Lazy Sunday

I have finished a cup of hot chocolate and read thru several of the WC forums. Last night I was up late. Finished my drawing for the WDE this week. It is of Al Jones' granddaughter Kennedy. Such a cute bundle.

Still waiting for hubby to decided to cook breakfast. Just have to outwait him. He did take some bacon out of the freezer so must be planning to do the cooking. He is the one in our house who cooks bacon.

I am procrastinating. I need more certification hours in taxes, but I just keep putting it off. I only have a couple more weeks to get it done. It's too bad it isn't as much fun as art.

Christmas Wishes

Today I did a drawing of a Christmas Cactus. I posted it in the Colored Pencil Forum of WC without a background. I wasn't sure I could do a background and not mess up the picture. But I printed off a page with 9 copies and played with some color on the background. I was using Inktense Pencils for the cactus and wanted to finish with them but all the colors are pretty dark. All except yellow (looked gold on the pencil). I am not usually a yellow kind of person, but that is the color I ended up with as a background.

I did try some watercolor pencil colors as background too but still nothing worked but yellow. It is very, very bright now. But all other colors took the focus from the flower. So I went with the yellow.

Weekly challenge

The new weekly challenge was a tree with above-ground roots. Big roots. Ref by Bigs/Sue. I went a little bit looser with my style this time. I also used more than my regular mechanical pencil.

I joined the virtual Secret Santa gift exchange. Looking forward to it and the fun. Can't wait to see who I get to draw for. And in the end who will get me. The one big problem will be, I have to guess which artist was my giftor and have to PM artists until I find out who it is. Might be a problem for my drawing as I have had a couple people in the scavenger hunt thread say they are recognizing my style right away. I may have to go outta the box for the Christmas gift. But I want to do a good job so can't go too far. But I thought I knew some of the artists style and was fooled by the Halloween entries.

Beautiful day here

We have had freezing weather and last night a wind storm, but today the weather is beautiful. Calm after the storm. The yard is a mess with leaves. Even the front yard which has no trees, and I suspect the leaves came from the tree next door.

I worked on the WDE picture and had fun with it. I call it my Wonky Flying Truck. The photo ref was at an odd angle, and it was a little hard to sketch. My sketch looked a little cartoony. Several comments about it said I could use it as an illustration for a children's book.

Hubby and I will go to church shortly. I need my spiritual self replenished. It is hard to get up and around when the bed looks so inviting. But the rewards are well worth it. And today is communion which is so fulfilling. I have missed so many Sundays at church. Just from laziness. I hope to make that a priority especially in the new year.

A new scavenger hunt list was posted last night. By Arnica this time. Her first time. Good to have new submitters so the lists are varied. I will start some of the items later today. After (or probably before) paying bills, starting dinner, etc, etc, etc. Which do you think will be my priority? You guessed it...sketching.

Tomorrow starts another round of tax classes. About 7 days worth at 4 hours a day spread over about 2 1/2 weeks. Then after Jan 1st, back to the offices to work on practice case studies to get our blood flowing and our fingers warmed up for the peak season of income tax preparation. Not looking forward to the interuption in my sketching time, but the money is needed.

May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.Philippians 1:11

I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.Leviticus 26:11-12

Munching Seeds

I sit here munching on sunflower seeds with my mouth getting puckered from the salt. Dinner is finished, the dogs fed and sacked out, hubby in his recliner, and me sitting here with my computer. Tis the season where there is nothing on tv but reruns or specials. I am not ready for Christmas specials yet. Some of the readio stations are playing Christmas songs already. I could probably handle two weeks of non stop Christmas songs but a whole month? A little much.

We aren't putting up decorations this year. With Penny the 1 yr old pup, that would be a disaster. I can see the floor now. Pieces of Christmas tree, ornaments and lights and wires stripped and all over the floor. No little kids around here so we will pass on the decorations this year. Next year we will see.

Last week a man was mailing all his Christmas cards. Wow what an early start. I haven't even thought about mine yet. Maybe I am just not in the spirit for celebrating this year.

I finished the scavenger hunt items today. And all the challenges. And two days early. Ready for the next one. We have lost a few who were doing them. Now seems there are less than 10 people participating. I don't know what happened to chouchou. But I miss her. Maybe after the holidays more people will join in again.

Dance of the zippers

I did two items for the scavenger hunt tonight. One was the first thing I see in the morning. That is my dog Penny. She sleeps next to me and usually has her head laying on some part of me. Sometimes it is on my shoulder and when I open my eyes, her beautiful face is right there.

The other item was a zipper. I did a drawing of 4 zippers. I wanted to have several in different colors. I have 14 items finished and one challenge done. The hunt still has until Dec 3. Not an eventful day today. Just some housework and a long nap with the dogs. Hopefully tomorrow will be more of the same. With some sketching of course.

Sunday

Well after dinner yesterday I didn't think I could ever eat again. Wrong. I ate my regular dinner tonight. How sick is that? When you eat too much, you shouldn't be able to eat again until your body uses up what it already has. lol

I worked on some scavenger hunt items today. Here is one of them. It was for a piece of jewelry. I decided to do a cross I have with stones. I used Inktense pencils because they have a more ink look to them. I thought that would look more like jewels.

Here kitty kitty kitty

For the WDE this week I did the cat named Possum. Most of the photo refs were scenery of wooded areas. I didn't want to do trees as I had just done one not long ago. And I have been wanting to do a cat face. I would like to do one to practice colored pencil. But this one I did in graphite. I was pretty happy with the drawing. Not perfect but done in a two hour time frame.

I believe tomorrow is a new scavenger hunt post. I still have 5 items for this one unfinished. I may be able to get them tonight or tomorrow.

Tomorrow is another Thanksgiving dinner. My cousin's house this time. There will be about 20 people there. Another day of stuffing myself to beyond full. Tastes really good but sure is miserable after. Yesterday was turkey tomorrow will be deep pit ham. I have never tasted that so will be looking forward to trying it.

Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak." Mark 14:38

With a full stomach.

Today being Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., I have eaten until I am stuffed. Very nice dinner with hubby's sister and husband. When we got home, Penny, our lab had chewed up the insides of a new pair of house slippers I bought to replace another pair she had chewed up. We left her too long and she was bored. Filled her time with chewing. She is just a year old. Still a puppy at heart. When you scold her for it, she looks so hurt. And then she just starts wagging and is happy we are home. I really don't think she has a clue.

Here is a picture I did yesterday (5x7). I finally scanned it tonight so that I could post it here. I will be doing more of these. Just a perfect size for gifts.

Judy1957's daughter Maggie

I finished the Weekly Challenge tonight of Judy1957's daughter Maggie. Judy is the Moderator this week and chose the reference photo of her daughter. You can see the drawings here: http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=383569

I also posted some more items for the scavenger hunt. I did todays on black cardstock that I bought last week at Michael's. I used white Prismacolor pencil on all the items and the same brand of red and green on the teabag.

It is getting late here and I was up late last night. Still have to load the dishwasher before going to bed.

WDE 11-17-06

I finished my drawing for the WDE site. I did the elephant. I seem to be stuck on animals lately. I didn't take much time on the elephant. About 1 hour.

Late night, early morning

Depending where you live, it is early morning, or maybe late night. I am still up at 1:30 am. I need to get to bed as I have a hari appt in the morning at 8:30 and at least a half hour drive in heavy traffic. The hair dresser has moved this past month to the farthest area from where I live. Before she moved I could make it across town to her shop in about 15-20 minutes.

I have been playing with my Derwent drawing pencils again. I did a picture of KC our Golden Retriever who passed on about 3 yrs ago. I am not really happy with the picture but will probably not do it over. I want to give it to my husband for Christmas. I have done several pencil drawings of her that I liked much better. On this one, the black I used to get the darks of her eyes and nose just look a mess. It got waxy and didn't really look black. Maybe I will try to burnish those two areas.

My bird is behind me in her cage wanting me to talk. She keeps asking me "What are you doing". Of course even if I told her, she would still ask again and again and again.

Well I can't stay awake much longer. I just wanted to get something posted for today.

I worked on new pieces for the scavenger hunt which started today. A pretty good list. I have 5 items finished and 5 of them are already posted. Hopefully tomorrow I will work on my WDE drawing for the week. And I still need a Christmas card for another forum. I haven't a clue what that will be. I am not good at making something up from my head. I would like to do something that is more spiritual instead of something that shows commercialization. But a spiritual picture is even harder to "imagine" from my mind. I thought about a child praying but would need a ref picture. Also a fireplace with a burning fire, but ...I could do a candle still life but sounds boring. I will have to think awhile longer. It has to be posted by Dec 15 so I have a bit of time.

Well time for some beauty sleep (if only that were possible). Tomorrow, strike that...today is another day.

Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all! Romans 12:16

Last of the trio

I finished my last of the 3 dogs for the weekly challeng on WC. This one is a mix breed named Zipper. I wasn't as happy with this one. I don't think I did this one justice. I was happiest with the husky. It is fun seeing everyone's drawings. Even the different mediums. I did all three drawings in mechanical pencil.

I have drawn animals for several years now. My accomplishment has been that I am now doing them freehand. Formerly I used a graph. I have no problem with graphs or people who use them. It makes it much easier to get ears, eyes, etc in the right places. And believe it or not, you can still make a mistake with a graph. But I was tired of drawing all those lines and then having to get them erased off of my drawings. Sometimes it was impossible to take every little bit off. It also caused smudging.

I am so much more satisfied with my drawings now that I can do them freehand. Such a freeing feeling. I still cannot measure. I have to just start at one spot and work at it until I get what I want. I might use a ruler to measure a dogs muzzle length but I just can't seem to do the lines or measurements most people use to get the proportions right. It just does not work for me, so I will stick with what does work for me.

Sometimes my measurements might be a little off but if the drawings please me, that is a plus. I also tend to do more line work. I tried to develop that more fully, but have found my style is more for the linework. It just seems to fit me better. Some things I can extend the tonal values but others just seem finished to me without. I seem to like the fact that I can get a likeness with just a pencil and some lines.

Looking forward to whatever new challenges face me next week. I am ready to start a new landscape in pencil and also to try another animal. This time in colored pencil. I wish to be able to do the fur of animals using the colored pencils. If I can make fur with pencil, I should be able to make it with colored pencils.

A husky named Sage

Tonight I did the second dog for the weekly drawing forum. The dog belongs to WetCanvas member She-She. The drawing is from one of her photos on the Reference Image Library. I now have one more to go. It is a mixed breed and short-haired. I hope to get that one done tomorrow.

A new Monday.

I finished the last of the scavenger hunt for this week. There were 7 less items this time. I didn't do two of the challenges but may later. Tonight I concentrated on the weekly drawing challenge. The photo refs were 3 different dog photos. I was going to draw all three (head shots) on on page but later decided to do each individually. I finished the sheltie tonight. Two more to go plus the WDE drawing for the week to be done.

Penny our lab is getting settled in finally. She still chews but mostly her own toys. She unstuffs them all over the house. But she has stopped tearing up any papers laying around on tables. She also does not panic when I leave. She is so happy when I get home but now knows I am coming back.

We have had her now just over three months. The change in her is great. She is such a wonderful dog that I can't imagine not having her. I am so glad she came to us. We have great patience with dogs, and she needed someone like that to get her over her trauma of being abandoned. We both feel if she had not come here, that she would have been shuffled to a few more homes. It would have ruined her spirit.

As a 1 yr old dog now, she has a zest for life. So happy just to have a ball or a chew toy to toss around all by herself. She is so happy. Loves to eat, sleeps hard, and very loving. Thank you Penny for coming into our lives.

Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.Revelation 3:20

Pencil landscape

Yesterday I did another landscape. It was from a reference photo from the WDE last week. I saved several of the photos that week to do. This is the second one I have done.

Yesterday started another scavenger hunt. #17. Wow it is hard to believe that I have done 16 of them already. This one has 19 items 7 less than usual. Plus 3 challenges. I have already finished 10 plus one challenge. I think this one will be finished fast for me. That's ok as I plan to do more landscapes.

I still have several Christmas presents to do plus some genealogy work for my sister-in-law that I want to get done. Also I want to do a picture using the reds like Al Jones for a Christmas present for my husband of our KC who is no longer with us. I want to take my time on that one and make it special with mat and frame for him.

Thanksgiving is not very far away. About a week and a half. My cousin and her husband will be doing some deep pit meat. We will take a turkey over there to have done for us too. We will have Thanksgiving dinner with hubby's sister and brother-in-law and another dinner with my cousin's family the Saturday after. Just what I need, more food.

It seems I am doomed to repeat my early dating and marriage time in the age when I should be cutting down my food intake. When dating my husband, we started celebrating holidays with both our families. Fortunately (or unfortunately) , my family had their dinners at noon, and his family had their dinners around 6-8 (his mom procrastinated and was the slowest person when getting dinners ready).

His mom was always at the bank at 5 minutes to 3 when they closed at 3. On Friday nights, closing time was 6. His mom showed up about 15 minutes before closing. She never even started to get ready and pick up the check and dep until late in the afternoon.

I remember one Christmas Eve, we were all gathered around to open our presents. His mom just got home and was in the bedroom wrapping the presents she had just bought. Why bother to wrap them when they would just get ripped off half hour later.

But I ventured from the subject. We ate dinner with my family at noon, and ate again with his family in the evening. Two big dinners. And both insisted we eat dessert and the works. That is one day we were stuffed all day. But it kept family harmony with both sides, and our parents never felt that we gave preference to either side. Made for nicer relationships. But not on the body. We now carry way more weight around than is comfortable. And now we have swung full circle around and are going to eat two meals. Makes me groan at the thought. Will be tasty but........

Colored Pencil Landscape

I just finished a colored pencil landscape. I used a photo reference from WC but didn't note the person who submitted it. I thought it was the photo I got from my friend Jean but soon realized that hers was from Oregon and had water in the background. I will have to do hers later.

I am relatively happy with the finished product. It is one of my first done with colored pencil. I did use a little watercolor pencil for the background but did the rest of the picture with dry colored pencils (prismacolors.) I have recently gotten several tins of Prismacolors from ebay. Having fun trying them out.

Weekly challenge

I finished the deer scene for the weekly challenge. So everything that I needed to accomplish this week is done. I even finished the Scavenger Hunt today. Another doesn't start until the 9th. Maybe they will post early this week.

Bible study was tonight. Only one more before the holiday break. Then starts up again mid January. By that time I should be doing taxes.

I worked yesterday on two small watercolor pencil drawings. One is some roses with a white background. The other is a scene with mountains and trees. I am getting a little more comfortable with the colored pencils. Not good but comfortable.

WDE Wishing Well

Today I worked on my entry for the WDE for this week. I chose the picture of the wishing well to do. I first sketched the scene, then used dry watercolor pencils. After I finished that, I added some water with a waterbrush.

I was happy with the way the drawing turned out. I am getting more comfortable all the time adding some color to my drawings.

I ordered from ebay some watercolor Prismacolors. I haven't tried them yet. I did receive them today. I tend to like the Derwent watercolors. But I like the verithins better for dry work. They seem harder. I will try the Prisma watercolor pencils tonight and see if I like them as well.

Jesus replied, "You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”Matthew 22:37-38, NLT

Scavenger hunt still life

I did a still life with some of the scavenger hunt items tonight. I like the way it turned out. Most of the time when I try to arrange a still life, the items don't look like they belong together. This time it was different. Of course most of them are food related so maybe that is why. I really liked the arrangement any way.