What's in My Sketchbook Wednesday - finished ACEO!

I didn't get a lot of studio time yesterday because we gave all our cows their pre-calving vaccines. I did get my next lesson read during the week and started on the first part of the assignment. I'm to make a sketch of three silhouette figures and make one draw more attention than the other two. Since the instructions gave permission to trace the example silhouettes, that's what I'm doing. No sense in making it more difficult than it needs to be, right?

I also put the finishing touches on my February ACEO. I decided to add just a bit of variety in the background, so I lightened up the right edge and the left corners just a bit and left the deep black around the flower.
This piece is now for sale and available to my blog followers for $25. Send me an email at black_unicorn11@yahoo.com if you're interested in purchasing this piece.

What's in My Sketchbook Wednesday - bison and lilies

Only a couple photos this week. I'm still working on the reading for the next art lesson, so nothing to show there.

Rough shading on the bison commission. Didn't do a lot of work on it this week.

Background pretty much done on the lily ACEO. Have to smooth out a few areas of black. Need opinions on this one - is there enough contrast in the flower? I feel like I'm almost making it too dark already to pass for a white flower.

Friday Favorites - Feb. 17

Been a couple weeks since I found time to put  one of these together.

Mare and foal watercolor painting - CrystalCookArt

I love that little brushy baby tail! I like the colors in the shadows as well. You usually don't think of shadows being colorful, but it works in this painting.

Equine graphite drawing  - frayserstudio

Lovely detail! Look at the veins in the neck and face!

Batik yoga pants - Batikwalla

I'm obsessed with the colors!

From Pinterest:

Any photographers on a budget? Here's a simple way to set custom white balance.

A fun way to use up any old/unwanted photos you have lying around.

A good way to hang things without putting nails in the walls.

Enjoy your weekend! I get to spend mine recovering from a lingering cold.

What's in My Sketchbook Wednesday - finished assignment!

More work done on the lily ACEO. Not sure what I think of it yet, but I decided, however annoying it may be to work on afterwards, I need that black background in in order to really see it. My hope is that, once the black is in, the flower will "pop" enough that I won't have to do a bunch more work on it and risk smudging it with all that soft black graphite.

And.... drum roll please.... My Practical Lettering assignment for the Art Instruction Schools is done! The last part of the assignment went pretty quickly. Honestly, I found it quite dull and kind of sped through it. I love to do calligraphy, but the basic letters with a pen tip that wasn't really wide enough for a lot of contrast in thick and thin lines didn't really interest me, and since I'm just ready to be done with this assignment, I only did three practice alphabets before the final. Got all three pieces of the assignment scanned (because I refuse to redo any more), and they're in the mail today.

The next lesson deals with composing your drawing and how to arrange objects for maximum effect. I think this is a lesson I can learn from, and I'm looking forward to it.

Happy Valentine's Day - from my early sketches.

I thought it'd be fun to celebrate Valentine's Day today by showing you all a valentine I drew long ago.

This was done in 2002 for my now-husband. We'd been dating for almost six months, and it was our first Valentine's Day together. He had apparently challenged me to make a heart out of a horse because the message on the back begins with, "Hey I did it! I turned a horse (well, two horses) into a heart... sorta."

Fun to look back at how my work has progressed in 10 years.

Would you like to see more of my early artwork?

What's in my Sketchbook Wednesday - three projects

I had one of those rare days yesterday where I actually feel like I got a lot done. I just love those days, don't you?

I started the actual drawing of the bison commission. He's pretty small (4.25x5.5 inches) and should go pretty quickly. This rough outline is about 20 min. worth of work.

Please let me know if you see anything at all that doesn't look right about him at any point during the process. Since this is a commission, I want him to be absolutely perfect, and artists can't always see their own work objectively.

The broken assignment is finished! Maybe a little bit more erasing of guidelines and a bit of touching up with white paint, but I'm thrilled to have it mostly behind me. I had to put on a third coat of ink which I wasn't anticipating, but it just didn't cover well enough with only two. On to step three of the practical lettering assignment! I'll tell you what that is next week when I have something to show for it.

Since I wanted to let the bison sit for a week with just the outline, so I can look at him with fresh eyes later, I started another ACEO card. This one I'm copying from one of my own photographs. It's a white lily, and I plan to give it a black background to make it really pop. This is half an hour of work.

What's in My Sketchbook Wednesday - a finished project!

Made a goal to do one ACEO drawing a month this year, and yesterday, Jan. 31, my absolute deadline, I finished the first one.

I might make another touch up or two before I seal him, but overall, I think he's finished.

If anyone is interested in purchasing him, I'm offering him to blog followers or Facebook fans for $25.

He's 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches, and as I will not be making prints, he will always be a one of a kind piece of original artwork. Email me at black_unicorn11@yahoo.com if you're interested.

I also worked more on the "broken" assignment yesterday, and here's how it currently looks.

Drawing is final except I might change the "O" a bit - it doesn't look broken enough. Hoping to maybe finish it next week.