Doggie Sketch

We've had our dog Winnie for many years. By my reckoning, she is somewhere between 17 and 18 years old. About a year and a half ago, she became ill, with some bizarre lab results from blood work; the vet, suspecting cancer, suggested that we euthanize her, but we decided against it, since she didn't seem to be in any pain. She surprised us all when she continued to keep on keeping on ... although she does it slowly and spends most of her time resting. Every morning I go out to check on her, never knowing what to expect.

I drew Winnie today for the EDM weekly challenge, and realized that I had never drawn her before. In all these years ... isn't that sad.

Note: Winnie is solid black, but I decided to leave just the line work. Had I added color, she would have been a bit of a blob -- one of the artistic challenges one encounters with black furry friends!

Technical notes: drawn in Canson Drawing book with Nexus black pen.

Cell Phone

Do not put your cell phone in the microwave.
The instruction manual clearly tells you NOT to do this.
This means you.
Some days the world feels like a strange place.

Homecoming

Inspired by a recent bout of interior drawings, this week's drawing challenge for the Everyday Matters group is to draw what you see when you first come home. Believe me, I tried several, and found that drawing a room is much harder than it looks! This is the best I could come up with -- the cat sleeping on the back of the sofa in the living room, enjoying the late afternoon light coming in from the opposite window. Other than that, here's an orchid. Not blooming, but an orchid none-the-less.

EDM - Metallic and WC class

I know I've been silent lately, and some of you have asked about my watercolor class. I really have been busy drawing and working on learning about watercolors, but haven't done much of anything worth looking at. I actually felt a bit paralyzed after the first class, and I'm just now getting over it!
A very quick (and sloppy!) value study for a painting that I'm going to be working on (photo from Wet Canvas) -- which I will also use as my submission for the Everyday Matters Challenge to "draw something metallic."

Sidenote -- this type of color value study is not an "assignment" from my watercolor teacher -- I wonder why not? Is it a bad idea, or what one really should do?

Mostly, I've been working on color charts, learning to mix greens (so I can quit using the infamous and fugitive sap green -- even though I love it dearly) and browns (which have been a thorn in my side for some time now!)
And I promise ... I'll be better about posting now that I'm getting "back in the groove!"

Yappy Hew Near!

The new grandpuppy ... Percival T. Pug (the "T.", of course, stands for "The")...
The cat is relieved that Dear Daughter and The Son I Did Not Have To Raise live in Florida, and thus we won't be expected to do any babysitting, but I would really like to see this little guy before he gets to be much more than the double handful that he is right now!

And, as promised, here are my art goals for the upcoming year (which I've already posted to the Everyday Matters group, which is a huge bunch of folks, so what's a few more!?!):

1) Improve my watercolor technique. The watercolor class starts next week and I particularly want to improve my brushwork and my wash technique, especially around objects. Stacks of watercolor paper will be diligently "wasted" in this endeavor, I'm sure, as there will be tons of "non-pictures". That's okay. I've got the paper. Hopefully I'll also learn how to do great brilliant dark passages, too!

2) Draw / sketch every plant in my own yard. Okay -- I know this will take more than a year, but it will also be a good learning experience and, hopefully, also will be a good way to become a better gardener. Weeds may be excluded from this project! :-)

3) Do one DETAILED study of a seasonal plant each month in whatever medium, or mix of medium, that feels right.

4) Color studies! Inspired by Laura's color studies last year, I'm going to focus on a color at a time. She devoted an entire sketchbook to each color, but I'm not going to be quite that dedicated. The tentative color list is:

yellow

pink

green

blue

red

orange

brown

purple

5) Finish the paintings that I start! This one was in my mind, but the succinct wording was inspired by Teri's resolution to do the same.

6) And, darn it, this year I'm going to get out there and draw in public!

Other than the above art goals, I have the same yearly nonsense about exercising more, eating better, keeping the house cleaner, blah, blah, blah... But I'm really going to try and do them this year! Really!