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.  

November 12th Update

I should have done this update yesterday, 11-11-11, such a cool date, and it's like won't be repeated again for a very long time (100 years). I certainly won't be around to see it. But I needed to finish a couple of drawings before doing this update so I had to delay it. Still 11-12-11 is sort of a cool date but not quite the same. Oh well, I am not going to beat myself up over the delay.

Above is a sketch I did based on the Every Day Matters list. The drawing of a peanut butter jar is my take on challenge #7 - Draw a bottle, jar or tin from the kitchen. I love peanut butter and so far at least I am lucky enough to not be among those who are allergic to peanuts. With luck I never will be, though one of my Aunts did develop a peanut allergy late in life so you never know.

Anyway my drawing was done with graphite in the sketchbook I have set aside for this project. I am not being very consistent about getting these done, too many other projects, but they make a nice filler for when I am at a bit of loose ends.

Below is an update on my sparrow drawing.

I actually did most of the work on this several days ago, but today I spent some time refining outlines to have a bit more accuracy. Eyes and feet needed slight re-positioning. I will let it sit for at least another day then I will check details against my reference photographs once more before starting the tricky part, inking in the birds.

Sorry the image is so light, but I am using a 2H lead for the outlines so I can erase them later when I finish inking the images.

Below is another Nature Journal Page.

Wednesday I drove south and visited another MA Audubon site.  Allens Pond in Dartmouth, MA is another coastal sanctuary, within the boundaries of the sanctuary is an ocean front beach, an estuary, a fresh water pond and some wooded areas.

I started my visit to this property by walking the beach and doing a bit of beach combing. Picked up a few shells, made a few pictures. The only bird in sight was a lone sea gull that eventually got a bit nervous about my photographing it and flew off. The tide was coming in so it wasn't a good time for shore birds. I then spent over an hour walking the more inland paths out to and around a fresh water pond. I heard more birds than I saw, but that is fairly typical.

Drawings for this visit are top, a couple of views of a honeysuckle vine that I think is a bit confused about the season. This vine had both berries and flowers. The drawing shows a section of vine with flowers, and another section that still had leaves but also berries.

The bottom drawings are of a couple broken shells that I picked up on the beach. One is the the inside of a Moon Snail Shell (the darker one to the left), and the other is a slipper shell that has lost the top of the slipper. The beach at Allens Pond had a lot of slipper shells and just about nothing else. Interesting how different beaches have different types of shells.

Last I will leave you with a couple of photographs I made Wednesday afternoon:

A view of the beach at Allens Pond, as you can see this is a very rocky beach. A more sandy beach which is used by the town is just beyond that rocky outcrop with the shrubs.

This photo shows the path that leads the visitor out toward the fresh water pond. The boards are because the path was very wet in spots and walking on the boards at least keeps the path from turning to mud. Notice the stone walls lining the path. I see a lot of stone walls on my walks but the person who built the ones down here was an expert. Many of the rocks he used were cut/dressed and the walls are higher than I a usually see them.

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