This Little Wonder Finished

 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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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. :)