Let the Prep-Work Begin

Within a couple of weeks, all those canvases that I just painted for my church will come down and be replaced.  So, I have to start sketching NOW if I'm going to have anything worth painting!  I spent the bulk of the morning stewing over fonts and layouts for verses, and then this afternoon I spent some time sketching this pine cone.  Sometime in February I'll show you how the two will go together!

My Hand

This is what you do when it's starting to get a little bit dark out...when you're uninterested in any of your collection of reference photos...when the satellite dish has been fried due to too-near lightening...and when you really, really just want to hold a pencil:  you draw your own hand.  Something's bugging me about it, but I haven't figured out yet what it is.

A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening

Just messing around.  One sketchbook.  Two pencils.  And there I was, all wrapped up in a cozy blanket, certainly not wanting to get up to sharpen a pencil!  So I wore them down to almost nothin'.  

Sketching is Valuable, Right?

I just told a couple of friends that I want to fill my sketch book before the end of the year.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?  That means, realistically, that I need to draw every day.  Which means that I don't get to fritter away hours on facebook (but who does that?  really?).  And it means that I have to be willing to have ugly pages, because that's just inevitable.  So, in between small commissions, and art sales, and the rest of life, I need to be drawing.  A lot.  And maybe I'll have some drawings to post here!

On a side note, it's really disturbing to be happily typing away, and to see movement out of the corner of your eye.  A spider was SAUNTERING across my desk.   Not nice.

Waiting For The Paint To Dry

There's nothing to do while the paint dries.  Unless you count laundry, or fixing dinner, or vacuuming.  But for something FUN to do, I sketched my hubby while he took a nap on the couch,  hat-head and all.  I am NOT a portrait artist, but that being said, this isn't terribly far off!

Good progress is being made on the "Relate" canvas.  It's CLOSE!  I'll post pics in a day or two.

2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I have no idea when I sketched this, but I'm posting it to remind myself that I am God's creation...a vessel made by Him, for His glory.  My life is not my own.  It's a good reminder for the first day of 2012!

What Have I Been Working On?

This is the initial sketch for a  painting I've been asked to do.  Imagine a brilliant blue sky, empty black aspen branches, and brilliant yellow leaves with a touch of red.  Today's the day I get to go buy the canvas, and then I get to start painting on Monday!

These two are rough sketches for a different client.  He wants images for his church that depict our reaching out to the world, our worship of God, and our service to others.  I'm still doing a lot of prep work on this project, which is why you don't see an image yet for our service to others!

SOLD!

Can you hear me taking a deep breath?  The month of October was consumed by all the preparations for the art sale, and now IT'S DONE.  And I'm sitting here believing that I have nothing to do (of course, that's not true....I'll move on to the rest of my life in just a little bit!).

The sale went far beyond all my expectations.  I've been thinking and thinking, trying to come up with the words to describe it, and so far, all I have is a list of how I FELT as the day progressed:

stunned

amazed

really honored

goose-bumpy

nervous

delighted

giddy

speechless

thankful

small

speechless again

very small

child-like

Thank you, everyone who clearly loves me.  You surprised me over and over again.  And God grew bigger.

Also, there's a story linked to the sale of this pencil sketch.  I have to ask the purchaser if we can share it.  I'll let you know.

A Portrait Artist I Am Not!

What makes a person look like themselves?  I am discovering that it is SUCH a difficult nuance to capture!  This is supposed to be the daughter of a friend, and although it's a lovely drawing with some similarities to the real deal....it's not HER.  It's just a cute little girl.

So hats off to those who manage to nail a likeness!  I am in awe of you!

Seashell...Sheshell...Sheasell...

Several years ago we were practically given a trip to Florida.  In the midst of a LOOONNNNGGG Colorado winter, a surprise trip to the beach is delightful!  We loved every single second!  I sketched this as a thank-you to our hosts.

Spring Fever

It's been DELIGHTFULLY WARM for several days now.  And the trees are beginning to smell wonderful (not from flowers, just from warm bark).  And the birds have been singing.  And there are pools of water all over from the melting snow.  And it's all giving me spring fever.

Here's the problem.  It's only March, which is generally the snowiest month for Colorado!  The birds will go back into hiding.  All those puddles of water will turn into sheets of ice.  The thermometer will go back to living below 10 degrees.  And I'm going to have to figure out how to hang on for AT LEAST two more months!

Ah well.  Spring WILL come.  God promised.  I drew this last year while I was waiting.  I can wait again.

A Double "No"

The sketch of the eye really has nothing to do with this post...except that it looks mildly grumpy.

Today I received two rejections.  A "no" from the retirement community that thought they wanted me to paint murals.  And a "no" from a design center where I had taken my decorated hand drawings.  It was a really curious sensation!  Almost toddler-ish.

I'm actually not as shattered as I thought I'd be.  There's a slight relief over the murals.  And I can see now that the hand drawings may not have been the best fit for the design center.  So, it's actually pretty ok.  My hubby spoke spirit-salve all over me.  He spoke of value in Christ alone, and the hope of His calling.  It is a rich and beautiful thing to be married to a simple, solid Christ-follower.

I haven't decided yet what my next project will be, except for this:  I think I want to look into biblical JOY.  I think that might prove to be poignant.

Columbine Sketch

This is my current project.  I need to re-sketch this on bristol board and then paint it in watercolor.  It's the strangest thing that I can draw something once and it turns out great.  But the thought of drawing it again is a bit daunting!  Silly.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

The Face of a Clock

Some of you know that I have a few watches.  A FEW.  Ok, the last time I counted I think I got up to 16.  None of them are digital.  Seriously, if you need to find out the time, why not have the joy of looking at a beautiful clock face?

For reasons I don't think I understand I have always loved clock faces.  So, it should be no surprise that I not only have a few watches, I also have a few miniature clocks.  Most of them work.  But two are slightly ancient, and have long since quit ticking.  This is one of them.  I was playing around with sketching them, seeing if I could make something actually look symmetrical....tricky.  And could I draw reflections?  Tricky.

Of course, then I had to play with painting it!

JOY GIVERS

Ahhhhh.....sunshine.  Currently we live in a forest, on the floor of a slight valley, and the lack of sunshine is....not a joy giver!  So I take delight in sketching a happy sun.  I've lost track of how many of these I've sketched over the years.  It seems to be a default subject for some reason!

I have the hope of someday moving to a bright hillside where the delight over sunshine is a reality as opposed to mere pencil on paper.  Those of you who know me well know that moving is a distinct possibility, not just a vague dream.

So Sunshine.....I'm a comin' soon!  And that's a Joy Giver!

A Delightful Interruption

I sketched this yesterday based on a photo my uncle took in Carcassonne, France.  He said that this is a half-timbered building within the city walls.  Clearly I am not an architectural artist, but the subject matter was BEGGING to be drawn!  It's just idyllic, and fairy-tale-ish, and it appeals to everything in me that loves beauty!