What are you listening to?

January 18, 2011

 This woman was really beautiful. Too bad all you get to see is her nose. I really enjoyed working out all the different textures, crimped skirt, molded leather purse, her hair and fur ruff.

I guess it'd be hypocritical to fault her for staring

People often watch me draw, and I like it. The solitary artist thing is a bit of a drag, really. But yesterday one lady distracted me quite a lot rubber-necking between me and the woman I was drawing.

Was she:

1. Trying to see if I was going to get caught (or is that just my paranoia talking?)
2. Comparing my picture with the object of my efforts?
3. Wondering if I was a spy? 

That last one's there just for fun. I don't really want people to think I'm a spy. I might have to defend myself physically or something one day. That wouldn't work out so well for me.

...

A bit tense in the ole resource centre this morning... It is slightly obvious that I'm not doing anything work-y. They couldn't care less as long as there's no line-up for the computers and such. But it was busy in there today. I brazened through the scan, then fled before I finished cleaning up the scan in Photoshop.

So here it is! Rough! and! ready! 

January 13-17, 2011

Confession: I made up the guy on the top left, based on a lady with hot pink hair and the greatest kisser you ever saw.

Out of my league

What kind of pencils is this fella using, and where do I buy?
Wow.

Terry Miller, sketch in progress



This post is censored

I'm working on a wedding gift for an old friend. She's a former event planner and plans to embed the ceremony -- and my art -- in a multimedia showcase!

This post USED to say -- and show -- way more about this project. But Jeff-my-husband says my friend might appreciate a surprise gift. Hopefully she didn't see this post already.

Where I'm (not) drawing from

When I'm lucky enough to get the time energy to do art at home, this is my art-doing spot.

Brush and ink

You should see what I started with

January 11 and 12, 2011 

It might surprise you to learn how difficult it is to scan pencil drawings. The initial scans are very faint, and require tinkering in picture editing software. I did a bunch of Internet reading before settling on my current method. (Desaturate, then darken midtones, sometimes a little brightening. ... I wonder if it might be easier to photograph my sketches instead.) 

The problem seems to be peculiar to pencil work. Over the years I've scanned acrylic paintings, watercolor painting, ink drawings, whatever, and the results generally resemble the original.

I wonder what the difference is? Does the graphite in pencil lead reflect light in a weird way? Hmm.





Oh my gad they've also got Photoshop

The staff at the resource centre have started looking at me quizzically. But I figure after a few more visits they'll be so used to me parachuting in for 5 minutes that I'll become just part of the scenery...

That makes me think of a cool name for a blog: the "Diveblogger," as in Divebomber. Hmm, let's look it up. Aha! There IS a diveblogger. "Investment professional by day, dive blogger by night." He loves to dive wrecks -- which is so odd since I am currently reading this -- and it's a beautiful blog. Undersea pictures enthrall me. Sadly, not updated since 2008. 

January 13, 2011

Spent twenty-five delicious minutes on this sleepy devil. We got off at the same stop. Contemplated fabricating a reason to talk to him so I could see his face from another angle. Resisted temptation.