nanke's stuff

Well, this time I actually know who this is!  I would present the photo I used to draw this, but I just got a new printer (thank you, sweetie), and I haven't yet used it.  Sweetie did the scan for me after he got the new printer all set up.  It's a wireless printer/scanner, which means we can now print things from our iPads (not that I probably will, but he already has!).  I'll have to spend some time getting used to the new one and practicing a bit.  These things don't come easily to me, as a rule.

Enough of that and on to the drawing.  As you can see, I totally messed up his nose.  I find noses especially hard to draw, especially the nostril area.  That's where pencil is a wonderful tool for me as opposed to ink - I can fiddle and fiddle until I get it right.  Maybe after hundreds of ink faces, I'll get the hang of noses.  Maybe I should just do pages and pages of inky noses ... what do you think?

Thanks for dropping by!

Well, I've drawn yet another face in ink.  And, once again, I have no idea who it is.  (That said, several of you thought my last face was the new James Bond actor, and you know what?  I checked and you're right!   Tells you how out of it I am!!!).  After undecorating part of the house today, I decided to call it quits and do another sketch from a magazine.  I don't know how long I spent on this one.  I spent a good deal of time trying to set myself up in the living room because my sweetie (who is under the weather) was there and I wanted to hang out with him.  I've decided that what I need to get myself is a music stand!  Yes, a music stand.  That way, when I'm not in my studio where I can set things up so that they're convenient for me, I can just move the music stand wherever I am, put a try on it if I want to do a still life, or keep it tilted to hole a magazine, photo, or anything else flat, and I'm ready to go!  I might even get one tomorrow as I think I'll be in a town that has a music store in it. 

So, without further adieu, here's my offering of the day.  Happy January 1 to all!!! 

OK, it's too soon to say I'm on a roll, but I haven't done 2 in 2 days in ..... well, I have no idea how long!  Once again I did an ink sketch (as if you can't tell), and once again I have no idea who it is.  But, I can say that it was fun to do, even though I did it in about 20 minutes or so.  I think I'm afraid to spend more time on these pieces for fear that they will just get worse.  I'm just tickled that I actually drew something again today.  One day at a time.  I just have to keep reminding myself of that. 

Well, once again it's been a long time since I've posted anything.  It's been almost that long since I've done anything with art as well.  I've done a few (very few) little sketches on the fly, but nothing to speak of.    Today I sat down with a large sketchbook and my Micron pens and decided that I just had to jump in.  Jump I did.  I got an old Vanity Fair magazine from the bin, put on some good music, propped up the magazine and made myself comfortable.   Since it's been so long, I thought I would give myself a good scare (I was already scared, but what the heck?) and use ink.  The advantage, I thought, was that once the mark was on the paper, that was that.  I wouldn't have to stress about trying to make it perfect because I knew with ink it wouldn't be possible anyway (well, not for me, that is).  I drew the woman on the cover.  I have no idea who she is, which was another advantage.

I didn't have a whole lot of time to do it .... another plus!,  and I spent about 25 minutes on her.  No need to point out the flaws - they're obvious, but I don't care.  I'm just tickled that I actually did something and posted it!  My aim for the new year is to post to my blog at least once a week.  I'd also like to sketch something everyday..... no matter how tiny it might be! 

Happy New Year to you all, and may your coming year be filled with many blessings!

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything.  One of the many things I've been busy with is making a Halloween costume for Oliver, our youngest grandson.   He is 20 months old, and his parents decided he should be a rooster for Halloween.  I got to make the costume!  I used to make the costumes for our sons when they were young and it was a lot of fun both to make them and then to see their sweet selves in them.

I've made several for our grandsons, too.  There's been a pineapple (yep, a pineapple!), garden gnome, cowboy, teddy bear, and now a rooster.  Since they live in Tennessee and we live in Michigan, it's always kind of scarey for me (I guess that's appropriate for Halloween!) because I never know until they arrive and are tried on for the first time if it's going to fit.    Anyhow, I finished it yesterday and mailed it off today.  It's supposed to arrive on Wednesday, so I'm keeping all my parts crossed until I get that picture on my phone of little Oliver strutting his stuff as a rooster.

So, here is what the costume looks like, sans boy.  An old teddy bear is modeling the hat for you.




I'm eager to start drawing again!   Which is not to say that the rooster got in my way .... it's more like I've been too chicken to do it.

It's been mighty dry around here.  The farmer's field of soybeans behind us is turning yellow.  Corn is troubled, the grass is mostly brown and crispy, and flowers are dying despite my efforts at watering them.  But that's not the only dryness.  It's been a long, dry, spell for me artistically, too.  Oh, I've been busy with different things (including a wonderful week with our children and grandchildren!), but that aside, I've had trouble even coming up with something to draw.

So, I decided to return to an old standby .... copying portraits done by masters in pencil.  It's satisfying, challenging, and difficult for me, so it seems to fit the bill.  I've chosen to do William Warham,  by Holbein.  There's something wrong with my scanner and it takes an impossibly long time to scan something, so for now all I'm posting is my beginning sketch.  When I have more time, I'll also post the original that I'm working from.  One of the things I like about doing this is that I can sit on our front porch in the evening and do a bit of drawing while my sweetie reads the paper or plays with his iPad.  Even Abby, the dog, likes it!

So, here he is!

After ordering the wrong thing and erroneously sending them back (I wish I had kept them ... the return postage was ridiculous!), I ordered the right thing and was really looking forward to trying them out.  I watched a video about them (sadly I can't give you the link because I have no idea where I saw it) and was completely intrigued.  In the video the artist sort of made a palette of them by thickly applying them in squares on a piece of watercolor paper, and then using them like pan watercolors.  I was intrigued, but also a tad nervous about using them.  I know, that's really silly, but there you are ... somebody let the wicked critic out of her cage and she wasn't happy.

So, finally I sat down and did a quick ink sketch in the sketchbook I'm zeroing in on to complete.  I was on the front porch and drew one of the chairs.  After that sat for awhile ... OK, a pretty long while .... several days, if not a week,  I finally decided to just jump in and outcome be damned!  To put it mildly, the piece is busy, but that's because I really wanted to just fiddle with these pencils.   They are fun .... they are easy to use, although I have to learn how much to put in my square, and they mix well.  As you can see, I chose to mix mine on a separate sheet of paper rather than in the sketchbook since the book isn't very big.  I bought them online from Dick Blick - 25 in a very nice tin, along with an instruction book and color-mixing wheel.   BTW, I don't know if the above link will work .... I had trouble with it and I'm not very good at trouble shooting this sort of thing ... well, really anything having to do with computers.  Anyhow, here's the experimental, very busy, piece.





The blue on the posts is actually burgandy, but I wanted to try out a different color.  I will play with them again ....  maybe soon!        Thanks for dropping by, and I'd love to hear from you!!