A Lovely Anniversary Present and Drawing Class

This Bear and Dove was a fun and very touching commission.  A man contacted me about a present for his first wedding anniversary.  His wife called him "Snuggley Bear" and he called her "Lovey Dovey".  He wanted to know if I could do a bear hugging a dove.  I did several sketches and after we collaborated on picking out the preferred features of the sketches, this was the result.  It is 12x16, colored pencil on hardboard panel.
I think I mentioned that I am auditing a drawing class at Denison University this semester. At any rate, I am and it is really stimulating to be using other media -- conte crayon, charcoal, ink, markers and to be drawing from life.  Though alot of my in class drawings are currently stored at the university and I have not yet taken any photos of them, I though I would share some homework.  One of our assignments is to pick an object and incorporate it into 100 drawings.  This wooden horse I have had for several years is the object I picked:

Here are drawings 5-11.  I am using conte and it is on two sheets of 18x24 paper, so the final here is 24x36.  I may add more to it later.  As I said above, feeling very stimulated drawing from life (though it is still). His arm fell off while I was workig on this, so I have not included it for some of the drawings.

The Way We Were, Coshocton, 1971, still a Work in Progress

I have been putting hours and hours into this one.  Deadline Sept. 1, (see previous post)  if that isn't a post mark date, I will drive the CD there.  At any rate I started with the faces, and felt they were fair enough that I could go on.  Now finishing the faces is all I have left and it is getting out of wack some.  Hope I get a grip and finish this with some satisfaction.  It is 16x20, colored pencil on panel.  In case you haven't guessed, I am on the far right and the other two hip characters are my two younger brothers.  As well as faces, which I am close to overdoing now, I wasn't sure about the car or blending in the background the way I wanted, but I am fairly pleased with both of those two issues at this point.  That car was my beloved first, a 58 Chevy that I worked and paid for myself. 

Tasha and Chiaroscuro

I certainly enjoyed do this portrait -- loved working on the strong contrasts!  I have lightened the dog's right eye more than was true to the darkness of the reference/lighting conditions.  I am being urged by a related onlooker to do it more for the recipient's sake.  It is a gift,  I don't think I will, if the recipient does not appreciate it as is, I will offer to do another and keep this one.

This is only 5x7, but I sure did enjoy working on it.  There are alot of colors in it, even if that is not apparent overall. Tasha does have a skin condition which leaves her thinned hair and hairless in places.  I have only hinted at it in the portrait, but did lots of layers of colors to capture it.

The use of strong light and dark contrasts in art is referred to as chiaroscuro.  If you would like to read more about chiaroscuro, you can click this link: chiaroscuro.  I could not recall how to spell this term, but first went to the Wikepedia site to look at Rembrandt, hoping to find the term, and I did.  I am surprised that Wikepedia says the Expressionists often used chiaroscuro, I always think of the Renniasance artists,  when thinking of this term.  Since the Expressionists are my favorite grouping of artists, I will have to look at this connection between chiaroscuro and the Expressionists more.

I am not sure wether or not I will do more to Lokie's portrait.  After I do some more getting ready for Christmas tasks, I may do him over if there is time. I have to clean up some dust on Tasha's background, but I think I am calling her done, also.  ( P.S.  after posting and looking at this a little more, I may be modifying Tasha's nostril's just a little to make it a little more aligned.)

Though busy getting ready for company for Christmas and a second gathering the day after, I am enjoying every day of being home lately.

Have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by!

Two Dobes WIP -- Christmas Presents



Here are Lokie and Tasha.  Lokie is probably finished, but I will look him over while working on Tasha.  I think something is a little off with Lokie, but I don't have good reference photos of him, but have met him several times.  He had an expressionist quality for a while which I may experement more with.  However, I am aiming for realism for the most part because I do not think the gift recipient will appreciat it otherwise.  I am enjoying working on the sunlit qualities in Tasha's reference photo.  



Lokie - Main Reference









Lokie - Nearly Finished Portrait






















  

































Tasha - Main Reference



Christmas Portraits Done & Good Links on Success

Here are Daisy's, the Collie,  and Izzy's,  the Cat, portraits finished:

I am enjoying some time at home before starting a tax preparation job in January.  I have finished this year's Christmas card, will share it the day before Christmas on the blog.  I will be do a couble of small portraits as a family gift. I plan to enjoy beading a necklace for a gift.  It is snowy here today and it is doubly nice being home with these two projects to work on.

I have been thinking about how to achieve better art business success. Moneywise, things seemed to go more backwards this year even with more action and effort.  I wonder if my ladder is on the wrong wall sometimes.  It could be just a step in the process of climbing.  I just don't know.  I have been reviewing seminars and consulting services -- getting some help is one of my goals for the coming year.  I did really enjoy David Barney's post on this subject today.  His post refers to two other posts on this subject, all of which are quite good.

Hope you are all having a warm, cozy and enjoyable day!

Christmas Commissions, Part 2

Here is the Collie, Daisy, almost done.  I am giving it a rest before deciding whether or not it is finished.

I went ahead and started the cat, Izzy.  The owners say she is giving her "sweet look"  so I am really working on that.

Both portraits are 8x10, colored pencil on panel.

Longhorn Update

"Home on the Range"
18x24
colored pencil on panel

In between alot of yard work and cleaning the garage, I got to work on this some.  I entered it in the The Artist's Magazine online all media competition which had a deadline of November 1st.  Unfortunately it was getting dusky when I stopped to take a photograph of it on November first.  I seem to have lost some color and contrast.  I have darker contrastas and some reflected greens that don't show up.  I also would like to do more to it now also.  Debating what to do since I also want to get things professionally photographed yet this month in preparation for entering some of next year's art fairs.  One deadline is this month.  Hard to not touch it until the end of December.

I do have a two portrait commission for Christmas to work on as well as a this year's Christmas card, yet.  I guess I could not work on it and leave it out of my near art fair applications --- decisions, decisions.  Should have worked more on it so not up against the deadline for the competition.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Off to Festival Today, Hawk finished - Demo started

I finished the hawk, this is not the best photo, but best I could do this morning before I frame it to take with me to the Roscoe Apple Butter Stirrin Festival.  I am a little more behind than I had planned to be.  I made a kitty rehoming run into the city yesterday that I did not plan.  I have had so many no shows for people saying they were coming out to look at them, that I thought it was best to jump on it.  I am fretting over him though and will be calling the new home later this morning to see how things are going.  I have offered to take any back if not what they expected/having problems adjusting. 

My set up is not until 4:00 P.M., but have a lot to do before then and plan to leave about 2:00 P.M.  I wanted to work a little more on my demo that I started Tuesday, yesterday, but did not get the chance.  I am supposed to post demo times scheduled four times a day for the three days of the festival.  I like to do the experimental backgrounds I am starting to do with mineral spirits along with the colored pencil on my own -- I may not get that chance today with backing and organizing.  Will be scary to do that kind of thing in front of people, might chicken out, will see.  Anyway, here is the sketch of the demo.  I had some photos of longhorns I took this summer.  I spent hours sorting through them and messing with what composition to choose.  My sketch is a little looser than some I do before transfer, but feel o.k. with that (except for adding the background, which I plan to ad lib a bit).  It is 18x24, and as long as I don't mess it up, it will keep me busy the three days.

The set-up is until 8:00 P.M., but it will be dark by 7:30 -- so probably have to get up early tomorrow to finish up to be open by 9:30.  The show runs 10 to 6 on Friday and Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday.  The participants were asked to be ready by 9:30 though when tourist bus sometimes arrive.  I still have to work on my early 1800's garb, do barn chores, and pack.  Wish me luck and thanks for checking in!  I will post pictures of the show when I return, Monday.

Art Fair Report, Hawk WIP, Commission

A week has gone by since the Kent Art in the Park art festival.  I had a death in my family and stopped in Coshocton on the way to the festival and then stayed with my mom on the way back.

Here is an image of my booth and an image of the crowds and other parts of the festival.  It was a nice laid back place to be. Though cutting the light a bit and also leading to intermittent showers of acorns, being in the trees was quite peaceful.  I enjoyed talking to many of the festival patrons.  I drew nice crowds while drawing.  Some other artists cautioned that demoing can lose customers -- that it is really important to talk with the customers. I never ignored them totally.  However, I did draw less and talk more on the second day, it did not seem to make any difference on sales.  Total sales was 5 greeting cards.  I did expect better from such a big show.  Most artists said their sales have been steadily declining the last two years.  I do not regret the experience, but have done better at the other shows I have been in, thus far, saleswise.  Ironic, in that I really thought this was going to be my best sales opportunity yet.

I am proud that I was able to attend, set up and take down my outdoor display on my own .  I did get some volunteer help with it a few things, but know I could do it entirely on my own if I had to. 

I enjoyed meeting some other artists.  Have promises for commissions, which as usual, may or may not come through.

Below are the sketches for a commission I received at the Zanesville Y-Bridge Festival.  The finished pieces will  only br 3 1/4 by 5 and 1/4 inches.  One dog is a full grown Great Dane and the other is a Great Dane puppy.  I am relieved that the customer just approved proceeding after viewing the compositional sketches. 

Here is my hawk portrait WIP at the conclusion of Kent Art in the Park.

I still have a little ways to go with it, but am generally pleased with  it thus far.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Feral/garage Kitties Update & WIP

New Garage Kitties

Before I could get the mommy and her three kitties in for their spay/neuter appointment, mommy had SEVEN new kittens.  Six of them can be seen in the photo above, the seventh is an orage tabby.   Not a situation I am happy to be in, but I am determined to get the mommy in before this happens again.  I do have her eating in the unsprung live trap, but as the little kitties are just starting to waunder, it could be difficult to catch her without trapping them.  I will be working on it though.  It is frightning to have only one chance to catch her, if the life trap springs and does not catch her, it is not likely that she will go in it again, they say.

Below are some photos of the first three, now about five months.  All healthy after their spays and neuter.  They are all tame now.

Growing Up Fast - 1 of Original 3

Wild one Now Loving

Only boy of the first three

Below is a work in progress of my redo of one of my commissioned portraits.

Hopefully this will remind the owner of his dog, Abbey.  I got too caught up in doing what I thought he wanted instead of what I could do best on the first one, lesson learned.

Commissioned Portraits and Hawk WIP

Above are the last two portraits I did for the seven portrait commission.  Below is the red tailed hawk that I worked on at the art fair.  The hawk is 24 by 18. I like it so far.  I am nervous about getting started on the feathers, but looking forward to seeing if I can get it the way I want it also.  I used mineral spirits to melt colored pencil on the background.  I may modify the bacground some more after I start the feathers.

As I have a portrait commission to redo and a few nonart obligations to get out of the way, I may not get to work on it for a couple of more days.  I try to do the things I don't want to do as much first and use the thing I want to do the most as a reward.  This strategy of disciplining myself does not always work though because sometimes I procrastinate and thus lose time that I could have spent doing what I preferred to do anyway.  I have gotten alot of chores out of the way recently, though,  and may just have to reward myself a little anyway soon, even if all the have to's aren't completely done because I am getting that away from working on art withdrawal/crappy feeling.

Hannah WIP and Wilds follow-up

Here is the current WIP for Hannah, a choclate lab. There is a little more room at the top than I was able to scan. I should finish this one today.

I did take a break Sunday and Monday and went to the Wilds,a wildlife preserve, about 50 miles from where I live, menitioned in an earlier post. Below are some of the pictures I took. I have a few nice ones, but not as many as I would like. I will post some of the others in the future.

We went for an overnight -- was nice to get away from the routine, eat some good food and visit with a friend.



On the way to the Wilds, I took a not so long side trip to visit the Leslie Cope Gallery in Roseville, Ohio. A friend of mine has some of his originals and turned me on to his work. Sadly there is not much on the net or in the literature about him. I hope to go back to this gallery, which his widow runs sometime soon as I did not see it all with the time we had. His last painting in progress was on the easel in his studio there. He is know for his farm scenes and horses, primarily, though he also did coastal scenes and murals. He was a codesigner for McCoy pottery. Roseville and the surrounding towns were once a thriving pottery center. I do not know enough about him, but I hope to find out more in the future. He was quite prolific, I really like his animals, of course, and admire his passion. I do feel fortunate to be able to visist his studio and gallery.

Lastly, I not sure I like this new blog design, I was trying to correct where the gadges (about me, links, blogrool, etc.) show up. I can only view them at the bottom of the page now, but want them at the side. Where do they show up when you look at the page? I know how I am supposed to fix this in layout, but was not working for me, so I go sidetracked in design and ended up with this one for now.

Abbey, WIP 2

This is as far as I got with Abbey, yesterday. I know it does not look like much, but it takes alot of layering to get that black fur. I may refine her nose and bridge of her nose more. I usually like to do the background at the same time, but since I scrapped the first one with alot of background time in it, I just concentrated on the dog first in this one. I will try to do the background the same as I did with Missey so that they are compatable. I did spend some time reviewing the reference photos for the other dogs, yesterday, also. Did alot of editing in my photo programs. And though they will be a little bigger than I orignally planned, I am going to use some existing reference photos more completely than I had originally planned to do the other three. I would prefer to do them a little larger than these first two and I just don't have the time to struggle with what I can't see. I am afraid that my previous sketches are just not detailed enough. I was getting hung up on trying to make the poses "more sophisticated" and all similiar in size.

Above is the photo of Missy and the finished 9x12, colored pencil portrait. Below is Abbey, WiP. This is the second one I have started with her. I did choose to do her next because I find blac dogs to be the most difficult, also, she has the least clear reference photos. The first one was a cross between a cartoon character and early American Folk Art (which I like, but did not want for her portrait!) I had a couple of photo sessions with another dog as well as new sketches before I started the second one. I am more pleased with it. Abbey is pictured far right below. I also am doing the left two dogs as well as a golden retriever.

The commission calls for dogs being posed in certain ways. All the pictures are going to hang in the same room, so I am thinking of doing the grass and sky pretty much the same for background, though I wish I could go simpler than that, I feel with these full body portraits it would not work out for me to try to do a monotone background. I am trying to balnce wich way the dogs are facing in accrordance with how many portraits there are, i.e. so many facing to the left and so many facing to the right. I like to do straight on of the head, but am going with the best reference shots for the most part.

Feeling at turns, frustrated, scared, happy, stupid, lucky. Time to get to work, I will post what I have gotten done early tomorrow morning.

Portrait of Cracker

Here is the delivered portrait of Cracker. I had the black and white for the pose in this one and the snapshot for color. I did the portrait, called the client for next day delivery, decided it was horrible and spent most of the night and part of the next day redoing it. It is not as easy to see detail in the reference photos as I initially thought it was. Can you say pressure? I am very happy (and relieved) that he liked it very much. This dog was his wife's dog when she was a child, he is giving it to her today for her birthday -- I hope she likes it. I was exhausted the next day and did not move from the couch much. Since then I have caught up on housework and chores, as well as making a run to go out to dinner with my mom.

I will work daily, starting tomorrow on the rest of the portraits, they will be from snapshots, but the desired poses need to be fabricated. I will be doing alot of sketches first. I iniatilly did Cracker with an outdoor background, but abandoned that. The portraits will all be hanging in the same room, so need to think a bit about their compatibility also. The contract is for plain backgrounds. I am doing these on colorfix paper instead of the hardboard. That, as well as going back to a small size,12x9, have been challenging as well.

I am very happy to have such a huge commission during a fairly uncommitted month. These are all due before August 14. My next fair is

Auguast 7&8.

Sunny Bay finished

I finished this piece Friday and entitled it "Sunny Bay". It is 16x20 in colored pencil. I took it and two other pieces, "Lean on Me" and "Land of the Free I, to an intake for a local juried exhibition on Saturday.

Also, on Saturday, I met with an individual who had picked up my card from one of the post offices where I had placed cards in conjunction with the release of Ellen DeGeneres helping shelter animals stamp release. He has ordered 7 (!) 9x12 pet portraits. He would like the first one before July 4th. I could use an order this size every month! I am supposed to call him Wednesday about the progress of the first one. Luckily, the first one has the best photo references. A couple of the others do not have the best references and will be quite difficult, I fear. I hope he is pleased with them all. Will ask him for permission to post WIP/finished pieces here when I speak with him on Wednesday. For now, I better get busy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Foal WIP 2 & 3

Here are two more images showing the work in progress on the foal. I hope to get to work on it a few hours today and probably will bring it to a finished point or a point where I need to contemplate whether it is finished or not. I am enjoying working on the contrasts in the piece.

The weeds growing profusely around here are needing work is getting me down, don't get much done on these hot days.

I need to finish applications for shows yet this season. Then I am thinking of expanding my internet presensce on Facebook and perhaps Etsy or some similiar site and E-Bay. My "freedom" from nonart jobs is here (for the most part, except some need to take some classes here and there) for the next six months and I want to really start to make the most of it with some steady working time and perhaps some branching out in media.

Thanks for stopping by!

Foal WIP 1

Here is the foal I was working on at the art fair. I had the outline on the board when I got to the fair and this is how far I got. The foal is going to be a bay, as it is in the reference photo. I am making the mother a flea bitten grey, though she is also bay in the reference photo. This piece is 16 by 20. I am attracted to the sunlit with contrasts quality of the mother's and foal's coats in the reference photo and am wanting the beauty of this piece to be involved with that. Will see how that turns out. I hope to have some time yet today to get several hours work done on this. Thanks for looking and thanks for dropping by!

Lean on Me

This piece, entitled "Lean On Me" is 16 x 20, colored pencil. Though, there are some things I would change -- as is often the case, it seems, I had a great absorbing time working on this one. I have entered it in the 11th Annual FMP Membership show on Ann Kullberg's site. I have ordered some prints and am looking forward to seeing how they look.

It is scorching hot and time is flying. Trying to decide what to start as a demo piece. Lots of things I could work on, but not all of them do I want to do as a demo.

Hope your week is going well. Thanks for stopping by!

WIP2 -- Where Does the Time Go?!?

So sorry I have been MIA here at my blog. I honestly do not know where the time goes, so fast. When not preparing for my class, grading papers, mowing, teaching my class, cleaning, doing laundry, did I mention mowing, weeding the garden, cleaning stalls, oh yeah, did I say mowing -- I have drawn whenever possible, but I turn around and see I have not been blogging in over a week. So sorry.

I did send for and received, yesterday, the rest of my Trimline art fair tent. Now to find time to practice putting it up. I may be practicing at the show! My first show is rapidly coming up on June 12-13. It is near me in Granville, Ohio. Remember the poster contest? It's that show -- The Granville Art Affair. Have some prints to order and get ready, clean the SUV for packing, get more brochures and cards, finish the above piece and start a demo and then pack the SUV. My class ends that week. Oh yeah, I am working in a weekend course on framing before then too. Whew. Wish me luck in being ready without a nervous breakdown!

I am absorbed in working on this piece whenever I have a moment, some things about first horse are not to my liking, but moving on for now.