a work in progress

a work in progress -- i wanted to draw a picture of my son, scott, and my granddaughter, raven (his neice). i'm 1/2 done. i started w/ the hat and was so pleased w/ that i was afraid to go on for fear of goofing it all up. then i did his face (skin) and was so happy w/ that i was afraid to go on for fear of goofing it all up. then i put his hair in and was happy w/ that, but NOW i'm afraid to go on and try to draw raven for fear of messing it up.


i used two photos to come up w/ the picture that i want to draw. in this picture, i liked the pucker and expression on scott's face (but NOT the beer caps on his hat -- so i left those off!), but raven's face didn't have too cute of an expression on it and i couldn't see her eyes. my artistic talents are not good enough that i can draw/color something that i cannot see, so i had to have a picture to look off of. the previous picture taken of scott and raven showed scott lifting raven up into the air before bringing her down to kiss her.


i used raven's face from the picture (or i'm planning to use that face when i get it done!) where she is laughing and scott's face from the picture where he is puckered up to create the picture that i'm attempting to draw right now. i've spent quite a bit of time on this picture so far, but this is a new experience for me to do several thin layers and build up color rather than trying to get color in 1 or 2 layers or 1 "blending" of 2 shades. i just kept reminding myself of felicity's comment on her blog where she was not happy with her picture she had drawn and said that she did what she did best -- she just kept adding a little here and a little there. that's what i've been doing on the shading on scott's face.

this picture is on a 11x14 page of 65# white sketch pad paper and done w/ prang colored pencils. it isn't finished yet, so nothing has been protected w/ spray finish.

"surprise" -- illustration friday topic -- 12/9/05

"surprise" -- illustration friday topic -- 12/9/05

i didn't get this entry done in time to post to the illustration friday site, but i did want to finish it. this event actually happened about a month ago when raven was spending the evening with me. she was in the living room coloring in one of those big floor coloring books. i noticed that it had gotten very quiet in there, so i went in to check it out. imagine the surprise to both of us when we each saw the other one. the picture was taken at very close range, so it made it hard to draw from it with there being so few shadows to show depth.

when i walked into the room, raven looked at me and said, "look memaw! yipstick!" what could i say? the more i thought about it, the more i see that a magic marker doesn't look too different than a typical lipstick tube. she was quite proud of the result, and i wasn't about to rain on her parade.

this picture was done w/ prang colored pencils on 65# watercolor sketch pad paper and sprayed w/ matte fixative to keep it from smearing/blending further. the drawing was done from the following picture, so you can compare and see how i did on capturing the look. i think i didn't get as much surprise as i could've/should've in her look, but i felt i was having trouble getting depth to the face and that was more important. overall, i'm really happy with everything in the picture except for her face! any suggestions or help will be greatly appreciated!

"blue" -- illustration friday topic -- 12/02/05

"blue" -- illustration friday topic -- 12/02/05 -- #567 on www.illustrationfriday.com

this week's topic of "blue" reminded me of someone who is experiencing disappointment and feeling left out and dejected. here is a picture that i drew (in all blue) of raven, my granddaughter, as she was dealing with the fact that she had to go to bed and the rest of us were staying up. she wasn't crying and she wasn't throwing a fit -- she was just "blue" because she was left out of any thing that we might do after she had to go to bed. until about 3 months ago, raven and her mother still lived at home at my house, so raven would often get to stay up later w/ me. we would rock in the rocking chair or snuggle up on the couch and watch tv or read a book. now we lay on the floor and color together. we're just special friends because "memaw" has more time and more patience than mommy does -- as is the case w/ most grandmas and mommies!

the picture was done w/ prang colored pencil (dark blue) and blended w/ a puffs plus tissue b/c of that smooth, soft look the blending has. sprayed w/ matte finish when completed to protect from accidental "blending".

try it again . . .

i had a picture of raven that i wanted to draw (or try to draw) and i wanted to try using a less "defined" style, more similar to impressionism but not completely. that's so hard for me b/c i'm a perfectionist at heart and have a hard time trying to not recreate something as exact as possible for me. i had been reading up on some colored pencil techniques and watching/reading some tutorials, so i decided to try shading a different way. instead of just using peach and white to create the different skin tones, using the darkness of the colors to show depth, i decided to try using some shading of other colors underneath the peach.

here is my first attempt -- i was happy w/ the under layer of color and how it changed the color of the peach when i put it on . . . BUT i ran into a problem shortly after this point. by putting the peach over the color that i had already put down but had not blended, i couldn't blend the under layer at all now. instead of having a gentle blend of other colors w/ the peach, i had blobs of color w/ the peach. the picture looked ok from 20 feet away or so, b/c the distance softened the blotches of color, but i was so disappointed that i goofed the picture up and would have to start again or just give up.

the next night while seated in a restaurant waiting on my significant other to arrive, i worked on this picture again. this time, i did all the under-layer of shading and blended as i worked. so far i haven't found a "blending tool" that i like or that i think makes a smooth touch, so i was using a puffs plus tissue. that allowed me to get a nice soft blend to it and then i was ready to apply the peach color over the other colors of shading.

i was so surprised to see how the color changed as i colored the peach over the shades areas. it was just beautiful to see and to "discover" that i had all those colors available in my palette now that i began to understand that i could blend and shade in that way. then using my fancy-shmancy puffs tissue, i blended the peach into the underlayer of colors. i was quite happy w/ the finish product, but am not sure what to do w/ it now.

i feel like it needs a background of something, but raven was just standing in the yard feeding apples to the horses at the fence (after a dip in the pool, which explains her bare bottomed condition!). she could spend all afternoon and/or evening running from the horse pen to the apples trees, picking up 2 apples at a time to feed to the 2 horses before making another trip.

project done w/ prang colored pencils in 11x14 sketch book w/ 65# paper. blending done w/ puffs tissue. sprayed w/ matte finish when completed to keep from accidentally smearing.

suggestions on background (what, how much, how little) would be greatly appreciated!

touch the sun

the more time that i spend drawing/coloring, the more obsessed i become with drawing/coloring. jerry recently asked me if i would draw a picture for him some time. friday (12/02) was his birthday, so i thought that would be the perfect occassion to draw/color a picture for him. i wasn't feeling well, so i took a day off from work. while i was lying around during the day time, i did this picture so that i could give it to him before i left for work that night. my relationship w/ jerry is such that i want to reach for more than i ever thought possible. it's like having the perfect feeling cupped in my hands -- to hold, to protect, to share. he (in our relationship) reminds me of reaching to touch the sun. i know i might get burned, but i can't help but reach out to touch it anyway.

this picture was inspired by a picture that one of my students had printed off of the internet (minus the near nudity in the forefront). some ideas i borrowed from the picture (like the kissing clouds in the rainbow) and other things i added on my own. the person in the picture is a "likeness" of me in some ways -- i have green eyes. i have short/curly brown hair, i have a large diamond earring in my upper left ear, and i have lip prints tattooed on my derriere. the funny thing was that when i gave jerry the picture and he studied it for a bit, he acted like he was looking at my backside to compare the lips. i started laughing and said, "they're right. i had to get up and go look in the mirror to see which way they're slanted just to make sure!" he had a good laugh out of that! i've had the tattoo for so long, i just don't even think of it anymore and sometimes even forget that it's there.

i have no idea what he'll do w/ the picture. i suggested hanging it in the closet, but he didn't like that idea. i said, "well, i don't think we need to put that out for the grandchildren to see." i guess i should explain that MY closet is a 10 x 12 room w/ hanging racks and storage boxes and plenty of wall space. i store me wreaths and seasonal door hanging and other decor in there when not in use. i also have some slogans/stickers that i think are funny/hilarious hanging in there b/c they would upset my mother if she saw them displayed publicly. so i have a feeling that eventually that picture will end up in my closet -- on jerry's side.

the picture was done w/ prang colored pencils on 65# sketch paper. silver sharpie used to "dot" the earring in on the upper ear. sprayed w/ matte finish sealant when done to keep the pencil from smearing any more.