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Ok here it is already late Sunday afternoon with a long work week looming in front of me.   I just haven't gotten it together this weekend because I just didn't know how to go about doing this dog so I just found excuses not to get started.  So it froze me, finally just said time to start and change it up on the fly.  So here is "Yes I'm Sexy and I know it".  Isn't he about the homeliest dog, but just look at that face - he is adorable.  He has been a rough toughie and it took me all week to get my thumbnail shadow plan in my sketchbook, tranferred to tracing paper which I then traced onto my bristol board.  He just didn't want to get down on paper - so we fought, I won.   I am doing him in a larger format, think it's 11"x14" as I wanted to have some space around his chubby cheeks.  I started out thinking I would do this in watercolor pencil and regular colored pencil - hence the ultra smooth surface of...

Title:  Garden Delights Media: Acrylic on paper Size:  9"x12" Here is my rendition of the January challenge for PADT.  This was a fun painting as it has lots of color as the reds just grab hold of you.  I couldn't resist and added in a little wildlife and humor (I hope) and it's also enjoying the garden's delights.  Unfortunately I deal with these critters on my tomatoes each year, just don't know how they always find them but they do and usually eat a lot before I get to them.  Hate picking them off too as they are squishy. This is another acrylic piece and it is a constant battle to learn how to use, as there are many ways and techniques you can utilize.  Not sure if it was the paint colors, which were very translucent or the fact that there is very little white or tint colors used, other than in the bowl, so opaqueness wasn't added.  Because of the translucency it ended up that I used quite a bit of glazing layers to get the colors where...

Ok, here is Dots completed.  Yes, in the photos they really do have a lot of pink skin showing around the nose/mouth area and even up into the forehead, guess they have thin skin or it is because their hair is so short.  Really think I should have had more pink around the eyes as well, perhaps next time if I get adventurous and try all three as in the reference photo.  Am happy with the final nose color, it may be a bit purpler than in real life, but ended up using a magenta, black, brown, more black, and pink.  Not so sure I like the neck area but that is what I get for messing up and getting my image reversed - can you say DUMB.  Anyway for the addition of color I feel confident enough to try another one with color.  I already have another subject, also from the PMP library, selected and think I will have a lot of fun with it.  Can only tell you the title I've selected "Yes I think I'm sexy, and I know it".  (No Alexander...

Well even though it's January, it is like we have perpetual Spring here, 60 degrees this morning, so for my tea it's porch sitting weather for me.  This coming week we are going to have nothing but clouds and rain and thunderstorms, which it is doing all of the above right now.  So looks like an inside day. Not a real productive week, too much work and not enough energy (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).  Dots is this week's project, the reference photo is from PMP and originally I was going to do the center dog.  Got him all roughed out with the shadow patterns, etc., and put it on transfer paper and traced it out on my drawing paper and was all set to go.  Then to my horror I discovered I wasn't paying attention and drew it reverse of the dog I wanted to use as reference, you can see the nose placement is on the wrong side.  As panic set in my first response was to redraw it and then I said "Buck up" this would be a great challenge for...

Ok my boy (or girl) is completed and I am pretty thrilled.  It turned out better than I had hoped for and I think I was in it all the way until the end (had to work on staying present toward the bottom as I was really ready to be done). Afraid to do too much  more as it will begin to get fussy or I may undo the darker areas or generate smears.  Since I wanted the animal to be dominant I don't think I need to do anything in the background.  But darn it I see some hard edges; once you get it on the screen here it gives you another perspective and now my fingers are itching to make some changes.  Checked it backwards in the mirror and didn't see anything that jumped out at me as a big negative, it appears to be in perspective, but let me know if you see something off as you know photos can be deceptive.  Two shots, different distances and different angles. You can see original reference photo a couple of posts below and I hope I stayed true to it ...

Well we have a very foggy morning here so I thought I'd put up a picture of what I accomplished yesterday before I go for my run.  We are having an unusually warm winter so far - here is it January and we can sit on the porch because it's almost 70.  Since I am in the office all week I take every chance to watch the birds and get fresh air.  So if I get porch sitting I can either read or draw - guess which I did!! I was able to put about 3-4 more hours in yesterday and you can see I have the muzzle pretty well laid in.  Trying to get the various planes and angles here and create the rounded face shapes plus be sure to follow the hair growth directions.  I want to show hair-like, but don't want to put each hair in.  I have pretty much added shading to the top third and am not reworking from top left to bottom where I have lots of graphite now as I don't want to touch the paper with either my hand or my protection sheet.  I don't want to eithe...

Well, after visiting every one's blogs and seeing what spectacular things you are doing I thought I'd at least post something so I don't feel like a total sloth.  So many wonderful things I've seen you accomplish in just a couple of weeks. I am going to get to work on the PADT challenge to get some color in my life.  But, I am still plodding along here trying to get a fur technique in place.  This drawing is being done in a whole range of H to B pencils, two mechanical, a .5mm and .7mm, and a kneadable eraser.  This is probably about 6 hours or work so it is slow, at least for me, and I really am just getting the base down and still have a lot of shading to do.  When I think I am developing a rhythm it's time to stop and then it takes a bit when I start again to get back into it.  But, hope once completed I'll be closer to doing the next animal fur faster and get a better result.