Zac Efron as "Charlie St. Cloud", Face #621

I was sketching this morning, but since I still like to listen to something while I'm working, I flipped the tv channel to what was the last ten minutes of the movie "Charlie St.Cloud". I've already seen it in its entirety a couple times before, so was safe from being utterly too distracted. With an already partial, "generic", 3/4 view of a male face, drawn; I decided to see if by a stolen glance here and there and memory I could draw in features to get a likeness of Zac Efron in this starring role. I must have spent a total of 30 minutes on this, on humble white bond paper and number two pencil, mostly just improvising from mechanics and memory of this extremely attractive young man with the perfect cupid's bow mouth, exquisitely dreamy blue eyes, and fantastically and slightly disheveled hair. After I was finished, I went online to find some pictures of him to compare for accuracy. One very slight tweak, and I was done with this humble pencil portrait.

If you haven't already seen the movie "Charlie St.Cloud", I can recommend it, and do rent and enjoy it. Bring along some tissues, as parts of it are a "tear-jerker". Even if you don't know who dreamy young Zac Efron is (who stars in the film), and if you are a middle aged to an older woman, you may still find yourself wondering why there couldn't have been more men like him back in the day (wink)...just so beautiful to behold. 


Still raining and gusting here in Florida, though the weathermen keep promising it will clear up. Until next time, take care! 

It's A Mermaid's Life For Me

For a while I have been wanting to do some crafts using sea shells (Sailor's Valentines, mirrors, frames). I think I like this one arrangement, but need to get more shells to finish it. There are a lot of on line companies right here in Central Florida that sell sea shells in bulk. I think they must sell to a lot of the gift shops here. I did this arrangement on Saturday night because I was too tired to do much of anything else, but still in a creative mood. I sat there arranging the shells on my coffee table and watching "A Dolphin's tale" just released on HBO. Good movie, and a pleasant way for a mermaid to pass her time (wink).

Face #620

I think it's a good thing I am a mermaid, because after Tropical Storm Debbie has dumped yet more rain here on Florida, I may have to swim just to travel about. This is the rainiest spring, now summer, I have experienced in all my time in Florida. I do remember a summer like this many years ago on Cape Cod. Anyway, there's been property damage, flooding, and several deaths from TS Debbie and a tornado watch all of last night. But all has been relatively calm here. When the rain was pouring down and the wind picked up last night, it sounded so much like the surf pounding onto the beach.


Until next time, take care. And if it's not dry where you are, grow yourself some fins and a tale, and come swim with me!

Scapes And Scraps

I meant to post earlier in the week, but didn't have very much to share at that point. I wish I could tell you it was because I was busy covering those chairs with my custom fabric (laughing). I managed to cut the fabric, but that's about it. I did get a little work done this week, anyway.


I want to continue with making some pieces for my "Notes From The Shore" notecard collection. I know all the pieces I do/have done to that end so far won't be used, so I have to do a bit extra to get at the right amount. These two seascape pieces below I did over this week. The first one will be added to the collection. 

This second more abstract one, I find I like better upside down as shown. Even though I don't want to add the second one to the collection, I like it enough to hang on the wall here. And I may also get it printed on fabric for placemats or pillows.

I also drew some faces (Faces#616-#619) on some receipts and scrap paper. I'm amused that the two lowliest and smallest of the scraps were the ones I ended up liking the most. Although the scraps were arranged a certain way to be photographed, I played with other arrangements that made me think I will do a more refined collage type compilation with some faces in the near future. In color.

That's a lot of chatter for me, so I will close for now. Until next time, take care!

From Design Idea To Tangible Product

Well, that was fast... My fabrics arrived from Spoonflower yesterday, for my home dec. projects. I am still savoring the yumminess of it all before I cut into them (laughing). I can't tell you how many times I've bought a great fabric and set it out to just look at it before proceeding, to just enjoy. But these have been of my own design, to enjoy in my own home, and there is something extra special about that for me. I may create a small line of coordinates to submit to a fabric company, or to just sell on Spoonflower. We'll see. For now, I am planning to cover my chairs over the weekend. And to do some more art work, of course.

Until next time, take care!

Sea Horses, Faces, And Table Tops

 I had a very productive weekend, so I have lots to share this post....everything from pencil to bezier tool.


 I guess I will start with the sea horses. The one you see in color was my original drawing. I decided to copy it, and do one in color and keep the other in ink. My light box wouldn't pass through the Canson papers, so I essentially ended up re-drawing the same thing with some minor differences, and choosing one for pastel. I'm glad I have both versions as opposed to just a before and after photograph, because I really like the ink (which isn't quite finished, and to which I will add a border).

Then, here are faces #609-#615. I'm glad to add to the count after temporarily stepping away from doing them, even if they are all done in just pencil and ball point pen.

Lastly, I am fairly active on Pinterest and saw this great idea for stenciling a design onto a table top. But then, I was reading about how to cover a table top in fabric using Mod Podge, which seems to really open the doors to more design possibilities. I have wanted to change my coffee table, and after settling on a fabric I had already designed it was added to my order along with the chair fabric (see previous post). This design was actually created for use as a whole cloth quilt top. It started with a traditional pencil drawing, which was then re-drawn with vector drawing tools in Illustrator, then brought into Photoshop to add effects to the lines. I have actually quilted the center medallion on a small whole cloth quilt before ever making the digital version. So if the fabric doesn't work well as a coffee table top, I will just quilt it up!

Well, that's all for my Monday. TNT is having a "Mentalist" Monday marathon, so I imagine I will be quite distracted with Simon Baker in the house....he just makes me melt (laughing)! Until next time, take care!

In Search Of The Perfect Fabric

Over the course of the last month or so, I have looked at hundreds upon hundreds of fabric samples trying to find the perfect "one" to cover the seats of my dining room chairs. And the search hasn't been limited to fabric/fabric stores. I have explored the idea of using oilcloth tablecloths and even shower curtains to get the job done. This shower curtain below was the closest I came to something I thought would work. But I think the color is a bit off, and I think the design would be difficult to line up the way I want it to for the chairs.

I blundered with one purchase of a roll of vinyl that clearly did not appear as it had from the sample. I even used some permanent markers to try to get that vinyl to coordinate. But it didn't work out to my liking.

It finally dawned on me from the photograph of my dining room; that I could use a digital swatch directly from the curtains to incorporate the colors I wanted, into a digital design of my own for custom fabric. I am happy with the results, and convinced this is that "perfect" fabric for the chairs.

I did have to fiddle with the size and layout to get it just right for the chairs, but am so pleased that when I place my order with Spoonflower, I plan on ordering enough for placemats, too! Or I may even "Mod Podge" the top of my coffee table with a piece of the fabric, and do some pillows, too. So even though this shell design didn't seem so great for a notecard, and even though I went through so much trouble searching for the right fabric, I am thrilled with the turn of events. And the nice thing is, that if I ever need more of this fabric, I can have it printed up...no worries that a store no longer has it!

I did doodle a couple of faces last night, but am saving them for my next post. Until next time, take care!

Notes From The Shore

While I do like this current painting in itself; my intention from the beginning of working this piece was geared more toward that of a printed note card as ultimately being the finished product. I guess the palm tree painting from last post would be the first in the series of cards, and this would be the second. Not sure I will use that other shell piece from last post as a note card; it was geared more toward being a collage element or "other". We'll see. Anyway, I am going to title this series "Notes From The Shore".


I am also thinking of compiling a small amount of the "face" pieces I have done here on this blog as a series of note cards to be called "Love Notes".


My blogger friend Libby does note cards. I bought two sets at Christmas to give my niece. Guess what? I couldn't give them away as I wanted them for all for myself (laughing!) Beautiful... they are beautiful.


I hope to get more done this week. Until next time, take care!