Friday favorites Jan. 13

I let the Friday favorites slip during the Christmas rush, but now I finally feel like I have time to put it together again.

Arabian horse pencil drawing from aleksandar 

Love the details of the bridle!

Work horse painting from BrentSchreiber

I can't recall ever having seen a black and white painting before. Such an interesting concept, and the detail is exquisite!

Camera strap from madebymeegz

I've decided to make my own camera bag insert, but I'm still on the look out for a detachable camera strap, and I still have my eye on this one. Just need to find some coordinating fabric for my bag insert.

Suspended lounge area - I'm not even really sure what you call it, but isn't that the neatest thing you've ever seen? I just want to curl up with a book on a warm spring day!

Slit top - I could never wear it like this, but I think it'd look great with a brightly colored shirt underneath it. I have tons of t-shirts I never wear, so one may end up with a new life.

31 Days to a Better Photo - A fantastic photography tutorial. I found it very helpful and easy to understand for someone who'd only heard of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO in circles familiar with photo jargon.

What's in My Sketchbook Wednesday, Jan. 11

I actually worked on three things during my day in the studio yesterday.

20 min. sketch of a bison for a commission just to see what the client thinks of the pose:

The "broken" assignment for the Art Instruction Schools lettering lesson. I actually worked some beyond this but must've forgotten to photograph it. I'm combining the second down on the left side with the bottom on the right side. Pretty sure that'll be the final concept I go with. I actually wanted to do the broken glass look (left side, bottom), but since this assignment is to be done with pen and ink, which I'm not completely comfortable with, I decided against it.

I don't think I've showed you this guy before. I have a couple hours of work into him already (he's huge!), and I'm feeling pretty good about how he's coming along. I'm working from the first photo in my Horse Power Event post. I haven't worked in this large sketchbook (it's approximately 16x20 inches) since college, but I thought all the detail in the harness warranted a larger size. You can see I'm using a grid for this one. I don't usually unless I'm having a hard time with proportions, but working at this size, I wanted to be sure to get it correct right away.

January 8 photo hunt

My little sister and I went out photo hunting yesterday. Still can't believe the gorgeous weather and lack of snow here in Minnesota in mid-January, so we decided to take advantage of it.

This is the first of my three favorite photos - it was the fifth or sixth one I snapped.

The second of my three favorites - right across the road and a few shots after the one above. I love the gradation of colors in the water.

I had fun playing with my aperture! I was really confused when I was reading about it, but I finally just remembered small number = small depth of field.

This abandoned farm site was so much fun to photograph, especially this little building.

This is the same building.

I love old windmills - too bad so many are missing their fins like this one is.

And the third of my three favorite photos - taken through the hole into the loft.

This was taken later that night. There was such a lovely haze around the moon, and I spent some time playing with shutter speed to capture it the way I wanted.

And I thought it was a boring time of year to take photos!

What's your favorite season to photograph?

What's in My Sketchbook Wednesday, Jan. 4

Part one of my assignment for the practical lettering lesson of the Art Instruction Schools course pretty much done - a monogram using my initials.

Part two is to do a creative lettering arrangement of the word "broken".

The Christmas gift I'm most excited about!

Most years, I hesitate to name any one gift as my favorite... not this year! Although I love the royal blue Rachel Ray cookware set I got from my mom, nothing could compare to what my husband bought me:

Introducing my new best friend - the Canon Rebel T3 - my first DSLR! I just got it yesterday, and I have a lot of learning to do with it. I'm starting by reading the instruction manual entirely - something I wish I'd done with my Fuji since I probably never knew half of what that camera could do.

I think it's ironic how the two shots that are possibly the last from my Fuji FinePix S700 are some of the best it's taken lately - it had my new homemade lightbox to help, but still, those are the raw photos, no editing whatsoever.

Did you get anything exciting for Christmas?

What's in my Sketchbook Wednesday

In my sketchbook today:

Art Instruction Schools assignment - design a monogram using my initials.

Friday favorites Dec. 16

I promise one of these days I'll get back to blogging something besides my Friday favorites. It's been a bit of a crazy week at work with the ad designer out sick for three days and having to do her work plus my own and then having to put together the Christmas edition.

But for now, some things I found to love on Etsy this week:

Gorgeous candle holders from blueroompottery. Love the color, and I'm obsessed with candle holders that throw shapes or colors on the surroundings.

Exquisite Andalusian drawing from EquineTreasures.

A super neat horse shoe star from BurdetteIronworks. I've seen lots of things made from horse shoes, but never anything like this.

From Pinterest:

Peppermint swirl cookies - I have so many Christmas treats made already, but I might have to make time for one more - only three ingredients too!

How to protect your camera in cold weather - I never would've even thought about condensation inside a camera, but it sure is easy to protect it.

Sesame chicken recipe - I LOVE sesame chicken, but there's really only one place I can get it, and it's 45 min. away and drowning in grease. Now I can make it myself and maybe make it a bit healthier.

I've been collecting a lot of Christmas goodie recipes this year. If you have any good ones, I'd love to have them!