Holiday Wishes...

I just wanted to thank you all for all of you visits and comments, and to wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR. May we all be healthy, happy, and prosperous in the new year.

EDM-Turnips, Key, Pencil, Christmas Ornament, Oh My!

Mama brought us four little turnips and some greens a few days ago to cook, and the turnips were so pretty I had to try a colored sketch. I left the overhead flourescent light on, so there were 2-3 light sources, which was not the best idea, but I tried anyway, It's kind of a study in purples and yellows, which went slightly awry. Those were white paper towels that the turnips were sitting on. The reddish blob under the front turnip is actually a blob of dried acrylic paint left on the masonite board . I didn't notice it until I started drawing, then the quote, "blood from a turnip," crossed my mind and my paper. One of the biggest lessons learned here is that charcoal pencils don't work that well on smooth Moleskine paper, at least not for me. I don't know which EDM challenge this would fit, but I think it must fit one of them. :)

EDM 37-Keys-This is a brass doorbell key. It has four sides and a round tip that fits through the door into a bell on the inside. When a visitor turns the key, the bell rings. It was given to me by my mother-in-law for Christmas years ago, and I've only seen one other one like it. I love it a lot.

EDM-240-A Favorite Pencil-This pencil is one of the handful remaining from two boxes of a gross each that a salesman gave to daddy on his job in the early sixties. He brought them home to me for school, and I still have a few in my hope chest. All of the pencils had a lumber company ad on them. I have been using this particular one for a long time. The green eraser is so old that it's too hard and slick to erase anything, but it looks good. The pencil has been getting tons of use since I started sketching every day, and is getting shorter by the minute. I think of my dad every time I use it. :) Both were sketched with a black sharpie and slightly colored with wc pencils.

EDM 46-Holiday Themed-This quilted ornament was given to me for this Christmas (2009) a few days ago. My aunt hand made them in a cathedral quilt design and gave mama and me one each when we visited her last Friday. It's special, because she made it for me, but it's made even more special because the red center is made from my uncle's bandana. He passed away at the end of January this year, and he is dearly missed. She says they also make good pin cushions, but mine will remain a hanging ornament, whether I put up a tree or not. I have sketched it 2-3 times, and I printed off a Christmas card, which I'm going to send my aunt in a few days. I think she will be surprised. I love it! :) WC pencil in Moleskine WC book.

Hope something on here made you smile! Thanks for looking! :)

EDM #179 & 249-Coffee Pots & Onions

EDM #179-Draw an onion-I sketched 2 yellow onions. The front one still has the dull outside skin on it. I've gone from "I can't believe I drew these!" :) to "I can't believe I drew these." :/ I can see all sorts of stuff to make better on them since I posted them, but that's how I learn. I'll do better next time! In the meantime, I kind of like these, and I used a carbon pencil in my Moleskine with buff color pages and posted them as is. No darkening with the pc this time!

EDM #249-Draw a coffee pot-I sketched my ceramic coffee pot bank twice. It was given to me by my best friend around 1974, not long after we moved into our new house. She brought it when she came to see us. It originally looked like the colored version (I used wc & charcoal pencils). It has set on my kitchen window sill, over the sink, for all these years. The pot on the left is how it looks now, after many washings to get cooking grease/smoke off. The paint finally got so ragged that I scraped it all off and now have a lovely shiny white pot setting on the window sill.

Our lives have taken many twists and turns over the years, but we have remained close friends, and we have coffee and laughs together on a regular basis. :)

EDM 251-Perfume

Avon & Este Lauder...who knew? :)

Yay! I'm back to sketching in my Moleskine book! The pages are so smooth after doing all that doll sketching in the Canson sketchbook. Much better! :)

The Every Day Matters challenge this week is to draw perfume, so I set these two up with a spotlight and sketched away. All the doll sketching paid off. I was more sure of myself when sketching these. The perfume bottle behind is frosted, and has a fuschia and black cap, and a black tassel and a gold band around the top. The egg-shaped bottle is new (got it for my BD) and is clear glass tinted at the top with fuschia gradated through purple at the bottom. It has a silver band below the cap.

This sketch is with my workhorse pencil on the M. buff colored paper. I wanted so badly to shade/color these bottles, but I have let so much other stuff slide while I did the AEDM challenge that I need to play catch up with the house and our clothes. I may go back and do a shaded/colored one though later. There's a whole world of shapes and colors in a bottle of perfume with a spotlight on it. The shadows also had color and fascinating shapes in them. Anyway, I scanned this one as is, pencil on paper.

The scanner scanned the paper as white. I darkened the pencil sketch with my photo program in this sketch. When I scanned the sketch in my photo program and darkened it, the lines came out blueish. What's up with that?

This is the first EDM challenge I've done in a while. It feels good to be back! :)

AEDM Day 30-Ginny Skates

Ginny doll is an 8 inch vinyl doll that Mama bought, then later gave to me. I have several of the Ginny dolls. She is wearing navy jeans, a white shirt and belt, and red plastic skates with yellow wheels. Blonde hair hangs below her waist. I don't know why I like backlighting and theatrical lighting so much, but I do, for some reason. Hence, her face mostly in shadow...again! I like her!

This is the last day of the Art Every Day Month challenge. I'm kind of sad, but also ready for a break. I set my personal goal to sketch 30 of my dolls in 30 days, and I'm happy to say that I achieved that. I could keep going for a long time. I have over 100 dolls, and I may do some more sketches later to add to these, although I will use different paper and I will have some new glasses. :)

Each doll represents 2-3 hours per day for the last month spent experimenting with different poses, doll shapes, ages, hair, clothing, lighting, and personality. I showed up at my table whether I felt like it or not and started putting down marks, and I've come away with a better understanding and knowledge of all the things mentioned. I have surprised myself, and I feel that I've grown as an artist, so my goal was accomplished and I'm doing the happy dance!

Thank you Leah for hosting the challenge. You do a great job! And thank you fellow participants and also the Every Day Matters group (whom I've been sharing my sketches with), for your encouragement and for sharing your wonderful work. I might not have completed the challenge if y'all hadn't helped me. :) I've been so inspired by so many of you, and I'm truly glad that I did the challenge with you this year. Hope we can do it again next year! :)

AEDM Day 29-Doll Sketch with Flowered Hat

This is the same doll that I sketched yesterday from the back. I left the lighting from below her. I like theatrical lighting for some reason. I am also resting from all the folds and wrinkles in previous clothing. It's funny, I decided to rest from wrinkles and tackled a hat with flowers and ribbons. LOL But that was also good practice! AND I managed to get all of her feet on this one! She's not perfect, but I like her.

Each doll has its own personality, and I've gotten much better acquainted with them through the sketches. They are perfect models. What can I say? :)

AEDM 26, 27, & 28-Doll Sketches & a Doodle Sheep

Welcome back to the land of no feet! LOL
AEDM Day 26-Barbie stretching-I decided to try Barbie in a different pose. Unfortunately, her left foot ran off the page and her right foot ran into the previous sketch of Barbie leaping. It looked like ballerina 2 was kicking ballerina 1 on her behind, so I taped a piece of paper over ballerina 1's legs to scan 2's sketch. Not only does the tape show, but the edge of the paper too. This sketch should end where the tiles end. Also, AFTER I posted the sketch I noticed a little ghost in the background looking over the ballerina's shoulder. It's Day 28's sketch peeking through the paper. What can I say? Some days I should just stay in bed. :)

AEDM Day 27-Pirate again- Pirate girl was laying handy, so I decided to try her in a different pose also, and without the huge ruffle. One foot was propped up on something as she leaned against something else. I was mostly finished and decided to take a break. When I returned she had also decided to take a nap and had fallen over, so I did a little more to her and called it quits. I think the dolls are beginning to rebel on me. Anyway, it is what it is. A learning experience. :)

AEDM Day 28-Doll with a Hat-My father-in-law found this doll at a yard sale or flea market and brought it to me. She is white porcelin bisque with a cloth body, a blonde wig tied back in a pony tail, and a painted face with large brown eyes. Her clothes were gone, so I put this red plaid (I didn't have the patience to sketch the plaid this morning) cotton duster on her until I could sew her a new dress years ago. She's still wearing it. The duster was made by my Aunt Nellie in the 50's for my Tiny Tears doll. Anyway, she's also wearing brown cotton stockings, black patent shoes, and a straw hat (which I again got lazy on). She's not an expensive doll, but I like her, and I'm pretty happy with the sketch. Oh yes! I decided to try theatrical lighting and put the light below her. I like it! :)

This a doodle sketch that I did a while ago. It's not part of the AEDM project, but I'm beginning to want to see some color, so I thought I'd share it. I call it "Sheep in Pink." :) Hope you're having a nice weekend and I hope something on here made you smile!