Sketches from The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Gord the Hamster WIP 2

2012-02-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

Now the question is whether to draw the hamster or the background first. Hmmm... Still deciding. :)

In all honesty, I am thinking that I wish a picture would have been taken of the hand on the right about an hour and a half ago. It would have been a great example of why NOT to put a lot of detail into a drawing. Not only did the hand look like it belonged to a centurion but was possibly suffering from some rare disease that left it tiger striped! This is not the first time that I have detailed a subject to death (and in doing so waste an hour or more!), so the remedy hit me as I got up to go get a drink of water. As I was walking away, a glance over the shoulder told me to distance myself from the subject and not allow my eyes to focus in on those minute details. So... the hand was completed with me standing a couple of feet away from the board. I never thought that I would ever like drawing like that, but it sure helps in this instance. ;)

Gord the Hamster WIP

2012-01-29T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'm still here! LOL The second hand is in the process of getting blended. It probably will require a few more hours, but I felt the need to throw it up for show... and to let you all know that I haven't went AWOL again! ;)

This poor drawing keeps getting turned back and forth on the board . It is just too inconvenient to blend with the way you are seeing it now. The shadows naturally curve around the finger, and I find it awkward to move the blending stump back and forth. It is so much easier to just turn the drawing. The middle finger and thumb need a few more blending, highlighting, and darkening sessions, but they are slowly getting there. ;)

The knuckles are time consuming. I find myself having to make a choice on how much detail to show. It can get obsessive at times. Unfortunately, too much detail in a drawing can distract the viewer and actually make the transitions in skin tone look unnatural and give the hands a much older appearance (trust me on the age part!). Lighting in the photo can play a strong roll in this also. My preference is for a harsh straight on light. :) I guess that is where the artist must correct the tricks that the camera can play. This is compounded by the fact of my natural tendency to draw everything that I see in focus... Ugh!! But, I am having fun with this drawing. I love working on human hands and would like to take on a human portrait again... First things first though... back to the drawing board! ;)

Gord the Hamster Cont.

2012-01-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

Moving on to the other hand tonight! The drawing support has now been turned to the correct position. The mapping process has come to a halt, and I will start blending the fingers of the left hand. My drawing hand will be resting in the blank area to the lower right, and I cannot justify mapping the entire hand only to have the details smeared. I've convinced myself to finish where I am at first.

Can you believe that I am looking forward to the background? There are some cast shadows that will set the tone for both hands. Yes, you have heard it here before, but cast shadows are the best! They are the biggest bang for your buck in a drawing and can bring an otherwise flat composition to life. I'm not sure if the writing on the shirt will remain in the final work (which is why it was left out of the line drawing). Time will tell! ;)

Oh... and before I forget. That new Sanford mechanical pencil is now my best friend. The funniest part is that I LOVE the weight of it. Before using it, my thoughts leaned toward the weight being a negative attribute. But after using it, I find that my hand has less fatigue. The weight works in my favor. Less pressure needs to be brought down on the pencil to get the depth of graphite required. Less stress on my hand... Huge improvement! :)

Gord the Hamster

2012-01-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

Funny thing after starting this new drawing... I find myself, wandering into my studio at night, wanting to put in a hour or two here and there. Every once in a while, I look up to see my hubby peeking around the doorway to see what I am to. That hasn't happened for a long time! He is finally getting use to the fact that my disappearance from our living room puts me back at the drawing board... Such a once familiar occurrence that has been missing in this household! :)

I started on the left simply by choice. As you all know, my style has always been to work on individual pieces of a drawing and not to go left to right. The photo below is my original view point while working. The pic is a little washed out. Graphite is such a pain to photograph! The thumb and palm area will have some deep cast shadows on the shirt to push the dimensional view of the hand. The mapping went relatively quick and made me a little nervous. But after starting the blending process, the same old feeling of solving a wonderful puzzle came over me and happiness reigned in the studio! :)

Here is a view of the drawing to date. This is not how the drawing was positioned on the board, when starting the fingers. I turned the paper so that the left side of the composition was the bottom. It made it so much easier to map and blend. Plus, the reference photo could be set closer to the work area. My eyes go back and forth constantly between the reference and Bristol while mapping a subject. When ever I pause my gaze will be fixed on the reference photo as my hand continues mapping on the support. It always amazes me how many artists can glance at a subject and draw for a length of time without referring back to the subject. That style of drawing has never been my gift. The drawing itself will become more of my main focus during the blending process and less during the pulling of highlights.

A little crooked on the angle with this shot... I had to sit the drawing board on the floor of my studio for the last two pics just to get a descent photo. LOL Unfortunately, it was a quick photo with me holding the camera a little wonky! This is how the drawing is taped on the board for me to work on. The hand will get highlighted and refined again, after the composition is turned to the correct position. As you can see, the index and middle finger are being blended at the moment. I am happy with how they are beginning to lift off the page. I will finish up this hand and will most likely jump over to the other one next. :)

New Year = New Drawing!

2012-01-06T09:46:00.000-08:00

Did anyone else see this coming?? I'll let you in on a recurring New Year's resolution of mine.... Simply put, No Excuses. I do NOT want to continue on with the last drawing. Was it progressing you ask? Yes, it was coming along, but I dreaded looking at the loads of leaves that were ahead of me. Dread is never a good thing. Since it was not a commissioned piece, I let myself out of my own personal contract. Will I revisit it at a later date? Probably... But I will start with the main subject and alter the background to something that makes me happy. Why not? ;) For right now, it is shelved...

So you may be wondering what pushed me into this decision. Well, hubby pointed out a week ago that he noticed my lack of time at the drawing table over the last few months. No excuses right...What could I say? So my tactic was to change the subject, but he is not that easily distracted. He reminded me how irresponsible it is to turn my back on this blog and the work that I am always saying that I love. Ouch...Trust me, he has a way of being brutally honest; and of course, he was right. Rats!

So I guiltily went about cleaning up the remnants of Christmas. Occasionally, I would walk by my drawing table with the current work taped up and roll my eyes. I loathe the feeling of dread. That is when my younger sister called. I was in the process of compiling next year's Christmas card address list. The conversation turned to my exchange with my hubby. She mentioned that she had visited the Sketches blog and was a little disappointed by the lack of work. (I should have figured this response, since she and my hubby share the same brain! LOL) What could I do? I had to agree and proceeded to scratch her off my Christmas card list... Just kidding! ;) The best thing to be surrounded by in life is honest people. They keep me in line and help me to recenter my priorities. She suggested setting the current work aside and finding something new... Maybe even in a smaller format. Could it be that easy?

I am happy to say this is the result of that conversation. The current drawing on the board is a memorial that I promised my son of his hamster Gord. There were four very nice pics of this little guy to choose from. The first was on his beloved exercise wheel. The second was almost identical to Dani in the work out ball drawing. The third was a profile shot. The final pose was the one that my son wanted to see completed in graphite. It is the smallest format so far at 4 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches. My preference would have been for a little bit larger composition. This particular photo, having such a little guy as the center of focus, looked better with the hands being close to actual size. After the line drawing was completed, the size of the drawing really does appeal to me. And let me add, it felt so right and exciting to be working on this subject. I sure have missed that feeling... *sigh*

To commemorate the New Year and a fresh start, I loaded up my new PhD Sanford mechanical pencil with a 2b lead. My hand was cramping bad in the dark areas of the last drawing, and my cheap mechanical pencil wasn't helping matters. I had purchased a bundle of these new Sanford pencils off of EBay during the Yorkie double portrait but didn't dare start using them mid stream. The difference in weight is notable and effects my stroke and depth of graphite drastically. So far, the grip is way more comfortable on my hand. My hands are relatively small in size; and for some reason, all of my writing instruments work better for me in a larger size. Go figure? Due to weight of the pencil, the graph lines go on alot darker. I almost have to lift up on the pencil when laying the lines, instead of pulling it across under its own pressure. No big deal! :)

Let me wrap up this long post by saying that I will be working to perfect last year's resolutions. How did I rate this year? Well... The amount of graphite pieces fell short of the mark. A colorized original piece was completed on my Pumpkin Hollow blog and was finished out with acrylics. My business cards were completed, and a local friend found some art guilds for me to look into for this year. My "go to" word focus served me well. Although with so many projects at my hands, I found myself having troubles of letting my focus go long enough to spread my time evenly. So the only change made to last year's left over resolutions is a new "go to" word, and it is a doozie... BALANCE. A fair sharing of time to my family, art, work, hobbies, and adventures. I have been thrilled with my focus on certain areas of my life this year, but the lack of balance threw off my time distribution. The year 2012 will be spent combining the two! I look forward to some great work being created at the drawing table and sharing them with my blogging friends. Happy New Year Everyone!!

Chihuahua Cont. 2

2011-12-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

With all the holiday hullabaloo winding down, I have spent the last few nights finding my way around the background of this drawing. It is hard to believe or admit, but I have reworked this little area over and over the last three nights. The depth of the shadows must be figured out at the beginning of each drawing. They set the bar for the continuity of the rest of the piece. Usually, I make better progress by starting on the darkest area. My dread of all of those little leaves, or the fact that they are out of focus, might have been part of the problem. My brain was telling me, once they got up on the screen, that the composition could go darker yet. The best thing for me to do is to wait for the rest of the greenery to go in before pushing the darks any more. These leaves are suppose to be out of focus. My eyes may be wanting to add more depth to bring them out to the viewer, when the truth of the drawing is that they must stay flat to create the depth of the farthest part of the background. Does that make sense? Maybe only in my crazy head! ;)

It is tempting to follow the paper down and work with the subject next. And no... this has nothing to do with my personal thoughts about drawing plant life! ;) After a little thought about the composition, I have decided to create the rest of the background with the drawing paper upside down. This is a technique that comes in handy for me when I tire of looking at the same familiar repetitive shapes. I guess, it just makes the background subject a little more exciting to create. :) So if I were to start the little puppy and hand next, it is not going to be a hindrance when creating the foliage. The final decision will be made tonight, and you will all find the answer in my next post! ;)

Thanks For The Memories

2011-11-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

Rest in peace... He was the most photogenic hamster that I ever had the pleasure of knowing...

Even though he mainly just slept in his exercise ball, it sure made for a wonderful drawing.

I certainly will never forget the 2 o'clock wake up call, when you escaped and decided to roam around in my bed...

He was a sweet little soul and will be missed...

Danimal aka "Dani"

November 30, 2011

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2011-10-31T19:12:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love a holiday that promotes eating all the candy that your stomach can hold? LOL

Chihuahua Continued

2011-10-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still here! ;) I had to devote some time to getting my Etsy Store off the ground before the holidays. (Another personal goal to check off the list!) So these last few weeks have been filled with felted wool, gourds, paper clay and acrylic paints. It is so nice to get back to a normal schedule at the drawing board and transfer this little guy to Bristol. Tonight was mainly devoted to bringing the flower blossoms into view. Did I ever tell you that plants are really NOT my favorite subject? Due to this flaw in my character, the background is going to go first on this drawing.

Look at my sad attempt to the left. LOL I started to map in the darks but lost interest. My mind always wanders to the right. What does that mean?? *sigh* ... Other than I lack discipline! ;)

Chihuahua Work in Progress

2011-10-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

This puppies photograph almost has a celestial feel to it. The composition is a tiny Chihuahua puppy held up in front of flowering plants. Its little body is curled up as it sleeps on the palm of a hand. As you can see by the sketch, not much of the human hand will be seen by the viewer. But I feel, the hand has enough showing to represent itself in the composition and give a sense of scale to the size of the puppy. I had two different pics from this photo shoot, and it was difficult deciding which to draw first. I cropped this one pretty tight and will see how it progresses in graphite.

The finished size will be approximately 7 x 8 inches. My support will be Bristol board, and I will be using a 2b mechanical pencil, blending stumps, and various erasers.

Ahhh... Nothing like the feeling of beginning a new piece of art! :)

Business Cards ~ Goals of 2011

2011-10-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

Remember way back in January when I was setting my years goals? Seems like forever ago to me... *sigh* Well, third on my list was to create and have printed my own personal business cards for my graphite art business. I am so happy to say that I achieved that goal as of last Wednesday when this package arrived.

I had been searching for a site to create my own layout and business cards. The girls over at the Blog Guide Book ran a promotion for UPrinting.com . Their endorsement was all that I needed. :) I did a photo layout (with some free help from Picnik) of a few of my drawings and began to create my first business cards. It was so easy and fun that I decided to do another set for my Pumpkin Hollow creations. Since my cards arrival, my hubby wants me to design some for the tree business. Did I ever tell you that my original reason for going to college was for graphic arts? LOVE IT! ;)

The clarity of my graphite drawings on such a small format is incredible... better than I could have imagined! Originally, I thought that I would have to jump to a postcard size for such clear details, but this little card is absolutely perfect. And lucky me, they were running 15% off of business cards! Oh... and on the back there is my contact information - name/addy/phone/email/blog, a little bit about my art, and my self portrait. It is amazing how much could fit and still be legible while staying within the cutting lines.

I am toying with the idea of creating some folding pamphlets to put into local businesses. If it goes as smoothly and looks as cool as these cards, I will be one happy artist... Onward to the rest of my goals!! :)

Double Yorkie Portrait ~ Finished

2011-09-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here they are finished and ready to be matted! (As with all my pics, you can click on the image to enlarge them.) I opted to go with a blank background that dealt only with the light source and shadows that were created. Shadows add so much to the dimension of a drawing. I just love the impact that they have on pushing the subjects forward.

Although this is a terribly bright photo, I had to take a quick pic of these two that I matted for the purpose of protection on their travels home. I am in love with black core mats. Bristol, although very light, is far from being white. The black core of the mat brightens up the Bristol by kicking up the highlights and bringing out the darks.

Well, "graphite" Bella and Chester are in their new home now and are awaiting the moment to be given as a birthday present. It almost seems like stillness has fallen over my house, since the excitement of final touch ups and delivery are over. I took a moment before writing this entry and read back through the posts on the creation of these two. I laugh at how much was happening in my life while this commission was taking shape. It has been quite a journey... :)

Double Yorkie Portrait 9

2011-09-09T10:37:00.000-07:00

Ready for the background. As you can see, Chester is a handsome little dude all blended and highlighted. :) His dark eyes and muzzle stand out well next to Bella's long hair. I hoped his strong features would be his strength in the drawing. Both Yorkies complement each other well with their unique looks. I love Chester's wide eyed look, and Bella will get some more dimension to her once the background goes in and stray hairs are put in place.

So much time gets spent looking at these little fur balls and studying their faces. I really feel that I know them. I am a firm believer that every animal is as unique as we are as humans, pertaining to looks as well as personalities. It is fun to walk into the back door of my studio area and be greeted by these sweet faces. I feel that I am lucky to get to work with so many different subjects and be able to live with their presence in my home if only for a while. Makes me feel like I have more pets in my life. I'm sure that my little black monster (aka Mew) likes it that way, since she doesn't have to share her kibble or comfy pillow with these "graphite" pets! ;)

Double Yorkie Portrait 8

2011-09-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd let you catch a glimpse of Chester in the rough stage! ;)

Double Yorkie Portrait 6

2011-08-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ouch! It's been a while. No, I haven't fizzled out on this. ;) Just got a little side tracked by the busy weekends of August... spending time at the flea markets and had a park days celebration in our small town. My son brought out his Minneapolis Molines for the town tractor pull. He won 3 first place pulls and 2 seconds. How exciting is that??? And in front of the hometown crowd. I was very happy for him and my hubby aka "the pit crew/chief mechanic". ;) The local volunteer fire department hosts the event, and they barbecue 1/2 chicken dinners and deliver them to the pull. Nothing like carry out to make a girl happy!! It made for a wonderful weekend with the most beautiful weather.

As you can see, I have begun Chester. The top portion of his head has been blended, highlighted, and darkened. The side of his face is at the mapping stage right now. I have gotten quite a bit farther tonight with the mapping, but the light isn't good enough for another pic. I am anxious to get to his eyes and muzzle area. They are surrounded by some interesting dark hair that gives so much character to his face. His chin hairs are more reminiscent of his daughters locks and should tie him into her nicely. The area of the forehead and ears is smooth and lacking definition, so most of the details will present themselves around the eyes and below. I will be off from work for a couple of days this week, so I hope to make the same progress on him as I did on his daughter, Bella.

Double Yorkie Portrait 5

2011-08-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? Three days and I am already doing an update. :) Time off from work translates into more time at the drawing board. Well, I promised that this little girl, who happens to be named Bella, would at least be blended. But I am happy to report, she is pretty much finished. Her highlights are in with the shadows darkened. Her fur is good to go until the minor touch ups at the end of the drawing process.

Now I will move on to the second Yorkshire Terrier that happens to be her Dad. His name is Winchester aka Chester for short. His hair has a more defined edge and is very blended. I am going out on a limb and say that he should go a little faster than his daughter. Yep I know, it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong! LOL

Double Yorkie Portrait 4

2011-08-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

I can read your mind... "When are you going to start blending Brenda?" Sorry, it should have been done before now, but I couldn't help myself. One hair led into another and then another. I took this photo and was determined to start blending afterward but found myself mapping in her chin hairs. Obsessive, I know! The mapping process leaves the subject in such a mottled state. So I will promise that the next update will have her looking more natural. Blending stumps on the way!

Double Yorkie Portrait 3

2011-08-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

Back from vacation and ready to work. As some of my followers know, I take vacation and attend the hunt on the 127 Corridor Yard Sale. It is 654 miles of flea markets and yard sales from the bottom of Michigan to the top of Alabama. It has been a very hot and fun vacation. Probably the hottest one that we have attended in a long time. We decided to start this year in Ohio and cut through Chicago on our way there. My son has not been to the windy city, so it was fun to share that moment with him. I will never tire of the hazy first glimpses of the Chicago skyline. *sigh*

I put in some time this morning on the portrait of the Yorkies (between unloading the vehicle and switching laundry ;) ) and am getting ready to create the second eye. Yes, this is not a huge update, but I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive here! ;) This vacation stuff does demand a lot of time from me, but now it is back to creating... :)

Double Yorkie Portrait 2

2011-07-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy weekend with a county fair and tractor pull thrown in, but I managed to get some work done on one of the Yorkies today. She will definitely need a little reworking as the rest of her comes into view, but I am hoping that the darker values around her muzzle will set her off. (They both have very light hair.) The shadows are just a little hard to finish at this point without the darkest values to compare to. This little one has hair going in every direction... No dull moments here! In all honesty though, I find it relaxing to be working at long hair again. I hope feeling lasts! ;)

Double Yorkie Portrait Cont.

2011-07-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

Severe weather has gotten the best of me this week. Happily, I can report that our town now has electricity and cable/Internet restored after a 4 day hiatus. My home was lucky to not be out of power as long as some of our other residents, but the Internet was out for a good part of the week. Not that it mattered much to me, since I was busy dragging and chipping brush for our tree business. With the tree work caught up and major heat in the forecast, I was more than content with taking this afternoon to dive into the double portrait of the two Yorkies.

As you can see, they are transferred to the Bristol board. The background will be left out for now, since it is not going to get the one in the photograph. My brain wanted me to start with the Yorkie on the right in the worst way. Please don't ask me why for I will never know the reason. At any rate, common sense won out in the end, and I held strong to the laws of smearing and began with the little girl on the left. ;) She is mapped in as far as I would like her to be before the blending step. The edges of the fur will be rough until the background makes an appearance.

For anyone who might notice, my usual tape around the edges of my drawing is not present. There is a long story that surrounds its absence, but the short version is that the Turtle drawing had damage from the tape. It was not a malfunction of the tape, but the idiot that applied the tape. I used a colored ruler in the application of my graph that left a few marks on my paper. I attempted to erase these marks... lazily went ahead and used the paper instead of transferring the sketch to a new sheet of Bristol (Hence, the whole reason why I begin my sketches on transfer paper. Duh!)... applied the tape... took forever to complete the drawing... and the tape adhered to the areas damaged by the eraser. Aaargh! To make a long story short -- too late. ;) I am not at all worried that this will happen again, but I am erring on the side of caution. This is a commission, and I will tape the drawing at the point when the background goes in. Enough said on that sticky situation...

Double Yorkie Portrait

2011-07-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the post before, the next drawing is a consignment drawing of two Yorkshire Terriers. The photo I had to work with showed both of the dogs being held onto. I tossed around doing a bust of the two dogs but am not a fan of their bodies being drawn in separate areas of the paper and fading into nothingness. So, I played around on the computer and created a crop that is more true to my style.   The photo is pretty small, so I am using a little larger grid to sketch my line drawing on. The background is going to be removed and turned into a blur of shadows.

I was pretty happy with the crop of these two little sweeties, once they were printed out.   Well... I guess it would be more accurate to say, once they were printed out for the fourth time! Have you ever had one of those days?  My printer is a Canon MP 560.  Although their has been much talk of Canons consuming ink, I really do love this printer.  It has separate ink tanks, and I keep printing even if the computer says to replace a particular tank. (I have counted and printed 10 extra 8 x 10's the last time by doing that!)  Whatever gives the "ink replacement" warning is way ahead of the ink really running out, which is amazingly wasteful. Anyways, my black ink was low, and my photo came out lacking that value. Okay, I expected this eventually.  So, I pop in another sheet of photo paper and a black ink cartridge and start the process again. Still no black. What?  I ran a third attempt. (Don't ask me why I would even do that.  My life mimics the saying that "Haste makes Waste." Ugh!!)   After that failed attempt, the light went on above my head... clogged printer nozzle. Duh!  This is the first time that has happened with this printer, which I must add is amazing for how little it is used. Anyways, successful fourth print... Yay!

As you can see by the line drawing, one of these little pups has a short and amazingly chiseled hair cut, while the other one is sporting "the Rachel" made popular by Jennifer Aniston during the early days of Friends. LOL (Love the cut, and the Yorkie breed pulls it off so well!)  Let me also add... It is a sad day when your subjects have better hair cuts than your own, and they happen to be canines to boot! LOL ;)   Back to my point, the contrast in hair styles, along with difference in the size of their heads, will lend itself well to this composition. The finished size of this piece will be 6 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches.   The crop will make them appear to be looking out of the drawing, which may be a little bit of a twist on the conventional portrait, but sometimes it is nice to be unconventional right? ;)

Ooops... I have to add...

Happy 4th of July Everyone!! :)

Baby Turtle Finished

2011-06-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

Here he is finished! You all know the drill. I will leave him up for a few days and do a little touching up and smoothing before it is put away. But, he is definitely finished enough to post. :) I didn't add that much sand (which is very hard to see in the photo), because it would be to distracting. It was definitely something new to work on a reference in a macro setting. It was a touch more difficult to get the details in such a small size work, so a little artistic license came into play on some of the details. It is also interesting to note how the shadows that surround the focal point become so blotchy looking. When looking at a photo, your eyes correct to see it more smooth. This could also be contributed to the dark skin tones of the hand. At any rate, it meant a lot of going back and darkening / smoothing of tones.

What's next? I have a commission that I need to get going on of two Yorkies. There will not be a background with these two. Haven't completely hashed out the composition yet, but the initial sketches will make that pull together. One of my son's hamsters, Gordy (I haven't drawn this one yet), has passed away. Thankfully, we have some photos of him being held. So, a special request has been made of me to immortalize this little guy in graphite. So it looks like there will be a lot of fur in my near future! :)

Baby Turtle 6

2011-06-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

This little guy is a pain to get a good picture of, so I zoomed in for a close up shot this time. The bottom half of his body is blurred, and the thumb's placement is between the focused and "out of focus" areas. So, the bottom of the turtle will make more sense when the picture is in its entirety. The sand on his body still has to be dealt with. I am going to have the background finished before going back to the sand. The next post will see this drawing finished! :)

Baby Turtle 5

2011-06-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

What was that ill fated prediction? "Finish this one over the long weekend." Yeah... I don't think so. LOL I can say this honestly and emphatically, "I have NEVER had my back locked up like it was the day after the last post of this turtle." I avoided the drawing table until three days ago. The scary thing is that I do not know what I even did to strain it. One good thing about it? It makes me appreciate the mobility that I am getting back so much more! It is great to be back at the board. *sigh*

I have spent the last few days mapping in this little guy. Doesn't look like much does it? ;) I know, I know. It takes a long time to do. He is so small, and there has been a lot of erasing. He is in his "ugly" stage but is ready to be blended. No predictions this time... I have some lawn mowing, town garage sales to attend, and a wedding to go to this weekend. My favorite time to draw is later into the night, so I will try to squeeze in a few hours here and there. ;)

A Remembrance on Memorial Day

2011-05-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

This is just the most beautiful song from Dire Straits entitled "Brothers in Arms". God bless the service men and women on this Memorial Day who have served, are serving, and will serve this wonderful country of ours...For those that have come home and those that we will forever hold in our memories and hearts.

Baby Turtle 4

2011-05-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I have started the baby turtle. The fingers are all blended, and they were made darker to balance my values and not have such a "washed out" appearance. (The hand in the photo reference has a medium tan color.) The darkest shadows may get a little deeper before this one is finished. The little body of the turtle takes quite some time to render. I am taking it slowly. My hopes were to be close to completing this one over the long weekend. Unfortunately, I woke up Friday with a pulled muscle in my back. Grrrrr! This is the first time that my back has made it torture to sit at the drawing table. Even though the change is slight, I am happy with the darkening of the hand and the start to the turtle. I do not believe that I have ever reworked an object more than this hand. It makes me think that I should have began with the turtle. The darkness of the turtle is what sets the tone for the rest of the drawing. Lesson learned!

Baby Turtle 3

2011-05-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

As the fourth finger enters the drawing, the viewer can begin to see how small this little turtle really is. This drawing shows my love of photography when using the macro setting. By using this setting, the photographer captured the true scale of this baby turtle and conveyed it in a masterful way.

I am still working on the area above the turtle and will have to do some pushing of the darks. My method is to build value and blend... take away value... build value and blend... take away value... repeat as many times as necessary. ;) There is sand on one finger, the thumb, and the turtle. It will be a challenge on how to convey the grains without being to blotchy. The grains show up well enough on the photo but hard to render due to the minute size. I can tell you this... I am getting tired of working on areas that are out-of-focus!

Baby Turtle 2

2011-05-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

Does it look like I am gaining ground yet? ;) I have been working for a few hours here and there over the last three days. I started very lightly, which always happens at the beginning of a drawing. With this being the background, my layers were not as aggressive as they would be if the central focus was drawn in already. So I find myself searching for the degrees of depth in my shadows. If it looks a little choppy, it is because I am adding another layer of shadows. They will have to be blended in the next step. I think this will be dark enough to move on to another area. This last layer of mapping makes the fingers look more sharper in detail. When I blend, they will look more out of focus and will recede into the background and allow the turtle to pop forward. Well... got to head back to the drawing board while there is still a few hours left to work. :)

Baby Turtle Cont.

2011-04-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

As you can see by the date, I took a little hiatus from drawing. It does feel good to be back at the drawing board again... refreshed! :) The fingers in the drawing are starting to be mapped in. They will be out-of-focus for the most part. The hand is pretty tan, so once the blending starts, I will be deepening the shadows and skin tone more. It was tempting to start on the crisp clean lines of the turtle first, but I decided to try a left to right approach. Part of this decision was due to it being such a pain in the last drawing to put the background around the already drawnYorkie. Also, I wanted to make sure that I could get the right amount of blur in the fingers first. My mind has a terrible habit of directing my hands to draw out-of-focus objects in focus. This little talent comes in handy when working with a bad photo, but not so good :( when I am working on a blurry background. I will complete the work over the top of the turtle before adding him in. He has little bits of sand on his body that should make for a tedious challenge, and I do not want to risk smudging him. ;)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Warmest Wishes for a Wonderful Easter!

Baby Turtle Drawing

2011-04-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the most time consuming part of a drawing is deciding what to draw. Oh wait... I did have it picked out. Unfortunately, this artist loves to change her mind! There I sat over the weekend with my original choice of photo reference. Then, four others managed to find a way into the running. (One even had fur!) And the truly scary thing... the pile of references were threatening to grow some more. If not for the depletion of all of my photo paper, this little guy would probably not be being posted. But alas... even with the promise from Amazon that photo paper was on the way, I made my choice and here is the line drawing.

This drawing is a macro shot of a baby turtle that is being held up to the camera. It is a spectacular photo reference, and I was thrilled at the sight of it. There is not much to the line drawing, since most of the hand is out of focus. I just set up some reference points for the fingers, and the harder lines to the turtle. This drawing will be 7 1/4 x 10 3/4 inches. I will be using my faithful 2b mechanical and 9b wood case pencils, lots of blending stumps, and kneaded eraser. It will be interesting to see how this piece comes out, since so little of it is in focus. But I think, it will make for an interesting way to showcase this little guy. :)

Yorkshire Terrier Finished

2011-04-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce that this little girl is finished. My poor 9b pencil is half the size that it started out as. It kept shrinking layer after layer. ;) The real payoff was when the tape came off. I love the crisp lines. This was the first time that I have had a black background. I found it to be very messy. The drafting tape is priceless in keeping the edge sharp and providing a white area around the drawing. When cleaning up the white border beyond the tape, I picked up the wrong eraser and created a smudge. :( Although it lightened up considerably, the tape has made enough of a border to mat around the drawing. *whew*

I will leave this little girl on the board for a few days before considering her finished. My next pic is ready to be put into a line drawing, and there will not be any fur on this one! ;) Just taking a little break to practice some hands again.

Drawing of a Yorkie 5

2011-03-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick update. I have blended out the hair and eye and have pulled some highlights. The leg to the right will get some darkening, but I want to see the background around it first. The fur on that leg is considerably lighter than the one to the left. There are a lot of stray hairs to be put in, but they will not all make it into the drawing. I think it would look very "fly away" . The dark background has been started Ugh! and will need to be gone over several times. Below the paws there will be some nice reflections from the lighting to break up the monotony of the black. I would love to see this one finished by the end of the month. I promised myself the next subject will not require any fur! ;)

Drawing of a Yorkie 4

2011-03-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

What a week! I started back to one of my part time jobs after a winter hiatus and am trying to get use to a packed schedule. The first week is always the toughest. I am looking forward to settling into a more calmer second week and getting a more set schedule for all my artwork. ;)

As you can see, the rest of this little dog is mapped in. My main problem with this drawing is seeing my photo reference through my Mylar cover. This image is so dark that working under my lamp at night (which is my favorite time to draw) is almost unbearable to my eyes. Since she is all mapped in, with the exception of the reflections and slight hints of fur in the background, I will pull the Mylar and work straight from the image. Yay! :)

This is a little off the subject of dogs, but... I have made reference on my other blog about the wonders of YouTube. As my younger sister can attest to, I was not interested in that site in the least for years. I thought it was simply a site mainly attributed to music. Although I have found back some cool old music videos from the past! ;) But it is also a wealth of informative videos that some wonderfully talented people share with the world. I cannot remember what I was searching for, but I stumbled across a brilliant Russian artist by the name of Igor Kazarin. He works with oil paint in the dry brush technique. This interested me, since I love to create my acrylic work with a dry brush. This gentleman is so extremely talented. Lucky for him that I cannot hop into my car and spend my weekends looking over his shoulder! He has many spectacular works, but please click on the link here and check out his amazing painting of Johnny Depp. The music is awesome, the time lapse video rocks, and the talent keeps me awe struck every time I watch it. It also lists his other equally outstanding works which are in black and white and color. Just click on them and sit back to enjoy the show. He also has a website that you can visit here . If I need inspiration or am not sure if I want to put some time in on my own work, I take the 5 minutes to watch one of his videos and my world is full of the desire to perfect my own skills. I cannot say enough how grateful that I am for him sharing of his talents. If any of my followers have a favorite artist on YouTube, let me know. I would love to find more talented artists to view. My search on YouTube has only just begun! :)

Drawing of a Yorkie 3

2011-03-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

The darks are going to have to get a whole lot darker, but here is where this little girl is at tonight. My 9b pencil is starting to get some use. I broke down and put in a few of the stray hairs to the top left. I finally have a glimpse of what the finished piece will look like. That is always a good shot in the arm for that last push in a drawing. Plus, I love to create eyes, and it will be nice to see her's complete. :)

Drawing of a Yorkie 2

2011-03-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

This little guy is extremely difficult to photograph. Aaaargh! I finally just decided to not try and get a close up. As you can see, I did not put in the background yet and am going to try and push through the majority of the dog first. The hair from the earlier post is all complete, and the face is now starting to be mapped in. The light source hits her forehead and the unfinished side of the face and will make for some nice highlights. I love doing highlights and am glad that most of the dark areas are finished. The bottom hair of the muzzle looks a little scary right now, but in the finished work, they will be barely noticeable in the dark shadows.

The background will be what pulls this piece together in the end. There are quite a few areas of hair on the outskirts of the coat that will be like the muzzle and be very slight in appearance. I am worried that the 9b Prismacolor graphite will not achieve a smooth flat dark background in such a large area. So, I did order some Derwent Onyx Dark pencils from Dick Blick that I might try out on this piece, if I feel the 9b falls short. * Rant Alert! :) * Well... actually, Blick had to special order them, since they do not carry them, and I cannot find a dealer around here in the U.S.. They are one company that I cannot say enough good things about. If you've never been to their site, I highly recommend you check them out at http://www.dickblick.com/ . It doesn't happen often, but if they do not have an item that you want in their catalog, they will do their best to try and locate it for you. They are just outstanding from the initial order all the way through to delivery, and the best at answering annoying questions from confused artists! ;)

Drawing of Yorkie Continued

2011-02-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

How is this for being caught up in the uglier stage of a drawing? ;) Instead of showing you a clean section of a drawing in progress, I thought that I would show the messier stage of development. The tuft of hair at the top is the closest to completed part of this drawing. As you follow down the side, the hair is in varying degrees of being rendered. Usually, I tend to do smaller areas at a time and take them to completion, but I got a little ahead of myself on this one. So... I went back up to the top of the hair to blend and highlight and am currently working the side of the face. The dark background at this point is just hinted to along the sides of the hair. It is very tempting to put in the background before going further. This is something that I normally do not do, but the darkness of the photo reference versus the whiteness of the paper is making me distracted. I am not sure what to do there yet. It is frustrating to not be able to put in the highlighted stray hairs, but they really have to wait until the end of the drawing process. I hope to have something a little more pleasant for the eyes to view in the next post... :)

Drawing of a Yorkshire Terrier

2011-02-14T19:41:00.000-08:00

Isn't this such a cute little dog to start on Valentine's Day? (Of course, it would have a whole lot more appeal if it was finished!) The size of this piece will be 6 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches. This drawing will differ from the others due to the fact that it will have a black background, and a lot of the dog's body fades into the darkness. This effect illuminates the subject in such a serene way. I originally had another Yorkie pic ready to go, but I stumbled across this one and fell in love. It even bumped the other photo out of the running for being the next piece. I look forward to the challenge of recreating the photographer's beautiful representation of this breed. :)

Finished Drawing of a Boxer

2011-02-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

I am so happy to say that the Boxer is finished! Believe it or not this is a little girl, too. The photo was generously made available at a picture library, and in the file it stated that this cutie's name is Lucy. It must be a lucky name for me! :) The background is blurred out grass. In retrospect, it would have been easier to do a faint cloudy background to this one and probably would have been just as effective. Of course, I planned to keep with the photo. After completing the background, the pattern and depth of graphite seemed to be overpowering. My husband agreed. So... the background got some rework :( and a considerable amount of lightening to it. Now, both of us are happy with the result. A lot of time could have been saved by opting out of the reference background, but of course as most of you know, my preference has always been for busier ones. :) (Of course during the rework, I might have given a different answer!)

I did go back and work some 9b into the dog's face and ears. It helped to define the whiskers as they went in. Quite a few of the hairs around the lower jaw were not defined. Sometimes it is tempting to get carried away and put them in there, but then it throws off the natural appearance and makes the subject come across flat. I remind myself of that all the time, since whiskers are my favorite part of animal drawings!

So what is next for the drawing board? I have a lovely shot of my son with a little tree frog sitting on his hand that I would really like to do, but my husband is pushing for another dog. His choice is a darling picture of a little Yorkshire Terrier. I might do a line drawing of each and decide then, since I'm sure both will be renderings for this year. ;)

Drawing of a Boxer 6

2011-02-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Fifteen inches of snow later... and here is where I am at with my Boxer. (Not that I am implying that it takes a blizzard shutting down half of Illinois to make me work at my art. But it does take away a lot of other options!) The only area left on the dog is a smidge of his back and some light fur in front. The background of the photo reference is very blurred and hazy, so it will not add much except a few faint references to shadows. I am actually anxious to see how the 'lack' of background will affect this piece. So many of my backgrounds are busy, and this will make for a nice change of pace. I would like to see this one completed and a sketch in the works for the next drawing before the weekend is over, but it does no good to hurry a drawing. The weather man is calling for sub zero wind chills here, so that will definitely limit any other activities. (I avoid going out in the cold if at all possible!) At any rate, the next post will be the completed work. Yay! :)

Drawing of a Boxer 5

2011-01-31T17:53:00.001-08:00

I am currently working on the darker side of his face. It seems to be going a little faster. The lighter hairs will wait until the end of the drawing as usual. I hope to get the ear and neck in tonight. The weather forecast for tomorrow is a possible 15 inches of snow, so odds are in my favor for some drawing board time (between trips out to shovel). :) Let's just hope that the electricity stays on!!

Drawing of a Boxer 4

2011-01-25T20:31:00.001-08:00

Made a little progress this last week. His chin will get more defined when the light hairs are added. I shaded in the white of the muzzle. His forehead had very faint shadows. When I put in the black along the side of the face, the white area on the muzzle may get some darker shading. It is easier to gauge the depth of shadows in the lighter areas when I have a strong contrast present. Hopefully, I will be able to post some more progress in the next couple of days. I would like to finish this one up by the end of the month to keep on schedule... or at least be close! :)

Drawing of a Boxer 3

2011-01-18T18:56:00.001-08:00

Well, I can breath a little easier (and now so can he!). The nose area had a lot of tiny details that translated to a lot of lightening and darkening (over and over again). It is such a small area with a huge impact on the overall balance. After the nose area was complete, it made it easier to map in the muzzle. The more I work on this guy...the more I am liking this composition. :)

Drawing of a Boxer 2

2011-01-11T06:55:00.001-08:00

This is how he sits on the drawing board this morning. His coloring does not have a whole lot of contrast in the ear and forehead area, but I think it holds its own with the black. The area around the eye and to the side of his face was deepened in the shadows. I will go back and put in the fine hair details after the whole face is finished. The mid section of the face is white, so that should add some nice contrast to the piece. I am looking forward to getting some work done on this guy later today. Hopefully I didn't jinx myself with that statement! ;)

Drawing of a Boxer Cont.

2011-01-03T19:07:00.001-08:00

It is hard to believe my last post that involved blending a drawing was on the 22nd of November. But I can tell you this for sure, it felt like more than a month break as I sat in front of the drawing board. This moment was when I chose my word-of -the-year (Focus!). The difficulties were comical and horrific at the same time, but I was determined not to scrap this guy. My first hurdle was the fact that this reference was not my first choice to draw, or as I call it "The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side" effect. (Just another way to feel sorry for myself by making a lame excuse for the slow start!) My second hurdle... I honestly was getting messed up in my process of starting a drawing and even found working my photo printer to be a challenge. (How pathetic is that?? And the answer is "No... I do not drink or take mind altering medication!") My third hurdle... after that does there really need to be a third?? ;)

Well, it was then that I picked "focus" for my inspirational word and told myself to pull it together. Then that lovely feeling came into the room, and I felt a familiar sense of organization come over me. My method of madness began to take hold, and the rest of the world and the static that comes with it faded away. The shadows of my reference photo began to make sense (I actually reworked the area of black twice before my old self clicked in- just in time to do the eye which is always a fun area to play with). It was at that moment that I could relax and begin to piece together my subject. I will do my best to stay focused and never let such a gap go between drawings!

This puppy is such a straight on view and not a whole lot of value (color) change on the sides of his face. It is interesting rendering such a straight on shot. I'm feeling a little bit out of my element but that is okay. It is nice to 'mix it up' once in awhile. As always, I am working with a 2b mechanical and a 9b wood pencil. I have been giving some thought to breaking into some charcoal to make the black value more intense. It will definitely be a media that I'll be spending some time with in the future...

Artistic Goals for the New Year

2010-12-31T17:01:00.001-08:00

My blog began on January 8th of this year. I had made goals for my New Year's resolution. One of the goals was to start a blog and on the 8th that goal became a reality. The second goal was to build a portfolio of work. I admit that I could have been more diligent, but I am very proud of the work that has been completed to date. Looking through my old composition notebook (my resolutions/goals have been entered there since 2005), I see more goals were achieved and others were not. (My style has always been to free write my thoughts and aspirations on the 31st of December.) Not accomplishing everything on a long list is to be expected. That is why, I put all of my resolutions/goals in the same book. It can be pulled out to check on current goals and complete those that were overlooked. So what will the artistic goals be for the year 2011?

First of all, I will devote more time to drawing. My slacking at the drawing board has caused me great stress when resuming a project. My excuses for not remedying this flaw of character were abundant, when it should have been addressed this past year. My set goal will be to create 10 new drawings for the new year. My s-t-r-e-t-c-h goal will be to complete at least one drawing a month.

Second, I will join at least one artist guild or chapter in the area. It would be good to be part of a bigger picture and be more involved in the arts around me.

Third, I will make up a card that will showcase my work/blog and distribute them in my area to let people know about my artwork. There are only a few people that know I am an artist, and even fewer that I have spoken to about my blog. I finally feel that I have enough quality work built up behind me to share with others. (And maybe built up enough confidence in myself, too! :0))

Unless more goals enter my mind tonight in my scribbling... that will be my artistic goals for 2011. I attribute this post to Painted Thought's Blog and thank Laure for encouraging her fellow artists/friends to post their goals for success in the upcoming year. I will also take her challenge to take up a word-of-the-year for 2011. My great nemesis last year was 'distraction', who was always accompanied by his buddy 'procrastination'. When lured into following these two, one is in danger of becoming best friends with 'self doubt'. So with such strong villains to contend with, I needed a word that comes to a sharp point and strikes a mighty blow. It must be able to be put into action in every aspect of my life and improve myself in areas that are in dire need of refining... My word of the year 2011 will be FOCUS. Focus will keep me on track in any endeavor that I choose to tackle until completion. It will help me to center in on goals/tasks and help me to have a more productive schedule.

With 2010 rapidly coming to a close, I raise my cup of hot spiced cider to a New Year and wish everyone health, happiness, and prosperity with all of your endeavors in 2011.

Happy New Year!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2010-12-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring not even...

my CAT??

Here's hoping that this Holiday Season finds you all healthy, happy, and in a warm cozy place. Where ever that may be! ;)

Drawing of a Boxer

2010-12-22T20:21:00.001-08:00

Well, Christmas is right around the corner. The 'to do' list is almost completely checked off, so I thought I'd take some time to myself and get my next drawing started. Here is the line drawing of a boxer pup that will be approximately 9 1/2 x 8 inches when finished. The original color pic is roughly a 5 x 6. I didn't like the size it would be if I enlarged the line drawing on my 1 inch grid. So, I created a new 3/4 inch grid, mounted the transfer paper, and went to work on the line drawing. Working on line drawings is one of my favorite parts of creating art. It helps to build up my hand/eye coordination. But I must confess, I had a couple of misplaced lines. ( I won't tell you where his right eye was located for a little while!) That my friends is the main reason that my sketches are done on transfer paper. It is sooo forgiving! Overall, the sketch went pretty fast, even though there were a half a dozen interruptions. I must say... it feels good to be back at the drawing board! :)

Update to the Bulldog Drawing

2010-12-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let you know that my hubby delivered the Bulldog drawing to its rightful owner. She was very pleased. And yes, I took my friends' advice and signed my name. My signature is by no means stylish or fancy, but I am resigned to the fact that it is like my drawings...no frills, just clear and to the point. My new resolution is to sign my work upon finishing a drawing. Thanks Laure ( http://paintedthoughtsblog.blogspot.com/ ) for all of your wonderful advice. I had forgot what a name truly represents. I am proud of how far I have come in my work, and my family's name that my abilities are derived from. And thanks Carol ( http://firecrackerkid.blogspot.com/ ), my work did feel complete once my name was on it. It is always a great thing to have friendly advice in the decision making process! :)

It was a little odd to not have the drawing in my studio, but as I said earlier, it never felt like it ever belonged to me. I would like to set the record straight on one thing though, during this entire process I referred to the Bulldog as a 'he'... Well, this beautiful family member in fact was a 'she'. Her name was Lucy, and it was my pleasure to have had the opportunity to draw her...

Drawing a Bulldog FINISHED

2010-11-29T17:28:00.000-08:00

Here is where I was 2 days ago, and this is how I drew in the back of the couch. Had I done the whole drawing left to right, the drawing would not have needed to be rotated 90 degrees. I actually like drawing this way. It trains my eyes to see small areas and shapes instead of the whole picture. The surprise comes when I turn it back, and the whole picture comes together.

Well, here he is finished. There might be some tweaking in the next couple of days, but I am very happy with how this one turned out. I hope his owner will be also. It's funny. I thought that it would be hard to give a drawing away, but as with the dog in the photo, it felt as if this work was never mine to begin with. I will miss him though. This was a very relaxing piece to work on. It was the first piece that I felt great confidence in to translate to graphite. Okay, okay, honestly... if the owner didn't want this piece, I would frame it for my own house! Look at that face... how could you not fall in love?? ;)

So now what is next? Well, the first thing is to decide on how to sign my artwork. None of my graphite work has ever left the house, so I have never signed any of them. This has been on my mind since the first drawing. I am very determined that my work be the total focal point, and a long signature would be too distracting. My thoughts have turned to using my initials BLNS in a jumbled format. I have the next few days to decide. Oh... and I guess I had better pick out another subject to draw too!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

2010-11-25T14:45:00.001-08:00

I love it! A holiday that you can eat all you want all day long! Yay!! Okay, maybe Mew took it just a little to far! ;0)

Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

Drawing a Bulldog 5

2010-11-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am still plodding along on this guy! I am fitting in drawing time here and there, so he is moving along even if it is at a snail's pace. As you can see, I am working on the couch. The top of the cushion on the left is mapped in and will get more definition. The back half of the Bulldog's body needed some deepening of shadows and markings. I would imagine that the top half will require the need for more graphite as well. It was a relief (to me) that his face seems to be on the mark for intensity. The tweed of the couch was left out due to the size of the drawing, plus the intense pattern would have drawn away from the central focus. It was interesting to note, upon viewing the reference pic over and over, that the focus of the photograph was on the front cushions of the couch~ not on the dog. His face was out of focus, but (thankfully) the lines on his face cleaned up nicely on paper.

My hubby took his first look at him tonight and was happy. He even made the comment of how handsome the Bulldog breed is. I informed him that on the radio today an ad ran for a 10 week old male Bulldog for sale. Apparently, his love for the breed doesn't run that deep. He went back in the living room to watch TV with his cat! ;0)

Drawing a Bulldog 4

2010-11-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

Well, our Bulldog has his face all blended and darkened. (I really have to find out what this guy's name was!) As I was getting ready to post, I was able to get a good look at my values and went back to the board to soften his face a little. Then, I took another pic. For some reason, it is easier to spot harsh values while up on the computer screen. I am pretty happy with where he is at right now. He has some depth to him which I was not sure could be created with the small photo reference. The background is now the last thing to do. The couch he is on is pretty dark, and sometimes I have to darken the main object more once the background goes in. My guess would be that the body might need some darker cast shadows. Time will tell...

Drawing a Bulldog 3

2010-11-03T21:10:00.001-07:00

Is he starting to look like a bulldog yet? I sure hope so! Here is an update with the face mapped in. I will start blending and adjusting the graphite tomorrow. It is nice for me to see him up on the screen. The far away glance allows me to see if something is not quite right. He looks a little bold right now but that will be toned down in the next session. :0)

All Hallows Eve

2010-10-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

May you all have a Safe and

Happy Halloween!

Drawing a Bulldog 2

2010-10-26T18:32:00.001-07:00

A little blending goes a long way! The bulldog's body is finished. I am very happy with the results. I went over the dark lines with a blending stump to work the graphite into the Bristol board. Then swiped across different regions of the body with various dirty stumps which caused most of the shading to happen naturally. If the shading was too dark, my kneaded eraser pulled it out. When working light areas, the sand paper pad was used to clean my stump so that the shading was very subtle. The best part was deepening the dark shadows. They make the body bounce from the page. I was a little nervous at first that this drawing would fall flat, due to its lack of strong details, but it seems to be going in the right direction.

Now, I will move onto the face. The details are not the greatest in that area, but the contrasts in value are very high. This should help to make it come forward and give the illusion of clear features. My hopes are beginning to rise with this drawing. I know it will look like an old photo when I am done (as it should), and my instincts are telling me that will be the charm of this particular drawing... at least I hope so! ;0)

Drawing a Bulldog Cont.

2010-10-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

I thought that I should do a quick update to let you know this big guy is not being ignored. (Okay, maybe he was set aside for a little bit.) As you can see by my side bar, I have been creating a new blog for my recycled art, gourd sculpting, textile work, and any other artsy endeavor that may cross my path. It will also include more about my life and my other passions cooking and searching out vintage collectibles. I've added a little more info in my side bar on this blog as well, with just a few minor changes to go. I feel that I finally have some order back to my life and am glad that my other forms of art and interests have their own space to grow in.

Onward to the bulldog... As you can see, he has been transferred on a light box to Bristol board and taped off on the edges. I have mapped the major markers of his fur on the parts of his body that will be semi out of focus. These markers play an important part of recognizing the animal. I did not shade in the dark areas of the body just the cast shadows. The blending process will do a lot of the body shading for me. If I shade in this step, I run the risk of muddying my marks and would have to map them out all over again. (I do hate rework!) ;0)

I will finish up the body before doing the face. There are not many clear details in this vintage photo, but I think that some can be pulled out of the facial features. I am leaving the face until after the body so that smearing will be at a minimum. Since things have settled down around here to a normal pace, I hope to make some solid progress in the next couple of days. :0)

Drawing a Bulldog Portrait

2010-10-10T18:23:00.001-07:00

It is time for a new beginning! This is the photo that has sat patiently by my drawing board's side for a chance to be put into graphite. It is a commission for a pet bulldog. The picture is in black and white. (Yes, I prefer color, but this will be an interesting change of pace.) The dog is a beloved pet that has been deceased for quite some time, so this will be the reference that I'll have to work from. There is not a lot of fine detail, but I am hoping that will not take away too much from the finished product. The talk was originally about taking the markings and putting it on another bulldog. It may sound crazy, but I would like to try this way of drawing him first, because this pose/composition is really him. Maybe it is the nit picky photo realist in me (more likely the devoted pet owner in me), but I want to see their honest to goodness pet in my finished work-- not a body double. This drawing will be my tribute to a family pet. I feel up for the challenge and hope to do this sweetheart the justice he deserves.

The original photograph is 4 1/2 x 3 1/2". The finished product will be 9 x 7". As you can see, my graph for the photograph is in 1/2 inch squares, and my sketch is graphed in 1 inch squares. I find it easier, oddly enough, to make the line drawings of the squares match, when I am enlarging the original subject (more room to work I guess!). The original photo does not have a lot going on object wise, so I did not take the time to blow up the photo for the initial sketch. The composition should remain the same as the original photograph, but I was given a close up of the face from another pose (that photograph is in small format, also). I was toying around with the idea of a mixed composition but haven't fallen in love with it, yet. I'll leave that idea floating around in my head for another day and make my decision.

This Little Wonder Finished

2010-10-02T07:20:00.001-07:00

Happiness is calling a long work in progress finished! This artist will be smiling when I hit the 'publish post' button. I will then be able to enter the blissful state of a clear mind and new ideas...

Well, the background is complete. I honestly thought my last background on the 'Chick in Hand' was busy, but that was nothing compared to this one. It took me way more time than I had bargained for. I made myself walk away from it a few times, because it felt like the process was becoming a chore instead of a joy. The logical solution would be to do the background first in my drawings, but I can honestly say that idea does not set well with me. It is just a stumbling block to think that I have to do my main objects while being careful of graphite on the outskirts. (My preference is the most precise areas first with no distractions.) Another solution would be to go from left to right, but that scenario (in my opinion) only works in certain less busier compositions. The final and best solution is to work on my background in more sessions with less time spent. (I'll make a note of that!)

Where was I going with this?? Just rambling on a tangent... Okay, what did I do to finish up this drawing. Well for starters, I darkened up some of the folds and lines on the hands after the chick was rendered. The majority of this was needed due to some smearing that took away the deep values. Then onward to the background, its values were darker than the hands which made the very edges (of the hands) look light. So, out came the blending stump, and I made a smoother transition between the two. After that, it was simply a matter of being happy with the values of the background after the details had been put in. ( I use an eraser for most of my detail work, so I am constantly going back to darken.) Oh and almost forgot to mention, you'll notice that I did shave about a half inch from the left side of the composition. It was going to be a distraction and would add nothing to the finished work.

I hope this is all making sense. It is always hard to write a post on a day that I finish a drawing. I guess, my brain is still a jumbled mess. It was just important to me to get this one up right away and call it done!

What is next on the drawing board? Well, I have some really nice people waiting for their bulldog to be put into graphite. I have some reference pics that are very small. My cannon will get a run for its money while trying to enlarge and keep the details intact... might just have to call on a few friends for some photo favors on this one! I felt terrible not starting into this commission right away, but my mind was so deep into this project that I didn't dare start another one simultaneously.

This Little Wonder 6

2010-09-22T20:06:00.001-07:00

My little baby chick is here. (Wasn't he so small? Ah, sweet memories!) It seems to have been a mistake on my part to render this little guy after the hands. It was a bear not to smear my work that was already completed. I had to tape paper over the right part of the hand, which is a quick fix but still can shift slightly. So, it was a constant battle to remember to keep lifting my hand when moving to other areas. I could have used a bridge, and actually did use my other hand as a support when doing the chicks feet, but do not like the distance from my bridge to the paper. There is an easy solution to this problem and that is simply to do a little more planning before drawing!!

After smoothing in the chick, I darkened in some shadows along the outside of the down and feet. It helped to push his light colored body away from the skin tones. I noticed after the chick's down was to the correct values that the hands are a little pale in a few areas. So, they will be given a little more depth before the background is put in. This drawing has paid dearly for the lack of time spent at the drawing table. It will probably go down as one of my longest works in progress!

This Little Wonder 5

2010-09-16T14:23:00.001-07:00

Here is a quick update. The watch band is completed, and the little chick is mapped in (except for his feet). That is the most graphite that will be added to him. He will get some blending and most of the defining details will be done with an eraser. The areas sketched in on him are his shadows, and the eraser will be used to draw in the actual fluffy down. I wanted to show the chick like this to illustrate that a little graphite goes a long way!

Look who came to dinner... This little guy showed up at my house in a cardboard box thanks to my darling son. You know him... the boy that was told no more pets. I was reminded that I only made reference to fish, chicks, dogs, cats, hamsters, birds, guinea pigs, and hermit crabs. In my ranting could you believe I left out rabbit? Leave it to him to attempt to find a loophole. That reminds me, I better make a note to tell him NO SNAKES!!

P.S. The breed of rabbit is called a lion head and let me add this little guy can eat and drink like a lion, too!

This Little Wonder 4

2010-09-07T17:36:00.001-07:00

The lower hand is now complete, and the watch band is mapped out and ready to make its appearance. This will be followed by the little chick. The bottom hand was quite a struggle. The lighting of the pic made it a very odd shade (I work from color pics). Between light reflections and suntanned skin, it has been a journey. There will be lighter hairs that will be added later, along with a little evening of tones.

I do prefer to work from colored reference photos. I feel I achieve better shading... Maybe not text book method of shading in a sense, but intensity of shades as I see them. If you were to turn this one's reference pic into black and white, I doubt it would match up. I find black and white photos to be flat and 2 dimensional, which for some reason confuses my brain immensely. (And unfortunately, the work created translates as flat.) It is hard to explain... I guess I let my eye give certain colors their own value scale, and color transformed into graphite just seems to enrich my interpretation in the end result. (Or at least I hope so ;-) !) Or maybe this just translates into extra work, but the difference that I have seen in my finished work is night and day. I have never been accused of doing anything in my life in a conventional way!

This Little Wonder 3

2010-08-29T17:54:00.001-07:00

As you can see the top hand has made its complete appearance. After the background is put in, I will be adding hair onto the skin of the lower part of the hand and wrist area. The lower hand is getting mapped in from the thumb knuckle over. I thought it would be a good time to stop and take a picture to show the beginning stages of the mapping process. In the next step, this will get blended in and virtually lost. I will go back and sketch in the areas again and build up the value. Right now it looks awfully 'leopardy' but will smooth out to show the natural perfection (or imperfections) of human skin. Like the top hand, I will add the hair after the background.

It is amazing to get such a close look at human hands. The subtle changes to the skin tone can make one go crazy 'with a want' to make the shading too dark. Even the veins in the wrist can be detected as a slight discoloration to the skin tone. It makes me want to render them more clearly (darker) when I am looking at them up close. It helps to step back a lot from the drawing surface and sketch the base skin tones from a distance. There is always the fear that too much detail can be fatal...

This Little Wonder 2

2010-08-19T17:13:00.001-07:00

I haven't had a whole lot of time at the drawing board lately. My cross stitch embroidery won out for most of the week! ;-) I have a tendency to immerse myself in one project for days on end. I desperately need to make a schedule to mix things up. Today, I vowed to put some time at the drawing board and was able to make a little progress. It was such a nice change. You may notice that I went back and pushed my darks a little more than in the previous work. The fingers were looking to washed out. That 9b pencil can work miracles! The parts of the hands that are yet to be rendered will be very light in value and detail. I think that change will throw the focus onto the little chick. Well enough of a break... back to the drawing board!

This Little Wonder Cont.

2010-08-11T18:55:00.001-07:00

Here is my progress since my last post. I managed to fit in a vacation in my absence from the blogosphere. The line drawing on Bristol went with me on my travels, but poor lighting and the lack of space to pack a drawing board, forced me to abandon my hopes of getting any of this drawing completed. Prop as I might, it just didn't feel right! Oh well... I received the news on Monday that my services were not needed at work on Tuesday. So, I was able to spend most of the daytime hours blissfully working away at my drawing board between loads of laundry.

I started this drawing on the thumb area. This was not the smartest of choices, since the thumb has a moderately dark value around the nail. After struggling for an hour, I decided to move to the top finger and its lighter shades. What a relief -- as I have been moving happily down the fingers since! At any rate, that is why you see the lonesome thumb started but not completed.

So how did I spend my summer vacation? Well, for the last 8 years we have been going on the 127 Corridor Yard Sale / Flea Market ( http://www.127sale.com/ ). For those who are not familiar, the 127 Corridor is a scenic route through Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. It originally was 500 miles of yard sales and flea markets lining the road. Now it begins in Michigan and is extended to 675 miles. Although we arrived to our motel in 101 degree heat, the temps were really not that bad. From sun up to sun down, we walked through countless numbers of sales making our way down the corridor. It is a true modern day adventure.

Here is a small section of the highway. I think we were in Tennessee at the time. This is how a lot of the road looks heading towards Alabama for us. They flank both sides. Sales can be found in fields, fair grounds, abandoned buildings, parks, parking lots, and you name it!! Where ever they can set up. The vendors and travelers come from all over the country. It is the most amazing experience. The vendors bring the most interesting items to dig through, and our fellow travelers are the friendliest people to share stories with at the end of the day. I highly recommend this trip if you love flea marketing, but it does get hot...so remember to pack a lot of water in the cooler!!

This Little Wonder

2010-07-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

Remember those little chicks that my son brought home? Well, here is the drawing that has begun and is based on a pic of my husband holding one of our smallest chicks. The drawing will be roughly 9 x 7". The dimensions may change when I get to the background. I am not really happy with the area to the left, so it might get shaved down a half of an inch. As you can see, not much goes into my initial rough. It is mainly done to get the outline to the main characters. The background is not even roughed in. I find that since my backgrounds are usually in some form of 'out of focus' that is usually best to have no semblance of hard lines visible. There will not be as much detail to this drawing, so it will be fun to see how it transforms.

I had thought about alternating subjects and getting away from the 'hands' theme on this one, but I fell in love with this pic from the beginning. The photo was taken as I began the last drawing, and I spent the whole time creating that one and thinking of this one. :-( That took a considerable amount of fun out of the creative process. At any rate, I am going to get this one in progress! As always, this drawing will use Bristol as the support, a 2b mechanical pencil, 9b wood case pencil, kneaded eraser, stick eraser, and several stumps!!

Speaking of the chicks, here they are present day. Whoops, Whitey is showing everyone his fine tail feathers. It is hard to get good pics when they are constantly in motion!! They get to wander in their little flock outside now. (Only under supervision.) They taunt each other and jump strait up in the air like little jumping beans. It is so funny to watch. Now and then, one will bully another, the whole flock will start jumping up and down, and run in circles. Poor little Blackie will taunt the air. (I think he has imaginary enemies ;)! ) He is extremely energetic and a lot smaller than the rest of the group, but he is a tough little guy!! So many different personalities. I could spend hours watching them play. Unfortunately, they will be leaving soon. I can honestly say this was a great group to end my chick raising days with. Their antics are better than any prime time show!!

Chick in Hand Finished

2010-07-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me!! I kept a promise to myself that I would be able to put this one up in its entirety on my birthday, and I am happy to say, "Mission complete." My first completed work of the start of my 42 nd year of life. I look forward to completing many more!!

It seems like a long time since the word finished has been written here. It will sit on the board for a few days before I revisit and touch up. The finished work is 8 x 7 inches. The background photographed a little grainy. It must be the work lights, but I was determined to finish up and post tonight. I look forward to moving onto a drawing with a little less detail!

Chick Drawing 5

2010-07-16T05:16:00.001-07:00

The dreaded cuff has now come into view!! I would have really liked to come onto the blog this morning and tell you that the cuff was nowhere near the challenge my mind had made it into... but that would be far from the truth. So many lines!! Honestly speaking, the graph was the sanity saver in this whole scenario. Normally the graph is used to be a loose form of line placement. For the cuff, I clung to it pretty tightly to show me where all those little lines needed to be placed. In the end, I had to do the 3 foot step back and make the piece cohesive with my eyes. It is pretty close right now but will probably get some alterations before it is called finished.

One thing learned during the progress of this drawing is that I must be building more confidence in my abilities as an artist. When I start a drawing, my normal method of building a project is to go object by object of my choosing. (Not very smart I know, but it is my brain I am dealing with! ;-)) In the Dani Exercise Drawing, I picked the most difficult object first...the ball. In this drawing, I knew that the cuff was the problem, and it was put in the final slot of the three main objects. (Natural avoidance!) I never would have taken a chance like that at the beginning of the year. I really didn't think about what I had done (thank heavens!) until I had reached the lower third of the cuff. I'd like to think this is some breakthrough...Time will tell!!

Back to the drawing, I did have to break out the 9b pencil. The shadows between the fingers were darkened, and it had a huge impact on the depth of the cuff. During the drawing of the cuff, I threw a piece of paper over the chick and hand. I was careful not to shift my hand without lifting, so not to smear the drawing underneath. The paper could have been turned during this process to avoid that, but I really didn't want to add to the challenge of the cuff. I will turn the paper when doing the background. With all the dark values on the paper, the chance of smearing the work is so much higher. So this is where I am at right now. Very relieved and ready to go on to the background.

Chick Drawing 4

2010-07-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

The little chick has finally emerged! I am not use to working with such light shadows. It took a good part of a day for him to make his entry onto paper. The shadows will still have to be refined, but I think there is enough of him here for you to see where I am headed. He will not get much darker, only in a couple of areas. The fluff on his body will be put in after the background is added. Ah yes the background... the reference pic shows a dark background with a lot of detail. I do not mind it being dark but do not care for all the details. So, I think there will be some artistic license taken, and the background will be simplified and muted. For some reason I am avoiding the sleeve. Between you and me, I would say it is the ribbing on the cuff that is the cause!!

Chick Drawing 3

2010-07-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

All the fingers are accounted for... onward to the chick! This is where I am at right now on the drawing board. There will be a few alterations here and there where the fluff of the chick comes onto the fingers. I am pretty happy with the progress when compared to the time that has been (or hasn't been) spent at the drawing board. I will get some good time in tonight and tomorrow, so it will be exciting for me to pick up a little speed on this one. So far, I am only working with my 2b mechanical pencil. When the drawing gets closer to completion, the overall look will tell me if the 9b needs to come into play.

I wish my drawing was progressing as fast as the feathers on my chicks! Look at all those wonderful little feathers coming in. If you look at his feathers right behind his head, you will see how the curl up. It makes them look as if they have a fluffy boa around their neck. My black chick is nowhere near this point. I do not know why, but his little body is taking its time on filling out. Of course, he was born a day later than this little guy. We were surprised to find out that one of the yellow chicks is getting in a brown variegated feather. I have never had one of that color. He is a lethargic little bird and will only set down when taken out of the cage. He can walk fine but just doesn't care to do it much. It concerns me greatly, but my son tells me that I am just being paranoid... that could be. ;-) All chicks have such individual personalities. I love how they try to act so tough, but when you go to take them out of the cage, they scramble and hide in a pile in the corner. I thought about taking them outside today, but the weather is not cooperating... maybe tomorrow!

Chick Drawing 2

2010-07-01T06:14:00.001-07:00

Making a little progress this week. I find myself going back and making things darker. The bottom part of the hand is finally where I want it to be. The bottom section definitely was the most challenging part of the hand. This drawing is going back to my traditional way of constructing a piece. I have a tendency to do one object at a time. The draw back to this method is smear ability! That is why I jumped to the bottom of the hand and am working my way up. Unfortunately, the sleeve is to the left of the composition and that will make the drawn hand become the resting point for my drawing hand. (That is the problem with my method.) I could always turn the drawing and reference pic and work upside down which is always a great way to brush up on skills, but I'll see when the time comes. More than likely, I will throw a piece of tracing paper over the hand. ;-)

Just a little update on my chicks. They are growing fast! See the wing feathers, they start to curl when they come in and make the chicks look fluffy and larger than their actual size. If you look at the feet, you will notice that feathers are appearing on their legs and down one toe. These will get very prominent. They actually resemble big feathery shoes when they are grown and gives them such a fancy, ornate look. It won't be very long and they will have all their feathers in. Chickens are amazing with how fast they grow up!

Chick Drawing Cont.

2010-06-21T17:12:00.001-07:00

Here is my progress on the drawing so far. I might need to darken the values as the other fingers appear. It always takes me awhile to warm up to skin tones when I have been away from them for a time. The background will probably be indistinguishable and muted. I'm not totally sure yet how I want it to be.

I promised you a picture of Fred and his sisters. Not a very good picture is it? Well his new Daddy came to pick him up, it was late at night, and the pic was taken in a hurry. (Sorry :( ) They were way to big for us to keep, and as I said before, rain delayed his departure by a few weeks. This did not make my husband very happy. (Although I do not know why, he wasn't the one in charge of cage cleaning duty!) So being the ever vigil parent, I told my son that Fred needed to go. It was also made quite clear that this was to be the ABSOLUTE last batch of chicks that would grace my basement. I know it sounds harsh, but you give my kid an inch... he will take a mile. I meant business. If he is the one who loves farming, why am I the one hatching and raising chicks? That's it...NO more...All done...

...So two days later these little guys arrived....WHAT? I have never been accused of being timid or soft spoken. There is no way my son didn't get the message above loud and clear. Could he be deaf, I asked myself??? Oh no... Does he have a death wish? I sometimes wonder... Does he trust to much in the fact that I will fall in love with these little fuzzies, and there by absolve him from any wrong doing? You betcha!

He started by bringing them home in an ice cream bucket, assuring me that he was just as surprised as me. Right?? Okay, he admitted, he let the hen hatch a batch. They were going to be little Frizzle birds. Frizzles?? They have the tiniest little chicks. He appealed to my sense of sympathy. One of the little ones didn't make it, because its mother wouldn't take care of it. Thankfully, I was told, four had made it. Darn it why do they have to be so small and cute? WHY? (Just to gage size the skunk in there with them is a tiny beanie baby. I'd put the smallest at the size of a silver dollar.)

So I regrouped. I would agree to raise this batch as my FINAL farewell. For those that are faint of heart, I will edit out the part where I told my husband. Let me just say he was far from thrilled! But have no fear, my son made sure to be nowhere around during the time of disclosure. I carefully explained that these were the final four. Our son made us a promise...no more.

Take a careful count and check of body colors and tell me how good my son keeps his promises. Is something wrong here?? That's what I thought after my husband and I came back from doing a brush chipping job for our tree business the next day. Did he think I wouldn't notice an extra bird? I think color alone gave this little guy away. Ooops, my son assures me this is really the last one. I wanted so much to be mad, but this little guy is about the size of a half dollar... Probably the tiniest chick we have ever had or that I have ever raised. What's one more? AAAAAGH! If you could just hold this little guy (who weighs nothing) and have him fall asleep in your hand, you would understand. My husband gave my son a look of disgust and disappointment. (But between you and me, I talked him into being the hand model holding these little guys for a future drawing. Trust me he wasn't complaining!) So now, they are downstairs eating and growing. My son put a little porthole on the side of the box and covered it in plexi glass, so if we are ever in the basement, we always have an audience. Don't tell my son, but I will miss these little ones when they are gone... :)

Chick Drawing

2010-06-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the next line drawing. The finished work should be around 8 x 7 ". Since we have had so many baby chicks around the house, it made for a great opportunity for a photo shoot. This little girl is a lot bigger now. She is an adopted sister to Fred the turkey. (We lost Gene ten days after his birth.) Now Fred and his two sisters will be leaving this week for their new home in the country. They should have left some time ago, but rain has delayed the building of their own private home. Their new owners have decided to let them remain their own special family and not separate them. I will try to get some updated pics for you to see before they go.

I think tonight, I might work on another line drawing. My original thought was to do a portrait next. But this picture showed up on my camera, got printed out, and ended up on the board. How did that happen? ;-) I have two portrait pics that are calling out to me. Oddly enough, I feel no need to be orderly right now. So I will take advantage of it and get as many line drawings going as I can stand. Picking compositions has never been easy for me. If I can get a couple of line drawings done in a row, I am going for it! Then hopefully, this blog will not have so much down time in between drawings. :)

Squirrel Drawing Finished

2010-06-04T18:59:00.001-07:00

Here it is finally completed. Or at least close enough to post! I will let it sit on the drawing board for a few days and look at it with fresh eyes. Finished drawing is 9x7". I am very happy with the finished product but think I will stray away from the animal scene for the next one. I ended up using a lot of 9b in this one. That made for many layers. On to the next, hopefully lighter, subject!

Squirrel Drawing Cont. 5

2010-05-31T20:11:00.001-07:00

Here is where I am at today. I just started to bring the birch branch forward. The main branch to the right will get deeper in value and blended to push it into the background, and then I will do the shading and detailed work on the section in front that is in focus. There will still be some more time tonight to work, but I wanted to post it at this stage. It helps me to chronicle how a piece comes together for future reference. The squirrel has been given heavier cast shadows to match the photo reference. (And now that I am looking at it on the screen, I might darken his back a little more. It is where the light source hits the strongest, but I think I can go a little deeper in value.) He has taken quite a bit of time as I go back and forth deciding how to get that short fur to look right. I must say it has been a learning experience. I know I moved faster than this on my self portrait... AAAAGH!! Back to the drawing board...

Squirrel Drawing Cont. 4

2010-05-27T09:50:00.001-07:00

Here is the next update to the squirrel drawing. As you can see, I added in more of the background to the right and completed his other hand and tail area. Now, I will move on to his whitish under belly and feet. The right side of the background will be considerably lighter and not as busy as the left. With the holiday weekend upon me, I hope to get the time to finish this one. (Sorry for the washed out photo! Graphite does not photograph well in a sunny studio. I promise to get a better pic of the finished work. )

Long time since the last post. What have I been doing?? Believe it or not, I have been hatching chicks. This little guy here is named Fred. Fred is a little turkey. He and his brother were born within a few hours of each other. His little brother, whose name is Gene, had trouble coming out of his egg and was delivered by yours truly. We have since found out that Gene's inability to hatch himself out was due to a problem with his left leg. At the present moment, they are both doing well and are very noisy and active. My son does not like me naming the birds. He believes I become to attached. Who me?? If you hadn't guessed I named them after two famous actor/dancer/choreographers. And boy do they live up to their names. They are constantly moving (or dancing ;-) ) around the cage with those long legs!!

Here is Fred at a tamer moment as his brother was just delivered in the background. He thought he'd take a peek at the outside world.

These guys arrived already hatched on the same day that the two above were born. The majority of them were a couple of weeks old, but the guy threw in four that were newborns. This did not work out well as two ended up dying. So while my son was gone, I pulled out the two remaining little chicks and stuck them in with Fred and Gene, since they are very close in age. At first the little chickens just stared at those long legged birds! What in the heck are those things?!! It was so funny. But in the end, they were piled in a little heap under the heat lamp in the corner. Aren't families great!

Squirrel Cont. 3

2010-05-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

Busy weekend, but a little progress was made on the drawing. As you can see, he now has a face. His whiskers have made their appearance, even though some will be elongated later. I have been double checking the values in the shadows of the fur, and they might have to be altered once the body is finished. My main objective is to get the fur laid in the right direction then worry about cohesiveness later. This little guy is actually a roan color for the main part of the body with a gray/white under belly. With the sun hitting at his back, it is making a job of translating it all into shades of gray. Although more than likely, I am just over thinking the task!!

Squirrel Drawing Cont. 2

2010-05-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick update to show how this drawing is progressing. The background was drug over a little farther to the right to accommodate the bush of the tail that needed to be rendered. A good part of his tail can be seen and the majority of his head. I went back and darkened up the background blur with a 9b pencil. Usually I will wait until the end of the project to darken values, but it was throwing off my shading of the squirrel. This little guy's head has given me quite a time! I am not accustomed to rendering short haired animals. It has been quite the learning experience. It was a strategic move to do the face first on this one. I figured it was the shortest haired area and the spot on the body with the most detail. Hopefully, the pace will pick up with the other areas.

Squirrel Drawing Cont.

2010-05-07T16:48:00.001-07:00

"What is that?" you ask. Hopefully to be followed by--"It looks blurry." ;-) At least I hope that is what you are thinking. The answer to the question is that this is half of my out-of-focus background. I know this does not bring a whole lot of anything to the table, but this is what I have done so far. It has taken me a few sessions to get all that blur going on! It made me rather nervous to start the background first. My comfort level is pretty low. At first, I was going to do all the background; but after some thought, I decided to stop midway. The squirrel will be the next part to be rendered. If the background on the right of the picture was finished, it would make me nuts. I would have to cover that part of the drawing while I worked on the squirrel, because that is where I would rest my hand. Not that blurring it more would be a bad thing, but it just makes me uncomfortable. An artists bridge would solve the problem, but me and my bridge do not get along very well! I cannot remember a project that I used the poor thing on. Aaaaah, maybe someday...

Squirrel Drawing

2010-04-30T18:20:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd show this project in its earliest stage. This is the initial sketch before being transferred to the final surface of Bristol board. I am in the process of darkening the sketch, so it will be easier to see through the Bristol on the light box. As you can see (or hopefully can see!) this is going to be a little squirrel in a tree. I fell in love with this picture partly because of the lights and darks of the squirrel, but mostly for the birch tree that he was found on. The limb has such a nice contrast on its bark, and it is so defined in detail and goes out of focus as it recedes into the background. The background itself is so blurry that it makes a nice frame around the central focus of the squirrel. At least that is what I hope the finished piece will convey! ;-)

I know that there are some (even a close friend of mine) that find squirrels to be quite a nuisance. ( They do have fun emptying bird feeders.) But in their defense, I find them to be hours of fun to watch. I had one in my backyard a week ago that was thrilled to find the bits of hot dog buns that were thrown out for the birds. He frantically went around digging tiny holes, depositing the chunks of bread, covering them up with dirt, and carefully patting the earth smooth over them. He must have hid a couple dozen pieces! He treated himself to a couple of chunks for all of the hard work as the sparrows ate happily along side him. I have never seen a squirrel do that before, and unfortunately for him, we received a steady rainfall that night. Rain, dirt, and bread? Oh my! I am sure all the earthworms were very thankful for Mr. Squirrel's contribution to their underground food pantry!! All this natural entertainment and all it cost me was a few left overs... Some of the best things in life really are free!

Self Portrait Finished

2010-04-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

It took me awhile to get the hair done! I honestly thought it would be easier, since it was pulled back, but that was not the case. As you can see, the light was coming from the back on the right. I took the liberty of making the light not as harsh. If the drawing had a darker background, I could have made the light hitting the hair more stark. Honestly, I prefer it like it is. It was a very harsh photo with stark lights and jet blacks. I also gave the shirt more detail and a nubby finish that it should've had. For my first profile portrait, I am very happy. It is unanimous here that it does in fact look like me and the photo. So, that is a plus!!

What to do next? I am not sure. No predictions this time, since they never seem to work out. I will just take a day to think about it...

Self Portrait Cont.

2010-04-12T17:52:00.001-07:00

Progress... I seem to move quicker when animal fur isn't involved! The first picture is my work space. I like to have the photo image higher than my work. Most of the time the Mylar graph is pulled back so the shadows of the face are easier to see. Speaking of shadows, either the lighting was treating me very unkind or winter definitely had taken its tole on me when this picture was taken. I have a dark circle under my eye. This must have been the week that I couldn't find my under the eye concealer ;0) ... Yikes! Well, I can even be thankful for being exhausted, because it sure made the area around the eye easier to define.

Oddly enough, the eye was the last feature that was rendered on the face. It occurred to me later that this was taking a big chance, since I have never had to draw an eye from a side point of view. I am very happy with how it turned out. My main priority was to keep the life spots as clean as possible. Now the trick will be to not smear them while working on the hair.

It has been relaxing to work on smooth skin again. Large sections can be worked on at a time. (When working on the fur of animals, I have to keep the sections so much smaller to maximize the detail.) It is a funny feeling at the end of a drawing session to stand back and realize that it is my profile starting to come to life on paper. One of my son's friends (who apparently is easy to impress ;0) ! ) looked at the drawing the other night and said it was amazing. I looked up from my drawing board and replied, " I know I am." That made for a good laugh! I can't imagine what he thought of me drawing myself... It is kind of funny to think about, but my son's friend has known me since he was 2 years old (18 yrs.), and he has never known that I could even draw...

Self Portrait in Profile

2010-04-10T19:50:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you are lacking models to draw...? Step up to the plate, be your own model, and draw yourself! I know, it doesn't meet the criteria for the busier composition that I had been wanting to do, but I was anxious to try another human portrait and in profile. The picture I took of myself was not by any means that clear but good enough to draw from. So unfortunately ;) , all those laugh lines and wrinkles didn't show up in the enlargement. Oh Darn! And let me say, those bangs hide a lot too!!

The thought of a self portrait can be rather daunting to think about. Oddly enough though, once this was started, I ceased to think about the subject being me. I started to see characteristics of my sisters and parents showing up. How often really does one study their own features section by section? I find myself constantly checking my sketch to the photo. There was a little fear that subconsciously I might do a little altering! But so far everything is checking out. That is the beauty of a graph. Just as a side note: I did transfer the graph, as you can see in the picture, and I find myself erasing large areas and not needing it. This could be due to the smaller size of the portrait which is 8x8".

So far, it has been really fun to build up the values. It is such a surprise when I hit that magical moment when a feature pops out from the Bristol. I never thought working on humans could or would be fun. My gratitude will always go to Lee Hammond for pushing me into purchasing Bristol board and blending my values. That bit of knowledge has opened a whole new area of art to me. I will be eternally grateful!

Otter Finished

2010-04-06T20:01:00.001-07:00

Here he is finished! The darks might get worked on more later. For right now, I decided to take the edging tape off. It worries me that it might start to adhere to the paper to well and cause some damage. I will just put some new tape on later if needed. It is always fun to pull the tape away and see the nice clean edges to a drawing. The color of the tape being lifted out of the picture makes the graphite take on another dimension.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Scott Liddell for a wonderful reference photograph. He is a very accomplished photographer and is generous enough to share his talent with the artistic community. I try to work from my own photos but could not pass up the opportunity to draw this little guy. You can check out Scott's photography at http://www.scottliddell.net/ and from there you can check out his blog also! So thanks again!!

Tonight will be spent picking out a new composition. I am not sure which direction to go next. A busier composition would be nice...or something on a bit larger scale...I have a feeling it is going to be a late night filled with contemplation!!!

Otter Cont. 2

2010-04-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Getting a little bit farther on the otter. Other commitments have been making progress on this one slow to a crawl. So with the luxury of free time this morning, I dove in determined to get his face pulled together!! The background should go relatively fast, since it is very muted, then his whiskers can be put in. I am happy with the progress to date, but the dark values are not close to where they need to be. There will be a lot of 9b involved before this one is finished!

Otter Cont.

2010-03-26T20:08:00.001-07:00

Here is the progress on the otter head study. As you can see, I am staying on course for going right to left with this one. The background of the fur may need a little more 'fading out', due to its strong organic shapes. This is caused from the otter being wet in the picture. The clumpy hair, which was out of focus in the distance, took on a pattern all its own. Value wise, I would say that area is spot on, but I will have to see if it draws to much attention after the drawing is complete. The face hair and whiskers will be more sharp and in focus which should make them a good balance to the background fur. Only time will tell!

Sunshine Award

2010-03-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Mariska for giving me the honor of the Sunshine Award. I really appreciate it :) ! I know I am suppose to list those that I think should receive it next. Instead, I would like to follow Gary Keimig's lead by sharing this award with all that follow my blog and those bloggers that I love to go and visit!! There is some inspiring and talented artists out in the blogosphere, and I would be so much less of an artist if not for them... So thanks again to Mariska (one of those super talented artists) and you can check her out at her blog http://mariskasthings.blogspot.com/ .

I must say, it is nice to see a little color on this blog isn't it ;) !?!

Otter Drawing

2010-03-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

The next drawing on the board is a head study of an otter. The finish size will be 8 x 5 1/4". I am trying out working from left to right on this one. It was very tempting to do the background first, but so far I am sticking to plan. His head (which is probably hard to see in the sketch) is in the center of the drawing and is the only thing in true focus. He has some wonderfully long whiskers that should be fun. There is not a lot of details to this one, because it is a pretty dark valued photo reference. I was really drawn to the photo though and will stay loyal to the values in it. This drawing will be a good lesson in getting my graphite to go as dark as it possibly can.

Gorilla Study Finished

2010-03-16T19:53:00.001-07:00

Well the Gorilla is finished. I had thought about putting some blurred out bamboo in the background, but it is a rather striking pose with just the foggy graphite. It will stay on the board for awhile until I am sure. The hair was time consuming and made me glad that this was in a small format. It was fun to draw the facial features with the high contrast in values. I used my usual 2b mechanical pencil but had to bring in a 9b for the really dark areas. This drawing was not as busy as some of my compositions, but I think he is pretty strong all on his own.

The next drawing is a head shot of an otter. I did the line drawing while working on this piece. It will be simple in its composition. I think sometimes one can study an animal better without all the noise of a background. The overlapping piece will probably go back to something a little more complicated. I might have to corner a human subject this time. We'll have to see!!

Gorilla Study

2010-03-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

Getting closer to completion! You might wonder what is going on in the lower left corner. That is the blurred area of the photo where his shoulder is. It is showing a little 3d in the pic, which I guess is good since it is suppose to be in the foreground. Most of the fur has been completed. There is mainly just the black skin area left. It isn't very noticeable in the picture, but I put a few layers of graphite to the right side to get rid of the glaring white of the Bristol. I'm not sure if I will do anything else to that area...probably not. His nose and mouth will be very strong in contrast and should give a pretty bold presence.

Just a side note: I can't help but think of the old TV series Planet of the Apes when thinking of gorillas. They were the armed forces of the planet, I believe, in the series. They scared me to death and mind you this was way before any fancy computerized special effects. (Yes, for those too young, it was in color!) Okay, I digress... back to the subject at hand...

This will be put to the side tonight to make room for the next line drawing. I am pretty sure it will be a head shot of an otter. This one will be back on the table on or before Thursday. It is going to be hard to walk away, but I think it will be good for me to learn to multi task.

A Gorilla Close Up

2010-03-06T19:37:00.000-08:00

I spent a few days pouring over pictures for my next drawings. There were several that actually appealed to me, and one in particular that will probably overlap this one at some point. I wanted to work on two or more simultaneously... We'll see! There is a little bit of fear that I might lose my momentum if the gears are switched to something new. But I am determined to give this a go, so a line drawing (at least) will begin on another drawing during the process of doing this one. Maybe then, there won't be that lull one gets after a drawing is completed. The perplexing lull...You know wandering around aimlessly trying to find the next poor victim to be drawn! ;0)

Oops, guess my title gave this one away! I really liked this shot of a gorilla. It is a tight close up of his face. He is quite a challenge, since the camera's main focus is on his nose and mouth area. This has left a lot of his features in different states of out-of-focus. My eyes are getting a work out. In searching for the details, my eyes want to put everything into proper focus. So periodically, I have to hold the reference photo farther away to readjust my eyes. When the fur gets completed, I will take a step back and do my final value darkening to catch the overall shadows. If I try to work my values to completion in sections, then they are not cohesive with the rest of the areas. Then one has to do an all over check which results in rework, and NOBODY wants that!!

My intentions were to have the chance to finally go left to right with my work. Then, I found myself sneaking across the paper. All at once my husband was standing next to me saying, "Oh yah, had to hurry along just to get to the eye!" RATS... Caught in the act!! But the fur was getting so tedious! I feel so guilty...well kind of...anyways :)

The overall size of this piece will be 9 1/2 x 5. It's funny. I never thought I'd love doing smaller work. The motto was 'go large' in school, but this smaller format is kind of nice. It would probably make sense to work on smaller drawings and overlap them with one large work in progress. There are a few ideas in the back of my mind that might work well for this. Time will tell...

Dani's Exercise Drawing Completed

2010-03-01T12:33:00.000-08:00

Nothing like starting off the month by finishing up a drawing! I will let it rest for a couple of days and see what might need some rework. I might give the shirt some more definition mainly in the sleeve and waist area. (My son had his shirt tucked in well in the reference photo, which took away any chance of creasing.) We'll see. My eyes need a rest from this drawing for right now. I am not to happy on my time frame with completing this one. I did a lot of slacking off. Hopefully, the next composition will go faster!

This drawing completed is 8 1/2 x 8". I used a 2b mechanical pencil and enhanced the darks with a 9b. I pulled highlights with a kneaded eraser and a smaller sized click eraser. The belt kept its original details from the photo reference. I chose to alter this same belt in the other drawing of Dani. I thought that in that one it would be to much of a distraction. It seems to anchor this drawing well. The shirt is lighter, and like I mentioned earlier, I might put some more definition into it. The lighter fabric seems to brighten this composition and push the focal point forward. With regards to Dani, he got a little teasing to his hair and darkening of values. I felt he needed it in order to hold his own in this composition.

Now onward to thinking about the next composition. I have been challenged to do a self portrait. YIKES! Trust me I am in NO hurry on that one. My husband wants me to do a drawing of our cat (his little princess!) who happens to have black fur. YIKES, again! My brother in law would love a drawing of his cat (black and white fur...), but you can't get within 10 feet of that cat without him attacking and drawing blood. Time to break out the zoom lens! I do have an interesting pic of a squirrel that has strong possibilities. I'll have to look around and see what I can dig up. I might work on two studies at the same time. It would be interesting to see if I could make the jump back and forth...

Dani's Exercise Drawing Cont. 4

2010-02-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have been working on the drawing! Probably not as hard as I should have been though ;) . I vow to make myself sit for at least and hour a day from here on in. I have found out the hard way that it is difficult to regain my rhythm if I ignore the board for even a day. Not to mention, it doesn't help in the portfolio building department!!

As you can see, the hand has made its appearance into the portrait. I still need to do some smoothing and deepening of values, but it is close enough to show where I am heading with it. The background under the hand will have a harsh cast shadow (like in the other portrait), so that should help push the central focus forward.

I must say that I am actually growing fond of doing hands. Looking back at old sketches, my favorite past time was drawing little critters. I would always do a fair job of completing the fur but could spend an immense amount of time laboring on the little hands. I was fascinated by the different shapes, sizes and colors (love the dark colors of the raccoons and prairie dogs!). The versatility of their hands amazed me and was a wonderful challenge to make them appear 3d. I have had very little experience doing human hands but have found that they are not much different from the little animals. Although, I do find working on a larger scale more of a challenge.

Next up for completion will be the arm. With all of the hair, it will be a challenge of its own. I will make the background similar to the photo reference and let it be slightly blurred. I hope to have this one completed before the start of next week...

Dani's Exercise Drawing Cont. 3

2010-02-18T11:38:00.001-08:00

Dani is getting close enough to 'finished' to post, I think. His fur needs some more definition, but I want to take a change of pace and move to the hand for awhile. He is so much smaller in this composition that the fur can be rather tedious. I found myself mapping values, blending, erasing out highlights, and redefining the darks. Then I would blend some more and start all over. It was becoming an obsessive loop. I had to make myself stop and step back 3 feet and see the whole hamster. This helped me to pick out where I was lacking in my values overall, since at the drawing board I only focus on small areas.

Dani is definitely not as fluffy in this composition. (Although, I still have to put in some whiskers and a few longer hairs.) This fact is due to the hour long run he had in his ball prior to the photo. Well, not really an hour long... He has a tendency to find a corner of the room and hide out cleaning himself, or sit dreaming about his sunflower seeds, or wonder if my son has added some new bedding to his cage. You know the usual hamster thoughts! Trust me, this hamster will NEVER be accused of over exerting himself. Enough gossip about the little guy, I had better get back to the drawing board...

Dani's Exercise Drawing Cont. 2

2010-02-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

Where did Thursday go? Well lets just say it was an artist's holiday! Every once in awhile you have one of those days that settling down to the board just doesn't happen. Can I blame the telephone for ringing?? Anyway, Friday was a very good day for production. I was able to complete the ball. I left some of the holes in the ball blank for now until I decide on the shade of the shirt. It will probably be similar to the other portrait. When the drawing is closer to being finished, I will add some depth to my darks and search out a few more highlights. I am very happy with the reflection from the fingers and Dani's little hand that shows through the plastic. If you want the honest truth, I am relieved that the ball itself is pretty much finished. The false start was a lesson to me on how to begin a drawing and pick out values. I am so glad that panic didn't sway me to shelf this drawing!

Dani's Exercise Drawing Cont.

2010-02-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

Here is where I am at right now. I felt enough at ease with recognizing the intensity of my darks and lights to dive into the center of the ball. I sometimes think that drawing a globe with all the continents would have been easier! When the reference picture was taken, the flash bounced off the inside of the ball. (The ball itself is translucent blue.) This caused some phenomenal shades of neon blue to appear on the outer shell of the ball and illuminated a world of interconnecting plastic sections and micro details. (This would be awesome drawn in color someday!) I faltered a bit over what was truly darks and mid-tones. Right now, I am concentrating on just getting the basic form and shading in. I know there will be some rework later with details to add and shading to even out. I went ahead with the hand reflection for the thumb and am pretty happy with how it looks. Hopefully, I will be able to knock out most of the ball tomorrow. It does make me think (like this isn't driving me crazy enough!) how cool it would've been with a clear ball. Of course, it would have taken me most of this year to get all those details in!!

Dani's Exercise Drawing

2010-02-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

Here is the beginning to my next portrait. It is of Dani (aka the hamster) getting his evening workout. My son had him running around in his little blue plastic ball. We took the cover off, he climbed up to look out and posed for this picture. His pose is very similar to the first portrait. I found this picture interesting due to the challenging position of the hand and the ball itself. The line drawing was a little bit of a challenge, but that is where the graph to me is invaluable. I have no doubt I could sketch this scene (with its fair share of erasing!), but the graph makes the job quicker and helps me to place all those tiny details. Also with regards to the fingers, it leaves no doubt when positioning the shadows.

I finally feel pretty confident at taking a pic and posting at this point, but I must admit this is my second attempt at a start on this portrait. I started on the inside of the ball on the first drawing. I laid the graphite heavy on the first layer ( a little too heavy!). After blending it in, I realized this level of darkness was not needed. (The intensity of the blue in the ball was throwing me off.) After erasing, I noticed that the graphite was deeply embedded. I tried to work over it but was not happy. So, into the trash went the first attempt. Humbling isn't it! This sent me frantically looking for a different composition all together. (I never said I could stand failure!!) I lined up a few new ones, but the thought of doing a new line drawing, and leaving this one not completed, was causing me to lose self confidence by the hour. So thankfully, I work on tracing paper for my layouts. I transferred my drawing AGAIN to Bristol. I picked another area of the ball to start and carefully began layering my graphite. I feel I'm on the right track or close to it. Graphite can be challenging with its shades of gray!!

I suppose, I should add this drawing is started with a 2b mechanical pencil. In the last drawing I used a 6b in some of the darker areas. This will probably hold true for this composition also. I am blending with various size stumps and highlighting with a click and kneaded eraser. The finished composition will be approximately 7 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches. Well, back to the drawing board...

Handsome Dani Portrait

2010-02-02T15:04:00.001-08:00

Here it is! Or at least I think it is. I do not want to remove it from the drawing board until I have had a few days to reflect on it. The final background decision was to stick to my original photograph. I kept to a very dark more out-of-focus background and ran highlights in with the kneaded eraser. The only minor change was the shirt behind the hamster might be about two clicks lighter than the photo. I think that makes a better back drop to Dani. Overall, I am very pleased with how this portrait turned out. I had been given the suggestion to not have a background. This was an idea I actually had played around with in the planning stage, but I thought two hands that were floating free holding a hamster might give a more memoriam feeling to the piece. This was combined with the mistake of transferring my initial graph to the whole drawing surface and it would not have been easy erasing all the remnants! Live and Learn.

Hamster Drawing Cont.

2010-01-30T07:14:00.000-08:00

Here is the next installment in the continuing saga of Dani the hamster. This little guy ended up giving me more of a problem than what I bargained for. (Even worse than the night he escaped from his cage and decided to give us a 2:00 in the morning wake up call!) He is a black hamster, and although nothing is a solid color in this world of shadows; I forgot how to translate that to paper. As I stated in the profile, it has been a long time since I have done fine art! It is one thing to map the shadows, but it is another thing to make them spring off the page. That combined with the small size of the subject (way out of my comfort zone!) drove me to pace for hours. A great thanks to the creators of the kneaded and vinyl erasers. With their help I started to pull graphite giving those little light and medium light (ever so tiny!) hairs a chance to emerge. But the moment I started to breathe easier was when I went back in with the mechanical pencil and started to darken patches of hair and put in fine points to their ends. That's the moment when Dani's fur started to have depth. I knew then I was back in the game!

Of course this brings up a new point to ponder with regards to the black fur. Why do we choose the pets we have? Is it a subconscious choice that I have had pets that aren't colorful (in regards to fur only)? I don't know :) ! This made me do an assessment on the subject. At different times in the last 20 years I have had: 2 black cats, 1 gray cat, 4 gray birds (they had gray babies), 1 gray rabbit, 1 black dog ( she had 6 black puppies 2 cinnamon), and 2 white carrucos (which were oddly enough black and looked like tiny beavers. They had 2 tiny black babies. Please don't ask if I spelt their name right!). We have tended for a short time to wild squirrels and raccoons in shades of gray. Okay, one squirrel had a red belly! The only thing with color is my lovebird, who came to us with his brother who has since passed (which I am beginning to wonder was from boredom due to the color shortage in my house!). They were and are little rainbows of color. Even the last two vehicles I owned were black! Maybe, I am on to something here. I am now committed to sharpening my graphite skills and then moving on to some form of colored pencil. I must break the cycle!LOL

Okay, Okay, back to the subject at hand. I have not drawn the whiskers on Dani or the edge fur until I commit to a definite background. My photo reference has a very dark background that is muted. I like that idea for the bottom of the drawing to enhance the hands but may alter the top and make that more in a mid tone range. I want the hamster to spring off the page, too. Well, better get back to the drawing board for now...

Hamster Portrait Cont.

2010-01-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I have a little more time in the "Handsome Dani" portrait. I still need to fine tune the hands and add some more dark to the shadows. The mid tones might get some altering in the process, but my head is telling me to hold off with the hands until Danimal is in the drawing. Danimal is a black hamster, and I would like to see how his appearance on the paper meshes with the skin. The photo reference has some harsh contrasts that I think could translate well to paper. Time will tell!