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!

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.

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.

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.

Project 365 - February 19-25

Tuesday, Feb. 19 - Bitter cold day and the brightest sun dogs I have ever seen! Not long after I took this photo, they were too bright to look directly at.
Wednesday, Feb. 20 - Watching the Scottsdale Arabian show live online. Love seeing all the different classes that I've never seen before like saddleseat, native costume, liberty, and gambler's choice jumping.
Thursday, Feb. 21 - We finally had a nice warmish day (20 degrees), so I took some photos of our new Black Hereford heifers we bought last weekend.
Friday, Feb. 22 - I was lucky enough to be watching the live feed of the Scottsdale Arabian show at the right time to see a half-sister to my colt be named top ten yearling Arabian filly!
Saturday, Feb. 23 - My sweet Border Collie begging for her treat. She almost always puts one or both paws up by her face when she begs - adorable!
Sunday, Feb. 24 - Yes, I forgot to take a photo. I'd say a 54 day streak isn't bad though!
Monday, Feb. 25 - A cute summer shirt I got for $5 through my hometown's garage sale site on Facebook.

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.

Project 365 - February 12-18

Tuesday, Feb. 12 - We're planning a long drive this weekend, so I picked up a couple audio books at the library to listen to during the trip.
Wednesday, Feb. 13 - My husband bought two loads of cattle at a sale barn 2.5 hours from home. I went back with him for the second load. We left just after dark, hit some really crappy weather, and this is when we got home.
Thursday, Feb. 14 - My Valentine's Day rose. I love the combination of roses and sheet music. I had so much fun taking photos with this rose!
Friday, Feb. 15 - At about 5 p.m., we left on our 8+ hour drive to Missouri for a cattle sale, so this is what I spent many hours looking at.
Saturday, Feb. 16 - Early this morning, we did our Walmart Valentine mission. We each went into Walmart with a $25 limit to get whatever we could find for each other for Valentine's Day. That evening, after the cattle sale, in our fancy hotel room, we exchanged our gifts. It was such a fun idea for a V-Day on a budget!
Sunday, Feb. 17 - Leaving Missouri with our new cattle and driving through Amish country, we spotted quite a few horses and buggies - such a neat sight!
Monday, Feb. 18 - Making up information sheets for the new cattle and working out the calving schedule. With the 12 new heifers we've bought in the last week, we're up to 62 calves this year plus 17 of my in-laws', and it could get started any day now. Busy busy!

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.

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?

Sketchbook Sunday - January 27

Working on sketching for the Arabian stallion drawing.

Drawing a practice portrait for my lesson on portraits.

Sketchbook Sunday - January 20

This week's work - I was in Wisconsin for a couple days helping my Grandpa move to a new house, so not a lot of time for art, but here's what things look like now.

I'm working on hair for the Art Instruction Schools portrait lesson. The left side of the sketch was done, and I'm filling in the right side. I found this very difficult as they had put in lines to show the direction of the hair, but they were such a jumbled mess that they really didn't help at all.

A whole page of sketches of my model horse shown in last week's post.

My next project is to draw this stunning Arabian stallion as a thank you to the people who so generously gave me my two horses, Intrigue and Encore. The photo is blurry because I pulled it from a video, but I'm thinking this is the general pose I'd like to do. I'll be doing just the head and neck, and he will be big! I'm going to work in the same sketchbook in which I drew "Looking Back in Time", approximately 14x18".

And because last week, I was asked to post the finished teeth drawing, you get this. I never finished it as I didn't find teeth difficult to do and decided to spend the practice time on something that did need it, but there's more to it than there was last week, so here it is:

Project 365 - January 8-14

Tuesday, Jan. 8 - One of my Breyer Christmas horse collection.
Wednesday, Jan. 9 - Eating supper at work - leftover Italian meatloaf, Doritos, and a banana.
Thursday, Jan. 10 - Out for pizza with a friend. Pepperoni and almonds on my half; almonds and extra cheese on hers.
Friday, Jan. 11 - I'm excited to finally have a designated space set up for scrapbooking! I still have to clear out the drawers to store scrapping stuff.
Saturday, Jan. 12 - One of the sun dogs in the afternoon. It was cold!
Sunday, Jan. 13 - I pulled out a knitting project I'd been neglecting for a while and was reminded why I'd put it away in the first place - the huge tangled mess in one of the skeins of yarn!
Monday, Jan. 14 - I went to Wisconsin to help my grandpa move to a new house. This adorable puppy did everything she could to impede the progress and then finally reached the end of her boundless energy.

Sketchbook Sunday - January 13

In my Art Instructions Schools portrait lesson, I've been drawing facial features all week. Right now, I'm working on teeth.

For my sketching, I've been doing different angles of a model horse. After two non-horse drawings, I needed to get back to my favorite subject. A couple years ago, I did this with another model horse - just rotated it a little each day and drew whatever angle I was looking at. I felt it was a really good way to really study all the different angles, and I wanted to try it again.
Here's the horse I'm working from:

And here's one of the sketches I did this week:

Still working out what I'm going to do for my next drawing, but it feels pretty good to have a break from a pressing project.