Finished!
This has to be one of the most decadent things I've ever eaten (or drawn).
I used mostly Prismacolors, then a little Polychromo Caput Mortuum Violet (my favorite color!), and a Coloursoft Brown Earth. Its about 8" x 8" on 10" square-ish paper.
Not much else to say. I'll clean up the background and do prints.
Now its back to kitty drawings . . .
I've been kinda busy I guess, finishing up some projects and trying not to panic about the holidays. Let's get started with the 'catch up', shall we?
The finished SKOR bar. This is with its new owner and is being framed as we speak. (And I'm so glad I bought a few extra of these for reference, which are still in the cupboard, because I just read an article about how there's a chocolate shortage looming on the horizon - !!!!)
I did this with . . . trying to remember . . . Prismacolors and Polychromos I think, on Stonehenge paper. I know that sounds bad that I can't remember, but when you have as many brands of pencils as I do, and they get cleaned up and put away after each project, its easy to forget.) This is 5" x 10".
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Then I did this house and people portrait for a nice family who wanted to remember their vacation together in France. This one required some photoshopping to get the people from different photos all looking out the correct windows in this photo before I could start the drawing.
On this one I used Prismacolors and Cretacolor Soho Urban Artist pencils. The Sohos are pretty hard, and had the exact right shade of blue grey I needed for those shutters. I also used a lot of their Lamp Black for shadows, which is really a grey. I don't always mix brands of pencils, but do when I need a certain color, or need something soft or harder to do a specific task.
The original of this was 11" x 15". And it was going to Buffalo, NY, which had 5' of snow today!!! I feel like I should have wrapped it in a blanket or something.
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I'm really honored to be included in Katherine Tyrrell's new book,
Sketching 365 (or if you're in the US, its called
Drawing 365). She has a
Facebook page dedicated to it.
I can't remember now which pieces of mine she asked for, and I don't have a copy yet to check. But I'm in there, somewhere, along with a whole bunch of other super talented drawers. Thanks Katherine!!
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And then . . . dun, dun, DUNNNNNN . . .
CHRISTMAS
(insert those Psycho screeching violin noises here)
Every year I say "I'm not making cards! I hate making cards! I'm not making them!" and then I do.
Some of these are newish, some are oldies but goodies, image-wise. I found these fun blank cards with ornamental embossed edges, which I thought were perfect for festive cards. They all have fancy deckle edged envelopes. And they're all in
the shop.
I have a couple other pieces I want to make into cards, but we'll see. One is square, so I ordered square envelopes, and when they arrived yesterday I realized I ordered the wrong size! (note to self: never order stuff before the coffee has fully kicked in) I should probably just work on my new card for this year, and some other projects that are pending.
Its raining here, which is great for our drought. But of course the kitties are all out of whack because they can't go outside as much (translation: they're all climbing the walls in here). They have catnip and snacks and 500 places to perch and sleep, so they're OK. Which reminds me - I need to order their new catnip cigars for Christmas (shhh, don't tell them). Seriously, if you want a really amazing cat nip toy, go here and get these -
Hot Cat Treats.
Stay warm!!
More food and houses!
I just can't seem to resist a nice pastry. This is a little Svenhard's Berry Horn. They come individually wrapped in cello, in an assorted mix. Of course I picked the most colorful one to draw (there are also Cheese Horns, Raisin Snails, Cinnamon Rolls, and Breakfast Claws). I'm fascinated by the names of these things.
Berry Horn 8" x 8" (20.32 x 20.32 cm)
Polychromo colored pencils on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press paper
When I was a kid my parents loved to go to bakeries and coffee shops, to sit at the counter with a donut and cup of coffee and chit-chat with people (this is back in the olden days, pre-internet). So I spent a lot of time with donuts and pastries (and bad, weak coffee shop coffee, which I still abhor).
One time I ordered "a coconut donut", and the waitress brought a "Coke and a donut". Well, that became a 'thing', and I ordered that every time to see what I'd get, until I wore that joke out.
I did this drawing about 2 times larger than life. Prints and the original are in my
etsy shop.
I also just finished another house portrait commission. This one is black and white, which I love doing.
Most people do pen and ink for black and white work, but I love using my black pencils. Its a kind of softer look.
I'm using the same technique I always do, but I'm noticing it comes out looking a little different with this new paper (Fabriano Artistico Hot Press) than other work I've done with Stonehenge. Gradations are a little smoother, and less grainy. I'm liking it!
I've updated my
etsy shop listings for house portrait commissions, with the new samples, and a slight adjustment in prices. As always, if you have a custom size or shape that I don't have listed, or would like to add people, or do multiple buildings in one portrait, I'm happy to do that for you. Please email me or send me a 'convo' on etsy and we can talk about what you'd like.
