AEDM Day 1--Doll Sketch

Today is day 1 of the Art Every Day Month challenge for November, hosted by Leah, who also hosts the Creative Every Day Challenge that goes on all year, and she does a wonderful job, both as an artist and a hostess. I have been participating in the yearly challenge for a couple of years, but this is my first AEDM challenge. The goal is to create something every day, post it on your blog, and link to the AEDM post so the other participants can see it. It should be fun!

For all the information, either click on the AEDM red/blue button on the sidebar or go to the AEDM link here. Even if you find it after it's started, you can still play!

That being said, here is my attempt for today.

I am toying with the idea of sketching a different doll every day for November from my collection, then making it into a book. I'm not off to a very good start though and am not at all happy with the sketch for today.

I have to admit that I couldn't get really focused on it after I looked out and saw a HUGE black dog in the back yard eating the cat feed. Mama said there was one at her house and she had tried to get it to move on. I thought it was a little dog, but it's huge and has some pit bull in it. She's very muscular and has been taken care of, but she looks like on of those guard dogs in the movies about Satan. She's used to people, but if she turned on us, she could sure do some damage, plus she could eat Sammidog for breakfast. Maybe we can find her owner, keeping my fingers crossed. She's already found out that Mama and I feed dogs and cats, so she's not going anywhere. I feel sorry for her, but we can't afford another dog, especially one that size.

Anyway, I hoisted up my graphite pencil and my Canson sketch book and proceeded to attempt a sketch. I had problems from the start. I couldn't get the doll and the light situated like I wanted. I've gotten so used to the Moleskine paper that the Canson paper was hard to draw on, and the graphite pencil wouldn't get dark enough to suit me. Nonetheless I tried and here she is. I did digitally darken the sketch so that it would show up better.

Tanzy is a little porcelin doll, wearing a shell pink wool pleated coat over a white dress, white stockings and leather shoes, and there are tiny pearl buttons on her coat and shoes. She reminds me of one of my much loved cousins. She is such a sweet little soul. My sketch certainly does NOT do her justice, but I enjoyed trying.