Thursday, November 29, 2012

Teapots


Last post I said I was working on some teapots. Actually this piece isn't what I was referring to. I'm doing something else "license-y".  But these guys were begging to come to life as a picture book piece, so I obliged.



I've gone back to working on illustration board, my first love. I find the colored pencils go down on this just as well as my beloved Stonehenge paper. The only thing I don't love as much is the 'transferring the drawing' part. You can't see through illustration board, so I can't use a light box. But I manage.



I used a jillion pencils on this. I started with some Inktense and Faber Castell water soluble ones for the background, which got completely covered up, and I'm not sure it was worth the trouble.



Then I used Coloursofts to draw in the woodgrain. Polychromos and Pablos did all the rest of the work. No Prismacolors at all. They're on my list (because they've been breaking so much). And I found I did just fine without them. I love my oil pencils anyway.




These little guys were so much fun to draw! 

Now its onto other art that's queued up, a custom handmade card order, and a few other art bits before the big Christmas push. We're having a couple of big storms coming through, so I'm bracing for that. Have to stock up on the essentials - catnip, coffee, and chocolate - since we may be kind of cooped up for a few days! 


Sunday, November 25, 2012

And away we go

We are officially in the thick of it all now, aren't we? Thanksgiving is over, we're stuffed and a little disgusted with ourselves, and vowing to never eat again; while at the same time are looking at cookie recipes and stopping for that seasonal foo-foo coffee drink with the whipped cream on top while out shopping because, after all, its just once a year. Yeah.

I'm cooking up some new art with a teapot theme. This little guy was a test piece to work out some fiddly materials / technique ideas. Part of me wants to go back to watercolors, alone. The other part of me is such a diehard colored penciller now that no matter how I start out, I break out the pencils at some point. 



I'm working on illustration board now, instead of paper. I did some fiddling with my water soluble pencils (Inktense and Faber Castells) and had a nice "watercolor" painting going. Then of course out came the Lyras and Pablos. 




I'm trying to get myself to shift from "render it out completely" like I do when I'm doing one of my realistic drawings, to being more illustrative. I have to consciously "think" one or the other, or I find myself falling into old habits. Decorative illustration and realistic rendering are closely related, but not the same thing.



If we could do one of those x-ray things they do on daVinci's paintings, we'd find at least 3 completely different versions of this, on different layers! To most of you, this probably looks like everything else I do, and you most likely glazed over at my whole explanation of it all. But if you're a fellow artist, you can relate. Experimenting with your materials and techniques never goes away. Leonardo did it too! Sadly, sometimes it didn't work out (like the Last Supper). But I think I just made myself feel a little better about my own wanderings.

Hope you're all enjoying this little "in-between" week, to rest from one holiday and gear up for another. I will be tucked in working, and also having some yard chores done before the big rains start up. Right now I'm going to go fix a new cup of coffee (no whipped cream), and get back to it.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Thanksgiving


Some of what I'm most truly thankful for ~








They will all have some turkey fixin's and gravy on the special day, you can be sure.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your special critters!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Peppermint Starlight finished



All finished!





Peppermint Starlight candy. 5.5" wide (about 3 times actual size).
I used Lyra and Polychromo pencils on Stonehenge paper.
I've listed it for sale in the shop.

Today I'm working on some gift tags. They may or may not turn out - its been a while since I've used my fancy crafty edging scissors. Its fun though. If they work, I'll post them here. If not, well, we'll pretend I never mentioned it.



Monday, November 12, 2012

Peppermint, wip

Drawing a little peppermint candy. Its starting to 'get there'. There's really not much there, colorwise. Its all white and clear, then those pops of red. So its a challenge! I'm using Polychromos and Lyras so far. And its 6 x 8 (well, the paper is 6 x 8. The candy is about 5.5" wide. Which is about 3 times actual size.)




Here's how it looked before I started adding the red. I wanted to establish the values in the twists and fold and shadow before I got into the fun color part.




And here's how it looked when I'd barely started - and this is darkened up quite a bit just so it would show up on the screen. Very very very light applications of soft greys to get it going.




What's funny is that I don't even like these candies. I'm not a 'mint' person at all. But I think these are really pretty to look at, and after all, it is almost Christmas, so I thought I'd do something seasonal. I'm thinking of doing some little cards with this image, if there's time. Meanwhile, I have a whole bag of these in the cupboard, which are in no danger at all of ever being eaten (which I can't say for anything chocolate!).

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Christmas Cards


I've made a few Christmas cards for the shop.




I know, its still early. But now is when people starting thinking about these. So I figured I'd do a few, in case the early birds stop by.





You've probably seen this art before. Or maybe not. None of it is new (boy, how bad am I at selling myself here?). Let's see if I can rephrase that ~ 
"I've chosen some of my favorite Christmas-y images and made them into beautiful greeting cards!". There, that's a little better.




I'm feeling the beginning of something 'cold-like' hovering around tonight, something that requires aspirin and fluids. (Fluids. That's an odd word, isn't it?) My fluids of choice in this situation are lemon-ginger-echinacea juice and plain water. Although if someone were to fix me a hot toddy of some sort I'm sure I could be persuaded.






So anyways, that might explain my poor efforts in enthusiastically presenting my card-making endeavor. 





I also think all the election hoopla left me a little worn. Did you feel that way too? The endless TV commercials and Facebook rantings and then the actual election-night stress. Its a wonder the President doesn't have a nervous collapse afterwards. I hope they at least let him sleep in a bit this morning (the day after).




I'm also trying to get used the time change. I want to go to bed at 6:00 pm now.




There are a lot of odd bits of art happening around here. Well, they're not odd, really, just a little of this, and a little of that.




Some of it is picture book art, and some of it is food. And today while out shopping I found inspiration for a new series, and bought a few things, so am excited about that. (No, I'm not going to tell you what it is yet, you have to wait.)




I hope all of you are well, and weren't caught in that awful Sandy disaster. I'm feeling very thankful for the warm and sunny California weather we're having right now, and power and water and a roof over my head. A little rain would be nice, just so I don't have to go out and water the yard. And OK, I'd like to be able to wear a sweater maybe. Otherwise, everything's good. Take care, and remember to drink your fluids!