EDM #72 and Inktense Palettes

Well, this place is definitely new to me. Here's the story...Monday evening a storm blew in. Just as I was putting the chicken under the broilder, the power went out. So - off we went in search of food. Now, we often pass the Golden Corral, but we've never eathen there. We had a bad experience in one of those buffet - steak places a few years back and honestly have joked about the GC. So, when Ron suggested it, I really thought he was joking. Then, when he turned into the parking lot, I realized he really intended to eat there! It was actually really good! Salad bar, fruit bar, entrees, desserts...I had the pot roast, which was tender and juicy and very tasty. Ron had a steak that was cooked exactly like he likes it, it was tender and flavorful and hot. The boys found plenty to eat - chicken, shrimp, brownies with fudge-y icing. What can I say? We'll definitely be going back. Oh - and Amee was a great server - our glasses were never empty and clean plates were always available.


Is it ever a bad thing when the delivery from Dick Blick comes? I don't think so! Well, thanks to Laura's inspiration, I just had to go and order some of those Inktense pencils (I went ahead and ordered the set of 24). I brought them upstairs and immediately tried them out in both the regular Moleskine sketchbook (top image) and the Moleskine watercolor book (bottom image). Wow. What great, intense colors! I love that they don't sink down into the sketchbook paper the way acrylic inks do, and because they activate with very little water usage, it doesn't appear that the paper repels them they way it does regular watercolors. Now to do something with them...

Red Lion

I took the reference picture for this drawing last fall at the Knoxville Zoo. The lioness was out sunning herself on a warm September day. I've loved the photo since I took it, and always wanted to do something with it, but until a few nights ago, never did. I can't tell you why I decided on stippling, except that I find it very restful and I love to watch form develop as more and more layers of dots are added. The red is, of course, because it is June and that's red month. Having scanned it, I see that the ear on the left doesn't look like it belongs on that cat, especially compared to the one on the right. So - I'll probably go fiddle with that...

5x8 pigma micron 01 and 05 in my Moleskine sketchbook.

Oh well - here's the rest...

I guess I just can put more that 4 images in a post in blogger... The two at the bottom are the images in the sketchbook, from left to right.

WDE 6.16.06 Moleskine WC sketches

Managed to set aside a couple of hours to play along with the All Media Art Event group over at Wet Canvas. I spent probably 2 hours total on these - just getting used to my new Moleskine watercolor journal. Each is about 2.5 x 3.5 inches, watercolor with colored pencil. There's actually one more, and a couple of images of how they look within the book - maybe I'll be able to get them posted in a minute...

Who's the Weenie, Now?

My neighbor's dog barks all day long. Sun-up to sun-down, intermittent barks emanate from under the deck of the house behind and to the left of us. I can't blame him. He's just probably saying "Hey - foolish humans - why would you pay good money for a pure-bred miniature dachshund puppy and then chain it up under the deck and never come out and play?" Oh...wait...maybe that's what I am trying to say. It really is a cute little pup and I don't understand the point of having it if you DON'T PLAN TO PLAY WITH IT!!!

Yesterday, I watched as the owner used her foot to shove him back down the stairs when he tried to follow her up on the deck.

I realize I'm a softie when it comes to dogs, but really - this dog is way too small to be a yard dog, and no dog deserves to be chained 24-7. Plus...the barking is really beginning to GET ON MY NERVES!

 

EDM #71 - Favorite Sport

Okay, I'm not sure baseball is my actual favorite sport, but it is in the top 5 and the one I've been most closely connected with for the last 2 years. This season was the first that both of my boys played Little League ball, and on the same team. (Derek played last year) They had a great set of coaches who really worked hard with them, encouraged them and challenged them to do their very best. They were the underdogs throughout the end of the year championship tournament - down 2 players who went on vacation - but they managed to make it all the way to the finals. They came in 2nd place, but I, for one am proud of every single one of them. They played their little hearts out.

I chose to draw Joshua's team trophy and tournament medal mainly because this was his first year to play, he was the youngest on the team, and he made a heap of progress during the season. During the final game, he was swinging with the determination and power of a seasoned pro! Derek had a fantastic game, as well - he tagged one of only 3 outs that our team was able to get during the game, and stopped a lot of balls from going into the grass. It is funny how it's always that last game that they show their potential...maybe we can keep up the enthusiasm during the summer so when fall ball starts, they won't have forgotten what they learned!

But, now it is on to another of our favorite sports - track. The rest of June will be taken up with Tuesday and Thursday night practices and Saturday track meets. We'll take July and part of August off and then back to the ballfield...and the boys say they want to play basketball in the winter...life with boys (and I don't even LIKE basketball!)

 

Mary's Sorrow

From Michelangelo's Pieta. Completely out of my league, but her face was so beautiful and sorrowful - how could anyone capture such emotion from such a hard, cold stone? He was a genius, obviously. Maybe someday I'll actually get to go to St. Peter's and view it in person.

Do you think anyone will care to see my work in 500 years? Jiminy Crickets - What a legacy...

acrylic on 18x24 archival watercolor board

 

Cutie Pie

This one comes from the weekend's drawing event over at WetCanvas! She's the granddaughter of the host, and what a cutie she was, too! I don't always know where I'm going when I start a drawing, and this one kind of took me by surprise! But, she had such a classic look, with that pouty, bow-shaped mouth, that she ended up in black and white. I colored her intensely blue eyes with indigo ink, but they turned out a bit dark for the scanner to handle.

This is 5x7 inches, Graphitint water soluble graphite and india ink on multimedia artboard.

 

Garden Sketching

The whole family worked all weekend to dig out some new flower beds in the front of the house. I sat down yesterday and sketched what we had planted.

The first image is in my 5x8 Moleskine sketchbook. I used a micron 05, water soluble crayons and water color.

The second image is also in my Moleskine sketchbook. micron 05 and colored pencils.

The third and fourth images are in my brand new Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. Pencil and watercolor.

Beach Blues

We spent a week down at the Gulf Coast in May. It was so relaxing, I couldn't draw. I did manage to sketch a few of the shells we picked up on the beach, and to do a impression of the view from the 19th floor (way, way too high...). And they are in blues, which qualifies for my May month catch-up!

 

Such a slacker...

After resolving to do a color per month - live and for everyone to read - I've not posted a color drawing in over a month (is it 2 months???) Let's backtrack...February was pink and went really well, March was orange and I LOVED it! April was green and a complete flop. I hated it. I don't have even one drawing to show from it - not that they were bad - I just couldn't even get one done. It did correspond with moving into our new house, and life got incredibly busy, but really, it was because I couldn't draw a thing in green.

So - on to May and blue - I actually did a few drawings, as you can see here, but I just never got around to posting them. They were all at the beginning of the month, though, pretty much - the end of the school year added in another set of time management problems for me and sent me into an artistic funk - I just couldn't get motivated to draw anything - even doubted that I could (as you can see in the middle image here - wow. an iron. woo hoo. At least I was doing something with it - all my clothes are wrinkled :).


So - now it is June and June is supposed to be red-hot red. Maybe I'll bounce back now - pink and orange are hot colors and I did pretty well with them. Red is the hottest of the hot - how can I go wrong?