I think I'm done with this one...

I say "I think" because I'll probably mess with it before I stick it in an envelope. But I'm thinking that I should spray this and mail it today, so I can stop feeling like I'm getting behind. But hey, I have 6 months, so I'm not behind at all. I have a good start on a bunch of others and I only need to create 20, so I'll be fine. But I do need to let this one go. I used Bristol Vellum by mistake, so it gets smeary very easily. You know how I prefer Bristol smooth, unless I'm drawing something with rough, wrinkly hide.

In other news, it's funny how last night I was feeling envious of New York's winter storm. I know, I know--I always complain about snow, but if I lived in New York, I wouldn't drive, so winter storms would be fine. And I did have fun being snowed in this year. It's really only fun for a day or two though, because then you're itching to get out. You can only make so many loaves of bread and so many brownies before you feel like you want to get up and move and burn the brownies and bread off. That's all for today. I know I haven't been around much lately. I hope to be back regularly soon. I have still been drawing. I just haven't been posting.

A bit of summer...

I thought I would post this sunflower painting that I painted several months ago, but never posted. This one I gave away to Jane. This time of the year, I am so sick of white and gray and brown that a bit of color in the surroundings would be good. The other day someone was going on about how she thought that cold sunny days were the prettiest. I do not. Even though I was just going on about how we could use a bit of color, I just don't think the sun goes well with snow. In addition to hurting my eyes, it clashes and the light is too harsh and brassy, sort of like badly dyed blonde hair. White usually looks fine with most colors, but not with yellow light. I think cloudy winter days are the prettiest. I like the contrast between the snow and the sky and the peaceful feeling that brings. In fact, the best is when it is dark and it is snowing and you can see the snow sparkling under the street lights or in the moonlight. Cloudiness and night time go better with the snow. I know we need the sun in the winter and it does feel good, but don't try to tell me that it is so pretty. It's really not very attractive at all. You would never see me wearing yellow with white and I don't even like to look at yellow and white together. So there...

Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn

Again with the literal names. I decided to try a post card size Master's copy today. We can do either 2.5x 3.5 inch or postcard size (4x6). I think postcard size lends itself better to this particular project. I've done masters copies in the tiny size before and they have turned out well, but I think I'm going to do more postcard sized this time. I got my first card in the mail yesterday and it is the larger size. I guess that's what inspired me to give it a shot. The painting this was based on is attributed to Raphael(although there is some doubt that he actually painted it). If it has a bit of a Mona Lisa quality to it, I guess that may be because he was a contemporary of Leonardo DaVinci. I did a tiny bit of research on him and discovered that he died when he was only 37. Considering that, it's rather impressive how large of a body of work he left behind. This painting is thought to be of a girl from a wealthy family who had recently been betrothed as the unicorn represents purity.



I may work on it more, adding some darks here or there or I may just leave it light and sketchy. I just want to keep it soft and I'm afraid of overworking it. As you can see, it is not an exact likeness or anything. The idea is just to base your drawings or paintings on the originals, not to do an exact replica. I know I said yesterday that I was going to do pictures of people reading, but then i checked out a bunch of art books last night and changed my mind.

Anyway, not much else to say. I'm just hanging out at home with the cats today.

I'm not bored...

I did a quick sketch this morning of Corot's "Woman Reading a Book." That is a very fitting title, I might add. A lot of paintings have literal names like that: Woman Walking a Dog, Boy Eating Cereal, Baby Spitting Up, etc. Those aren't real names by the way, but they could be. I have decided that I am going to have a theme for the ATC trade and that will be paintings of people reading. I have done a few that don't fit in that category, but the rest that I do will. I got a desk lamp for Christmas, so now it will be easier to do colored pencil drawings at night, so I think I will do mostly colored pencil work for the project. The lighting in my place has never been good for night time colored pencil work, but now it is.

Anyway, to explain my title, I will start by saying that I'm not bored. Sometimes when I'm stuck inside in the winter, I wish I could be doing something else, but I'm still not bored. I have a college aged co-worker who is on winter break at the moment and she keeps going on and on about how bored she is. That doesn't happen to me anymore. In fact, I wish we had 48 hour days. There is too much to do. There are way too many books to read (and people just keep writing more!), pictures to draw, things to learn, to do, to see, etc etc. I am not bored... Am I lucky that I feel this way?

letter to the ants

Dear Ants,

Mi casa no es su casa. What do you think my place is? Your winter vacation home? If you're going to visit my apartment without an invitation, would you please stick to eating crumbs on the floor. Do not, under any circumstances, march up my table cloth onto my table and help yourself to the fruit in the fruit bowl. I'm not at all wealthy and apples are not cheap. I do not appreciate it when I pick one up, ready to bite into it's juicy goodness, only to discover that it is full of holes filled with your kind, having a snack. At least the box elder bugs have the decency to not burrow into the fruit. Yuck is all I can say. It's not only disgusting, but horrifying and sure to give me nightmares. Moreover, it is theft. If a person breaks into my apartment ands starts eating my apples, I will call the police. Who do I call when ants break in and take what is mine? Maybe it's time to take the law into my own hands and invest in some Taro. Yes, death may seem like a severe punishment for apple theft, but I have had enough of your lack of respect and it's time to take action.

Sincerely,
Anti-ant Anne

Just playing around with Zazzle

I know making ones own stamps is nothing new, but I found out you can do it at zazzle.com, so I just decided to play around with it. Considering that I only mail one envelope per month (my rent), I don't use very many stamps, but it would be fun to use designs of my own. If I have some printed, it would be hard to decide what image I want on them, but these are just a few examples of what I might use.

Edited to add that I have decided to have a sheet of these printed for my ATC trade since I need stamps anyway. I'm trying to decide which one of these to use. I may play around with more images, but for now, these are my options.

Edited again to add that people on Facebook have unanimously voted for red mittened guy, but I'm wondering if his colors make him look Christmasy? I only want wintery. Christmas is over.

Rosie Rhino again

So, I know I've drawn this particular pose countless times, but I wanted to try it on a different surface, that being Bristol vellum. I usually use Bristol smooth and I love Bristol smooth, but I just wanted to give this a try. The fact of the matter is, I have always had a bit of a prejudiced attitude toward Bristol vellum. Some experienced artists were talking about it online one day and were saying that it's worthless. I sort of agreed with them at the time, not having used it much, but then I drew a portrait on Bristol vellum. And despite the fact that it was very smeary, I really liked the portrait. In fact, I have to say it is one of my favorite portraits that I have done. So, I had to rethink Bristol vellum. Or I should say that I should have rethought Bristol vellum as I didn't really rethink it. I just continued to ignore it. But today I thought I'd like to try it again and I have to say that it really is suitable for pachyderms. It has more surface or more tooth than Bristol vellum, so it is easier to render rough wrinkly hide. I am really thinking that this may be the surface that I should use for my rhino illustrations.

So, along with my rough illustration, I am also going to post some rough writing. And i mean rough as it is a first draft that was written quickly, but I will post it because I keep losing the good stuff. I was inspired one day at work and I wrote some rhyme on a long, skinny piece of paper. This writing was really good and I told myself not to lose it. I kept it on my c.d. shelf in my bedroom for the longest time. It kept falling on the floor and I kept picking it up telling myself "you have to get this in the computer because one of these days it is going to disappear for good." Did I run to type it out just then? No, I did not and, in the end, I did lose it for good. And it was good. The one thing I do remember clearly about it is that I rhymed "elocution" and "revolution." I will make sure that I do that again.

Anyway, I will post the rough writing here. I will either try to improve it or scrap it entirely, but at least it is here, in cyberspace, so I will not lose it. Here it is:


When Rosie lost her fourth galosh,
After she had a good cry,
She decided that she would constantly pose
With her forth leg hidden from the eye.

How long did this charade continue?
How long did she live with this lie?
Well, she gave up the practice within minutes,
When Hornelius spied her bare hoof with his bad eye.

From there she fumed and she kicked and she growled.
She tossed her nubbed horn in the air.
With a temper more befitting a black rhino
Than a sweet white rhino with one hoof bare.

Obviously my illustration is her when she is posing with her one leg hidden from the eye, not when she as fuming and kicking and growling.