Another Pen and Ink

Here’s a drawing I did for notecards to benefit the library.  It has taken me forever and a lot of white out and casein white to cover up various smudges.  (I am not a neat person.)  Thank goodness it’s finished.  I worked fairly large but still, all those little windows nearly drove me crazy.  I may have one more ink drawing in me before the deadline but it has taken a lot of time.  I do enjoy having the project around to work on in the kitchen while I’m doing other things but I could have done 5 paintings in the time it took.

Pen and Ink

Here’s another post that was eaten by a virus.  It’s a drawing I did as part of a project by local artists to do pen and ink drawings of various local landmarks as a fund raiser.  The library will make note cards and sell them at next year’s Christmas sale.  The deadline is this summer and since the process is really tedious I thought I’d better get started.  I usually go to a friend’s studio and work on it there so I can socialize a bit while I draw.  It’s sort of zen, making so many little lines.  This first one is of the Justin Morrill Homestead and the challenge was to  get the shadows in.

Airport Sketches

We’re in sunny California this week visiting our son and his family. We left Vermont with deep snow on the ground and the next morning had breakfast outdoors in warm glorious sunshine. The plane trip of course took all day but it did give me a chance to sketch.

At least when people are on their cell phones they don’t move around as much!

Cell phones, computers–what did people do in airports before?

This guy was a study in denim–I think of him as the cowboy.

A diaper change–now that’s something that technology hasn’t improved.

And finally–the perfect model…..

Nov. 30!!

Today is the last day of the DrawMo! daily drawing project. It has been a good exercise but I won’t be sorry not to have homework every day! I’ll try to keep at it because I know it’s good for me but I’m sure I won’t be posting something new every day. For the last day, two drawings, neither of which I’m very happy with, but so it goes.

These are shells I found–maybe oyster? The one in front looks like some sort of creature.

I’ve been meaning all month to draw this little figure–made me smile the whole time.

And finally, an interesting quote from Cocteau:

“What the public criticizes you for, cultivate: It  is you.”

Nov. 29

Last summer I found some marvelous huge pine cones in my son’s backyard.   I lugged them back on the plane thinking they’d made a great subject for a still life.  But last night I was tired and didn’t have the patience to draw each little segment  accurately.  So what we have here is mostly a lazy impression of a pine cone.

Nov. 28

Here are two cows in charcoal–one a cream pitcher and the other the obligatory Vt. Holstein from my collection of farm animals.

Nov. 27

Ellipses are tricky so I thought I’d give myself a workout with these cups.  The drawing is not entirely accurate but it was fun to use an ink wash.  I did lots of watercolor years ago and forgot how much fun it can be.

Nov. 26

Here’s an old piece of wood with a rock stuck in it.  I marvel at natural forms and how complicated they can be.   But now my subject goes into the fireplace!

Nov. 25

A friend recently gave me a lot of pieces of corrugated cardboard to use in art projects.  I’m not quite sure what to do with them but I thought I’d try a pastel–pencils and hard sticks.  I didn’t have a lot of colors to work with and couldn’t get the darks I wanted.  But I think the vertical element from the texture helps unify the whole composition.

Nov. 24

We took Mason and Emma to the science museum over in Norwich, Vt.  While they ran around I sketched various stuffed animals.  This drawing is of a thrush on its nest.