Failed Experiment

A friend's daughter came to work the other day and waited for her mom to take her to dance lessons. I got her to give me some dancer poses (hilarious!) but most liked the one where she made a turn, pulled her skirt up, and waited for me to tell her what to do next. This one WILL be done again -- maybe in pastel or colored pencil or even watercolor.

This was where I started -- watercolor plopped down on Bristol. I really thought I would be able to get more detail and a better quality of shading with graphite over this, but it just didn't work like I'd planned. I went back in a time or two with a wet brush to lift a thing here and there, and to put in a little more color here and there, and was surprised to find that the graphite smeared. Ooops.

Oh well. Lesson learned!

AND I just realized, today is the last day of NaBloPoMo, and I made it! (I think -- I'll have to go back and check.) December starts tomorrow -- what shall THAT month bring, I wonder?

Sunbrellas

Well, after a few days of rain and cold, it was kind of nice to think about warm sunshine. Never happy, am I!?

So... now I'm wondering about throwing down some ink lines, and now that I see it up on the screen, I know I need to add a touch of dark to close off those light lines in the underside of the sunbrella. Hmmmm. That's what happens when something sits for a day or two around here.

By the way, here is the reference photo. I snapped the pic without pausing as I was walking into the restaurant -- hence the odd angles...

(P.S. I remember that I promised two drawings. The second one is still underway, since we spent the ENTIRE DAY Christmas shopping. I'm trying watercolor on Bristol with graphite over it, so I'm not sure how the experiment will turn out. We shall see...)

NOT a Cactus

...it IS, however, a succulent. I just don't know what KIND of succulent, just that it was a cute little plant with pretty little cerulean and pink leaves and only cost a couple of bucks. I forgot about it for a while -- lucky for me it doesn't need much water. What do I mean lucky for me? Lucky for IT ...
This is in honor of Cactus Monday and Teri (The Queen of the Cacti) and all the other Cactuteers...Cactuseers...Cactiteers... I don't remember what they're called! One of these days I'll find a real cactus to draw on Monday...

Veterans Day Two

Well, THIS was supposed to be the painting for yesterday, being Veteran's Day and there being a flag and all. But, yesterday evening it got dark and a bit cold and then it rained. And I got very sleepy. And so I didn't do the little painting until tonight.

I'd forgotten how tricky painting on Bristol is! I didn't want to add any ink at all, but ended up having to use white acrylic ink for the white stars and then a couple of little lines ... okay, three other little lines. But I avoided the black ink entirely. There are places that might have been better served with some ink work. But maybe not.

Even though it is mid-November, many of our trees here still have many of their leaves. Because we've had several dry years, I really expected that this would be a dull autumn. It has been anything but dull! The leaves started changing late, then the colors have been incredibly vibrant, and have held for a long time. And I'm loving it.