NELVIA'SART.COM

Samuari                    HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! - may 2019 bring us all a super artistic year Wow, just one more day to this year and then it is all over but the shouting.   I just can't believe this is true.  You think you make good use of your time and then ....  well, maybe I don't push as hard as I did, but I do try to enjoy every moment. This is another figure study using from daily sketch site.  For some reason I really haven't done many men.  This guy was so built and had this really square jaw.  I tried to convert a black model into having more of an Oriental look, but not really sure that I accomplished that.  I was having problems finding what Japanese skin color really looks like, and then it dawned on me that it really depends on what the light is.   I know there is a lot of yellow cast in their skin, but it just didn't look right. Anyway, I like the pose of this figure and set about to try to find something I could put along with the figure.  As

ALERT:  Please don't accept any email that comes from nelviamcgrath@att.net I just got off with AT&T and alerted them that this old email address has been highjacked and whoever is sending out emails to my contact list.  If it looks odd, and a couple of folks have said they do look odd - do not open it.   Here is today's practice piece.  I had found this site, daily sketch, http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en, and discovered while getting the address for someone that besides figures they have portraits, hands, feet, animals, structures and vegetation photos.  All of these are royalty free and an be done as timed poses if you wish.  I haven't even totally begun to explore it.   I felt like drawing practice today - yes, it is gray and raining, the start of another 7 days with no break down here.  I found this girl on the site I mentioned above and decided to add some color to the charcoal drawing.   Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

All That Jazz Well we are gearing up for another 5-6 days of gray wet weather, another 3-4" of rain, and since we are saturated am sure there will be flooding.  It has been absolutely crazy this year, all this rain every couple of days and the very cold temperatures.  Seems like we are just in a weather pattern rut and it does the same thing every week.  Hubby gave me the sad news that they are saying now through March, colder/wetter than normal.  Then I am sure come end of March we will go directly to 90+ probably with no rain.  Grrr, what happened to the nice weather? Anyway, this is another of my figure studies.  I changed it up giving the girl a dancing cane, tap shoes and took off some horrific looking wings.  I then decided I wanted to try something very different for a background, and hence the piano keys mixed with music.  Kind of like the graphic effect against the curves of the figure.   But not really certain it isn't a little too busy.  Anyway, downloaded a

Awakening Sunrise                                             MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!! Well since I am now in the piddling and playing stage on this piece I am thinking it is time to say it is finished.  I have adjusted the skin tones so many times and can still pick apart places, but it is time to say quit.  I am excited as I think this piece will be perfect for my bathroom. I guess it is a result of just  having had so many days of gray and rain that I really needed to do something that was colorful.  I have a friend I follow on Instagram that does photography and primarily she shoots the skies in her native Australia.  I really don't do landscapes, but thought I'd try a sky behind this figure.  Unfortunately I haven't learned how to paint skies yet - my clouds never seem to come out - so I took the idea of the sunrise color gradations and put it in a simple background for this piece.   This is a photo reference from a figure drawing site (this site allow

The Chicks Well finally today I just felt like painting something that was just plain fun.  I tend to multitask and watch a lot of YouTube videos when my hubby feels like watching tv and that usually means sports of some type.  Now, I got to admit I get pretty involved when it is a Duke mens basketball game, but other than that, unless it really counts for something it is just noise. So I watch videos with one ear bud in and always learn something or get inspired.  Inspiration is what what happened here.  The Art Sherpa painted a penguin family and I thought that looks like so much fun.  Haven't ever painted a penguin or thought about it much to be honest.   I found another reference which included two chicks (I think it must be someone else's because I think they only lay one egg) and since they usually are involved with a big group I took the background penguins and dulled them down by adding the blizzard.   I figure there are a lot of blizzards in the South Pole.    

I just want to say I appreciate all the comments, I have been trying to figure out why I have lost the ability to give reply comments.  I just have not found the solution at all - tried many different things and hope that I will accidentally hit on what caused me to stop being able to comment.   I think it is tied into disqus and I have asked them to take me off but still hadn't made any difference.  So bear with me please and I will either comment on your posts or send you a DM.   After a horrendous day yesterday, two very failed attempts - guess it was just an off day - I approached the studio hoping to do something that resembled a portrait drawing.   Do you ever have those kinds of days where you just can't seem to do anything right.  I end up asking myself if I have ever put pencil to paper before.  I found this photo reference and thought he was one of the prettiest and most unusual looking boys I had ever seen.  Saw that wonderful curly hair, the little bo

Well, what a week are having in that Southern state - Georgia:  first we are having Jan-Feb temperatures, have had since the end of October, this is Georgia, not Illinois or Wisconsin.  Not demeaning those states, but it is supposed to be cold there, they are North second, we have had sleet, ice, snow, almost 5" in rain and flooding in Georgia???  Oh yeah, it starts raining again tomorrow.  So, lots of gray, gray, gray in my life third, whilst minding our own business, asleep in our beds, just waiting and hoping Santa will come, we have at 4:14am am 4.4 earthquake complete with aftershocks - again I remind you this is Georgia, not California!!  My opinion it is all the rain, unsettles the bedrock Yes, this definitely is becoming a crazy world.  Finally, I got to slip into the art room, with a better attitude and do something.  Been so much going on that I haven't had the time or in some ways the inclination to do anything artful.  But got some spectacular test

Gangsta's Doll This started out as just going to be a couple of individual figure painting studies, but seemed to take on a life of its own. I found a site, sketchdaily, http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en, that has figure poses action/passive, or clothed/nude, you pretty much dial in what you want.  I want to get better at figures and really I haven't drawn a lot of men, so thought this would give me some needed practice.  Since I wanted to get better at fabrics I saw these two shots (see below) and thought I would give them a whirl.  As I got to looking at them the first thing I thought was 1920-1930s and gangsters.  The girl I thought could be turned into a perfect flapper with just a few touches.  Then because I thought they might work well together I needed some way to tie them together and so tried to bring in the feeling of a speakeasy. I started the concept on an 18'x22" canvas board just working with the background and acrylic, and really, just got

Mary and Jesus Well today is another graphic style card.  I loved all the pen/ink work here and also the pops of color.  I did change it up from the reference as it was pretty fluorescent, although these probably aren't traditional Christmas colors either.   Did this one on parchment paper so that I could use both markers and colored pencils.   Thanks much for stopping by.