An ATC and Bookmark with more Figures

Managed to draw a new ATC (Artist Trading Card) over the weekend. I started out playing with some shapes and it just developed from there. Color is colored pencil and I am really pleased with the result. Doesn't look very fall but then that wasn't really my goal.

I am using a new to me paper, Canson's Comic and Manga 150 lb paper. It is heavy weight with a smooth surface that takes pen well. There seems to be enough tooth to take colored pencil, though not as well as Stonehenge does. Anyway I have more ATC blanks of this paper waiting for me to use so by the time I have finished them I should know how I like this paper and what media I prefer using.

Also finished the above bookmark this weekend. I started this one several weeks ago but put it aside to work on some other ones. Still I kind of like the flower shapes so decided I should get to it and finish it off. It isn't totally done of course, just the art work is finished. Still have to add the contact paper layer and then the tassel. More colored pencil and ink work on this one.

Above are more of my short pose figure drawings. These are from a session a couple of weeks ago. A couple I rather like, the others hmm, well.... just have to keep at it is all I can say. Top grouping are 2 minute posed, bottom grouping are mainly 5 minute poses with one 10 minute pose.

As a close a couple of photographs I made yesterday. The trees around me are starting to get pretty bare of leaves but there are still a few with color. Above is one near the entrance to my local park.

These leaves were actually on a bush not a tree, but I love the color and thought you might also enjoy seeing it.

That is it for today, per usual comments are appreciated. Though I have to say that I am having problems getting the blog to allow me to reply to comments, so it isn't that I haven't read and enjoyed everyone's comments on previous posts it is that the software isn't allowing me to reply. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment, I really do appreciate it.

Bookmarks, figures and fall photographs

Been playing around with more bookmarks, as I mentioned last week they are small so quick to do, and I can try out a variety of techniques to see what works and what doesn't.

Since I have been photographing cattails I thought I would use them as a subject for one of the bookmarks. Above is the finished art, still have some more work to do on this to turn it into a bookmark, but the art is done. Not sure how happy I am with the result. Ah well, will just have to try again. I used Ink with colored pencil. It was more dramatic before I applied the colors. I may go for a redo and leave out the color next time.

The above is just shapes I was playing with and then colored with Inktense pencils and activated with water. I started out with the center being yellow, then orange etc. but didn't like the look so added an overall wash of blue. Still not thrilled with the colors here but it looks lots better than it did. Not my best result, but sometimes playing around can spark more serious efforts so it isn't wasted time.

From the October 8th short pose session. Above are 3 of my 2 minute poses with that evenings model. Unfortunately she started feeling ill and left after the first hour.

So Scott ended up filling in for her for the next couple of hours. Above are 5 minute poses, I can't recall if he did any/many 10 minute poses, and I am fairly sure we didn't have any 15 minute poses that evening. Scott is a bit out of practice and holding any pose for 15 minutes is hard work. In fact I think this is the first time Scott has had to fill in for a model in the years I have been attending his sessions.

I spent an afternoon walking in my local park this past weekend, here are a couple of photographs. The above is a photo of some oak leaves turning red. Many oaks just turn a dark brown/red color but this particular oak was turning this glorious shade of red. You can see in the background some of the other surrounding trees with their fall color.

I don't usually notice these young trees in the summer woods, and they aren't mature enough to bloom in the spring, but in the fall the distinctive shape/color of the fall American Chestnut leaf makes these trees more visible. These are not healthy mature trees, but instead they are off shoots of the roots of old mature trees that were "killed" by the blight. For some reason it seems that it is only the trunks above ground that are killed. These saplings will survive for a few years then they in their turn will die away. They don't get mature enough to bloom and set seed. Maybe someday someone will figure out a way to kill off the blight and we will again have American Chestnut trees in our woods and yards. I know they are trying to cross breed a blight resistant Chestnut, but I think so far the resulting trees aren't as attractive as the original species.

Well, that it is it for today, I am a day late with this update as I had jury duty yesterday. Wasn't selected for a jury so was able to manage the update today. Per usual comments are always welcome.

Fall Color and some figure drawings

I decided over the weekend that I should make some more bookmarks. They are small so fairly quick to do, though the long narrow shape is a bit of a challenge design wise still they can be fun and I was looking for some fun. So above is an almost done bookmark. Pen and ink with color added with watercolor pencils and a wet brush. Not totally realistic flowers, but fun never the less. I still need to add the tassel to this but the art work part is done.

As promised last week this week I am finishing off my catch up figure postings with drawings from 2 male sessions. The above session was back in August and technically should have been posted last week. But last week I blew it and uploaded a different session. Ah well, this young man was obviously slender of build, I had a particularly hard time with the short 2 minute poses, the only ones I liked were those of him in a sitting or squatting pose. I managed a bit better with the longer 5 minute poses.

This session was from October 1st. This model is older, more experienced and tends to take more active/dynamic poses which can be a challenge to draw. I think we are all exhausted after an evening drawing his poses.

A couple of photographs this week. We have had some sunny days so I have been out with the camera. The above photograph was made at a park in Hanover, MA. Cattails going to seed. I posted this image on flickr and someone commented that it looked like a furry little animal of some kind. Obviously it wasn't a very windy day or I would never have gotten the photograph.

The trees in my neighborhood are changing colors. One day last week I took the camera out with me on a walk, this is one of the photographs I made, look at those reds against a blue sky. Fall colors never seem quite real in photographs, and mostly they aren't really a vibrant in photographs as they are in real life. Love the reds and yellows that the maple leaves turn this time of year.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.

Pen and Ink, figures and another Christmas Tag

Above is something I was playing with over the weekend. A very small (4 x 4 inches) pen and ink drawing that I added watercolor pencil to then applied water. Imaginary flowers, with an imaginary sun. The sun looks a bit like something I did earlier this year but it wasn't really intentional, I needed something to fill up that space and the sun shape fit the bill. Fun to do but not very serious.

I have been working on a wreath in Adobe Illustrator and finally got it done over the weekend. I added the bow from the original pole file and then swapped the larger bow for the wreath and bow on the post. I think I will play with putting just the wreath on a tag, but was thinking about adding some pine cones first and I need to draw them.

Been having fun doing these, just need to get out to Staples and get some printed on heavy stock.

OK, it is confession time. I have to admit that for several weeks (about a month) I was ignoring the short pose figure drawings I was doing. Ignoring in the sense that I wasn't going through them, selecting the ones I liked best and then making photographs. Because I got way behind I had to play catch up, and when I did I ended up confusing dates. I am now fairly sure that the drawings I posted last week were really from August sessions. I only attended a couple of sessions in August, and then I did skip another session toward the beginning of Sept. which also hasn't helped me to keep track of when drawings were actually made.

Oh well it really doesn't matter, I am fairly sure the I am showing them in the order in which they were drawn but...  if I have gotten some of them mixed up, please forgive me.

Model in the above drawings was from several weeks ago, I know they were done in Sept. just not entirely sure of the date. Top images are 2 minute poses, bottom grouping were a bit longer, 5 to 10 minutes. I am not terribly pleased with this series. I think I had skipped the previous week and didn't feel on my game. She had a really interesting face and so I tended to focus too much on that and not enough on the whole pose, ugh.

This model was from 2 weeks ago, and I should really be posting drawings of a male model instead, more date confusion I fear. Since last weeks model was also male I will just post the 2 together next week and let it go at that.

The model for these drawings is a lovely slender young woman. Meaning I had some difficulties drawing her. Still some of these I really like so I guess I am getting my chops back.

Just one photograph today, and it is one that I made back in Sept. It is an American Copper butterfly on some blooming sedum. The camera was about at eye level of the butterfly so the image is from the front of the head. Not how I am normally trying to make my photographs. Usually I want spread wings, but I rather like this image. 

That is it for today. Hope everyone has a great week, and if you feel in the mood comments are welcome. 

Images from last Summer

Above is a drawing done from another photograph I made this summer at the Trailside Museum in Milton, MA. Subject this time was one of the many chipmunks that live on the museum grounds. They have duck food available for purchase to use to feed the ducks, but of course the chipmunks and sparrows are often fellow recipients of the hand outs. Sometimes I wonder if they don't get more of the food than the ducks do, greedy little guys that they are.

More than just a sketch but not a really serious study I was challenging myself to see if I could manage the subject. I really like this photo and may use it for a more serious drawing at some point. I find it is usually easier to draw more accurately the second time around.

More figure drawings from short pose sessions in July, top grouping was about 2 minute poses, 2nd (lower) grouping was 5 to 10 minute poses.

For some reason I don't seem to have any of the really short pose images from this session, the above grouping would have been 5 to 10 minute poses. These are the last of the July sessions, I have a couple of sessions from August to share then I need to select images from the Sept. sessions and get them photographed for the blog.

Last week I made a trip back to Daniel Webster in Marshfield, MA. The 2 photographs today are from that visit. Above is a cabbage white butterfly on a New England Aster. Though these are very common butterflies they can be a bit tricky to photograph as they are very sensitive to movement and often fly away before I can focus the camera on them.

Last image shows how the white birch tree leaves are changing to yellow with some yellow goldenrod in the foreground. The sky was very blue on that last visit and makes a great back drop for the greens and yellows.

That is it for today. Hope everyone is enjoying some pleasant days outside before winter sets in.