A Couple of Hardbodies

A Couple of Hardbodies -- Sketchbook Project

Please click on this one -- it looks way better big!

I know that all I've been showing you all lately is sketches, but I am painting, really. I sketch at night, and paint during the day, trying to get this commission done so I can finally go home!

I stayed up until 3am last night working on this one...I am addicted to sketching now! Now I'm tired, and not looking forward to painting at all...oh well.

Anyways, I was wracking my brain, trying to come up with an idea for my "boys and girls" theme, while browsing my europe photos, and I found this one, of David. The reference photo is of the bronze replica at Piazza Michelangelo. I thought, why not do a sculpture of a man and one of a woman, hence...this sketch. I've never seen Victory, but would have loved to have made it to the Louvre. I got the reference photo from Google...Enjoy!

These Old Shoes

These Old Shoes--Sketchbook Project

Some more shoes....they're fun to draw. Blank ballpoint with some blue details. They took about three hours. Funny, I have patience to work on a sketchbook picture that long, but a big painting on canvas? Not so much, lol! I suppose there's always a feeling that the canvases are serious, too dear. No room for error. Do we get too attached? Afraid to make mistakes? I don't find much joy in painting lately, but this sketchbook project is helping me find joy in art again. 

View from the Gazebo

View from the Gazebo-Coast Mountain Lodge

I'm feeling a bit homesick today, missing my friends and family. My best friend is getting married today, too, and I'm missing it, because I'm still stuck here. Congratulations, Jen! I love you!

This is a sketch I did while I was still in Bella Coola, before the flood. I bet it doesn't look like this anymore...sigh.  It's the view from the gazebo at work. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I went for a jog to have a coffee there. I decided to sit and sketch it on a piece of printer paper. I cut it and glued it into my moley, to cover up a godawful sketch I did of my daughter this morning. 

It was going beautifully, in pencil, the likeness was great, and I spent about an hour on it, and then I decided it needed some color and the lines needed to be darker. I tried to ink and color it, and DISASTER! It was ruined, completely...sorry Rhiannon...it was cute):

My Darling Daddy

Sketchbook Project -- My Darling Daddy

I was feeling inspired this morning as I was looking at the newest "Strokes of Genius" collection of drawings, so I decided to draw my dad. This is just pencil in my little moley, from life while having his morning cigarette...(Hack! Hack!) The eyes look a little freaky in the scan, they're darker than in the drawing so they look a little over-exaggerated than they do for real...oh well.

This Girl's Shoes

Sketchbook Project- This Girl's Shoes

A new sketch for the Sketchbook Project.  This one was fun! I was inspired by Andrea Joseph and her wonderful shoes in ballpoint. I started out in black ballpoint, and then thought "they're so colorful, I can't leave that out", so I did the color accents in colored pencil.

These shoes make me smile, and they also make me about 6 feet tall. My husband hates when I wear them because he's only 5'9. He'll look up at me, make a face and sigh....:)

Cat, Kitten, Kitty, ACEO, oil painting, miniature painting

Jade ACEO SOLD

I haven't really sketched in a few days as I've been working on the color study for my large commission, so I thought I'd post one of my latest ACEO's.

I 've also been working on a cute sketch for my daughter. I couldn't sleep last night, so I started doodling, something I never allow myself the novelty of doing and it turned into a pretty little big-eyed girl...but I'm not ready to show it. It might actually turn into a full size painting...we'll see. If it does, it's something totally and completely different for me, but I'm having fun experimenting.

This Girl's Lunch

Another sketch for the Sketchbook Project

Darn! I wish their was a better way to get a good scan of a pencil sketch. There's so much subtlety that's lost in this one. I was really quite proud of it, but you can't see a lot of the fine detail in the scan. I guess I'm just going to have to sketch in pen!