Theresa's Tablet

Black Cherry Pearl

2012-01-19T16:00:00.000-06:00

8 x 10

Another 17 1/2 hours later and another layer. I really thought the second layer would take less time than the first but there were still a lot of details to keep an eye on. It's taking shape quite nicely now. Let's see if the next layer will be any quicker.

Black Cherry Pearl

2012-01-07T14:10:00.000-06:00

8x10

Starting a new commission now that the move and the holidays are over. Finally I managed to get all the undertone color layer done without impatiently moving on to see what the final look will be in just one area. Normally I work a section to completion before moving on. I want to gauge how long it takes me to do a layer (this one took 16 hrs.) Plus I will be printing each layer so I can keep an accurate log of colors I use. Sometimes I get a good effect but can't remember the colors I used and how I layered them.

Oreo

2011-12-28T20:11:00.000-06:00

I was commissioned by a friend of mine's daughter to do this memorial picture of their dog Oreo as a Christmas present for her mom. Oreo was a great little dog and the apple of his mamma's eye. He'll be greatly missed.

Silver Palette 2011

2011-10-25T09:30:00.000-05:00

"Doc" won Honorable Mention at the Silver Palette Competition!

75 in 75day 35

2011-10-14T19:14:00.000-05:00

This is Kellie's cat Taz sleeping under the Christmas tree after all the pesky presents were gone.

75 in 75 day 34

2011-10-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

This day was my 24th Anniversary! This is my husband when he was a little boy taking a nap.

75 in 75 day 32

2011-10-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

I love to draw guys with big wild beards. I'm now over my trepidation about doing a portrait without an eraser!

75 in 75 Days 28 and 29

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

This is my daughter watching the pow wow drummers and dancers in her straw hat and zebra sunglasses.

75 in 75 day 27

2011-10-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

This is my niece Lizzie enjoying ice cream.

75 in 75 day 26

2011-10-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

The re-inactors at the Kearney pow wow had their guns set up in a tripod so I had to take one of this . Inscribed on the gun it says 1853 Enfiled. A little Wiki info. about these guns. The term “Rifle-Musket” meant that the rifle was the same length as the musket it replaced, as a long rifle was thought necessary so that the muzzles of the second rank of soldiers would project beyond the faces of the men in front, ensuring that the weapon would be sufficiently long enough for a bayonet fight, should such an eventuality arise.

75 in 75 Days 24 & 25

2011-10-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

I've always loved the Linoma beach light house. Tried a colored pencil drawing once but it didn't turn out.
My first portrait in pen and ink. Wasn't as hard as I thought. This is a native american man that let me take his pic as we were watching the pow wow in Kearney.

75 in 75 day 23

2011-10-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

This is another I did during the oil change :) I took it while at Yorktown Beach VA. The watercolor is Derwent Watercolor pencils. I love the bright colors these produce.

75 in 75 day 22

2011-10-06T07:00:00.001-05:00

Just in time for fall! Okay, Okay, I'm not supposed to use anything but pen and ink but I was sitting getting an oil change and only had my watercolors with me and had to see how the paper would take water. It did wonderfully. These are opaque watercolor, Less see through.

75 in 75 days 18, 19, 21

2011-10-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

These three drawings were done on the Tenth anniversary of 9/11.

75 in 75 day37

2011-10-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

I had to post this one early and out of order for my cousin Lisa. It's her dog Nashville. I believe he's a Newfoundland. He's absolute bear in size and teddy bear in heart.

75 in 75 Day 13

2011-10-03T08:55:00.000-05:00

This is from the Tennessee Chattanooga Game we went to. At this point I guess they don't deserve the props.

75 in 75 Day 9

2011-09-30T15:11:00.000-05:00

I just love this one. When I'm done it will get a watercolor wash!

75 in 75 Day7

2011-09-29T15:08:00.000-05:00

75 in 75 Days 4 & 5

2011-09-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

I have to learn to loosen up and sketch, not make drawings. Using a set of Faber Castell 4 PITT artists pens black.

75 in 75Days 2 & 3

2011-09-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

Since I'm not going to start any big projects until after the move I thought I'd post some of the sketches from the 75 in 75 projects I'm doing to keep my art "itch" under control. http://brendaswenson.blogspot.com/2010/08/75-day-sketch-challenge.html I decided to use my Elli pooh sketch book I got at the zoo http://www.mrelliepooh.com/ that's been sitting around waiting for a good use. I'm amazed that it takes pen and ink heavily without bleed through. Pen and Ink is not my medium but this has taught me a lot in just the short time I've been working on it.

"Just try and stay out of my way. Just try my pretty."

2011-09-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

And DONE! This one should have been done long ago but we've been busy getting ready to move. Getting it all ready for the Hot Shops show http://www.hotshopsartcenter.com/ "Wizard of Oz" in December but first I think it will go to the SilverPalette" show. http://baacom.bellevueartists.com/calandar.shtml

"just try and stay out of my way. Just try my pretty."

2011-08-31T11:25:00.000-05:00

I've been working on the shoe strings and eyelets. Using 10% to 90% cool greys. I think they are taking me longer than the reds of the shoes.

"Just try and stay out of my way. Just try my pretty."

2011-08-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

So as you can see I've decided to make the legs look decisively green. Thanks John for the advice. They may have to go a little lighter but I'm waiting to see. I've used Dark Green, Celadon Green and Jade Green. The Red in the shoes have a few more layers too. Some of the lightest areas have Blush Pink and everything has Scarlet Lake. The Red in the shoes will need a little more work but I need to get the rubber parts of the shoes in first to get my values right. The rubber parts on the left shoe has only a layer of 30% to 90% cool greys and some areas the paper white.

"Just try and stay out of my way. Just try my pretty."

2011-08-09T06:00:00.001-05:00

Just rollin' away on this one. Really It's taken longer than the 4 days of these posts to get this work done. Probably at least 9 or 10 days. This shows the Crimson Lake on all layers and then a second layer on just the light areas. Although my darks are showing up nicely hear they seem to be getting a little lost in areas on the actual drawing. I might have to go back and re enforce those after I get the next two layers in. Yes two more layers of red at least before the shoe strings and rubber parts. What do you think about her leg? Right now it has a light wash as the background. Can't decide if it needs some layers of green colored pencil to make it stand out. I'd love to make them hairy legs but I'd never be able to pull it off realistically.

"Just try and stay out of my way. Just try my pretty."

2011-08-08T06:00:00.001-05:00

Now we got some Ruby Slippers going on! Two layers of Tuscan Red in the shadow areas, layers of Raspberry on everything and the right shoe has Crimson Lake on everything.

"Just try and stay out of my way. Just try my pretty."

2011-08-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Now you can see the beginnings of the transformation to red with the tuscan Red.

"Just try and stay out of my way. Just try my pretty."

2011-08-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

So the local art gallery http://www.hotshopsartcenter.com/ is having a theme show in December, "Wizard of Oz" So this is my interpretation. First I'd like to thank an old high school friend for the converse sneakers inspiration. My idea is that the Wicked Witch actually got the Ruby slippers. Once on they take the personality of the wearer. It's on watercolor paper with a wash of sap green and black. The witches colors and remembering she was melted by the water. Using dark green Prisma colored pencil I worked all the dark shadow areas of the shoes. Yes, they will turn red soon!

POW/MIA

2011-08-05T12:20:00.000-05:00

Finished! Kind of. I always reserve the right to make changes.

POW/USA Bike

2011-07-15T17:40:00.000-05:00

Still working on it. I have the black flag almost done. It needs a little more work but I have to get some of things around it done so I can figure out the values I need.

POW/MIA

2011-07-02T20:59:00.000-05:00

See I told you the flag would turn red! Here you see the leather seat back and the flag with all the layers of color in them. Of course when all is said and done things will be adjusted here and there. I can't wait for the "purple" POW/MIA flag to turn black. In the next post I hope to show some samples of the layers it takes for some of these final colors. I believe there are 6 to 8 layers of different reds in the stripes on the flag and as many blues in the field of stars.

POW/USA Bike

2011-06-22T14:18:00.000-05:00

So I have been very diligent about working the undertones all over this time. I usually fully work an area and then move on because I'm impatient to see how it will look. It looks a mess right now since nothing is the color it should be. It did help because I noticed a compositional problem. The POW flag edge is too parallel to the bag behind it and will get lost together. I've extended it out past a bit in the drawing but it may need to be moved out just a bit more. Next the fun part. USA flag will turn red, white and blue and POW flag will turn black along with everything else

Ultra Classic Electra Glide

2011-06-19T17:26:00.000-05:00

I just found out this drawing of Larry's motorcycle won an Award of Excellence at the ANAC show this weekend!

http://www.nebraskaartclubs.org/

Now it gets to go all around Nebraska for a year to be in the traveling show.

http://www.nebraskaartclubs.org/files/travelmap.pdf

I know it will be in Lincoln in Feb. but I don't know where yet.

Larry is none too happy his drawing is going to be gone for a year!

POW/USA

2011-06-06T09:49:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile and still nothing to show you as far as drawing. I've been on vacation and doing that summer thing. On vacation I took several pics in Eureka Springs AR. Lots of bikes down there. I think this might be my next drawing. After my Artist reception and everyone commenting on the drawing I did of my husbands bike I'd like to do a bike series.

Doc

2011-04-28T15:19:00.000-05:00

This felt like one of my fasted pieces to date. Probably because I had no problem areas. I got it done just in time for the ANAC competition and it was chosen to go to the show.http://www.nebraskaartclubs.org/ Along with the drawing of my husbands motorcycle I did right before this.
I really enjoyed the beard and found it much easier than I anticipated. I'm still looking for the perfect eraser for the lifting off process. Something that gives me a thin, thin line.

Doc

2011-04-12T15:37:00.000-05:00

Okay I lied. I didn't work on the beard. I figured out I couldn't until I had some background and shirt to "erase" from. So I've been spending the last 10 days or so working the shirt. It's mostly done. I'll have to fine tune the values in the shirt and background once I get the beard values in.

Doc

2011-03-29T20:34:00.000-05:00

This is from a pic I took at the Bellevue Berry Patch. He was selling bird water whistles and when I asked him if I could take his pic he struck this perfect pose. He said many artists have asked him for his pic. I titled is "Doc" because I thought he looked like an old time doctor. He also looks like Santa so I probably will retool his hat and cloths at another time to do a Christmas drawing. The background, beard and face are done in graphite and the hat in carbon pencil. A combo of graphite and charcoal. In the next few days I will work the beard erasing adding graphite to get all the whiskers. It's my first time doing this so wish me luck!

Ultra Classic Electra Glide

2011-03-28T14:56:00.000-05:00

Got it done just in time! I hope Larry likes it. This took so much longer than I thought it would. Maybe I should work smaller when I use colored pencil. Now off to a graphite project.

Artistic Rain Barrel

2011-03-15T14:38:00.000-05:00

So the barrel is done! Well mostly. I have to wait 2 days to spray on the top coat. I thought it better to take some pics before the shinny top coat was put on & make my pics glare. So this was my very first public art project and I think it went very well! http://lincoln.ne.gov/city/pworks/watrshed/educate/barrel/artist/

Ultra Classic Electra Glide

2011-03-11T15:37:00.000-06:00

Next time you see this it will be done!

Rain Barrel Project

2011-02-27T18:44:00.000-06:00

So my wonderful husband went and got my rain barrel, in a snow storm, on a work night and hour out of town! Tonight I got all the drawing done. The front has a Sea Turtle that lives at the Henry Doorly Zoo. I took this pic there for a photo contest they had. I painted it in watercolor and won First Place at the 2009 Silver Palette Show. It's also been in the 2010 ANAC competition. http://theresarhodus.blogspot.com/2009/09/breaking-through_17.html The back has some seagrass that the turtles like to eat and some angel fish that like to eat things off the turtles. The back will be up against a wall so will not be seen. But I couldn't just leave it blank with just water! To learn more about this rain barrel project please visit...
http://lincoln.ne.gov/city/pworks/watrshed/educate/barrel/artist/

Art with Heart

2011-02-23T15:27:00.000-06:00

My first abstract! I did this for a fundraiser for the American Heart Association being held at the HotShops Art Center.
http://hotshopsartcenter.com/galleries.html

Ultra Classic Electra Glide

2011-02-16T15:10:00.000-06:00

I lost count of the hours after 50. I do feel the end coming with this one finally. Here you can see some of the underpainting I do to get some of the subtle colors in the blacks that are so predominant in this drawing.

Ultra Classic Electra Glide

2011-01-26T10:19:00.000-06:00

This is excruciatingly slow! I'm now about 50 hours into this. I think I'm getting a little quicker. I know what my color combinations are going to do for the most part. I find it very hard to keep the white areas clean no matter how often I brush it off. With all that said I do like how it's turning out.

Ultra Classic Electra Glide

2011-01-07T10:46:00.000-06:00

I bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth. The Holidays did me in. I have been busy doing this drawing though. This is my husband's Harley. This is my first endeavor in colored pencil without the aid of a step by step tutorial. Guess what, colored pencil takes even longer than graphite! The finished areas have at least 8 layers of color. I'm more than 35 hours into this and want very badly to be done. It's 11x14 so I have a long way to go.

Artist of the Month Dec. 2010

2010-12-14T21:55:00.003-06:00

I won Artist of the month! This man's name is Art Shegonee. He's a wonderful Native American Dancer that does many great things for society. http://www.callforpeace.org/programs/talkingsticktalkingcircle.html
Winning tonight was a great boost to my mood. I found out the commission piece I did of "Katie and Alex" on my last blog post was delivered to the wrong address. The neighbor put it on my clients porch and we think it blew away!

Katie and Alex 2010

2010-12-08T07:38:00.000-06:00

Katie & Alex

Finally a real posting! This is a commission I did for a very good friend of mine. She's giving it as a Christmas gift. As a matter of fact she commissioned this same piece last year for a Christmas gift to another person. This made it very interesting and yet again another learning experience. I usually write down all the colors I used. Even pencil lead softness. Guess what I didn't do the first time? Luckily I had a digital pic on file and could match things up. Next, I usually keep the initial drawing I do that is used to transfer on to the watercolor paper. (you don't sketch on the watercolor paper. make your mistakes on the initial drawing) Guess what I didn't keep? Next make sure I don't change anything up too much, no artistic license. I figure if she liked the first one enough to reorder don't change a thing. All in all I think they are the same. As a matter of fact I think this one is a little better since I had practice on the first. Now off to mail it.

Sunflower

2010-11-23T18:37:00.000-06:00

Well I happened to get another commission piece so I haven't been around. It's commissioned for a Christmas present so I've been working hard trying to get it done. I thought I'd leave you with this. It's a photo I took then ran it through Corel Painter Essential 4 Auto Paint Chalk. At some point I will draw this one.

Adaptive Art Show

2010-10-29T07:31:00.000-05:00

Bellevue East First Annual Adaptive Art Show!

She was so excited to show off her work.

more to come

2010-10-20T07:18:00.001-05:00

http://kathyjurek.blogspot.com/2010/10/month-of-pumpkins-day-19-get-free-print.html

You won't see me for a little while because I will be working on a commission project but thought I'd guide you to another artist with a great give away (see above link and pic). She's been doing a pumpkin a day for the month of October. She's my fovorite watercolorist. go check out her pumpkins.

grey feather

2010-10-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

Building layers

This layer actually has Pumpkin orange in it.

Refining Values

Now we get into the Dk. Green, Black Cherry and Indigo Blue

Burnished

This was a quick study. I think it only took me about 5 or 6 hours. Does it look like a grey feather?

The main colors used were Black Grape, Indigo Blue, Goldenrod, Dioxazine Purple, Pumpkin Orange, Dr. Green, and Black Cherry. The highlights had some Greyed Lavender, Slate Grey, Sky Blue Light and White. The linear strokes in this made it go faster than the very small circle strokes to build color. All in all I'm pleased.

Feather

2010-10-14T13:59:00.000-05:00

Establish Values

I know I said I was going to go off on my own and get away from these studies but I looked at the rest of them and there is a lot to keep learning. I'm still going off on a project of my own but not ready to post anything yet.

Deepen Values

This is a study from "Masterful Colors" on how to get greys with out using grey pencils.

Define Edges

This is different from the other studies because you build color using linear strokes instead of small circular strokes.

Eggs in a bowl

2010-10-07T09:18:00.000-05:00

Pushing Values.

Getting some more reds in the tablecloth has helped.

Adding Highlights and Darks

I'm getting happy about the bowl. But this is the step everything starts to go downhill. putting blush pink in the shadow of the tablecloth has to be a typo cuz it looks like crap! The eggs lost their farm fresh look .

Saturate and burnish.

The bowl is still coming along nicely. I've lost too many of my whites in the weave but I've fixed what I could of the blush pink in the shadow.

Finishing Touches
All in all this turned out better than I thought it was going to even though it took a lot longer than I anticipated. I'm not happy with the tablecloth weave and wish I would have been a little more carful with the oval of my eggs and some hard edges in their shadows but it's a learning experience. Next I think I might steer away from my book and see if I can apply these techniques to an original project!

Eggs in a bowl

2010-09-26T17:21:00.000-05:00

Creating underpainting.

I think I got a little lost in the checkered tablecloth.

Enhancing darks.

I think one of my eggs isn't oval. Must see if I can address that. Still trying to figure out how the checks in the tablecloth are going to work.

Adding Color.

Did I tell you I hated checkered tablecloths?

Deepening the Colors.

Maybe I fixed my lopsided egg?

http://arlenesteinberg.com/MasterfulColorPage.htm

Best of Show

2010-09-13T13:09:00.002-05:00

"Denim and Daisies" won Best of Show at the Bellevue Artists Assoc. Silver Palette Show!

My daughter, the model, with the drawing and ribbon.

"Belle" won Second place in the animal category!

Iris

2010-09-10T15:17:00.001-05:00

Adding more color.

Making it pop. Okay that was the caption in the book for this. Mine is getting lost in the weeds. The flowers parts are labeled in this demo but I got lost. I got to where I couldn't tell a "Standard" from the "Style Crest" from the "Fall"!

Saturated with color.

Finally done! I couldn't wait to get this one done. I got sloppy with keeping the page clean. It even folded when I put it in the scanner at one point! (Luckily these are for my reference latter) I was a little happier when I burnished in this step that blended things better and after getting a coat of workable fix on it I could add some white highlights. I decided I like the blue iris after all opposed to the purple my eyes wanted it.

Iris

2010-08-31T09:25:00.000-05:00

So to elevate my grooves from the graphite I did this contour in color pencils that correspond to the underpainting. If you are interested in this technique...
http://www.amazon.com/Masterful-Color-Vibrant-Colored-Paintings/dp/1581809573

Underpainting in Black Grape and Black Cherry.

Adding some color.

Turning the Iris Blue. This step was hard for me because I think of Iris's as Purple but the finished blues will look great.

Red Barn

2010-08-30T13:30:00.000-05:00

Okay this isn't really art but I did paint Saturday! This is me on scaffold my dad set up so I could paint "safely" This is the "Barn" on dad's property. My brothers, Sister-in-law, Dad and Step mother had a day of bonding and painting.

Yellow Pear w/ Grapes

2010-08-26T15:26:00.000-05:00

Darkening the color again.

Defining the fruit, shadow and highlights.

Saturating the paper with color.

Burnished and done! Well I didn't like this as much as the tomato. I learned many things not to do which is as much of the point with these exercises as how to do the techniques. Mostly I want to learn more about color which I just love here. You can still see the grooves the graphite made I just couldn't fill in. I know how to fix that so stay tuned for that in the next exercise.

Yellow Pear w/ Grapes

2010-08-24T08:56:00.000-05:00

It's an omen! The exercise started off bad. I wasn't able to find all the colors listed for this project. They are lightfast prismacolors and I guess I can only find them online. SOOO I'm improvising.

Getting some shadow depth here. This is the second drawing I did of this pic. The first I used a hard lead pencil and it put grooves in the paper Then the colored pencil doesn't want to fill in the small grooves.

Even though I redrew and used a VERY light hand I still got the grooves! Not sure if it's the paper change from the tomato pic. That was done on W/C paper this on bristol vellum or the hard lead. I decided not to redo but to learn something and see if I can fill it in. (Enlarge and you can see it)

Another thing I learned was the directions said to use a Verithin white pencil to burnish the reflections on the grapes. Well I don't like this method at all! You get close with the color and it gets in the white and creates a bad effect. See you when I get the next four steps done.

Tomato

2010-08-20T12:49:00.000-05:00

Step 5 This step has Pumpkin Orange and Raspberry.

Step 6 I like the look of the transparency of the color here. I'd probably have stopped at this point.

Step 7 This step fills in every bit of white paper. You loose the transparency here. Slate grey was layered over the table shadow. I immediately regretted this even though it's in the directions.

Finished! I can't take credit for it but I think it turned out awesome. In person it looks like an acrylic sticker on the paper. I didn't pay attention to the form of my tomato in the beginning because I was more interested in learning the color. Got to remember to do that next time. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to transfer these techniques into my own work yet. 23 colors were used in total! I think I need more practice. Time to turn the page and see my next exercise.

Tomato

2010-08-18T09:37:00.000-05:00

I got a new book "Masterful Color" vibrant colored pencil paintings layer by layer by Arlene Steinberg.
As a how to book I really like it so I'm doing some of the exercises in it. The first is this tomato. No it's not a green tomato. In the end it will be red. The idea is using complementary colors for the shadow areas. This has several greens. Dar, Green, Celadon Green, and Jade Green. In the steam there is Inigo Blue and Black Cherry and the shadow has Dioxazine Purple Hue with Greyed lavender.

Now I've layered Black Cherry all over the Greens and table shadow. Also some Yellow Ochre in the shadow.

Now It's supposed to start turning red. Tuscan Red is layered on the Black cherry and Black Cherry and Slate Grey in the shadow. Plus a little Olive Green in the steam.

Getting some highlights in with Jasmine and more Yellow Ochre in the shadow. Now a little more red with Raspberry over the Tuscan Red. Stay tuned for the next 4 steps! (Don't forget to double click the pic to see enlarged)

Denim and Daisies

2010-07-30T13:26:00.002-05:00

I just got some digital prints back so I thought I'd post this finished picture and the one of "Art Shegonee". I think this one is a little dark but the one of Mr. Shegonee looks better than the original!

Denim and Daisies

2010-07-20T14:01:00.002-05:00

I'm still enjoying this one. The denim is very time consuming! Once I get everything in. I'll go back and get the values in the face just right.

Art Shegonee

2010-07-19T14:01:00.000-05:00

I believe I'm finally done with this. I'm not real happy with it. That's okay I wanted to try it in a few different mediums so this is a good study if nothing else.

Denim and Daisies

2010-07-09T19:43:00.000-05:00

This is an old pic of my daughter. My first watercolor was of this. Someday when I can actually do watercolor I'll try again. I'm loving what it looks like in graphite. Trying a new technique of scratching out small areas of white. You can see it in the stitching on the denim. Why didn't I think of that before!

Art Sheshonee

2010-06-30T16:51:00.000-05:00

Hmm, I don't know .

Art Shegonee

2010-06-23T09:38:00.000-05:00

Getting a bit more done everyday. I'm working on two pics at once right now so it's taking me longer. I'll post the other when it gets more recognizable. I'm liking how the depth is coming along now.

ANAC 2010

2010-06-16T07:48:00.002-05:00

Bellevue Artists Association won three awards at the ANAC competition! http://www.nebraskaartclubs.com/index.htm
Paula Yoachim won an Award of Excellence with "Birds of Feather" and will be in the traveling show for the rest of the year. Kathy Jurek and I both won Honorable Mentions. Hers is "Daphne" a neighbor girl and mine is "Belle" my yellow labrador.

Art Shegonee

2010-06-15T12:18:00.001-05:00

This is Art Shegonee.
http://www.cassville.org/Art%20Shegonee.htm
A Native American Dancer I've seen several times. This was taken at Fontenelle Forest about 2007 while preforming with Michael Jacobs http://www.sacrednation.com/ This particular picture is water soluble graphite. I plan on trying several different mediums. I really like the composition.

"Macy"

2010-05-27T22:11:00.003-05:00

8 June this piece won Artist of the Year with my Local Art Club! Next I find out if it got juried into the the American Plains Artists contest and will show at the Great Plains Art Museum!

Today I got a digital print done professionally of my picture. I'm extremely happy with how it turned out! I think you can compare and see how much of a difference it made. I'll never be happy with any pics I scan on to my blog, this is excellence! This will be worthy of submitting to the contest. Anyone local that might need their services www.adtechsupply.com is the place to go. Great work and prices. I'll let you know if it gets juried into the contest.

"Macy"

2010-05-19T07:19:00.000-05:00

I got Inspired by my artist friends I drew with yesterday! I drew a couple hours with them, had a wonderful lunch then went home and drew on and off the rest of the evening. About 4 1/2 to 5 hours total. I got the back of the headdress, earring, neck band and leather strap wrapped around the braid done. The rest should go pretty quickly. I won't be doing a lot of detail in her shirt. There's so much in the headdress and earring I need some quite places too. I plan on putting this in the American Plains Artist competition. http://www.americanplainsartists.com/ It's being held in Lincoln this year.

"Macy"

2010-05-13T09:41:00.000-05:00

From frustration to fabulous. Okay maybe not fabulous but I like alliteration. It's great when you just don't want to put your drawing down! Once again my lack of preplanning messed me up a bit. You can't put carbon pencil over graphite (graphite has some wax in it). I didn't realize I might want to use my carbon pencil then decided I needed it for the hair. The hair is very dark and a mass area of dark graphite would have given it a shine I didn't want. Luckily the area I put dark graphite was in small areas nostril, eye, lip and that small area under the headdress above her eye. I was able to go back in with 8b graphite to get it darker.
Still wish I had first class photography set up. This is bright white paper but looks washed out here because I can't take the pic with a flash. I'll get graphite glare. Oh well, can't have everything.

"Macy"

2010-05-11T09:17:00.000-05:00

I'm back. I've been artistically frustrated. Throwing away a lot of work. Nothing turning out the way I've envisioned. So I'm back to my comfort medium, graphite. This is Native American lady I photographed during the annual PowWow in Macy Nebraska. I tried to do her in pastels and failed twice so I'm going to work some things out in graphite first.

"Belle"

2010-05-01T18:56:00.002-05:00

"Belle" won 1st place in the LaVista Art Festival Contest! I'm not sure it was much of an accomplishment. I think there were only a handful of entrants. It's better than the last contest it was in. That one there was only one entrant, mine! Next she's on her way to ANAC in Fremont. One step at a time I guess. http://www.nebraskaartclubs.com/2010_ANAC_conference.htm

"Simply Impassible"

2010-04-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

It's done! It's done. Today it goes to the Hot Shops and hopefully gets picked to be part of the show 1 May - 30 May.

"Simply Impassible"

2010-04-20T06:00:00.001-05:00

What can I say? Almost done. I'm so done mentally!

Surprise!

2010-04-19T08:02:00.000-05:00

An artists friend of mine made this for me and gave it to me at our last meeting! I didn't even know the picture was taken let alone he was going to paint something. It's awesome. It's done on a ceramic tile. It screams project! I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with it yet but I know it's going to be involved in some project, tiled table top maybe? Any ideas? Thanks John. Hope you don't mind I posted this. (we are looking at information from our guest speaker that night)

Simply Impassible

2010-04-14T15:33:00.000-05:00

This just might be a keeper. Now can I get it done by 25 April? Drawn, matted and framed?

"Simply Impassible"

2010-04-12T14:45:00.000-05:00

I'm beginning to get happier with this. But running out of time to get it done!

"Simply Impassable"

2010-04-01T13:15:00.000-05:00

Feel like I'm not getting enough done on this fast enough to meet the deadline. Still not sure if it's even a keeper but feeling much happier after getting some darker color in and starting to see the depth I want.

First Art Award

2010-03-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

I found this the other day and had to post. This is from the Ashland Fine Arts Fair. It's my first art award and purple ribbon to boot. The project was a mixture of sawdust and Elmer's glue that was then made into clay like substance and I molded into an elephant then painted it once dry. In February I once again entered the Ashland Fine Arts Fair and one two purple ribbons.("Belle" and Breaking Through") They had opened an adult category. Only problem was I was the only adult who entered anything. I don't know what's worse, winning first place only competing against yourself or if I would not have won anything against nobody!

Birkenstock

2010-03-26T07:45:00.001-05:00

I don't know if I ever posted this but I wanted to get a new post up to go with my new Spring background. Now if only spring would show itself. I can't wait to be able to wear my Birks. The only summertime sandals I'll wear! More to be seen on the "Simply Impassable" pic soon. I had a surprise root canal done yesterday and thought it a bad idea to work on it while on meds.

"Simply Impassable"

2010-03-24T14:39:00.000-05:00

I've working on this a lot but it just doesn't seem like a lot is done. I've included a close up of some detail. I'm working all over the place on this which really bugs my sensibilities. It's a must though. With the watercolor being applied first I have to work my overlay of pencil where I can in the dry areas.
You may have noticed I've changed the spelling of Impassable. I keep seeing it spelled differently. I'm using how it is on the Disney album.

"Simply Impassible"

2010-03-17T15:14:00.001-05:00

My last post I forgot that I decided on a title already. Obviously a line from the movie for this scene. I put in some more pencil detail on the left. I felt I needed to before I painted. I'll also put in more detail on the right before I add any more color. In the end I plan doing a lot of graphite detail over the watercolor.

"Simply Impassible"

2010-03-16T10:05:00.001-05:00

Okay I've started on my Alice in Wonderland Pic. All the planning went out the window when I got a bright idea while my daughter was watching the Alice in Wonderland movie. This is a picture I took at Lauritzen Gardens. I added my niece Faith looking in the doorway as a too big Alice and the rabbit looking at you at the end of the trail. Let's see how it turns out. I have a deadline of 25 April.

Flag ATC 2

2010-03-14T12:56:00.000-05:00

Another ATC card.

"Farm"

2010-03-10T13:36:00.000-06:00

I just couldn't resist! While looking for some reference pics today I found this. It was given to my parents at parent teacher conferences in 1972- 1973. I was in First grade. I'm sure now a days I'd been suspended! I think it screams creative art career! Thanks Mrs. West.

"Farm"
I See the Pig. The Pig was going to the bathroom on the cat. The cat said meow! meow! The pig said oink oink!

I seem to remember that using exclamation marks was the goal!

Alice Sketch, Tea cups 1

2010-03-09T06:00:00.001-06:00

Glad I'm doing the sketches. Although I like the composition in the cups I don't like the color combinations.

Alice Sketch, Tea Pot 1

2010-03-08T07:55:00.000-06:00

This is my funky little tea pot. I imagine I'll do several for the Alice in Wonderland drawing. I decided to start doing my sketches on ATC http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/ because in my art club we will be trading them at the end of the year. Seems like a waste to do the sketches then do something else for the ATC. Multi tasking again!

Alice Sketches Flamingo

2010-03-05T06:00:00.001-06:00

Trying to decide if the key should be silver or bronze. As you can see I wrote myself some notes to change things for later. Oh, this preplanning thing better work!

Alice Sketches White Rabbit

2010-03-04T12:59:00.000-06:00

I'm starting on a new project. It's for a competition involving your interpretation Alice in Wonderland. I'm one who jumps into a drawing without any preplanning (it's my imaginary ADHD). Gets me into a lot of trouble at times. I'm waiting for some photos for my main subject so in the mean time I thought I'd do some test sketches for secondary subjects.

All Up In Your Grill

2010-03-03T14:34:00.000-06:00

Getting close to getting this done. I'm at the point of being bored with it!

"All Up In Your Grill"

2010-02-23T09:57:00.000-06:00

So It's been awhile! "Excalibur" is giving me trouble so I decided to cleans my palette and work on something simple while I figure it out. This is an old Chevy Pick up located on the nearby Berry Farm. In the Fall it's also the Pumpkin Patch where they have "Scary" Hayrack Rides. This truck sits along the hayrack ride route.

Excalibur

2010-02-16T07:53:00.000-06:00

Got a little color in. The water looks a little weird orange and green but that's just the base coat. Still not sure abut this one.

Excalibur

2010-02-10T10:09:00.000-06:00

Getting a little farther along. Can't wait to get the color in the hand,sword and water still. I think I'll lighten the design on the cross guard but I'll wait to see how it works with the different values later.

Excalibur

2010-02-07T15:22:00.000-06:00

I'm so glad I started over. This is more like I envisioned. I'm digging the hand. Can't wait to get some color into the water and hand.

Excalibur

2010-02-06T19:13:00.000-06:00

Let's just say "three times a charm" As you can see I started over. This is graphite with a watercolor wash. Something I'm a little more used to. Cross your fingers!

Excalibur

2010-02-04T09:00:00.003-06:00

This a picture I'm doing for a friend. It's my second attempt. The first was with pastels. I wasn't happy with that medium so now I'm on to colored pencils. Still not thrilled with it yet. Let's see as it goes. The water looks a little funny with purple and orange but that's only the under coat.

Grasshopper

2010-02-01T08:00:00.002-06:00

Last weekend it was 40 degrees. So what do you do when the weather gets "nice" in the Midwest winter? Go to the zoo! I bought this little 5x7 spiral bound note book. What makes it special is that it's made of elephant pooh (makes you want to wash your hands)! The little card that comes with it says its handcrafted with a mixture of elephant dung and rice paddy. It was pulped to perfection by the elephants of Sri Lanka. As you might imagine it's a course paper so I thought my carbon pencils and pastels will work great on it. You do have to be careful with pressure and erasing. It's on the delicate side. I've decided to do zoo pics in it as one might expect. They sell larger sheets in different colors on their website. Once I get used to it I may do larger pic! http://www.mrelliepooh.com/

USMWF

2010-01-31T21:10:00.000-06:00

So the Memorial picture I did for my sister-in-law is now done. I took it over to her house and spent some time with her side of the family on the one year anniversary of her Uncle Bobby's death (upper left). Sadly to report the next day a similar work related accident happened taking the life of another gentleman. http://www.journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/article_a428f546-0dcc-11df-86f1-001cc4c03286.html