New Year's Eve

It's a sad day at our house today. It hasn't been a good year either but today we had to put down our Friday. (Last year we lost Ditto on Dec 1st.) She had lymphoma and got worse yesterday. So this morning about 10 am her pain ended. I'm glad for her to be pain free but sad for us. Now we have to go on without her. I'm drowning my sorrows in Dr. Pepper and Baked Cheetos. I may eat the whole bag.

Cholla Finished

Here is the graphite dog portrait Weimeraner) I have been working on. It is now finished. It is a surprise Christmas present for a friend of my dog groomer. She will take it this weekend. I am glad to have it finished. It is done on Bristol board which I found to be a little more slick feeling than the regular Bristol Smooth paper I normally use. It was harder to get the darks in as I only use a mechanical pencil. I do like the softness on the board though.

The dog face is about 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. The paper is 10 x 12 inches. I cut it down from a larger sheet. I wanted to leave enough room so that she has a choice of how she will mat it. I emailed it to my groomer and just waiting to see how she likes it. This one I'm trading for dog grooming which is something I have to have done monthly.

2009 Goals

Well I'm sorry I did, but I went back to January and reread my goals for 2009. Not a good thing. Only one thing accomplished. Now that's sad. Almost makes me hesitant to make a list of goals for 2010.

The one thing I did do from my list was making an improvement on my cp work. I have heard that from several people so it is not just my opinion. I have been able to move in a more whimsical style for some of my animals. I like those. Especially as 3 of my favorite blogs have that kind of style. Leslie Hawes, Tanya Bond, and Melody Lea Lamb. You can access each of these blogs thru my links on the right.

I also wanted to be able to do some cp portraits. I did a couple of those. Latest one was for the portrait swap on Wetcanvas. It wasn't a great job but I was happy that I was able to get one finished. I did one in graphite and one in cp. I really liked the graphite one the best but at least I did do a cp version. And I sent both to my swap partner.

Plus I have gotten to a new level with my graphite. I have a more realistic look to my dog portraits with a tinge of my own style thrown in. That is what my friend Sue said. You can see her artwork at Dachshunds and Daubs at the link on the right.

It's nice that I did get some work done on one of my goals. But the other 9 things on the list were totally not accomplished. Not one of them did I improve on.

I will make a list again but will be careful with what I "wish" for. I don't want to reach 2011 and be so shocked at what I didn't accomplish.

I have a couple more days to get my list ready. I will start working on it. But in the meantime I have a graphite dog portrait to finish and bills to pay. And another more heart wrenching chore to do. I think it is time for our Friday to make her last trip to the vet.

Wetcanvas Back Up

Wetcanvas is back up for business.

Wetcanvas Problems

I guess Wetcanvas is having problems. I haven't been able to get onto the site all day. First I had an error message but now I get a timed-out message. Hopefully it won't be down long.

Mr Bloomfield Without Flower

Here is another little ATC of my Beanie Bear named Mr Bloomfield. I did just the head this time and left off his daisy. He sits on my desk astride my tape dispenser and keeps me company.

He is on colored mat paper which looks just like Mi Tienes paper with colored pencils and pen and ink.

See No Evil, Speak No Evil

I finished my last two of the set of 3 little Elves. I was able to use all three for items on the scavenger hunt for this time.

Hear No Evil

I have 3 little elf-like figurines (similar to the 7 dwarfs). They are made to be the hear no, speak no, see no evil. I decided to do each on an ATC. Here is "Hear No Evil". Colored pencil and pen and ink on Bristol board.

Bear With Daisy

Here is my latest ATC. My model was a little Beanie bear names Bloomfield. This is the second ATC that I have done of him. Colored pencil, pen and ink, on Bristol.

Goodwill Fish

I was playing around with some of the colored cardstock I bought this week. I really like this color and what else but water to use it for. I decided to put this fish in and then it looked so lonely. I added a few odds and ends. It's not a great job but was fun and what a color.

Frog Bottle

I found a little green glass frog bottle of cologne at the Goodwill. I didn't know it was a bottle until I got it home. I did an ATC of the frog for the Scavenger Hunt for "green". Here is the ATC with a bad scan of the bottle.

Colored pencils and pen and ink on thin green cardstock paper.

Warm and Fuzzy

I've been doing small art cards of some of my little stuffed and ceramic animals. Tonight I did one of a little white mouse I bought probably in the pet section of the store. Another is a Santa Cowboy I got at Beverly's Craft Store. Not exactly my thing (a cowboy) but cute as a bug.

The cowboy is 4x6 inches on a thin card paper and done with colored pencil and pen and ink. The mouse is on a piece of blue cardstock 4x4 inches.

I still have quite a few more of my little animals to do. One is a cute little ceramic fish, a frog, another mouse, a couple of dogs, another mouse, and a couple of stuffed animals I got at the Goodwill. In fact I have so many "props" that I could probably keep busy with them for a couple years. Not really but almost.

I have several ideas bouncing around in my head. I want to put several of the stuffed animals in a row and do one long picture.

Sleepy Sunday

I took a pain pill last night and again this morning and can't stay awake today. I sit down and out I go. Makes it hard to do art or housework. Did I say housework? Dirty word. Like housework would come before art.

More stamped ATCs

I have been doing a few more of the stamped, colored pencil ATCs on mat board. I have 9 finished and about 4 more to do. but those are started.

I went to Goodwill today after my monthly hair appointment. I found several little knick knacks. I found 4 more stamps that I can use on the new ATCs that I am doing. I have enough stamps now to finish without having to use the same stamp for all of them.

At the hair salon, I started another crocheted slipper. I have the two pairs of slippers to do for the friend. She wants them for Christmas gifts. I have both pairs started. I started the second one while I was being cut and colored. I need to finish those up so she will have them in time for Christmas.

Besides the hair salon and Goodwill, we also went shopping for groceries and stopped by our church for a 60th birthday celebrations for a friend. Lots of goodies there to eat. All sweet. I think we both had a sugar high when we left.

After I got home and we got the groceries put away, I had to take a pain pill and lie down for awhile. Then it was dinner time. Hubby thankfully took care of dinner.

When I saw how long since I last posted, I was surprised. I like to post every day. I am always stunned when I realize I have been checking the blogs each day but forgetting to post. I guess I'm having more senior moments.

More Mat Board

I did some more playing with the mat board plus trying to find something that I can use for the new project on WetCanvas. It's supposed to be something different than what I usually do.

These little daisies are done with a stamp and colored pencil. Considering I never do stamping or use mat board, I think it qualifies. These two may be my first ones for the trade.

Leslie Hawes who uses mat board all the time says once I get started using the colored paper, I'll never go back. I actually am really liking it. The dark blue mat board looks like purple on the one on the left.

I bought 3 cheap stamps at the dollar store. One other one has a smaller daisy with leaves and a stem. The third has a bird and tree with leaves. I also folded some animal faces in Origami but they look bland when put against the mat board. So as you can see, I am still stumped as to what I will do. I don't want to do(so far only 12 cards)all of them as daisies.

The commission is delivered. And I have over half of a crocheted slipper that a friend ask me to make. I have two pairs to do.

Tomorrow is the Plein Air Group's Christmas Party. Still have to make my dessert. There will be desserts, salads, and pizza. What more could we want. Oh yeah and some art time.

Salty Dog on Mat Board

I have been wanting to try some drawing on colored mat board. Well last night I did an ATC on mat board. I have to say I really like working on it. Now I just have to find someone who makes their own mats and see if I can purchase or recycle their remnants.

Here is "Salty Dog" on blue mat board with the back ground colored and without. I used watercolor pencil and a little waterbrush, then more wcp. Now I just have to find some rembants or uncut mat board in colors at an affordable price.

The name Salty Dog is because my "model" is a ceramic salt shaker I purchased at Goodwill.

Libby Finished

I finished my commission of Libby the Vizsla. I will deliver it tomorrow.

Rain

It's raining here. We need the water but it's not too good to have 3 dogs going outside to do their business and tracking water and mud inside. And Dizzy is like a wet dust mop after she goes out. Her kind of hair just sucks up the water. She comes in and wants her mama to wipe her down.

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. I probably wouldn't remember it if it wasn't my mother-in-law's birthday. She has been gone many years now but since researching her daughter's father's past, I realized how much that day had an impact on my mother-in-law.

Her husband was a pilot and joined the RAF before the US was in the war. He left for England in December. They married before he left and she was left with a surprise. She was pregnant. The husband died the first part of September and their daughter was born two months before. I just hope that he knew about the baby before he died. He was buried in France where his plane went down.

Even tho my mother-in-law would later marry again and have a son (my hubby), she never really accepted that he was dead. She would watch newsreels from the war and search faces. I have since proven that he did die and we even have a photo of his gravestone in France. I just wish that Margaret had lived long enough for the internet and my search so she would have had closure.

That probably wouldn't have happened had she lived as she didn't share information about her first husband even with her daughter. It was too painful and the daughter soon learned that asking questions caused her mother much grief so she stopped asking. And now everyone with any knowledge is no longer living. We have found some information but keep hitting dead ends.

The state of Maryland won't give us a copy of the dad's birth certificate because his daughter doesn't fit any of the people who can get that information. Like the person themselves. A child of that person isn't on the list. We even sent paperwork showing his death, his gravestone, her birth certificate, RAF papers that have been unclassified, the daughters driver's license, and anything else that we could think of. Everything including the check was returned and marked unable to provide that information due to she isn't allowed that info. If she isn't, who is? That man can't ask for it himself. Anyone who would be, is no doubt no longer living but her.

His daughter knows very little about her dad. She would like to know more about his family. He could even have had children before her. She doesn't even know her grandparent's names (except the first name of her grandfather) or anything else about them. Why isn't she allowed that information? She wasn't adopted. Files should not be closed to her access and nothing in those files would hurt anyone if she had them. His daughter is now 65 years old. I would like her to have the knowledge about her past that everyone else has.

I told Dannie, my sister-in-law that she had better not die until I have that info as I am determined to find out. But I'm getting doubtful. The letter from the State of Maryland took the wind from my sails.

I am doing some thinking today (oh no, the sky may fall). I am putting thoughts down for my last day of the year post and for my wish list for next year. Of course it will contain the usual weight loss. Hopefully other things on the list will come about better than the weight loss each year. Maybe if I put weight gain, it will psych myself out for the opposite. But if it doesn't, I'm in trouble. Just how far can a body stretch without bursting?

Dizzy

My Dizzy is no longer a baby. She is a young lady now at 8 months. And none too happy about wearing a doggie diaper.

Moley Library Project.

I took out my Moleskine Project book tonight and finished up the sketches I had started. But I did it really fast and not really caring whether it was very neat. My problem is that I don't really care if I finish it or not. It was to go into a traveling library and be on display at several galleries, then return to a permanent library at the Art House Coop.

I never was really interested in the theme I received, then I roused and figured out a way to advance with it. Well working on it tonight didn't do a thing for me. And time is running out. They extended the time by a month but that new date is January 1st. I have only filled about 4 or 5 double pages and I'm not sure I could fill it that fast. Especially with the theme at hand.

So this may be just a practice book for me to use at home. Quite an expensive one considering I could get a hardbound Moley at Barnes and Noble that has really nice stiff pages in it for the price I paid for this one with almost tissue paper thin pages. In that library with people checking them out, I can't see them holding up for long with those thin pages. I think I will just save my energy and create some artwork that I will be more proud of.

I was surfing the net trying to find a way to do a new ATc Project on WC. I still haven't found what I want to do for it. It needs to be something different and along the mixed media line. Not just regular drawings with graphite and cps that I usually do. Open theme tho. There will b e 19 cards to do and if I don't find something that gets me interested, I may have a long 6 months with that project also.

Giraffe ATC Trade

This month's ATC exchange at the Drawspace Forum is for Giraffe ATCs. I worked on mine last night and today and finished them. I had to do 9. I decided to do some cartoony ones this time. Here they are.

Bud

I did this for a friend as a thank you. It is their boxer Bud who passed away early this year. They usually adopt rescue boxers and have another to add to their gang now. I think they have 3 dogs now and two are boxers.

This is done ona 9x12 inch sheet of Bristol Smooth and is done in colored pencil.

Over the Top Award

I have a fun award from Teresa. Please visit her blog as she has some beautiful art, a wonderful sense of humor, and has a gift for writing. I have known her for less than a year but I feel like I've known her all my life. I call her TBerry (because of all the berry picking she does) and she calls me CA (California).

The rules are:

I need to pass this award on to five people, then I need to answer a list of questions in ONE word.
So here we go:

1. Where is your cell phone?…Purse
2. Your hair?… Thin
3. Your mother?… Loving
4. Your father?… Frail
5. Your favorite food?… Chocolate
6. Your dream last night?…Tiring
7. Your favorite drink?…Dr.Pepper
8. Your dream/goal?… Heaven
9. What room are you in?… office
10. Your hobby?… Crochet
11. Your fear?… Heights
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?…Home
13. Where were you last night?… Home
14. Something that you aren’t?… Needy
15. Muffins?… Pumpkin
16. Wish list item?… Laptop
17. Where did you grow up?… Bakersfield
18. Last thing you did?… Typed
19. What are you wearing?… Sweatshirt
20. Your TV?… Company
21. Your Pets?… Dogs/Birds
22. Friends?… comforting
23. Your life?… Okay
24. Your mood?… Pensive
25. Missing Someone?… KC
26. Vehicle?… Adequate
27. Something you're not wearing?… Bra
28. Your favorite store?… Michaels
29. Your favorite colour?… Purple
30. When was the last time you laughed?… Today
31. Last time you cried?… Today
32. Your best friend?… Hubby
33. One place that I go to over and over?… Goodwill
34. Facebook?… Yes
35. Favorite place to eat?… Home

Now I need to pass this on to five bloggers. Here is my list, in no particular order.

1. Jo Castillo
2. Ai
3. Tanya Bond
4. Joan Tavolott
5. Laurel Neustadler

All artists that I visit their blogs daily. They all do great work and post fairly often.

Steve Continued

More photos of Steve.

Steve

Today is my brother Steve's birthday. Too bad he isn't here to celebrate. Steve was s drug addict and passed away at 46 from complications of his drug use. He had more than one type of hepatitis and his liver just gave up. He suffered a painful death that he went thru for around a month in the hospital. At least it seemed like a month. It may have been shorter.

He was told he would not live, then told he had a chance, only to hear that he would not live. The nurses said he slept with his eyes wide open scared that if he fell asleep, he would not wake.

At first he was able to make conversation and even sit up in a chair, but when he got worse, he looked like a frightened wild animal. I will never forget how he looked. Those wild eyes were haunting.

Steve had amber colored eyes. When he got hepatitis, his skin was the same color as his eyes. It was as spooky looking as anything I have seen. It is hard to watch your baby brother die especially such a painful death.

We had not been speaking before he got sick. In fact he told my mom that I probably wouldn't come to the hospital. Wrong. How could anyone not go see their baby brother during his last days. The first visit was a little awkward. I was afraid of catching it so wouldn't sit or touch anything. My brother noticed and I'm sure it made him uncomfortable.

So before the next visit, my hubby and I went for shots. I couldn't imagine my brother passing away with me never being able to touch him again. I wanted to be able to hold his hand and help make him comfortable. Also to be there so that my mother could take a break for a couple minutes. She was there from daylight till night. She held his head and talked to him like she did when he was a baby.

In the end I was praying for him to pass on so he could be away from the pain and so that I didn't have to bury my mom too. It was taking so much out of her. Not only losing one of her children but actually watching each day as he was fading away.

My brother was fighting to the end. I know he had a long talk with our other brother one night and I hope that he was able to feel at peace. I have cried thru this whole post as it was hard to write. I still feel the loss very strongly. I don't miss the addict he had become, but I do miss the little boy who was so full of mischief, the young man who was such a proud dad, and the wonderful man he could have become if he had made better choices. I thank him for leaving behind a wonderful son for me to enjoy and watch grow to manhood with a baby daughter of his own.

And thank you for the wonderful gift your death gave to me. The day of your memorial (and my birthday), I accepted my Lord and became a Christian. I love you Steve.

Great Grandma and Kylie

Vizsla Start

I got a start done on my commission after dinner tonight. I had been putting it off and wanted to at least start it. I was sitting on the couch with a black and white copy of the photo, and balancing the sketchbook on my lap. I still have to work some more on the sketch and then transfer to better paper. The box around it is 5x7 inches and it will fit an 8x10 inch frame and mat.

Kylie's First Thanksgiving

This is Kylie's first Thanksgiving. Here she is with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa.

Slippers

I finally finished the last of the crocheted slippers I needed for Christmas presents. Now my hands can get a rest. And now I can get to the dog portrait commission. I need to take it with me to Bible study in the next two weeks. It is a Christmas present so not much time.

I'll be glad to get back to some artwork. I haven't done anything for a few days. Not since my scavenger hunt items for the last hunt.

I have been re reading the Left Behind books. I am halfway thru the 4th one. So I am off to bed with my book.

Christmas ATCs

I am in a small Christmas ATC trade with 5 other people. I finished my cards tonight and will mail them on Monday the 23rd. A little early but I want to get them in the mail and have it all finished.

I did my cards of some of my Christmas ornaments. Most of them are ones I have bought more for props than for a tree. I don't put up a big tree any more. I have a small 12 inch tree and I put that up with some little miniature ornaments I have bought. This one can sit on a shelf or table and I don't have to worry about the dogs helping themselves to my ornaments.

The scan isn't the best as I had the cards in their little plastic jackets for mailing.

I have a large box of ornaments for a larger tree stored in our shed. I need to take those out and go thru them. Discard some and save some for drawing. There are some really cute ones as I once worked at a shop that had spaces rented for craft and art items for sale. They would put up a huge tree and everyone who rented space in the shop, could make ornaments and put them on the tree for sale.

I was able to buy a few one-of-a-kind handmade ornaments. I also made a few of my own. One I have is a tiny Cabbage Patch look alike baby that is miniature (about 5 inches). My mom made that one. I made a set of muslim hand painted cows or pigs. The mom, dad, and baby. When I ever get them out, I will take photos and post them.

My Babies

My fur babies. I just learned I can do videos on my camera. I met a couple when with my plein air group at a park and the man showed me how to do the videos. Now I have something else to play with. As you can tell, I'm not a "read the manual" kind of person. I had my first digital camera for about 5 years before I found out how to do macro photos. I guess I didn't learn anything from that.

Here is a video of my two birds Freebie, parakeet, and Bozo cockatiel.

Photo of Crochet slippers

I had a request for a photo of my slippers I am crocheting. This is the latest one I finished. I did a scan of it and it turned out quite nice. Surprising. These are done with 2 different colors which look kind of like a tweed when crocheted together.

Crocheted Slippers

I have been crocheting the last couple of days. I have completed 4 pairs of slippers for Christmas presents. I need to do about 4 more pairs. So far my hands are holding up pretty good. The one slipper I just finished caused some discomfort as the two yarns I used together were really stiff. The silkier yarns are easier on the arthritis.

I need to do my Bible study questions as tomorrow night is the Bible study. I haven't even started them and there are 10 pages to get thru. Yikes. Plus I have to take a trip across town and deliver our car insurance payment. I missed the last two weeks of Bible study due to not feeling well so I am looking forward to going tomorrow night.

I still have to work on the dog commission. I haven't even started it yet. Hopefully later this week I can get the line drawing started.

I'm up late waiting to get hubby off to work. He has to get up at 2:30 am. I will stay up and get his coffee and lunch ready to save him some time. Then off to bed. While I wait, I will work on my study questions. Just have to find them first.

Bobbie Again

I decided to do another quick portrait of Bobbie using the Derwent Drawing Pencils like Alfredart of WC uses. I took his class and love the way his art looks.

Bobbie Finished

After some more work on Bobbie, I am finished.

Bobbie Too

I worked some more on Bobbie's portrait. I transferred the line drawing to Bristol Smooth. I was going to use Bristol board but forgot and now can't find the pad. I added some detail but a lot to go.

I'm also hosting the scavenger hunt this week. It started out kind of slow but seems to be moving along better now. So many great artists and such wonderful sketches and imaginations.

We still don't have our heater serviced and turned on and I keep getting cold. When I do, I either fall asleep at my desk or go to bed and curl up in the quilt to get warm. Feels like I am sleeping my life away.

Bobbie

Here is the rough sketch I have so far of Bobbie my portrait swap partner. I still have a lot of work ahead. Soon I will transfer the outline to a better paper. As tomorrow is errand day, may not get much more done until Friday.

WC Portrait Swap

I have finally made a start on my portrait for the portrait swap. I am not ready to share what I have yet but I have made a good start. I have the eyes done. I am making a detailed drawing and then will transfer the outline onto better paper. I am using a grid for this one as I was having trouble with her eyes.

I haven't used a grid since June of 2006 but this portrait called for it. I wanted to be sure to get all the parts where they belong. I don't like using a grid. I found it very useful when I started doing portraits, but now that I can draw from life, I would prefer to wing it. Sometimes my portraits turn out a little wonky like the Elvis one but I prefer to learn by doing. But this lady is a new acquaintance and I would like to give her a nice portrait. Besides this needs to be finished and mailed toward the end of the month.

This portrait will be in graphite and if I finish early, I might try another done with the Derwent Drawing Pencils in 3 colors. It will just depend on my time. She has already done two paintings of me.

I finally got photos of the dog for my commission. It is a Christmas present so I want to get a start on that one as soon as possible. It is also graphite also.

Hopefully I will have something to show tomorrow. I want to get most of her face finished on the sketch and get busy with the better paper. I am thinking about using some Bristol board that I purchased from Dick Blick. So far I haven't used it. I usually use Bristol Smooth Paper. I just hope the board is as forgiving when I use an eraser.

Elvis Revisited

The drawing I did of Elvis has been on my mind. I was out of ink on my printer for awhile but replaced it today. I finally got to print off the Elvis drawing. Then I cut it in half across the width of the page and re placed the two pieces together. Just as I figured, now it looks more like Elvis. I told hubby I just needed to shorten his nose. Now I am an artwork plastic surgeon. I named this newer file "Elvis Sliced". Outch!

Feeling Better

I'm now feeling better...I think I will live. Looking forward to getting some art started. But not tomorrow. Tomorrow is errand day. Thankfully not too many errands.

Scavenger Hunt Items

Here are my latest scavenger hunt items. I have done my items in squares and circles and decided to try something new this time.

Feeling Better

I'm feeling much better. Still a little stomach problem but I can at least eat now and stay out of bed most of the time.

Last night I was craving a Sloppy Joe for dinner. I had seen one on tv and could just taste it. I hadn't eaten anything except some more bland things and I knew the spicy Sloppy Joe would probably kill me. But I thought of that sandwich all night.

Tonight hubby stopped and picked up the fixings for the sandwich and I had one for dinner. After that I took two antacid pills and waited. Well it didn't kill me and now I am hungry for another. And after looking at Jo Castillo's blog and seeing the Chili and Frito Pie, I'm really hungry for that. And I don't even like chili. I have never had that to eat but it sure sounds interesting and tasty.

I worked on some scavenger hunt items tonight. I hadn't done any artwork much for a week and wanted to do something. And there is always the Scavenger Hunt list. I managed to do 10 items and get them posted on the forum thread.

No New Art

I haven't felt very well for the last few days. Nothing I can put my hand on but just don't feel right. Headaches and touchy stomach. Stomach wants me to eat and then doesn't like that I did eat.

Tomorrow I hope to do some artwork. I have a cp of a dog that I started over a month ago and want to finish it. His name is Rufus. He is some sort of cow dog. When he was a puppy, he really liked me and now he doesn't seem to want me to touch him. I only see him once a year. He doesn't have a problem with hubby touching him. But I want to do the picture for his mama. I am about half done and worry that the work I did won't match when I start again. At least I did write down the colors in the margin. This is the first time I have done that and I am so thrilled it was this time.

I also have a graphite drawing half finished of one of the goats from the local live animal museum (CALM) that I started months ago. I would like to get that finished too. Plus I would like to get some artwork done to put in a portfolio.

I do have a small commission for a Christmas picture in graphite for a friend at Bible study. It's a present for the dog's owner. The dog is a Viszla. I haven't seen the dog or a photo yet as the friend is trying to get one without spoiling the surprise.

The portrait exchange was closed yesterday on WC. We were supposed to find out our partner tonight but there hasn't been a post. I am anxious to see who I will be paired up with. Downside is I have to give them a photo of me. And I am not photogenic at all. I have only a handful of photos of me that I have liked. And most of those were at a younger age. I hate to say it but I'm not aging gracefully and surely not aging skinny.

My husband daily tells me I look like my mom, walk just like my mom, etc and I know he isn't trying to compliment me. Maybe I will tell his mother-in-law and let her give him the evil eye.

I think people should seriously look at their in laws more carefully before marriage. I am now living with and kissing someone who looks just like my father-in-law and that is a little scary. Maybe that is why hubby has a problem with me looking like my mom. LOL

Fiddler Without His Fiddle

I decided to sketch one of the photos that was posted in this weeks WDE at Wetcanvas. Missswiss was the hostess and provided 15 nice photos to choose from. I decided to do the portrait of the fiddler. But I didn't want to do the fiddle so left it out.

Graphite on Bristol Smooth. About 45 minutes. 4x5 inches.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my favorite guy. We have been married 39 years today and the wedding was on a Saturday at 10 am. Nothing planned but a quiet evening at home. The photos above are just before we married, at our wedding, and about 6 months ago.

We met in high school and dated for around 4 years. I have never regretted our marriage or come across anyone else that I thought would have been a better match.

We are pretty much total opposites but have blended as the years go by. I have always been an avid television watcher, and now he is. I was a dog lover, he was a cat lover. Now we both like cats but love dogs. He likes to go camping and do the outdoorsy thing, and I hate it. I have always said "why would I leave a perfectly good house with a tv, dishwasher, and bathroom to go rough it?" But I have no problem with him going with his buddies and leaving me home. I told him after my first camping trip that he could go all he wants, just don't make me go again.

Most of the time we aren't even in the same room. I am usually in my computer/art room and he is usually in front of the tv in the living room. We are not that far away so we usually yell back and forth if we have something to say. We have been known to call the other on our cell phones or send notes by the dog. But to us it is comfortable and we are happy.

So here's to at least 39 more years.

Slow Day

I worked on a couple Christmas cards tonight in cp but don't like either one. So a day wasted. Well I guess not wasted. I can always say these were practice. But neither was good enough to send out or post. I am still working on the second one but not holding out much hope.

Elvis P

A friend's daughter (preteen) is in love with Elvis. I started this drawing around May/June for her. I finally took it out and finished it tonight. Not a perfect likeness but not bad considering I don't use a graph or measuring. Just my eyes. I got the nose area too long. But I think it looks enough like him that she will be pleased.

Scavenger Hunt

Some scavenger hunt items.

Back with more Fruit

Well I went away and did a couple more fruits. An apple and a banana to go with my pear. These are all done with Derwent Watercolor Pencils, waterbrush, and a touch of pen and ink on watercolor paper. I will probably crop them to about 5 x 7 inches.

Watercolor Pencils

I haven't done anything with my wc pencils and water for quite some time. I used to use them with water on all my plein air outings. But lately I have just been doing graphite.

Tonight I was in the tv room (where the computer isn't) and decided while I watched some taped shows that I would play with my wc pencils and water and a pear I bought today. It turned out just fine. I didn't have a preconceived idea of how I wanted it to look. I just started putting color on, water, more color, etc. Maybe I will add a background and frame for my kitchen. I should do a couple or so more fruits to go with it.