Apple ala Nina

Browsing the internet blogs this morning I stopped at Nina

Johansson's and looked through her Brown Journal she is sharing there. You really ought to go look. I find inspiration there, eye candy and learn a thing or two each time also.

Anyhow, this time I saw an apple I thought looked easy enough for me to try in my own journal. I got one out and gave it a shot. Then I ate it and halfway through I thought I should have taken a comparison photo of it to my painting. So in the second picture here you can see the real apple compared to my painting. I then painted the core but didn't take another photo. This time you just have to trust me, lol!

This also fits EDM challenge number 24. How lucky is that?

I've Got a New Post!

EDM 164, that's what I've drawn! I just did front views as it fit for my journal page that way but I drew THREE of them.

After drawing nothing for a long time, it feels good to do so again. Not only that but I have a new spread in my journal. Everytime I visit my grandkids they go through my journals but lately I haven't had much to show. Hopefully I can get more done than just one spread but at least I got this one done.

I used Pitt pens and watercolor pencils. These pencils are from a new set of Faber Castell pencils and I just found one drawback to them - they don't fit in my electric pencil sharpener! Otherwise I love them. They draw so smoothly.

Hope you have a picture worthy spring day!

EDM #34 Draw a Leaf

I'm trying real hard to draw every day but find it a goal I am not always attaining. Yesterday Jessica of Cre8it suggested going small. We don't need to paint a big picture to reach the goal of some art everyday. Her example was a leaf.

I've been wanting to draw a leaf and had even brought some in the house but let them sit until they dried out and crumbled on my work table. But since I am working on the goal of drawing every day and being encouraged by Jessica and her sister Cassie I picked up a leaf at the store where we collect our mail. I sat down last night and first did an almost blind contour (I glanced at my paper just a few times). I surprised myself in how closely I matched the leaf's outline but this is a simpler shape than people or buildings or pets so I'll temper my elation at that. Then I picked out some colored pencils and working very lightly, I gradually filled in my leaf. I was really happy with how it turned out and that I spent some time drawing.

The leaf has a bit of extra drawing overlapping the leaf because I am working on a spread that is taking me much more than a week to do but it's coming along nicely and I'll share it when it's done.

The picture of the actual leaf was taken this morning and the lighting is different plus the leaf is now dried out with the shadows and shape changing a bit because of it. It will be a good picture to draw from later and will make a different one than my current drawing.

Many thanks to Cassie, Jessica and Nina (for the weekly spread idea).

EDM #192

When I saw the challenge for this week I just had to hurry up and do this picture. My brother could not float for anything but my little sister could not sink. Her rear end would always keep her afloat as if it were a bobber!

This is my version (I am seriously an amateur but couldn't let that stop me) of "something that floats". This is our old family pool where we spent our summers - only one travelling vacation in all my years at home. This challenge was a good trip down memory lane. I hope to learn to draw better but I think the idea gets across.

I used pencil to sketch this in, then inked what I needed to and finally used watercolor pencils and a waterbrush to paint it.

Hope you enjoyed the fun of this as I did. I am not trying to make fun of my sister; what is - is.

EDM#52 - Draw a Dog

I've drawn my cat and I've drawn one of my dogs. Sarah is a german shorthair pointer. A beautiful, very fit dog as she runs around on 40 acres chasing rabbits and lizards. We live in the desert so sometimes she gets into a bit of cactus. She has made some trails around the property so she gets less than at first but cactus nor a 4 1/2 foot fence stops her from going after the animals. She even went after a coyote once which scared me as coyotes are not out there to play with but it ran away from her so I breathe a bit easier now.

I sketched Sarah while she lay sleeping on the living room floor while we were watching the Sunday news shows. She's a wonderful dog but a little too energetic and strong for us. Thank goodness she is a timid dog.

EDM #185

I wasn't going to go out of order but I guess if I'm going to just enjoy myself it's going to happen. Pandora was just sitting there when I decided once again I just needed to draw something. I still need to figure out getting the whole of what I am drawing on the page. It's okay to run off the edge if you mean to but I didn't and usually don't. It just happens and that's something I need to learn to control.

After I drew her I checked the EDM messages and found out it was a current challenge. Hey, I'm up that! It may not be the best drawing in the world but it is my Pandora and I'm pretty happy with her.

EDM #158

I didn't originally do this popcorn as an EDM challenge but just to make myself draw something before I went to bed that night. I get tired of not finding time to draw. I drew it with a regular pencil and went to bed. (It seems silly but I was too tired to even draw the third piece of popcorn I'd tossed on my table). In the morning I decided to add some color so I just went over the pencil with yellow and blue colored pencils.

I wasn't going to go out of order on the challenges but in this case and perhaps in a few others I will. No sense in being hog tied to a non-rule!

EDM Challenge #5

No fancy headboard. No fancy spread or sheets. I have a pretty basic bed - can't have my art supplies and fancy furniture so now you know which I chose!

Challenge number five is to draw your bed. I started out with a partial pencil sketch and then switched to watercolor pencil. My idea was to then move on to some ink and wetting the watercolor. I could still do that - what do you think?

One of my dogs jumped up with her toy and changed the whole bed too much for me to finish but I think it's okay this way - except, do I add the pen and water?

Challenges #3 and #4

I have done my next two challenges trying to keep them from being overworked.

My purse is really a black one. I haven't figured out how to make it look like that in a sketch and I'm not sure that it really matters. If I wanted, I guess I could make a note of the colors on my page in case I ever wanted to do a color work of it but in this case I think it was more important to make note of the day on which it was drawn.

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans out there.

The next challenge was my parent's Corelleware coffee cup of which I have the last two. I drink my coffee from one of them every day (I have a small touch of sentimentality in me).

After asking for and getting all your opinions as to whether I should use both sides of my pages for my sketches, I went for it and am using both sides. So far I haven't run into a problem but will watch if I use watercolor or different ink pens.

Challenge #2

I have completed challenge #2: draw a lamp. This time I sketched it in pencil first (and a good thing as I had to change me sizing several times), then inked it. Finally, I colored it in with watercolor pencils and went over the color with a water brush.

I painted this cheap $5 lamp to go with the chairs and table I painted for my studio area. I surprised myself with doing this lamp plus adding my stuffed poodle from my grandchildren and part of my craft supply table.

I didn't do realistic shading but I still like the effect. I actually enjoyed drawing this. I figured if I messed it up totally I could always redo it. That took a lot of worry off the project.

I am sorry. I couldn't get blogger to put spaces between paragraphs. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I haven't figured our why.

First Post

This is my first post on this blog. I am trying to set up a blog here where I can share drawings and perhaps later, some paintings. It is going to be my "fine arts" blog. I have another one at Freebirdsings.blogspot.com which I use for my beadwork, paperarts, a few personal posts and other fun stuff. I hope you enjoy my journey into drawing and will leave me a comment sometimes. I'll be fixing this blog up a bit but I wanted to jump in and post my first challenge drawing from Every Day Matters , a yahoo group for people who like to draw.

The first challenge was to draw a shoe and this is the one I did. It is in a new sketchbook which will be used only for the challenges. There are currently 177 of them so I have a ways to go to catch up. By then I am hoping to be drawing much more confidently and better!