Hattie
9″ x 12″ pencil
Hattie in progress, 9″ x 12″ pencil (click to enlarge)
Jim & Miranda
9″ x 12″ pencil
Giles with Bowtie
9″ x 12″ pencil
Still at it! 005 mechanical pencil with HB lead, and some 4B and new 8B Staedtler pencils.
Thanks to all for stopping by and leaving nice comments! Hello to Paint Party Friday!
Gump and Rosie, 9″ x 12″ pencil in progress
More pencils I have been working on. Now using the 005 HB mechanical pencil with a Staedtler 6B for extra dark bits (pupils, nostrils and a few other spots). They needed names, so they are Gump & Rosie.
9″ x 12″ pencil in progress (click to enlarge)
9″ x 12″ pencil in progress
Sometimes I get to a certain point and set it aside. This last one has been at this stage for a couple weeks and it’s not done but I haven’t decided what else to do with it. I think a background but I fear all the inevitable smudging.
Another good pencil video: How to Shade with a Pencil by LethalChris Drawing.
Hello to Paint Party Friday and thank you to all the recent visitors! It’s nice to be back in action. :D
Preston with Bowtie, 9″ x 12″ pencil
I’ll be honest, I don’t know why I keep drawing flowers on their noses and hair. I kind of dig it. This one I think is not quite as nice as my first very serious fur attempt, but he has some excellent qualities.
I picked up an 005 mechanical pencil with HB lead and I love it! I don’t have to sharpen it! But, sometimes you have to let more lead out instead of scratching stuff up and not realizing you have to let more lead out. Haha. I also got some of these tortillions but didn’t have them handy and the q-tip continued to be a fine alternative. (Don’t you love supplies with fancy names that don’t cost an arm and a leg!)
As a side note, it has sadly come to my attention that all of my old gallery slideshows of work in progress no longer work. When I first started in 2011 the whole process was SO TEDIOUS with the scanning and re-sizing and cleaning up and re-naming and posting holy cow. But I learned things and some people liked the things, and that’s great! And now, to new things! With mechanical pencils sometimes!
Thanks for dropping in! Hello to Paint Party Friday!
Horace and Friends, 9″ x 12″ pencil
Lots of drawing in pencil continues! All 9″ x 12″ as I work through some Bristol board drawing pads. These are I think the better ones, each done in an evening or sometimes two. (I post more frequently on my Facebook page .)
I do have a new painting started though I have yet to work out a consistent painting schedule. Do I need a schedule? It seems like maybe I do. Thanks so much for dropping by!
Horace and Friends
9″ x 12″ pencil and 12″ x 12″ early painting stage
Acrylic painting and pencil sketching continue.
11″ x 14″ Acrylics, in progress
This one is feeling much more forced than the last one! Probably overthinking things. The black outline was not the best move, but it will probably see a lot of changes yet.
And these are two favorite recent sketches. I am finally using a piece of paper as a smudge guard. Hooray!
Horned Oracle, 9″ x 12″ pencil
Pavel’s Pet Portrait Palace, 9″ x 12″ pencil
I haven’t decided what to do with these, Copics won’t work with this much pencil and the Bristol is no good for acrylics. I could trace the outline on a new sheet, maybe. More likely I will just start the next one.
Thanks so much for dropping by! (All acrylic tips appreciated!)
Horace with Friends, 6″ x 6″ pencil sketch (with lots of smudging, d’oh)
When she saw that Horace was feeling melancholy, Gina called in the troops to cheer him up. Just moments after this image was captured, Horace cheered up immeasurably, grabbed his bright green mandolin, and led them in a rousing rendition of “I Want to Be Your Friend” by 11 Acorn Lane. Gina beakily provided horn accompaniment, while Oditi (far left) insisted on repeating the Deedlee-doo, Deedlee-dee bit. They jumped and clapped and spun around.
Happy January 1! The year ahead is filled with promise, opportunity and undreamt surprises. New discoveries, rediscoveries and unwelcome news. Birthdays, lazy Saturdays, and days when the sun will seemingly fail to shine.
But you are here! Thank you for coming. I hope this year holds lots of the good things and less of the bad things, for everyone. More recent sketching below.
2 with Birds, 6″ x 6″ pencil sketches
And then there were fish, and things became muddled.
pencil sketch, 5″ x 7″
There is a moment in season 8, episode 1* (“Evil Under the Sun”) when David Suchet’s Poirot says, The murder that took place here was the work of a mind that was brilliant. But there is one thing that the killer did not expect, ah? The mind of Hercule Poirot. Es bien? Now is the time for these two minds to meet and the truth at last must come to light.
David Suchet’s Hercule Poirot, sketch in progress, 6″ x 6″
His eyes twinkle, as they often do, and he manages to suppress all but a momentary hint of a smile. The denouement is imminent. The Good Guy shall unmask the killer! after a careful reconstruction of (re-enacted) events. So satisfying. I mean really. Not to mention the charming cast, the British accents (and terrible, hilarious American ones), and a peek into the imperfect lives of the upper crust. (Spoiler: They are crusty. In more ways than one. Gross.) No seriously, even rich people have problems/can be nice/aren’t monsters.(?)
In any case, since the Bad Guys often seem to be winning in the world we actually inhabit, I enjoy the quiet inevitability of the triumphant Belgian.
For this sketch I decided not to look at a static photo, but to watch the show and watch him in action. I got to concentrate on a whole range of expressed emotions, and study all his features from many angles, which I found helpful. It needs work. Or I may start a new one. Either way, expect more Poirot portraiture at this address. :)
I apologize if you are unfamiliar with the show and I totally bored you to death. But you would like it. Who wouldn’t like it?! I am currently watching (the second time through) via Netflix. Thanks for dropping in!
Thank you so kindly to all you folks who came to visit my neglected blog for my last post! I have been inspired to do another in (comparatively) record time!
Some of the fluffy critters have been colored! Colored pencils and Copics.
Three in Color, each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Prismacolors, ink
Some new ones have been made in larger sizes (gasp!)
Three 5×7 pencil sketches, Dec 2015
I am fond of this fellow. Perhaps it’s the teeth?
Wulfrid, 7″ x 5″ pencil sketch
Wulfrid is both friendly and adaptable, though he has been known to spit at squirrels. Squirrels on the other side of the sliding glass door. So, lots of spit on the sliding glass door! But otherwise extremely sweet and only sheds ten months of the year.
Thank you for dropping in! it’s nice to have a community of bloggers, even if it means checking in just a few times a year. More is always nice! But as noted ad infinitum, one does not always have the time for the things one wishes to do. (Like more progress slideshows. Maybe next time!) Happy Hannukah and Christmas and Solistice and all the other things!
Hello! Thank you for stopping by my neglected (again!) blog! I also have a neglected Tumblr and Flickr account. Woo! I do try to post new art to Facebook, if you want to see more things.
It is December 13th. I wanted to write a book this year, and though I did not finish a book, the plan to write a book actually did spur some book-related writing! So, now instead of a vague idea for a book, I have 3-5 ideas and some scribbles to go with each!
Meanwhile, I’ve been sketching a variety of big-nose and fluffy creatures, while watching my current favorite show in all of the universe – Agatha Christie’s Poirot. I don’t know if the show has influenced the drawings, but if so, I don’t mind!
Pencil sketches, 2.5″ x 3.5″, Poirot set one
Pencil sketches, 2.5″ x 3.5″, Poirot set two
Pencil sketches, 2.5″ x 3.5″, Poirot set three (includes one in color from set 1)!
Pencil sketches, 2.5″ x 3.5″, Poirot set four
I have this idea to paint some of these characters, likely in acrylics. But as some of you may know, I have had the HARDEST time getting myself to start painting. It’s the whole – tons of supplies to set up, cleaning up, the brushes the mess, oh my! But it could happen. And if it does, I shall post about it here.
Thank you kindly for stopping by! If it’s your first visit, I will try not to wait another six weeks for the next posting! If you’ve been here before and returned, thank you ever so kindly. You’re all the very best. :)
Happy August, fine visitor people! I had this plan that for July I would make certain changes and meet certain small goals. Most of that didn’t happen, but some did, and that was far better than none. Now it is August, and I am considering July a test run. I know that is all rather vague! But this is an art blog so here is some recent art. ;)
Skye, Lou Blue, Mistress of Ceremonies
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen
Two Cat Princesses and One Mushroom Princess
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen
Faces and more faces. One thing I am looking into this month is life drawing classes, which is I think the right thing to do for my art. Sal Schiebe continues to do life drawing and she already has crazy enviable figure drawing skills. I think it’s time!
Of course, I missed signups for the class at the local art center by two weeks and will have to wait until another starts. I haven’t yet found just a drop-in life drawing class, but I shall continue to search.
Thanks for stopping by! Some progress pics below. :D
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