Project 365 - April 23-29

Tuesday, April 23 - Plugged in my new external harddrive and began the very long process of backing up the computer.
Wednesday, April 24 - My last day as a stay-at-home-artist, I worked on my Arabian stallion drawing. I am now working a second 20-hour a week job in addition to my 15-hour a week job, so my time of working on my art every day has come to an end.
Thursday, April 25 - After the first day at my new job and the varying stresses that brings, it was nice to  watch the antics of my dog. Here she is trying to get me to rub her belly.
Friday, April 26 - Our t-shirts for summer reading program came in - I love the design!
Saturday, April 27 - End of April, and I'm very happy to FINALLY be able to wear sandals!
Sunday, April 28 - With the weather finally warming up and all that snow melting, everything is a bit muddy, and I got in a little deep as evidenced by my work boots.
Monday, April 29 - The new (to us) tractor and planter that are being prepped for planting. Going to get busy around here!

Project 365 - April 16-22

Tuesday, April 16 - Taking photos for Etsy listings for ready-to-frame prints.
Wednesday, April 17 - This was kind of crazy - I played five letters in Words with Friends, and this was the way the new letters came up - I did not rearrange them at all!
Thursday, April 18 - Snowing again! Will it ever stop?
Friday, April 19 - Doing some applique on a colorful quilt I've been working on for a long time.
Saturday, April 20 - Got an area set up for redoing some old Etsy photos.
Sunday, April 21 - Our dog's newest trick - we taught her to "give me 5". It's so cute!
Monday, April 22 - New game we got in a silent auction at a fundraiser - can't wait to try it!

Sketchbook Sunday - April 21

Almost seven hours of work so far on the Arabian stallion, and I think I'm starting to see the end in sight. I still have some work to do on his muzzle, blaze, and forelock as well as the general all-over ending touch-ups.

My current Art Instruction Schools assignment is to drape a piece of fabric over an object and draw it. I have a swatch of shiny satin fabric draped over a trophy. The satin is quite wrinkly, so there's a lot going on, and it's going to take a while. Here's what it looks like with about half an hour of work on it.

Sketchbook Sunday - April 7

Art Instruction Schools - Fabric, Folds, and the Figure lesson - drew a glove and am currently working on a bunched up striped shirt.

The Arabian stallion is coming along slowly. I'm taking my time to make sure it comes out right. At this point, he's got 5.5 hours of drawing time.

Project 365 - March 26 - April 1

Tuesday, March 26 - I got an  incredible deal on a subscription to Taste of Home and got my first issue today. Love this magazine!
Wednesday, March 27 - Working on my Arabian stallion drawing.
Thursday, March 28 - Working at the library.
Friday, March 29 - Our cow/calf pairs got moved to a new, bigger pen, and the calves had a great time running around. Here's little Miracle at two weeks old, looking happy and healthy after her rough start in life.
Saturday, March 30 - My sister's dog, Beau, waiting patiently while we play a board game.
Sunday, March 31 - So I didn't take this photo, but I took all the other family Easter photos. Here's my husband and I - wish I remembered what I'm laughing about.
Monday, April 1 - Catching up on watching Survivor - hadn't had a chance to watch last week's episode until tonight.

Sketchbook Sunday - March 31

Happy Easter! Is everyone enjoying the spring weather that's finally arriving? I sure am!

I worked four days this past week, but here's what little I did.

Arabian stallion - starting to work my way down the face, starting with the area just above the eye.

Working my way through the Fabric, Folds, and the Figure lesson book. Next week, I'll have some sketching to share of the activity at the bottom of the page - set up a piece of striped fabric over some books or boxes and draw it. I'm still working on the outline, so there's nothing interesting to see right now.

And some sketching from the model horse again - studying shoulders and haunches.

Sketchbook Sunday - March 24

I have nearly 4 hours of drawing time in on the Arabian stallion. This week, I worked on the mane and figuring out the arch and fade out on the neck. I feel like he's really starting to come together.

I started reading lesson 26 of my Art Instruction Schools course - Fabric, Folds, and the Figure.

And some sketching from the model horse on my desk.

Sketchbook Sunday (on Monday) - March 18

Crazy busy week and weekend. A new calf that was having some trouble kept me from getting the post up yesterday, but I didn't forget! Here's a look at my work this week.

The Arabian stallion:

And the finished assignment for the portrait lesson for Art Instruction Schools. Next, I learn about fabric and how it folds and drapes on the human figure.

Sketchbook Sunday - March 10

I didn't have a lot of time in my studio this week, so there's not as much progress to show as I'd like, but that's life.

The Arabian stallion - still working on the neck. Due to the roughness of this paper, it's time consuming to make sure all the dips in the paper get filled in, so they don't stay white and lighten up the whole area.

Portrait assignment - really happy with how he's coming along. Just the neck to finish, and then I'll be on to the next lesson.

Project 365 - February

Tuesday, Feb. 26 - Working on drawing with the reference photos up on the screen of a laptop - so nice!
Wednesday, Feb. 27 - Freezer cooking day with my mom. At the end of the afternoon, we each had two gallon bags of chili, chicken soup, hashbrowns, and maple pecan pancakes.
Thursday, Feb. 28 - Night out with the girls and eating blue Dum-Dum suckers.
Friday, March 1 - Pieper worn out after a long day of guarding open gates.
Saturday, March 2 - Had to come up with a way of keeping track of what is in the freezer since, besides the freezer cooking day, I've been making extra portions to freeze of some of our favorite recipes.
Sunday, March 3 - Date night with my husband who's been gone a lot of nights lately working on our planter. Our relaxing evening consisted of beef stew, mango, and watching The Avengers.
Monday, March 4 - Our first Black Hereford calf arrived! I went out to check the heifers at 3:30 a.m., and her mama was just getting up, so I missed the birth by minutes (not that I mind terribly, it's pretty gross to watch!)

Sketchbook Sunday - March 3

Wow, can you believe it's March already? This winter actually seemed to go by pretty quickly!

Let's kick Sketchbook Sunday off with some sketches from the model horse on my desk. This mostly rear-view of the head is not one of my strong points, so it's good practice.

The Arabian stallion portrait is coming along well. I turned the far ear back again since it gave him a too friendly look when it pointed forward, and I want him to look like a spirited stallion, not a pet. I adjusted the other ear as well and the lid on the eye. Now I'm starting to develop the shadows.

The portrait assignment continues to come along well. For having hardly drawn any people in my life, I'm pretty happy with how he looks. Hopefully I can finish him this week and move onto the next assignment.

Sketchbook Sunday - February 24

The assignment for the portrait lesson for Art Instruction Schools is coming along nicely, I think. The hair is roughed in, forehead and eyebrows are in, and I'm working on the eye.

I'm making slow progress on the Arabian stallion drawing. I changed the far ear to point forward rather than sidewise, but I'm not sure I like it, so it may go back to the way it was. I fiddled with the shape of the blaze, trying to match it with photos of the real horse.

Some sketching I did this past week. I'm trying to decide how I want the neck to "end" on the Arabian stallion portrait. I think I like the first one best - with the concave shape to the neck. What do you think? Is there a different one you like better?

"Looking Back in Time" is 2nd place winner!

I was super excited to get a letter from the Art Instruction Schools yesterday notifying me that my draft horse drawing, "Looking Back in Time" was chosen as a second place winner in their annual art competition!

For those who are new to my blog, this is quite a large drawing that I did last summer/fall; I ran a contest to name it and chose the name "Looking Back in Time". I finished it just barely in time to have it shipped in for the art competition, and after I'd already sent it off, I found out that the scan taken of it didn't turn out, so this is a very poor look at it, but it's all I have at the moment:

I look forward to getting the original back soon, and with the prize money, I'm hoping to have giclee prints made of it. The original will also be for sale; you can email me if you're interested.

Sketchbook Sunday - February 17

Sketching from the model horse again - studying the hindquarters. Not the most glamorous thing to study, but it's got to be accurate too.

Starting the assignment for the portrait lesson. You can see the model photograph on the right and hopefully my sketch on the left - I darkened it as much as I could. I've got the head shape in along with the eyeballs (the lids will come later to make the eye shapes), the tip of the nose, and just starting the mouth.

And the Arabian stallion drawing - the outline is done, I'm pretty happy with the marking on the face (very important when doing a portrait of a real horse), and I have just the very basic values in. The dark areas are the black/nearly black points, the lightly shaded areas will be in shadow, and the areas still white will be catching the light. The main thing left to decide is what kind of shape I should make where the neck fades away. I may do some sketches to see what looks best for that.

Sketchbook Sunday - February 10

I finally started the Arabian stallion portrait I've been talking about for weeks. The outline is roughed in. Forgive the dark shadows - I had to darken the photo a lot for the lines to even be seen.

Still working on portraits. I'll be starting the final assignment this week.

Project 365 - January 29-February 4

Tuesday, Jan. 29 - A kitchen flop. I've made this recipe for cowboy cookies many times, but for some reason, they just didn't turn out well this time. At least they still tasted good.
Wednesday, Jan. 30 - I brought home two books from the library that I'm very excited about. One is about cooking meals to stock in the freezer and the other is the sequel to Divergent, the book voted #1 on the Teen Top Ten List of 2012 and all around awesome book - dare I say better than Hunger Games?
Thursday, Jan. 31 - One of my goals this year is to do more freezer cooking. Today, I made two gallon bags full of chili, two sandwich-size bags of taco meat, and two balls of dough for pizza crusts to go in the freezer for days I don't want to cook or when my husband is home alone.
Friday, Feb. 1 - I got my foreshortening assignment back from Art Instruction Schools with a B+ grade.
Saturday, Feb. 2 - Value sketches for the Arabian stallion portrait I plan to do. Still trying to decide which one I like best.
Sunday, Feb. 3 - My mom's cat Bummer provided quite the entertainment during the Superbowl.
Monday, Feb. 4 - Food and library books seemed to be common in my life this week. This Amish cookbook has to be back to the library later this week, so I went through and made copies of the recipes I want to try.

Sketchbook Sunday - February 3

This week, I worked on learning about different facial expressions and how they affect the facial features. I was given the face of this boy minus eyes and mouth and had to create the expression. Here's what it looks like today.

And then, as you've perhaps already seen, I've been sketching for my upcoming Arabian stallion drawing and trying to decide if I should cast the shadow across the face as in the top right sketch or have the light hitting the face as in the bottom sketch. Your opinions would be appreciated!

Arabian stallion drawing - need your thoughts

I've got a couple final sketches done of different lighting for the Arabian stallion I'll be drawing next, and I could use some opinions on which you like better...

#1?

 or #2?

Specifically, do you like the face in shadow (#1) or catching the light (#2)?

Anything else that stands out to you about one or the other?

Project 365 - January 22-28

Tuesday, January 22 - I joined the county fair board and attended my first meeting. This was the agenda for the evening.
Wednesday, January 23 - I delivered Meals on Wheels to homebound people in the area with my mom. This is the basket full of empty trays being returned.
Thursday, January 24 - You probably can't tell, but this is me. This is what I've looked like the last few days of single digit/below zero temps. I don't keep warm easily, so when the temps dip this low, this is what I wear - jeans and long-sleeve shirt (and if I'll be out for a longer period of time, I add long underwear), heavy insulated coveralls, fleece vest with high neck, sweatshirt, heavy denim jacket, hood/face mask, stocking cap, heavy gloves, socks (with extra pairs if I plan on being out a long time), and heavy boots. It's a long process getting in and out of all that clothing which is why I love summer so much!
Friday, January 25 - Playing piano is one of many hobbies I never have enough time for. I especially like playing Lorie Line and George Winston pieces.
Saturday, January 26 - I actually forgot to take a photo for Project 365 today, but luckily, I had taken photos for Sketchbook Sunday, so I do still have something to show you. This is my current classwork for Art Instruction Schools.
Sunday, January 27 - Relaxing for the evening with my husband. Maybe someday you'll get to see his face.
Monday, January 28 - Looking at sales listings of bulls. We're looking at getting into a kind of new breed - Black Herefords.

Sketchbook Sunday - January 27

Working on sketching for the Arabian stallion drawing.

Drawing a practice portrait for my lesson on portraits.