Snowman & Candy Canes

I really like a candy cane in my coffee or hot chocolate lately. It's yummy.

January Flowers

I keep forgetting that the light colors need to go down first, and then you can layer your darker colors on top. My technique has taken several steps backward. I like the colors though.

Dinosaur

Sorry for the sideways picture. Here is my dinosaur.

My Mini Sketch Book

Went to Ben Franklin the other day and I saw the cutest little black sketch book. I've decided to go mobile. The book is small, so I can think of one thing to draw or color, and I don't have to make a big commitment in work or skill. It's just fun. I bought some colored pencils for portability. Actually, the pencil drawings don't photograph well, but these pastels do. On the trees, you can see the outline of the pumpkin I drew on the previous page.

Autumn Leaves

A couple weeks ago, I went walking in the woods with two friends, and we collected leaves. I put them in a book, and at the suggestion of my friend, tonight pulled some out, and traced their outlines on black paper, and colored them in with oil pastels. The last two days, it's been cold, windy and rainy, but the colors are in full swing, brilliant yellows, oranges, golds, and reds. It's almost sad to take it all in, knowing this blanket of color will be gone soon, replaced by browns, grays, and whites and naked trees.

Sunflower

I had the need for control, so I used plain old Crayola crayons for this one. Then the colors aren't as bright, and it's shiny to photograph. I could have relinquished control for a more vibrant, brilliant flower. Still, there's something weird and subdued about this one. It's kind of how I feel right now.

Autumn Flowers

I'm really going through a sunflower kick, but when it came time to sit down and do some flowers, orange autumn flowers came to me. I'm out of practice experimenting with color, and shading. Still, I'm happy with the goofy design. I've accepted the fact that summer is gone, and I'm welcoming autumn. It takes a while for me to make friends sometimes.

The Trinity Tree

Last weekend, I took a small plane ride, first time ever. I was really nice at first. I had my camera and took lots of pictures high up in the sky. Then I got motion sickness. I forgot that this is a problem I have. My friend and I drove off on his motorcycle afterwards, but I just got sicker and sicker. We pulled off the rode, into the parking lot of a little church, and I lied down in the grass under a very nice tree. The pastor of the church came out and asked if there was anything she could do. She said, "Oh, you're sitting under the Trinity Tree", and then I noticed that the tree had one solid trunk with three big branches coming out of it. What a great name for a tree. I started to feel better while sitting under the trinity tree.

Cat & Mouse in the Pantry

I've actually been going out and doing things this summer, spending time with one friend in particular. This does not leave me large chunks of time for creating art, but I managed to work on this one throughout the work week. My weekends seem to be filled with other types of fun now, and that's all right.

Lighthouse

This is the second light house I've done. Maybe I have a thing for lighthouses. I like what they symbolize. When you're in the dark, feeling lost, being tossed by the waves, the weather, searching for any port in a storm, a lighthouse is going to help you navigate through those difficulties and get you to safety. I need a lighthouse a lot.

The Prodigal Son

What I like about this verse is that it says while he was still a long way off, like, still mired in his sin, bad behavoir, bad living, bad choices, but he had an inkling to turn back to God, the Father was there, filled with compassion for him, and went running to him. I've been a prodigal this week. Ignoring my Father, thinking I can handle everything on my own, and make my own choices in how I act and behave. Still, He puts up with me, and welcomes me back, when I decide I want to get back up out of the pit. Why do we always want to run away?

Elephant Time

Went to the circus parade today, didn't see any elephants, so I took care of my longing for elephants right here. I actually like my happy cartoon elephant spinning his hoops better. I tried to do a more serious elephant, and he's harder to see, and he's too skinny. Nothing worse than a skinny elephant!

The Good Samaritan

I got a book about how to draw 50 people from the Bible. Here is the good Samaritan taking care of the man that was beaten. It struck me that many of the images in the book are thumb nail sketches, and few of the people have feet. I would like to learn how to draw people from head to toe. As you can see, I suck at hands. I should spend several hours just practicing hands.

Paris Cafe

Let's just set aside how horribly I do people, and their faces. I tried to pull this figure out of a picture of several people seated in a busy outdoor cafe. Her body language was so different from everyone else. She was stretched out like she owned the place, and she seemed tired and hot, sort of sitting half in the sun, half in the shade. I did not capture sunlight or shade very well here. I don't think the choice to put this on yellow paper was good, but you experiment and learn.

Paris Bookstall

I saw an interesting picture in a book on Paris. I wanted to do this, but punch up the colors a little bit. I did it in chalk pastel on blue paper. Yes, my quest would be to be able to do people well one day, their faces and everything, but I liked this figure, because it leaves a lot to the imagination, and I didn't need to do a face. There's a lot to wonder about this person. Tourist, native, ex-pat? Who knows. Just like Paris, the possibilities are endless.

Paris Scene

On blue paper, pastel pencils and chalk. Now I'm motivated to search my books and photographs and do more Paris scenes, or French scenes. Also, my passport is about to expire. I'm feeling a sense of urgency now. I'm not saying I'm leaving right now, but it's just a matter of time. You always go back to Paris.

Figure Practice

I thought I would practice drawing people a little bit today. Something I really struggle with. Well, I fell in love with the gardner that I did in my little sketch book, so like a beginning artist, I decided to put him in a picture. I couldn't leave well enough alone. So, I put him in a goofy looking garden. Yes, I'm in love with making little circles for leaves on trees. I don't know what my problem is. I used my pastel pencils. Did I mention I can't stand them? Not enough colors, but my drawing is too small to haul out the jumbo chalk pastels. I do like this figure though. Not a lot of detail, but the point gets across.

Doorway

I did this one in colored pencil. My revelation for today is that if I press lightly, I can get color to cover the whole page, somehow, someway. I don't always have to press hard to get bright, bold colors. The point still comes across.

Peonies

So, I thought putting this on pink paper would be cool considering all the flowers were pink, but I was at a loss of how to color them in. So, there's an orangish one in the backgroud. I felt compelled to try to sketch these out, because they don't last very long. I did this with pastel pencils.

Water

This one I like better. It's not great, but at least I think it's more recognizable as wooden posts coming out of water, with reeds, and a bird. I sketched it out with color oil pastels. I want to go back to serious sketching and drawing. I'm not sure if it's the summer time, but I'm just not liking anything I do. I can't concentrate with all the sunshine and warm temperatures.

Summer Clouds, Are you Sure?

Here's where I've decided to go back to drawing something, and then color it in . I didn't do that here. I tried to work from Pastel work book, and she had a really groovy picture of a summer sky with clouds, trees and hills. I did not capture that same beauty. Not really sure what I did.

Poppy Field with Red House

I did this one with chalk pastel on light gray paper. I did this based on an exercise from my pastel workbook, but I read very few of her directions, and just tried to copy what I saw. I can write a million things I don't like about it. But I won't. I'm going to try another scene, but use more sweeping areas of color. It's like this needed to be on green or brown paper, so the areas where there are no chalk strokes don't appear so stark white. Also, I want to get better at skies.

Kitchen Table

I'm still trying to work with pastels. Ugh. I think I should have stuck with finishing this one in colored pencils or crayon. The colors don't do anything for me. I should have exaggerated the colors in pastel. They don't pop for me. The light and shadows didn't work out. This does look like my kitchen table however, in a Charlie Brown sort of way. I wish I had more time to practice. Oh well, some day.

Wisconsin in April

The self-realizations that I've had this weekend are that I'm a control freak. I don't allow myself to go with the flow. I don't allow myself to be open to the unexpected. So, I created my own landscape, based on a sketch I did one April. The beginning of April in Wisconsin is still essentially winter. There are no leaves on the trees yet, the grass is still brown. It's still very bleak. I wanted to capture the dull colors in this sketch from a park, across the street was a subdivision. Even the color of the houses is boring and neutral. But, as you can see, it's very precise drawing, with it's little houses and clawlike, stick like trees. Still, there's something about this one I like.

Landscape

Here's an example, of when sometimes, you need to just shut the art book, and do what you feel based on your own instincts. I tried to do this landscape exercise out of my pastel workbook, and I don't like it. Okay, maybe now that I'm staring at it, it's growing on me, but I tried to meticulously follow the instructor's directions, and I found, that she was doing things that I wouldn't do, in recreating this picture. The end result in the book, I didn't particularly like, so why should I like my end result? I did choose a brighter color palette. It's still goofy and beginnerish, but I guess that's what I am, a goofy beginner.

Chalk Pastel Trees

I got some chalk pastels. What was holding me back from getting them sooner? These are lots of fun, and terribly messy. Voila, lollipop trees, but I love them. I love the colors. This was splendidly fun to do.

Tiger in the Grass

Here is another one from my art ideas book. I was kind of sad that I didn't really do a good job on the tiger, but that's okay. You can't really see him, because he's hidden in the grass!!

Abstract Landscape

I have some chalk stick pastels on order now. This exercise would have been easier with them, instead I used pastel pencils, so the coloring in of the spaces was tedious. I got this out of my art ideas book.

Pansies

Okay, I woke up this morning, and decided to get my artwork out of the way, so I can go outside and play the rest of the day, however, I do see me doing another project later this afternoon. It's just that when the weather is nice, it seems sinful to stay indoors. So, I have to get out, even if it's just take a walk, ride my bike, or sit in the yard with a magazine. I did this project based on my pastel work book. It's better than the stupid flowers I did yesterday, but so far, this weekend, my Lilacs are the winners. I don't have quite the same color palette as the author of the book. I think I should have made the background darker. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Ellen's Still Life

Maybe I should stick to fruit and flowers. You can make mistakes on the shapes, and no one has to know exactly. I chose these items, because they're me. Strong coffee and chocolate. That's what helps me through the day. Oh, I try to be a goody goody and eat my fruit and yogurt, and yadda yadda, but that's only a prelude to the chocolate. I didn't like this picture at first, so I did the flowers next, determined to do a picture that was better. Turns out this one is the good picture for today.

Bad Flowers

I thought the goal would be to improve. A number of factors have helped me to not like this picture. I wanted to do this on brown paper, and I don't have any brown paper. I started this one, and then some people came over. I was distracted, and then went back to it. Using red paper, my color choices are all wrong. These colors may have looked all right on brown paper. Oh well. Oh, and it's hard for me to do well, when the weather is nice and it's beautiful outside. I can't seem to concentrate, and I'm too embarrassed to work outside. I feel like people will make fun of me, because I don't consider myself an artist, I haven't taken ownership of it yet, or there are some days I don't take ownership of it, and I know that's wrong, that's totally the wrong attitude.

Lilacs

Voila, it's late May and these Lilacs won't be around long, so I took the opportunity to sketch them with my new chalk pastel pencils. I see the need now for big chalk pastels also for doing larger areas. I like how the white ones turned out. The lavender ones were more difficult. I actually do have white and lavendar ones in my yard.

Country Scene

I give up. I tried 4 times to get this picture on here the right way. I don't even like the picture. When, I'm on my own, I'm totally lost with pastel. I thought I would do a landscape like the one on orange paper with only black and white. It's spring, and everything is coming up green. This picture doesn't show progress or skill. Something that is postive? I like the white barn and red stop sign. Green is calming and soothing.

Still Life with Fruit

I wish I would have taken this photo a little better, now the batteries on my camera are dead. But, wow, light and dark, shading, shadows, are much more dramatic on this one then the one I did on my own. If I don't follow instructions, I'm kind of lost, but I'll keep experimenting.

Still Life with Apple and Vinegar

Here is a still life I tried to do by myself, and not copy what was in my work book. I tried to work on shading and shadows and light and dark, but I think the fruit that I did from the work book is a lot more dramatic

Blue Petunias

No time this weekend to really practice and crank out drawings. I had my mom over for Mother's Day yesterday, and she gave rave reviews over my previous still life. Who would have thought. I want to get more charcoal like, chalk like pastels. This I don't feel is anything that special. Still fun to kill time while doing a load of laundry.

Still Life with Mushrooms

Here's an exercise practice from my pastel workbook. I'm still not working with the type of paper and utensils that the book talks about, but I'm improvising. For pastel paper, I'm using colored construction paper, and I have some charcoal pastels and some oils, not quite in the colors suggested. Not sure I understand light and dark yet, but I get the idea, you should shade in your darker areas first, then layer in the lighter areas. Still needs work.

Charlie

Rode a new horse in my lesson today. His name is Charlie. He is very cute, and was very forgiving of all my mistakes. He's calm and a slow poke. Chestnut, cute blaze on his face, white socks. This might not be the best drawing in the world, but I think he actually looks like this pretty much. :)

Goofy Landscape in Orange

Voila, goofy landscape in orange. I think I like the other one better

Goofy Landscape

This was practice out of my pastel book, experimenting with different colored paper. The mood is different on light gray paper, compared to orange paper.

Blarney Grazing

I think I've captured textures a little better on this one, and I love the pine tree. Not sure about the horse. It's kind of like a ghost in the middle of all this green.

Blarney at Harmony

I decided to experiment with colored paper in my quest to draw a white horse. So, this is pretty green, and hard to see. I did it in pastel, and this is proving a hard medium for me, but it's fun. I think I'll get the hang of it. Eventually.

Landscape

Voila, colored paper. I finally got some. I practiced using my charcoals only black, white and dark gray. I never realized how the few colors and the colored paper can be used to create a mood. Cool. I'm wondering what color paper and what type of scene I should do next.

Mushrooms

Okay, I give up. I don't know why these have turned out sideways. I tried to fix it. The goal was to practice with pastel/charcoal, and concentrate on layering the colors, and thinking about which colors should come first and why. Goofy little shrooms.

I Got Out Of Bed

The inspiration for this one was an exercise in my creative writing book. The exercise was called "Why I won't Get out of Bed". Well, eventually, I do like to get out of bed. The character in my story, fights off the urge, and gets out of bed anyway, even though she could give herself over to depression about her circumstances. I didn't make my bed right away this morning, so I decided to sketch it. Let me just say, I'm furious with my colored pencils. All of them are broken, and you sharpen them and the lead breaks off. Very frustrating, and another reason for soft, muted colors.

Robin

This one looks better in person too, too much glare from the flash. I thought I colored it more smooth, but I guess not. I have no deep reason or meaning for having done this picture, I just felt like doing another picture today. I see robins all around now that spring is here. I think he's a little too thin. Maybe next time, I'll try to do a nice fat one.