The Colours Outside My Window....

These pictures are for the newest exchange at Drawspace. This set of ATCs are for the theme April showers bring May flowers. I had been taking these photos of the woods outback and I was amazed at the variety of colours that show up. I got to thinking that this was a neat idea for our trade, so I went through our photos and found some for the appropriate time frame.

One of the difficulties was trying to filter out all the excess branches and trees, while still coming up with something believable. At the same time I tried to give my insights for the woods as well. Like in April 11th I tried to show how the woods turn almost red with the new growth of branches. I don't think that I did them (the colours, the woods) justice, but I can see myself tackling this again. Maybe with different mediums or supports. The last one is from my impression of looking up at the trees in the backyard after they filled in, my May flowers.

March 28th

April 1st

April 11th

April 19th

April 25th

May 15th

Photography....

Over at Let's Make Art I have been leading a photography class. At first I wasn't sure I was the right person to take on the group. I have no specific knowledge of photography, I just love a good picture.

Then I realized that I do have knowledge to share for the amateur and that there are plenty of people out there giving information that is more specific to photography, lens and lighting and f-stops, oh-my. What I can give is how to get a good picture that you want to draw and display. I can teach how I pick my photos, how I set them up and what I look for in a good photo. I can teach, that with a point and shoot on automatic, you can get great photos.

With my lessons, where I am also learning, I give them challenges to complete. This photo above I got when the challenge was to go out at different times of day and take pictures with the light at different angles. This one was set up in the early morning.

Tripod....

The star of our virtual sketch is Jeanette's cat Tripod. I have seen Tripod sketched many a time by Jeanette so it was fun to give him a try myself.
My contour sketch was done completely by eye and my final drawing was done by getting a couple of key spots first.

Here are all the drawings, you have to go check them out. It is great fun to see all the different styles.

Jeanne Grant
Rose Welty , and Teresa of NC
Jennifer
Gayle
Jeanette
Katherine
Stacy
Belinda

Sketching....

Just a fast sketch for the challenge over at DS. I am the host this week and this is my Husbands hand. I think I picked some good pictures for everyone to work on. Lot's of light and shadows.

I got my self in on a virtual sketch with Jeanette, Rose, Jeanne, Stacy, Belinda, Jennifer, Katherine, Gayle and Teresa. Jeanette has sent us all a photo to sketch or draw. I got started today, with a contour drawing. Not sure what I will do but for now I have a feel for my subject. The drawings will be posted on May 18th.

Sad Puppy....

This weeks challenge at DS included this sad little girl. She belongs to Jeanne Grant, this weeks host. I haven't done her justice, but after 4 tries I am calling her done. Good or bad, I do like the look of a continuous line drawing.

Spring Swimmers....

My 9yr old son and his friends agreed to stay still for a couple minutes at a time while they were swimming this weekend. They even did a couple of poses for me. The water was 60F so they weren't doing much swimming just egging each other on to jump in the pool.
I darkened the lines with a black pencil so you could see them.

Yahoo Pipes....

If you look to the right of this post you will see something new. This is my pipe feed of Artist's blogs that I read. If you scroll over the picture you will see some text and the title. When you click on the title it will bring you to the Artist's blog.

I would like feedback from anyone that is on it, anyone that would like to be on it, anyone that would like to be off it and anyone that would like to add it to their blog.

This is a way of supporting the blogs that I read. If you would like this pipe badge to put on your blog, got to Artist Blogs That I Read, wait for it to load, then click on get badge, then click on where you want to put it. If you look at the list of sources on the left, you can see who's blogs I am feeding from.

Let me know what you think.

First Challenge at the New Let's Make Art.....

Joanie is running the challenge for the first part of May. With her pictures she also included a portrait by Rembrandt of his father. She challenged us to try to copy it. I decide to go for that one with a quick sketch.