Two Before The Weekend

I did manage to make time for these two more faces to post before the weekend starts...

Face #382-Face #383

I really like the skin tones I used in this pastel painting below, and will have to keep them in mind for some future faces!This pencil drawing below started out fictitiously enough, but after adding the hair he had a strong resemblance to a friend of mine. I decided to "go with it" by adding a mustache like my friend's. After months without any substantial rain, now every day we are having quite a lot of it here in Florida. It has left me in a very strange mood all week. If I don't post again before Monday, I hope everyone has a good (and safe) Fourth Of July weekend! Until next time, take care! 

A Couple Of Couples And A Sketching Frenzy

Faces #370- #381

I had a lot of fun working on the first two pieces shown. I am thinking of doing a whole series of paintings of couples. I like the dynamic involved in capturing two people in an exchange of some sort. Or maybe I'm just a "romantic"...the jury isn't quite out on that just yet, however! Because I am coming to the end of a sketchbook of 70 sheets, I kept telling myself it would be a shame to stop sketching when there were just a few more pages. So I went on a "bender", doing all eight of these in one sitting. I love it that another sketchbook is full of faces, all in one neatly bound compilation. With the Fourth Of July coming up, and many other things going on, I don't know how many posts I will be getting in until after the holiday weekend. We'll see what happens! Until next time, take care!

Two Faces, Two Ways

This is definitely not "the blog of a thousand finished art pieces". I have to remind myself of that sometimes when I am feeling envious of other artists who show nice finished items on their blogs (blog envy). Nor is this "the blog of a thousand backgrounds", "blog of a thousand art tutorials", or any other such blog. I assure you I can finish items, I can draw diverse backgrounds, and other artists could learn something from me. But I had a concrete objective when I began this blog. Recently, I have re-evaluated that goal, and after much thought, I plan to proceed as I have been. I'm going to draw a thousand faces and post them here. One way I can keep the goal fresh, is to vary things sometimes. So the past few days, I have picked away at two very different pieces. I did start to add in the backgrounds of both. The ink drawing took a lot of time because some of the fills are very small. Smaller than if done with even the finest point pigma marker, and done with a professional Rapidograph pen. In any event, here are faces #368 and #369.

A close up of the ink drawing...

And one in pencil...

I will try to post again soon, but have a full plate! Until next time, take care!  

Faces #361-#367

These faces were done over the weekend. The first three are pastel, and then there are two in pencil and two in ink. I hesitate to tell you that I wasn't even upright when I did the two in ink (laughing). I was lying on the couch in front of the tv, and the sketch pad was just sitting there. Working with ink (even in such a lazy manner) can teach you to economize your lines when drawing and sketching.

Until next time, take care!

Blast From The Past Mega-Post

While I don't think this accurately shows my best work from the past (because so much was given away, lost, or sold), it is still a glimmer of my work that all ranges from between 10-25 years ago. I wasn't going to include any faces I rendered in the past on this blog. But since this is such a small portion in relation to my overall goal, because my experience is part of who I am, these are numbered Face #346-Face #360. But first, a few animal faces from the past which I won't add to the count.

Face #346- Face #360

(A close up detail, below)

Well, that's my "show and tell" from yesteryear. There is everything from pencil, inks, charcoal, pastel, and acrylic in there. Until next time, take care!

Adventure And Misadventure

Faces # 343-#345

"Sometimes you're the dog, and sometimes you're the hydrant" my Mother has told me. Such was the case on a recent shopping trip to my favorite local art supply store. 

    Southern Paint (the name of the store) mostly sells house paints and such, but they also have a nice big room devoted to art supplies. I have been going there for so long that when I was there this last time, the girl working there asked me how my son was doing. When I told her he was starting college this year, she just winced because she remembers him as a toddler, and it's hard to believe how much time has passed. 

    I was primarily there to buy pastel paper, but the selection was slim this go around. I remembered that some other pastelists have used water color paper, and grabbed a few pads. The girl raised her eyebrow at that, and I should have taken her reaction as a sign. Because although there are pastelists who do use water color paper for a surface, they certainly aren't using the brand I bought. These three faces in this post are rendered on that paper. Although you can't tell from the pictures, the pastel doesn't cover the surface in a predictable way...so there are areas with too much of it, and other areas with very little coverage. "Sometimes you're the dog, and sometimes you're the hydrant." 

    I was thrilled with the handful of loose Rembrandt pastels I bought, anyway! And it was nice to see the girl who works there again. 

Until next time, take care!

In Progress

I decided I wanted to work on some additional elements yesterday for a collage I'm putting together. This below was one of the elements I created for it and posted about last month.

I wanted a print of an antique map to add to the collage, but couldn't find one I really liked. So I found a simple royalty free image of a globe, and after some digital work in Corel Painter and Photoshop, I finally finished creating this new element below to my liking, in two different versions.

 Then I recalled having made a vector drawing in Adobe Illustrator of a ship, which was originally to be used as a pattern for this quilt below. 

The drawing, after some minor changes, will work well as another collage element. I may still do some more minor modifications to it.

 I am thinking that once I am finished with my collage, I may offer packs of the elements to crafters for purchase to use in their own projects. I have seen such packs for sale in paper and scrap booking sections of craft stores. Just an idea.

        While still at the computer yesterday, I also brought a photo of a recent painting into Corel Painter to audition a possible background. It's nice to be able to do this, see it in front of you, without having to alter the actual painting in anyway. Risk-free trial. The pics below show what I originally had in mind. I like the second one better. But I still haven't decided!

I will have faces to post later in the week. Until next time, take care!

Matthew Bomer Of "White Collar", Face #342

Face #342, Matt Bomer as "Neal Caffrey"

   I am loving it that "White Collar" is back for a new season. Tuesday nights just got better! Matt Bomer's ultra-sexy, sophisticated "Neal Caffrey" is a unique kind of "bad boy"... one that a girl could actually bring home to her parents without fear of recrimination, one that knows the difference between the good wine and the cheap stuff, one who would know the difference between a Renoir and a Rembrandt!

   This 11" by 14" painting was a fun couple hours for me in spite of the low resolution photo I had to work from. We are talking so low resolution that it was heavily pixelated, not to mention the lighting in the picture made a definitive line of his jawbone a heartbreak to render.

    I had some other faces done, but will share them next post. Until next time, take care!

Sketched And Inked

Faces #337- #341

I'm still playing "catch up" around here, but I sketched these and inked over them yesterday just to have something creative completed. Meanwhile, I have a famous person's photograph sitting on my easel ledge, just taunting me to work on his portrait! Hopefully over the weekend. Until next time, take care!