped out, stayed home and sketched the cat. I suppose a more dedicated person would have braved the weather. I could have gone to a mall or something.

Anyway, Ollie was a great model for me and remained relatively still as he too moped around the house. These are small sketches scattered about two pages of my sketchbook. The originals are in pencil; color added in Corel Painter that evening. I did them over several hours of watching television. Putting down the sketchbook, picking it back up to sketch some more.







It seems like everyone is doing cats lately! Alex just made a post of a kitten that looked very similar to Ollie. Kate Johnson posted one of her cat going to the vet. Wendy has one up. Her cat has a GPS collar! And of course, Janey can always be relied on for cat sketches.


PS Hats off to those who compose their posts like this all the time! This was a booger!

PSS HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAN!

Blog Award

Alex has very kindly given me an award! Thank you so much Alex!

The rules are:
I need to pass this award on to five people, post on their blog to let them know I left this award, and then I need to answer a list of questions in ONE word.
So here we go:

1. Where is your cell phone?…river
2. Your hair?… wavy
3. Your mother?… AgathaChristie-ish
4. Your father?… McGyver-ish
5. Your favorite food?… sushi
6. Your dream last night?… colorful
7. Your favorite drink?…coffee
8. Your dream/goal?… illustration
9. What room are you in?… studio
10. Your hobby?… sketching
11. Your fear?… crowds
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?…ahead
13. Where were you last night?… here
14. Something that you aren’t?… serious
15. Muffins?… banananut
16. Wish list item?… laptop
17. Where did you grow up?… Texas
18. Last thing you did?… watercolored
19. What are you wearing?… Sweater
20. Your TV?… downstairs
21. Your Pets?… cat
22. Friends?… Awesome
23. Your life?… interesting
24. Your mood?… relaxed
25. Missing Someone?… sister
26. Vehicle?… Corolla
27. Something you're not wearing?… tutu
28. Your favorite store?… art
29. Your favorite colour?… Green
30. When was the last time you laughed?… today
31. Last time you cried?…month
32. Your best friend?… spouse
33. One place that I go to over and over?… HEB
34. Facebook?… nope
35. Favorite place to eat?… Home


I leave this award to:
1. Barbara Weeks
2. Ellen
3. Krista Meister
4. Martine
5. Phyllis

Portrait of a Friend

It isn't often that I come out and say that I really really like something I've done. But, for this one, I'm jumping up and down, patting myself on the back, chanting well done, well done! I don't think I've ever done a more true portrait. Most of the time I can see things that have gone wrong-- the eyes, or the mouth usually. But dang it, it's in my sketchbook! I wish that I had done it on a single sheet so that I could mail it to this friend! This man, I'll call him Mr. D, and I had some great conversations! A terrific person, Mr. D! One of those people who are always able to make you laugh!

I have so much to do right now and I'm feeling the pressure. I'm beginning to think about homemade Christmas cards and gifts, I have a portrait to do for my husband's grandmother (she doesn't read this), and I'm participating in the art exchange. The person I'm to send to is a fantastic artist! What to do, what to do! I'm near panic stage since I'm supposed to mail out by Tuesday and I haven't even a clue on what I'll do yet!

Mr. D is done in Prismacolor pencils, in my Moleskine sketchbook. I plan to add some lettering to the left of the page, but since I'd blur it out anyway, thought I'd go ahead and post it.

Oh yes, you noticed the banner! Well, this is temporary. I just couldn't look at my last banner another day. It's been on my to-do list for a long time, so finally I just took a portion of an experimental doodle that I did the day I received my copy of Corel Painter X, added some text, and voila! Temporary banner! I never deleted this little experiment because I loved the colors so much!

It wasn't like I did absolutely nothing...

Okay, so I did do something while I was gone. I found this tin at a garage sale. It is about seven inches by three inches. Almost an inch in height. It cost me three dollars! I know, a lot for a used tin, right? But, the woman was attached to this tin. She got it in London! When she found out that I intended to use it for a wc travel kit, she almost didn't sell it to me. I had to promise I would only paint the inside lid white. It is funny to me that she would sell it in a garage sale if she loved it so much! Anyway, I put my wc paints in plastic lids and then used double-sided sticky tape to make them stay in place. The inside lid is painted with white enamel paint. I'm not sure what I'll take in it, I just threw in some supplies to show how well it could work. Right now it is loaded with Kate Johnson's muted primaries, and then my favorite complimentary pair, orange and blue. Things may change, not sure.




And these are random doodles from my sketchbook. It would appear that I watch a lot of television, which isn't really the case, except for maybe lately.


You might recognize Ron Paul above. The woman in the black dress was from a movie, but she didn't turn out looking like herself, not even the same nationality! The mannequin sketch was from memory. And I really don't remember who the other people are supposed to be!

A few sketches from The Mummy. I never hit pause for these, so they were done in bits and pieces, not getting a great likeness. The houses on the right were done from imagination. I was practicing a technique, so basically I was just looking for some kind of roof-scape. Even though it is more of a symbolic type drawing, I like the way it turned out.

These are sketched randomly from commercials, and I think we were watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Also, a visitor fell asleep on our couch! He should have known better!

Trying to Get My Groove Back...

Okay, well, the last of the company left yesterday and I'm left with no more excuses. I have no one to blame for my procrastinating all the way until bedtime, and telling myself that tomorrow, tomorrow I will get going again! So, today, I stuck a movie in my computer, hoping something would catch my eye and make me want to hit pause. I actually forgot to hit pause though and at the end of the movie, I had to rewind. The lighting in this movie is really dark! I guess I never really noticed that until I tried to find pictures of the characters with enough light as to be recognizable. I felt out-of-practice. Like I hadn't held a pencil since first grade.