Some EDM Sketchs and a Journal Page

Can I admit to not liking January? The let down after the Christmas Holidays, the short hours of daylight all combine to making me feel a bit down, but restless at the same time. The end result is that I end up spending time on the computer, reading, watching TV etc, but not drawing or working on my art.

I have been working on the stipple piece I posted in my last update but since I decided I needed to darken the background in the border I have been making no visible progress with that drawing. So for lack of any thing else to post on the blog I decided to go to the list of Every Day Matters ideas and make a couple of sketches.

Above is my take on #26 - Draw anything you like, if you want to draw a vegetable that is fine too. I didn't want to draw a vegetable, so instead I drew one of my Ty Beanie Baby's. This little one has lost its tag so I don't know what its name is supposed to be. Doesn't really matter of course, I just like to know these things.

Above is another EDM sketch, this one was for #8 - draw a watch. I haven't been wearing a watch for over a year now. If I need the time and I am out and about I check my cell phone or the car clock, but I still have this one. The drawing isn't wonderful I found myself getting impatient with all the metal details, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.

Below is a Nature Journal spread from a visit to Ames Nowell State Park on Friday.

Top sketch is some dried stems and empty seed pods of a Knapp Weed plant. The bottom sketch is of a young woman walking her bull dog in the Park. I may go back into the bottom drawing and darken up the background behind her, as it stands it feels like it is lacking something.

I am finding it hard to settle into working on drawings this past week or so. I just want them done so I can move onto something else. Not my usual mode of working, so I am not pleased but not sure what to do about it. I feel sure that it is just a phase and really all I need to do is keep plugging away at something art related and eventually I will get back into my stride. At least I hope so. In the meantime my drawings may have an unfinished look to them because I have gotten impatient and want them done before they really are.

Last for today I have a couple of photographs I made at Ames Nowell.

I was using my new lens (55-250mm) for both of these, I know the above picture doesn't look like much of a close up, but really the swans were quite far away from me, and would have been just white dots with my older lens. The lake had ice around the edges and the swans were swimming in one of the few open areas left. After the past couple of days I am sure there is less ice on the lake then there was Friday so the swans probably have more swimming space.

This is some bushes with seeds that I passed in a clearing beside the path at one point, you can catch a glimpse of the lake off in the distance. I am discovering with this lens I can't be as close to the object I am photographing as I am used to being with my original lens. I can see that I still have a bit of a learning curve with it. Still I rather like both of these photos so all is not lost.

Thanks for looking, per usual comments are always welcome.