Sunday Sketches

Hope all had a good Christmas. Spent boxing day shoveling iced over snow. So far I think it has been an extremely over productive winter where the white stuff is concerned :D
Today I was working on Valentine day stamps, and I remember also that today is Sunday so our darling hostess at Blue Chair Diary is hosting Sunday Sketches - yeah.- so this is my sketch for sunday :)
The stamp was sketched then redrawn in illustrator which was then printed and coloured with watercolour pencils. The dog has been bugging me a bit, as the pose is a little strange as I am not sure if it really works :( maybe I should make the body sort of be lying bending like behind the boys shoes instead of being straight back and not seen ..hmmm

Cheers

.....updated version with the dog body visible :)

Merry Christmas

Just popping in to say "Merry Christmas, Seasons Greeting, Feliz Navidad, and of course from my adopted country (if I ever learn the language) Priecīgus Ziemsvētkus un Laimīgu Jauno Gadu."

IF - Mail

ahh an Illustration Friday word that rolls of my tongue :) This is something I did a while back. It is digital watercolour using corel painter.

a book review? Drawing lab

A bloggie friend asked if this book was worth buying, and as I started to reply the answer got a bit too long and I thought a POST   - yeah  :).

 

Last week my long awaited  "Drawing Lab"  book arrived. Once I took it out of the mailbox and gazed at the cardboard envelop I was a little concerned as it looked a bit small for the book, which while not overly expensive it was not cheap either. Ripping open the cardboard envelope (that's the only way to do it :) ) I saw a 8.5 x8.5 square formated book, which while a bit smaller than normal was also VERY thick. It has 144 pages, semi-hard cover, beautifully put together and bound. If the binding last (I only say that because it is printed in China and I am guessing assembled there) it should be able to handle my household's little fingers pawing through the pages without to much wear and tear.

 

Now to the actual content. The cover illustration is wonder. I like the author/artist Carla Sunheim style of writing. It is like listening to a friend chat about art.  There are 52 exercise dvided into 7 overall themes. Each exercise has wonderful illustrations and clear instructions. Some of them include some educational/ historical information about the exercise, and others show how the exercise can be developed into an actual piece of art. The exercises vary in the materials they use but most will be easily on hand or could be gotten from an art and craft shop.

 

The thing I like best about the book is that while all exercise are for adults, children can easily do many of them. A kid may not get the same results as an adult, but for example in one exercise you add random watercolour  brush strokes to a piece of paper and when dried you look at it and see what you can see. Once you see it you then use a pen to draw the outline of what you see. Of course an adult can take it a step or two further but what a great exercise for a kids imagination. Also Carla's illustrations in the book are so beautiful that kids will just love to look at them and want to try draw them (as my 5 year old did).

 

Cons... honestly I have not found any yet, the only one is that is a bit pricy but if you got $22.99USD (reccommended retail) to spare and are looking for a great inspirational art book go for it.  I got my from  www.bookdepository.co.uk  for €11.74 (shipping included), its looks a bit more expensive than amazon.co.uk but the latter kills me on shipping .

Cheers

Scribbles for Sunday

It's Sunday the day so  I try to stay away from the pc ( kids are thrilled about this :) ). Here is my version drawing lab's  scribbly drawings and it Sunday - so yeah Sunday Sketches. 

Started out with a blue ballpoint pen and then it was kidnapped. Then I found a black one. This is done on just simple printer paper.
The blue scribbles are our 2 dogs. The small one likes to rest on the big one. Daughter dear put a head kerchief (bandanna) on the large dog;  In the right upper corner is daughter day busy doing some type of  art. And the lower left with the misplaced ear ( this is why I like pencil it can be erased) is solemn son - he was doing home work.
Pop by Blue Chair Dairy to see some fantastic Sunday Sketches

Drawing lab.

FinALLY it has arrived. It was super long in getting here as it had to by pass obstacles such as the local post office being closed, mail being direct to us through another town, snowstorms, blizzards,  and snow blocked road. Yesterday,  I dejectedly walked out to the mailbox, after the bulldozer finally managed to clear the gap to our area, and peeped in I was thrilled to see a flat square parcel from the Book Depository :) Upon opening the parcel it was confirmed - Drawing Lab by Carla Sunheim has arrived :) 
It looks like rather a good book. I  read the intro (nice and short) and skipped through it and it seemes interesting. Nutty at Facets and Fractals is hosting a drawing lab challenge, if you got the book check it out.
Cheers
p.s  yup my desk is a mess :( Sometimes I am amazed at what sketches I find  and presents from the kids :)

IF- Prehistoric

While searching through the attic I found this paper wrapped in oilskin in an old battered trunk.

Colour pencils on paper and then photoshoped.
My thanks to Diamo for the paper texture and photoshoprangerstock for the coffee splotch.

December's yahoo group

I seem to be stuck on patterns at the moment :) I decided to do a little continuous pattern for my embroidery digitizing yahoo group. The pics here show the pattern repeated 3 times and with just different colour schemes.
I now need to work out how to make this a digital stamp and that will be wally :)
Cheers