2/28/11

Deer antler

I'm sticking with the pens for the time being. This subject lent itself to the medium; it felt much more natural to draw it in ink than the glass did. This antler was bought a few years ago on eBay.

2/27/11

Candle in a glass holder

Another ink drawing with the felt-tip pens. I went a little overboard with the background again, but couldn't make corrections (I guess I could have, but it would have involved an x-acto knife or white-out), so there it stands.

2/26/11

Poptops and salt shaker

Pepper halves

I don't like either drawing I did tonight. I used felt-tip pens - a Staedtler pigment liner, size 005, and a Stylist pen. I like the pens very much, but I really need to work on my hatching.

2/25/11

Waiting at the DMV

I took Alex to get his learner's permit today, and I was prepared to wait awhile, so I brought my sketchbook. But they were too fast! Alex went to take his written test, and I only had about 5 minutes to draw before he came back, smiling broadly. If I had had more time, I was going to put a lot more into this drawing. Oh well...

2/24/11

Antique green glass

2/23/11

Bottle caps

This was drawn about life-size, but I wish I had done it twice as large. I would have loved to have more room to draw all the detail I could see. Maybe because it was on the table right in front of me, and I was so close to it, I could see too much detail.

2/22/11

Green bell pepper

I worked on this a long time - I tried to describe the values with marks, rather than shading. It wouldn't come together until I unified the whole thing with shading, and lifted out the lighter areas with a kneaded eraser. That sort of destroyed the marks. I'll keep trying.

2/21/11

Sabu!

Sabu was nice enough to pose for me... he is black (with a white spot on his chest), but I just drew his contours.

2/20/11

Deer skull

During my eBay buying binge of a few years ago, I purchased about four deer skulls. Skulls are another thing I love.

2/19/11

Popcorn

It was late and I was tired, so I picked an easier subject tonight...

2/18/11

Another thing I love is utility poles and power lines!

2/17/11

Today I sketched around the corner from the entrance to my neighborhood. This little grouping of pines on either side of the white fence always catches my eye. It was a delightfully warm day, but VERY windy. I could only tolerate it for about 40 minutes. I decided I MUCH prefer painting outside to drawing outside. Standing and holding a sketchbook, juggling pencils, and fighting the wind is too much trouble! I'm planning on going out painting tomorrow!

Here's a photo I took of it before I started drawing. I like to photograph what I'll be painting, but I rarely end up using the photos as a reference. I much prefer doing all the work on site. I mainly use the camera as a tool to help me compose the picture.

2/16/11

Radish sprouts

Another one of those "what have I gotten myself into?" drawings. I ran out of steam, but I wish I had worked a little more on the vertical ribs on the right of the box. I thought I would use these in a salad after I drew them, but they didn't smell great, so I threw them out.

2/15/11

Turkey bones

I used a better paper for this one - until now, I've just been drawing in a sketchbook. For this, I unearthed some paper I've had for a long time (what am I saving it for?) I think it was some sort of printmaking paper, or maybe a 90 lb. hot press watercolor paper. Thick, buttery, lovely texture.

2/14/11

Store-bought seashells

2/13/11

Hal's keys

I haven't drawn in such a realistic manner since I was in art school. Doing this drawing brought back a memory - my drawing teacher gave us a homework assignment to do the best drawing we could possibly do during the week before the next class. I drew a shelf in my pantry, with pots and pans and groceries. I remember it was big, maybe 18"x24", and I spent many, many hours on it, rendering everything as realistically as possible, with very black blacks, like the keys above. When we had class again, and everybody showed and talked about our drawings, the teacher told us the next assignment: TO ERASE THE DRAWING WE'D JUST DONE, AND DO ANOTHER DRAWING ON THE SAME PAPER! I loved it! She was teaching us two things: (1) not to be to attached to our work, because it isn't as precious as we'd like to believe, and (2) how to deal with the shadow of the old drawing (and any rips that resulted from erasing) when we drew the new one. Only one student in my class refused to erase her drawing, because she was too attached to it, and thought it really was her best work. She just didn't get it. Maybe I should erase today's drawing, and tomorrow's on the same paper!

2/12/11

Paperclip sculptures

2/11/11

Can you guess what this is?

This strange thing is the breastbone from our Thanksgiving turkey - I saved it after I made soup from the leftovers.

2/10/11

Jar of olives

For this drawing, I used a cool pencil that is just graphite - no wood at all. It is coated with something to keep it from getting your hand filthy, and it sharpens in a regular pencil sharpener. This one was an 8B. I found it to be much better than a normal 8B, whose lead is so soft that you can't sharpen it in a sharpener because it just breaks off. Since this "lead" is the diameter of a pencil, it is much stronger. Try one!

2/9/11

I've been enjoying these rocks so much, I had to draw them again. This one is charcoal and white chalk on gray pastel paper.

2/8/11

Three rocks, charcoal and white chalk

I did this drawing by toning the paper with vine charcoal, then putting in the darks and lifting out the lights with a kneaded eraser. However, I couldn't get back to the white of the paper (maybe the sketchbook paper I used wasn't good enough?) so I used white chalk, but only around the rocks.

2/7/11

Dusty and Malcolm

Dusty was having her usual dream of being a nursing kitten again, and was furiously kneading Malkie's tummy and purring loudly. Poor Malcolm sleeps right through it, even though his internal organs are being rearranged.

2/6/11

Hairpins

These are old hairpins that were my grandmother's. I felt like doing something light tonight.

2/5/11

Crumpled paper

I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and do something more complicated, and once again I was asking myself what I had gotten myself into. I stayed up much too late working on this, and I don't think it's successful... it looks more like a rock than paper to me. But, as I've said before, "It's the process, not the product!"

2/4/11

Cairn

More rocks from P.E.I. I do love rocks.

2/3/11

Alex on his laptop

I was inspired by Emily's drawings of her kids on the computer, and when I noticed Alex sitting there, I couldn't resist!

2/2/11

Sabu sleeping in a small box, black Prismacolor pencil

I frequently tell Sabu that he is so black that no light can escape from him.

2/1/11

Well.... not every day will yield a good drawing. I decided that I would do a self-portrait on the first of every month. I did the one on the bottom first, in black prismacolor pencil. I abandoned it and moved to another room with better light, and used pencil for the top one. Oh well, you can't get a good likeness every time. But it's the process, not the product, right?