Baby Field Mouse in Graphite

A baby field mouse is the subject of my next composition, and the drawing will be 8 x 6 inches when completed.   The photo was taken out of one of my own from last year.  I really like the positioning of the hand and the little mouse perched on it.  I will take this initial drawing and transfer it to Bristol Board.  All of my initial work will be based in 2b lead with a mechanical pencil.  By the looks of the background, the 6b wood cased pencil will definitely be put to use, too!  ;) 

I have been getting handy with the jigsaw as of late.  This drawing is mounted on my newly resized drawing table.  The lift to this drawing table was heavenly, but the width was a devil to maneuver and very heavy to tote.  So... I searched through my son's tools and found the correct ones for taking the hardware off the back.  The drafting bar on the front had to go, since it had only been used for resting pencils on.  Then after a little measuring, I cut a fairly large portion of the board off.  As you can see to the left, I sealed it with black paint and made a black line down the side to make it appear nice and straight.  The jigsaw and I took a few wrong turns! :(  Now the paint is dried, the hardware is reattached to the back, and viola my new and improved drafting board.  :)

Did I ever tell you the story behind this drafting table?  I bought a few of these in various large sizes off of EBay for pennies on the dollar, after I put my large drafting table into storage (hopefully to reappear once my new studio is constructed. :) ).  The tables were listed as scratch and dent returns.  I cannot say enough about how wonderful they are.  The surfaces on mine were all ready to draw on.  There was only one that had a tiny dent in a corner that my hubby repaired with filler.  The best part of the purchase was that I didn't sink a lot of money into them, so it makes them perfect to modify to my own specs. :)   I love shopping EBay!

Decisions... Decisions

Most of the month of February was spent playing with my colored pencils. (I will post some pics later. :) )  But as the middle of the month approached, I decided to get down to business and sort amongst my photos for my next graphite subject.  Some of the subjects where chosen from the Internet, and some of the compositions came from my own photography.  Last week, the choice had been made... well kind of.  ;)  Then,  I got looking through some old  archives of mine, and the hunt continued on-- each photo taking me down memory lane once more... This cost me days on end!! 

So this morning, I put an end to the insanity and threw a few faves onto the drafting table for a final decision...

**Note**  As I sat down to type this post, the memory stick for my camera had been left on the desk top and popped a reminder up on the screen... that was an hour and a half ago.  Bet you can guess what the time was spent doing... Aaaargh! 

Oh... and while I am thinking about it, my mind kicked in the fact that there was never a New Year's goal posted this year.  Well, I am fine with no definitive goals this year.  It was a topsy turvey end to last year and a crazy beginning to this one to say the least.  So, my outlook on 2013, and maybe for the next few years, is to keep an open mind and work schedule.  My word of the year is "Evolve".  I absolutely love it and think it fits me perfectly in every facet of my life right now-- where change is absolutely everywhere and  that is not always a bad thing!  ;)   I've got some new and old interests making their way back into my life again... It will be a little surprising to some, and they will unfold here in their own time. ;)

But for now, I am heading to my studio to make the final cut and get my new project underway.  At this moment...  Even I do not know what it is going to be! LOL