Colored Pencil

I have been playing around with some colored pencil art. And using a waterbrush. I really like the way they turn out. I don't seem to be able to use watercolor paint so the colored pencils are my way of trying watercolor.

I participated in the WDE and this was the second picture I have done from the reference photos that were provided. The scan didn't do the black justice. Washed the color out to more of a gray. For the black, I used an inkbrush.

I also did a couple more pictures to get the feel of doing a complete picture. I had been adding color to my sketches for the scavenger hunts but just touches here and there.

WDE 10-27-06

I decided to participate in the WDE this week. Someone posts several photos (16 this week). You choose one and do your picture within 2 hrs. Or post it as a WIP. I posted mine tonight with the label that I may do more than one image.

I am not getting a lot of response on the scavenger hunt this week. Not many people are posting and it seems deserted in there. I feel like I am talking to myself.

I have been looking at more forums in WC. I have been monitoring the Colored Pencil site, the Still life, sometimes even the Plein Air. I want to get as much time in drawing and sketching before I have to start working in Jan. I will have some classes starting in November for the computer program for the company I work for. Usually about 5 sessions at 3 or 4 hours a session.

Don't plan my day

My husband has been off just one day and already I feel the change. I told him tonight that it is much quieter when he is at work. He has a hard time hearing because of the noise of the motor in his diesel truck. He is a truck driver and that occupation tears up the body.

The noise was the television. He has it up so loud, you can't think. I will yell from the other room for him to turn it down some and before long it will be loud again. Like most men he sits with the remote control in his hand. If I am to believe my hubby, the remote must activate the volume button on its own. He says he doesn't turn it up.

We have 3 more days of "togetherness". The first day he complained that I was not to plan anything for him to do that he had that taken care of. Well today, as I expected, he sat in his recliner most of the day and slept.

His plans for tomorrow are to get up early and get busy. Well we will see.......

I did more items for the scavenger hunt today. And I found the thread at WC for the Weekend Drawing Event. It looks like most of the participants there are doing the work in mediums other than graphite. But I may just join in and do my graphite. I can always add some watercolor pencil and waterbrush. The ref photos will be posted tomorrow night. As I understand the rules, you have 1/2 hour to pick your ref and then two hours to do the artwork and post. If not finished in that time, you post it as a work in progress. Sounds fun and interesting.

Little Pale face

I finished the weekly drawing challenge. My scan doesn't show a lot of the shading. When I try to darken it in my picture program, it starts looking like a dirty face. So I have to take what I can get.

I also finished 5 more scavenger hunt items. Hopefully I will get more done tomorrow. I want to do a picture of my dog Penny. I have a photo that I took. It is of her whole body. I want to try it in colored pencil.

It has been a long day. And hubby is off work the next 4 days. Not that we will do anything special. He already has planned to do chores around the house.

Shopping

I went to Michaels today and bought a 24-pk of Verithin Prismacolor pencils. I will be trying them this week. They don't work with water, and I wanted to be able to blend the colored pencils better. The verithins seem to do that. I kept seeing posts that people used Prismacolor pencils exclusively and wanted to see what they were all about.

I noticed on the Worldwide sketchcrawl site that the next one is set for Dec 9, 2006. Gives us plenty of time to plan. Hopefully it will enable more people to participate. I want to get as much sketching and drawing done as I can as Jan 2 I will be reporting to the tax office where I will be working part time thru April 15. Which means less art time.

Uneventful Sunday

Today was church, lunch, nap, some surfing on WetCanvas, dinner, and then tv and more Wetcanvas. The new ref photo for the weekly drawing is another person. This time a child's face. Should be interesting.

I did a couple sketches for the scavenger hunt. My easel and a bookcase for a piece of furniture.

I have been going thru my colored pencils. I notice everyone seems to use Prismacolors. I only have two or three of those. I have mostly Derwents. I have over time collected some cheapies. One set (I have doubles of all) don't even have a label on them. I have Liquitex, Crayola, Pentech, Ultra something or other, some two sided ones, Colorease eraseable, and who knows what else. These are just the ones I haven't really used much. I usually use the Derwent watercolor pencils. I am going to have to do some trials on all of them and maybe discard the ones I don't like.

I have some Pentech Pure colors that I don't like. I bought them at Barnes and Noble I think. I don't like them. I can give them to the little kids next door or the teens across the street, or donate them at church. Maybe when I decide I will have some more ready to go.

It's funny that whatever craft, art, or whatever your hobby is you never have enough supplies. The problem happens when you don't stick with one hobby. I was an oil painter. Then I started drawing.

In between, and most of my life, I have crocheted, knitted, and sewn. Then I went thru a calligraphy stage. I also tried tole painting, painting on sweatshirts, jewelry,and we bought an engraver for big bucks. That I didn't like. Too messy. Have to wear a face mask because of the glass and/or wood dust flying. And the dust gets everywhere. As well as the air compressor is noisy and scares me every time it starts up. I usually have a wobbly engraved line each time to show for it.

Now I would like to sell the engraver. My husband had big dreams that I could use my art and the engraver to make big bucks. I still think buying the engraver for me was a way of keeping me from being upset when he purchased his big giant ladder the same day.

Any way I have way too many supplies. Not just for one thing but all the others too. I have tried to toss some of the ones I no longer or hardly ever do, but when I do that, it seems my interest again peaks toward what I abandoned. I end up buying more of the same supplies. So I am doomed to store them all. Someday when I am gone, it will be a chore for someone else.

Scavenger Hunt Items

One of the challenges for this weeks hunt was to make a still life of 3 of the items on the list. I did that tonight.

I shopped today at Costco and Winco Foods. My foot is killing me. It was like a job going to both stores and having to load and unload and put away everything. I was exhausted. The dogs and I took a long nap. Woke up just in time to fix dinner for hubby.

I had a slice of pizza that I got at Winco. They have a little fast-food area and you can buy pizza by the slice. It wasn't the best I have had but not the worse either. I had enough left for the dogs to have a bite.

One of my favorite things to draw is animals. I looked thru the WC image library for references tonight. I found several I want to draw. Maybe I will start one tomorrow. I still need to finish the portrait of my cousins. I hope to do that soon.

Hubby works tomorrow so I will probably be doing a bit of housework. And hopefully I can fit some drawing/sketching in between.

Fall

I have been reading and thinking about ACEOs, They are trading cards but with artwork on them. I have been playing around with some for a few days. Here is one I did for a seasonal challenge for Toad Hollow Drawing Forum.

Cowboys coming from the woodwork

In the weekly drawing thread there is an overflow of cowboy drawings. Everyone right from the start seemed to love the ref picture. After just a couple days, the drawings started to pour in. I think more people are drawing this week too. I procrastinated for a few days but not that long since it is only Wednesday. Everyone else was just in a hurry. And some really nice drawings in there.

Now that mine is finished, I can relax. I have a few other things I need to do this week and the week is almost over. It's only a couple months until the tax offices will open. I need to make some new clothes. And get to some more of the housework I seem to neglect by leaps and bounds.

I finished two more items for the scavenger hunt last night and one for today. Going a little slower this week.

My Poetry

I Am Woman
by Jeanne Grant

I am woman, hear me roar
As I mop the kitchen floor
Wash those dishes
Smash those wishes
Never ending always more

I am woman hear my plight
As I’m turning out the light
Make those wishes
Shove those dishes
Take the kitchen from my sight

In Darkness
by Jeanne Grant

Today my world has been rather dark
Life is changing, future seems rather stark
How can I make the adjustments needed
Warnings were there but went unheeded
Sadness is touching all parts of my heart
Piercing my soul with a lightning-like dart
Peace I need, it keeps flitting away
I long for release for my cares of the day
My heart is heavy, my head in a spin
Wondering frantic which emotion will win
Too much to absorb, too much to decide
My body is tortured, a tornado inside
Lord give me the strength to endure all that I can
Don't let me stagger, help me make the right stand
Please keep me on track and into Your Word
Stay by my side, I need you my Lord

Path of Light
by Jeanne Grant

I awoke this day to a bright new sky
The sun is not shining and I wonder why
I look around, take stock of the day
Feeling that I might lose my way

Then up ahead I see a bright light
It’s so outstanding, what a wonderful sight
The light stays ahead paving my way
It is so awesome, takes my breath away.

Could that be my Father lighting my path?
Is that Him clearing my way with His wrath?
I know the scripture says He’s the light for my way
I know this is true as I see Him this day

I follow along with complete trust in Him
Not just wandering all alone on a whim
But trusting my Father to lead me as I go

Not often bored, but...

Today I spent most of the day taking income tax classes online thru the company I work for during tax season. Way too many hours spent today. I finished one module and passed with a suitable score. Now (and it seems like forever) I have been working on another. I still have about 70 screens to get thru on the section I am on. I took a break for dinner and having a really hard time getting back to it.

I had been putting off taking the courses. But time was closing in. I have to have 30 hours certified to receive a pay hike. I still do not know if I passed the class I took in person. I tried to find out and still haven't received a phone call back. That means I have to take more classes online. I can't take the chance. Time is running out. I have only until November 1st to have all classes done and certificates turned in. I don't even have a clue how many I have. It is not easy to get information about where I stand for hours.

I took one class in Sept. Only one person in my class passed. I can still retake that one if I need to. But I would rather not. No one passed the same class last year. After a month or so, they lowered the % needed to pass but I still missed it by 4 points. Since there are only about 15 problems, you can only miss one question and still pass.

Today just for the second class, I have already taken 17 pages of notes and screen printed about 20 pages. All so that I have references for 15 questions. Then it is still hard to pass as the wording is strange trying to stump you.

I probably still have a couple hours reading to go to finish this module before I can take the final. Then tomorrow I will call again about the Rental Real Estate class I took to see if I passed. After that, I will either study to pass the first class in September or take another long, long online course.

So today I have only sketched a small vase with a ribbon on it. So not enough sketching for today. I would much rather be doing that than courses for taxes. But that is my seasonal job, and I need the money from it. The time to report to the offices is slowly arriving. Usually mid December or after Christmas. There was talk that this year we would go in early as the classes finished early.

When we first report, we have practice cases to go thru. A whole binder of them. We aren't supposed to do anyones income tax return until we have finished at least 20. Last year I think I finished 5 before I jumped in. At least it wasn't my first year. The firsdt year I didn't feel ready even after the 20.

The picture is of Bozo, our cockatiel. She is a character. Talks a blue streak. Has a whole vocabulary. One little spiel she says, even we can't figure it out. But she knows what she is saying as she will repeat it over and over. She calls the dogs, says their names, "hello kitty, kitty, kitty", "come on girls", hello pretty bird, what are you doing?, meow, whistles one song, and does a wolf whistle (like guys do when a pretty girl walks by), and tells us "hi". Great entertainment. And very vocal and demanding when you ignore her.

Almost finished...

I am almost finished with the 13th Scavenger Hunt. Afterwards I will work on items from the last 2 or 3 hunts that I did not finish. I also finished the weekly drawing challenge and a sketch of Tobey Rand from Rock Star Supernova.

No future

Here is another scavenger hunt item. A whole tree. I chose to draw our "piece" of an apple tree. Hubby had to cut a limb off last year that had broken. Well this year another big limb just fell over. The drawing I did is what is left of the tree. Now the tree has to go.

We bought a camp trailer and have no place to park it. Hubby will be making a drivway in part of our yard for the trailer, and the apple tree will have to go. So for now it is living on borrowed time. I will miss it. It has the best red delicious apples. This year we only got one apple from it. I don't know how long it will be before the driveway becomes a reality, but I will enjoy the little tree until that time.

Columbus Day

I have been working on the weekly challenge today. It is a scene in front of an Ethiopian restaurant. A man and woman are sitting on a bench in front of the brick wall. The window has blinds, and some signs, even one in neon. I have the man finished and the bench and wall. About half of the picture complete. I haven't decided whether I will finish the rest of the picture or just leave it like it is. The lady is in native dress and the fabric is very detailed. Still thinking it over.

I did some more scavenger hunt items today. I am finished with number 13, and the hunt started on Saturday. I figure if I finish early, I will work on the items I missed on the last 3 hunts. One of them I only got half the items. I want to finish them all.


"I love all who love me. Those who search for me will surely find me. Prov. 8:17

Up late

I am up late again tonight. Seems I just can't stop when I start reading threads on WetCanvas. They were down for updating last night, so I didn't get my daily fix. Tonight I have been reading some of the posts in the colored pencil site. One thread was about introducing ourself to the group. I am just on about the 6th page and there are 16 pages. Really interesting the different people in there. Some are actually working artists who do that full-time.

I am trying to learn more about colored pencil. I make florals with watercolor pencils but now would like to learn to draw with them dry and get the results I see in that part of the forum.

Drawspace.com

I joined another art forum not long ago. I recieved an email letting me know there was to be a drawing challenge from a ref photo. It was started by IslanderNl. I am happy that I found out about the challenge before it was over. I had not checked my email for a couple weeks. I had a choice of three photos to choose from. Green tomatoes on a vine, a gosling in her hands, or some kind of mill with much too much perspective. I chose the gosling and posted it today.

More scavenger hunt items

I have been doing one to two items a day for the scavenger hunt. I finished the two dog portraits I wanted to do and still need to finish the one of my two cousins.

I finished my tax class today and took the test. Now just have to wait for my score.

Start of a new week

We got our new weekly challenge reference early this evening. It's nice to see it early. It is a bird sitting in a tree during a snow fall.

I finished up some more sketches for the sketchcrawl today. One item was to draw my hand while it was drawing. Many were discussing how hard it would be as they have to have a model that doesn't move. Well I drew my hand drawing my hand on another piece of paper. I thought it was a nice idea. I was happy with it. If I had started it on a bigger paper, I could have had an infinity picture.

I didn't finish the last two scavenger hunts so will be doing the rest of those while I do this one. I finished one item on the last list today. A hot drink. I did a cup of hot chocolate in one of my favorite cups.

I received the cup from a friend at work. I don't remember if it was for Christmas, a birthday, or something else. But she got it for me because it has the picture of a Golden Retriever on it. At the time we had a beautiful, wonderful Golden Retriever named KC. She lived to be 14 yrs old and was a joy her whole life.

Golden Memory
by Jeanne Grant

It is that time for your final journey
Leaving us both with a sadness and yearning

You will be missed our golden child
You’ve been a joy from beginning to end

Because we love you so very much
On your final journey we send

We will miss your faithful eyes
As you wait for your next surprise

Your head would come to instant attention
When giving you licorice was our intention

Your longing looks at your papa’s face
Tears in his eyes there is a trace

You leave a void too hard to fill
Trying to forget against his will

Your jobs were clear in your eyes
Carry the paper no matter what size

Unloading the car, you carried your part
Always so faithful, such a big heart

We both remember the joyful times
Memories running through our minds

Never a problem, always a joy
Memories of you with a brand new toy

We must go on with burdened heart
We must go on and make a new start

Remember our beautiful golden girl
We’ll never forget your golden curls