Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Monday, August 23, 2010

Recent work

Hi there!
Well, I've been getting back to painting.  By working smaller, I can just hammer a bunch of stuff out.  Plus, being relatively new to water-soluble oils, there's a lot to experiment with.

A lot of the online art stores have had back-to-school sales, and I'm ALWAYS up for a sale, especially art supplies.  I was able to get a bunch of 8 x 10 canvases cheap. 

Living up in the boonies makes it difficult to practice my favorite subject matter, portraits.  Anytime Sean or Mike see me coming with sketch pad and pencil, they mysteriously have very important stuff to do...somewhere else. 

But, knowing a teenage boy's need for $$, Sean was willing to sit for me...for a price.  Kids, sheesh!!  So, below is the work I did...in 3 stages. 
Day one:


Day two:



Day three (and final):


 Let me know what you think!!  Thanks for looking!!
-s

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Turn a Photo Into a Drawing in Photoshop

One of my Photoshop heros is Bert Monroy. In this vid he shows how to create a drawing on a canvas from a photo. All courtesy of the cool folks at CreativePro.com and Revision3.com
Enjoy!


Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Ok, up to date

It's a beautiful day out, too nice to work.  So, I got out the journal and worked.

We get a delightful catalog - Dr.s Foster and Smith - for everything pertaining to pets.  And they have the best photos.  So, I periodically go thru and cut out the ones I like and paste in my journal at random.  Today happened to be on the lab puppies page.  :D

Hope you enjoy 'em!

Day 2 AND 3

Ok, so it took me more than one day to finish.  Not sure if it counts, but oh well.

We went to see "Avatar 3-D" in the theatre, and was blown away.  It was SPECTACULAR!  So, when it became available on BluRay, we had to get it.  On the smaller screen, it was easier to follow the story and take in the entire thing, and it was just as cool.

So of course, I had to draw Neytiri.  :)  My poor little journal's pages started to reject the amount of graphite.  Oh well, hope you like her!

Ok, NOW I've done it!

I've gone and committed to a few things. 

1) Flying up to help Mom clean out the family room and have the "Mother of all Garage Sales". Should be "interesting". She even said (albeit jokingly) that she might even buy a computer with the money she makes off the garage sale. Hmm.. should I hold her to that?? :D

2) Every year the Yahoo group to which I subscribe does an "Everyday in May" drawing challenge. I did it last year, and I enjoyed it. So, here I go, once again!! 
3) Since discovering I have lupus, I've been watching the national lupus site, and found they are throwing a big walk next October. So I've signed up. Actually sounds like fun... 3 mile walk around Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on October 24. If you're interested, you can support me and learn more at my walk website..http://donate.lupus.org/site/TR?px=2022409&fr_id=1370&pg=personal or click on the image

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

New Molys!

Finally got 2 Molys in the mail. For those folks who don't know, that's short for Moleskine, the wonderful little sketchbook so many folks use.

I received the 2 from Albina, and here's my first... For Sherrie Roberts. :D
(Many apologies to Frankie Valli)



Of course, as usual, the scan is horrid. Ah well, technology.

I have Sara's to do next, so hopefully I'll have another post in a day or so, and be able to send these babies out to the next person.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

My Summer Shoes

I've seen some really cool cotton tennies that folks have "Zentangled" on, and I figured I could do that!! So, I found some that were pretty inexpensive (read: "Walmart") figuring if I really messed up, it was no big loss.

But they turned out pretty good. I'll probably go back over them with black pen again just to make it a little darker, but all in all, not too bad.

What do you think??







Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Creative Suite FIVE!!?!??


Seems like I just bought Photoshop CS4. Now I'm getting hit with all the email hoopla over Adobe's next big release.

I admit it, I'm a technology geek. Every new release I GOTTA have. Especially Photoshop. I'm a little behind on Dreamweaver, just because my little HomeSite so much well fills the bill. And more.

So here I sit, pondering the eternal question. Do I REALLY NEED the next, latest and greatest release of the Creative Suite? Well, on one level (financially) I most certainly DO NOT! At a hefty $2600 for the Creative Suite 5, I think I'll pass. And just the stand-alone version of Photoshop is $699. Oy.

But it typically comes down to not whether I NEED it, but that I WANT it. 'sigh'... the spoiled three year old surfaces her feisy noggin and decrees that THIS version will be better, increase workflow, do jaw-dropping things NO ONE has ever seen before, and make her more money. (Make her thinner, improve skin elasticity, solve global warming, and bring about world peace. No, these are claims by Adobe, just my inner spoiled child trying to rationalize.)

This time around, however, I don't feel quite so compelled to jump on the bandwagon and save every penny 'till I can afford the upgrade. Not even the full version, mind you. A few reasons for this.

One. I haven't explored all the new features in Photoshop CS4 yet.
Two. I don't use Photoshop as often as I used to, down from 6+ hours a day to about 6 hours a week. I like to think I'm getting faster, but I doubt it.
Three. Why? The Photoshop I have now is MORE than enough for my work.

I've come to the conclusion that the day I outgrow Photoshop and NEED to upgrade, I'll think about it then.

Until then, I'll spend my money on painting supplies!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

An Illustrator and a Painter in One: Gary Kelley's Story


I've always wanted to learn illustration. Illustrators must have a fantastic eye in order to see AND distort/caricature the human form.

A recent article in Art Bistro on Gary Kelley (read the entire article here) highlights an artist/illustrator. I love the below quote.

"Although his skills are still in demand, the artist said the landscape for illustration has changed with the ascension of computer graphics and the decline of printed books. There are simply less spaces that require illustration, and some jobs are filled by computer-aided illustration, much to a purist like Kelley’s chagrin.

“It drives me up the wall when people tell me that they have computer programs that can create the same effects as my painting,” he said. “Why would you want to do that? The end takes over and justifies the means, and I like it the other way round. I enjoy the smell of this paint; I enjoy what it feels like to scrub and wear a brush down on canvas, and if you can’t feel that, you’re never going to get it.”
"

Saturday, April 10, 2010

I absolutely love this!!

I listen to XM radio while working, in particular "The LOFT" (channel 50). The music is "eclectic", and the folks are so cool. Mike Marrone, Meg Griffin, Vin Scelsa, Franny Thomas, David Johansen, and the fellas at night.

Anyway, this song is Meg's opening song



Disorder in the house warren zevon,bruce

That's kinda the status around here. Disorder in the house. I was recently diagnosed with cutaneous lupus (on the skin), I haven't felt much like doing much. The worst part was it itching and burning. Finally, it's in remission, but am still getting blood tests run to find out what's going on with my liver. What causes lupus is unknown, could be genetic, but no one knows exactly. And once you get it, you have it the rest of your life.


Plus, my dog, Travis, just went through knee surgery.
It's been 3 weeks since his surgery, and he's up and running around. And he's getting a bath today!! Yay!!

But no painting. Or art of any kind. So my weekend will be cleaning up the "disorder" in the house, and hopefully get back to what I enjoy the most, painting. Maybe I'll even have a thing or two to post!!

TTFN!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Procrastination

Oh dear, I believe I'm SO guilty!! I saw this little gem on http://www.thestudiosource.com, and the scary thing is, I just made myself a cuppa tea...

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Incredible....

I've been *trying* to be good and not spent too much time just doodling around, surfing, looking at cool stuff. And, I've been pretty good.

HOWEVER, while looking at a wonderful blog, Mind Wide Open, I found this delightful video. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I did!!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Too Tight!!

I've been realizing that in my effort to capture a likeness I've been painting (and drawing) WAY too tight! Probably part of my colored pencil days when a painting can take up to 300 hours. But I've been working on this painting my my Grandma (see earlier post) and I'm STILL working on it. In fact, none of the paintings I started are completed. I've been fussing over the details.

So, earlier this week, a friend, Susanne, lent me 2 DVDs and a book. All on what she calls "loosey goosey" style of painting. Wow... no one uses size 1 or 0 paintbrush to achieve fine details around the eyes and mouth! No one uses a fan brush to blend skin tones! Stand back.... IT'S A REVELATION!!!!

So, I've broken out some new canvases, and am anxious to try it out. But my left brain is arguing... "Finish what you start".
'sigh'..... ok.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Some old stuff, some WIP

Wow, February. Why does time seem to speed up the older we get?? I'll bet it's some weird "space-time continuum" thing. ;)

I'm back to painting, and I've got a few things in progress. Plus, when we traveled home to Spokane for the holidays, I took pictures of paintings I've done for my Mom. So, a few older pieces and then my WIP.

Buffy
Colored Pencil



Teddy and Tahoe
Watercolor



Now the WIPs. I love oils, but since our house is small, I just can't do them inside. So I decided to try Water Soluble Oils, and wow! they're really Cool!! So, the first one is from a black and white photo of my Grandma, when she was probably in her early/mid 20's.

Grandma


And another in water soluble oils.
A dangerous girl!!

Please remember, both Grandma and the "Dangerous girl" are both works in progress!!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Geisha


Here's a piece I did a while back for a friend. I got the photo reference from Frantisek Staud's website with his gracious permission.