Blind Contour Friday

This is for Blind Contour Friday.
http://peggy.stermer-cox.com restarted it back in August.
This is a contour drawing of a "Dalek" It is from a British tv show called Doctor Who. I've included a photo if you have no idea what I am talking about.

Sketches and Paintings from UK Trip

Finally posting pictures I did on my trip to the UK. My daughter and I had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful. I painted the beach scene on site, sitting on one of the deck chairs.
Big Ben is in a hand made travel journal I did for the trip. (That's why all that stuff is poking out the top there) It was a very quick pen and ink because I did it while my Mother-in-law rested. She didn't rest as long as I thought she would so I painted it later. I'm glad I sketched it because for some reason my brain couldn't believe I was actually sitting on a bench in front of the aquarium staring at Big Ben.

Inspiration from Another Artist

Feeling in a bit of a rut I was looking online at some of my favorite blogs when I came across an inspiring idea at http://www.violette.ca./ Take a piece of your favorite paper or artwork fiddle with it a bit and put it on a glass candle holder. I am so happy with the way it came out. I thought maybe the candle wouldn't show through the paper and was very delighted when it came through where the light shines through the forest. Thank you Violette for the inspiration and pick up I needed.

Blind Contour Friday

I thought the result was quite funny, kind of looks like the discus thrower let himself go.

Blind Contour Friday

I am working through a book "The Natural Way to Draw" One of the assignments is to do Blind Contour Drawings, lots of them. I found a Blind Contour Friday group which helps to keep me going.
You can see it at http://peggy.stermer-cox.com./
Thank you Peggy! :D

Portrait Painting Class

I took a portrait painting class this week. It was very interesting. We started off drawing generic male and female heads in 5 poses in a manner very much like learning to print your abc's. Then we moved on to drawing from photograph's. Can you guess who this is? He is famous and the photo was of him in the '70's. Once we did the sketch we transferred it to canvas. My brain actually hurt trying to paint this. Like when you haven't worked out and you first go back (I think my brain was telling me something.) I persevered, I found capturing his eyes the hardest but was happy with the end result. (Considering I've never painted a portrait before.)

First Blind Contour Friday (again)

This is for the new start to Blind Contour Friday. To find out more check out
http://peggy.stermer-cox.com./
This is a blind contour drawing of my sons stuffed animal tiger Poppet.

Mikelson Art Festival Part 3

These are pieces I just completed for the festival.
This one is called "Waves" and the one below is called "Fruit of Plenty"

This one is called "Secret Waterfall".

Mikelson Art Festival Part 2

This is the map of where the festival is. (See post below, computer trouble before I could post this.)
The Festival is this weekend and well worth the trip here. It is set in a beautiful forest, with a variety of artist. I've been busy painting for the show and will be posting those shortly. I was excited to sell a painting within a half hour of opening.

Mikelson Art Festival

If you are planning a trip to or live in the Vancouver area of British Columbia you have to come to the Mind and Matter Art Gallery Mikelson Art Festival this weekend, July 17th and 18th. There are over 150 art vendors with pottery, jewelery, paintings and more. I was there last weekend and will be there again this weekend.

Card for my daughter

This is a card I made for my daughter. She helps me out so much I call her my own Personal Assistant. To thank her I bought her a gift and made her this card. It has a funny origin. I was making dinner and peeling carrots and when I took the stem off I noticed it was double stemmed. I instantly saw a cute little face. (I'm a stay at home, home schooling Mom, bare with me.)

Finally a post, has it really been since February?

Art Show this weekend

If you are in the South Surrey/White Rock area of British Columbia come and see out groups show!

Turks Turban Completed

Whew, I finally completed it. Good thing I chose a long lasting squash as my first Botanical Illustration. I have a new scanner and haven't worked all the bugs out yet. For some reason it zooms in on what it thinks is important when scanning and as it did that it cut off the lettering I had so carefully written and also turned it slightly which you really notice on the left squash.

Turks Turban Botanical Illustration

This is a WIP.

I am painting this for a botanical illustration course I am taking.

Bad photo, I didn't scan it because I didn't want to un-tape it from my drawing board.

I.F. entry

This is my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday Challenge. The theme was "wilderness." I chose to enter this even though it is not new. For one, because I think it just happens to depict wilderness. But the main reason is because it just sold on Saturday. It is the first painting I have ever sold and I am over the moon about it. So to celebrate it I am reloading it on my blog and getting it out there in a challenge. : ) : )

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Exercise

This is for a sub-group project I am working with at the yahoo group sketchbookproject. It is following exercises in the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." I joined it because I have owned the book for several years and never made my way through it on my own. I thought working with others would help. This is one of the 1st exercises. Hmm, I see the mistakes but I do see somethings that I don't mind. Next is a self portrait, Oh My!

Blind Contour

This is my entry for this weeks Blind Contour Challenge

Blind Contour Week 2 and 3

I forgot to upload Week 2 and realized it was time for Week 3 so decided to do them together.
The back of one of my cats "Mittens" and the front.

Friday Blind Contour

This is my first entry in the Blind Contour Friday Challenge. It is my daughter, thankfully she was very good humored about it.

Monthly Sketch Project Entry

This is my entry for the monthly sketch project (due today)

Acrylic Class

This is for an acrylic class I am taking on line at www.learntodo.co.uk I wanted to show the steps
because I found it interesting and thought others might as well. The painting starts by covering the whole canvas with this orange and then sketching it in.

Next you were to block in the white wash of the building and the darkest shadow areas. This got a big reaction from friends and family at this point who all seemed to have the same comment. "Oh, its a building, I didn't know what you were doing with the orange.

Then you put in the lighter shadows and add detail. It was fun to do and was helpful for me to work on the light and shadows and see how important and what a difference they make to a painting.

Illustration Friday

This is my entry for Illustration Friday. The topic is Infinite.

First Monthly Sketch Project

This is my entry for the first Monthly Sketch Project. Between coordinating an Art Show for last week and starting back at homeschooling this week I left too little time for this piece. I did enjoy doing it and very happy the Monthly Sketch Project was set up. Thanks Jennifer.

ATC Entries

These are my entries for the Richmond Art Gallery ATC Show in British Columbia.
The top three are water color,ink and batiking.
The two outside ones I laid a wash of water color and a basic faint image of the mountains and elephant appeared and I went from there. The middle turtle was a sheet of card stock I pressed an ink pad down on a smooched it around. When I looked at it vertically I didn't notice anything but when I turned it I saw the turtle and lightly outlined him with a Sakura pen.
I am entering the top 9 (because that's the limit)
These two here, I had done for the show but some friends really wanted to trade them. Mainly it is because of how they came to be. The one on the left with the green leaves was a piece of water color paper I accidentally dropped a tea bag on. When I picked it up I could see the image of the moth. I added very little to it and just put in the leaves. I liked it so much I deliberately smooched a tea bag and got the other moth on the other card

Tea for two, Me and You!

Whew, finally! I started this painting the beginning of July for my sisters anniversary on July 29th. However, the weather turned too hot and being new to acrylic painting I struggled with the paint drying too fast on the canvas. I decided to put it aside until things cooled down. They didn't, it just got hotter and hotter. I ended up running out and buying a gift card to her favorite restaurant and painting a card for her and her husband. (See the last two blog entries below)

Finally last weekend it cooled enough to finish the painting. I chose the tea pot and two cups because she lives in Ontario and I live in British Columbia and one thing we miss is sitting and having a cup of tea together.

Funny how things work out though. I finished the painting last weekend and sent it off to her (It's a surprise, she has no idea) she called me this morning and told me she has Shingles (ouch) So it worked out. She got an anniversary present, the gift card, for her and her husband and now a get well gift, the painting, which is really made just for her.

EDM # 235

This is the card I painted for my sister for the gift card down below. It shows up a lot lighter than the actual card. I painted it first and then read the challenge a few days later. Purple pansies are my sisters favorite. I learned a lot about watercolors and trying to get a deep deep purple with them from making this card for her.

EDM #227 and #232

The tote bag has been my favorite bag this summer to take out on Plein Air excursions my daughter and I have been going on with a local art group.
The drawing of the last thing I purchased was a gift for my favorite sister. She lives in Ontario and I live in BC so it is difficult to get together for anniversaries. I was working on a painting for her when a severe heat wave hit and it became too difficult to work on (No air conditioning) Her anniversary was getting closer and closer and it soon was obvious I wasn't going to complete the painting in time. I found this gift card for her. It is her and her husbands favorite restaurant. She was very happy with it. She doesn't know it yet that she will soon receive the painting, her second present.

EDM's 12, 13, 15, 16 and 23

It has been awhile since last posting. I thought with having the summer off from homeschooling I would have posted a lot more. I think I am actually more organized while teaching. The summer hits, my ADD kicks in and I'm all over the place. Some of these are from back in March.
I have quite a few I haven't posted yet, I don't know why. But so not to bore you I'll just put up these few. Some I'm happy with some are horrid.