Found Shoes

Oops, the found shoes project took far longer to finish than I expected, but it is now done.

Above is the inked version of the shoes just prior to my starting work with the colored pencils. I moved the child's sandal in the upper left to be a bit more in the corner and made some corrections to the laces (which still aren't quite right, but I don't care). I used my 0 sized technical pen to draw the outline. As a reminder the size is 8 x 8 inches on Strathmore's new Colored Pencil paper.

Above is the finished colored pencil drawing. I used various Derwents (Artist, Signature, Colorsoft, Studio) pencils with usually an over lay or final layer of Faber Castel Polychromos. Colors were mostly my pick though some were inspired by the actual shoe colors. I had the most fun with the high heel, which is in the original photo black. Isn't it more fun my way? I have actually seen sneakers that were almost this color of green, though the ones in my photo weren't.

I rather carefully tried to use each color in more than one place, repetition is after all one element of design. I didn't want to color the background so instead came up with this idea of something like slats. I did use a ruler to draw the lines and to get the spacing a consistent 1/4 inch. But I did not use the straight edge to actually draw the lines, so they do wobble a bit, which I think is more in keeping with the style of the rest of the drawing. The black was inked using my 1 technical pen (.5)

Actually I am rather pleased with how this came out. I like the bright colors, and like how the background works. There are some things I might have done differently, but overall I am not displeased. Oh yes, the paper, I rather liked using it for colored pencils. It has some tooth so will take 4 or more layers of pencil, but it also feels like a firmer surface than what Stonehenge paper has. Stonehenge seems to feel soft to me and tends to "absorb" color meaning you have to add more layers than you might think you need originally, with the Strathmore paper the color stays on top. Now I have to think up another project.

The above is a very sketchy drawing of a vase with flowers and was made at a friends on Thanksgiving Day. I was invited for dinner and after the feast I sat around listening to the chatter and drawing various objects. As I said very sketchy but I still rather like it.

Photographs from my local park today. I haven't been going very far afield lately for my walks. In fact most of my walking is between my home and the library. Since the days are getting shorter there is less daylight available for photographs. Ah well, Christmas isn't that far off, along with the winter solstice after which the days will start getting longer again.

Above is one of this years Signets stretching it's wings. The birder group I belong to on facebook won't let us post invasive bird photos, I totally understand, but still rather like this photo of this young swan. They are usually graceful looking birds.

Above is one of the ponds in the park. This is a section of the park that I don't usually visit or photograph, but I rather like the photo with the cat tails in front and the mostly bare trees in the distance. A very typical November day.

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