Line of Pears

This morning I painted a line of pears. As I've mentioned in my last two posts, I don't have a working scanner. In addition to that, I don't have batteries for my digital camera, so my only manner of presenting my painting is by snapping a photo with my phone. And I don't have an iPhone or one of those fancy phones that have great cameras, so the photo is what it is. The colors are quite a bit off. The painting itself is way overworked, but it is practice. Any new painting that I do produce is practice as I really don't know much about painting, so it's all a trial and error learning process. I did love painting on the 6x12 paper. I think it's a fun size and I look forward to doing more paintings this size.

Long time no post...

Yes, it has been awhile since my last post. I think my posts are going to be fewer and farther between now that I don't have a working scanner. I will scan things now and again at work, but not having a scanner at home will put a damper on postings. Who knows--maybe I'll be able to fix the scanner if I sit down and concentrate on it. I've played with it a bit, but haven't really put 100% (or even 60%)into it yet. I can also photograph my drawings, but I need batteries for my camera and batteries are expensive. Despite my scanner woes, I still have been working on a drawing or two and I bought some art supplies yesterday, so the inspiration is still there.

That being said, I had planned on painting tonight but then I was too tired and too uninspired to drag out my paints. And because I was so tired earlier, I went to bed, but then realized that I didn't want to be in bed, so I got back up. So, here I am now, bogging past midnight. Actually, any of you who know me, know that blogging after midnight is fairly common for me. I just had to write the words because I liked the just like the sound of them. Think of them to the tune of Patsy Cline's Walking after Midnight. I go out blogging after midnight blah blah blah blah blah (I don't feel like coming up with my own lyrics at the moment). Anyway, here are some elephants I have been working on that I scanned at work today. Nothing extraordinary, but just evidence that I am still drawing, even though I haven't been blogging.

As promised, here is a pumpkin painting...

Yes, I know I promised a pumpkin painting several days ago, but I didn't get to it until yesterday. I was too busy making pumpkin soup and pumpkin bread, so I procrastinated on the pumpkin painting. And then my printer (including the scanner part) stopped working, so I had to scan my pumpkin painting at work today. I used my new bargain priced paints to paint my pumpkin and I have to say that I'm not impressed. I'm not a big fan of these paints. I'll still use them, but I don't think I'll buy them again. Too bad--they were nice and cheap.

And speaking of pumpkins, I am not eating anything that contains pumpkin tonight. I reached pumpkin overload today at work. How does that happen, you may wonder? I will explain. First I ate a half of piece of my pumpkin bread along with apples with pumpkin dip on morning break, then I had the rest of my pumpkin soup for lunch and finally I topped all of that off with a pumpkin dessert on my afternoon break. I love pumpkin and I'm sure I'll be happy to eat more bread tomorrow, but for tonight, I'm staying away from all things pumpkin. In fact, if I indulge in one more bite of pumpkin tonight, I may puke.

Edited to add that in keeping with all the alliteration of the day, I am having petite pineapple pizzas tonight.

Sketches and pumpkin soup

As many of you know, Wednesdays are my day off. I love having Wed. off. Usually I will go over to my friend's house during the day and catch up on t.v. shows that she has recorded to her DVR. For instance, today we were supposed to watch the season finale of Mad Men. Unfortunately, she isn't feeling well, so I will have to wait a day or two for the finale. I just have to be careful not to venture onto a corner of the Internet where someone is discussing the episode. I could watch it on my computer, but I will be good and wait until my friend and I can watch it together. Oh, how tough it is to wait... In the meantime, I went out and bought a few colors of paints. I used my Michaels 40% off coupon for one tube and bought two of a cheap brand (a poor person's brand called Artist's Loft that comes in a much larger tube--double the size-than my usual Windsor and Newtons)that were on sale for $2.99 per tube. We will see if they're any good. If so, their regular price is $3.99 for 4.06 ounces, so that's a good deal.

As you can see, I have posted some sketches. These are from a week or so ago, but I haven't produced anything today, so they'll have to do for now. I do plan on painting this evening--possibly a pumpkin. And speaking of pumpkins (perfect segue there, Anne), I made this pumpkin soup today. And you'll be happy to know that I didn't burn it. I really like this soup, especially with the homemade croutons (yes, just call me Martha Stewart). It was a good way to use the French bread that I made on Sunday that was starting to get too tough to eat. I did add a couple of extra spices, including cayenne pepper and curry. My only issue with it (and if you look at the comments below the recipe you will see other's had this issue as well) was that it was a bit too salty. As I read the comments before making the soup, I decided to cut the salt in half, but I think if I make it again, I won't use any salt. The two cans of chicken broth provide enough salt.

Edited to add, I should also mention that it is fine without heavy cream. I used a mixture of half and half and skim milk and it was still very creamy.

Autumn Rhino Number 2

I painted another autumn rhino. I kind of gravitate towards painting with oranges and reds anyway, so I guess he doesn't have to really even be an autumn rhino, just an Anne rhino. Reds and oranges can intermingle with the green foliage any time of the year (well, not in winter, I suppose). I'm enjoying doing one of these little paintings every day, but I'm starting to run out of certain colors. I've been out of orange for awhile. Obviously, I can make my own orange, but it is good to have a tube of a color that I use a lot. But now my yellows are running low and I can't make orange without yellow. I'm also running out of Paynes grey (dark grey) and I don't have a good tube of black (mine is all thick and goopy) and my blues are running low. I wish the paint fairy would drop some paint at my window just like the fan fairy left me a fan. It's much cheaper to draw with graphite. But thank goodness for Michaels coupons.

Hope everyone has a good day. So, it looks like today is Jane's actual birthday, so I will say "happy birthday" here on my blog. Happy Birthday, Jane! Hope there is another celebration in the mix. I unfortunately don't have a new rhino, but here is your birthday rhino from last year. I'm sure you won't mind if I dust him off and post him again. Just like the groundhog on February 2nd, he is eager to make his Oct. 17th appearance. He's a rhino, so he obviously saw his shadow. I would be worried if he didn't.




Anne

It appears that I've painted some pears

I don't draw or paint fruit very often, but I had so much fun painting these pears last night, that I already painted another trio of pears (unfortunately, I haven't painted any pairs of pears, but even groups of things don't work as well compositionally as odd groups) this morning. The second pear painting was done with oils, so I probably won't be able to scan it for a week or two. I'm thinking that I may paint a pumpkin next.

I'm siting here waiting for my bread to bake. Come on bread--hurry up and bake! I bought ingredients for chili two weeks ago, but it's been so warm and sunny that I haven't been in the mood for it until today. When I noticed it was cloudy today, I immediately thought "chili." Unfortunately, I must have had the heat on too high when it was simmering as it ended up burning. I've never made burned chili before. How did I manage such a thing? I don't know why this pot was so temperamental. Of course I wish it wouldn't have burned, but it is still fairly good, just not great. I had a small bowl earlier, but I am waiting for my bread to finish baking, so I can have a bit more with the bread. And speaking of chili, I have my window open and I'm feeling a bit chilly. It really does feel more like fall today than it has this month. That's good as I would like a bit of fall before winter comes along.

Autumn Rhino

Can you tell I have autumn on my mind? Tonight we have an autumn rhino. I'm hoping to fill up my 6x6 pad of acrylic paper up with paintings in the next couple of weeks. They're just so squarely cute when they're done.

Autumn Elephant

This is a painting that actually looks quite a bit better in person. It is not so white and bright and I was unable to make adjustments to make it look better. I hate that. I tried to keep this loose, just sort of globbed on the paint. I thought I needed an autumn elephant. He looks good amongst the golds and reds and yellows. They suit him. He, like me, wishes that it was autumn all the time (or at least for 6 months out of the year).

I would like autumn back

I know, I know, I suppose I shouldn't complain. Soon we'll be blanketed in a foot of snow, but we had so much hot weather this summer that I did not want to see temps. higher than the 70s for quite some time. I like cool, wet (but not too wet) days in October with gray skies and clouds that make the leaves even brighter. I'm sure everyone is going on about "what a nice day it is today." I'm glad I wasn't at work today to hear it. As if it's been ages since we've had "nice" days. It's not like it's April when warmer temps. are a novelty. It's been warm all summer.

Anyway, on another note, I'm going out this evening, but I'm hoping to to do some painting when I get home. If not, I'll get to that tomorrow. For now, here's a painting that I did last week on a page of my new little tablet of paper for acrylics. I should have made the rhino a bit smaller or cropped some of her rear half, so her head wouldn't be so close to the edge of the paper. Not the best composition in the world, but I like the painting itself.

And weather fairies, I would like temps. in the 60s and 70s again. Thank you.

jiggle jiggle

I sketched this little rhino this morning and then wanted to stay home from work to draw or paint her in color, but alas, I could not. Now the inspiration is gone. It can be difficult to anthropomorphize rhinos, especially when they are belly dancers and they're supposed to be wearing sexy clothes. I made mine a bit more modest than the woman in the photo that I used as a reference. Her bra top was skimpier. It's just not right to put rhinos in skimpy bra tops with cleavage.

In other news, I am sitting here wondering what I'm going to have for dinner. It all seems like too much work. I think I might just have some cereal. Capn' Crunch, to be specific. I don't usually buy cereal, but this small $1.00 box of cereal was calling to me when I was at Walgreens the other evening.

Elephant Booty

It turns out that the $5.00 booty that I got at Penco the other day was a great asset. It enabled me to draw this elephant booty just like that *snaps fingers*. "What?" you may be asking. Why did whatever you purchased contribute to the quickness of the sketch? Well, it was 2B refills for my 0.7 mechanical pencils! I have never been able to find 2B refills for these pencils and have always had to stick with Bs. I have found 2Bs for my 0.5 pencils, but they're so fine (as in barely there) that I don't use them very often. So, now I can use a mechanical pencil with B graphite to get started and continue with the 2Bs and I can get darks much quicker. I know I could do all of this with drawing pencils. I actually have 8B (the higher the number, the softer the graphite) drawing pencils, but I'm attached to my mechanical pencils. The tip always stays sharp and you never have to use a sharpener. If you couldn't tell, I'm very excited about this find! And no, I'm not going to say that I'm such a mechanical pencil nerd as I'm sick of people feeling special because they are nerds. Nerd cool is so over, in my book. I just happen to love my mechanical pencils and that's all.

Yes, I'm up early. Sometimes I just get an itch to get up early so I have ample time to do things (in this case, draw) before going to work. Now I'm going to continue watching "The Wire." In case you don't know, The Wire was an HBO cop show. I had tried watching season one before and just wasn't in the mood. I'm not a huge fan of cop shows, but this one is often touted as the best show of the previous decade, so I decided to give it another chance. I'm liking it better this time (I'm on episode 5 of season one), but I'm still not blown away. We'll see if I make it through the whole first season and move onto season 2... Yay for free t.v. box sets from the library, even if you have to wait months to get them.

In other news, I bought this lovely red pepper at the farmer's market last week, so I decided to make stuffed peppers yesterday. This is the recipe I used and I was fairly impressed with how they turned out. As Rachel Ray would say yummo (I can't remember how her "yummo" is spelled and I'm certainly not going to look it up.

ugly brown shadow

Hi all. I wasn't going to post this digital drawing that I did this morning before work, but I suppose I will, just so I can document my progress as I learn how to draw with this darn laptop mouse. In my partial defense, I did distort the shape of her face on purpose, so I don't mind that part, but I do mind the ugly brown shadow. Ugly brown shadows are just not good. They invade drawings in an ugly, brown, unruly, uninvited way and then just stick around and stick out their tongues and say "na na na na na na, we ruined your drawing." Not nice at all. Had I worked in layers (as I can with Corel Painter), I could have just stuck my own tongue out, thrown the shadow in the trash and hurried along my way, but I didn't have the foresight to do so. I think I'll try the layers next time.

I'm just realizing now that banned books week is over and I never did my banned books week post nor did I even read a frequently challenged book, but I did download this nifty little poster that I will post to let everyone know that I was thinking of banned books and intellectual freedom this week.

some digital elephants

I was just sitting here tonight thinking "why don't I install my Corel Painter on my laptop?" So, I did. I don't know why I didn't do it much sooner. Yes, I'm stuck using the laptop mouse, but I could, if I do find my software for it, hook up my tablet to this computer. Maybe I will do that eventually. For now, here is something I did with the laptop mouse. Again, my wrist doesn't feel great, so I'll have to stop, for now. Only one digital drawing per day...

My friend dragged me along to Penco (the best art supply store in the city--sorry Dick Blick) today and I thought it was rather cruel as I don't have any money. I did buy a little 5x5 tablet for acrylics and some mechanical pencil refills and managed to only spend $5.00. I was proud of myself for finding something for almost nothing.

I don't have much to say tonight, so I'll keep this short. Tomorrow is a work day although I'm sure I won't be in bed anytime soon. Maybe I should go to bed. It would be nice to go to work on a full night's sleep, wouldn't it?