I can do it myself!

Today I made a wastebasket. My very first basket all by myself with out the safety net of having my teacher there to bail me out if I got into trouble. It is a pretty simple basket, but it is all mine--no pattern, no instructions. It is about 11.5 inches tall and 9 inches in diameter. It is finished except for the stain and that can't be done until it is totally dry.

A regal pose

Here is another pet portrait from my easel. Newton is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He is a beautiful boy and the graphite pencil makes a very formal portrait.

Off to see the Wizard!

I just got back from the annual HOOT (Heart of Ohio Tole) painting convention. This year the theme was Painting Up a Storm (the Wizard of Oz). My traveling companions and I were only there for 3 days. Two of us took a couple of classes and the other two only went so they could go to the trade show. The best class I took was a colored pencil class taught my Marian Jackson. This project was done on Mi-Tientes paper. I thought it was a lovely design.


In addition to taking a class and attending the trade show, I was also privileged to be asked to present a demonstration. My demonstration was the little raccoon done in graphite. About 30 people attended my demo. It was a good trip.

I See You!

Here is a tiny graphite drawing of a Calico cat. I chose to crop the photo very close to make it more interesting. The work is done on Bristol Plate paper using graphite pencils. The finished size is approximately 3x3. The reference photo is on the left.

What's on my easel?

I have been working on a couple of graphite pieces. This one is a work in process at the moment. It is being created based on a photo we took in Colonial Williamsburg. This piece is approximately 4x6 ad is being done on Bristol Plate paper.

The Gurls

There is a party happening in my living room! Four full-sized, life-sized Red Hat Gurls are sitting in my living room having a chat.
One of the Red Hat groups I belong to is decorating a car for a PT Cruiser convention at the end of the month. They asked me to design them. I found some Styrofoam wig forms to use for the heads and painted them up. Members provided wigs, hats, clothing, and accessories. This morning 5 of us got together to assemble the gurls. We stuffed thermal underwear and pantyhose to make their bodies--including bras to make sure they were curvaceous. Then we dressed them up. Three of them will sit in the car and one will be hanging on to the roof.


They will sit in my living room for the next three weeks. Their next adventure is a ride to the convention. I can't wait to be driving down the road with these three lovelies riding along--properly seatbelted, of course.

Peek-a-Boo

While I have been working on the drawing course, I have gotten interested in doing more work in graphite. This little guy was at my friend's backyard feeding station one night along with another young raccoon. She was able to get some wonderful pictures. She said they were afraid, but not so afraid that they ran away. They were more curious about her. She sent me a number of the pictures and gave me permission to use them. This piece is about 2.5 x 2.5 inches. It is done in graphite pencil on white Bristol Plate paper.

Peek-a-Boo