Announcements and Stuff.........

Good morning all you Christmas shoppers out there! Not me.......I'm not brave enough. To be honest, I do most of my shopping online these days. gotta love Amazon!

  I bought some new watercolors a couple weeks ago and I have to say that these colors are the most vivid I have ever seen with watercolor! So much so,  that there is a learning curve to using them. I need to dilute them much more with water than some of my other ones or the color stays very opaque. They are however beautiful. I also bought a new, at least for me, watercolor medium that I am going to try out today, should be fun. If it turns out half way decent, I will post it later up on Facebook.

  I do want to announce that I am now taking commissions for January. I only take three at a time as I don't like you guys having to wait long to get your drawings and paintings. I like to get them done in a timely manner. They will be done on a first-come, first-serve basis so be sure to get your requests in early!  You can private message me or just give me a call, anytime at  805-404-4093. My pricing and policies are up on my website at   Pencils and Paint

  I also want to announce that I am now offering prints! Some of these will be limited edition prints meaning there will only be  certain number of these prints made. Once they are gone....they are gone. Right now I have only printed 5 of my "Captain Spaulding" painting and my "Labryinth Worm painting. One of Captain Spaulding has already sold so I only have four left. Get them while you can!

  These prints are signed and numbered. I send my work out to a third party printer so you are guaranteed that they are professionally done. The quality is really amazing! 8x10 prints are only $24.00 including shipping and 5x7's are $18.00 including shipping. It's an affordable way to own some original artwork.

  I can have prints made of most of my work. Feel free to inquire. I have Giclee prints as well. Giclee prints are images of my paintings that are printed on actual canvas, just like an original. More information is up on my website, click the ink above.

For something extra special, I can have my artwork mounted onto wood! These wood panels are ready to hang. Again contact me for more information on pricing and sizing if you are interested.

  It's a busy day as usual. I have commissions to get to so I must be going for now. Happy Holidays everyone. Stay safe and warm out there and no fighting in those store aisles!



   

A Mixed Bag

Hello y'all!!.............How are we all holding up in spite of current events huh?

  Ya know....I make it a policy to never post anything pertaining to politics in any way, up on any of the social media platforms, but, I will say this.......

  We are all human. We all breathe the same air.  We are all in this together. Lets all make the effort to put the hate and fear aside and not let it rule our lives. Let's be kind to one another. Show compassion and tolerance and have respect for our differences. After all, our differences are what makes each one of us unique and interesting. Stop the arguing.

  With that said......I got an idea. Last month, in October, I took part in a worldwide event known as Inktober. I had to create an ink sketch every day for the entire month. I managed to do it too!...Here's a couple I did........

Anywho......Jake Parker, the man behind Inktober, put up a "prompt" list of things to sketch,  on his website, filled with ideas for those artists that got stuck not knowing what to draw. So I thought I would make us all our own prompt list of things that we can REALLY argue over. So here it is. Feel free to use one or more of these ideas, and have fun creating some of your own ideas too!

1.  Just how many colors of Silly Putty do they make?

2.  Who spilled the coffee beans all over the kitchen floor this morning? (um..that was me, sorry. no argument there).

3.  Why are bras so expensive?

4.  Just how much wood can a woodchuck chuck?

5.  Who's taller? you or me?

6.  If they can build a  rocket ship....Why can't they make a can opener that works?

7.  Regardless or irregardless?

8.  The proverbial question....(you can fill in the blank), "What were they thinking when"?......

9.  Why did Ellen only post 9 questions instead of 10?

There you have it. Something to argue over so go ahead and get it out of your system. you will feel better!

  On to the art question of the week.....................

  I was asked which medium is my favorite. That's a toughy. I work in several mediums and it's really difficult to choose a favorite. I can however, say which one I probably work in the most.

  I would have to say the answer to that is graphite. And why you ask. okay, maybe you didn't ask why but I'm gonna tell you anyway.  I think it's the immediacy and the simplicity of the medium. All I need to do is grab a pencil and something to draw on and there it is.

  Also, graphite was the first art tool I had access to when I was a child. Just a N0.2 school pencil and some lined notebook paper and I was good to go. I didn't have any REAL art supplies other than pencils and crayons and maybe a stick to draw in the dirt with until I was an adult and could afford to buy them so,  pencils were my friends.

  And that brings us to the end of this blog post. I am going to attempt to get another small painting done, we will see how that goes and also work on this....................

  So let's all take a deep breath and get on with our week shall we. Have a peaceful day y'all!

Ellen

Birthdays All Around...and Toys For Me

Happy Thursday the 13th!!.....Look at me, blogging twice in one week, you lucky ducks!!

  First off, I have a couple birthdays to announce. My grandson Shane is seven whole years old today!!!  Happy Birthday Shane!  I can't believe how fast the years are flying by. Please Shane, slow down will ya.

  For some reason, most likely "pilot error", my phone won't let me crop photos. I downloaded IOS 10 yesterday and since then,   all H E double hockey sticks has broken loose. I'm sure I will figure it out eventually.

   And, one other birthday to announce. My baby Sadie has turned seven whole years old too! Same thing goes for you Sadie, knock it off! stop getting older because your dragging me along with you! She is taking advantage of her birthday and is being lazy. Well deserved.

  New toys came in yesterday. I am not affiliated with this company in any way, I am just, so far, a new customer trying them out.

  I am going to assume that this is a fairly new company. I have not checked out their website yet but in my search for some new pens, I came across these. Like I said in my last post, I have been using Micron pens and I do like them but, they just are not holding up with all the inking I am doing for #Inktober. I had read an article about Airship and their Autoquill technical pens and they received some good reviews.

  I found them on Amazon and decided I would give them a try. They come in a three set, a six set and a 10 set. The price was right and again, the reviews were excellent so,  I bought the three set to start with. I have found that I gravitate to the smaller nib sizes. Maybe because I am not a cartoonist. In looking at other artists work that they are posting for #Inktober, I am seeing that the artists who do a lot of cartoon images, tend to use the larger nib sizes as their drawings require bolder line work. Since I'm a realist artist, the smaller nibs allow me to get that tiny detail in much easier than the larger nibs do. I mostly reach for my .02, .03 and .05's. Yesterday's #Inktober sketch, was all done in the smallest nib size of .005. It's very tiny and delicate, and I was able to get some very tiny fine lines with it........

 So far I have just messed around with these new pens, making lines etc. Today, when I do my #Inktober sketch, I will officially break them in.

  I'm glad that I decided to participate in #Inktober this year. I had dabbled in inking but had never taken it seriously. I am enjoying it to the point where I am investing in new inking supplies.Who doesn't like new toys? I do have another toy coming all the way from Japan that I just ordered last night. It will take a while to get here but I am looking forward to trying that out as well.

  Now....I have some studio organization to take care of, then my #inktober sketch and then some commission work. Off I go. Have a great day!

Playing With Pens......It Could Be Worse

Hey!!!...........Yep, it's me. I know, I know,  It's been awhile. It's not an excuse but, I have been so busy and it keeps getting harder and harder to keep up with everything. I do miss blogging though and I'm happy to be back, even if it's for this one post. No....seriously,  I will try to do better.

  It is now day 11 of #Inktober.  I am still hanging in there. Actually, I am enjoying it although it is time consuming. I decided I would stick to a theme so I wouldn't have to think about what to sketch every day, at least not for the most part. I came up with an animal theme with a few Halloween related images thrown in for good measure. After all....it is October.

  The one issue I am having is, my equipment is giving me fits. I, up to this point, have really never invested in inking supplies. When I decided to join in Inktober this year, I had to spend a bit of money and buy some gear.

  I was pretty used to using Pigma Micron pens which, if you don't know are technical pens with a fiber nib. They come in a wide variety of nib sizes. I DO like them, don't get me wrong but, after about day 4, and of course 4 sketches, a few of them have started skipping and drying up.

  I really don't think it is the nibs themselves that are causing issues, although, the tiny nib sizes can be rather delicate. I have a feeling that they are just simply running out of ink quickly. I'm not rough with my pens and I don't draw with a heavy hand.

  So, because Microns are disposable, ya end up just tossing them which, I know is rather wasteful, I decided to purchase a Copic refillable Multiliner pen. Just one, a .05. They are pricey so buying a whole set was out of the question for now. I like it. It's pretty similar to the Microns but, I am hoping the ink lasts longer. The nibs in the Copics are replaceable too so that's a plus.

 Well........I got to thinking, how about I try a dip pen. It's "old school" but sometimes that can be a good thing. So I bought one and it arrived this morning.  It is a Tachikawa nib holder......This is it............

Unfortunately....I don't read Japanese so I have no idea what the packaging says. I imagine they are instructions for use but, no worries,  I think I can figure it out on my own.

I also purchased G nibs, which I think are a good basic drawing nib. There is also a Maru nib which  I am interested in trying as well. I like the fact that it came with a cap to protect the nib. Since all you need to replace are the nibs, and those last a long time, I think this pen will be much more economical to use in the long run. From what I understand, there is a learning curve to using this pen but, that's okay with me, I'll get the hang of it. Some artists don't like having to constantly dip the pen in ink as they are drawing but I think that the dipping part of it just adds to the overall experience of inking.

I suppose now, I will get "hooked" on buying all kinds of pretty inks to use with it. Nothing wrong with more art supplies. And, just in case I find I don't enjoy drawing with a dip pen, I did buy some new technical pens as well. They should arrive tomorrow and I will give those a whirl too. I think trying new tools can be fun!

So...today for day 11, I have drawn this.little guy below. I use a Prismacolor Col-erase pencil to do my preliminary sketches with. They are erasable to a certain extent although they do leave a ghost image behind. but, I kinda like that. it adds to the sketch in a weird sort of way.......and as soon as I publish this blog post, I am going to ink him in. I don't think I will use my new dip pen yet. I want to try it out on some cheap paper first and practice just controlling the pen for now. 

I had better get to work. I will post my finished ink drawing up on my Facebook feed as soon as I finish it. Have a great day y'all!

The Price Is Right.....Isn't that a game show?

Wow.............I just realized that it has almost been a month since I put up my last blog post! Shame on me!

"All Seeing"...Digital Drawing

 But........In my defense, I have been pretty busy as of late working on commissions, which have to take priority, and...trying to keep up with social media which has gone nuts lately.

  In one of the groups on Facebook that I am involved in, we recently had a great discussion on pricing artwork. I'm finding that pricing our art can be a real point of contention among artists.

  It also seems to be a really common and widely discussed issue that sometimes feels like it's been beat to death so, I am going to try to look at the other side, the buyers or, public's side,  of the pricing dilemma just to make this conversation less redundant and more interesting. I'm not going to go into my own , personal pricing formula. I think I have already done that in previous posts.

  I find that unless your client or your typical buyer is an art connoisseur or collector, they sometimes don't understand how an artists pricing works. I can't blame them, they just don't know. I feel it's my job to educate them, not to feel attacked by them when they balk at my prices.

  So here is how I see it..........First I will explain to them that the materials alone cost me a small fortune. I know they don't consider that, they don't think of it. They are not the ones buying it. Case in point....I once had an older gentleman approach me about a pastel painting I had in a show. He told me his wife had fallen in love with it and that he wanted to purchase it for her. He offered me $20.00. Without getting offended by his offer, I went on to explain to him that the cost of the  materials I had used to create this piece were well over $20.00. I had had this piece professionally framed for the show and that had cost well over a hundred dollars just for that.

  Next. I explained to him that this painting had taken me hours to create, weeks, and he told me he didn't realize that. In his mind, he just pictured me sitting down and whipping it out maybe in an hour or so. Seriously, this is what he thought, remember, he is not an artist, he just doesn't know. He had no idea what was involved in the artistic process. I went on to tell him that like anyone who works, my time is worth money. Many artists don't even make minimum wage!

  And lastly........I mentioned that he would be paying for my skill. Just like paying any professional. After all, you wouldn't go to the doctor and expect him to operate on you skillfully, with the skills it took him years to learn, and then ask him or her to do it for $20.00 or even for free. Like any working professional, it takes years to gain artistic skills, sometimes a lifetime. Artists never stop learning new skills.

  What I don't do is.....I don't get angry or offended. Now that's not to say that you won't meet up with someone who is just mean spirited and feels like they deserve your art for free. That
 does happen. I know that it is their problem not mine. Sometimes you just can't reason with people like that so I don't try. I just walk away. The majority of people do understand if you take the time to educate them about it.

  Well, that's it, my two cents worth. I will try to pick up the pace on these blog posts in the future. It's just a matter of getting my scheduling tweaked. So, stick to your guns. Price your artwork where you need it to be and leave it. Don't drop your price just to make a sale. Sales will happen you have to give it time. You work hard to create your art. You put a part of who you are into every piece. At the same time, be patient with your buyers. The fact that they even offered you $20.00 for your $500.00 dollar painting means they like your work. Have a great and productive week!

 

 

It's All About The Art!!!

Another day here in the studio. I am fortunate that I have plenty of ideas rolling around in my head, enough to keep me artfully engaged for a long time. No artists block going on here!

  My hubby is now off work on Wednesdays. So, due to that, my work hours have changed too. I am now off on Wednesdays as well and,  I am working in the studio a half day on Saturdays, while hubby is at work. I love my hubby but he is a distraction.

  So yesterday, as he was home. We together,  attacked our pathetic, overgrown yard from all the rain we have had. We mowed, we clipped, we hedged, it all looks nice and groomed once again.

  I decided that I would re-paint just the top of our porch rail as it had become chippy from being weather beaten. I figured it would just take a few minutes to do that. Nope. You know once I got started, I realized how much better it looked and thought that it made the rest of the front porch look terrible so,  I ended up painting the whole thing, including the two rocking chairs and the table. It ended up taking half the day to do all that. But I did sit out there this morning, enjoying my coffee on my newly cleaned up and painted front porch space. Until the wasps forced me back into the house.

  As for today.............I am back in the studio and can't wait to get working on a new project. I, just this week, finished working on this drawing......

  Well, I decided to take this drawing one step further and paint it. But, I want to paint it with a totally different look. I took my original drawing and I manipulated it digitally. It will now have a more contemporary look to it as opposed to the realistic look of the original drawing. I'm excited about this one! Here is what I have so far........

  I took a 20X24 inch canvas, covered it with black gesso, and using a white charcoal pencil, sketched out the same tiger I had drawn, using my original drawing as my reference. So in essence, I copied my own work. Perfectly legit.

  Using a limited palette, I will paint this puppy in. For me, the most difficult part to this piece is the initial sketch. My drawing is 9X12 and so I had to enlarge this considerably and still keep it in perspective. There are a number of ways to do that. What I did is, I used or kinda used, a device called a proportional divider. This device looks like a giant compass. It does not do the drawing for you, you still have to be able to render the image but, it assists in getting proportions down correctly. Now the reason I said I "kinda" used it is because of the size of this canvas. It is large, a little too large for the divider to accommodate completely. So for the most part, I just had to eyeball spatial relationships like the distant between the eyes,  and the eyes and the snout, etc. It took some time but I think I nailed it, at least good enough to get it going. I can make adjustments and corrections as I go along.

  So I'm "jumping at the bit" to get started but I do have two commissions right now that take priority. But I do think I can start laying in some color today. I still have a watercolor to finish up as well. I always have more than one art project going on. Speaking of other art projects, I do have one I abandoned a while back that I just dug out of the recesses of my studio. There really isn't anything wrong with it, I'm guessing I just drifted onto something else at the time? With Halloween coming up, I would like to finish it...............

  Creepy....huh?........I gotta get started, I have a lot to do! I will keep y'all posted. I'll be back, I'm not going anywhere. I am a happy prisoner in my studio. Have a great weekend!!!

Digitally Speaking

It's Monday again!...........And back into the studio I go. I take weekends off from the studio. I need to have that balance or else I would never leave my studio.

  The weather is cooling down, finally! and the kids are all back in school this morning. Geez the summer flew by fast! This whole year is flying by. The stores are filling up with Halloween candy already! I must say though.....that I LOVE the fall. Here is my grandson, the first grader,  ready for his first day back in school..........

  As for me.............I have a lot going on. I have three commissions I'm working on plus my personal work, plus, I am in the process of getting ready for a show.

  I have been working on this drawing. I know  have mentioned this before but, I will mention it again, anyway,  I really like adding a pop of color to my graphite drawings but sometimes, I hesitate because I'm not sure I will like the color once I add it. There is no going back once I lay color into a drawing so, I remedy the situation by using my trusty Wacom tablet............

  Its just the mini Wacom tablet and it's all I really need. This is how it works.

  I will take a drawing I'm working on, upload it into my computer, and using digital software, I can alter the image, add elements to it, colorize it or any number of other manipulations without touching the original drawing. Works like a charm. In the case of this tiger drawing, I am considering whether or not to add some color to his eyes. I will do that with the tablet and see if I like it before I take the chance of ruining a drawing that I have spent countless hours creating.

  I can use the tablet to do actual drawings and paintings as well but mostly, I have it to enhance the work I do traditionally. There are some artists out there that feel digital art isn't "real" art. I can attest to the fact that it is indeed real art. It is not easy to use a tablet. There is a definite "learning curve" to it and I find it takes some really good coordination to achieve desired results. Not to mention, the software itself needs to be learned and it can be quite confusing at first. I am still trying to improve my skills using mine.

  This little mini tablet does everything I need so far. If I decide to take digital art any further, I can always upgrade later on to a fancier machine with all the bells and whistles if I so desire. This one is also portable so I can take it with me anywhere I go.

  It has started raining, again. It's been raining on and off for over a week now. I guess I wont be mowing the lawn today. That's okay by me. It means more time in my studio! Off to work I go, have a great week y'all!

The Light And Dark Of It

  I'm all out of coffee..........................And orange juice didn't help so, I may fall asleep while typing this post.

  Hello!..........What's up y'all? How's things? Is everyone watching the Olympic games? I confess, I have not watched a single minute of the games so I have no idea who's won what.

  But, I have been creating art!  I have a couple commissions as well as some personal work currently in progress. Today, I thought maybe I might discuss one of my mediums of choice. Graphite.

  It's a simple, clean and immediate medium and that is what attracted me to it in the first place. Not to mention the fact that it is relatively inexpensive. As a kid, It was the first and easiest medium to get my hands on as I had a trusty No. 2 yellow school pencil and some lined notebook paper on my person, at all times. I was constantly drawing something.

  To be honest, I didn't own any fancy art supplies till I was in my twenties which is also when I purchased my very first paints. You really don't need any special tools to make art. Just a strong desire to do so.

  A lead pencil is not made of lead. It is made of graphite and sometimes has a little bit of carbon thrown in as well. There are different degrees of lead which can be confusing to new artists.

  You may have seen letters and numbers such as H, HB, 2B and so on. this refers to the hardness or softness of the graphite. A typical N0.2 school pencil is an HB. H is going to stand for hard, meaning the lead is obviously going to be harder and also lighter in shade. So a 9H pencil for example will be very hard and create a very light colored line.

  B pencils on the other hand, are going to be softer and leave darker, richer lines. The B stands for black. A 9B pencil is going to be very dark. There is also an F pencil that lies right in between the H's and B's. F stands for fine. You don't have to use the full range of pencils. As for me, my go-to's are 5H through 6B but you can create a drawing using a single pencil if you want to.

  Drawings in graphite are generally done using many layers, gradually building up tones. It is time consuming but patience and perseverance will pay off in a beautiful piece of art. The important thing is to start off with a really accurate sketch. Yes, drawing skills are important with graphite. The more you draw, the better you become at it, just like anything else. There is no magic pill you can take or a shortcut to learning how to draw. You have to work at it. But, anyone CAN learn and at least it's enjoyable work!  Here is a new piece I started a couple days ago......

  As I am right handed, I keep my light source to my left which prevents the light from casting a shadow onto my work. Then,  I work from the top left, down to the bottom right which prevents me from dragging my hand through the graphite and making a mess.

  This is where Jarvis comes in handy. Jarvis is a mahlstick and my studio side-kick. A mahlstick acts like a rest for your hand, keeping it elevated slightly off your work. If you tend to be a little "shaky handed, it can help with that too. This is Jarvis..................Say "Hi" Jarvis!

  All he is , is a stick with a felt ball on one end. You can buy a mahlstick but Jarvis is a homemade version.

  Your paper choice is important with graphite too. I personally use bristol vellum or smooth bristol as well as hot press watercolor paper to create my drawings on. But there are other choices out there as well. it does become a personal preference you just have to try out a variety of papers to find which ones work best for you.

  Now there is also a medium in graphite that is water-soluble. Used pretty much like watercolor, I have recently dabbled in it and It is growing on me. Water soluble graphite comes in pencil form and looks like a regular graphite pencil and can be used just like a regular graphite pencil. But, when you add water, you get beautiful monochromatic washes. Water soluble graphite also comes in small tins such as this..............and you apply it with a brush just like paint................

  Keep in mind though, the dry pencil itself is erasable but, once you add water to it, you can no longer erase your mistakes so, use it carefully. There are also graphite sticks, powdered graphite and even a soft, flexable graphite that feels like silly putty!  That one is really messy however and will get all over your hands but it is a kick to work with.

  There are mechanical pencils, the smallest lead size I own is a .02, about the size of a human hair!, clutch pencils, drafting pencils, the list goes on and on. I have a quite large collection of all of them myself. I even have two brand new pencils coming tomorrow. I LOVE getting new pencils!!!There are pencils with engines, (yep), retractable pencils and pencils with large 5.6 sized leads.   Experiment to find what you like best.

  I'm sure I haven't mentioned all there is to know about the world of graphite. There is so much to it. but I hope I have given y'all a general idea about this great medium. If you have any questions, please ask. I won't bite.

  Today is a painting day for me. Maybe I will also do some more work on the tiger as well. I better go get busy....Happy drawing everyone!
 

Epic Failures

  Good morning!............So where is this year going? It's racing by at warp speed and taking me with it. It's August and everyone is already talking about Halloween. Before ya know it, Christmas will be here and I haven't put all my holiday decorations away from last Christmas yet.....I guess I won't bother to at this point.

  This has been a weird couple weeks here in my studio. So much is happening, some good, some not so good and I am bouncing off the walls trying to wrap my head around it all.

  I'm not going to go into detail about the not-so-good stuff. It's just family stuff. Isn't that what family is for anyway?, to drive ya nuts? Suffice it to say that it is "Survive-able" and everything will work out for the better in the long run. This is life folks and it too shall pass. It's precisely the bad stuff that tests our endurance and makes us stronger right.

  It's the good stuff that matters!......no one wants to dwell on the bad and thankfully,  there is a lot of good happening too.

  I have my grand-dog barking at me from the studio bed as I am trying to type this post because I'm not paying attention to him. This is one very spoiled dog..........He wants me to come get him because he is too lazy to walk five feet to get to me. I'm babysitting him today and  will probably spend most of it holding him. It's a good thing he's cute........I hope he likes the smell of paint.

  So anyway, I have had a couple of failures, art wise, this week. Yes.....I have failures, on a regular basis.

  Here is what I have to say about art failures.......

  At first, everything is going great. I arrive in the studio, I take time to relax and enjoy my coffee, get out all my supplies, prep the surface of what I am working on, pick up the pencil or brush or charcoal, get ready to make that first artistic, well thought out mark and I have all these pre-conceived ideas of award winning art that I am about to create, paintings and drawings that will gain world wide attention, I might even manage to get my own IMDB site not to mention a star on Hollywood blvd. I will be the "Who's-Who" of the art world ...............And then, this happens.....................

                                              I can't draw anything to save my life!..........

   My eraser ends up getting a workout, over and over..........Five attempts later, I finally have something that might pass for a drawing, despite the hole in it from the erasing, It just might pass.

   What is my issue!!.............This not only happened once, but twice in one week. I had the same problem with the next drawing too.

  You know what..............crap happens. just like family problems arise, so do creative ones. The worst thing you can do is give up.

  What do I do when crap happens? I walk away, take a break and then I come back to it. It's not the end of the world. The sky isn't falling, it's just a drawing. Yes, I know, it is annoying.

  Eventually.............I get to the point where everything falls into place beautifully, like in this great, amazingly accurate,  drawing rendition of the human form I created, the worlds best stick figure................

   See,  perseverance pays off. Everyone is going to have an off day, or in my case, an off week. You just gotta hold onto the safety bar and ride it out.

  Even with all this past weeks set backs, I did manage to get three ACEO's finished, which I can't post photos of at this time, but soon,  and my second drawing in the "Child's Play" series is moving along nicely........

  Maybe one day, I will be the "Who's Who of the art world. Right now, I won't hold my breathe.I will just hang out, here, in my humble little studio and continue to buy erasers in bulk.

Wanna Help Me Out? Join In The Fun!

Morning Y'all...................Here is a question that will get those brain cells jump started on a Monday morning...............and it might spark some memories.

  If......You could go back in time, if there was a magical time machine and you could go back in time to your childhood, would you?  Would you want to start all over again, knowing what you know now?

 

  And the second half of my question to you is......Would you do it differently or was your childhood perfect the way it was?

  Think about it. You can share your thoughts on this if you want or, just keep them to yourself. It's your choice. I just thought I'd ask, it's just food for thought.

  Which leads me to this, my new project.

  I have started a new series of art drawings. I haven't created a series in a long time and this idea piqued my interest.  A series is a collection of paintings or in this case drawings, all centered around a specific theme. I am calling this series, "Child's Play" and.....I would like to involve you,  my viewers.

  By now, you have all most likely seen this drawing titled "The Tree Hugger" up on my Facebook feed and here on my blog as well as on Twitter and Instagram.

  "The Tree Hugger" is the first drawing in my new series. At this time, I have no idea how many drawings I will create for this series. It might be ongoing for quite a while.

  Now this is the part that y'all might be able to participate in..........................

  Here is a sketch of the second drawing in the series. It's just the initial sketch and I know it's hard to see but I think this is going to make a great drawing! The reference for this drawing comes from Cynde Sawyer. Thanks Cynde, It's a beautiful photograph!

  So far, this one is untitled. I will be posting updates up on social media as I work on it. Now, here's what all of you can do.................

  Y'all can submit your photos of the children in your life, doing what they do best.....being children, to become original drawings. I will choose, at random, the ones to be added to this series. I will need your permission to post the work in progress photos and the finished drawings up on social media. I will also reserve the copyrights to the work which basically means that I can use said pieces for promotional purposes. You will receive credit for your photo if I use it. Will these drawings be available for you to purchase?.....Of course! Everything I create is available for purchase but, keep in mind that there is no obligation to do so. You will just have the pleasure to see loved ones drawn. Please send clear, crisp, sharp photos only, as I will have to discard any that are out of focus or undecipherable . You do not have to worry about the size. You can send as many as you like. You can email them to me at ......

                                                           Ellenbelshin@ymail.com

  I will choose my favorites from these submissions to become a part of the series. So what do y'all say? are you game?

  Other than that...........I do have a couple commissions to still work on and my hubby, who is a very good artist himself, has also commissioned me. I will be sharing more information on his request here on my blog later.
 
  That's all for now. Please consider joining in on the fun. I can't wait to see the submissions!

Q and A.......And A Supply Discombobulation

  A crazy morning here!............. Moody chickens, snakes, cat escapades and a coffee tragedy, at least it's Friday!

  Good morning.........I needed stuff, what else is new. I did make a large supply haul for paint, not too long ago and thought I had bought everything I needed. Wrong.

  I don't know if I hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before I went on this haul or maybe I didn't have my coffee that day but,  for some reason, I bought the opposite of what I would normally buy.

  When I paint, in acrylic, I use a limited palette of colors. You won't find hundreds of paint tubes and jars in my studio, you will probably only find about 12, maybe 15 at most. The reason is, I take these basic colors and make hundreds more colors by mixing them together myself. By doing that, I get richer and more unique colors than you will find ready made in a tube. Not to mention not having to spend tons of money on various colors of paint. Some tubes and jars of acrylic, especially your Cadmium colors, (oranges, yellows and reds),  can be really pricey.

  Well yesterday, I checked my nifty little Ikea rolling cart where I keep all my acrylic painting supplies and lo and behold, I was missing several of my basic colors but discovered that I had managed to buy a few impulse ones instead, Like this huge tube of turquoise. I could of at least bought the smaller tube but, NO, for some reason I just had to have the industrial sized tube. Keep in mind that you can make your own turquoise using Pthalo blue and yellow.

  So why did I spend money on that gigantor tube of turquoise? honestly I don't know. That's where that lack of sleep theory comes in. Turquoise happens to be my favorite color, I was just discussing that this morning with a couple friends on Facebook, you know who you are,  so possibly I was just needing an instant color fix.



  Yesterday, I had to go on a second, expensive paint haul to get the colors I actually need and should have bought in the first place. Napthol Red, which is a true red unlike Cadmium Red which has orange undertones and Ultramarine Blue which I use to make my gray greens. I also needed Raw Umber which is a much needed color for toning down other colors that I mess up and make too bright.

  And of course, I had to throw a couple of fun, not really needed,  goodies into the cart just for grins and giggles.

  I'm broke .......again.......but at least I can paint!  Now, let's get off of that long, winded tangent and onto the QandA. I was asked a very common yet good question. "When do you know a drawing or painting is finished"?

  Here is my humble opinion. I feel the work is finished when the artist feels satisfied with it. There are times when I could just keep going and going on a piece. I will walk away then come back and walk away and come back again and again. I will also just stare at it, catatonic-ally,  for a couple days sometimes, just trying to find something I either did wrong or left out.

  Now, here is the other side to that dilemma. I taught art for a long time and one thing I noticed in my students was, some were giving up to soon. Case in point. Drawings and paintings, when unfinished, go through an ugly stage. They really do. I found that some students, when their work got to that ugly stage, became discouraged and would feel that they had failed or they were not good enough artistically. I would attempt to re-assure them that it was not their lack of ability, the work was fine. That was the way it was supposed to look and that it just wasn't finished. They just simply needed to keep working at it. Drawing and painting takes time and patience and perseverance but the results are more than worth the work.

  Here is an example of an ugly phase. See how weird this looks!  Talk about ugly!!!

  But you keep working on it......................and this happens......................................

 

  And finally....this.................................

   
  I probably could have even done more on the above drawing. but to me, it was finished. There will always be more you feel you can do. Each individual  artist will be the best judge to declare an art piece finished. Can you "over work" a piece. yes, I believe you can. You can get carried away trying to make a work better and then before you know it, you've messed it up. Use your best judgement. Walk away from it once in a while, when you come back to it, you will see it with fresh eyes.

  I hope that helped to answer that question. It's time for me to go make some art. Have a great weekend and go finish whatever it is you have started.

Studio Shenanigans

  Monday morning again...........The weekend sure does fly by doesn't it? I can't think of much I accomplished either. It was a very lazy weekend here in Ellen land and my little Treehouse studio.

  And speaking of Ellen land............I thought I would show off how very strange I am by posting a couple pics of the odd ball stuff residing in my studio. I will try to keep this prolix blog post from being too boring but keep in mind, lucky for you, you are here voluntarily.You can leave anytime. The studio door in unlocked. You won't hurt my feelings, trust me, I understand.

  First, this is Jarvis, my very quiet yet faithful, maulstick studio assistant. Yep, I name my inanimate objects. It helps when you spend hours everyday, alone in a 12 foot by 12 foot room to have someone to keep you company.  Hey.........after all, Tom Hanks had a relationship with a soccer ball remember? And no, the walls aren't padded, at least not yet. I'm not seeing white rabbits either.

  I embrace my weirdness, at least I keep telling my self that. I also have a studio audience. They cheer me on, what can I say. And talk about prompt, they show up every day and on time. I couldn't ask for more from an audience.

  And I can't leave out the worlds tiniest, hand blown glass hippo. He's so tiny, you may not even be able to see him. Regardless of his size, he has a huge personality and likes to travel. He has been my sidekick for years now.  Here he is sitting on a quarter, as he likes to keep "on top" of his money. He's very thrifty.

  So there you have it. An over view of some of my studio friends. See Penny, I do have friends! It's an inside, ongoing discussion that I have with a former boss named Penny. You would have to have been there to grasp it.

  And now, for what I am currently working on art wise. I am going to try to finish up a commission within these next two days. I'm almost there, just adding bits and bobs where I see it's necessary. I still have four ATC's that I am working on and.......I need to create more art for a show. Can't have an art show with no art to show, right?

  And since I have finally received my Pan Pastels,  Look how pretty they are!

I will break them in and start working on Captain Spaulding here............I inadvertently called him Tiny but my son corrected me. He is Captain Spaulding, not Tiny. Tiny is another character whom I may also draw soon.

  There, that wasn't so bad was it. I kept this blog post shorter than I thought it would be. Well my audience is getting restless and Jarvis is giving me the "stink eye" so I should go. I'll be back with more psychotic ramblings later this week. Hey, toss me that bottle of Thorazine on your way out the door okay?

Somebody Please Take My Laptop Away!

  Yikes..............And good morning.  It's Amazon PRIME Day. Need I say more.

  I have just been on their website and yes......I spent money. How can you not spend money on Amazon? .... On Prime Day?

  What did I buy?, well, more art supplies of course. One can never have too many art supplies and that darn Amazon makes it way too easy to buy.

  Actually, I was pretty smart about it and did manage to control myself. I bought what I needed and as long as I stay off my computer, my Kindle and my iphone........I should be okay for the rest of the day, (famous last words).

  So lets see,........what have I been up to. For one thing, I am swamped with projects right now. I'm still working on a commission and I am now involved in an ATC swap with some other, very talented artists which I am really excited about.

  An ATC, (artist trading cards),  swap is where artists exchange small, original pieces of artwork, no larger than 3 1/2 X 2 1/2. It's loads of fun and a great way to collect art from other artists. Luckily, I have until Christmas to complete them all so there is really no rush.

  And last evening, I got another sketch done. I'm not gonna say who this is. Some of you horror or science fiction fans, might already know. There!, there is your hint! and it's all I'm gonna give ya! I will say however that he is one creepy character. Again, this is another piece that I was challenged to create. This is just the initial sketch, done in pastel pencil.  I am waiting to get my Amazon order so I can have the necessary supplies I need, to do what I want to do with this. Stay tuned.

  Well........That's about it for now folks. Oh! wait!.....Of course the Williamson County Animal Shelter campaign is still under way. Y'all have till the end of this month to get in your requests for your pet portraits so, zip an email off to me for more info. It's a good cause and for those of you who can't take advantage of it now, I will be doing it again in the future as well.

  Have a great week!

The Duck Days Of Summer

   It's gonna be hot today, 100 degrees here in Texas and no relief in sight for the next week or two. You couple that heat with high humidity and it makes for a very uncomfortable situation. I feel bad for all those people who have to work outside in this heat. It makes me thankful that I have an indoor job, doing something I love to do, making art.

 
  Because my studio is on the second floor, it gets so much hotter than the rest of the house, especially late in the afternoon and into the evenings. The photo above shows my guiding duck. He sits up, on the corner of a shelf next to the door of my studio.

  I keep the lights in the studio out at night, unless I'm working because it just makes the room feel cooler. I'm sure that's just all in my head but for some reason, it seems to work for me. This duck lights up. Not only does he light up but, he also changes colors so he is really visible in the dark.

  You might ask, "Where is she going with this story?", well, I'm getting to that. I am rather short in stature, (good things come in small packages dontcha know.),  and this shelf is rather low so I was constantly hitting my head on the corner of this shelf while trying to leave the studio in the dark. So every night I would mumble a few, not so nice, expletives while exiting the room. So I placed my light up duck on the shelf. Now he reminds me to "Duck", get it? every time I leave the studio.

  Okay, If you suffered through that tortuous story and your still here, please keep reading on.........................

  I have been very busy this week. I have also accomplished quite a bit. I have managed to finish two pieces and I am working on a new sketch. I also have a new commission going. My work usually slows down in the summer. People go away on vacations, kids are out of school but, for some reason, my work has picked up. I'm not complaining mind you, it's great. I want to stay busy so bring on the commissions! I'm good to go!

  I did discover something interesting this week. I kind of unknowingly and unwittingly, involved myself in a little social experiment. It started with me wanting to do a series of portraits. My goal with this series was to draw famous people but, people that were maybe a little less known.

  I see so many drawings of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis among others and I have absolutely no issue with that but, I wanted to create drawings of more obscure famous people. I have made a list and I am working on that currently.

  So, I was challenged by a fan to draw Rob Zombie. Now, I had heard the name but really didn't know who Rob Zombie was. I looked him up and drew him, I can't pass up a challenge! It keeps me on my toes. Yesterday, I posted my finished drawing of him up on my Facebook feed......

  I did get responses to the drawing but I also noticed that I didn't get my usual amount of responses. For instance, When I drew Lucille Ball, the responses were overwhelming. I got tons of comments and "Likes". Now, I'm not bragging but my drawing of Rob Zombie is a decent rendering. I captured him well but, because he is not all that well known, even though he is a celebrity, he didn't garner the attention that my drawing of Lucy did.

  This leads me to think that people admire familiarity. They relate better to my drawings of people who are more widely recognized. So in essence, they are not really "seeing" the drawing for it's artistic accuracy or quality, they are instead, seeing a familiar face. One that perhaps brings back happy memories for the viewer. I'm fine with that. Isn't that what art is supposed to do? bring out feelings? and I am going to continue on with my more obscure portraits of not-so-well-known celebs. Who will I draw next? I don't know, you will have to stick around and probably suffer through more boring "Duck" like stories to find out.

 

 

 

 

Life As Usual

 It's another crazy morning here in the studio. I hope y'all had a great Fourth Of July with lots of food, friends, family and fun. Speaking of food, my grandson thought I might be hungry and decided that I needed a cupcake. He missed my mouth and hit the side of my head instead.  He needs to work on his aim slightly. Here's my boys!

  I have been gone off social media for a few days because I had family here from out of town. I got to see my grandson and my son and my youngest daughter. It's tough to be away from family and it's really hard to see them all leave again and go back to their own lives elsewhere but,  life goes on as usual and it can be filled with plenty of trials and tribulations but, I take joy in the fact that they are happy, healthy and independent adults. I'm very proud of all three of my kids.

  Now it's back to my studio and back to my art. I miss it after a few days. I actually crave getting back to the drafting table. Of course, I have the "bug" to re-arrange everything again. I am constantly tweaking the studio. I never seem to be content with the way I have everything arranged. I always feel that I can make it better, make it more conducive to the way I work in it. So, first things first, I am going to clear the studio out and make some changes.

  As soon as I feel relatively okay with the new studio look, I have a commission to work on and a couple more ATC's to create.

  And speaking of commissions.......I am still accepting pet portrait commissions for the Williamson County Animal Shelter campaign. All this month in fact! A portion of the proceeds will go to the shelter so get your requests in. ANY pet, ANY animal, If it walks, crawls, swims, flies, or anything in between, I will create a portrait of it. Pricing is up on my website at http://www.ellenbelshin.wix.com/pencilsandpaint

  I did mange to get something new too to add to my always expanding repertoire of art supplies. I have been slowly purchasing these as my budget allows. These are Pan Pastels and I am excited to start creating with them. They are highly pigmented, soft pastels in a pan instead of stick or pencil form and are used much like paint. If I get the time today, I might just break into them and give them a go. Look at these colors!.............................I just like looking at them.

  That's all for now folks. I gotta get busy and start moving stuff around. Catch y'all later!

In The HEAT Of The Moment

It was a whirlwind weekend!.............Full of parties and friends and family, fun and exhausting. I want to do it again!

  I had no plan on doing what I did this morning, it just kinda happened. I usually go off on a tangent such as this whenever I get into a corner of my studio I don't often visit. Like under the bed.

  I need a flat file cabinet. To keep all my art paper in. Its basically a chest of narrow drawers that keep paper and finished artwork safe. They are expensive! but I found one that is affordable and it's just a matter of going and getting one. At some point I will, but right now, all my paper is in a wooden box my hubby made me years ago, not the best way to keep paper. It lives under the bed in my studio. smaller scraps of paper just sit on the top and that is what I spent my morning taking care of.

  Lots of the loose papers were scrunched from their cross-country trip from California. I gathered up odd sized pieces and cut them all down to 3 1/2 X 2 1/2 inches with my trusty paper cutter, turning them into ATC sized cards to use for small works of art. An ATC, for those of you who don't know, stands for artist trading card. Artists create small works on these cards to trade with other artists. It's a great way to share art among creatives. I ended up with quite a large stack........................

  The good thing is now, whenever I feel like creating a small drawing or painting, the paper is sized and ready to go. I just need to choose a color. A real time saver.

  Also, this weekend, in the HEAT of the moment, I went shopping for a mahl stick. A mahl stick is just that.....a stick with a cushioned ball on one end, not much to it. It is used to steady the artists hand while painting or drawing and to keep the artists hand from touching the surface of the paper or canvas. It prevents smearing the artwork with ones hand. I use a piece of transparent glassine under my hand while I work but with some pencils, especially hybrid pencils that are a combination of carbon and graphite, the black residue from this soft lead still drifts all over the paper as I move my hand along and dirties the drawing. All that does is make more work for me as now I would have more touching-up to do.

  Okay, it's a stick,with a cushioned ball on one end like I mentioned above. Well......I shopped for one and I came to a very quick decision that they are way more expensive than I thought they would be for what they are, (did I mention that they are just a stick?), So I decided to make one myself.

  I went to Home Depot, bought a 3/4 dowel for a buck .99, cut out some felt, stuffed it with plain old cotton stuffing, tied it tightly to the dowel and viola! I have a mahl stick for 1.99! I already had the stuffing and the felt lying around. I have already used it and it works perfect. And, I have enough dowel left over to make another so that's two mahl sticks for 1.99! Can't beat that. Here it is hanging on my drafting table.........

 
  I would much rather save my money for more important things like paint and pencils and paper. So yeah, I'm proud of myself.

  I do believe I am in the mood to create a pastel this morning. Yes, I still have some work to do on the Tree Hugger drawing and I do plan on working on her some more too but when the mood strikes, in the HEAT of the moment, I have to take advantage of it. I will be back soon with more art progress, Y'all have a great Monday!

That's life

It's been a busy few days over here my way. Some good, some not so good stuff but all in all, isn't that what life is? You celebrate and appreciate the good stuff and you hold on tight and ride out the bad. Life goes on.

  I have tried for the past two days to get a blog post up here but again, life got in the way. sorry for the delay.

 Working in my studio, creating,  helps immensely when I'm jumping life's hurdles. This morning it is so hot in my studio, I decided to work on a stress free mini sketch. This little baby cottontail is colored pencil on 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 inch black Artagan paper. I only used four colored pencils, worked for me. It's just too warm up here to break out the big guns and start something large. This size format is called an ATC or artist trading card and they are fun and relaxing to do. The perfect project after a hectic week.

  Tonight, to get out of my incredibly hot studio, I am going to the Hutto Farmers Market and Chalk walk. Maybe pick up some fresh veggies and fruits and of course gaze at all the chalk art.

  I'm still working on "The Tree Hugger"it has a few more hours to go before I finish it. I will work on her some more today as well. First, I have to call a roofer out to get an estimate. Just another one of life's interruptions that I am dealing with as well this week. Next week will be better.

  I will be back for sure in a couple days with more news from my studio. For now, I'm going to go try to cool off. It may be a losing battle but I'm going to make the attempt. catch y'all later.

Stepping Out Of The Comfort Zone

It's Friday!!!............and I hope y'all had a productive and rewarding week, I know I did.

  First off, I bought a new office chair. For the last four years, I have sat on a metal folding chair in my studio, not fun, not to mention, painful. Now I know, office chairs are not that exciting but I have to share this one with y'all because......

                                         It Is Bright Neon, Snot Green!!!

  See, I'm an artist and should know colors but, the only way I can describe it is snot. Yes, I did pick the color and I had several colors to choose from. This was my choice. I have no idea what possessed me.

  When my hubby came home from work yesterday, he came upstairs to my studio to announce his arrival home to me and all he could say when he walked into my studio was, and I quote, "Whoa", the chair stopped him dead in his tracks.

  The good things about this chair are #1. it's really comfy and #2, I swear it glows in the dark. Most nights, I don't leave my studio till between 1:00 and 2:00 am. I turn off all the lights and then try to maneuver  my way out of the studio in pitch blackness. No kidding, this chair is like a beacon in the night!. It led me to the door of my studio and I didn't even run into the wall like I usually do. Regardless of the color, which I suppose I will get used to eventually, (I just have to shield my eyes when I first walk into the studio),  It's a keeper. Sadie doesn't seem to mind the color but, then again, she's a dog Shhhh, don't tell her that, she doesn't see colors. That's probably to her benefit in this case.

  Now to get off the subject of office chairs.............As far as having a productive week, I sure did. I had a very fun commission come in. I got the opportunity to create two drawings, both caricature illustrations.

  Basically, I'm not a caricature artist. I am a realist/impressionistic artist. This is where the stepping out of my comfort zone comes into play. It's not that I can't create a caricature, it's just not my fort`e.
But I gotta say, without trying to sound to full of myself, that I do take pride in the fact that I know the materials I work with, inside and out as I have done this "artist" thing for so many years and I LOVE to try new things. I love to learn new things.

  Since it was a commercial commission involving a product that is coming out on the market, I am under a "gag" order so I can't go into too much detail about this particular commission and I can't show y'all the work I did but, I was able to help solve a problem that these people had and save them money. These people that commissioned me are not artists. They don't know how this art thing really works. It was my job to collaborate with them and suggest the best way of going about getting the results they needed.  I had to get inside their heads and figure out just what was wanted. They originally wanted simple, black and white images. Later they came to me and wanted to possibly make them three color images.

  I informed them that doing three colors would significantly up the cost of production for them and I said that I would work on it and come up with a solution that would keep those costs down but still give them the results they wanted. And..........I did and they loved it! It's kinda like a dance between the artist, in this case, me,  and them, lots of going back and forth, tons of little changes, compromises.....and lots of phone calls!

  They also wanted these illustrations ASAP but didn't give me an actual deadline so I had to figure out what that meant. Do you need these in the next 15 minutes or the next 15 days? So, I did them in two days. That was actually fast for me. That included coming up with the conception, then to the thumbnail sketches and all the way to the finished pieces. I have to say, I really enjoyed it.

  And another commission just came in yesterday so I have that one to look forward to as well. I won't get around to starting this one till probably the end of next week as I had to order materials for it so in the meantime, I can work on the bunch of personal work of my own I have going including starting work on this one today..........

  I will post my progress on this one soon. And a reminder that July first is coming up quickly and that means the start of the Williamson County Animal Fund Raiser. A portion of the proceeds from every pet portrait I get commissioned for in the month of July will go to the shelter to help all the furbabies waiting for homes. Space is limited. I am only one, little artist so get your requests in early.

 That's all for now.............Have a great weekend!