Maybe it's time for some blog CPR?

I can hardly believe so much time has passed.  I mean, really, a year and a half?  Well, a lot has been happening around here.  I finally made the move back to Boise, ID.  Since that move, I've moved two more times.  Our lease is up in April and we hope to have a house by then...so one more time?

Before my absence I had been struggling with getting scans that didn't make me want to throw my hands up and scream.  They would look too gray, or if I turned up the contrast or brightness, it became garish.  It was depressing. I wanted you to see how they really appear in my sketchbook, because, well, I was proud of them. I've been working on that and I think I've improved things a bit.  I've replaced some of the pics in previous posts.  I think they look somewhat better, though I know there are still problems and they still don't look as good as what I have in my sketchbook.  But now it isn't depressing because I think it is close enough.

One thing that I did not stop doing during my long absence was drawing and painting.  I have so much piled up around me that I hardly know where to even start.  So, I think I'll start with more from that movie sketchbook (from 2011-2012) and just start trying to catch up chronologically.
I'll start with some Christmas movies...because I love Christmas and I'm sad that it is gone.

Home Alone II   ...I'm an adult and this one still makes me laugh until I cry. 

 And Santa Clause 3:

  

And finally, A Christmas Story:

By the way...any readers out there that are in Boise, ID, I'm working on getting an Urban Sketchers group together.  If you're interested, email me.

This batch is all pencil and watercolor in a HandBook travelogue sketchbook.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a wonderful New Year's!

  

Portraits, doodles in watercolor

Remember this ? I was afraid to paint it "at the moment", and though I said I would be getting to it right away, I lied. I only did this last night. The background was too intense so I did a glaze over it to tone it down. Let me just say, I find red hair extremely difficult to do. It was much darker than this in reality. And I'm still trying to figure out how to do shadows on people. Do you go with more saturated skin tone color, or do you add blue, or what? How do you create your shadows? Overall I like this. I just don't look at it too closely because my inner critic will begin picking it apart.



Okay, this, this is someone I love and miss very much. I wish she lived closer and that I could see her more often. It is done from a dark photo of her in a cave, where details are often hard to discern. Like the glasses on her head. They just looked like a continuation of her hair in the photo. I almost didn't even notice them, except she had weird-shaped hair which would never happen in reality because she's beautiful, always. I only see a resemblance here. She may not even think it looks like her at all. Especially the skin tones! I'm still having difficulty getting those down correctly, so her beautiful glowing tan looks more like a sunburn! So my message to this person is, don't be offended, I'm still learning here! Oh, and LOVE YOU!


I went back to this and toned down the background with a glaze. Thanks Dan for the suggestion! There is some improvement, though I think it may need another glazing. I'll probably just leave this one alone though. Never was too excited about it to start with!






This ocean scene is only about 1" X 3". I did it for study purposes only and from imagination. I wanted to get better at doing clouds and this is the one, out of about five, that I liked best. I got the idea for doing it from Barbara Weeks. She did some really great studies at the beach.

I've also recently been awarded the Over-the-Top award by Jennifer Edwards, and the Sunshine Award by Cathie Tonkins. I haven't forgot about these; I promise to get to them soon! Thank you both for thinking of me!

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