Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! This moved me, and I wanted to share it!

Purely Fictional

Faces #327-#330 are purely fictional characters, not based on any actual persons. I like to sometimes amuse myself by thinking of stories for these characters after I've drawn them. Is this woman riding in a fast car with the windows down, the breeze blowing her hair back? Where is she going? What is she thinking?

Maybe she is thinking of him...

A couple sketches in pencil follow.

I figured I'd better post these before heading out of town for the rest of my weekend. I hope everyone out there has a good and safe weekend! Until next time, take care!

Josh Holloway, Face #326

Josh Holloway, Face #326

Josh Holloway, Face #326

True southern gentleman, Josh Holloway, is best known for his role as "Sawyer" from the show LOST. My day dreaming I talked about in my last post led me to a strange island!!! (wink)

LOST has been over for a year now, but painting this sure brought back some memories of this television show. I have the complete series on dvd, and will have to go back and watch again!

Until next time, take care!

Day Dreaming The Hours Away

I have been trying to figure out why I can't seem to get anything done lately. My conclusion as of today, is that because summer has already arrived here in Florida, I can't concentrate. My mind just drifts off to a beach where I spent a good portion of my childhood...a place forever idealized because of happy memories of bright kites, warm sand, comic books, and songs of that time. Then, my mind just drifts off to still another beach of my adolescence where I enjoyed my first kiss, seemingly endless days and nights laughing with friends, and completely oblivious to any kind of worry or care in the world. And just when my mind seems completely spent from all that remembering, the day dreaming sets in. Hours pass. And I still haven't picked up a pencil, a pastel, or even the remote for the tv to change the channel. Of course I'm still here, but I'm gone. Gone to some beach, to some other time, with some other people. Gone. Blissfully elsewhere.

So I hope you'll bear with me for at least a little while if the posting here seems pretty slim! There will be one actual post this week filled with work, and not just the nostalgic ramblings of this daydreamer! 

Until next time, take care!

Face #325, From Sketch To Collage Element

I sketched this out in pencil, taking my time and really enjoying myself with it. All the while, I kept thinking of it in a purposeful way, in terms of a finished piece and not just the sketch.Because I have been entertaining the idea of a collage containing a more graphically rendered mermaid as part of it, I reflected on how I could use this mermaid in such a way. Initially, I thought I'd go over the pencil with ink, and then manually "age" and distress the paper. But as I contemplated what course of action to take, I finally decided to bring the image into Photoshop and Corel Painter and do some digital work. The finished image appears below after many digital adjustments. I wanted it to look like a page from an old novel.  Now I can print it up to use as a collage element!

More faces to come soon, I promise. Until next time, take care!

Rufus Sewell, Revisited

Rufus Sewell, painting2, Face #324

I am still trying to decide if this painting is finished, and if I need to try to get a better photograph for a more accurate representation of color. But for the time being, I am posting it. 

Update: The revised, and finished painting appears below.)

What I mentioned before in previous posts regarding Mr. Sewell, is that he is an acting powerhouse (among all other great things I have said about him). Even if he wasn't famous, and I just happened to spot him walking down the street, I know I would want to paint his portrait. His face is an artist's dream. I love its intricacies. The temptation to draw his hair the way it was when he was younger...those longer wild locks...was ever present as I worked on this. But he's beautiful any way he wears his hair! Just magnificent!

Until next time, take care!

A New Rufus Sewell Painting And Other Things

I was going to run this preliminary sketch of Rufus Sewell as a "guess who"post, but decided to just be more forthcoming about it. It's the only drawing I have done in the past week. Hopefully I will have this painted by Friday at the latest (but I'd like to work on it tonight!).I have been busy quilting this quilt below for my friend, but am almost done. Another four hours of it, I think!

So many feathers to quilt, so little time!

I am also trying to get all the giveaway prizes out in the mail. If you entered the giveaway, and I sent you an e-mail asking for your address and you still haven't come forward, please don't delay! There is a prize waiting for you!

Hopefully I will be able to post again very soon with a new completed Rufus Sewell painting and some other faces! Until next time, take care!

The "Coffee By The Sea" Giveaway

Update:  And the big winner of the giveaway is.... Thearica!!!

But you are all winners to me, and on Monday I will be sending out e-mails to everyone who entered to collect their addresses and everybody will get a special prize just for participating!

Thankyou!

Introducing "The Coffee By The Sea" Giveaway!

The prizes for one lucky winner will include:

*A quilted mermaid wall hanging

*Two Dunkin Donuts mugs

*Two pounds of coffee

*One framed print of any face on this blog or 

of any image from my website of the winner's choice

Some pictures showing the quilting stitches follow below.

How To Enter To Win:

Leave your comment at this post only for your chance to be randomly selected and win the prizes above. Make sure you leave a valid return e-mail address so I can contact you if you've won. Winner will be selected on May 15th!

Goodluck, and take care!

Face #323, Julia Roberts

Face #323, Julia Roberts

Were you able to correctly guess the woman from the "guess who" post was Julia Roberts? As many movies as I've seen the stunning Julia Roberts in, I'd still have to say my favorite was "Mystic Pizza" for sentimental reasons. Whatever role she takes, some of her own personality seems to shine through making the character all the more genuine. A person always seems to be able to relate! 

I will be announcing my giveaway in the next post, either on Sunday or Monday! Until next time, take care!

Eddie Cahill : "I Love To See You Smile"

Face #322, Eddie Cahill

I did a study in pencil of Mr. Cahill already (face #266) where I mentioned in my post that he wasn't too hard to look at (a bit of an understatement!) I think he's amazing! And he always makes me smile!

Mr.Cahill was the man's face in the "guess who" post I did yesterday. Now I just have to complete the other painting.

Until next time, take care!

A "Guess Who" Or Two

Can you guess who these two celebrities are just by looking at the early stages of these two paintings? I imagine it will be easier to guess the identity of the woman. Look for a post sometime later in the week when the paintings are finished to see if you guessed correctly!I had mentioned in my last post that the black and white sketches I post might not seem as glamourous as full color. But here's the thing: many works of art come from just such humble beginnings. Consider it a solid foundation that many artists use in building their work .

     This design below, rendered in Adobe Illustrator, began in black and white. In many ways, I like the black and white design just as it is, without any color.The design was for a quilt/quilt pattern (below). I had a student take a class and make one of these several years back. I also did the face for her. In any event, she has asked me to do the actual quilting stitches on her finished quilt top (which is something I have been doing this week.)For those non-quilters reading, the quilting stitches are the stitches that hold the top, the batting and the quilt backing together. The stitches can be very plain utility type stitches joining the three layers or as elaborate in artistry as pictured below.

Quilting motifs sometimes pepper my traditional work such as the feathers in the colored pencil image below.

Face #320

Face #321

Look for my next post to fall probably on Saturday (but I may try to sneak it in before then if I am able.) Until next time, take care!

Faces #303-#319, Monday...Monday

The problem with procrastinating about posting here, is that the faces start to really stack up in a pile. Then, it takes me forever to get them from  sketchbook to computer to blog. But I have had a lot of distractions as of late. At least the distractions have been of the creative variety (my son asking me to process some pictures, a friend asking me to quilt her quilt for her). I'm hoping that even though I still have a lot going on this week that I can get a lot more faces done. For now, here are faces #303-#319.

I know that these black and white sketches are nowhere near as glamorous as full color. But for that matter, I really think it would have been hard to top a painting of Rufus Sewell (wink). By the time it's all said and done, I may do another portrait of him to be counted among the thousand faces here. I am almost one third of the way to reaching my goal. That may call for a special "giveaway". So stay tuned!

Until next time, take care!