Day 57 - Making a Few Corrections!!

Yesterday I was looking at the nose on this picture wondering WHY it looked so long. I had measured her in the artsy way with my pencil and it was not too long. Honey does have a long nose for a lab...the pound thought she was part hound..but I had forgotten something!!

Long Nosed Honey!

 Honey fixed!

I had not measured the WIDTH of the head...it was far too narrow. I added on about 1/3 of an inch to the top and am much happier with the way she looks now!! I think she looks a lot better now.

Day 39 - On the Road I-20

Driving home from a fabulous in Columbia with friends. Got up to a beautiful morning - a cool crisp with hints of fall. Rocking on the backporch with our morning cups I said let's go to Columbia.

Tipplin Teacups

(Ink and all kinds of marker on cardstock)

Off we went first to Cityart in the Vista - a great art store with a two story art gallery with varied enough art to suit anyone's taste. Randy in the art store was super sweet and helpful. Cityart has an online store Art Express with the best fastest shipping I have ever used.

The gallery

Two of the many paintings at Cityart's Gallery.

Then onto Nonnah's in the Vista for lunch. A long leisurely visit with friends.

My delicious tuna salad at Nonnah's.

Last but not least dinner at Shealy's in Batesburg. We DO LOVE barbecue!!

Home sweet home!!!!!

Day 28 - More skies!!

Sometimes I really don't like the way the skies look when I am done with them like this one!!! 

 This sky had a lot of puffy white clouds in it against a bright blue sky.  I washed the paper with water.  Then using Cobalt blue I washed around the cloud areas.  I added cerulean and yellow ocher for the greys.  And some purple.

So how to fix it?? 

I used a white inktense bar of color similar to a pastel to brighten the sky up a bit.  As long as you don't wet it it stays transparent.  I like it alot better now!!

I did the same thing with this sky. And I really like the way this one turned out!!! 

A memory drawing

Drawn in my moleskine with a pigma pen

I was reading Gabis blog(an illustrator for the Seattle newspaper)...and he had posted sketches of the Seattle Ferry...isnt it odd how a picture can trigger memories from your childhood...things you had not thought of in years...this drawing happened in a matter of minutes...great to be back drawing...i tried to imagine what a child would look like hanging on the rail..

ANYWAY Gabi's blog made me remember living in Norfolk VA as a child and how excited i was to go on a trip which always seemed to start with a ferry boat ride ...we had to cross the Chesapeake...and of course we were always on an adventure...to the ship museum..naval museum in Hampton roads, to williamsburg and jamestown or to Mt. Vernon and DC...watching the Marines parade at Henderson Hall or going to the unknown soldier memorial....

of course i liked the water so well that just riding on the big ferry boat was more than enough adventure for me...hanging on the rails watching the water and the land looming up before the boat...and of course mom would dress me up in a spiffy dress or skirt with mary janes ...and my skirts always had suspenders because i was soo skinny...size 4t that the skirts would fall off me...i have since managed to fix that:>

So i might be doing everyday in June???

ann said i owed four more...so heres one...two more are almost in the bag...they are wet....my flashlight challenge...dh must have at least four more around the house that i can find and no telling how many in the garage...he keeps them in all sizes and shapes...wonder if other guys do that?? hes protecting us against the dark...bytw all five of these work!! how amazing is that?!

and bytw these were are a real pain to draw...especially the two big black ones with all the nubbly things all over them....would you believe there are three of the big black ones...i forgot one was upstairs next to the bed from the lights out two weeks ago....really needs to get back downstairs because we have all these wall flashlights all over the house too...

Saturday and Sundays paintings

still trying to catch up..this is may 12 and 13....hmm if i stay one ahead though i can take a day off right:> this is a wc off the graduate relaxing after graduating from law school with honors and highest distinction AND staying up all nite...well most of the nite...relaxing...

the view out his apartment window...everywhere you looked there were paintable views in the city...you could just put a stool down kerplunk and turn out a great painting...this would have beeennn better if it were larger and painted when i drew it...same goes for drews painting above...

ok so this is another mothers day offering...I drew ever watchful jazz on the her perch on the back of the sofa...she will tell you shes one of my kids...my furkid:> she loves a quilt...all my quilts are jack russell approved:> Happy Mothers Day to all the furkids moms too:>!!

Happy Mothers day

Attempt #1 -nice painting but does NOT look like the soft delicate colors of the original

So i bought this plant with the excuse..ummm mothers day is coming was my excuse...and i will try to paint it was the other...:> on one of my jillion trips thru publixs last week getting graduation table decorations and a cake... and painted these on Thursday nite...so now I am posting them with happy mothers day wishes to you all...

Number two...not great composition...and all the same tone

I am not particularly happy with them...the reiger begonias flowers are so delicate and pale pink but were EXTREMELY difficult to capture in wc...they turned into a pink puddle...and a pale one at that...i tried three different times...THE last try...i give up...pale but no definition at all...

stayed up till 1 am when i had to get up and drive to Atlanta for graduation the next day...not good....so the next morning i bought another begonia on my last trip thru publix ...reddish orange and yellow...

the eleventh day of may

sitting at Toyota waiting for the car to be tuned up...after drooling over the latest new cars in the show room i sat down to hmmmm draw....NO molie....well drawing molie that is...oop it was in my car which was in the shop...

So i got out my writing molie that a friend gave me and drew these..with a large pointed gel pen...no fel tip either.I think the lady on the left thought i was doing something...she got up and left...oopsss....

Trying to upload AGAIN

Sorry to confuse everyone...I thought i had done this RIGHT last nite but had gotten some really ODD message from blogger saying it wasnt going thru...and then it acted like it uploaded...now its nowhere to be found...sooo here goes again!!!

EDM Challenge 117-Something Round

These small green balls have been all over the driveway and yard alot lately...But i had no idea what they were. The rain in the last three days knocked down a jillion more. Going out to check the mail yesterday i picked one up and though...perfect for the round challenge...such a strange looking thing...still wondering WHAT they were....we have so many different trees in our "woods" it was hard to tell....

By the time I got back to the front steps I found the answer to my question...a tip of a branch knocked down with the little ball on it still...SWEET GUM was the culprit...one day these were all going to be the big ouchy prickly balls that fill the yard up in the fall...

OH Charles Reid wanna be again...splattered and dripped....I first painted the leaves a yellowy green and then painted darker colors over each one...I got more proficient as I went...the top ones are the last ones I did...well not quite...the branch was last...and all those charles reid drips of paint that I love...hes got to be painting on an easel vertically...at least thats the only way i can get the paint to run and drip!

Daniel Smith WC in my big wc molie..decided to give it a chance with real wc...not pencils and it worked very well....I do think this needs something on the left side..not sure what bbuttttt we shalls ee!!

A couple of new sketches

tired of looking at kids yet??? they are too funny to me...their antics....here are some more of them...these were stressing out as they have to pass the test to go to the next grade...if they dont they will be in summer school and have to pass the test there or back in thier grade till they do pass...we may have some VERY tall third and fifth graders soon...

Hmmm i was coveting andrea joseph's fabulous collections...but i guess i am drawing collections too...just different ones...faces!!:> The little girl on the right is not a bad drawing...shes just VERY round....and the boy on the bottom...his spitting image...amazing how sometimes they just pop right onto the paper in seconds...

Oh and i started a shoe drawing craze...they love to draw their shoes since i gave them permission too...who knew...so funny!

okay so in between knitting and sewing like a

maniac I have been drawing...
GOODNESS COLOR...a journaled page of our class with Kristi that i kept forgetting to scan once i wc penciled it...did i say i really prefer color...i think all of these pages could really benefit from some COLOR!!!
I really liked this living room on one of those designer rooms..going to have to talk to my interior designer Jeff and see what he thinks...i hear he thinks i need a wall of glass somewhere...back of the house I bet...cause i have been thinking that for a while...but then where would we put the fridge and the dw...a girl has to have those!!!

this is a drawing of my son ben with his cat tom...tom usually never sleeps on anyone but he does love his guy ben...evidently ben is getting rid of his "jesus" look as soon as someone paints his picture with his long hair and beard as Jesus...
Fast sketch during faculty meeting...more i look at it the more i think it looks like the teacher...
Lura....this is a drawing of our teacher last friday week...and a sketch following her rules of shading ...meant to ink it but my knitting two pairs of socks, a pair of slippers and most of a HUGE purse got in the way...
One of my really cute students...i am going to do a better sketch of him in wc one day

the kids wanted me to draw a car so i drew this while waiting for my hair appointment downtown..this is ninth street on ri

Sketches keep on coming...some good some bad

and ya know some are indifferent...my beloved HP 1350xi is driving me nuts with this Mac Book Pro,...it works for a little while and the quits...then I have to download the drivers AGAIN...maybe its about time to get a new zoomy printer to go with my zoomy computer??? ANYWAY here is what i have scanned so far...before the mac said it could not communicate with the HP...

The first one is a cp sketch i did of the tulips before i drew the big one...hmmm am i acutually using the sketchbook as the prep for a bigger sketch??? is it possible?

The next one is one of two or is three pages i drew from All Creatures Great and Small...been watching it off and on getting them from Netflixs...I finally watched the last disk....all of the characters make you want to get out the sketchbook, pause the dvd and draw like crazy...this is Roddy Travers an intinerant tinker/farm hand who thought he was going to have to put his beloved Murphey the dog down because everyone thought Murphey was killing sheep...of course Siegfried cleared Murphey at the last moment and kept James from having to put him down.

Roddy almost drew himself and Murphey a great big hairy white wolf hound looking dog was not as kind to me!


So not to be outdone i drew four more pages of these....one of the old man who thought Murphey was killing his sheep...his face would sort of drape everytime he moved...a very old sheep farmer...a sketch of the a too long faced Sigfried Farnum...then a fast drawing of the partners with their phone number...and well the cow got away from me...was too tired to go back thru the dvd looking for it...and cows are not my thing....but next dvd I will draw some animals...hmmm maybe i just need a dvd of pics of animals I can draw??


OK more fast afterschool sketches of the kids...they love to get my book and figure out who is who...we had another day with Meg ...the hamster trying to draw her and talk about what she was up too...today she was Nipping a Nut...hmmm do hamsters eat nuts...dont remember feeding ours nuts...but hamster food...but its been years and years since we had one...


Last i drew a couple of sketches of two of the teachers while we were in a meeting....one is the back..and the other ...well it does look like her but she looks younger in the sketch..adding in those shadows can definitely get you in trouble! Both with the sketchee and the sketch:>

Drawings, painting and more....

as usual...wonder why i cant eat just one....these are some of the sketches i did this weekend yesterday

This started out as a wc pencil sketch but added prismacolor art stixs to the mix...and then just to be sure i was done I added some pen rapidograph I think...now that i have ink in the koh-i-noor it seems to be stopped up!

This is the original ink drawing in my moleskine that i added wc pencil too...the ink seemed to bleed...using the rotring pen on it...
My son Drew and his girl Emily were home this weekend...we spent the rainy afternoon watching Running with Scissors starring Annette Benning and also Jill Clayburg, Alex Baldwin, and Gwenyth Paltrow...all crazy nuts absolutely bonkers...not a movie I would recommend unless you like watching a bunch of really nutty people...
Drew still glued to the movie...Emily's hand and the start of drews but he moved...and another view of the pot of now defunct daffodils...bytw the pen seemed to bleed on this page..the ink is supposed to be waterproof!!

A very fast sketch of my fav kindergarten class while we were waiting for circle time to start...I did this one along time ago...and had lost it but now its found....so here it is...

EDM Challenge 107 and more daily drawings....

I am definitely an NPR junkie. I have all the "talk" NPR programmed into my car radio so that I can drive across SC and never miss a lick of NPR...oddly enough you cannot do that in Georgia. My dh reads the paper cover to cover...I probably should have drawn his lips but this is our local paper thrown in our yard.
Just stuff to draw...have been buying way too many art supplies... When nothing else is holding still long enough to draw...the dogs are good for models:> I love daffodils...these are some in a pot I bought at Publix earlier this week to draw...they are going in the yard when they fade....more fast sketches of kids done thruout the week in spare moments frequently finished at home....especially the inked drawing...some look alot like the kids some dont....but they are all done in just a few seconds...under 5 minutes for the ones that are not just heads...I love all the heads...and the boy after it is probably my favorite.



and a haiku that i wrote....
fingers pointing
children's voices raised
blame is cast

Actually that is a reaction to Jeffs painting called WHO did this? which is on the cover of calendar from first citizen bank but will also be reproduced on tshirts for a hospital in Greenville...more about that later...