Another Portrait and a couple of quick dwgs

I don't have anything very elaborate to post today, I am working on a new pen and ink pattern piece but it isn't ready to show off.

Above is my second drawing for the Flickr Group Julia Kay's Portrait Party another graphite portrait. I am fairly happy with it, and more pleased by the fact that it didn't take me as long to get semi right as my first portrait did. I have a couple more photo's that I have already downloaded, just need to motivate myself and get to them.

This one was a bit of a challenge as the angle and position of his head are not usual, was fun to draw for that reason, you will have to take my word for it that it even sort of looks like the photo.

The above is just a doodle, another of my technical pen "exercise" sketches. I use each of my ink filled technical pens for at least a minute on each of these, a way to make sure the ink hasn't dried in the pens. Course right now I have 2 that aren't very happy with me and I think I will need to break down and replace the tips. Ah well cheaper to replace the tips then the whole pen, next time I am in Boston at a Dick Blicks they will be on my shopping list. With one of the tips I have damaged the wire that feeds the ink and the other is blocked, I left the pen un-used too long while the pen was filled. Course it is the 3x0 tip and all it takes is bit of debris to block those, in fact I thought I had it working and then it just stopped and now nothing I have done clears it. Some days I wish I had an ultrasonic cleaner.

Done in one of my smaller sketchbooks, and ivy plant from imagination.

I did the above for another of the WetCanvas Scavenger Hunts. Graphite in the dedicated sketchbook, it is a drawing of a small jar of Thyme leaves that I have in my kitchen cabinet. Not much else to be said about this, except glass is tricky you get highlights and shadows in odd places.

And now, time for more snow photographs. What can I say it is the dominate feature of my landscape and life right now, feet of snow, on roofs, on columns, on the ground, and covering sidewalks. Both of these photos were made Sunday after the clouds cleared from our latest blizzard, which dropped at least another foot of snow on our previous six feet (give or take). The wind can really whip the snow into some unusual shapes, taking from one spot and leaving it in others.

The photograph above is the corner of a roof and shows how the snow was blown to overhang the edge. It is lit by a sun that was starting to set.

This second photograph is one of the columns that support an old cemetery fence, I have shown photographs of the cemetery before as it is just around the corner from me. For some reason the wind left this column of snow on top of the support. Not sure how many feet tall it is, there is no way I can get close enough to it to figure it out, well maybe if I had snowshoes, but I don't, so you will just have to take my word for it, that snow is feet tall not inches. I posted the more standard type snow photographs on my Facebook page for anyone interested.

That is it for today. Per usual comments are appreciated.